2010:129 BACHELOR THESIS Social media and brand awareness - a case study in the fast moving consumer goods sector Maria Johansson Luleå University of Technology Bachelor thesis Marketing Department of Business Administration and Social Sciences Division of Industrial marketing and e-commerce 2010:129 - ISSN: 1402-1773 - ISRN: LTU-CUPP 10/129 SE SOCIAL MEDIA AND BRAND AWARENESS A case study in the fast moving consumer goods sector Maria Johansson 2010-06-09 Luleå University of Technology Bachelor Thesis (C-uppsats) Department of Business Administration and Social Sciences Division of Industrial Marketing, e-commerce and Logistics ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS Many thanks to the respondents of the company in the single case study for taking time and energy to participate in this study and in the interview, and to share valuable information so generously I would also like to thank my supervisor Lars Bäckström for his constructive support and assistance ABSTRACT We live in the midst of a global communications’ boom where the use of social media between individuals for personal and professional use is widespread It has been predicted that 2010 is the year when the use of social media for branding purposes will really take off in the corporate sector The purpose of this thesis has been to look at how social media can create brand awareness The specific area of fast moving consumer goods was chosen This study is of an exploratory, descriptive and qualitative character, and by looking at a single case, it has been possible to withdraw necessary primary and secondary data The most important findings were that the theoretical framework does explain how the company in the case study uses social media to create brand awareness The great challenge that came up in the case study was for the company to find the right balance between providing contents of great interest for the audience, while at the same time respecting what kind of information the company can really go out with- it is about being relevant in social media and in all other channels of communication This means a constant need for learning and developing new knowledge, for measuring and following up Regarding the different degrees of brand awareness however, it was difficult to show to what extent the real case builds on the theoretical framework; that there exist a clear strategy for how to reach the different stages of brand awareness, from the weakest (recognition) to the strongest (word-of-mouth) What was considered more important by the company in the case study was to integrate social media in the total communications and PR-strategy, a task which is actually being performed at this very moment SAMMANFATTNING Vi befinner oss mitt i en global kommunikations-boom där användningen av sociala medier mellan individer för personligt och professionellt bruk är mycket utspridd Det har förutspåtts att under 2010 kommer användningen av sociala medier i varumärkes-byggande syfte att ta fart bland företagen Syftet med denna C-uppsats var att titta på hur sociala medier kan skapa brand awareness, framförallt inom marknaden för snabbrörliga konsumentvaror Detta arbete är av utforskande, beskrivande och kvalitativ karaktär, och genom att studera ett single-case har det blivit möjligt att få fram nödvändiga primär och sekundärdata De viktigaste resultaten visar på att det teoretiska ramverket kan förklara hur företaget i fallstudien använder sociala medier för att skapa brand awareness Företaget lyfter fram att utmaningen ligger i att vara relevant i sociala medier och i alla andra kommunikationskanaler, vilket handlar om att hitta den räta balansen mellan att presentera intressant material för läsarna, samtidigt som hänsyn tas till vad företaget verkligen kan och vill gå ut med Detta betyder ett konstant behov av lärande och att utveckla ny kunskap, av att mäta och följa upp Beträffande de olika graderna av brand awareness, visade det sig emellertid svårt att visa på i vilken utsträckning företaget i fallstudien bygger på det teoretiska ramverket, att det existerar en tydlig strategi för hur man skall uppnå de olika stadierna av brand awareness, från det svagaste (recognition) till det starkaste (word-of-mouth) Vad som bedömdes mer viktigt av företaget i fallstudien, var att integrera sociala medier i den totala kommunikations och PRstrategin, en uppgift som är under utarbetande vid denna tidpunkt TABLE OF CONTENTS Chapter Introduction 1.1 Background 1.1.1 Social media 1.1.2 Brand and Branding 1.2 Empirical area 1.3 Research problem Chapter Literature review 2.1 Definitions of social media 2.2 Social media and marketing 2.3 In which phases of product life cycle can social media be used? 2.4 Social media and branding 2.5 Brand and branding in general, branding in fast moving consumer goods sector 2.6 Brand strategy 12 2.7 Brand equity and brand awareness 12 2.8 Managing the brand portfolio 14 2.9 Summary 16 Conceptual framework research questions and frame of reference 18 3.1 Research problem and research discussion 18 3.2 Frame of reference 19 3.3 Delimitations 21 3.4 Summary 21 Chapter 4: Methodology 22 4.1 Research Purpose 22 4.1.1 Exploratory studies 22 4.1.2 Descriptive studies 22 4.1.3 Explanatory – Casual studies 22 4.2 Research Approach 22 4.2.1 Inductive versus Deductive 22 4.2.2 Quantitative versus Qualitative 23 4.3 Research Strategy 24 4.3.1 Case study 24 4.3.2 Survey 24 4.3.3 Experiment 25 4.4 Sample Selection 25 4.5 Data Collection Methods 26 4.6 Data analysis 26 4.7 Reliability versus Validity 27 4.8 Summary 28 Chapter Empirical data 29 5.1 The purpose of using social media to create brand awareness 29 5.2 How can the social media activities used to create brand awareness be described? 29 5.2.1 The use of social media to create various levels of brand awareness 30 5.2.2 Measuring of brand awareness 31 5.3 Advantages in using social media to create brand awareness 31 5.4 Disadvantages in using social media to create brand awareness 31 Chapter 6: Data analysis 33 6.1 The purpose of using social media to create brand awareness 33 6.2 How can the social media activities used to create brand awareness be described? 34 6.3 Advantages in using social media to create brand awareness 35 6.4 Disadvantages in using social media to create brand awareness 35 Chapter 7: Conclusions and suggestions 37 References: 39 Appendix A Interview guide English Appendix B Intervjuguide svenska CHAPTER INTRODUCTION Marketing managers have predicted that 2010 will be the year when social media are integrated in the organizations and really start to become useful for companies and become important tools in the communication (Carlsson 2010) Others have argued that it is crucial for marketers to look to the Web for new ways of finding customers and communicating with them, rather than at them, that it is vital to create a dialogue with the customers, and various kinds of social media are the most promising way to reach new customers (Weber 2009) At the same time, one of the most prominent names in research about branding and related subjects, David Aaker, has said that with the multitude of new medias developing, it is becoming increasingly difficult for companies to raise awareness for their brand The only way forward in managing this complexity, is for companies to be able to coordinate messages and their marketing efforts across all medias (Aaker 1996) The combination of coordinating your branding messages across all medias including the social media, the great impact that social media (as an example the social network Facebook with more than 400 million active users) has for both individuals and companies, the speed with which things move in this domain, and the relative scarcity of existing research about this area all are reasons why this study was initiated With regards to the discussion above, this study will be about how social media influences branding 1.1 BACKGROUND In studying how social media influences branding, we need to look at what social media is, what it is composed of and what existing literature says about the correlation between social media and branding Branding per se is a vast and widespread area, where opinions diverge concerning the basic definitions, such as brand equity for example We need to clarify which parts of branding that we will focus on in this context 1.1.1 SOCIAL MEDIA What is social media? Kaplan and Haenlein (2010, p 60) define social media as "a group of Internet-based applications that build on the ideological and technological foundations of Web 2.0, and that allow the creation and exchange of user-generated content” Web 2.0 is platform on which social media is based (Carlsson 2010) Social media can take many different forms, including social networks, Internet forums, weblogs, social blogs, micro blogging, wikis, podcasts, pictures, video, rating and social bookmarking (Kaplan and Haenlein, 2010; Weber, 2009) Weber also includes search engines in the definition of social web, and describes them as reputation aggregators with the task of aggregating sites with the best product or service to offer and usually put things in order of reputation (Weber 2009) Weber approaches the question of branding in the social web He defines this as the dialogue you have with your customer, and claims that the stronger the dialogue is, the stronger the brand is, and vice versa Actually he questions the very core concept of traditional marketing and branding, and means that rather than broadcasting messages to audiences and target groups, in the era of social web that we live in today, branding and marketing is about participating in social networks to which people want to belong, where dialogue with customers and between customers can flourish (Weber 2009) According to a study made in 2010 in the United Kingdom amongst 30 companies (which are early adopter business and perhaps not representative of the mainstream UK businesses), the importance of participating in social networks in order to develop the brand and build relationships with key customers is in fact recognized by the companies It is argued that online communities will play a key role in the future of marketing because they replace customer annoyance with engagement, and control of the content with collaboration The authors of this study, Harris and Rae, claim that the prosperous businesses of the future will be those who embrace the social media and who see change as an opportunity (Harris and Rae 2010) 1.1.2 BRAND AND BRANDING What is brand and branding and why we need to look into this more deeply? According to Czinkota and Ronkainen (2010), brands are important because they shape customer decisions and ultimately create economic value Brand is a key factor behind the decision to purchase in business to consumer operations, and thanks to strong brands, it has been showed possible to charge a 19 percent higher price (Czinkota and Ronkainen 2010) What specific aspects and dimensions in branding are we particularly interested in? In order to get a necessary overview of the state-of-the-art in branding literature, it has been deemed necessary to look closer into brand strategy, brand equity and assets that underlie brand equity which are brand awareness, perceived quality, brand loyalty, brand association and other proprietary brand assets 1.1.2.3 B RAND STRATEGY One definition of brand strategy is the following: “Your brand strategy is how, what, where, when and to whom you plan on communicating and delivering your brand messages Where you advertise is part of your brand strategy, so are your distribution channels and your verbal and visual communication” Consistent branding strategy leads to a strong brand equity, which means the added value brought to your company's products or services that allows you to charge more for your brand than what identical, unbranded products command (www.entrepreneur.com Retrieved 100424) The brand and marketing consultancy Prophet.com highlights the following elements in the branding strategy: to build a brand positioning, to manage your brand portfolio, to build your brand architecture and naming, and to consider possible brand extensions (www.prophet.com Retrieved 100424) This proposition takes the perspective of looking into the management of several brands at the same time 1.1.2.4 B RAND EQUITY AND BRAND AWARENESS Despite the availability of numerous definitions for brand equity in the literature, there is little consensus on what exactly brand equity means, claim Park and Srinivasan in Pappu et al (2005) Nor is there a general agreement among researchers at the conceptual level about what brand equity comprises The broad meaning attached to the term “brand equity” is similar to the definition provided by Farquhar in Pappu et al (2005), as the value endowed by the brand to the product A product is something that offers a functional benefit (for example toothpaste, a life insurance policy, or a car)” (Farquhar in Elliott and Percy 2007) The definitions of brand equity can be broadly classified into two categories; either as financial considerations and the value of the brand equity for the firm, or based on the consumer perspective which looks as brand equity as the value of a brand for the consumer (Brasco and Mahajan in Pappu et al 2005) Aaker’s point of departure in his studies on brand equity, is a consumer perspective based on consumer’s memory-based brand associations He has provided a comprehensive definition of brand equity, namely: a set of brand assets and liabilities linked to a brand, its name and symbol, that add to or subtract from the value provided by a product or service to a firm and/or to that firm’s customers (Pappu et al 2005) Aaker conceptualized brand equity as a set of five assets: brand awareness, perceived quality, brand loyalty, brand association and other proprietary brand assets Brand awareness is an important component of brand equity, it deals with the strength a brand’s presence has in consumer’s minds It is predicted by Aaker that with the multitude of new media that have developed and that are likely to develop in the future, it is constantly becoming more challenging to create this brand awareness, and that the winners in the battle of raising brand awareness will be those who are able to coordinate their branding messages through all medias (Aaker 1996) Weber (2009) holds a diverging view on brand equity, and means that it is not interesting to look at how well the customer remembers a brand, but one should consider that the social media arena changes the marketing mindset, and that brand equity is a living thing and should be measured by to what extent the customer is prone to highly recommend the brand to others There exist different degrees of brand awareness according to Aaker, and it is measured through analysis of how well the customer recalls the brand The scale starts off from the weakest level: recognition (the customer has been exposed to the brand) recall (which brands within the product group that the customer can retain) CHAPTER 6: DATA ANALYSIS In the following chapter, the collected data will be analyzed building on the theoretical framework outlined in chapter The overarching goal of this thesis is to build up an answer to the research problem: “To increase the understanding of the role of social media for the creation of brand awareness” The literature review served to provide an overview of what current literature says about various parts that are explicitly and implicitly implied in the research problem The current concepts were introduced: social media, social media and marketing, phases in the product life cycle in which social media may be used, social media and branding, brand and branding in general and branding in fast moving consumer goods sector, brand strategy, brand equity and brand awareness, the management of brand portfolio The area of branding is widespread and leads into several directions The aim was to cover the central concepts related to branding which justify which aspects of branding are the most important ones when it comes to social media In this study, the aspect of branding that has been deemed central is brand equity –the value added to the product- and brand awareness –which by Aaker has been considered the most important element building the brand equity The essential parts of the literature review has then boiled down to the frame of reference, where the theoretical framework that this study is based upon is presented Parts of the frame of reference are based upon the findings of Weber (2009), and parts are based upon Aaker’s studies (1991, 1996, 2004, 2008) 6.1 THE PURPOSE OF USING SOCIAL MEDIA TO CREATE BRAND AWARENESS Weber (2009) claims that marketing within social media is to adopt a completely new way of communicating with the customers It is not about broadcasting marketing messages, but about participating in, organizing and encouraging social networks The marketing function should act as aggregators of customer communities, instead of as broadcasters (Weber 2009) The task of aggregating customers can be done in two ways according to Weber (2009), by providing compelling content on the company website, and by going out and participating in the public arena The single case study looks at how company X can help us to increase our understanding of how social media create brand awareness, and thanks to the good will of the respondents, important information about how these questions are tackled in real business operations has become available and presented in chapter As regards the purposes of using social media to create brand awareness, it seems clear that the company’s purposes to a large extent are based on the studies of Weber The company states their purpose of using social media to create brand awareness is that this channel is important in the communications with the consumers The respondents have described that they view social media as digital ecosystems For good and bad, this is the place where people talk about the company, whether the company wants 33 that or not By listening, participating and contributing, the company can find new ways to strengthen the brand The company’s purposes coincide to a relatively large extent with what is stated by theory, although the company does not go so far as theory The company is currently revising their communication strategy in which consideration of how the whole flow of social media play a part in the total strategy The company does not seem to be in a stage where they completely choose a new path for their marketing and communications functions and become solely aggregators of customers, they seem to keep the traditional way of marketing through the broadcasting of marketing messages It should be noted here, and that is true for the whole study on social media, that this is a very recent phenomenon, and that the company subject for the empirical study here, is also currently revising their overall goals and strategy for how to use social media to create brand awareness 6.2 HOW CAN THE SOCIAL MEDIA ACTIVITIES USED TO CREATE BRAND AWARENESS BE DESCRIBED? Aaker (1996) argues that there exist various levels or degrees of brand awareness, ranging from weak brand awareness to the strongest brand awareness The lowest degree of brand awareness is weak, recognition, where the customers has been exposed to the brand Then follows brand recall, medium brand awareness The customer can recall certain brands within a product group After this comes top-of-mind, strong brand awareness, it is the first brand the customer can recall Dominant is very strong brand awareness, it is the only brand that the customer can recall (Aaker 1996) The strongest form of brand awareness is word-of-mouth, the customer recommends the brand to another person (Weber 2009) Carlsson (2010) is of the opinion that it is not a good enough reason to be active in social media because everybody else is As regards the way in which the company in the case study uses social media activities to create brand awareness, and to what extent different degrees of brand awareness is created, one remark could be that it is yet too early to clearly define what steps are made to reach various degrees of brand awareness The methods used in the reaching of the weakest form of brand awareness is the blog, where the intention is to create a dialogue The company wants to reach brand recall for example in connection with the launch of new products and sub-brands under the corporate brand It seems that in general the way in which social media are used, are to create a dialogue with the customers, and to create some form of brand awareness, be it weak, medium, strong, very strong or the strongest form It seems like the company wants to create a “buzz”, that the company gets talked about, rather than making clear plans for how they can maximize the number of personal recommendations of the brand to other people etc 34 Once again it is true that we are currently in the early stage of the use of social media, and the company empirically studied is revising their communications strategy in which social media will play a part Hence, the combination of the models of Aaker and Weber on various degrees of brand awareness that was presented in the frame of reference, seems to have relatively little bearing in the case studied Aaker (1996) says that to reach high brand awareness, it is important to have a broad sales base and the knowledge of operating outside the traditional media channels Considering this, it seems that the company in this case study has the possibilities of really reaching and maintaining the strongest brand awareness by the use of social media; the company has a steadily increasing turnover rate, and underlines themselves the importance of learning more about how to make the best use of social media related to branding In contrast with the argument of Carlsson, it does not seem like the company is involved in social media because everybody else is, but the company wants to listen and take part in the dialogue with consumers in social media In the case in this study, the proactive ways in which social media are used are the company site and the company blog Reactive activities include following what is said about the company and the products on Facebook, Twitter, blogs, digital newpapers etc; and also responding and commenting in the debate By doing that, the company aspires to create deeper knowledge about the subject debated Social media are also used in the launch of new products, and in different stages in the product development social media are used Although this is true, it does not seem as if all the possibilities that Weber (2009) mentions are used, to use podcasts and webinars and wikis for example One explanation could be that these methods are not yet so common on the Swedish market 6.3 ADVANTAGES IN USING SOCIAL MEDIA TO CREATE BRAND AWARENESS One of the most important advantages Weber (2009) has put forward in this area, is the possibility to create dialogue with the customer and through this to create the strongest brand awareness This is exactly the item that the company mentions as the most important advantage with social media, to talk to customers and to influence what is being said about the company and the products in social media It is particularly underlined, that the company in the case study has a strong reputation and that they have a lot to gain from being present in social media 6.4 DISADVANTAGES IN USING SOCIAL MEDIA TO CREATE BRAND AWARENESS The risks and disadvantages that were mentioned by Carlsson (2010) in section 3.1 were not brought up by the respondents, so an analysis of how social media can become a risk for the company was not possible to make Instead, the respondents point to that there is no real option for this kind of company in the fast moving consumer goods sector to not being active in social media, the discussion about their brand goes on in social media whether the company chooses to participate in this discussion or not Carlsson (2010) also draws attention to the issue of the importance for the company to really find the balance between what kind of information the company can go out with without damaging the company’s vital interests, 35 and the necessity of providing interesting contents for the reader A too strict information policy would lead to that the contents are not interesting and that nobody is interested in reading them, let alone debating them 36 CHAPTER 7: CONCLUSIONS AND SUGGESTIONS The purpose of this study was to, based on the fact that social media are predicted to really have a strong breakthrough in the corporate sector in this year of 2010, look at how companies use them in branding Initial research on the branding area and on the social media area led to the formulation of the research problem as previously described, to increase the understanding of the role of social media for the creation of brand awareness The specific area of fast moving goods sector within business to consumer market was chosen The whole approach of this study has been exploratory and descriptive, as mentioned in the methodology chapter With social media, we are sailing into unknown waters, and there is no clear sea-map yet The necessary parameters allowing for comparative studies being made on the usability of social media in the creation of brand awareness not yet exist, or at least they were not possible to find within the literature overview which was made in this study The most important message that comes across from the interview with the company in the case study, is that the great challenge that the respondents see, is for the company to find the right balance between providing contents of great interest for the audience, while at the same time respecting what kind of information the company can really go out with- it is about being relevant in social media and in all other channels of communication This means a constant need for learning and developing new knowledge, for measuring and following up Another remark is that Weber (2010) points to the necessity of creating interest, creating a buzz about the brand in social media, to feed the discussions with information that makes the readers interested in the brand In the case study, this approach is indeed used, in connection with the release of new commercial films for example But perhaps is it premature to expect at this stage, to expect companies to have a clear strategy for how to reach the different stages of brand awareness, from the weakest (recognition) to the strongest (word-of-mouth) In addition, in contrast with the findings by Weber explained in the frame of reference, it seems like the company does not abandon completely the traditional way of marketing for marketing in social media, and not fully follow the idea of switching from being broadcasters of messages to being aggregators of customer communities Instead, what was considered more important by the company in the case study, was to integrate social media in the total communications and PR-strategy, a task which is actually being performed at this very moment One comment on the setting up of this kind of integrated strategy in which social media take part, is for future research to look at the possibilities that social media create in terms of reach out and affordability to establish dialogue The perspective in this study has been a qualitative one It would be very interesting to make a more quantitative study looking at now that everybody with an internet access can participate in social media, why is it not yet used in a more systematic way in the corporate sector? What parts in the communications, making use of the 37 social web, generate costs? It is clear how much an ad costs per line, but how does one estimate the costs of having rapid and responsive communications from a company? In conclusion, the knowledge about the research problem ought to be greater with the findings presented in this paper 38 REFERENCES: Books: Aaker, D.A (1991) Managing Brand Equity: Capitalizing the Value of a Brand Name Free Press, New York Aaker, D A (1996) Building Strong Brands Free Press, New York Aaker, D A (2004) Brand Portfolio Strategy Free Press”, New York Aaker, D A (2008) Strategic Market Management John Wiley & Sons, Inc Apéria, T and Back, R (2004) Brand Relations Management- Bridging the Gap Between Brand Promise and Brand Delivery Copenhagen Business School Press Babbie, E R (2004) The Practice of Social Research (10th edn) Belmont, CA: Wadsworth Thomson Learning Bengtsson,A (1996) Consumers and Mixed-Brands- on the Polysemy of Brand Meaning KFS AB, Lund Bertilsson, J (2009) The way brands work- consumers’ understanding of the creation and usage of brands Lund Business Press, Lund Carlsson, L (2010) Marknadsföring och kommunikation i sociala medier Givande dialoger, starkare varumärke, ökad försäljning Kreafon de Chernatony, L (1998) Brand management Galliard (Printers) Limited, Great Yarmouth, Norfolk Czinkota, M R and Ronkainen, I A (2010) Principles of International Marketing (9th ed) South Western Cengage Learning Elliott, R and Percy, L (2007) Strategic brand management Oxford University Press, Oxford Hansen, F and Christensen, L B (2003) Branding and Advertising Copenhagen Business School Press Jobber, D (2004) Principles and Practice of Marketing (4th ed) McGraw- Hill International Limited Kapferer, J-N (2001) Reinventing the Brand Kogan Page Limited Kapferer, J-N (2008) The new strategic brand management: creating and sustaining brand equity long term (4th ed) Kogan Page Limited Kotler,P (2003) Marketing Management (11th ed) Upper Saddle River, NJ, Prentice-Hall 39 Murphy, J M (1992) Branding- a Key Marketing Tool The Macmillan Press Limited Saunders, M., Lewis, P and Thornhill, A (2009) Research Methods for Business Students (5th ed) Essex, England: Pearson Education Limited Weber, L (2009) Marketing to the Social Web John Wiley & Sons , Inc., Hoboken, New Jersey Yin, R (2009) Case Study Research: Design and Methods (4th ed) London: Sage Publications Limited Articles: de Chernatony, L and F Dall'Olmo Riley (1997) The chasm between managers' and consumers' views of brands : the experts' perspectives Journal of Strategic Marketing Vol.5, nr Ekman, M Ökat fokus på sociala medier Svenska Dagbladet 2010-04-11 Fox, K (1996) Brand Management- Brand Naming Challenges in the New Millennium Journal of Business Strategy Nov/Dec Harris, L and Rae, A (2010) The online connection: transforming marketing strategy for small businesses Journal of Business Strategy Vol 31, nr Ho Yin Wong and Merrilees, B (2005) A brand orientation typology for SMEs: a case research approach Journal of Product & Brand Management Vol 14, nr Kaplan, A.M and Haenlein, M (2010) Users iof the world, unite! The challenges and opportunities of Social Media Business Horizons 53 Karel, J W (1991) Brand Strategy Positions Products Worldwide Journal of Business Strategy Vol 12, issue Keller, K L (1992) Conceptualizing, Measuring and Managing Customer-Based Brand Equity Journal of Marketing, Vol 56 McDonald, M H B Et al (2001) Corporate marketing and service brands Moving beyond the fast-moving consumer goods model European Journal of Marketing Vol 35, Nr 3-4 Owen James, D (2006) Extension to alliance: Aaker and Keller’s model revisited Journal of Product and Brand Management Vol 15, nr Pappu et al (2005) Consumer-based brand equity and country- of- origin relationships- some empirical evidence Journal of Product & Brand Management Volume 14, number 40 Pappu et al (2006) Consumer-based brand equity and country-of-origin relationships- some empirical evidence European Journal of Marketing Vol 40, nr 5-6 Wikberg, A (2010) Sociala medier Tendens Nr Internet: http://www.businessdictionary.com./definition/brand-strategy.html http://www.demoskop.se/?id=390 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Social_media http://www.entrepreneur.com/encyclopedia/term/82248.html http://www.merriam-webster.com/netdict/frame%20of%20reference http://www.polarbrod.se/pages/news.aspx?pageid=200 http://www.prophet.com/services/brand.html http://www.prophet.com/insights/books/brand_portfolio_strategy.html http://www.prophet.com/downloads/articles/perspective-bps.pdf http://theblakeproject.typepad.com/Chapter2.pdf 41 APPENDICES Appendix A Interview guide English BACKGROUND: This thesis is about how social media create brand awareness The following approach regarding brand awareness will be used in the study: according to academics like Aaker, Czinkota&Ronkainen et al brands are important because they shape the customers’ choice and create value (brand equity) Aaker means that this added value, brand equity, is built up by: brand awareness, perceive quality, brand loyalty, brand association and other proprietary brand assets (for example patent) Aaker means that brand awareness is one of the most important factors creating brand equity, and brand awareness is about, as the name indicates, how aware the customer is about the brand Brand awareness is measured traditionally by how well the customer is aware of the brand The scale ranges from the lowest level: recognition (the customer has been exposed to the brand) WEAK BRAND AWARENESS recall (what brands within the product group that the customer can recall) MEDIUM BRAND AWARENESS top of mind (the first brand that the client can recall) STRONG BRAND AWARENESS dominant (the sole brand the customer can recall) VERY STRONG BRAND AWARENESS There are academics who question this approach For example Larry Weber, who has studied social media and branding and marketing, argues that brand awareness is about the extent to which the customer is prone to recommend the product or service to others, and that reaching brand awareness is about the ability to make customers this recommendations to other persons In this study, it is assumed that word-of-mouth according to Weber is the strongest form of brand awareness, which may follow after the dominant-phase It is also assumed that brand awareness can exist in various degrees, from being weak (recognition), to medium (recall), to strong (top of mind), to very strong (dominant) Introduction: What is your role within the company? In general terms, what can you say about what how the company sees brand awareness and social media? How does the company use social media today? What kinds of social media are used today? If several kinds of social media are used, which is the most important one? Social media and brand awareness: Are social media used to create the weakest form of brand awareness- recognition? If so, could you please describe how this is done? Are social media used to create the medium form of brand awareness- recall? If so, could you please describe how this is done? Are social media used to create the strong form of brand awareness- top of mind? If so, could you please describe how this is done? Are social media used to create the very strong form of brand awareness- dominant? If so, could you please describe how this is done? Are social media used to create such a strong form of brand awareness that the customer makes recommendations to others- word-of-mouth? If so, could you please describe how this is done? The purpose of using social media Are social media used to create brand awareness? Are social media used to increase sales? Are social media used to find new customers? Are social media used to for recruitment purposes? Are social media used in product development? Are social media used to improve communications with customers? Is there any other purpose for using social media? What is the purpose of using social media? How you think that the company will be using social media within an 18-month period? Brand awareness: How is brand awareness created in the company today? Has the upsurge of social media changed the way in which the company creates brand awareness? How is brand awareness measured when traditional media are used? How is brand awareness measured when social media are used? What is measure regarding brand awareness and social mediaThe number of visits? Number of comments? Number of fans, subscribers etc? Other sites and blogs that make links to you? Search-words and phrases in search engines? The number of writers about the company blog, the industry, a certain type of products or particular words? Sales/turnover? Do you have any other comments regarding measuring of brand awareness and social media? What is the purpose of using social media in the process of creating brand awareness? Do you see advantages in using social media to create brand awareness? If so, which advantages? Do you see disadvantages in using social media to create brand awareness? If so, which disadvantages? Is there anything else you would like to add regarding the company and social media and brand awareness? Appendix B Intervjuguide svenska Bakgrund: Denna C-uppsats handlar om hur sociala medier påverkar brand awareness Följande angreppssätt kring brand awareness kommer att användas i uppsatsen: Enligt forskare såsom Aaker, Czinkota&Ronkainen m fl är varumärken viktiga för att de formar kundens val och skapar värde (brand equity) Aaker menar att detta mervärde, brand equity, byggs upp av: brand awareness, upplevd kvalitet, varumärkes lojalitet, varumärkesassociationer och andra tillgångar som varumärket har (patent etc) Aaker menar att brand awareness är en av de viktigaste faktorerna som skapar brand equity, och brand awareness handlar om hur medveten kunden är om varumärket Brand awareness mäts traditionellt genom analys av hur kunden kommer ihåg ett varumärke Skalan går från lägsta nivån: recognition (kunden har exponerats för varumärket) WEAK BRAND AWARENESS recall (vilka varumärken inom produktgruppen kan kunden komma ihåg) MEDIUM BRAND AWARENESS top of mind (det första varumärket som kunden kommer ihåg) STRONG BRAND AWARENESS dominant (det enda varumärket kunden kommer ihåg) VERY STRONG BRAND AWARENESS Det finns forskare som ifrågasätter denna approach T.ex Larry Weber, som studerat sociala medier och varumärkesbyggande och marknadsföring, menar att brand awareness handlar om hur benägen kunden är att rekommendera produkten eller tjänsten till andra, och att uppnå brand awareness handlar om förmågan att få kunderna att göra denna rekommendation till andra kunder I denna uppsats antas att word-of-mouth enligt Weber är den starkaste formen av brand awareness, som kan följa efter dominant stadiet (där det aktuella varumärket är det enda kunden kommer ihåg) Det antas också att brand awareness kan existera i olika omfattning, från att vara svag (recognition) till mycket stark (dominant, varumärket är det enda i produktkategorin som man kunden kommer ihåg) Introduktion: Vilken är din roll inom företaget? Allmänt, vad kan du säga om hur företaget ser på brand awareness och sociala medier? Hur använder företaget sociala medier idag? Vilka typer av sociala medier används idag? Om flera typer av sociala medier används, vilket är det viktigaste sociala mediet som används? Sociala medier och brand awareness: Används sociala medier för att skapa ”svagaste formen av brand awareness”-recognition? Om ja, kan du berätta något om hur detta görs? Används sociala medier för att skapa ”brand awareness så att kunden kommer ihåg olika varumärken inom produktgruppen” -recall? Om ja, kan du berätta något om hur detta görs? Används sociala medier för att skapa ”brand awareness så att varumärket är det första kunden kommer ihåg”-top of mind? Om ja, kan du berätta något om hur detta görs? Används sociala medier för att skapa ”brand awareness så att varumärket är det enda kunden kommer ihåg”-dominant? Om ja, kan du berätta något om hur detta görs? Används sociala medier för att skapa så stark ”brand awareness att kunden rekommenderar varumärket till andra”? Om ja, kan du berätta något om hur detta görs? Syften med att använda sociala medier: Används sociala medier för att skapa brand awareness? Används sociala medier för att öka försäljningen? Används sociala medier för att hitta nya kunder? Används sociala medier för att rekrytera nya medarbetare? Används sociala medier i produktutveckling? Används sociala medier för att förbättra kommunikationen med kunderna? Finns det något annat syfte med att använda sociala medier? Vad är målet med att använda sociala medier? Hur tror du att företaget kommer att använda sociala medier på 18-månaders sikt? Brand awareness: Hur skapas brand awareness i företaget idag? Har uppkomsten av sociala medier förändrat företagets sätt att skapa brand awareness? Hur mäts brand awareness med beaktande av användningen av traditionella medier? Hur mäts brand awareness med beaktande av användningen av sociala medier? Vad mäts beträffande brand awareness och sociala medierär det antal besök? Antal kommentarer? Antal följande fans, prenumeranter och liknande? Andra sajter och bloggar som länkar? Sökord och fraser i sökmotorer? Hur många som skriver om till exempel företagets blogg, branschen, en viss typ av produkter eller särskilda ord? Försäljning/omsättning? Har du några andra kommentarer kring mätning av brand awareness och sociala medier? Vad är målet med att använda sociala medier i processen att skapa brand awareness? Ser du att det finns fördelar med att använda sociala medier för att skapa brand awareness? Om ja, vilka fördelar? Ser du att det finns nackdelar med att använda sociala medier för att skapa brand awareness? Om ja, vilka nackdelar? Finns det något annat du vill tillägga rörande företaget och sociala medier och brand awareness? ... which social media may be used, social media and branding, brand and branding in general and branding in fast moving consumer goods sector, brand strategy, brand equity and brand awareness, the management... brands, and sub-brands These brands include a parent brand which may be a corporate brand, an umbrella brand, or a family brand as an endorsement to a sub -brand or an individual product brand The. .. importance that brand awareness has in the creation of brand equity, and that recent research take into account also how social media influence brand awareness, brand awareness is the aspect of branding