Posted: December 8th, 2014

Data Collection on Prospectus (Social Media & Marketing)

Social Media and Marketing
Background Information
Social media entail various online platforms, which enhance interaction among various individuals in the society. The internet is among the major and most influential advancement in technology, which affects the social setting and cultural practices. In addition, most businesses and organizations worldwide depend on to facilitate or improve their business operations (Partridge, 2011). Marketing, on the other hand, involves activities undertaken by organizations to promote their products. There are various types of marketing strategies such as promotional, advertisement and recommendation. Traditionally, businesses utilized oral communication to promote their products on various media platforms such as radios and televisions (Tuten& Solomon, 2013). In addition, businesses used print media such as newspapers, Journals and posters to advertise their products. Other organizations in particular industries like the hotel industry relied on their customers to promote their services. For example, customers who experienced great services in a particular hotel recommended the hotel to their friends and relatives. Marketing approaches have diversified with the introduction of the internet (Tuten& Solomon, 2013).
The internet was initially used for research and interaction purposes within a limited geographical region. Social media connect individuals from different parts of the world. In this case, consumers of a certain product share their experiences regarding a particular. The profits of most businesses in the world declined because of criticism taking place on various social media platforms. In addition, customer services and quality of products in the market improved tremendously (Evans, 2008). The social media activities affect businesses operating in the service industry such as banks, hotels, and transportation and learning institutions (Zimmerman & Ng, 2013). Various service industry organizations use social media to introduce new products in the market in addition to encouraging consumers to use their services. Other organizations in the processing and manufacturing sectors also use social media to advertise and promote their products.
There are various types of marketing approaches used by businesses on various social media platforms such interactive, promotional, informative and surveying. Interactive marketing strategy entails the businesses dependence on the consumers to promote the products. The organization take an initiative of offering consumers with high-quality services and encourage them to provide product or service reviews on particular social media platforms like blogs. Prospecting consumers obtain information regarding the products on the blogs and other social media platforms (Zimmerman & Ng, 2013). Consumers also communicate among themselves on social media platforms regarding a particular product in the market. Prospective consumers tend to develop confidence in the product after reviewing the consumers’ experience.  Informative marketing approach is useful when an organization introduces new concept orproduct to an existing or new market. The company organizes provides consumers and prospective consumers with detailed information on the product’s performance on social media platforms. A manufacturer of a particular product can also illustrate its effectiveness on social media platforms that support video clips like ‘Youtube.com’. The video illustrates various aspects of the product such as performance and effectiveness in satisfying a particular consumer need (Evans, 2008).
Surveying marketing technique is useful in promoting technological and service products. The organization undertakes a survey on the social media platforms to establish the views of the consumers regarding the product. In addition, the marketing team promotes the products to consumers by elaborating the operation and performance of the product. Surveys involve a direct communication between the consumers and the manufacturers of a particular product (Tuten& Solomon, 2013). The social media provide the organization with the best platform to interact with the large number of consumers. Studies carried out regarding the use of social media for marketing indicate that all the organizations in the world use social media to market their product (Tuten& Solomon, 2013). In addition, marketing on social media enables organizations to obtain reliable feedback on consumers’ view regarding the product. This acquisition of the feedback enables organizations to establish the product’s weaknesses and strengths. Marketing is among the major undertakings by organizations because it determines the company’s sales and profitability (Evans, 2008).  In addition, use of social media is increasing tremendously with the extensive use of the internet in the world. Most countries, which restricted use of internet, are now liberal which encourages reliance on the internet by organizations for marketing purposes (Tuten& Solomon, 2013).
Problem Statement
The problem is that the effects of the extensive use of social media are visible in selective sectors in the economy. Most businesses in the worldwide rely on social media for promotion and familiarization of their products to different consumers regardless of their ages or genders. The effects of cases of extensive use of the platform social media for marketing should be in the profits and sales of products. In addition, it should enable organizations to reduce the cost of providing first-hand demonstrations regarding a product to the consumers. Majority of organizations regard the social media as an exaggerated, which is not effective in enhancing marketing activities. The effects of social media in establishing a new product in the market are not visible in the sales and increase in demand for the products. There is, therefore, need to establish the effectiveness of social media marketing on the sales and profits of various products and services in the marketing.

Purpose Statement
The purpose of the study is identifying the effects of social media marketing approach on the sales and profitability of products and services in the market. Identification of the effects of marketing through social media criteria was initially done using existing literature and collecting of data from the limited number of organizations. This study uses a qualitative approach to identifying the effects of social marketing on the sales and profitability of various organizations, which operate in different sectors of the economy.
Research Questions
The study will attempt to answer four main research questions:
1. What sector of the economy does the organization operate and what type of products does it offer?
2. Does marketing on the social media have any impact of the profits of the organization?

3. What are the impacts of social media marketing on the sales of the organization’s product?

4. Which social media platform does the organization use for marketing purposes?
Determining the various sectors that the organizations analyzed on the research operate in as well as the types of the products they offer will aid the research in examinimg the extent of social media markeing. The research question will help the research identify the nature of relationship between the nature of products and the use of social media in marketing. Relating the use of social media with the various sectors of the economy will provide a general overview of the value that the different sectors place in social media marketing. The research will also seek to relate overall performance of products in similar sectors of the economy analyzed and their use of social media in marketing. The aim of the information is to identify if there are differences in the performance that can be explained by adoption of social media marketing or the lack of it.
The second research question evaluates profits of the organizations that will be analyzed in the research. The question that will be posed to an executive of the organization under review will help identify firms that can attribute part of their profits to their social media marketing. Firms that have embraced the use of social media in their marketing function have systems that monitor the profitability of embracing the practice (Al-Deen & Hendricks, 2012). The question will also provide information on the relation between the proportion of profits and the use of social media. Organizations have different expectations as to the effectiveness of social media marketing function. The question will provide information on top management’s perception on the use of social media in marketing.
The third question examines the impact of social media on the sales volumes of the organizations analyzed. It is worth analyzing that sales volumes depend on different marketing functions including social media marketing. In posing the question, the research seeks to identify the actual impact of social media on an entity’s sale. Organizations will compare their volume of sales before and after use of social media. The question will also provide information on the relationship between the extent social media marketing and levels of profits. One would expect that firms heavily engaging in social media marketing to report higher levels of profits. The research question will identify the relationship between social marketing expense across the organizations reviewed and their impact on levels of profits.
The fourth question examines the various forms of social media platforms that organizations use in social media marketing. The various social media platforms have unique ways of reaching out to their users. The research question shall identify if there exists a consistency in the social media platforms selected by organizations selected. The question shall also provide information on the basis that organizations relied on to identify the social media platforms that they use in their marketing function. By identifying the various social media platforms used, the research can relate the effectiveness of the platforms identified. The marketing function has short term and long term goals; the research question will also identify the social media platforms used to achieve the two classes of goals. The research will also identify if there is a relation between the level of performance and profitability and the use of specific social media platform. Analyzing the various social media platforms used by organizations reviewed will enable identify the cost associated with the same.
Significance of the Research
The study should enhance understanding of the positive effects of social media marketing strategies in various organizations. The study will enable the management of organizations operating in theeconomy to understand the effects of marketing through social media platform. The study will exploit the broader perspective of social media marketing in various sectors of the economy in addition tom establishing the most effective techniques of marketing products on the social media. On a broader perspective, the study will establish the negative impacts of poor marketing approaches on the social media and identify the positive impacts of marketing on the social media. This study will enable entrepreneurs and managers to establish effective approaches in marketing their products on social media.
Significance
The study will enable businesses to use various social media platforms, monitor competition to identify potential opportunities, threat and assess at-risk customers. This will help the organisation maintain a competitive edge against its competitors. According to Tuten & Solomon (2013), aapplication of social media makes it possible to manage multiple networks, which can be used for wide range marketing of products.
The study will provide insight to the businesses on how social media can be utilised as a powerful tool for building relationship with clients and strengthen their ties with current customers. This can be made possible through effective communication that can be achieved by use of multiple social media platforms, since the success of any business venture will largely be affected by its communication strategy.
The study will help the business to maximise customer lifetime value, customer satisfaction and retention, through use of social media in responding to customer enquiries and addressing other client related issues. On the other hand it will enable the business to evaluate itself on regular basis utilising instant feedback that can be availed by the customer via social media.
To the academic community the study will add knowledge to the already existing body on the role of social media in marketing. The study will further aid in identifying the gaps, which will create a window for further scholarly work on the concerned field of study. The study will equip the academic community with knowhow on the underlying factors and dynamics that affect social media and marketing. The study will avail an in-depth understanding of the strengths; weaknesses, opportunities and risks associated with social media in marketing and use the knowledge in developing the business
Method
The research will use a ground theory-generating strategy, which entails the use of interviews and observing various characteristics of the participants. The study will capitalize on a systematic analysis of the answers provided by the participants on the questionnaire provided in the research. The research will also integrate the data obtained from the interview with the information obtained from observing the performance of different organizations that use social media for marketing.
Data Collection
Sample
The samples for the study will be from various sectors of the economy, which include manufacturing, processing, hotel, banking and transportation. The samples from the manufacturing industry will entail an automobile company and an electronic company. On the other hand, the samples from the processing sector will include fruits and animal products processing companies. Additionally, the study will use a sample from the banking industry and two samples from the transportation industry. The other sets of samples include the reports of the participation of the companies in the first sample in the social media. This sample will include data from various social media platforms, which include Facebook, Twitter and Youtube.
Measurements
Collection of data will involve a series of interviews to marketing executives of the participating companies. In addition, data regarding the activities of the companies on the social will be analyzed comparative to the sales and profitability trends of the respective organizations. The data from interviews will assist to analyze using the financial records of the participating organizations. The data will also be categorized according to the type of products offered by the organization.
References
Al-Deen, H. S., & Hendricks, J. A. (2012). Social Media: Usage and Impact. Maryland: Lexington Books.
Evans, D. (2008). Social media marketing. Indianapolis, Ind.: Wiley.
Partridge, K. (2011).Social networking. New York: H.W. Wilson.
Tuten, T., & Solomon, M. (2013).Social media marketing. Boston: Pearson.
Zimmerman, J., & Ng, D. (2013). Social media marketing all-in-one for dummies. Hoboken, NJ: Wiley.

Assignment 1:
Continue the development of a prospectus you started in the Week 2 assignment and have continued building since then:
•    Make any corrections needed based on Class 7 discussions of the significance of the study;
•    Add a section entitled “Data Collection” that includes the following items, with a subheading for each:
•
•    Population — identify your population; that is, the set of entities to which your research questions and findings would pertain;
•    Sampling Frame — identify the means by which you will find members of this population for possible inclusion in the sample;
•    Sampling Method — describe how you will select (and recruit, if appropriate) members of the population to be in your sample;
•    Measurement Approach — describe how you will go about collecting the needed data from your sample; what instrument or other measuring tool you will use.
•     Put the amended and augmented draft into a Ms Word document.
•    Note that we are skipping the section in the prospectus outline entitled “Research Method.”
•    This will be graded not on the basis of any measure of absolute correctness, but rather of the thought and effort demonstrated by the draft.
Assignment 2:
Submit the final draft of your prospectus.  Make all revisions appropriate to the comments and suggestions you have received in class and on returned papers.  All components of this final draft will be graded according to the matrix shown below.  This final assignment, which is worth 11% of the course grade,

Grading matrix for the final assignment:
Final Prospectus Draft
Component (weight)    Comments    Points
Introduction and Background adequately introduces and provides context for the problem  (10%)
Statement of the Problem identifies a problem suitable to being addressed by a research study (15%)
Purpose of the Study clearly identifies how the study will address the problem (15%)
Research Questions (and Hypotheses, if quantitative) are well-formed, viable, and match the purpose and problem (15%)
Significance of the Study is adequately explained (15%)
Data Collection section identifies the relevant population, sampling frame and method, and data gathering approach (15%)
Writing is appropriate to the doctoral level and references comply with APA rules (15%)
Total points
Assignment Grade (Total Points / 100 X 11)

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