Theelitesocialite

As social media shies away from a buzz word and is moving towards a strategic tool, more and more practitioners are trying to integrate social media into business models (Eyrich et al., 2008. pp-412). It is not the question ‘if’ there is a relationship between social media use and business model benefits, because there is (Kaplan & Haelein, 2010). This research aims to gain a better understanding of what signifies as best practice for businesses with regards to social media usage and strives to provide a critical reflection of this practice on the potential of social media for businesses. The question central to this MA Thesis is about how this relationship comes together and more specifically, what the mechanism of how this process works. To gain a more in-depth insight, the online retailing business ASOS is chosen for case study analysis to answer the research question: ‘What is successful social media usage for business?’ ASOS is the first European online fashion-retailer that launched an in-Facebook store (Mashable, 2011) and has been awarded with two Interactive Media in Retail Group awards as best international e-commerce retailer and best use of social media (IMRG, 2011). ASOS also received a Webby honors nomination in the category fashion (Webby, 2011).