Improving International Visibility and Social Media Marketing of Art: Case Company Taiko
Ylänen, Iiris (2021)
2021
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Julkaisun pysyvä osoite on
https://urn.fi/URN:NBN:fi:amk-2021052812145
https://urn.fi/URN:NBN:fi:amk-2021052812145
Tiivistelmä
The objective of this research-oriented bachelor’s thesis aimed to provide valuable information to the commissioning company, on how it could improve its international visibility and social media marketing of art. The research objective was approached with investigative questions, such as what the current situation of the company’s marketing activities were, how the company could target its social media marketing activities effectively to Finnish expatriates in Sweden, Italy and Spain or potential international customers abroad. Since the commissioning company has limited resources, especially to reach target audience abroad, this research became current.
The study has a theoretical part, which explains the theoretical framework of the thesis. It includes information about the key concepts such as international art market, Finnish and contemporary art, art buyers, social media marketing of art, target marketing, content marketing as well as social media engagement. The empirical part of the thesis answers the research objective with collected data.
The research had two phases, from which the first one was an interview with the commissioning company and was therefore qualitative data. Qualitative data was analysed using thematic content analysis. The second phase was a quantitative survey, with some qualitative questions, created with survey tool Webropol. The survey got 111 relevant answers, from which 84 were from Finnish expatriates living abroad. The survey was distributed on social media, more specifically on Facebook, and through a newsletter. The quantitative data accumulated from the survey was analysed using Excel and SPSS statistics.
The data of the thesis helped to conclude some needed insights. These included that the Finnish expatriates in Sweden, Spain and Italy prefer using Facebook and Instagram, and the most interest came from Sweden. The expatriates also seemed to be females between the ages of 30-49 and their preferred content type was pictures. International respondents were a bit younger, and preferred YouTube over Facebook. Additionally, videos were preferred almost as much as pictures. What most concerned the respondents was not seeing art pieces live before purchasing, and that the colours would be different.
The company seemed to have quite the good idea of how to conduct and plan its social media marketing, but resources and lack of time seemed to be one of the company’s biggest struggles. It was recommended for the company to outsource some of their social media marketing activities and data collection, especially if the goal is to expand. It was also recommended to create a more detailed content and target marketing strategy. Additionally, because the survey indicated that young people were quite interested in buying art online, it was recommended to consider targeting marketing efforts to younger audiences in the future. The concluding chapter and key findings combine the information collected in the theoretical framework of the study with the results of the survey.
The study has a theoretical part, which explains the theoretical framework of the thesis. It includes information about the key concepts such as international art market, Finnish and contemporary art, art buyers, social media marketing of art, target marketing, content marketing as well as social media engagement. The empirical part of the thesis answers the research objective with collected data.
The research had two phases, from which the first one was an interview with the commissioning company and was therefore qualitative data. Qualitative data was analysed using thematic content analysis. The second phase was a quantitative survey, with some qualitative questions, created with survey tool Webropol. The survey got 111 relevant answers, from which 84 were from Finnish expatriates living abroad. The survey was distributed on social media, more specifically on Facebook, and through a newsletter. The quantitative data accumulated from the survey was analysed using Excel and SPSS statistics.
The data of the thesis helped to conclude some needed insights. These included that the Finnish expatriates in Sweden, Spain and Italy prefer using Facebook and Instagram, and the most interest came from Sweden. The expatriates also seemed to be females between the ages of 30-49 and their preferred content type was pictures. International respondents were a bit younger, and preferred YouTube over Facebook. Additionally, videos were preferred almost as much as pictures. What most concerned the respondents was not seeing art pieces live before purchasing, and that the colours would be different.
The company seemed to have quite the good idea of how to conduct and plan its social media marketing, but resources and lack of time seemed to be one of the company’s biggest struggles. It was recommended for the company to outsource some of their social media marketing activities and data collection, especially if the goal is to expand. It was also recommended to create a more detailed content and target marketing strategy. Additionally, because the survey indicated that young people were quite interested in buying art online, it was recommended to consider targeting marketing efforts to younger audiences in the future. The concluding chapter and key findings combine the information collected in the theoretical framework of the study with the results of the survey.