Social Media Relationships and the Swedish Coffee Industry - A Study Connecting Uses and Gratifications to SCRM Strategies and Business Functions

Abstract: In consumer product markets it has been standard for firms to use traditional relationship marketing to create a competitive advantage and brand loyalty, however lately a shift towards social media channels and Social CRM has been noted. Companies deem the new marketing channel promising, however social media users do not generally reflect on this way of interacting with brands unless they perceive it beneficial. Thus, the focus of this thesis will be to obtain an understanding of the relationship between individuals and companies in the context of Swedish coffee companies in social media. The research is conducted through a case study including three Swedish coffee companies and a survey directed at their social media audience. We illustrate a pattern in the use of social media for the case subjects that highlight the companies SCRM objectives and the business functions of their social media fan pages; the motives for the audience to use their fan page perceived by the companies as well as motives reported by the fan page users themselves. We further find that there is a discrepancy surrounding the motives of the fan page users on why they choose to engage with the brands, where the users report interpersonal utility and entertainment aspects as significant for their use of the medium, while companies also perceive the search for information to be an important motive.