As a result of the growth of social media and the development of high specification technology, in particular smartphones, companies are presented with new opportunities to shape and preserve relationships with consumers. Consumers of the present day utilise social media platforms to share their experiences with companies and their products through content that has the potential to be seen by thousands of other individuals. Thus, it is of great significance for these companies that they have a presence across social media platforms, so they are able to monitor and contribute to these discussions. The current thesis focuses on the social media platform Instagram, specifically looking at how four leading brands in the health and fitness gym wear industry utilise this platform from a marketing and personal relations standpoint, and how their content impacts the user’s levels of engagement.
In order to accumulate the data for the current thesis a mixed methods approach was utilised. The first method was content analysis, the four companies 200 most recent posts of the time of the analysis (10th January 2018) were studied. The second method was a survey, with the objective of exploring users of Instagram motivations for following brands, to identify why they engage with the application and if marketing on the medium influences their purchasing behaviours. The data collected has been researched through an overall perspective of marketing and public relations.
The results identified that user’s levels of interaction are strongly impacted by the type of content that brands were posting. It can be seen through the findings that companies across Instagram utilse the platform to predominantly to share information with regards to upcoming events and to market their products and/or services. The current thesis acknowledges how in general the studied companies adapt their content appropriately for the medium, however it can be suggested that they do not utilse all of the fundamental tools, some of which if utilised correctly could greatly benefit the companies.