Social Media Marketing’s Influence on Consumer Satisfaction

During the last few years social media has grown into a worldwide phenomenon and it is now a part of many peoples everyday life. Many companies therefore seek to use these platforms in order to more easily reach their customers and possible consumers. The largest and most important social media platform for this practice is Facebook. How consumers want companies to act on Facebook is an area not sufficiently covered by previous research and the purpose of this thesis is therefore to gain a better understanding of how companies could improve their actions on social media. The research questions for this thesis are:RQ1: How do consumers perceive companies’ use of social media as a channel for marketing activities?RQ2: What type of social media marketing activities generates the most consumer satisfaction?This study is an exploratory/descriptive study with a qualitative research approach and by conducting a case study based on five different semi-structured interviews data concerning the participants’ opinions regarding companies’ presence on Facebook was gathered. The conclusions reached showed that consumers are generally positive towards companies being on Facebook and the largest factor deciding whether or not a company is appreciated is the type of content the company posts and vivid and engaging content is the most appreciated. Furthermore, the results of the data analysis suggest that companies should utilize the functions offered by the platform and engage the consumers in open, two-way communication. Interactions regarding the purchasing process are also valued by the consumers, as opposed to feeling connected to the company, which the findings show that there is little interest in.Validerat; 20150810 (global_studentproject_submitter