Optimal Use of Social Media From the Perspective of Brand Equity in Startups with a Data Approach

The purpose of this study is to identify the effective factors of optimal use of social media in the brand equity of startup companies. To this end, the researcher collected the required data using snowball sampling, protocol design, and exploratory interviews with sixteen university experts, the industry in this field, and senior managers of accelerator companies and startups. Maxqda 18 software was used to analyze the interviews. In the open coding process, the researcher first identified 170 codes and categorized them into 8 categories. Then, based on the theoretical literature and using the opinion of academic experts in axial coding based on Strauss and Corbin paradigm model, the relevant model was extracted and finally the selective coding was performed. To evaluate the validity of coding, Peer check method, the member check method and reliability by Field note were conducted. The results indicate that the main phenomena is using social media in startups and the communicational dimension as causal factors, cognitive dimension, and attitude in the position of strategies, brand characteristics as background factors, relational dimension, and rules and regulations as intervening factors and finally behavioral dimension were obtained as the consequences of the model.