eThesis - School of Business electronic theses

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OBJECTIVE OF THE STUDY The broader aim of this study is to understand how firms can utilize social media most effectively. The previous research indicates that for a firm to be able to harness the benefits of social media the view should be more strategic. However, there are only few existing researches concerning strategic view on social media. Thus, the purpose of this study is to fill this research gap by establishing a link between strategic marketing and social media and by developing a conceptual framework for strategic utilization of social media.

RESEARCH METHOD The research is two-folded. First, the research framework was built based on previous research and academic discussion in the fields of strategic marketing, digital marketing and social media. The framework was then validated with empirical research, including several semi-structured interviews with social media experts and managers working with social media. By combining the interview data with the research framework the empirically grounded framework was developed.

FINDINGS To emphasize the importance of strategic approach in utilization of social media, a link between strategic marketing and social media was established. In addition, five key processes needed for effective utilization of social media are identified: (1) strategy development, (2) implementation process, (3) value co-creation process, (4) performance assessment and (5) information management. A conceptual framework for utilization of social media was build based on these processes to indicate the role of each individual process and the connections between the processes.