Instagram as a mirror of brand identities: A qualitative analysis of Netflix communication strategy on Instagram in the United States Student Name: Blagovesta Dimitrova Student Number: 494241bd Supervisor: Dr. Deborah Castro Mariño Master Media Studies - Media & Creative Industries Erasmus School of History, Culture and Communication Erasmus University Rotterdam Master's Thesis June 2019 Table of Contents ABSTRACT ..........................................................................................................................................3 Preface ..............................................................................................................................................4 1. Introduction ...................................................................................................................................5 1.1 Instagram and Netflix .......................................................................................................................... 5 1.2 Research Problem ............................................................................................................................... 7 1.3 Scientific Relevance ............................................................................................................................ 8 1.4 Social Relevance .................................................................................................................................. 8 1.5 Thesis Outline ...................................................................................................................................... 9 2. Theory and previous research ....................................................................................................... 11 2.1 Social Media Marketing (SMM) ........................................................................................................ 11 2.2 Instagram .......................................................................................................................................... 13 2.3 Brand Engagement, Brand Community Building, Brand Loyalty ...................................................... 16 2.3.1 Brand Engagement ..................................................................................................................... 16 2.3.2 Brand Community Building ........................................................................................................ 17 2.3.3 Brand Loyalty ............................................................................................................................. 19 2.4 Brand Identity ................................................................................................................................... 20 2.4.1 Netflix Brand Identity ................................................................................................................. 20 2.5 Conclusion ......................................................................................................................................... 22 3. Methodology ............................................................................................................................... 22 3.1 Research Design and Rationale ......................................................................................................... 23 3.1.1 Qualitative Research Method .................................................................................................... 23 3.1.2 Qualitative Content Analysis ...................................................................................................... 24 3.2 Sampling ............................................................................................................................................ 24 3.2.1 Units of Analysis ......................................................................................................................... 24 3.3 Operationalization ............................................................................................................................ 25 3.3.1 Operationalization of engagement ............................................................................................ 25 3.3.2 Operationalization of “type of content” .................................................................................... 26 3.3.3 Operationalization of “type of promotion” ............................................................................... 27 3.3.4 Operationalization of “overall emotion” ................................................................................... 28 3.3.5 Operationalization of “additional elements” ............................................................................. 29 3.4 Data Collection and Data Analysis .................................................................................................... 31 1 3.4.1 Data Collection ........................................................................................................................... 31 3.4.2 Data Analysis .............................................................................................................................. 32 3.5 Validity, Reliability, Credibility, and Reflexivity................................................................................. 33 3.6 Ethical Consideration ........................................................................................................................ 34 4. Results ......................................................................................................................................... 35 4.1 “Type of Advertised Netflix Content” ............................................................................................... 36 4.2 “Type of Post” ................................................................................................................................... 39 4.2.1 Frequency and Daily Online Activity .......................................................................................... 39 4.2.2 Engagement ............................................................................................................................... 44 4.3 “Promotional Purpose” ..................................................................................................................... 48 4.4 “Overall Emotion (Caption)” ............................................................................................................. 51 4.5 “Additional Elements" ....................................................................................................................... 54 5. Discussion and Conclusion ............................................................................................................ 56 5.1 Answers to the Research Questions ................................................................................................. 56 5.2 Scientific and Social Implications ...................................................................................................... 59 5.3 Limitations and Future Research ...................................................................................................... 60 6. References ................................................................................................................................... 63 Appendices ...................................................................................................................................... 67 2 ABSTRACT The growing influence of social media platforms in the strategic communication of businesses is an observable trend. The opportunities that social networking sites provide spread through factors such as ease of viral reach, efficiency in terms of costs and chance for reaching niche audiences. Social media marketing along with brands’ presence online offer both companies and consumers an environment where, on one side, the brand can manifest its identity and, on the other, the consumer can engage with the brand in an informal setting, without feeling bombarded with targeted promotional content. Even though certain businesses use social media platforms to solely showcase their products or services, it becomes apparent that there are other alternatives to this strategy that result in higher engagement levels and more loyal and enthusiastic brand community base. Instagram is a distinctive social media platform as its features are mainly focused on visual communication. This allows brands to create a gallery-like experience but also create a strategy that takes into consideration the perks of the platform and how to use them to engage users. As an on-demand streaming service provider, Netflix sells visual content. Instagram turns out to be a convenient place for the company to promote itself. This research explores the Netflix’ use of the Instagram platform on their US account in search of the types of content Netflix publishes and what kind of brand identity it presents. This project is based on a qualitative content analysis of 170 Instagram posts gathered from the Netflix US account. Within the theoretical framework, concepts such as social media marketing, band engagement, brand community building, brand loyalty and brand identity are described and incorporated in analyzing the company’s marketing efforts online. This study established that Netflix combines the visualization platform’s ability to display its brand identity and build a brand community but through using distinctive humorous brand voice, representation of a positive