Min kandidatuppsats inom Informationslogistik som jag skrev ihop med Edvard Wikström, hösten 2009. Uppsatsen var tidig inom ämnet social media och har använts som referens av flera studenter, inte bara från Sverige utan även USA och Turkiet (som vi vet om).

Social Media Marketing: What role can social media play as a marketing tool?

Abstract:

The purpose of this research is to analyze and explore how companies could use social media to promote themselves and improve their business to consumer relationship, this in order to develop a general set of recommendations.

To fulll the purpose we have used a qualitative research method with a eld study ap- proach. By studying both social media and marketing theories and combining these with interviews of social media consultants, we have managed to compile a set of recommenda- tions for corporate social media usage. As a complement, we have observed some companies that use social media in order to document and analyze how they use it, primarily to ex- pand our own understanding.

Recommendations for social media usage

1. Formulate goals for what you want to accomplish with your social media usage.
2. Develop a strategy how to reach your goals.
1. Start with traditional marketing/communication strategies, that may already be present. Use traditional marketing theories like the ve P’s.
2. Develop a set of guidelines for social media usage.
3. Choose which social media you are going to use. e choice should be based on your goals, strategy and target demographic.
1. Twitter is quick, blogs are powerful, Facebook is mainstream.
2. Blogs are probably the easiest to start with, due to less usage constrictions.
3. Have a purpose with every service that you use.
4. Keywords to have in mind when using social media.
1. Commitment and continuity, do not neglect the community for long periods of time.
2. Transparency, do not be afraid to loose absolute control
3. Authority to speak
4. Quality of content
5. Use informal and personal behavior. Do not try to push anything towards your fol- lowers/fans but act as a brand builder.
6. Do not forget: it’s not rocket science, mostly just common sense!