Victoria University

Applying social identity theory to the social media content strategy of a global brand: The role of brand- and user-generated content in global social identification

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dc.contributor.advisor Gao, Hongzhi
dc.contributor.author Meehan, Mikayla
dc.date.accessioned 2019-02-18T00:30:51Z
dc.date.available 2019-02-18T00:30:51Z
dc.date.copyright 2018
dc.date.issued 2018
dc.identifier.uri http://researcharchive.vuw.ac.nz/handle/10063/8027
dc.description.abstract The global marketplace is centred around products and brands that reflect certain identities. Social media can act as vehicles of meaning transfer for social identification between brands and social media users with a global social identity. Recognizing the importance of the psychological and sociological needs that draw social media users to build relationships with global brands, the purpose of this thesis is to explore the relevance of the global social identification process to global social media branding strategy. More specifically, this research considers the role and influence of social group membership dynamics to explore how brand-generated and user-generated content are part of the global social identification process. In that, this research aims to fill the gap where social identity theory has not been applied as a lens through which to understand and evaluate the social media content strategy of a global brand. This gap is important to fill due to the global social media arena’s social-centric nature and transparency in displaying social group memberships. An interpretive paradigm was used for this research, with a qualitative case study approach that consisted of interviews with global social media users/global brand representatives and a content analysis of the focal brands social media pages. The study found that the global social identification process on social media consists of two stages, global identity priming and global identity expression. Global identity priming occurs when the psychological and sociological function of global brands is transferred to brand-generated content through a semiotic meaning transfer process. Global identity expression can occur after, as a result of global identity priming, social media users with a global identity categorize the global brand into their in-group. Once in-group categorization takes place, creation and/or sharing of user-generated content with the global brand can be considered an act of identity expression and validation by those with a global identity. This has implications for a global brand’s social media content strategy, as the findings revealed that brand-generated content featuring certain symbolic global values facilitates the global social identification process on social media. Moreover, the findings revealed that user-generated content created by social media users for global identity expression purposes is of considerable value to global brands. Understanding how the global social identification process transpires on social media can guide global brands to consider how their content strategy can prime global social identification and meet the identity expression needs of those with a global identity. This has implications for content strategy design, social media interactions and ongoing global brand-user relationships. en_NZ
dc.language.iso en_NZ
dc.publisher Victoria University of Wellington en_NZ
dc.rights.uri http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/3.0/nz/
dc.subject Social media en_NZ
dc.subject Brand-generated content en_NZ
dc.subject Global branding en_NZ
dc.subject Global social identity en_NZ
dc.subject User-generated-content en_NZ
dc.subject Social identification process en_NZ
dc.subject BGC en_NZ
dc.subject UGC en_NZ
dc.title Applying social identity theory to the social media content strategy of a global brand: The role of brand- and user-generated content in global social identification en_NZ
dc.type text en_NZ
vuwschema.contributor.unit School of Marketing and International Business en_NZ
vuwschema.type.vuw Awarded Research Masters Thesis en_NZ
thesis.degree.discipline International Business en_NZ
thesis.degree.grantor Victoria University of Wellington en_NZ
thesis.degree.level Masters en_NZ
thesis.degree.name Master of Commerce en_NZ
dc.rights.license Creative Commons GNU GPL en_NZ
dc.rights.license Allow commercial use en_NZ
dc.date.updated 2019-01-31T06:26:40Z
vuwschema.subject.anzsrcfor 150308 International Business en_NZ
vuwschema.subject.anzsrcseo 970115 Expanding Knowledge in Commerce, Management, Tourism and Services en_NZ
vuwschema.subject.anzsrctoa 1 PURE BASIC RESEARCH en_NZ


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