Den allsmäktige kunden : En kvalitativ studie om word-of-mouth, viral marknadsföring och viljan att dela med sig.

Sammanfattning: The purpose of this thesis is to clarify the connection between word-of-mouth and viral marketing, to identify properties of and strategic ways to implement viral marketing and to examine how a company can influence the customers’ perception of the brand in social media. This purpose served to answer our research question:  How can companies deliberately create viral marketing? To answer this question we based our study on a qualitative method where we conducted eight interviews with different people, all with experience in our research field. We focused on our respondents’ own opinions and were more interested in their personal experiences rather than the market in general. In our last chapter our analysis clearly demonstrates that companies can deliberately create viral marketing. This is possible if companies create material that appeal to and that triggers the costumer to share. Furthermore, the company must then respect the customer's power regarding the material and dare to let the customer take control. More specifically, we have also been able to identify aspects of viral marketing and examine how companies can manage viral marketing in a strategic manner.