Social Media Marketing Use for Brand Promotion: Research of Influence of Content on Post Value and Propensity to Purchase

Abstract on the master's thesis «SOCIAL MEDIA MARKETING USE FOR BRAND PROMOTION: RESEARCH OF INFLUENCE OF CONTENT ON POST VALUE AND PROPENSITY TO PURCHASE» Ponomareva Anastasia Nikolaevna In this thesis, we examined the influence on consumers of various content on community’s posts used to promote brands in social media. Relevance of the research lies in the insufficient amount of research aimed at understanding the perception of the generation Y of content on community’s posts of brands of soft drinks. The purpose of the research is to determine how the value of the post for the consumer depends on the type of content and affects the brand value, and determine whether the type of content of the posted post affects the consumer's desire to make a purchase of the brand after contact with this post. Research objectives: • Conduct a theoretical overview of social media, linked to statistical data on frequency of use and demography; a review of the forecasts of specialists in marketing, as well as studies and cases related to the effectiveness of SMM in business; a review of survey of research aimed at studying the generation Y. • Carry out a survey to identify consumers' attitudes to brand’s posts in communities. • Analyze the received data to determine the value of posts for the consumer, depending on the type of content, as well as to identify patterns between the type of content posts and the desire of the consumer to make a purchase. • Give recommendations for further study of the topic. In the empirical part of the study, data from the content analysis of the posts was used and a survey was conducted. As a result, hypotheses about the value of posts and the stimulation of content for the purchase were confirmed, and hypotheses related to the different perception of content that encouraged buying, depending on gender, were not confirmed.