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CHAPTER ONE

Research Proposal · January 2020

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 CHAPTER ONE

1.0 Introduction.

This chapter will provide an introduction of the topic that has been chosen, based on the research
found about the topic a background was written. The background will be followed by a problem
discussion including an overall purpose and research questions. An overview of the entire thesis
will also present.

1.2 Background of the study.

Tegelbruketdesign had collaboration with a woman who have a private interior Instagram
account with over 7000 followers. She showed interest in a lamp and was offered a discount in
exchange for a post on her Instagram. When she received the lamp, she posted a picture on the
lamp in her home environment and wrote that it was bought from Tegelbruketdesign. This
immediately resulted in several orders of the lamp. This got the research team really interested in
how effective Instagram is as a marketing tool. Marketing communications is different ways by
which firms attempt to inform, persuade and remind customers – directly or indirectly – about
the product sand brands they sell. Marketing communications represent the ‘voice’ of the
company and its brands. It is also means by which it can establish adialogue and build
relationships with and among consumers. (Keller, 2009) Marketing communications can tell or
show consumers how and why a product is used, by what kind of person, where and when.
Consumers can learn about who makes the product and what the company and brand stands for.
Consumers can also get an incentive or reward for trial or usage. Marketing communications
allow companies to link their brands to other people, places, events, brands, experiences, feelings
and things. It can also create experiences and build communities both online and offline. (Luo &
Donthu, 2006). Instagram is one of most popular form of social media and it has 300 million
active users worldwide, 70 million pictures are posted on an average per day and 2.5 billion likes
are given daily.(Instagram,2015) In Sweden seven out of ten (78%) visit social media sometimes,
almost half of that do it daily.2 It gained popularity most of the different social medias in 2014
and has almost doubled the active users, almost every third swede (28%) is now an active user.
(Internetstatistik, 2014)
Instagram is an application for smartphones that provides a service to take pictures or upload a
video of 15 seconds and share it with followers. The photo or video can also be added with a
description– called caption – and make them searchable with hash tags and geotags (wordlist in
appendix). The pictures can be directed to a Specific account by adding a @ followed by the
username in the caption (Instagram, 2015). Tegelbruketdesign is an interior web shop that is
selling a mix of affordable and Premium products and it is based in Aligns, Sweden. The
company’s target group is trendy women in the ages 25-40.The marketing budget is very slim
and therefore they have chosen Instagram as their main marketing channel because it is free but
very effective. The existing marketing budget is assigned for Instagram activities e.g. giveaways
and product placements (wordlist in appendix) which been very successful for Tegelbruketdesign
and the Instagram account went from 0 to 1600 followers in one and a half month. The reason
why the research team chose this topic is because Tegelbruketdesign uses Instagram as their big
marketing channel and the brand is spreading every day. The researchers want to know how
different strategies or activities can make the interest for a company bigger on Instagram and if
this affects the traffic to the web shop.

1.3 Objectives of the study

1.3.1 General objective

The general objective this thesis is to gain a better understanding of how Instagram is used as a
marketing tool. And to understand which marketing activities can be used for a company that
wants to increase the traffic to the site and spreading the brand. The spreading is measured by
amount of likes on Instagram.

1.3.2 Specific objectives

The study was having the following specific objective:-

a) To determine the factors affecting instagram marketing.

b) To examine effects of instagram and consumer behavior.

c) To identify the challenges on instagram on marketing.

1.4 Research questions

Basically the researcher focused on obtaining appropriate answers from the units of the study
based on the following questions.

RQ1: How do pictures on Instagram affect the spreading of a brand?

RQ2: How do Instagram activities affect the traffic to the web shop?

RQ3: How do instagram improve sales on marketing?

RQ4: How to use instagram effectively as a part of the social media marketing strategy?

RQ5: How can business man use instagram effectively in their brand communication and
marketing?

RQ6: How will instagram affect consumer behaviuor?

1.5 Significance of the study

The success of the business organization was very much determined by the capacity contributed
from customer’s satisfaction through quality of the products or services provided.

However this study tends to meet the following important aspects:

a) To stimulate the awareness of the management at the area of the study and elsewhere
about customer, consumer needs.
b) The expected findings of this study will be useful to organization under the study and
other business organization on how to bring more effective customer needs to
achievement of objectives.
c) The study will contribute to the enhancement and expansion of stock of knowledge both
to the researcher and the people subjected to it.
References

Buinac, Ena (2016).Instagram as marketing tool: A case study about how companies
communicate their brands on social media, Lulea University of Technology publisher

Eman, Wally (2014).The use of instagram as a marketing tool by Emirati female entrepreneurs:
an exploratory study, Australia: University of Wollongong Australia publisher.

Ismail, A. (2017).The influence of perceived social media marketing activities on brand loyally:
The mediation effect of brand and consciousness,

Masanja, N.M (2018). Introduction to business research. Mwanza, Tanzania; NMM Publishers.

Masanja, N.M (2019). Practical handbook to dissertation and thesis writing. Mwanza, Tanzania:
NMM Printers.

Nummila, Mia (2015). Successful social media marketing on instagram. U.S.A; Haag-Helia
publisher

Vinaika, Raj (2017). How instagram is changing the way marketing works?. India; MBA
Technology.

Saima, Khan (2018). Instagram as a marketing tool for luxury brands, U.S.A: University of
business and technology publisher.

Zeng, Junfen (2017). Using of social media as a marketing tool for businesses. Student theses,
paper and project “(computer science) Digital commons @WOU Publisher.
 References

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