Samenvatting

This research was done on behalf of ecohero, ecohero is experiencing a problem with its current social media marketing strategy. The company does not present as well on social media as management would like, in addition, no to hardly any sales are made through the social media marketing activities. Ecohero is a company located in Bali, they are engaged in online and offline sales of sustainable alternatives to everyday products. They are a young company and are currently in the phase of scaling up and expanding to a different country. The next step for the company is to enter the German market and be available there in supermarkets and online. This research justification aims to find information that provides sufficient quantitative and qualitative data to answer the research question.

The research question is; “What marketing strategy should ecohero follow to generate more sales through social media?” in regards to their expansion to the new German market.

To provide ecohero with advice the following information gaps had to be filled.

1: What is their current social media marketing strategy and what are the results?
2: What does the German market for sustainable alternatives look like and who is the target group?
3: How can social media help ecohero to generate more sales?
The information was collected by combining different research methods. With the information gaps filled in, an answer could be given to the research question. Also, with this data, recommendations could be written for ecohero to solve/reduce the problem the company is experiencing with their current social media strategy. The main findings of this study were that; the current strategy is not giving the desired results when it comes to performance on the social media channels. Subsequently, the research showed the opportunities (growing interest in sustainable products from the target market) and dangers (threat of substitutes and competition) of expanding into the German market. Market research identified who the target group is that should be reached with social media marketing and how they can be reached.
Finally, information was collected about which strategies ecohero should apply to get more out of social media and generate sales from these marketing efforts. This research had a few limitations because of the shortage of time and the distance from the German market.

The research resulted in five recommendations for the company.
1. Create a new social media marketing strategy specific for entering the German market. Se
2. Do more extensive research on how the German target audience views ecohero's products.
3. Do a (German) influencer campaign
4. Have a budget for social media ads
5. Insert an Instagram shop.

All these changes can be implemented within 3 months, but some of them will take a bit longer before conclusions can be drawn from the measured results. Two of these recommendations were implemented, a new social media marketing strategy was developed and an outline was created for the influencer campaign. Applying these recommendations will help to improve performance on social media, reach the right target audience and ultimately lead to more sales thanks to the activities on social media.