Kristiina Sulkala

IMPROVING SOCIAL MEDIA MARKETING IN META PLATFORMS

BY DEVELOPING AN INDUSTRY-INDEPENDENT TOOL
A research-based development study for a digital advertising agency
IMPROVING SOCIAL MEDIA MARKETING IN META PLATFORMS
BY DEVELOPING AN INDUSTRY-INDEPENDENT TOOL
A research-based development study for a digital advertising agency

Kristiina Sulkala
Bachelor’s thesis
Autumn 2023
Degree programme in International
Business
Oulu University of Applied Sciences
ABSTRACT

Oulu University of Applied Sciences

Degree programme in International Business

Author: Kristiina Sulkala

Title of the thesis: Improving social media marketing in Meta Platforms by developing an industry-
independent tool – A research-based development study for a digital advertising agency
Thesis examiner: Jaakko Sinisalo
Term and year of thesis completion: Autumn 2023 Pages: 55 + 2 appendices

This thesis is a research-based development study, focusing on improving social media marketing
in Meta Platforms by introducing an industry-independent tool. The commissioner, an advertising
agency, serves a diverse clientele with varying social media marketing needs. Common challenges
such as resource constraints, lack of structured content planning, and limited understanding of
social media functions were identified during interactions with the customer companies and the
commissioner. The rapid evolution of digital marketing, along with the rise of bidirectional commu-
nication through platforms like Meta, demonstrates the need for efficient and accessible tools for
enhancing social media marketing.

The primary goal of this study is to improve the utilisation of social media as a marketing channel
by developing an industry-independent tool. This tool, referred to as content creation cards, is cre-
ated to complement the social media strategy services offered by the commissioner. The tool pro-
vides ready-made content ideas categorised into four themes, ensuring diverse, engaging, and
consistent marketing. The study also focuses on investigating the potential of specific Meta Plat-
forms, Instagram and Facebook, as effective marketing channels for various companies.

The study employs an action research approach, utilising qualitative research methods including
semi-structured interviews, observation, brainstorming, and benchmarking. These methods are
employed to gather essential data, uncover challenges faced by companies, and understand the
dynamics of social media marketing. The theoretical foundation covers critical themes such as cer-
tain Meta Platforms, the role of paid, owned and earned media, the RACE model, key performance
indicators, SMART objectives, content marketing, and content matrices. This foundation sets the
stage for the later development process of the industry-independent tool.

Through the semi-structured interviews with the customer company and the commissioner, and
analysis of existing challenges, the study reveals the demand for accessible tools that enhance
content creation and amplify the impact of social media marketing strategies. The content creation
cards assure a practical solution for addressing resource limitations, content planning challenges,
and knowledge gaps. By providing companies with ready-made content ideas, the tool can assist
in driving traffic, generating leads, strengthening brand image, creating awareness, and boosting
sales. The cards could be developed further, by considering the differences between B2B and B2C
companies, introducing new language options, examining a possible digital form of the tool, and
adding accompanying products for enhancing the user experience.

Keywords: Social media marketing, Social media marketing development, Product development,
Meta platforms

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TIIVISTELMÄ

Oulun ammattikorkeakoulu
Degree Programme in International Business

Tekijä: Kristiina Sulkala

Opinnäytetyön nimi: Improving social media marketing in Meta Platforms by developing an industry-
independent tool – A research-based development study for a digital advertising agency
Työn ohjaaja: Jaakko Sinisalo
Työn valmistumislukukausi- ja vuosi: Syksy 2023 Sivumäärä: 55 + 2 liitettä

Tämä opinnäytetyö on tutkimukseen perustuva kehittämistyö, joka keskittyy sosiaalisen median

markkinoinnin parantamiseen Meta-alustoilla kehittämällä toimialasta riippumattoman työkalun.
Opinnäytetyön toimeksiantaja on digi- ja mainostoimisto, joka palvelee monipuolista asiakaskun-
taansa muun muassa sosiaalisen median markkinointitarpeissa. Asiakkaille yhteisiä sosiaalisen
median haasteita ovat muun muassa resurssien puute, jäsennellyn sisällön suunnittelun puute ja
sosiaalisen median toimintojen rajallinen ymmärrys. Nämä haasteet, digitaalisen markkinoinnin no-
pea kehitys sekä kaksisuuntaisen viestinnän kasvu osoittavat, että tehokkaiden ja helppokäyttöis-
ten työkalujen tarve sosiaalisen median markkinointistrategioiden parantamisessa on todellinen.

Tämän tutkimuksen ensisijaisena tavoitteena on parantaa sosiaalisen median hyödyntämistä

markkinointikanavana kehittämällä toimialasta riippumaton työkalu. Sisällöntuotantokorteiksi kut-
suttu työkalu on kehitetty tukemaan toimeksiantajan tarjoamia sosiaalisen median strategian pal-
veluita. Työkalu tarjoaa valmiita sisältöideoita, ja nämä ideat ovat jaoteltu neljään kategoriaan, joka
varmistaa monipuolisen, innostavan ja johdonmukaisen markkinoinnin. Tutkimus keskittyy myös
erityisesti Meta-alustojen, tarkemmin Instagramin ja Facebookin, potentiaalin selvittämiseen tehok-
kaina markkinointikanavina.

Tutkimuksessa käytetään toimintatutkimuksen lähestymistapaa, jossa hyödynnetään laadullisia

tutkimusmenetelmiä, kuten puolistrukturoituja haastatteluja, havainnointia, aivoriihiä ja benchmar-
kingia. Näillä menetelmillä kerätään olennaista tietoa, selvitetään yritysten kohtaamia haasteita ja
ymmärretään sosiaalisen median markkinoinnin toimintoja. Teoreettinen pohja kattaa olennaiset
teemat, kuten tietyt Meta-alustat, maksetun, omistetun ja ansaitun median roolit, RACE-mallin,
avainsuoritusmittarit, SMART-tavoitteet, sisältömarkkinoinnin ja sisältömatriisin. Tämä teoreettinen
pohja luo perustan toimialasta riippumattoman työkalun myöhemmälle kehittämisprosessille.

Asiakasyrityksen ja toimeksiantajan haastattelujen ja olemassa olevien haasteiden havainnoinnin

perusteella, tutkimus todentaa tarpeen helppokäyttöiselle työkalulle, joka tehostaa sisällöntuotan-
toa ja vahvistaa sosiaalisen median markkinointistrategioita. Sisällöntuotantokortit tarjoavat käy-
tännöllisen ratkaisun resurssipuutteiden, sisällönsuunnittelun haasteiden ja tiedonpuutteen korjaa-
miseen. Työkalu ja sen valmiit sisältöideat voivat lisätä myyntiä, vahvistaa brändikuvaa ja lisätä
tunnettuutta. Työkalua voi kehittää edelleen harkitsemalla esimerkiksi B2B- ja B2C-yritysten erot-
telua, lisäämällä kielivaihtoehtoja, tarkastelemalla työkalun mahdollista digitaalista muotoa ja luo-
malla työkalulle rinnakkaistuotteita käyttökokemuksen parantamiseksi.

Avainsanat: Sosiaalisen median markkinointi, Sosiaalisen median markkinoinnin kehittäminen,

Tuotekehitys, Meta alustat

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CONTENTS

1 INTRODUCTION ................................................................................................................... 6
2 COMMISSIONING COMPANY – ADVERTISING AND DIGITAL AGENCY .......................... 9
3 SOCIAL MEDIA MARKETING ............................................................................................. 10
3.1 Chosen Meta Platforms ............................................................................................ 11
3.1.1 Facebook ................................................................................................... 13
3.1.2 Instagram ................................................................................................... 16
3.2 The role of paid, owned and earned media in social media marketing ..................... 18
3.3 RACE model............................................................................................................. 21
3.4 Key performance indicators in social media marketing............................................. 24
3.5 SMART objectives for social media marketing ......................................................... 27
3.6 Content marketing and content matrix ...................................................................... 28
4 RESEARCH METHODOLOGY............................................................................................ 32
4.1 The research approach ............................................................................................ 32
4.2 Data collection methods ........................................................................................... 34
4.3 Data analysis ............................................................................................................ 36
5 THE CONTENT CREATION CARDS .................................................................................. 41
5.1 The phases of developing the social media marketing tool ...................................... 41
5.2 The key elements of a profitable social media marketing tool .................................. 45
6 CONCLUSION ..................................................................................................................... 49
7 DISCUSSION ...................................................................................................................... 51
LIST OF REFERENCES .............................................................................................................. 52
APPENDICES .............................................................................................................................. 56

5
1 INTRODUCTION

The following thesis is a research-based development study on improving social media marketing
in Meta Platforms with a developed industry-independent tool. The industry-independent tool is a
content creation deck of cards, and this deck is developed to be a complementary product for
supporting the social media strategy services the commissioner company offers. The content cre-
ation cards include ready-made content ideas for social media. The cards are classified in four
categories, thus aiming to ensure rich, engaging, and consistent content. The goal of the deck of
cards is to help companies reach the objective set by their specific social media marketing strategy.
These objectives could be for instance driving traffic, generating leads, strengthening the brand
image, creating awareness, or generating sales. Additionally, the deck of cards should ease the
creation of educational, entertaining, and exciting content which resonates with the needs of fol-
lowers and customers.

As an advertising agency, the commissioning company provides services for companies in various
fields and with different needs, making social media strategies of these customers differ greatly.
During the practical training of the author of this thesis, these social media marketing needs of
several customers rear their heads. The commissioning company discovered jointly with the author
the possibility of demand for an industry-independent, supportive tool for social media strategies.
As can be seen later from the interviews of the head of the local office of the commissioner and the
customer of the commissioner, the customers’ needs often relate to the lack of resources such as
time and money, the lack of structure and planning of social media content, and the lack of
knowledge on the functions of social media and the marketing activities in it.

To conclude, digitalisation and the development of internet has shaped and entrenched digital mar-
keting ever more firmly. This establishment of digital marketing during the past 30 years, has af-
fected social media marketing as well. Even though social media is a young form of marketing, it
has stabilised its place as part of digital marketing. As Blomster et al (2020, 2) mentioned in their
introduction, digital marketing and thus social media marketing has opened a bidirectional commu-
nication between consumers and companies. The democratisation of information transmission has
transferred power from large corporations and states to individual consumers. Therefore, commu-
nication with the customer base has never been so effortless yet crucial as well. Blomster et al
(2020, 2) continue to explain that the means of digital marketing are constantly evolving for the

6
development of artificial intelligence and automation, making it safe to assume that a demand for
ready-made, partly automated and industry-independent tool, to sustain the quality and ease of
social media marketing, would be welcomed with open arms.

Research objectives, problem, and questions

The aim of the research is to examine social media as a marketing channel and improve the utili-
sation of it by developing an industry-independent tool. This primary objective of the thesis consid-
ers the possibility to ease yet increase and optimise the performance of social media marketing.
The primary objective is achieved by examining the different steps and factors which may improve
social media marketing. The secondary objective of the thesis is to examine certain Meta Platforms
as social media marketing channels for companies. The chosen platforms of Meta for this specific
research are Instagram and Facebook.

The main research problem and questions together with the theoretical foundation and knowledge
of the field will support the research and practical implementation of the proposal. The main re-
search problem of this thesis is as follows: How to develop an industry-independent tool that im-
proves social media marketing in Meta Platforms? Additionally, the research questions aim to clarify
the research problem, objectives, and purpose. The research questions are the following:

• What are the steps for developing the industry-independent tool for the commissioner?
• How to ensure engaging, consistent, and rich content which drives the objectives of a mar-
keting strategy and requires as few company resources as possible?
• What are the key performance indicators and content types to take into consideration in
social media marketing in Meta Platforms?

Research method and the thesis structure

The thesis is conducted as a research-based development study, and the approach chosen is ac-
tion research. Since the thesis leans on qualitative research methods, and utilises the action re-
search approach, the necessary data is gathered by semi-structured interviews and observation.
Additionally, brainstorming and benchmarking have been utilised during the thesis process. In ad-
dition to the data-gathering methods, the theoretical foundation further supports the understanding
of the development target. The methodology of this thesis is examined further in the chapter 4.

7
The thesis begins by firstly introducing the commissioner of the study – a digital advertising agency.
The thesis will continue to further support the understanding of the primary objective by examining
social media marketing and the different factors of it. These themes related to social media mar-
keting are examined in the chapter 3, also referred to as the theoretical foundation. The themes of
the theoretical foundation are: chosen Meta Platforms, the role of paid, owned and earned media,
the RACE model, key performance indicators, SMART objectives and content marketing and con-
tent matrix. The theoretical foundation should offer a comprehensive understanding of social media
marketing and the different requirements for reaching its full potential. The thesis follows with intro-
ducing the research methodology in chapter 4. After understanding the theory and methodology of
this thesis, the reader is finally introduced to the chapter 5, which presents the industry-independent
tool – the content creation cards. The thesis is completed with a conclusion and discussion on
chapters 6 and 7, which will offer future visions for the developed tool and the utilisation of the
gathered information in the study.

8
2 COMMISSIONING COMPANY – ADVERTISING AND DIGITAL AGENCY

The following chapter will introduce the commissioner, their ways in the field of digital advertising
and their service offering regarding their customers. The chapter will then continue to examine the
customers of the commissioning company and the general needs and wants of the said customers.
The chapter will thus support and deepen the understanding of the research, the practical imple-
mentation of the proposal and the reasoning behind it.

The commissioning company of this thesis is an advertising and digital agency based in northern
Finland. The company was founded in 2013 and has since developed into a company of profes-
sionals offering digital marketing services. The company emphasises their ability and drive of meet-
ing the needs of their customers with their polished combination of strategy, design, technology,
and content. The company aims at guiding their customers through the digital world by examining
the business objectives of their customers and crafting tailored strategies for reaching the said
objectives. Additionally, the company emphasises curiosity in the changing digital world and there-
fore thrives at finding new and innovative ways of generating profit and success for their customers’
digital marketing.

The customers of the commissioner come from various different fields, and therefore naturally with
different needs. Since the thesis focuses on improving social media marketing, the customer needs
introduced will merely mirror social media. That said, there are general needs of customers that
have been identified by the author of this thesis during the practical training, and the head of the
local office of the commissioner, as can be noted from the Interview 1, on Appendix 1. According
to the head of the local office of the commissioner, the social media marketing needs of the cus-
tomers usually fall into the four following categories: lack of time, lack of structure, lack of effective
content, and lack of diverse content. Based on these four general needs of the customers, the
commissioner wanted to develop a supportive tool for social media strategies, to ease the threshold
of content creation on social media. The idea of an industry-independent tool supporting and im-
proving social media marketing thus arose.

9
3 SOCIAL MEDIA MARKETING

As the heading implies, the following chapter will examine a one hyponym of digital marketing, that
is social media marketing. The chapter will firstly focus briefly on the basics of digital marketing and
continues then to examine social media marketing generally. The chapter follows with focusing on
the platforms relevant to the social media marketing of the customers of the commissioner. To
understand the full extent of the possibilities and requirements of social media marketing, the chap-
ter will go in more depth of the role of paid, owned and earned media, models applicable when
mapping strategies for social media marketing, and the performance metrics specific to the said
form of marketing. The chapter will finally examine SMART objectives for social media marketing
and content related aspects for this specific form of marketing. This theoretical foundation will sup-
port the later parts of the thesis and will thus contribute to the practical implementation of the solu-
tion of the primary research problem.

Digitalisation has transformed the market by offering wider choice of goods, suppliers, prices, and
platforms for consumers. Digitalisation has created opportunities of expanding into new markets,
developing new services, and competing on more equal grounds. However, marketers cannot
reach the full potential of new opportunities without gaining knowledge of the digital world. As stated
by Chaffey et al (2012, 10), digital marketing refers to reaching marketing objectives by utilising
digital technologies. The digital media channels marketers utilise can be divided roughly into six
groups: search engine marketing, online PR, online partnerships, online advertising, e-mail mar-
keting, and social media marketing. The lastly mentioned digital marketing channel offers a new
kind of perspective on the characteristics of digitised marketing mentioned earlier since it offers a
more profound manifestation of the said characteristics with its equality, bidirectional communica-
tion, and nearly limitless reach. The following chapter will examine the principles behind social
media marketing to deepen the understanding of the possibilities and requirements of this market-
ing channel.

Despite the similar characteristics of the different digital media channels, the possibilities of social
media marketing differ somewhat from the possibilities of other forms of digital marketing since
social media possesses a strong element of bidirectional communication between customers and
companies. As stated by Belden (2013), social media provides a space of engagement and rela-
tionship building, yet simultaneously a marketplace for selling and purchasing. As Belden (2013)

10
described, social media acts as a conduit between the consumers and companies, and the unique
possibilities of this digital marketing channel can be highly beneficial. The bidirectional aspect offers
raw and timely feedback from customers, their needs and wants, and an opportunity for deeper
relationship building. The bidirectional aspect has been noted in the industry-independent tool, by
creating several categories, and cards in them, encouraging consumers to communicate with each
other and the company. The cards in the different categories can be related to for instance asking
followers to actively participate in the comment sections and considering customers as individuals
thus creating more personal relationships.

Another characteristic of social media is its massive opportunity of reach. According to Statista
(2023), today’s social media usage exceeds 4.5 billion users, and will continue to grow substan-
tially. The population of the world is around 8 billion, thus the number of users of social media
equals to over half of the population in the world. Furthermore, Statista (2023) anticipates the users
of social media to increase by 200-300 million each year from 2023 to 2027. That is to say, a clear
upward trend can be seen. It is safe to state that social media marketing will become more relevant
in business-to-business and business-to-consumer markets, for its massive reach for consumers.

To conclude, Simon Kingsnorth (2016, 150) characterises social media as any platform such as a
website or an application, where users may create and share content. Additionally, the ability to
network is a crucial aspect of these platforms. Social media marketing allows a new kind of com-
munication between businesses and consumers. This type of marketing communication allows
marketers to identify, anticipate, and satisfy the needs and wants of their customers. Additionally,
the bidirectional aspect which social media marketing supports, can provide more information, and
thus create a deeper understanding of the consumers. Additionally, it can convert more enquiries,
increase the conversion-to-sales ratio, generate revenue, and finally reduce costs when compared
to conventional marketing. (Chaffey & Ellis-Chadwick 2012, 15).

3.1 Chosen Meta Platforms

Meta, a social technology company, was introduced in 2021 by Mark Zuckerberg (Meta 2023a).
According to the company’s own site (Meta 2023a), Meta Platforms, Inc. was launched to gather
all the technology and applications of the previously known company Facebook, Inc. into one entity.
As stated by Forbes (2023), this social networking company aims to offer platforms and applications

11
for people to connect with each other. These platforms and applications allow their users to share
and exchange for instance opinions and ideas, photos and videos, and other activities online. The
company currently carries platforms such as Facebook, Instagram, Facebook Messenger,
WhatsApp, and Meta Horizon in their repertoire.

According to Meltwater (2023, 182), the most used social platforms are currently Facebook,
YouTube, WhatsApp, and Instagram. The popularity of these channels is determined by monthly
active users. From the previously mentioned most actively used platforms, three belong to the Meta
Platforms. As can be seen from the Table 1 below, Meta Platforms holds almost three billion active
monthly users in Facebook, and the company still reaches around 931 million users in their least
actively used platform, Facebook Messenger. According to the interviews of the head of the local
office of the commissioning company (Appendix 1), and the customer of the commissioner (Appen-
dix 2), Facebook and Instagram are the most used platforms in this thesis’ target audience. The
head of the local office of the commissioner stated in the Interview 1, that the popularity of Facebook
and Instagram in their customer base is attributed to the familiarity, conveniency and reach capacity
of these platforms. Therefore, the platforms chosen for this thesis are based purely on the customer
base’s needs and wants and additionally the amount of monthly active users in these channels.
The thesis will not examine other applicable platforms such as LinkedIn, though these types of
platforms can be considered as relevant platforms for the future development of the proposal.

Monthly active users in January 2023 (in millions)

3500
2960
3000
2500
2000
2000
1500 1320
931
1000
500
0
Facebook WhatsApp Instagram Facebook
Messenger

Table 1. Monthly active users of Meta Platforms in January 2023 (Meltwater & We are social 2023,
208, 240, 266 & 307).

12
3.1.1 Facebook

Today’s flagship and the earliest form of Meta Platforms Inc. is Facebook. Thefacebook, as it was
known before, was founded in 2004 by Mark Zuckerberg, Eduardo Saverin, Dustin Moskovitz, An-
drew McCollum, and Chris Hughes. The platform was firstly created for people, mostly young stu-
dents, to connect through it in colleges and universities, yet it was later made available for anyone
such as businesses and people outside of the world of education. (Brügger 2015). Today Meta
characterises Facebook as follows:
Facebook helps you connect with friends, family and communities of people who share
your interests. Connecting with your friends and family as well as discovering new ones is
easy with features like Groups, Watch and Marketplace. (Meta 2023b).

Today, this flagship of Meta offers wide variety of possibilities for businesses to further enrich their
digital marketing and social influence, such as managing customer relationship, brand awareness
and ecommerce. Facebook is still significant as a marketing channel, even though the platform has
been around for quite some time. To illustrate the significance of this channel in Finland, the fol-
lowing facts should be considered. The population of Finland is over 5.5 million (The World Bank
2023). According to Kemp (2023) the users of Facebook in Finland covers around 43 per cent of
the population, which amounts to around 2.4 million users. Additionally, according to Conley (2023)
on average, users of Facebook spend around one hour daily in the platform. Thus, it is safe to state
that businesses should consider Facebook a noteworthy marketing channel and consider being
present in the platforms where their customers are as well. (Conley 2023).

To best utilise the extensive opportunities of Facebook as a marketing channel, the content creation
and sharing possibilities should be familiarised. Firstly, the fundamental of the company’s presence
and therefore the basis of Facebook marketing cumulates to the Facebook page of a company.
Pages create visibility and a landing base for interested customers. As Conley (2023) and Kolowich
Cox (2021) both stated, the following factors should be handled to ensure a strong base for Face-
book marketing: recognisable and brand-supportive home page, relevant username and vanity
URL, pertinent and recognisable pictures and descriptions, page shortcuts, call to actions, mile-
stones, customised notifications, and verification badge of authenticity for a sense of authority and
trust. These aspects might seem self-evident however, they build the baseline and the first impres-
sion of the business to the consumers. (Conley 2023 & Kolowich Cox 2021).

13
In addition to the strong home page, businesses should secondly pay attention to the visibility of
the said page since it could drive traffic to other company platforms as well. Related to visibility, the
business page should receive legitimate interactions of for instance likes, since Facebook algorithm
decides the visibility of pages partly based on the engagement rate of the said page, which is not
necessarily related to the number of fans. In addition to the lack of visibility, possible customers
might shun the pages with low engagement. The authentic likes and engagement can be achieved
by promoting the business’ home page on Facebook and other marketing channels, such as com-
pany’s website by adding social media follow buttons. Additionally, the business’ own activity in the
page generates activity in fans and thus creates an engaging community. (Conley 2023 & Kolowich
Cox 2021).

After gaining visibility with the Facebook homepage, the businesses should pay attention to their
content. Facebook marketing offers businesses various posting options, thus creating opportunity
for further reach. These posting options include for instance organic or paid photos and videos;
whether these are in the form of stories, reels, or regular posts, product and location tags, and
finally polls for measuring opinions (Conley 2023 & Martin 2022a). Even though there are many
content options, Kolowich Cox (2021) emphasises that businesses should remember to choose
quality over quantity.

It is important to note that there are differences in posting types as well, regarding for instance the
visibility and engagement rate of the said post. Conley (2023) firstly suggests posts with images
since these posts usually generate more engagement. Secondly, similar to posts with images, the
algorithm of Facebook seems to favour live videos or videos with high completion rates (Bapna &
Park 2017). Thirdly, posts with links generate traffic efficiently to other marketing platforms. These
links may relate to for instance blog posts on the company website. Fourthly, Facebook Live, as
the name implies, allows businesses to live-stream and thus create engaging content and build
personal fan relationships. Lastly, businesses can utilise instant articles and Facebook virtual real-
ity. However, the latter of the posting options might not be widely utilised for its novelty. (Conley
2023). All of the previously mentioned posting possibilities have been considered and enforced in
the content creation cards. Additionally, a more profound factor has been added by categorising
the content and action in the cards into four categories, thus enhancing the visibility and reach of
the content by following the algorithm of Facebook.

14
After determining the look of the home page and the content of the posts, Facebook marketing
should consider the audience more closely and thus the competition as well. Businesses can un-
derstand their audience with Audience Insight and examine the competitors with benchmarking by
examining for instance location, quality of visuals, frequency of posts, content, engagement rate
and response time. Examining the two groups allow marketers to consider the valuable data and
further measure customer needs and wants, and thus brainstorm new content ideas. (Conley
2023).

Additionally, as the head of the local office of the commissioner (Appendix 1), as well as Kolowich
Cox (2021) state, timing of the posts are important, yet difficult to determine. The representative of
the commissioner states in the Interview 1 (Appendix 1) that depending on the audience, whether
they are business customers or consumers, the timing differs. The representative has noticed that
business customers are ought to engage on the posts during lunch hours, and consumer custom-
ers’ engagement takes place usually in the afternoon or evening. As Kolowich Cox (2021) men-
tions, in addition to the time of the day, most optimal weekdays are from Tuesday to Thursday, and
in contrast posting on Sundays should be avoided. However, as Martin (2022a) emphasised, these
days and times are generalisations. Therefore, businesses should focus on their audience insight
and experiment to find the golden hour for posting specifically for their audience. The golden hour
will be configured through the social media marketing strategy the commissioner offers, yet adding
the times of posting could be considered in the future development of the content creation cards.

To gain those much-needed customers, Facebook allows marketers to generate leads within the
channel. To convert the Facebook fans of the company into actual paying customers, the company
can pay attention to posting content which directs the fans to make a purchase. These posts could
be landing pages of offers, blog posts which have generated leads in the past, videos of offers, or
Facebook events of upcoming webinars. To ease the path of the customers reaching offers, Face-
book offers Facebook leads Ads service which allows customers to reach the offers without leaving
the Facebook app. As stated by Kolowich Cox (2021), the popularity of Facebook may be based
precisely on their online ads. Therefore, businesses should utilise the advanced tool of Facebook
ads. (Conley 2023 & Kolowich Cox 2021).

Similar to the Facebook leads Ads, Facebook offers a tool for businesses to measure the most
relevant activity of the business’ landing page with Page Insights. This tool allows businesses to

15
examine various aspects of their Facebook marketing, firstly being likes. Page Insights allows mar-
keters to inspect how many likes, organic or paid, they have gained or lost. Additionally, the tool
shows the net likes in a graph, illustrating the difference between new likes and un-likes daily.
Secondly, businesses are able to examine their reach with the tool. The reach is illustrated as a
graph as well, and it distinguishes organic and paid reach. The graph allows the marketers to ex-
amine which content were effective and which were not. Thirdly, page views show how people
reached the page of the company. Finally, the posts function on Page Insights allows marketers to
determine when their followers are online. The Posts tab also offers the possibility of tracking the
engagement rate of specific posts. (Conley 2023). Page Insights allows the commissioner and the
customers to examine the profitability and effectiveness of the content creation cards, as well as
the content options of the cards suitable and effective specifically for them.

Facebook has been around for quite some time. Therefore, as can be noted from the interviews
(Appendix 1 and 2), customers of the commissioner are comfortable with using the said channel.
Comfort and familiarity are important in the marketing of business since the communication is ar-
guably more effective, reliable, and professional. Additionally, as Conley (2023) stated, to ensure
effective Facebook marketing, as well as any social media marketing, consistency and long-term
commitment are required, which the content creation cards are aiming to provide.

3.1.2 Instagram

As stated in an article by Christine Lagorio-Chafkin of Inc. Magazine (2012), Instagram was

launched in 2010 by Kevin Systrom and Mike Krieger. The platform gained rapid popularity and in
under a year Instagram had over 27 million users. The co-founders moved quickly into discussion
with the founder of Facebook, and a mutual understanding was reached resulting in Facebook’s
one-billion-dollar acquisition of Instagram in 2012. (Carter & Markowitz 2012). As can be seen be-
low, today Meta describes the photo and video sharing app as follows:
We want Instagram to be a place where people can be inspired every day. We foster a
safe and inclusive community where people can express themselves, feel closer to anyone
they care about and turn a passion into a living. (Meta 2023c).

Such as Facebook, Instagram offers marketers a great variety of options to enhance and widen
their marketing. Facebook and Instagram are interconnected, enabling content sharing across
these social networks. (Instagram Help Center 2023). The link between these social networks can

16
be seen in their marketing possibilities as well. Analogous to Facebook, Instagram offers the pos-
sibilities of brand awareness, social commerce, and customer relationship. Additionally, Instagram
is often known as one of the trendsetters of social media platforms. (Martin 2022b). To illustrate
the significance of this trendsetting platform, Simon Kemp (2023) has drawn up insights of Insta-
gram usage in Finland, similarly as of Facebook examined earlier in the subchapter 3.1.1. In Fin-
land, as stated earlier, the population reaches over 5.5 million (The World Bank 2023). Instagram
reached 2.3 million users in Finland in early 2023, covering roughly 41 percent of the population of
the country, reaching similar significance as a marketing platform as Facebook (Kemp 2023).

When it comes to marketing possibilities of Instagram, firstly as stated in the subchapter 3.1.1,
marketers should above all pay attention to the home, profile or landing page of any social platform,
since it determines the foundation and the first impression of the business to the customers. (Con-
ley 2023 & Kolowich Cox 2021). Martin (2022b) emphasises to begin Instagram marketing by es-
tablishing the Instagram Business account. The professional account is established through set-
tings. More challenging aspect of establishing the professional account would be achieving Insta-
gram verification, similarly as in Facebook. Verification of the business account is not mandatory,
yet it offers a sense of authenticity, authority, and trust. Additionally, such as in Facebook, pertinent
company profile including bio, call to actions, clear and cohesive brand image, recognisable profile
picture, highlighted stories, and relevant covers in them should be established. After building the
baseline of Instagram marketing, the content types of this social media should be familiarised with.
(Martin, Michelle 2022b).

The content types practicable in Instagram are organic content relating to photos, videos, carou-
sels, lives, and stories with a high retention rate. Additionally, the newest type of content, reels,
generate a high engagement rate. All organic content should include a distinguishing brand voice.
The content types enumerated earlier can be further utilised with user-generated content, by ena-
bling tagging the business in other users’ posts. User-generated content integrates regular posting
and advertising since the company itself can filter suitable posts from inadequate ones. (Martin,
Michelle 2022b).

Marketers among others can utilise paid content on Instagram as well. The paid content of Insta-
gram includes for instance regular advertisement, in addition to story and shopping advertisements.
Firstly, regular advertisement campaigns within the social platform can be automated, allowing In-
stagram to adjust the specifications of the campaign most efficiently and profitably. The marketer

17
may also adjust the goals, target audience and budget manually depending on the needs and ob-
jectives of the advertisement campaign. Instagram enables automated change between assets,
such as in A/B testing, to optimise the performance of the advertisement campaign. (Martin 2022b).
Another feature of Instagram ads is boosted posts. The Boost feature works similarly in Instagram
and Facebook. To utilise Boost, business or creator accounts can turn any regular post into boosted
one by one click. This post is thus turned into advertisement after the target audience, budget and
duration is chosen. (Business Instagram 2023b).

Finally, Martin (2022b) acknowledges shopping tools of Instagram to enhance Instagram market-
ing. These tools include product catalogue and tags, live shopping and Instagram checkout. The
author states that the shopping tools can generate more sales by 300 percent.

To conclude, Instagram has been an extremely popular social platform right from the get-go. Insta-
gram has been widening their repertoire from offering a picture and video sharing app for regular
users to offering an impactful platform of digital marketing to businesses among others. As can be
noted from Business Instagram (2023a), the platform today drives at providing a platform for grow-
ing awareness, gaining new customers, and building relationships. The content creation cards are
developed to utilise the previously mentioned features and the several different posting options of
Instagram.

3.2 The role of paid, owned and earned media in social media marketing

Types of media can be divided in several different ways by focusing on for instance the content in
it or the place of publishing the said content. One way of further distinguishing different types of
media can be done by examining their effect on visibility, reach and conversion, yet more specifi-
cally how these objectives are reached. The three categories for media types generating visibility,
reach and conversion differently are paid, owned and earned media. (Chaffey & Ellis-Chadwick
2012, 11). As explained by Belden (2013), social media has a distinguished feature as a bidirec-
tional communication platform between the customer and the company. Companies have several
ways of utilising this bridge of social media when reaching consumers alias possible future custom-
ers. These ways are for instance general posts, blog writings, word-of-mouth, shared content, or
sponsored stories, which can be further categorized as either paid, owned, or earned media. Since
social media is not traditionally tied to space, time, or location, it is easier than ever for the three

18
types of media to overlap and work simultaneously. The following chapter will examine the three
different types of media and their possibilities in creating, building and maintaining brand attitude,
which according to Mattke et al (2019, 1) is the primary factor in generating profit.

As the term suggests, paid social media is any content involving monetary payment for it to be
implemented. Paid social media is usually time-bound and greatly targeted, and thus justified by
specific metrics or objectives. These metrics and objectives could be for instance knowledge of the
location of prospects, interests and likes of the prospects, age, gender or specific time when the
prospects are reachable. One aim of paid social media is to strengthen the message of a brand
and drive new traffic on the owned media of a company. Paid social media is therefore an effective
way of creating new leads, since it can reach consumers unaware of the company, building there-
fore brand awareness beyond the boundaries of owned media. What makes paid social media even
more effective is that the data utilised in paid social media is up to date and based on actual primary
data. This creates deeper understanding of the consumers and customers, and further drives cam-
paign effectiveness and reduces media waste. Paid social media could be treated as supportive
measure of owned and earned media, by promoting for instance social media accounts and blog-
posts, or sparking interest in shared content. (Belden 2013; Mattke, Müller & Maier 2019, 2). How-
ever, accordance to Belden (2013) it is crucial to note that consumers are subjected to rapidly
extending advertisements on social media, resulting in a risk of ignoring the content of companies.
Furthermore, Mattke et al (2019, 2) state that consumers tend to avoid paid media. Therefore,
under the pretext, paid social media shall be considered, planned, and executed carefully, thus
offering information, entertainment, and credibility, and avoiding advertisement overflow.

As the name indicates, owned social media refers to all of the media, channels, and platforms in
social media owned by the company itself (Mattke, Müller & Maier 2019, 2). These forms of media
could be for instance Facebook pages, Instagram accounts, the company’s own posts, or blogs.
When utilising owned social media, the company can affect its brand image quite broadly, since
posts, photos and videos are controlled by the company itself. Owned social media allows compa-
nies to steer the perception of their brand by creating content they please. With that, the semi-
controlled characteristic of social media should be noted since companies cannot fully dictate the
interaction even when it is happening in their own space. As stated by Belden (2013), owned social
media requires resources such as time from the company as any form of marketing. Nonetheless,
owning your social media identity is vital for companies, since branded content, perception of the

19
company and consumer engagement, are created and nourished there. Nourishing the owned so-
cial media is crucial since it may be the first appearance and experience of the business for the
consumer, hence dictating the future interactions between the consumer and the company. Owned
social media should be the flagship of other forms of media, paid and earned, since it validates
them by creating established destination and safe environment for the consumers. This type of
media has the potential to sprout a community of loyal customers. (Belden 2013; Mattke, Müller &
Maier 2019, 2).

In all simplicity, earned social media refers to the social media activity of a company or a brand,
which originates from elsewhere than the content or channels of the company itself. In earned
social media other users, such as consumers, companies, and other entities, are maintaining a
conversation about the company or brand within social media space. In earned media, monetary
transactions are not included. For good and for ill, earned media manifests the core idea of social
media; an honest space for interaction, sharing and engagement. In the best-case scenario, con-
sumers hear about a trustworthy, interesting, and worth-investing-to brand, resulting in conversion.
In the worst case, few poor mentions or ratings of the company could shy away consumers. Earned
social media therefore requires nerves, transparency, and straightforwardness from companies for
the lack of control of the conversation. As stated by Belden (2013) as well as Mattke et al (2019,
2), regardless of the riskiness of earned media, it is worth pursuing because of its effectiveness.
Word-of-mouth, influencers, sharing, virality, loyalty, partnerships, and engagement, all create trust
in the prospects, since here the company or brand has no room for influencing the ‘true’ conversa-
tion. Additionally, consumers are more prone to believing fellow consumers through earned social
media, rather than companies through paid or owned media which most likely involved some type
of monetary investment.

On the whole, it is important to note that the three different types of media exist simultaneously and
can and most likely will overlap with each other. For instance, the owned media content of a busi-
ness can be transformed into paid media by using the original content in an advertisement post
and buying advertisement space for it. The line between the content being paid or owned is there-
fore blurred. Thus, the concept of three different types of media has to be considered fluid and
overlapping, especially when examining digital marketing and ever more specifically social media
marketing. (Chaffey & Ellis-Chadwick 2012, 10, 11, 29; Belden 2013). To conclude, the content
creation cards aim at utilising the different types of media and the overlapping nature of them, by

20
availing the owned media in paid media, and utilising the earned media through follower activating
cards.

3.3 RACE model

In 2010, David Chaffey, an author and co-founder of Smart Insights, developed a practical frame-
work for businesses for supporting their digital marketing strategy. The framework offers a struc-
tured, effortless yet effective, and strategic approach for building the companies’ digital marketing
strategy. This model, an acronym of four steps: reach, act, convert, and engage, is an empirical,
customer-oriented, and KPI-focused approach on digital marketing. Additionally, the four steps rep-
resent customer life cycle when combined, allowing marketers to understand and engage the leads,
prospects, and customers throughout the cycle. (Cuofano 2023).

As explained by Chaffey et al (2012, 323) customer life cycle refers to the stages of a customer in
a long-term customer company relationship. The stages the customer goes through usually include
customer selection, acquisition, retention, and extension. Customer selection, as the name implies,
refers to the defining, identifying, targeting and finally segmenting customers the company aims to
market to. Customer acquisition implies marketing activities with an aim of forming relationships
with new customers through suitable channels. The objectives of customer retention are maintain-
ing existing customers through the choice of applicable marketing activities, and simultaneously
assessing the relevant offerings fitting to the specific customers. Finally, customer extension also
known as customer development aspires to increase the purchasing depth or range of the custom-
ers. Accordance to Chaffey et al (2012, 342) the previous steps should be considered through
customer lifetime value, which refers to the metric of total net benefit a company can expect from
a customer or group of customers throughout the customer-company relationship. Therefore, cus-
tomer lifetime value is a useful aspect when identifying and targeting valuable customers.

As can be seen in the Figure 1 below, the RACE model starts with a somewhat accessory yet
crucial step – plan. The planning phase includes the phase of creating a general digital marketing
strategy, selecting the KPIs, also known as key performance indicators, for set objectives and later
evaluating the performance. The digital communication and the marketing strategy of a company
are aligned in the planning phase, making the step crucial for the successful completion of the
RACE model and therefore customer life cycle. (Chaffey 2022).

21
 Strangers Prospects Repeat
Plan Reach Visitors Act Convert Customers Engage
or leads customers

Figure 1. RACE model. (Chaffey, Dave 2022. Smart Insights.)

Reach

The first letter of the acronym of the model stands for reach. As explained by Chaffey et al (2012,
29) at this very first step the main focus is to create awareness to the leads as well as prospects.
As stated by Chaffey (2022) in the article form Smart Insights, the awareness is achieved by utilis-
ing other platforms and channels, both online and offline, to create traffic and thus driving visits to
the company’s main web presence platform, microsites, or social media. The goal is to create vis-
ibility of the brand, products, and services of a company. Chaffey (2022) continues to explain the
possibility of utilising all paid, owned and earned media when accentuating reach for creating sev-
eral interactions for the company. Additionally, when examining the first step of the RACE model,
the company may turn to specific KPIs, for measuring the performance or achieved goals of the
step. According to Chaffey (2022) the notable KPIs for reach can be for instance examining unique
visitors, measuring the revenue or value-objective per visit, and inspecting the reach of fans and
followers. The different key performance indicators relating to social media are examined more
closely on the following subchapter 3.4.

Act

The second step of the model is act, also known as interact. After generating traffic on the different
sites and platforms of a company, the second step aims at encouraging the visitors to interact with
the company through these sites and platforms. Success in the second step presumably generates
leads for the company. However, as explained by Chaffey (2022) to reach the lead generation step,
the company has to persuade the visitor to take the next step after reaching the site of the company.
This second step of generating leads and gaining the interest of the visitors is one of the most

22
challenging steps of the RACE model. The performance of this second step can be measured
through KPIs relating to audience engagement and participation factors. These factors include for
instance lead conversion rate, bounce rate, pages per visit, product page conversion, time spent
on site, and other interactions within the company sites such as comments, likes and shares.
(Chaffey 2022; Chaffey & Ellis-Chadwick 2012, 28).

Convert

The third step of the model is convert. The conversion may happen either online or offline, conse-
quently resulting in turning the audience from interested prospects into actual paying customers
(Chaffey 2022). However, the conversion may relate to any marketing goal set and achieved by
the company, such as gaining new fans, leads or the previously referred sales. For instance, when
utilising the RACE model on developing social media page of a company, conversion of visitors
into followers would be considered a success of the third step. (Chaffey & Ellis-Chadwick 2012,
28.) The conversion may be measured through KPIs related to monetary aspects such as revenue,
profit, the average value of orders and sales in general, or non-monetary factors such as leads,
conversion rate and engagement rate. (Chaffey & Ellis-Chadwick 2012, 28 - 29.)

Engage

The fourth and final step of the model is engage. As Chaffey states (2022) engage refers specifi-
cally to the long-term engagement created from the developed long-term relationship with the cus-
tomer. The objective of this final step is to build customer loyalty through repeated purchases. The
repetition of the purchases is gained for instance through communication on the platforms of the
company. Additionally other social presence and interaction such as social media activities, e-mail
communication and direct interaction drives customer lifetime value. The KPIs Chaffey et al (2012,
28) suggest on focusing on the final step are engagement, satisfaction and loyalty of the customers,
advocacy, and repeated purchase and conversion.

In conclusion, the RACE model presents a customer-centric approach which can be utilised in
social media strategies. Through the stages of Reach, Act, Convert and Engage, the customer life
cycle is considered, and this fosters brand awareness, interaction, conversion, and loyalty. By uti-
lising the tailored performance indicators, businesses can quantifiably enhance their social media

23
strategies, making RACE-model a timeless guide for effective marketing and a supportive frame-
work for developing the industry-independent tool.

3.4 Key performance indicators in social media marketing

As said by Kingsnorth (2016, 42), KPIs, short for key performance indicators, allow companies to
measure the success of for instance marketing campaigns. There are several ways of measuring
the performance of marketing campaigns, yet these ways should be chosen according to the ob-
jectives, vision, and culture of the company. Notable and popular KPIs include factors such as
customer numbers and satisfaction, sales and profit, retention, and price of shares. The following
subchapter however focuses on the KPIs specifically utilised in social media marketing. (Kingsnorth
2016, 42 - 43).

As Blomster et al (2020, 55) stated, interpreting KPIs often include analysing qualitative elements
by utilising quantitative analytics. This may prove to be difficult since analysing the data has to be
done, understood, and concluded correctly. Often many KPIs are utilised simultaneously to ensure
the correct understanding of results and determining proper further initiatives.

Blomster et al (2020, 56) continue introducing the correlation between chosen KPIs and the cus-
tomer journey. Customer journey refers to the interactions between the customer and the company,
from the point of customer becoming aware of the company until to the purchase decision. The
correlation between the KPIs and customer journey takes shape as a funnel. In the funnel, different
KPIs can be placed to map the different metrics during the customer journey. The Figure 2 below
illustrates one possible social media sales funnel, with the necessary KPIs.

24
 • Impressions
• Follower count
Reach KPIs • Audience growth rate
• Reach
• Potential Reach
• Social share of voice

• Likes
• Comments
Engagement KPIs
• Applause rate
• Engagement rate
• Amplification rate

• Conversion rate
• Click-through rate
Conversion KPIs
• Bounce rate
• Cost per click
• Cost per thousand impressions

Customer
satisfaction • Customer testimonials
KPIs • Customer satisfaction score
• Net promoter score

Figure 2. Social media sales funnel and KPIs (Blomster et al 2020, 55 - 56; Olafson 2021).

Firstly, Olafson (2021) introduces six reach KPIs notable for driving social media marketing objec-
tives. Reach KPIs refer to awareness, and they indicate how many users visit the social media
channel of a company, either passively or actively. The first reach KPI Olafson (2021) and Brogden
(2023) both mention, impressions, refers to the number of times a post of a company is visible in a
timeline of a user. Second reach KPI is the follower count, which simply indicates the number of
followers of a social media account or channel. Audience growth rate, the third of the reach KPIs,
measures how the number of followers is evolving over time. Fourthly, the reach refers to post
visibility and potential reach counts the number of possible viewers during a reporting period. Final
reach KPI mentioned is the social share of voice, which tracks mentions of a company or brand,
and compares it to the mentions of competitors. Social share of voice therefore reveals the rele-
vancy of the company in the industry. (Olafson 2021, Brogden 2023).

25
Second type of social media KPIs Olafson (2021) introduces are the engagement KPIs. These KPIs
examine the quality of interactions between the channel or company and their followers. First en-
gagement KPI is likes. Likes KPI measure followers’ interaction by liking posts of a company, within
a certain social media platform. Secondly, comments, such as likes, refer to the amount and fre-
quency of comments on the company’s posts. Olafson (2021) continues to introduce the third en-
gagement KPI, applause rate, which measures solely positive interactions, which could include for
instance likes or saves. Fourthly, the average engagement rate measures how engaging the con-
tent is by dividing engagement received by a post by the total number of followers. Finally, amplifi-
cation rate is used to calculate the total shares of posts of a company divided by the total number
of followers, revealing the followers’ desire to be associated with a company or a brand. (Olafson
2021, Brogden 2023).

Conversion KPIs are the third type of social media KPIs Olafson (2021) introduces. These KPIs
refer to the social interactions in social media resulting in desired actions such as website visits or
purchase decisions. Conversion KPIs reveal how efficient the social media strategy of a company
is. Firstly, the conversion rate divides the conversions with total clicks of a certain post, revealing
how many followers end to perform the desired actions such as purchasing a product. Secondly,
click-through rate, also known as CTR, reveals how many followers viewed the post and continued
to follow through by clicking the call to action (CTA) of the post. The author continues to introduce
the bounce rate, which as opposed to CTR, calculates how many followers did not follow through
with the desired action, but left the post without any action. Fourthly, CPC, short for cost per click,
indicates the monetary investment used in an advertisement, divided by the total measured clicks
on the advertisement. Finally, cost per thousand impressions, CPM, is the total amount used in an
advertisement divided by the total advertisement impressions of thousand users. (Olafson 2021,
Brogden 2023).

The final social media KPI type Olafson (2021) explains is the customer satisfaction KPIs. The
three different customer satisfaction KPIs of social media include customer testimonials, customer
satisfaction score and net promoter score. The first, customer testimonials, refer to the reviews
posted on social channels by the different customers of the company. Secondly, the customer sat-
isfaction score, also known as CSat, reveals how pleased customers are with the company, its
products, or services. Finally, NPS, short for net promoter score, reveals the loyalty of followers to
the company. (Olafson 2021, Brogden 2023).

26
In conclusion, the utilisation of KPIs in measuring the effectiveness of social media marketing cam-
paigns, is a multifaceted effort. As discussed by various authors, KPIs provide a structured frame-
work for assessing different aspects of marketing performance. From reach and engagement met-
rics that examine awareness and interaction, to conversion indicators that track desired actions
and efficiency, and even customer satisfaction metrics that reflect loyalty and contentment, the
arsenal of KPIs offers a comprehensive way for understanding the complex functions of social
media marketing. It is important to note that the selection and interpretation of KPIs should be
aligned with the objectives, culture, and customers’ journey of a company, thus enabling well-in-
formed decision-making and strategic refinement.

3.5 SMART objectives for social media marketing

As stated by Blomster et al (2020, 53) the SMART goals originate from the terminology of Peter
Ducker’s ‘Management by Objectives’. Later based on the Management by Objectives, George T.
Doran (1981) introduced the SMART model to demonstrate goal-oriented management. This model
has been since widely utilised and is a popular method for setting goals for digital marketing.

The acronym of SMART stands for specific, measurable, assignable, realistic and time related. The
five elements of the acronym create a framework for effective objectives. The first, specific, stands
for determining and defining a specific area for development or improvement. Measurable, as the
name indicates, relates to quantifiable aspect of the objective. The third element, assignable refers
to determined liability or responsibility. And the realistic-element measures which objectives can be
realistically achieved with the resources available. Finally, the element of time-relation, refers to
the needed time to achieve the specific results. (Doran 1981).

Later, the SMART objectives of Doran (1981), have been redeveloped by Dave Chaffey. These
objectives are since been modified to a newer version including steps of specific, measurable,
actionable, relevant and time related (Chaffey & Ellis-Chadwick 2012, 214). Chaffey et al (2012,
214) defines their acronym as follows: firstly, the objectives shall be adequately defined functions
that can be measured. Secondly, they should utilise analytical tools that enable measurement.
Thirdly, the data gained should reflect the situation and be useful. Fourthly, the objective shall be
directly related to business development and finally, the objective should be repeatedly monitored
through time if needed.

27
In social media marketing the SMART objectives could appear in practice by firstly, setting specific
objectives of increasing the follower count or engagement rate of a company’s social media chan-
nels. Secondly, setting measurable objectives such as doubling the company’s Facebook followers.
Thirdly, the previous objectives could be examined by their attainability, by examining the objec-
tives’ achievability and realism. Fourthly, the objectives should be relevant, thus making sure the
objectives positively correlate with the main goals of the company. Additionally, in social media the
objectives shall be pursued in relevant channels, relating therefore to the relevancy. And finally,
the objectives should have a specific timeframe, therefore introducing the final element of time. The
industry-independent tool is developed by following the SMART objectives, to ensure useful, prof-
itable and effective tool with clear goals and meaning.

3.6 Content marketing and content matrix

As been noted earlier on this thesis, social media is often utilised as a window for the customers’
excitement, awareness, and interest towards a business. Whether the goal of social media market-
ing is generating sales, strengthening the brand image, creating awareness, driving traffic or gen-
erating leads, the content in the social media should have clear objectives and aim at reaching
these objectives. Therefore, a clear plan of content should be drawn. As Blomster et al (2020, 153)
state, the content within the social media of a business should consider the customers’ lifecycle,
optimise landing pages, encourage interaction, and prove the page to be worth finding by offering
educational, entertaining, and exciting content which resonates with the contemporary needs of the
customers.

Content marketing

As stated by i-Scoop (2023), defining content marketing can be challenging since it is an umbrella
term comprehending company-specific marketing goals and practises. However, Content Market-
ing Institute (2023) has described content marketing as follows: “Content marketing is a strategic
marketing approach focused on creating and distributing valuable, relevant, and consistent content
to attract and retain a clearly defined audience — and, ultimately, to drive profitable customer ac-
tion.” (Content Marketing Institute 2023). Essentially profitable customer action could relate to an-
ything from generating revenue streams to generating higher engagement rates. Thus, the key

28
term of defining content marketing is valuable. Content marketing can be seen as creating a valu-
able combo of content which reflects to the needs and interests of a specific customer-base and
aims at achieving the goals set by the marketing strategy of a company. Content marketing is
therefore not only selling or informing customers of prices but building stronger route to customer
purchasing decision by appealing to emotions and reason, and thus strengthening loyalty, brand
image, and customer relationship.

After defining content marketing, it is important to examine what type of content should be utilised
to achieve the most beneficial outcome. As i-Scoop (2023) states profitable content attracts, in-
forms, convinces, and engages target audience such as drawn buyer personas, prospects, leads,
and customers. This type of content serves the target audience throughout the customer lifecycle
and answers to the needs of the customers during and after the buying journey. This content should
simultaneously correlate with business goals both direct and indirect. As can be seen from the
statement of i-Scoop (2023) good content is versatile and rich. As Blomster et al (2020, 153) affirm,
this versatile and rich content often results in customers becoming accustomed to visiting the ser-
vice in search of new, interesting information and ideas. Companies should therefore consider how
the content can help or entertain its customers with product- and service-related content. This high-
quality, rich, and useful content can help the company in its search engine optimisation, visibility
and attraction of new customers to its services.

Blomster et al (2020, 153) remind that it is crucial to note that since the competition is fierce in
almost all fields of business, and variety of high-quality content is produced, companies should be
active and follow the needs of their customers and the change in them in order to offer interesting
and relevant content. Additionally, Blomster et al (2020, 153) affirm that despite the difficulty of
standing out and competing with high-quality and fascinating content, it is still vital to implement
this content in order to stay relevant. Companies should thus understand the content production in
the market since consumers often downright drown in certain types of content, and this can quickly
turn unprofitable for the companies. Blomster et al (2020, 153) therefore propose creating radically
distinctive and exceptional content. Since by producing content of the exact same quality and type
as others in the industry, the company or their message rarely end up standing out from the com-
petition.

29
Content Matrix

Blomster et al (2020, 153) emphasise that one of the most important factors of digital marketing,
and therefore social media marketing as well, are the planning and execution of content. Factors
such as relevancy, creating interest and time-sensitivity should be the main priorities in content
creation. Planning and executing this relevant, interesting, and engaging content can be conven-
iently mapped out by utilising different content matrices. The content matrix by Chaffey (2023),
visualised below in the Figure 3, shows two-dimensional view of firstly, the development from au-
dience awareness to purchase decision on the horizontal axis, and secondly the division of emo-
tional buying triggers and rational decision-making ones on the vertical axis. These dimensions
allow marketers to review how the created content supports the company in achieving its objec-
tives, and how contrasting content appeal to different members of the target audience. The content
matrix is more specifically divided into four quadrilaterals, as a result of the horizontal and vertical
axes intersecting. These four quadrilaterals are more closely defined as content categories of en-
tertain, inspire, educate and convince. The four categories allow companies to plan, reflect, and
maintain rich content. By dividing content in categories companies avoid annoying customers with
monotonous content or overwhelming them with massive pile of unplanned and irrelevant content.
Additionally, the content examples of the lower part of the matrix are suitable for supporting rational
decision-making in situations where the customers experience risk. Whereas the contents on the
upper part of the matrix are associated with a lower level of risk, utilising more visual and interactive
content. (Blomster, Kurtti, Määttä & Sinisalo 2020, 153-154; Chaffey 2023).

30
Figure 3. Content Matrix for social media marketing (Adapted from: Chaffey, Dave 2023).

To conclude, companies with careful content planning, will arguably entertain and keep audience
interested and engaged longer. It is also crucial to note that quality usually outweighs quantity. This
indicates the importance of emphasising selectiveness rather than overwhelming the audience with
irrelevant, untargeted, and poorly timed content.

31
4 RESEARCH METHODOLOGY

The following chapter includes all of the methods and means utilised when conducting the research
design of this thesis. As been stated before, this thesis aims at examining social media as a mar-
keting channel and improving its utilisation by developing an industry-independent tool for the com-
missioner and its customers. Since social media and the marketing possibilities of it has been ex-
amined on the theoretical foundation, this chapter – research methodology – shall focus on the
methods of developing the industry independent tool, and thus answer to the question of how to
achieve the research objective of this thesis.

Research aims at seeking answers to questions. As Aityan (2022, 6) states, the main elements of
research include realising a problem, gathering and processing data, analysing and interpreting the
results, deducing conclusions, and finally predicting results based on the previous steps. This in-
tellectual activity of investigation – research – shall result in converting the conclusions and facts
into knowledge. Since the research problem of this thesis aims at developing a tool for improving
social media marketing and considers the needs of the commissioner and its customers, qualitative
research approach has been selected. Qualitative research method refers to examining and as-
sessing behaviours, attitudes, and changes of opinions, to name a few. (Krishnaswami & Satyapra-
sad 2010, 5). Otherwise said, qualitative research focuses on exploring the non-numerical prob-
lems and questions and is thus the most applicable strategy for this study, since it aims at offering
insightful information from the interviewees and converting the knowledge into a concrete solution.

4.1 The research approach

This thesis is a research-based development study and more specifically, this thesis utilises the
means of action research. As Ojasalo et al (2015, 58) describe; the action research approach of
development studies is a participatory way of research which aims at solving practical problems
and generating change together with different actors of a research group, such as an outside re-
searcher, actors in a work community and customers. The problem to be solved relates usually to
technical, social, ethical, or professional factors. Action research approach is therefore highly prob-
lem-centred and pragmatic. Ojasalo et al (2015, 58) continue to explain that since this approach
aims at inspecting community practices and because this approach is pragmatic, the research

32
should reach ordinary people and their daily ways of operating. The close co-operation between
the researcher and researched is hence one of the key descriptive characteristics of action re-
search approach since problem solved together by the researcher and researched is usually more
beneficial than individually developed solutions. Finally, this research approach is introspective as
it includes iteration, re-ideation, and re-development.

Action research is an appropriate approach for this thesis when reflecting the characteristics of the
approach. Firstly, the research methods generally utilised in action research include surveys, group
interviews, brainstorming sessions, interviews, and observation, which are all beneficial when
weighing resources, mapping the possibilities of the market and competition, and considering the
needs and wants of the commissioner and its customers. These methods allow access to the hid-
den information and to the professional knowledge of the employees and market specialists.
(Ojasalo, Moilanen & Ritalahti 2015, 61). In this research, observation, brainstorming, benchmark-
ing, and interviews are utilised to ensure the full understanding of the market and the needs and
wants of the commissioner and its customer. Furthermore, the Figure 4 exemplifies the phases of
a process by Ojasalo et al (2015, 60), which will be later utilised to illustrate the process of devel-
oping the industry-independent tool for social media marketing. This research approach and the
process model of it allows the research of this thesis to integrate many actors with different
knowledge, offer the needed iteration of the solution options and prototypes, and finally enable the
assessment of the solutions.

33
Figure 4. Phases of the process (Ojasalo, Moilanen & Ritalahti 2015, 60).

4.2 Data collection methods

Since the thesis leans on qualitative research methods, and utilises the action research approach,
the necessary primary data is gathered by semi-structured interviews and observation. In addition,
these methods are supported by brainstorming and benchmarking.

Observation, brainstorming and benchmarking

According to George (2023), qualitative observation refers to a research method where “the obser-
vation is based on the observer’s subjective interpretation”. Thus, this type of research method
does not include quantitatively measurable data. Krishnaswami and Satyaprasad (2010, 92) define
observation as “systematic viewing of a specific phenomenon”, relating again to seeing and hearing
resulting in perception of the observer. The first contact to the problem of this thesis was introduced
through the practical training. The practical training allowed the author to observe the customers’
social media behaviour and how their social media strategies were applied. The author of this thesis

34
together with the commissioner hypothesised a pattern with the challenges and needs of various
companies. The observation continued for five months, the entirety of the training period, allowing
the author and the commissioner to develop an idea of a solution. During the observation period,
the following themes occurred: 1. lack of resources, especially time and money in creating and
maintaining social media strategy, 2. lack of knowledge of the opportunities, demands and functions
of social media marketing, and 3. lack of structure and relevancy of the social media marketing
content.

After observing the customers and anticipating their possible needs and wants, the development
work continued to brainstorming phase which was conducted together with a team of the commis-
sioning company. Brainstorming refers to a research and development method where a group aims
to identify pertinent questions, generate a rich conversation of a certain problem and its possible
solution, and thus develop new ideas. (Krishnaswami and Satyaprasad 2010, 25). After observa-
tion, brainstorming was a suitable next step, since it deepened the understanding of the needs of
customers and outlined the resources available for the possible solution. Additionally, brainstorm-
ing created new ideas and enriched them further, enabling the team to utilise the resources of the
commissioner as creatively and effectively as possible.

Finally, simultaneously with several brainstorming sessions with the team, the benchmarking phase
begun. In this context, benchmarking term is used to describe the defining, mapping, and compar-
ing of the possible competition and similar products and services on the market. AccountingTools
(2022) defines benchmarking as follows: “Benchmarking is a process for comparing the policies,
procedures, products, and processes of a business to those of other firms or to standard measure-
ments.” Benchmarking was crucial to enforce since it revealed the similar products and services in
the market, their performance and demand, and the possible defects in these products and ser-
vices. Benchmarking also specified the details of the brainstormed product. These details were for
instance the need for a digital or physical product, the categorisation within the product and possible
complementary products beside the main product.

Interviews

Finally, the following thesis will follow the qualitative research method by collecting primary data
through semi-structured interviews. The semi-structured interview allows the researcher to focus

35
on specific topics and provides a set of form, without detailed schedule or plan. Thus, the conver-
sation is allowed to flow freely, giving the respondent the opportunity to present their own view.
(Krishnaswamy & Satyaprasad 2010, 7 & 103). Semi-structured interview is applicable method of
gathering data when considering the objectives of this thesis, since the method allows the inter-
viewees to explain their perspective of social media marketing, resulting in understanding of the
main pain points and needs of the customers. The semi-structured interviews will be conducted
with two interviewees. The first interview focuses on social media marketing, the common needs
and wants of customers, social media marketing trends, customer behaviour and KPIs. These
themes are represented by interviewing the commissioner. The second interview focuses on the
perspective of a customer, and thus a customer of the commissioner is chosen for the second
interview. The interview questions of both interviews can be found on the Appendix 1 and 2.

4.3 Data analysis

As previously mentioned, the interviews 1 and 2 were based on several topics regarding social
media marketing. However, these interviews sought different viewpoints by the first interview fo-
cusing on the perspective of a professional in the field of digital marketing and the second interview
exploring the viewpoint of the customer of the commissioner, also categorised as a member of the
target audience of the industry-independent tool. Both interviews contain roughly forty minutes
worth of data, and the interviews were drafted based on the research objectives and questions,
and the reviewed literature. The interviewees were recruited through the professional networks of
the author and the commissioner. The authenticity, credibility and professionality of the interview-
ees were ensured by the author.

Both interviews were conducted in Finnish. The first interview was held in person and the second
interview was conducted through Zoom video communicating software. The author pursued the
semi-structured interview method by maintaining the paramount topics of the interviews, yet simul-
taneously letting the conversation flow as freely as possible. Free flow of the interviews resulted in
the outcome of not all listed questions were asked. However, all significant questions were ad-
dressed, and the answers of the interviewees modified further questions thus expanding the inter-
view.

36
The interviewee of the first interview is an art director, concept designer and the head of the local
office of the commissioning company. This interviewee was chosen since they have extensive
knowledge and experience of digital marketing, customer base of the commissioning company,
and the market where the industry-independent tool would operate in. The first interview offered a
general view of the market and the customers’ needs, wants and behaviour regarding social media
marketing. The second interviewee was chosen since this entrepreneur was the ideal test customer
for the industry-independent tool. Their needs and wants reflected the needs and wants of other
customers of the commissioner, and thus the interviewee fulfilled the characteristics of an average
customer for the industry-independent tool. In addition, the second interview shed a light to the
solution proposal for the customer’s social media marketing operations.

The results of the interviews 1 and 2

To begin with, the interviews were based on the following topics of social media marketing: cus-
tomers’ needs, wants and goals, trends, customers’ behaviour, KPIs, and finally the industry-inde-
pendent tool. As the author noted and the commissioner confirmed during the practical training,
companies often seek structure, regularity, diversity, meaning, reach and concrete results for their
social media marketing. Whether the companies have challenges in all of the areas simultaneously
or in some of them, this can significantly affect the impact of social media marketing.

Producing effective, diverse, engaging, and fruitful content in social media marketing often derive
from the lack of knowledge of the functions of social media, more specifically what kind of content
should be posted and how to produce the said content. The interviews specified that even the
companies who post quite regularly misstep in creating content without a clear message, meaning
or aim. This type of content rarely reaches the objectives, goals, or targets of the social media
strategy. Additionally, the interviews revealed that many companies perpetrate in producing mo-
notonous and one-sided content, such as informing solely of prices, which will evidently tire follow-
ers. When companies focus mainly on selling and informing of the products, services, and the costs
of them, this usually results in competing solely on prices, thus narrowing their possibility of differ-
entiating themselves from other companies. Diversity in the content produced, such as showing
the company’s personality and brand, is therefore especially crucial in an environment as compet-
itive as social media.

37
Some of the companies seem to be highly confident about their social media marketing yet still
have not seen progress. Based on the interviews, the companies that characterise their social me-
dia as visible, regular, and exciting, often have similar aspect missing. This aspect is building strong
customer relationships. In order to build strong relationship with the followers and customers, the
company must consider two aspects. Firstly, the commissioner emphasises clear brand image in
building strong customer relationship. If the brand image is unclear or incohesive, meaning for
instance colours, fonts, illustrations, or pictures are not recognisable from the social media posts,
customers are left with little grip for trusting and familiarising themselves with the company. The
commissioner guesses that this miscommunication and ineffective perspective derive from compa-
nies viewing their communication and operations from too close up. Companies often focus on
communicating on aspects that generate money, instead of building a relationship with the followers
and customers. Secondly, the target audience must be defined carefully and correctly, in order to
deliver the wanted message, on a wanted time. The commissioner stated that the ineffective tar-
geting relates usually to companies either formatting their message in a way that is not engaging
the correct audience, or formatting their message in a negative manner, thus in each case directing
the marketing communications in a wrong direction. Additionally, companies might alter the per-
spective of their products, services, or brand in a way that confuses the followers.

One aspect of targeting the social media marketing directly relates to posting times. According to
the commissioner, their customer-companies are rarely aware of the importance of posting times.
The companies usually focus on the factor of ‘must post something’ which results in posts at odd
hours of the day or posts with little meaning to them. The companies that are unaware of social
media rarely anticipate or plan posts, and thus lack in cohesivity of the social media content. One
specific time cannot be defined since the golden hour depends highly on the field of business the
company operates in. The daily schedule of the target audience should therefore be considered.
For instance, as the commissioner states: if the company operates in the business-to-consumer
markets, the customers are most likely working persons, and thus the postings should be afternoon-
oriented. As opposed to business-to-business customers, who are often easier reached during
lunch hours.

As stated earlier, social media is relatively young marketing channel and often perceived as a space
for personal communication. Therefore, the functions of this marketing channel still remain as a
mystery for many. The commissioner stated that as professionals in marketing often follow KPIs to
analyse social media and the progress of it, companies maintaining social media marketing as

38
amateurs do not often realise the option and opportunity of examining KPIs. The commissioner
explains that when social media strategies are built for the customers, the performance indicators
to follow are stated. However, if the customer employs the social media themselves, following KPIs
are on their own responsibility, and are often neglected. However, if the customer-companies do
follow KPIs, these KPIs usually relate to interactions, such as follower count, likes, and comments,
which leaves out important information such as conversion rate, potential reach and many more.

In addition to the functions of social media and building customer relationship, companies seem to
struggle with finding and applying resources for building and maintaining their social media mar-
keting. These resources often relate to time and money. As we know, all companies have limited
resources. According to the interviews, companies who do not invest their resources into social
media marketing, often rationalise this choice by not having proof or certainty of the return on in-
vestment. Otherwise said, the companies have not seen the proof or possibilities of social media
marketing or do not believe in them. Therefore, the resources are often directed into other market-
ing channels, giving little emphasis on the importance of social media marketing. Additionally, ac-
cording to the interviews, the companies that do not possess any or only little resources often
discard social media as a marketing channel since the functions and attention needed for social
media is seen as overwhelming. As specified by the Interview 2, social media marketing is rather
viewed as a supportive method of marketing and acts more as a place of building awareness.
Customers do get interested of the company through social media posts since references can be
viewed there, but social media has not proven to be a root cause for concrete sales.

As the author anticipated according to the literature review, Facebook and Instagram are the chan-
nels preferred most by the customers of the commissioner. The popularity of the two channels is
mainly based on familiarity and the ease of use according to the interviews. Since Instagram and
Facebook are familiar from personal use, they are sensible to utilise in marketing as well. These
channels tend to feel natural and safe as environments, thus adding regularity in social media mar-
keting and lowering the threshold of posting. However, it is important to note that there appears to
be great confusion and disorganisation between personal and business accounts. These accounts
are often fused resulting in unprofessional marketing communications. However, it is crucial to also
note the benefit of personal and business accounts operating in a supportive manner. Finally, the
commissioner adds that they advise customers to use channels that are familiar to avoid affected
posts and content. If for instance, LinkedIn does not feel natural, then it should be dropped out of

39
the channel repertoire. However, the commissioner adds that if a company is operating in business-
to-business markets, channels such as LinkedIn should be strongly considered.

To conclude, the main finding of the interviews was the need for structure, consistency, commit-
ment, and regularity whether social media marketing was viewed from the viewpoint of the com-
missioner or the customer. Even though the social media strategy, conducted by the commissioner
offers structure and order, customers seem to need a more pragmatic tool for the day-to-day mar-
keting activities. Additionally, the importance of making social media marketing easier for the cus-
tomer was adduced multiple times. Moreover, clear objectives and goals should be defined. The
communication on social media should follow the objectives of the strategy conducted in order to
generate effective marketing. And finally, the target audience, as well as the message and com-
munication towards them should be carefully considered and defined.

40
5 THE CONTENT CREATION CARDS

This chapter will examine the phases of the process regarding the development of the social media
marketing tool. Additionally, this chapter will specify the key elements and dimensions regarding
the tool. As mentioned before, the tool is designed to be a supportive measure for the social media
marketing strategy conducted by the commissioner. And since the commissioner offers services
for companies from several different industries, the supportive tool must be industry-independent
and possibly personalised for it to fit the customers’ social media marketing needs. The chapter is
divided as follows: subchapter 5.1 will specify the phases of developing the social media marketing
tool. The subchapter 5.2 will continue by reflecting the theoretical knowledge gathered in chapter
3 and specifying the key elements integrated into the tool.

5.1 The phases of developing the social media marketing tool

As could be seen from the Figure 4 on subchapter 4.1, action research, as well as this research,
starts with the setting of an aim and defining the development work. In this research, the aim is to
develop an industry-independent social media marketing tool to operate as a supportive measure
for the commissioner and its customers. The literature review deepened the understanding of the
development work and examined the previous research on the subject. This research continues by
exploring and experimenting on the practical opportunities to reach the set objectives. The research
and development follow a cyclical process of planning, observation and evaluation, where every
phase of the research is carried out and related to each other in a systematic and critical manner.
The following subchapter will illustrate the action research of this thesis on Figure 5 and specifies
the different phases of developing the industry-independent tool.

The end product of the industry-independent tool, also known as the content creation cards, started
as a realisation of a need. During the practical training, the author and the commissioner had fol-
lowed the customer-companies and how they conducted and maintained their social media mar-
keting. Simultaneously, the author of this thesis had conducted many social media strategies for
different customer-companies of the commissioner and realised the similar needs and patterns
when conducting the social media strategies. The social media strategies conducted by the com-
missioner always included what, who, why and when questions, benchmarking, target audience,

41
marketing channels and communication objectives, to name a few. Additionally, the social media
strategies contained a monthly plan with themes, important dates and ideas. However, customers
still seemed to struggle with the threshold of maintaining social media marketing. Thus, the idea of
partly standardised, industry-independent and strategy-supportive tool arose.

As can be seen from the Figure 5, on the phase one, after realising the need for a supportive tool,
the observation intensified. The author wanted a clear picture of the way the customer-companies
maintain their social media and what was the state of their social media without a supportive tool.
After observation, the data collection begun. The author researched the most effective and popular
social media channels, the means of marketing in these different channels and what were the key
elements of improving social media marketing. The phase one of developing the content creation
cards continued further to ideation. The commissioner had the idea of a physical supportive prod-
uct, perhaps a deck of cards to strengthen the social media marketing. However, the raw idea
needed further development. Thus, the author assessed, reflected and moved on to the second
phase of the process.

Figure 5. The phases of developing the content creation cards.

42
The second phase of the process continued with a modified plan. Before starting to develop a
prototype of the content creation cards, the author needed to examine the market and the compe-
tition in it. The benchmarking revealed a market of similar products internationally, yet there
seemed to be a niche market locally. Even though, the author benchmarked around six similar
products and services, they found only one similar product in Finland, which is summarised on
Figure 6 below.

Figure 6. Benchmarking of Fano Oy (Fano 2022).

After establishing the certainty of demand, the author and the commissioner started brainstorming
together with a marketing team of the commissioning company. The brainstorming sessions fo-
cused on availability of resources and the content of the cards. Brainstorming the content included
for instance different categories within the cards, whether business-to-business companies and
business-to-consumers companies should have individual decks, the language options of the cards
and will the cards be in physical or digital form. The benchmarking and brainstorming led to the first
prototype. The first prototype was completed with five categories of help, involve, inform, entertain,
and brand, and it had around 290 cards. However, after going through the deck of cards multiple
times, the team noticed several similar cards. Therefore, it was agreed that combining some of the
categories would be beneficial. The author continued the observation, assessment and reflection
of the first prototype, which led to the third phase of the process.

43
 The third phase of the process started again
with a modified plan. The previous phase in-
cluded editing the cards, specifications of
themes and categories, and more testing.
Another brainstorming session further
specified the categories, the illustration,
and the contents of the second prototype to
follow. The second prototype, as shown in
the Figure 7, has four categories of Help &
Activate, Build Relationship, Entertain &
Delight, and Tell & Inform. This prototype
has about 50 cards in each category. Addi-
tionally, the second prototype show
Figure 7. The second prototype made by the author. whether a particular card is suitable as a

regular post, a story, or both. The use and purpose of the card is marked with a small icon at the
bottom of the card. A square grid indicates a post on a feed and a plus sign indicates a post on a
story publication. One illustration of the second prototype can be seen on the Figure 8 below. The
test users of the customer-companies were given the chance of testing the cards on their social
media marketing. The testing took place before and after the interviews. The phase three continued
with observing the customer-companies and moved on to conducting the semi-structured inter-
views, which revealed new needs and improvement suggestions for the content creation cards.

Figure 8. Illustrations of a Tell & Inform card of the second prototype made by the author.

44
5.2 The key elements of a profitable social media marketing tool

The following subchapter will consider the key elements to take into consideration when developing
a profitable social media marketing tool. The social media marketing tool should firstly fulfil the
SMART goals reviewed in the theoretical foundation. These goals include the characteristics of
specific, measurable, actionable, relevant and time related. Firstly, the objectives of using the tool
should have adequately defined functions that can be measured. These functions of the content
creation cards are summarised as follows: an accessory product that supports and creates added
value to the services offered by the commissioner, which can be used regardless of the field of
business, and which improves social media marketing. Secondly, the results of using the tool
should have the opportunity to be analytically measured. The results of the cards can be measured
by examining the resources, such as money and time saved, and the development of social media
marketing through KPIs such as increase in the number of followers gained and the reactivity of
the social media accounts. Thirdly, the data gained should reflect the situation and be useful. The
commissioner has the resources, solid foundation, professional knowledge and acknowledge de-
mand for the development of the tool. Fourthly, the objective of developing the tool should be di-
rectly related to business development. Regarding the cards, the importance of social media mar-
keting has been emphasised by the customers in recent years. Additionally, the acknowledgement
and answering to the needs of customers directly correlates with the business development. Finally,
the objective should be able to be repeatedly monitored through time. Regarding the cards, the
development process and the success of the tool can be precisely monitored through time.

It is crucial to note the applicable channels for any tool utilised in social media marketing, so the
optimisation of the said tool is done efficiently. According to the literature review and interviews,
the most effective social media channels for the commissioner's customers to use for marketing
currently are Facebook and Instagram. Since Facebook and Instagram are both included in the
Meta platforms, the interconnection of the channels can and should be utilised in marketing and in
the development of the content creation cards. The interconnection between these channels makes
the content posting options quite similar. Therefore, the content creation cards will have the follow-
ing content posting options included in them in different forms. The content posting options referred
to are as follows: organic and paid photos and videos in the form of stories, reels, carousels and
regular posts, live videos, product and location tags, and finally polls. In addition, there is a distinc-
tion of stories and regular posts on the bottom of every card, as could be seen in the Figures 7 and
8. This distinction will communicate how the specific content card can be utilised.

45
When developing a social media marketing tool, it is important to consider a way of estimating the
effect of the tool for reaching the marketing objectives. When utilising the content creation cards,
the user can examine the progress of their social media marketing through Audience and Page
Insights on Facebook and Instagram. These tools can help reveal the needed direction of the social
media strategy and the use of the cards. This can relate to for instance, putting more emphasis on
the Tell & Inform cards when the offering of a company centres around highly technical products
and services, and lowering the use of the Entertain & Delight cards if the objective is to shift to more
informing social media marketing strategy. This does not however mean that companies should
utilise only one category but rather consider the emphasis of the categories. By examining the
Insights, marketers can consider the valuable data and measure the customer needs and wants,
and thus assess the weekly or monthly need and volume of the different categories of the cards.

The cards shall distinguish the difference of paid, earned and owned media posts. This distinction
will improve the utilisation of the Audience and Page Insights as well since marketers will know
their emphasis on the different media types and their effect on reaching social media strategy ob-
jectives. The emphasis, specific metrics and objectives of the different media types will ascribe to
the types of cards used and the amount of them. The content creation cards will be designed in a
way that all of the media types: paid, owned and earned, will be somewhat present in the deck.
However, the role of owned media will be dominant as of now. Paid media will be visible in a card
which for instance urge the user to utilise Boost feature of Instagram to turn a regular post into paid
one. As stated earlier, owned media will be the most visible type of media in the content creation
deck since the idea of the deck is to inspire and offer ready-made posts for the user. Owned media
in the cards can show up as an urge for the user to optimise their home page, conduct a question-
and-ask live or simply post an interesting fact of the field of business they are operating in. Finally,
earned media is the rarest media type on the content creation deck, since this media type is de-
pendent on the followers, customers and consumers. However, earned media can be seen on the
cards as posts of asking followers to share their honest opinion of the company, asking other com-
panies to collaborate or offer followers a hashtag to use to generate the social share of voice.

After navigating the applicable channels and the posting types and options, the author decided that
the content creation cards, as any social media marketing tool, needed structure, strategy and logic
in order for them to serve as many customers’ needs as possible. Thus, the RACE model was
utilised. Similar to the RACE model utilised in digital marketing strategies, the deck of cards needed

46
to cover the categories of reach, act, convert, and engage, in order for the tool to optimise the social
media marketing as well as possible. As was previously mentioned, these four categories combined
represent customer life cycle. This would allow the deck user to understand and engage with the
target audience as a whole, including leads, prospects, and customers throughout the cycle. The
first category of Reach creates awareness of the company, relating mostly to leads and prospects.
Secondly, Act or Interact encourages the visitors and followers to interact with the company.
Thirdly, the Convert or Conversion would refer to reaching the objectives set by the social media
strategy, such as gaining new fans, leads or for instance sales. And finally, Engage refers to the
long-term customer relationships and the continuous engagement of them. All of the characteristics
of the four steps should be included in the deck of cards in order to assure engaging content of
target audience as whole.

Social media marketing tool should aspire to drive and follow key performance indicators. As the
interviews revealed, the companies conducting the social media marketing themselves did not fol-
low key performance indicators actively. Therefore, the author realised the need for the content
creation cards to drive the user to reach the needed KPI objectives. Hence, the four main categories
of social media KPIs were drawn earlier on the theoretical foundation. Reach, engagement, con-
version and customer satisfaction KPIs are all included in different cards of different categories.
The inclusion of the KPIs is presented in the cards as follows; firstly, user may be urged to check
the social share of voice, which tracks mentions of the company. A content creation card could
drive this KPI by asking followers to give their honest opinion of a product by using a company
specific hashtag. Secondly, engagement KPIs could be shown in the cards as either examining
likes and comments on Insights or asking followers to comment below a post in order to win a price.
Thirdly, conversion KPIs can be seen in the cards as either again urging to examine the Insights
and adding cards of specific category needed to the social media strategy or asking followers who
viewed the post to follow through by clicking the call to action, by adding for instance a link to a
website of the company. Finally, customer satisfaction KPIs can be included in the content creation
cards as urging the user to check the customer satisfaction score or asking the followers to give
customer testimonials on products or services.

Finally, any social media marketing tool, created as a supportive measure, should thrive for a high-
quality user experience. In order to ensure a high-quality user experience, the content creation
cards require structure, logic and categorisation. Here, the content marketing and matrix, reviewed
in the subchapter 3.6, enters into the picture. Since KPIs are still novel to the customers of the

47
commissioner, it might be too complex for the cards to be categorised based on that. Therefore,
the content matrix of Dave Chaffey is utilised because it is accessible and concrete. The customers
can be shown the matrix based on the cards, in order for them to understand the need of certain
category emphasis, in the case of their specific social media strategy objectives. The matrix would
help with understanding the cause-and-effect relationship of cards used and objectives reached.
Even though the categories of the content creation deck are inspired by the content matrix of Dave
Chaffey, they are refined further to serve the specific customer-needs identified during observation
period and the interviews.

To conclude, as mentioned earlier and also seen from the Interview 1, the commissioner offers
services to different companies from various fields of business. Therefore, the social media strate-
gies they offer follow a certain system in order for them to go over every necessary aspect of
conducting a successful social media strategy. Therefore, the author knew, that just as the social
media strategies provided by the commissioner, the industry-independent tool should have a sys-
tem behind it in order it to serve many different customers. Therefore, the content creation cards
have around fifty standardised posting ideas in all four categories, adding up to 200 posts. These
posting ideas are industry-independent and can be utilised by any company regardless of their
operations in business-to-business or business-to-consumer markets. The content creation cards
are divided into four categories in order to generate rich, educational, entertaining, and exciting
content on social media. The finalised categories are Advice & Activate, Tell & Inform, Entertain &
Delight and Connect & Bond. These categories drive several different key performance indicators
in order to improve the visibility, traffic, brand image, lead generation, awareness, and sales of the
company through social media. The content creation cards consider the time-sensitivity of social
media and offer therefore the possibility to plan several months ahead with the 200 ready-made
content ideas. Planning and executing this relevant, interesting, and engaging content can be con-
veniently mapped by utilising the different categories and a monthly planner. Finally, as the look of
the cards, the category is listed on the front side of the card whereas the posting idea and the way
of implementation is on the reverse side. The content creation deck of cards, implemented together
with the social media strategy, should eliminate the difficulty of dedication and commitment, the
need of profound market and target audience knowledge and the continuous tracking of the devel-
opment and results of social media. The cards, when properly implemented, should therefore meet
the requirements of effective social media marketing and the needs of the user.

48
6 CONCLUSION

This research embarked on a journey of developing an industry-independent social media market-

ing tool, also known as the content creation cards, in collaboration with a commissioner, its team
and its diverse range of customer-companies. The process followed a systematic and iterative ap-
proach of action research, which required continuous planning, observation, evaluation, and refine-
ment. This approach was driven by the aim of creating a supportive tool that addresses the chal-
lenges faced by various businesses in maintaining effective social media marketing strategies.

The initial stages of the research involved a comprehensive literature review to better understand
social media marketing as a whole and to identify the gaps and needs that the content creation
cards could fulfil. The research process followed a circular model, enabling the continuous refine-
ment of objectives, ideas, and strategies based on practical observations, experimentation, and
feedback from the customer-companies. This iterative process was crucial in developing a tool that
not only met the specific needs of the commissioner's customers but also considered the nuances
of the evolving field of social media marketing. Together, the literature review and the iterative
research process answered to the research problem of How to develop an industry-independent
tool that improves social media marketing in Meta Platforms?

In order to develop an industry-independent tool that improves social media marketing, the cus-
tomers must find value in this tool. The value of a social media marketing tool comprises to the
following factors: the tool needs to offer a lower threshold of posting, consider various different
nuances of social media marketing, and provide a genuine possibility to improve social media mar-
keting and measure its development. The content creation cards emerged as a response to the
common challenges faced by companies in maintaining consistent and engaging social media con-
tent. The tool was created as a bridge between strategic planning and implementation, offering a
supportive selection of posting ideas that catered to different stages of the customer life cycle. The
categories: Advice & Activate, Tell & Inform, Entertain & Delight and Connect & Bond provide a
flexible structure for content creation that resonate with target audiences.

Throughout the development process, the tool was refined based on insights gained from bench-
marking, brainstorming sessions, prototype testing, and interviews. It was designed to empower
businesses to direct their social media marketing efforts effectively. The structured approach of the

49
tool, aligned with the RACE model, aimed to create a cohesive social media presence by engaging
users at various stages of their interaction with the brand. Additionally, the incorporation of key
performance indicators directly within the tool provided users with a tangible way to assess the
impact of their efforts. The adaptability of the tool was one of the key considerations, accommodat-
ing both paid and organic media across different social media channels. By focusing on the inter-
connection between Facebook and Instagram, the tool utilised the connection between these plat-
forms to enhance content creation and posting processes. Finally, the content matrix provided an
intuitive way for users to align their content with specific objectives, ensuring that the content cre-
ation cards contributed to their broader social media strategies.

Moving forward, the commissioner should keep developing and refining the content creation cards.
The interview of the customer company revealed aspects to consider, which could positively im-
prove the user experience of the cards. Firstly, the content creation cards should have an accom-
panying product of a calendar template to enable the planning of the months and the emphasis of
the categories. Secondly, the deck could include “did you know”-cards which will offer knowledge
on for instance posting times, verification of accounts or solutions on the technical difficulties cus-
tomers face in social media marketing. These technical difficulties include for instance choosing
correct picture sizes or text formatting. Thirdly, the deck could additionally include “self-develop-
ment” -cards, which would drive the user to check KPIs and be active in reaching goals or develop
the Facebook and Instagram homepages by focusing on for instance recognisable and brand sup-
portive home page, milestones, and verification badge of authenticity for sense of authority and
trust. Finally, the cards should offer some kind of additional motivation for the customer. This moti-
vational aspect could be for instance free trial period, where the customer could concretely see the
impact of the cards.

In conclusion, the development of the industry-independent content creation cards highlighted the
importance of a systematic, adaptable, and user-centred approach in creating supportive tools for
social media marketing. By bridging the gap between strategic planning and practical implementa-
tion, the cards aimed to alleviate the challenges faced by businesses in maintaining a consistent
and effective social media presence. The iterative nature of the research process allowed for con-
tinuous refinement and ensured that the tool met the dynamic needs of a diverse range of customer-
companies. As businesses continue to navigate the ever-evolving world of social media marketing,
tools like the content creation cards offer a strategic advantage by simplifying the content creation
process and fostering meaningful engagement with target audiences.

50
7 DISCUSSION

The process of this thesis was challenging yet interesting and inspiring to the author. The author
made a careful decision on the topic with an aim to add value for the commissioner, customer-
companies, and her own development in digital marketing. The commissioner was a considerable
asset and supporter in respect of the chosen topic. The author possessed some prior knowledge
and familiarity of social media marketing, yet the different requirements and complexity of this type
of marketing still surprised the author.

While outlining the scope of the study, such as defining the topic and drawing the theoretical foun-
dation, the author had difficulties with delimiting it. The author would have wanted to focus on social
media as a whole and all of the possible channels in it and include more interviews and a survey
to deepen the understanding of the customers. However, this would have been too broad for a
bachelor's thesis. However, by defining the topic and research problem and questions, the author
believes the thesis offers a profound analysis of the specific area of social media marketing and
the current needs of the customer-companies. The author is overall satisfied with the final scope
and focus of the thesis.

The author believes that the outcome of this thesis is successful. The knowledge and the results
the thesis provide are usable and profitable for the commissioner and its customers. The aim of the
thesis was to examine the development of an industry-independent tool and add value to the social
media marketing of the commissioner and its customers. The knowledge and the end-product of
this thesis can be utilised as of now or be further developed. Additionally, the thesis provides details
of the channels the tool can be used in, the customers’ needs and wants, and the comprehensive
explanation of the functions of the tool. The author believes that the latest prototype can be for-
warded to the next step of production and thus concretise the tool to a vendible product.

The most captivating phase of the thesis was the analysis of the information acquired and the
utilisation of the said information in conducting the tool. Despite its demanding nature, this thesis
process proved valuable by combining insights from both the literature review and interviews. On
the whole, conducting the thesis has been an effective educational process and the author is con-
fident with its outcome.

51
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INTERVIEW 1 APPENDIX 1

Interviewee: Art Director, Concept designer and the head of the local office of the commis-
sioning company.

Topic: Social media marketing; Customers’ needs and wants, Trends, Customers’ behav-
iour, KPIs

Question 1: Could you tell me about the social media marketing needs and wants of your customers
you have noticed during your career in the field? Are there some trends?

Question 2: From your professional viewpoint, how can a company stand out with its social media
marketing?

Question 3: Which social media channels are used the most or which channels do your customers
prefer? Why?

Question 3.1 (according to previous answer): Is the channel-division based on familiarity or the
customers’ presence?

Question 4: Do you or your customers follow any key performance indicators in social media mar-
keting? If you do, which ones? If you do not, why not?

Question 5: Have you noticed areas of development in your customers’ social media marketing?
What are the typical areas of development? Are there similarities?

Question 5.1 (according to previous answer): What is the reason behind the miscommunication or
ineffective angle of social media marketing?

Question 6: What do you see are the most important factors to consider when developing custom-
ers’ social media marketing?

56
Question 6.1 (according to previous answer): Are companies aware of the importance of posting
times?

Question 6.2 (according to previous answer): Do companies foresee social media posts? Do they
make schedules or ready-made posts?

Question 6.3 (according to previous answer of 6.1): When is the “perfect” time to post?

Question 7: From your professional viewpoint, which methods or factors are most effective or ben-
eficial for improving social media marketing?

Question 7.1(according to previous answer): Do you do benchmarking (examine or compare com-

petitions’ social media marketing communications) or is the strategy solely based on the customer
company?

57
INTERVIEW 2 APPENDIX 2

Interviewee: Customer company’s entrepreneur in the field of interior design

Topic: Social media marketing; needs and goals of the company, Content creation cards

Question 1: Could you tell me about your social media marketing? General activities and behaviour,
goals, needs and wants.

Question 2: What channels do you prefer to use in your social media marketing? Why?

Question 3: Have you tried other channels yet realised they are not fitting for your marketing needs?
Which are these channels? Why were they not fitting?

Question 4: Have you considered adopting new social media channels? Why?

Question 5: Can you tell me about the target audience of your social media marketing communica-
tions?

Question 6: What are the short-term and long-term goals of your company’s social media market-
ing?

Question 7: What are the improvement needs and hopes for your social media marketing?

Question 8: What kind of challenges have you faced in your social media marketing?

Question 9: How important would you say social media marketing is for your company’s overall
marketing communications?

Question 10: How important part would you say social media marketing plays in your customers’
purchasing decisions?

58
Question 11: Do you follow any key performance indicators in your social media marketing? If yes,
which ones? If no, why not?

Question 12: What services do you have from the commissioner at the moment?

Question 13: Can you describe the user experience of the content creation cards?

Question 14: According to your company’s needs, what are the best features of the content creation
cards?

Question 15: Have you noticed any deficiencies in the cards? Do you have any improvement pro-
posals for them?

Question 16: Overall, do you see yourself utilising the deck in daily or weekly basis?

Question 17: Do the cards add value to your social media marketing?

59