LUSEM Thesis Template
Total Page:16
File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb
Successful Personal Branding on Social Media Creating and building a personal brand via content on YouTube by Markéta Urbanová and Thea Slind May 2016 Master’s Programme in Globalization, Brands and Consumption 2015/2016 Supervisor: Veronika Tarnovskaya Examiner: Mats Urde Abstract This thesis investigates the phenomenon of personal branding on social media and, in particular, it examines how successful YouTubers create and build their personal brand via content. The thesis provides valuable input to the existing literature on personal branding, which is predominantly found in self-help books and articles by self-proclaimed gurus within personal branding. Using the method of qualitative content analysis, a total of 72 videos from four different successful YouTubers have been collected and analysed. The analysis of the empirical material revealed that there are three main patterns across the content of the successful YouTubers. That is: Loyal to Personal Brand Profile, Promotion of Multiple Social Media Accounts, and Addressing the Audience and Encouraging Co-creation. Subsequently, these patterns can be understood as the key success factors of personal branding on social media via content. Based on these findings, this thesis proposes a new conceptual framework for personal branding on social media. The framework explains that personal branding on social media via content is a complex and on-going process, in which all elements of the framework should be implemented simultaneously in order to build a strong and holistic personal brand. By illustrating how established branding theories can be extended to include humans, this thesis not only serves as a contribution to the theoretical field of personal branding, but also to the field of branding as a whole. Keywords: Personal Branding, Social Media, YouTube, Brands i Acknowledgements First and foremost we would like to express our deepest gratitude to our supervisor Veronika Tarnovskaya for her invaluable advice and guidance during the entire process of this thesis. She has been of great support to us, always willing to help and share her broad knowledge, which was essential for the successful completion of this thesis. Moreover, it has been a pleasure to work with Veronika not only for her insightful supervision, but also for her interpersonal qualities. We would like to also extend our appreciation to Pavel Procházka whose ideas and comments served as an inspiration for the topic of this thesis. Furthermore, we would like to express a special thank-you to Julienne Steward-Sandgren who supported us with her extensive expertise within linguistic and academic writing. A final gratitude is dedicated to the authors’ families and friends for their unconditional love and support. - THANK YOU Markéta & Thea ii Table of Contents 1 Introduction ........................................................................................................................ 1 1.1 Background ................................................................................................................... 1 1.2 Problem Formulation ..................................................................................................... 3 1.3 Research Purpose and Question .................................................................................... 8 1.4 Contribution of the Thesis ............................................................................................. 9 1.4.1 Theoretical Contribution ...................................................................................... 10 1.4.2 Practical Contribution .......................................................................................... 10 1.5 Outline of the Thesis ................................................................................................... 11 2 Literature Review ............................................................................................................. 12 2.1 Extending the Concept of Brands to Humans ............................................................. 12 2.2 Personal Branding ....................................................................................................... 14 2.2.1 Elements of Personal Branding ............................................................................ 17 2.3 Personal Branding on Social Media ............................................................................ 18 2.3.1 Personally Branded Content ................................................................................. 20 2.4 Chapter Summary ........................................................................................................ 22 3 Methodology ..................................................................................................................... 25 3.1 Research Philosophy ................................................................................................... 25 3.2 Research Strategy ........................................................................................................ 26 3.2.1 Exploratory Research with Inductive Approach .................................................. 26 3.2.2 Qualitative Strategy .............................................................................................. 27 3.3 Research Method ......................................................................................................... 27 3.3.1 Data Collection and Analysis ............................................................................... 29 3.3.2 Site and Sample .................................................................................................... 30 3.3.3 Pilot Study ............................................................................................................ 36 3.3.4 Coding Manual ..................................................................................................... 36 3.4 Ethical Considerations ................................................................................................. 37 3.5 Limitations .................................................................................................................. 38 3.6 Trustworthiness of the Research ................................................................................. 40 4 Empirical Findings ........................................................................................................... 43 4.1 Identified Patterns ....................................................................................................... 43 4.1.1 Loyal to Personal Brand Profile ........................................................................... 44 4.1.2 Promotion of Multiple Social Media Accounts ................................................... 51 4.1.3 Addressing the Audience and Encouraging Co-creation ..................................... 54 iii 4.1.4 Use and Promotion of Brands .............................................................................. 59 5 Discussion .......................................................................................................................... 62 5.1 Establish Personal Brand ............................................................................................. 62 5.2 Enforce Personal Brand ............................................................................................... 65 5.3 Maintain Personal Brand ............................................................................................. 67 5.4 Personal Branding on Social Media ............................................................................ 69 6 Conclusion ......................................................................................................................... 73 6.1 Ethical Implications ..................................................................................................... 74 6.2 Managerial Recommendation ..................................................................................... 76 6.3 Future Research ........................................................................................................... 77 References ............................................................................................................................... 79 Appendix 1 .............................................................................................................................. 87 Appendix 2 .............................................................................................................................. 88 Appendix 3 .............................................................................................................................. 89 Appendix 4 .............................................................................................................................. 90 Appendix 5 ............................................................................................................................ 100 iv List of Tables Table 3.1 Themes Included in the Coding Manual .................................................................. 37 Table 4.1 Features of the Four YouTubers’ Brand Profiles ..................................................... 44 v List of Figures Figure 1.1 Research Objectives .................................................................................................. 9 Figure 1.2 Outline of the Thesis ............................................................................................... 11 Figure 2.1 The Honeycomb of Social Media