Power of employees on social media : examining the influences between brand-related user-generated content of Teknos brand on social media

The primary scope and aim of this thesis is to provide an overview of how customers and other external stakeholders perceive brand related and user-generated content on social media affecting their brand engagement and trust. Additionally, this thesis focuses on identifying what kind of advocates are generally seen as engaging, for example, when it comes to their personality traits. Lastly, this study aims to provide recommendations for future research to gain more in-depth understanding of the topic. The key concepts reviewed in the theoretical framework of this study were digital marketing, social media, modern customer decision making journey, and influencer marketing. These concepts were selected as the key focus points for the thorough analysis of this study due to their close linkage to the reason for the evolution of brand advocacy. The research philosophy adopted in this study was constructivism. Moreover, this study used a qualitative research method, and the empirical findings were gathered via an open questionnaire and semi-structured individual interviews. The online questionnaire received responses from 40 participants, and, in addition, 5 individuals were further interviewed. Thematic analysis and data coding was then used to draw common themes from these responses to provide answers for the research questions. The results of this study indicate that brand advocates are generally perceived as more trustworthy sources for sharing brand information and recommendations than corporations. Moreover, several key personality traits and professional qualities were established regarding what kind of professionals should be selected as corporate advocates based on their engagement ability towards customers. Overall, this study provided further recommendations for Teknos company on how to start a brand advocacy program