Abstract. This thesis is focused on explaining social media, how and why the startups in Oulu use social media for. This thesis has practical and first hand data and information about how the firms are utilizing social media, why they are using social media and what they think about social media. The thesis is conducted through a literature review on the topic which is supported by an empirical case study. The motivation of doing this thesis on social media influence in the startups of Oulu came from the lack of previous researches on this topic.
The first part of the thesis is consist of theoretical aspects of social media, different types of social media, social media and traditional media, mobile social media. In the later part of theory covers the opportunities, challenges and implication of social media. There is discussion on the benefits that social media offers, what the challenges companies might face using social media and how social media activities can be planned and implemented.
Multi case study was conducted on four startup firms from Oulu. One person form each company was interviewed and the theme of the interview was why the firms are using social media and their motivation behind it, which channels they are using and why, how much resources they are using behind social media, the impact they are having, the challenges they are facing and what they think about the future of social media.
Most of the research conducted on social media is mainly focused on the big organization, the author wanted to know how much social media means to the smaller firms in a specific region in this case Oulu. With the combination of the theory and the case study there should be an understanding the relationship between social media and startups. The main findings of this study is that the startups of Oulu uses social media for the purpose of increasing brand awareness and for a strong market presence
