Research In Business For Social Advertising Techniques

Problem statement

Describe about the Research in Business for Social Advertising Techniques.

Introduction

Social advertising is a technique used by the marketers to integrate the marketing concepts to benefit the target consumers and audience for the benefit of social goods that they consume. Social marketing is a form of promoting and advertising the products to the target consumers. The traditional methods of marketing were advertisements and word of mouth or direct selling. With the rise in competition and new businesses, emerging the methods of marketing has changed. Technological advancement and emergence of internet and social media has changed the method of marketing and promotion. Customers rely and consume the goods that are presented in social medium sites such as LinkedIn and twitter (Castronovo and Huang 2012). The purpose of the assignment is to compare social media marketing and traditional methods of marketing and conclude which is better. The purpose of the assignment is to conduct a research on social marketing such as social network and why social media marketing is further persuasive than customary methods of marketing. The most common used traditional methods of marketing that influenced the consumer behavior were word of mouth. The information on the products was acquired from peers and relatives that greatly influenced the purchase decisions of buyers. With the advancement in technology and increase in use of social media, the traditional method of work of mouth was affected by social marketing (Flew 2015).

Branding is a technique of creating a unique brand image and name in the market to attract loyal customers and achieve competitive advantage. Various factors and methods affect the buying behavior and decision of consumers. The most common factor that influences the buying behavior of consumers is the advertisement and promotion of products. The traditional method of promotion that is word of mouth has been affected by social media marketing. Many social network sites have emerged that used to focus more on social life and lifestyle previously. However, the content of social media sites are changing that focuses and emphasizing the need of people. Shopping has become more easier with the appearance of social medium marketing. The content of social media site ranges from clothing and lifestyle to food and beverages. Acquiring anything at any time and place has become easier with the use of social media marketing. Brand image and name plays a great role in influencing the buying decisions of purchasers (Coulter  and Roggeveen 2012). Social media marketing helps in creating a unique brand image by broadcasting attractive advertisements in social media sites that will help in increasing consumer awareness. The research aims to study the reasons for success of social media marketing in crafting consumer behavior and the purchase decision.

Research objectives and questions

The aim of the research is to find out the effect of social media marketing on the purchase decision of consumers. It also aims at finding that whether social media marketing is persuasive than traditional word of mouth or not. The paper aims at finding the reasons for media and papers being more effective way of promotion than word of mouth. The research is more of informative than quantitative.

Research objectives

The objectives of the research are as follows:

• To understand the different techniques of promotion.
• To find the effects of social media marking on the purchasing decision of consumers.
• To find whether social media networks is persuasive or traditional word of mouth.
• To find out the reasons for social media being more effective than traditional word of mouth for influencing the purchase decision of consumers.
• To find out the root cause for the success of social media in influencing the purchasing decision of consumers.

Research questions

The questions of the research are as follows:

• What are the different techniques of promotions?
• What is the effect of social media marking on the purchasing decision of consumers?
• Are social media networks more influential than customary word of mouth?
• What are the reasons for social media being more effectual than conventional word of mouth for influencing the purchase decision of consumers?
• What is the root causes for the success of social media in influencing the purchasing decision of consumers?
• What collision does social media marketing have on consumers?

The increase in social media sites has greatly influenced the purchase decision of consumers and has greatly affected the traditional word of mouth. Investigation of study is important as to understand which are more influencing social media networks or the traditional word of mouth. Word of mouth was the most common used tools by the consumers to make the purchase decisions. However, with the advancement in technology and increase in number of social media networking sites traditional methods of word of mouth has been greatly affected. Hence, it has become essential to understand how social media has influenced the purchasing decisions of consumers and the reason for the traditional method of word of mouth to fade away.  The research indicates the main reason for new companies such as Apple and Zara to become successful is due to its promotion technique that attracts consumers that are loyal in nature (Gensler et al. 2013).  

The objectives of the research study will help in addressing and presenting the reasonable solution of the problems. Vast amount of people in today’s world spend maximum time in surfing internet. Hence, posting advertisements in these sires is likely to influence consumers than the traditional word of mouth. The word of mouth technique is fading away due to differences in the lifestyle and choice of people. The objective of the research is to find whether social media is more influential or the word of mouth that will help in addressing the problems. 

The outcomes of this learn will provide an analytical framework for investigating the effect of social media networks on the purchasing decisions of consumers. It is expected that traditional word of mouth has taken over social media marketing as a way of promotion. Consumers are greatly influenced by the advertisements on social media than is affected by the purchase decisions of others. People today spend maximum time in social media sites and hence advertisements of these sites are likely to affect the purchasing decisions of consumers. It is expected that the main reason for the use of social media sites for purchasing products be due to the convenience and the discounts that the company provides to customers (Risselada et al. 2014). The research will benefit the organizations understand the importance of branding and its effect in consumers. It will also help them understand the how important social media has become to create a unique brand image and the ways organizations can optimally utilise social media networks. Accessing information about the products has become easier due to social media networks (Goh et al. 2013).

Justification of the project

Conceptual framework

Figure: Conceptual framework

(Source: created by author)

The research hypothesis is proposed as follows that is based on problem statement and research objectives:

• H (0) null hypothesis: Social media networks is persuasive than traditional word of mouth.
• H (1) Alternate hypothesis: traditional word of mouth is more persuasive than social media marketing.

Literature review

The word of mouth was the most influential and most used source of information by the consumers for making a purchase decision in the traditional years. In the initial years word of mouth was considered as the most effective way of promotion. Word of mouth did not require any advertisement and promotion and the information was just transferred by the peer prospects. The consumers could easily trust the product and purchase it (King et al. 2014). Word of mouth was said to be more persuasive in decision making due to its credibility and reliability by consumers. With the advent of internet the traditional word of mouth was affected by social media marketing. The number of social media and networking sites increased. People now a day’s spend maximum time in surfing internet and social media sites such as facebook, twitter and others (Lee et al. 2012). Hence, any advertisement in these sites is most likely to affect the purchasing decision of consumers.

Social media sites provide a larger variety of products and give consumer a larger choice of products due to which they rely on social media sites more. Moreover, the advertisements on social media sites are so attractive that anyone will be influenced to purchase the particular products (Libai et al. 2013). The purchasing decision of consumer is dependent on various factors such as trust, credibility, reliability and awareness. Since it is easy to get all the information of the product on internet easily consumers awareness increases that in turn increases the reliability. Due to differences in the choices and lifestyle of consumers, the consumers will opt for Television, internet and newspaper for accessing the information of the product (Okazaki and Taylor 2013). Social media has become a wide place by marketers for the promotion of products and services. The reason for this is that social media marketing has become more convenient and time saving. There is no need to print out billboards and hoardings. The organizations juts need to post an advertisement on social media sites that stars the favorite actors to promote its products (Pfeffer et al. 2014). It is also cost effective. Social media marketing is influential as it has capability of targeting the wider range of customers and market as compared to the traditional word of mouth method.  

Expected research outcome

Data series and surveys/Questionnaires (Data collection method)

Various methods are taken to collect the appropriate information. The objective of the research is to find out the effect of social media marketing on customers and its buying behavior. The research philosophy for conducting the research is followed based on the interpretive view in which descriptively every question is answered, and the theory is interpreted based on researcher’s interest in the study. It is associated with the philosophical point of idealism in which many effects and methods can be applied to the issue to reflect varied results (Goldkuhl 2012). The interpretive follows the understanding of weak notion; it establishes the relationship between time and context and outlines the problems and solutions to the study. Data is collected using various blogs, articles and books on social media marketing. The questionnaire is prepared that is published online for the survey. Hence, the researcher uses secondary data for its collection and research (Gray 2013). 

The research approach is based on the idea to identify the questions, problems and give probable solutions for adequate research to the study. In this approach, the relationships are made and then they are tested for the outlined purpose of understanding the certain additional meaning to the research. In this study, statistical tool namely SPSS is used with the questionnaire to derive to a certain conclusion. The quantitative approach is assumed to be more time consuming and cost effective against the researcher’s particular situations than an approach that is qualitative in nature (Pickard 2012).

Data analysis

The next step after collection of data is the analysis of data using various statistical tools that describes the effect of social media marketing on consumers and the difference between social media marketing and traditional methods of promotion. After forming the questions and hypothesis it is essential to test the hypothesis using different tools and methods. For the discussion part qualitative method will be used and the data will be collected from blogs, articles and books. For the quantitative part, the data will be collected from an online survey by preparing a questionnaire and surveying the customers (Time 2012). The data will be tested in an SPSS tool. The statistical tools SPSS calculated the descriptive statistics, regression of the independent variables on the dependent variables. The residuals calculated were plotted on different pie charts, histograms, and bar graphs. . The aim of analysing the data in SPSS tool is to know whether social media marketing and networking is more persuasive than the traditional method of word of mouth (Rezaeian 2014).   

Conceptual framework

The researcher has used both the qualitative and quantitative methods to conduct the research. It is more of an informative research that analyzes and specifies the discussions and theories. The qualitative data is used to support the quantitative data of the research. The views of the customers would be depicted using the quantitative and qualitative samples that would be collected for this research. A questionnaire is prepared for the quantitative survey while blogs and articles on social media marketing are referred for the qualitative survey. The buying behavior of the customers and the selling of the products by the company would be understood from the quantitative and qualitative research (Sarantakos 2012).   

Category of research: (Quantitative and qualitative research)

The objective of the research is to find out the effect of social media marketing on customers and its buying behavior. It analyzes and compares the two methods of promotion and analyzes that whether social media marketing is persuasive or the traditional method of word of mouth. The qualitative research is conducted by referring to books, articles and blogs. Since social media marketing is a current issue, many experts have various comments on the topic that will be referred from blogs and articles (Yilmaz 2013). In order to support the qualitative research quantitative research is conducted by preparing a questionnaire that is published online. Since the objective is to evaluate the effect of social media marketing on consumers a qualitative research is conducted that is based on marketing and media theories. For finding the customer experience, the researcher conducts an online survey. Hence, both the qualitative and quantitative methods are used for the research and study (Saunders and Thornhill 2014).

Ethical consideration

It is essential for the researcher to collect the data from the relevant sources. The data collected should be appropriate, valid and reliable. It should also be biased in nature.  It is essential for the author to follow ethical rules and principles of research and take special care of not hurting anyone’s sentiments during the research. The work of the researcher should not be copied and plagiarized. Special permissions should be taken from the organizations and customers that are surveyed for the research purpose. . The researcher should abide by the rules and regulations of the company while collecting the data and using it for the research. The researcher should keep the details of the company confidential, if the company had asked them to do so. The researcher must not force the company to provide him with the data of the company. If children are involved in survey then special permissions are to be taken from parents.

Research hypothesis

Organization of the study

Chapter one will be the Research Proposal as outlined in this assignment. It will analyse the topic for the research. Chapter one discusses the aims and objectives of the research and the research questions. It also mentions the expected research outcome and justification for the study. The main aim of chapter one is to discuss and emphasis on the topic and the reason for studying the topic. In this case chapter one addresses the topic that social media marketing is more persuasive or the traditional method of word of mouth. Based on the problem statement research questions and aims are formed.

Chapter two emphasises on the social media marketing strategy in depth and how it has affected the decision of consumers. It discusses the reasons for traditional word of mouth fading away and how social media marketing is influencing the consumers purchase decision. It also analyses the reasons for increase in usage of social media for promotion of commodities and different techniques of promotion, both traditional and social media.

Chapter two will include the methodology, data series, data collection methods, questionnaires and surveys and observing key strategies of social media marketing. It will report the findings and analysis of the proposed research.

Chapter three will summarise the important findings and discuss the implication of social media marketing on the purchase decision of consumers. It will also conclude as to whether social media marketing is more influential or the traditional method of word of mouth.

Chapter three proposes the budget of the research and its allocation for conducting the study and research. It also mentions the time taken for the research and study by specifying and dividing it into different heads.

The last part of the proposal is the conclusion where the researcher points out his view on the research.

Task name	Start day	End day	Duration Days
Project proposal	1/01/2016	15/01/2016	15
Literature review	16/01/2016	28/02/2016	40
Data collection	1/03/2016	12/03/2016	12
Data analysis	13/03/2016	20/03/2016	7
Final Report Submission	25/03/2016	25/04/2016	30

Figure: Gantt chart

(Source: created by author)

The budget of the proposed research is $5000 that is required to complete the project in the given period. The maximum part of the budget is allocated to data collection due to the cost of travelling, printing, mailing and posting the data. This will cost around $2500. Rest $2500 is allocated to literature review, tables, and data analysis part.

Purpose	Estimated amount to be spent
Literature review	$1000
Data collection	$2500
Data analysis	$1500
Total budget estimated	$5000

Table: Budget summary

(Source: created by author)

Conclusion and recommendation

The recommendations on outcome state that the study can be analyzed for a further study by differentiating all factors and an extensive study can be based on using all the main and the silent elements individually. Also, if qualitative research is incorporated into the study, the research philosophy would have been more realistic and interpretive and would have added the theoretical background to the subject. Hence, this study is more on a generalized basis. Hence, it can be concluded that social media marketing is more persuasive than traditional word of mouth in today’s world.

Methodology

References

Castronovo, C. and Huang, L., 2012. Social media in an alternative marketing communication model. Journal of Marketing Development and Competitiveness, 6(1), p.117.

Coulter, K.S. and Roggeveen, A., 2012. “Like it or not” Consumer responses to word-of-mouth communication in on-line social networks. Management Research Review, 35(9), pp.878-899.

Flew, T. (2015). Social Media Governance. Social Media + Society, 1(1).

Gensler, S., Völckner, F., Liu-Thompkins, Y. and Wiertz, C., 2013. Managing brands in the social media environment. Journal of Interactive Marketing,27(4), pp.242-256.

Goh, K.Y., Heng, C.S. and Lin, Z., 2013. Social media brand community and consumer behavior: Quantifying the relative impact of user-and marketer-generated content. Information Systems Research, 24(1), pp.88-107.

Goldkuhl, G., 2012. Pragmatism vs interpretivism in qualitative information systems research. European Journal of Information Systems, 21(2), pp.135-146.

Gray, D.E., 2013. Doing research in the real world. Sage.

King, R.A., Racherla, P. and Bush, V.D., 2014. What we know and don’t know about online word-of-mouth: A review and synthesis of the literature.Journal of Interactive Marketing, 28(3), pp.167-183.

Lee, D., Kim, H.S. and Kim, J.K., 2012. The role of self-construal in consumers’ electronic word of mouth (eWOM) in social networking sites: A social cognitive approach. Computers in Human Behavior, 28(3), pp.1054-1062.

Libai, B., Muller, E. and Peres, R., 2013. Decomposing the value of word-of-mouth seeding programs: Acceleration versus expansion. Journal of marketing research, 50(2), pp.161-176.

Okazaki, S. and Taylor, C.R., 2013. Social media and international advertising: theoretical challenges and future directions. International marketing review, 30(1), pp.56-71.

Pfeffer, J., Zorbach, T. and Carley, K.M., 2014. Understanding online firestorms: Negative word-of-mouth dynamics in social media networks.Journal of Marketing Communications, 20(1-2), pp.117-128.

Pickard, A., 2012. Research methods in information. Facet publishing.

Rezaeian, M., 2014. A review on the diverse types of research misconduct.Middle East J Family Med, 12(7), pp.43-4.

Risselada, H., Verhoef, P.C. and Bijmolt, T.H., 2014. Dynamic effects of social influence and direct marketing on the adoption of high-technology products. Journal of Marketing, 78(2), pp.52-68.

Rutsaert, P., Regan, Á., Pieniak, Z., McConnon, Á., Moss, A., Wall, P. and Verbeke, W., 2013. The use of social media in food risk and benefit communication. Trends in Food Science & Technology, 30(1), pp.84-91.

Sarantakos, S., 2012. Social research. Palgrave Macmillan.

Saunders, M.L. and Thornhill, P., 2014. A. 2009. Research methods for business students. Harlow.

Tiago, M.T.P.M.B. and Veríssimo, J.M.C., 2014. Digital marketing and social media: Why bother?. Business Horizons, 57(6), pp.703-708.

Time, C., 2012. Data Collection Methods. Review of Sociology, 17, pp.225-249.

Tsimonis, G. and Dimitriadis, S., 2014. Brand strategies in social media.Marketing Intelligence & Planning, 32(3), pp.328-344.

Williams, D.L., Crittenden, V.L., Keo, T. and McCarty, P., 2012. The use of social media: an exploratory study of usage among digital natives. Journal of Public Affairs, 12(2), pp.127-136.

Wood, M. (2016). Social Marketing for Social Change. Social Marketing Quarterly, 22(2), pp.107-118.

Yilmaz, K., 2013. Comparison of Quantitative and Qualitative Research Traditions: epistemological, theoretical, and methodological differences.European Journal of Education, 48(2), pp.311-325.