Social media: the entrepreneurs’ way to
a successful brand?
ERASMUS UNIVERSITY ROTTERDAM
Faculty of Economics and Business
Marketing
Supervisor: Gerhard Havranek
Name: Nick Mahn
Student number: 331329nm
E-mail address: nickmahn@live.nl
Study: International Bachelor & Business Economics
Thesis: Bachelor
Preliminary Table of Content
Contents
Chapter 1 Introduction ............................................................................................................... 3
1.1
Problem definition and research question ....................................................................... 4
1.2
Scientific and social relevance and significance of the topic .......................................... 5
1.3
Structure and theoretical framework. .............................................................................. 6
Preliminary setup of the thesis ................................................................................................... 8
Literature list .............................................................................................................................. 9
Chapter 1 Introduction
Social media has increasingly and successfully integrated in one’s life. With around 73
percent of U.S. adult owning a profile on at least one social media channel and 42 percent
using multiple channels (Pewresearch, 2013), we have seen that not only the newer generation
has embraced social media, but also generations from before the social media era integrated
mediums in their life. Around 63 percent of the users of Facebook, the largest social media
channel, use the medium on a daily basis.
Not only consumers are interested in social media, but also businesses seem to have interest in
the digital channels. Companies started to anticipate on the success of social media, and have
implemented it in their business structures. According to Forbes (Demers, 2014), around 90
percent of American small businesses are on social media today. Understanding social media
has become easier for the starting entrepreneur, and ecommerce has become a popular way for
retailers and enterprises to sell goods to consumers.
With the introduction of Web 2.0, a term made popular by Tim O’Reilly in 2004 and
describing the internet as a tool where interactivity and sharing information between users
became easier to use by the average consumer. It shows that we have adopted the concepts of
Web 2.0, with the creation of websites as Facebook, Twitter, and the creation of blogs, where
people write opinions, tips and other writings for the word to see.
Companies see this as a new way to reach their target audience and expand to new audiences,
but large companies are easily reached, and large companies easily reach existing customers
and new customers through social media. If we ask someone to name a large phone producer,
we would most likely here the popular brand Apple first. Although not necessarily online on
social networks, large corporations benefit from their position in the social network of
consumers. Digital wise, the possibility of a person typing in the name of a large company as
Nike is much larger than randomly finding a small entrepreneur that creates a similar product.
1.1
Problem definition and research question
Everyone has access to social media, but for entrepreneurs, social media might be a key
player into turning their product or idea into a success. However, with the majority of
companies active on large social media platforms, the competition being large, and being an
unknown entrant to this market, it could be difficult for an entrepreneur or a startup to
distinguish itself alongside large companies.
It seems very easy to just launch your company online, put content on your page and create a
link towards your website, where you will be able to sell your product. However, there are
many questions a startup might not have considered before using social media. As an
example: how will you reach that segment of the online market that might be interested in
your product? And are users on social media in any way clustered, or would you need to
target each person individually? Besides that, how do you know that consumers are indeed
interested in the content that you offer?
The research question that follows from this problem statement is:
How can an entrepreneur market itself and its brand effectively through the use of
social media strategies?
1.2
Scientific and social relevance and significance of the topic
New startups are created each day, and the same for new ideas. However, a large amount of
these startups fail within the first three years (Statisticbrain, 2014). Different reasons can be
thought of that contribute in the failure of a startup; however the best idea or product might
not become a success if there is no audience. To create an audience for your company, several
steps have to be taken in order to get buzz on social media.
On a scientific basis, we see that innovation through technology and social media have
changed and contributed to certain strategies and concepts in marketing. Effects of strategies
used by companies, implementation of social media metrics to strategies, content virality, and
positioning in the social network of the consumer could allow a startup to effectively reach a
target audience for their product, and reach an audience that previously would be harder to
grasp. Although more publications are posted regarding social media, there is still a large area
not covered, and this paper should go more in depth regarding how startups and entrepreneurs
should position themselves through digital channels after establishment on social media.
1.3
Structure and theoretical framework.
Exploratory research will be used to emphasize the ideas and insights of other literary work
on this subject. Although there is limited work available on social media, combining and
applying theories used in the available literature should give insights in use of social media
and online marketing strategies for startups. Also, offsetting small enterprises to successful
social media strategies from large corporations will be used to show successful examples.
In terms of qualitative versus quantitative, mostly qualitative research will be done.
Observation and implementation of texts and analysis of other literary work will be used to
answer the research question. However in some areas within social media, specifically the
social media network, with the use of tools as NodeXL and Gephi we can gather data from
social media pages on Twitter and Youtube for companies.
First we will use the quantitative data from online metric programs as Gephi and NodeXL to
measure the positioning of corporations, by emphasizing the difference between positioning
of small versus large brands. (Hansen, 2010). Before that, an explanation of the different
terms used to measure social network positioning will be given (Borgatti, 2009). Also, the
effects of people on other people in the social network will be described, with the diffusion
and adaptation process of hubs in a network (Goldenberg, 2009.) The first sub-question that
will be answered is: How do you reach your audience?
In the second section, it is of importance to find out what the startup itself needs to deliver
through their social media. How will the customer perceive the brand through its social media
channels? In order to create a positive perception of the brand, the content on social media
will be an important parameter. We will discuss what makes content successful through
example of content virality, and what characteristics are attractive through customers.
Examples will be shown to visualize successful content. The sub question here is: What do
you want to communicate to the people reached?
Finally, the relationship between brand based communication and brand equity will be
explained and applied, to show what value social media strategies might have on improving
the image of your brand. (Bruhn, 2012). To understand this relationship and application, the
concept of brand equity will be explained, and why it is important (Taylor, 2004). Afterwards
the effects of social media will be introduced to show the alterations it has made towards
measurement of brand equity, and improving brand equity through social media. Creation of
brand equity for small brands will be constructed through examples of big brands that have
successfully created added value to the brand by strategically using social media strategies.
The final sub question will be: How will your social media exposure affect you as a brand?
Preliminary setup of the thesis

Introduction
o Problem definition
o Research question
o Division of question into three sections

Social media and the social network (Who do you want to reach?)

Social media and company content. (What do you want to give to the
people reached?)

Brand equity and social media (How will that what you have given
benefit you as a company?)
o Social and scientific relevance

The concept of social media: history and present
o The emergence of social media: Web 2.0
o Social media in 2014.
o Brands and social media.

Methodology and theoretical framework
o Type of research
o Explanation of concepts used for research

Data and Theory

Social media and the social network (Who do you want to reach?)

Social media and company content. (What do you want to give to the
people reached?)

Brand equity and social media (How will that what you have given
benefit you as a company?)

Conclusion

Literature

Appendixes
Literature list
Borgatti, S. P., Mehra, A., Brass, D. J., & Labianca, G. (2009), “Network analysis in the
social sciences,” Science, 323 (5916), 892-895.
Bruhn, M., Schoenmueller, V., and Schäfer, D.B. (2012), “Are social media replacing
traditional media in terms of brand equity creation?” Management Research Review, Vol. 35
Iss: 9, pp.770 – 790
Demers, J. (2014, February 4). The Confluence of content and social media: insights for
success in 2014 [Web log post]. Retrieved April 28, 2014, from http://forbes.com
Goldenberg, J., Han, S., Lehmann, D.R., and Hong J.W. (2009), “The role of hubs in the
adoption process,” Journal of Marketing, 73 (3), 1-13.
Hansen, D., Shneiderman, B., and Smith, M. (2010), Analyzing Social Media Networks with
NodeXL: Insights from a Connected World. (1st edition) Morgan Kaufmann
Schonfeld, E. (2013, December 30). Social media update [Web log post]. Retrieved April 28,
2014, from http://www.pewinternet.org/2013/12/30/social-media-update-2013/
Statisticbrain (2014, January 1). Startup failure rates by industry Retrieved from
http://www.statisticbrain.com/startup-failure-by-industry/
Taylor, S.A, Celuch, K., Goodwin, S., (2004) "The importance of brand equity to customer
loyalty", Journal of Product & Brand Management, Vol. 13 Iss: 4, pp.217 – 227