Social Media Brand Management

Definition Of Social Media And Social Networking Sites

Social media comprises of two perspectives, a communication perspective and a network perspective. First, social media can be defined as a communication medium for storing or retrieving information or data. Second, from the perspective of social network theory, a social network is a social structure made up of a set of individuals with a complex set of dyadic ties among them (Wasserman & Faust, 1994). Put together, social media are communications systems that allow their social actors to communicate along dyadic ties (Peters, Chen, Kaplan, Ognibeni, & Pauwels, 2013, p. 282). As a consequence, all nodes in a social network can be regarded as equal. Hence, individuals, i.e. consumers and brands are just actors on the same hierarchy level.

Social media can have different degrees of interactivity (Stewart & Pavlou, 2002). In the context of social networking sites, e.g. Facebook or Twitter, Kaplan and Haenlein (2010) define social media as a group of Internet-based applications that build on the ideological and technological foundations of Web 2.0 (p. 61). Social media can facilitate interactive brand communication between companies and members of brand communities, i.e. brand fan pages, and between members itself. It offers the possibility of collaboration, creation and exchange of content by members. Today, social media users have become active content creators by expressing and sharing their opinions, thoughts, and perceptions toward brands, products, and firms through different social media channels, i.e. online reviews, blogs, Tweets, and Facebook posts, collectively referred to as user-generated content (Nam & Kannan, 2014, p. 21) or in terms of brand-related content referred to as brand stories (Gensler, Völckner, Liu-Thompkins, & Wiertz, 2013, p. 242).

Social networking sites such as Facebook or Twitter have become popular social media channels. Social networking sites can be defined as networks of members for social or professional interactions (Trusov, Bucklin, & Pauwels, 2009). Members of social networking sites can become friends with other members, and they can become fans of brands on brand fan pages. Brand fans can share their passion about the brand on these pages (Kozinets, de Valck, Wojnicki, & Wilner, 1999).