The social media is one of the most influential aspects in modern day and has taken the world by storm. Taking into account the wide range of benefits social media offers, it is used by the business enterprises around the world for connecting and communicating with the target audiences. As mentioned by Aral, Dellarocas and Godes (2013), social media is termed as computer mediated technology that facilitates sharing of information, ideas and feedbacks regardless of the geographical boundaries. Thus, the idea of social media is used by the business organizations as an interactive medium where the customers can share and interact with the business organizations freely. In addition to, the business organizations can use the feedback of the customers as valuable resources for developing an existing product as well as for developing a new product (Treem and Leonardi 2013).
Maybelline is a well-known American makeup brand that operates globally and is also a subsidiary of French Cosmetics Company named L’Oreal. The company operates over 129 countries including Singapore that offers more than 200 products for the worldwide population. The company uses technologically advanced formulas with appropriate expertise for establishing cosmetics that are accessible with urban edged, cool and high spirited fashion. This study is conducted by considering the use of social media as the voice of the customer on House of Quality for development of the product for Maybelline, Singapore (“Maybelline About Us – Company Information, History, & Mission Statement For Maybelline” 2018).
Issues in respect to the use of social media for product development have been addressed for Maybelline in Singapore. Inappropriate use of social media has restricted the company in Singapore to communicate and connect with the target audience due to which the company is unable to consider the viewpoints, perspectives and feedback of the customers. As a result, the feedback in terms of concerns and complaints of the product of Maybelline for the Singapore market remains unattended and unanswered thereby, making it difficult for the company to ensure product development successfully (Leonardi, Huysman and Steinfield 2013). This is a significant issue for the company, as the position of Maybelline in Singapore market is threatened and questioned.
The aim of the research is to investigate the use of social media as the voice of the customer on House of Quality for development of the product for Maybelline in Singapore.
The objectives of the research are:
Investigating the use of social media as the voice of the customer on House of Quality for development of the product for Maybelline in Singapore is significant because this enables for addressing the issues of using social media as the house of quality for product development for Maybelline in Singapore. The research is important, as this will provide an opportunity for the researcher to identify the probable reasons of inappropriate use of social media platform by Maybelline and its impact of product development. Addressing the reasons of inappropriate use of social media will also enable the researcher to assess the relationship between social media and house of quality for product development for Maybelline thereby, making it easier for comparing and contrasting product development in the presence or absence of social media (Trainor et al. 2014).
The entire structure of the dissertation is categorized into five different chapters that include introduction, literature review, research methodology, data analysis, conclusion, limitation and recommendation.
Chapter 1: Introduction
The first chapter lays the foundation of the overall study by providing a background of the work along with the selected organization and the issue in terms of the selected organization. Based on the identified issue, the chapter develops the research aim and objectives along with justifying the selection of topic.
Chapter 2: Literature review
This is the second chapter study that identifies the independent and the dependent variable based on which the entire study is being conducted. This chapter is based on the concept, factors, impact and challenges of both the variables followed by referring to relevant theories if required.
Chapter 3: Research methodology
The name itself highlights that this chapter is based on the different types of methodological tools that is used while proceeding with the research along with rationalizing the selection of specific research methodology.
Chapter 4: Data analysis
This chapter of the study comprises of analyzing the data that is collected based on the methods mentioned in the previous chapter in order to fulfill the research aim and objectives.
Chapter 5: Conclusion and limitation
This is the last chapter of the study that draws a conclusion by highlighting the identified gap and its impact on the selected organization.
Chapter 6: Recommendation
In accordance with the issues identified, this chapter highlights the suitable recommendations for mitigating the issues.
Thus, in this chapter, it can be summarized that the sue of social media has increased largely in the past decades due to various advantages it provides to its users. Taking into account the advantages offered by social media, the business organizations use social media as a voice of the customers. The use of social media provides an opportunity for the business organizations to interact with the customers virtually and consider their needs and demands in terms of the product offered by them. The complaints, issues and feedback shared by the customers on the social media platform in terms of the product are used as leads by the business organizations for improving the existing product.
This chapter focuses and talks about the various methodological tools in existence that are selected and applied in accordance with the research topic. In addition to, this chapter highlights the justification provided by the researcher for selecting the particular research methodology along with the accessibility issues and the significant research ethics.
For this study, positivism philosophy, deductive approach, descriptive design and case study research strategy has been applied. Taking into account the research aim and objectives, secondary data collection process followed by thematic analysis has been applied. The aforementioned methodological tools have been selected, as this enabled the researcher to analyze the use of social media as the voice of customers on House of Quality for Maybelline, Singapore.
Three types of research philosophies are pragmatism, positivism and interpretivism. The combined characteristics of positivism and interpretivsim are known as pragmatism philosophy. On the other hand, positivism philosophy is based on the factual knowledge and quantifiable observations whereas interpretvism philosophy is based on individual perspectives and opinions based on a specific topic (Neuman 2013).
Positivism philosophy has been used for the research, as this has enabled the researcher to conduct the research based on factual knowledge and quantifiable observations in terms of using social media as the voice of customers on house of quality for Maybelline, Singapore. Moreover, the use of positivism philosophy also allowed the researcher to consider the statistical data, facts and figures in the different secondary resources that has been used for proceeding with the research (Mackey and Gass 2015).
Inductive and deductive are the two types of research approaches that are used widely. The idea of deductive research approach highlights making observations based on the existing information and data thereby, deducing suitable conclusion. On the other hand, inductive research approach highlights formulating theories and concepts based on the made observations followed by drawing conclusion (Taylor, Bogdan and DeVault 2015).
Deductive approach has been used for this research because this allowed the researcher to develop a clear idea about social media and house of quality and its significance for product development by referring to previously existing information and data. Thus, the researcher can use the collected information and determine how Maybelline can use social media as the voice of customers for developing the product in the Singaporean market (Lewis 2015).
Explanatory, exploratory and descriptive are the three types of research designs that are prevalent while proceeding with the research work. Descriptive design highlights the combined characteristics of both explanatory and exploratory research design and is most widely used. For exploratory research design, the researcher is able to explore the issues of the study whereas for explanatory research design the researcher is able to analyze the reasons of the explored issues (Vaioleti 2016).
Due to the dual nature of descriptive design, this research has applied this design. As a result, the researcher is able to explore the current issues faced by Maybelline in terms of using social media as the voice of customers for house on quality for product development in Singaporean market (Silverman 2016).
Case study, interview, action research and survey are the four types of research strategies used while proceeding with the research. Case study strategy highlights referring to similar secondary resources, action research strategy highlights the idea of predicting the future occurrences of the phenomenon within the research and survey and interview highlights collecting data from a population and from individuals respectively (Flick 2015).
Case study research has been used for this research because this allowed the researcher to refer to similar case studies of use of social media as the voice of customers as well as the use of social media for product development. In addition to, the researcher has also been able consider case studies for Maybelline and how the company has used the social media for developing products (Smith 2015).
Secondary and primary are the two types of data collection process that are used while proceeding with the research work. Primary data collection process highlights collection of data from a specific population or individuals selected by the researcher in accordance with the research topic. On the other hand, secondary data collection process highlights the collection of data from various relevant secondary resources in terms of the research topic (Bauer 2014).
Secondary data collection process has been used by the researcher because this allowed collection of data from relevant sources that mentions use of social media as the voice of customers and how the social media platform is used by Maybelline in developing the product (Ledford and Gast 2018).
Qualitative and quantitative are the two types of data analysis process used for analyzing the collected data regarding of the data collection method used. Quantitative data collection process focuses on numbers in terms of percentages and averages whereas qualitative data analysis process highlights maintaining the quality by explaining the found data by referring to similar data and information (Roberts 2013)
Qualitative data analysis technique has been used, as this enabled the researcher to develop themes based on the research aim and objectives followed by analyzing the themes with relevant data and information in terms of social media, product development and house of quality in respect to Maybelline in Singapore (Gale et al. 2013)
The researcher encountered some issues while proceeding with the research that questioned with the quality of the work. As the researcher has used secondary data collection technique, the researcher faced issues in accessing some of the secondary resources due to language barrier or budget barrier. For instance, some of the secondary resources asked to pay for accessing the shared information thereby, making it an issue.
It is important to follow the research ethics in order to ensure successful completion of the study. Taking into the account the research methodologies selected by the researcher, one of the most significant research ethics is collecting data from authentic resources. Collecting data from fraudulent sources is strictly prohibited according to the research ethics (Lange, Rogers and Dodds 2013). In addition to, data manipulation is also against the ethical considerations for completing a research. It is mandatory for the researcher to present the data in its original form and support it with relevant statements and arguments rather than fidgeting with the data. Moreover, use of data only for academic purpose and data confidentiality are other ethical considerations that need to be followed while proceeding with the research (Faden et al. 2013).
Thus, in this chapter, it can be summarized that the researcher has used appropriate research methodologies for collecting the data and has justified the selection of them successfully. The use of appropriate research methodologies has enabled the researcher to determine how social media can be used as the voice of customers on house of quality for product development for Maybelline in Singapore.
Conclusion
After completion of the overall study, it can be concluded that social media can be used as the voice of the customers on house of quality for development of product different business organizations including Maybelline. The use of social media enables the business organizations to provide an open and virtual platform for sharing the concerns they have in respect to the company, price, offers and quality. As mentioned in the literature review, it can be seen that 71% of the teenagers are highly active in social media that includes Facebook, Instagram, Google+ and MySpace. An estimated 60% of the profiles on social media belong to the teenagers aged 13-17 years. As a result, it can be concluded that the social media platform makes it easy for the companies and customers to communicate with each other without the involvement of any third party. Social media is also beneficial for the companies as these reduces advertising cost, provides search engine optimization, engaging customers and consider feedback of the customers. This data is also supported by the information mentioned in the data analysis that states 71% of the teenagers use social media actively. Theme 1 also states that considering the benefits of the social media, Maybelline has introduced their products in social media page thereby, grabbing the attention of customers at a global platform.
The use of social media enables the customers to share their feedbacks, complaints, issues and concerns in terms of the products and services of the specific business organizations. Regardless of the size of the company and location, social media platform is used widely for effective communication between the target audiences and company. This is supported by Danah (2014) in the literature review that mentions that the companies use the social media platform for considering the customer grievances and aim towards mitigating them. The official accounts of the companies include information for the customers and well as posts the review of the customers in terms of satisfaction and concerns for the products. The research and development team of Maybelline has included the social media platform in order to collect data regarding the current and on-going market trend. It was evident by the use of social media that product diversification and variety are key sources of customer satisfaction. Considering this data y using social media, Maybelline included product variety within services. As a result, Maybelline introduced range of lipsticks such as Maybelline Color Sensational Lipstick Pink Petal, Maybelline Color Sensational Lipstick in Glamorous Red, Maybelline Super stay Lipstick in Kiss Me Coral, Maybelline Color sensational Lipstick in Fruit Punch and Color sensational Lipstick in My Mahogany and allowed the customers to choose from a range of lipstick shades.
In order to implement the concept of house of quality in business, Maybelline has used the social media platform for reviewing the queries of the customers along with considering the feedbacks, complaints and concerns of the customers. House of quality is a famous design tool used by the management for ensuring quality and expectation of the customers. The feedback of the customers is considered as their voice that the companies need to use as standardizing protocol for meeting the expectation of the customers. This is also supported by Zhang et al. (2014) that the use of social media allowed the business organizations develop organizational understanding in accordance with the needs and demands of the customers. Therefore, Maybelline has taken necessary steps for incorporating the use of social media for addressing the concerns of the customers thereby, bringing and facilitating change in the existing products as well as the new products. As a result, it can be stated that integration of social media has improved the product offerings for Maybelline.
However, the use of social media as the voice of the customers or house of quality for product development has some limitations. As social media is a virtual and transparent platform, the business organizations have less control over the feedback that is posted by the customers. It has been seen that the negative comments and feedbacks posted by the customers affect the name of the brand thereby, reducing the sales and profit. In addition to, customers can use the social media to criticize and raise question about the company that might not work in the favor of Maybelline. This is because of the various backlashes Maybelline encounters if the customers are not satisfied with the product of the company. One such criticism that Maybelline received that took the social media by storm is that the company only manufactured beauty products for the white women and do not include the needs of the black population (HuffPost UK 2018).
Other limitations of using social media as the voice of customers for product development includes updating information continuously, maintaining transparency, considering and understanding the feedback of the customers appropriately and scripted communication.
Based on the identified issues and limitations, the suitable recommendations for improving the use of social media as the voice of customers for house of quality for product development are furnished below.
Updating information continuously
Change is the only constant thing and also one of the most significant aspects for keeping the customers engaged and interested. In order to do so, Maybelline needs to update the information on their social media page continuously, so that the customers feel interested and surprised.
Promotion of positive remarks
Another method of overcoming the barrier is by promoting the positive remarks shared by the customers on the social media page rather than defending the negative remarks and trying to delete them.
Effective communication with the individual customers
Communicating with the customers personally will help Maybelline to establish a personal touch with the target customers thereby, ensuring trust and confidence about the product offerings of the company.
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