Value co-creation through social media: a case study of a start-up company
Abstract
This research examines social media users’ value-creation processes and the drivers of a start-up company’s successful social media strategy. This research primarily aims to understand start-ups’ effective utilization of social media and value co-creation processes. Although utilizing social media has become key for many organizations, start-ups and small businesses often suffer from a lack of understanding and knowledge of the utilization of social media tools. Therefore, this article uses a case study on the relationship between a social media platform and users’ value co-creation to offer a conceptual framework for start-ups to consider in utilizing social media. Our research reveals that four core drivers of social media success include experience, satisfaction, expression, and sharing ability. Each of these drivers in turn contains conditions for understanding users’ value-creation process and the creation of drivers for successful social media strategies. The research contributes to literature by providing a detailed review of users’ value co-creation as a part of a start-up’s successful social media strategy.
Keyword : social media, social media strategy, value co-creation, value creation, start-ups, core drivers
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
References
Ashley, C., & Tuten, T. (2014). Creative strategies in social media marketing: An exploratory study of branded social content and consumer engagement. Psychology & Marketing, 32(1), 15-27. https://doi.org/10.1002/mar.20761
Atanassova, I., & Clark, L. (2015). Social media practices in SME marketing activities: A theoretical framework and research agenda. Journal of Customer Behaviour, 14(2), 163-183. https://doi.org/10.1362/147539215X14373846805824
Bennett, S. (2014). Brands use Twitter to boost awareness. Retrieved from http://www.adweek.com/digital/twitter-brands-awareness-sales/
Bernoff, J., & Schadler, T. (2010). Empowered: Unleash your employees, energize your customers, transform your business. Harvard Business Review Press.
Bertschek, I., & Kesler, R. (2017). Let the user speak: Is feedback on Facebook a source of firms’ innovation? (ZEW Discussion Paper No. 17-015). Retrieved from http://ftp.zew.de/pub/zew-docs/dp/dp17015.pdf
Blazevic, V., & Lievens, A. (2008). Managing innovation through customer coproduced knowledge in electronic services: an exploratory study. Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, 36(1), 138-151. https://doi.org/ 10.1007/s11747-007-0064-y
Brodie, R. J., Ilic, A., Juric, B., & Hollebeek, L. D. (2013). Consumer engagement in a virtual brand community: An exploratory analysis. Journal of Business Research, 66(1), 105-114. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jbusres.2011.07.029
Bughin, J., Hung Byers, A., & Chui, M. (2011). How social technologies are extending the organization. McKinsey Quarterly. Retrieved from http://www.mckinsey.com/industries/high-tech/our-insights/how-social-technologies-are-extending-the-organization
Burnes, B., & Choi, H. (2015). Future cities and self-organising value chains: The case of the independent music community in Seoul. Supply Chain Management: An International Journal, 20(3), 300-312. https://doi.org/10.1108/SCM-04-2014-0141
Cavusgil, S. T., & Knight, G. (2015). The born global firm: An entrepreneurial and capabilities perspective on early and rapid internationalization. Journal of International Business Studies, 46(1), 3-16. https://doi.org/10.1057/jibs.2014.62
Ceccagnoli, M., Forman, C., Huang, P., & Wu, D. J. (2011). Co-creation of value in a platform ecosystem! The case of enterprise software. MIS Quarterly, 36, 263-290. https://doi.org/10.2307/41410417
Cheng, C., & Shiu, E. (2018). How to enhance SMEs’ customer involvement using social media: The role of social CRM. International Small Business Journal: Researching Entrepreneurship. https://doi.org/10.1177/0266242618774831
Choi, H., & Burnes, B. (2013). The Internet and value co-creation: The case of the popular music industry. Prometheus, 31(1), 35-53. https://doi.org/10.1080/08109028.2013.774595
Choi, H., & Burnes, B. (2017). Bonding and spreading: Co-creative relationships and interaction with consumers in South Korea’s indie music industry. Management Decision, 55(9), 1905-1923. https://doi.org/10.1108/MD-10-2010691
Common Sense Media. (2015). U.S. teens use an average of nine hours of media per day. Retrieved from https://www.commonsensemedia.org/about-us/news/press-releases/landmark-report-us-teens-use-an-average-of-nine-hours-of-media-per-day
Dimitriu, R., & Guesalaga, R. (2017). Consumers’ social media brand behaviors: Uncovering underlying motivators and deriving meaningful consumer segments. Psychology & Marketing, 34(5), 580-592. https://doi.org/10.1002/mar.21007
Dong, J. Q., & Wu, W. (2015). Business value of social media technologies: Evidence from online user innovation communities. The Journal of Strategic Information Systems, 24(2), 113-127. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jsis.2015.04.003
Dutta, S. (2010). What’s your personal social media strategy? Harvard Business Review, 88(11), 127-130.
Dwivedi, A., Johnson, L. W., Wilkie, D., & Araujo-Gil, L. (2018). Consumer emotional brand attachment with social media brands and social media brand equity. European Journal of Marketing. https://doi.org/10.1108/EJM-09-2016-0511
Edelman, D. (2010). Branding in the digital age: You’re spending your money in all the wrong places. Harvard Business Review, 88(12), 62-69.
Edvardsson, B., Tronvoll, B., & Gruber, T. (2011). Expanding understanding of service exchange and value co-creation: A social construction approach. Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, 39(2), 327-339. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11747-010-0200-y
Eisenmann, T., Parker, G., & Van Alstyne, M. W. (2006). Strategies for two-sided markets. Harvard Business Review, 84(10), 92.
Fischer, E., & Reuber, A. R. (2011). Social interaction via new social media: (How) can interactions on Twitter affect effectual thinking and behavior? Journal of Business Venturing, 26(1), 1-18. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jbusvent.2010.09.002
Fuller, J. (2010). Refining virtual co-creation from a consumer perspective. California Management Review, 52(2), 98-122. https://doi.org/10.1525/cmr.2010.52.2.98
Gallaugher, J., & Ransbotham, S. (2010). Social media and customer dialog management at Starbucks. MIS Quarterly Executive, 9(4), 197-212.
Ghezzi, A., Gastaldi, L., Lettieri, E., Martini, A., & Corso, M. (2016). A role for startups in unleashing the disruptive power of social media. International Journal of Information Management, 36(6), 1152-1159. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijinfomgt.2016.04.007
Giamanco, B., & Gregoire, K. (2012). Tweet me, friend me, make me buy. Harvard Business Review, 90(7), 89-93.
Green, J., & Jenkins, H. (2011). Spreadable media: how audiences create value and meaning in a networked economy. In V. Nightingale (Ed.), The handbook of media audiences (pp. 119-126). Blackwell Publishing Ltd. https://doi.org/10.1002/9781444340525.ch5
Hanna, R., Rohm, A., & Crittenden, V. (2011). We’re all connected: The power of the social media ecosystem. Business Horizons, 54(3), 265-273. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.bushor.2011.01.007
Helkkula, A., Kelleher, C., & Pihlström, M. (2012). Characterizing value as an experience: Implications for service researchers and managers. Journal of Service Research, 15(1), 59-75. https://doi.org/10.1177/1094670511426897
Hennig-Thurau, T., Malthouse, E. C., Friege, C., Gensler, S., Lobschat, L., Rangaswamy, A., & Skiera, B. (2010). The impact of new media on user relationships. Journal of Service Research, 13(3), 311-330. https://doi.org/10.1177/1094670510375460
Hoffman, D. L., & Fodor, M. (2010). Can you measure the ROI of your social media marketing? MIT Sloan Management Review, 52(1), 41-49.
Hollebeek, L., Glynn, M., & Brodie, R. (2014). Consumer brand engagement in social media: Conceptualization, scale development and validation. Journal of Interactive Marketing, 28(2), 149-165. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.intmar.2013.12.002
Jansen, B. J., Zhang, M., Sobel, K., & Chowdury, A. (2009). Twitter power: Tweets as electronic word of mouth. Journal of the American Society for Information Science and Technology, 60(11), 2169-2188. https://doi.org/10.1002/asi.21149
Jenkins, H., Ford, S., & Green, J. (2013). Spreadable media: creating value and meaning in a networked culture. New York University Press.
Kaplan, A., & Haenlein, M. (2010). Users of the world, unite! The challenges and opportunities of social media. Business Horizons, 53(1), 59-68. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.bushor.2009.09.003
Kim, J. (2016). The platform business model and business ecosystem: Quality management and revenue structures. European Planning Studies, 24(12), 2113-2132. https://doi.org/10.1080/09654313.2016.1251882
Kim, J. (2018). Market entry strategy for a digital platform provider. Baltic Journal of Management, 13(3), 390-406. https://doi.org/10.1108/bjm-07-2017-0228
Kohli, R., & Grover, V. (2008). Business value of IT: An essay on expanding research directions to keep up with the times. Journal of the Association for Information Systems, 9(1), 23-39. https://doi.org/10.17705/1jais.00147
Lee, M., Lee, M., & Kim, J. (2017). A dynamic approach to the start-up business ecosystem: A cross-comparison of Korea, China, and Japan. Asian Academy of Management Journal, 22(2), 157-184. https://doi.org/10.21315/aamj2017.22.2.6
Li, C., & Bernoff, J. (2008). Groundswell: winning in a world transformed by social technologies. Harvard Business Press.
Lusch, R., & Nambisan, S. (2015). Service innovation: A service-dominant logic perspective. MIS Quarterly, 39(1), 155-175. https://doi.org/10.25300/MISQ/2015/39.1.07
Lusch, R., & Vargo, S. (2014). Service-dominant logic: premises, perspectives, possibilities. Cambridge University Press.
Mangold, G., & Faulds, D. (2009). Social media: The new hybrid element of the promotion mix. Business Horizons, 52(4), 357-365. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.bushor.2009.03.002
Martini, A., Massa, S., & Testa, S. (2013). The firm, the platform and the customer: A “double mangle” interpretation of social media for innovation. Information and Organization, 23(3), 198-213. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.infoandorg.2013.07.001
Matschke, C., Moskaliuk, J., & Cress, U. (2012). Knowledge exchange using Web 2.0 technologies in NGOs. Journal of Knowledge Management, 16(1), 159-176. https://doi.org/10.1108/13673271211199007
Michel, S., Brown, S. W., & Gallan, A. S. (2008). Service-logic innovations: How to innovate customers, not products. California Management Review, 50(3), 49-65. https://doi.org/10.2307/41166445
Mount, M., & Martinez, M. G. (2014). Social media: A tool for open innovation. California Management Review, 56(4), 124-143. https://doi.org/10.1525/cmr.2014.56.4.124
Nesman, T. M., Batsche, C., & Hernandez, M. (2007). Theory-based evaluation of a comprehensive Latino education initiative: An interactive evaluation approach. Evaluation and Program Planning, 30(3), 267-281. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.evalprogplan.2007.04.004
Ngai, E. W., Tao, S. S., & Moon, K. K. (2015). Social media research: Theories, constructs and conceptual frameworks. International Journal of Information Management, 35(1), 33-44. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijinfomgt.2014.09.004
Oh, C., Roumani, Y., Nwankpa, J., & Hu, H. (2017). Beyond likes and tweets: Consumer engagement behavior and movie box office in social media. Information & Management, 54(1), 25-37. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.im.2016.03.004
Papagiannidis, S., & Bourlakis, M. (2015). Social media: A revolution in communication. Technological Forecasting and Social Change, 95, 1-2. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.techfore.2014.09.011
Payne, A. F., Storbacka, K., & Frow, P. (2008). Managing the co-creation of value. Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, 36(1), 83-96. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11747-007-0070-0
Perlberg, S. (2015). How Netflix is shaking up its marketing strategy. Retrieved from https://blogs.wsj.com/cmo/2015/04/16/netflix-marketing-strategy/
Polese, F., Mele, C., & Gummesson, E. (2017). Value co-creation as a complex adaptive process. Journal of Service Theory and Practice, 27(5), 926-929. https://doi.org/10.1108/JSTP-07-2017-0111
Prahalad, C. K., & Ramaswamy, V. (2000). Co-opting customer competence. Harvard Business Review, 78(1), 79-90.
Prahalad, C. K., & Ramaswamy, V. (2004). Co-creation experiences: The next practice in value creation. Journal of Interactive Marketing, 18(3), 5-14. https://doi.org/10.1002/dir.20015
Ramaswamy, V., & Ozcan, K. (2016). Brand value co-creation in a digitalized world: An integrative framework and research implications. International Journal of Research in Marketing, 33(1), 93-106. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijresmar.2015.07.001
Rathore, A. K., Ilavarasan, P. V., & Dwiedi, Y. (2016). Social media content and product co-creation: An emerging paradigm. Journal of Enterprise Information Management, 29(1), 7-18. https://doi.org/10.1108/JEIM-06-2015-0047
Rochet, J., & Tirole, J. (2003). Platform competition in two-sided markets. Journal of the European Economic Association, 1(4), 990-1029. https://doi.org/10.1162/154247603322493212
Salvador, F., De Holan, P., & Piller, F. (2009). Cracking the code of mass customization. MIT Sloan Management Review, 50(3), 71-78.
Sawhney, M., Verona, G., & Prandelli, E. (2005). Collaborating to create: The Internet as a platform for customer engagement in production innovation. Journal of Interactive Marketing, 19(4), 4-17. https://doi.org/10.1002/dir.20046
Schau, H. J., Muniz, A. M., & Arnould, E. J. (2009). How brand community practices create value. Journal of Marketing, 73(5), 30-51. https://doi.org/10.1509/jmkg.73.5.30
See-To, E. W., & Ho, K. K. (2014). Value co-creation and purchase intention in social network sites: The role of electronic word-of-mouth and trust − A theoretical analysis. Computers in Human Behavior, 31, 182-189. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chb.2013.10.013
Smith, A., & Anderson, M. (2018). Social media use 2018: demographics and statistics. Retrieved from http://www.pewinternet.org/2018/03/01/social-media-use-in-2018/
Solaimani, S., & Bouwman, H. (2012). A framework for the alignment of business model and business processes: A generic model for trans-sector innovation. Business Process Management Journal, 18(4), 655-679. https://doi.org/10.1108/14637151211253783
Swaminathan, V., & Moorman, C. (2009). Marketing alliances, firm networks, and firm value creation. Journal of Marketing, 73(5), 52-69. https://doi.org/10.1509/jmkg.73.5.52
Tambe, P., Hitt, L., & Brynjolfsson, E. (2012). The extroverted firm: How external information practices affect innovation and productivity. Management Science, 58(5), 843-859. https://doi.org/10.1287/mnsc.1110.1446
Teixeira, J., Patricio, L., Nunes, N. J., Nobrega, L., Fisk, R. P., & Constantine, L. (2012). Customer experience modeling: From customer experience to service design. Journal of Service Management, 23(3), 362-376. https://doi.org/10.1108/09564231211248453
Trainor, K. J., Andzulis, J., Rapp, A., & Agnihotri, R. (2014). Social media technology usage and customer relationship performance: A capabilities-based examination of social CRM. Journal of Business Research, 67(6), 1201-1208. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jbusres.2013.05.002
Trusov, M., Bucklin, R. E., & Pauwels, K. (2009). Effects of word-of-mouth versus traditional marketing: Findings from an Internet social networking site. Journal of Marketing, 73(5), 90-102. https://doi.org/10.1509/jmkg.73.5.90
Williams, D. (2017). 4 content marketing lessons to learn from Netflix. Retrieved from https://www.entrepreneur.com/article/294050
Yin, R. K. (2009). Case study research: design and methods (4th ed.). London: SAGE Publications.
Zott, C., & Amit, R. (2010). Business model design: An activity system perspective. Long Range Planning, 43(2-3), 216-226. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.lrp.2009.07.004