APPLICATION OF THE INSTAGRAM SOCIAL NETWORK PLATFORM IN THE MARKETING COMMUNICATION: FOOD INDUSTRY CASE STUDY IN LATVIA

The main elements of the modern integrated marketing communication are online media and social media communication content. It is therefore especially important to understand how to use each platform for brand goals from companies perspective. Therefore, a purpose of the study is to determine the use of the Instagram as social media platform in the marketing communication by identifying approaches used by the companies. In order to establish the use of the Instagram social media platform in the context of the company's marketing communication - the multiple criteria assessment method was chosen to evaluate the complexity of the factors that impact communication results for brands on social media. These assessment methods combine qualitative (content) and quantitative approach (statistical data from posts). The analysis was carried out for 10 food manufacturing company Instagram accounts for a period of 2 years from 01.10.2017 to 30.09.2019. Results of the study allow establish the use of Instagram in the marketing communication for Food industry companies in Latvia, comparing the strategies of the studied objects, concluding that a high-quality generated content has a greater importance in communication and reach than its regularity, and also that a type of the content and engagement from followers has a direct impact with the brands results.