“What does the organization want others to think about the organization?” : En kvalitativ studie av Obos Damallsvenskans avsedda image och strategiska kommunikation på Instagram

Sammanfattning: Social media is a crucial part of today's organizational communication as it contributes to form opinions and attitudes concerning an organization's image. It is therefore important for organizations as well as for sports teams that operate on a professional level to adapt to the fragmented media landscape. Most of the professional teams maintain a high social media presence in order to build and communicate their image. This is in particular meaningful for women's teams since they come from a disadvantageous role in traditional media. Therefore, the purpose of the study is to examine which image the highest division of women's soccer in Sweden choose to publish on their Instagram account in order to present themself. The aim is also to examine in what ways strategic communication is expressed in the Instagram posts. Thus, the study attempts to answer the research questions; “Which image does Obos Damallsvenskan choose to publish on Instagram?” and “In what ways is strategic communication expressed in the posts Obos Damallsvenskan chooses to publish?”. To answer these questions a qualitative content analysis, which focuses on both the textual components of the posts and their pictures, has been applied. The study uses a theoretical framework for identity, intended image, construed image and reputation as well as for strategic communication in order to discuss Obos Damallsvenskan´s perceived intended image and strategic communication. The findings of the study show that Obos Damallsvenskan chooses to publish an informative and game situation-oriented image. As for the strategic communication, Obos Damallsvenskan seems to use a variety of components in order to create this image.