The road to success on Instagram? Engagement and Interaction! : A study of the relevance of interaction and engagement and their impact on ASOS’ reputation

Sammanfattning: The purpose of this study is to study ASOS, an online fashion retailer, in order to identify success factors in creating interaction and engagement through ASOS’ Instagram communication and to investigate if this engagement and interaction shapes ASOS reputation positively. This purpose has been the foundation of the study’s research questions: 1.) Which success factors can be identified in creating interaction and engagement in ASOS communication on Instagram? 2.) Does this engagement and interaction on Instagram shape ASOS reputation positively? The research questions is answered through a quantitative content analysis where 20 posts with the highest versus lowest levels of interaction and engagement was studied. This maps the occurrence of motifs, approaches and tags among others. With the basis in the theoretical framework based on the communication model by Shannon and Weaver (1972), the theory of AIDA (Agndal & Axelsson 2012), The social media interaction theory (Maecker et al. 2016) and Digital word of mouth (Castellano & Dutot 2016) the conclusion is made that interaction and engagement shapes a positive reputation for ASOS. This mainly because of the engaging audience’s use of Digital word of mouth when tagging other Instagram users while commenting something positive. Another conclusion reached by the study is that social media trends are one of the largest successfactor identified in ASOS’ communication on Instagram. Other success factors where among others posting unique fashion trends. Key words: Interaction, Engagement, Reputation, ASOS, Instagram