Research In Business Impact Of Social Media On Customers Assignment Sample

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Research In Business Impact Of Social Media On Customers

1. Introduction

In today’s day and age, social media has influenced each and every business even the traditional ones. Telecommunication companies are greatly impacted by this unique approach. Companies can carry out their promotional campaigns, educate their users, and a lot more things. This has increased communication between communities and corporate entities. However, this has many downsides too. This project report discusses the impact of social media on a business entity in the context of Telstra. It is one of the leading telecommunication industries in Australia with over 4.9 million users. The company is making use of social media in numerous ways. The following report is a business research proposal that comprises the problem statement, research aim, and objectives. In addition to this, the research hypothesis and methodology is elaborated thoroughly in the report. Moreover, the research timeline in a Gantt chart and research budget is also provided before ending the research.

2. Problem Statement

Social media is an effective tool for the business world. Organisations are formulating their competitive strategies by making use of social media and other related platforms. The technology has been great for the business entities in gaining a competitive edge over their competitors. However, technology has positive as well as negative sides. On one hand, it has reduced the gulf between the company and local communities. Various policies have been formulated by the company to keep control over the use of social media. It has provided a great power to the customers to criticise and appreciate the service of the telecommunication companies. This could be positive and negative as well from the perspective of the company. Telstra is widely using social media for motivating its employees, team, and addressing the problems faced by customers in all parts of Australia. In addition to this, the company runs a marketing campaign regularly on Facebook, Instagram, and YouTube for community awareness and evaluating consumer satisfaction.

The social media has additionally expanded the issues of the organization as it has enhanced the load on the sales and marketing team of the organization. The social media has intensified the powers within the hands of the customers (ErdoÄŸmuÅŸ and Cicek, 2013). The negative effects likewise include deluding and negative reviews via social media platform, which influences the organization's altruism. Telstra is one of the main organizations which gives the telecom services, such as media transmission, markets voice, and web access, portable and pays TV and numerous different services (Bird, et. al., 2012). The social media marketing campaigns of the organization have been started to enhance the web-based social networking promoting and network cooperation (Ngai, 2015). Telstra has likewise used them for workers' inspiration and development. Telstra has assessed the web-based social media normally to expand consumer loyalty and collaboration. The customers with the assistance of the social media presently impart their inputs and proposal straightforwardly to the organization. The intensity of the client request and surveys influence the organization notoriety in the market.

There is very limited research that critically evaluates the consequences of using social media in business, especially in the field of telecommunication. Hence, the following research will try to determine the positive and negative aspects of using social media platforms in the business thoroughly.

3. Aims and Research Questions

The aim of carrying out this research is to determine the impact of using social media platforms, such as Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, Twitter, and others in the business by Telstra.

The Research Questions:-

RQ1: Does implementing social media impact the profitability of Telstra?

RQ2: Will the impacts vary from one company to other that use social media?

RQ3: Does the company making efforts to lower down the negative impacts of social media?

4. Justification and Potential Output of the Research

Based on the research analysis, it can be seen that various researchers have only focused on the broader impacts of social media, such as community awareness and customer satisfaction. Only two or three researchers have talked about employee motivation, business profitability, and reducing the negative impacts of social media. This creates a gap in the literature available on the topic. There is a myth among the general public that using social media is always profitable for the company. However, some research works have proved that impacts vary from company to company and area of doing business. A few literary works have considered the telecommunication industry but none of them talked about profitability. Hence, the research will be useful in evaluating that aspect of social media in business. All the research questions mentioned above will be answered by making use of data and information gathered and the same will be analysed for the purpose of this research. The research will be beneficial for the telecommunication companies and other related business organisation.

5. Conceptual Framework and Hypothesis Development

5.1.Overview of Social Media and Importance

The popularity of social media is increasing day by day and it is enabling thousands of customers, internet-users, and other associated parties to share their views, information, and media. These apps and platforms are serving the purpose of building social bonds on the internet (Bird, et.al, 2012). Social media is becoming a new mode of communication and coordination tools. Various social media websites, namely Facebook, YouTube, Instagram, and Twitter are offering a wide range of services to businesses and their customers by connecting them through their channel of communication. This has benefited both the parties in many ways. There are many forms of social media, namely blogs, wikis, micro-blog, widgets, podcasts, video-sharing sites, and much more (Ngai, 2015). Social media is being used by the users to share their experience with a product and give reviews for the same. The company can showcase their products, create a positive brand image by approaching the wider consumer market, and address the queries of customer online. By regularly keeping the details updated about the product and the company. This can help in changing the perspective of the company in the mind of the customers.

According to Ellison& Boyd (2013), social media gives the company a wider exposure in the global market. Any company which is planning to tap in the international market should consider social media as one of the marketing tools in order to gain a competitive edge in the market. Huang, et.al. (2015) highlight that social media could be used for the company to interact with the customers. In addition to this, sales can be doubled or tripled by marketing on social media. Talking about the use of social media in the telecom industry, Ellison& Boyd (2013) determined that social media has helped the telecom companies gaining market share. The research concluded that social media has a huge potential to improve the position of the company. However, the research also stated the challenges related to the social media in business. The first and foremost is the qualities of the reviews and messages posted by the community affects the brand image of the company. This might result in the failure of the overall campaign of the company (Capriotti, 2012).

5.2.Impact on Business Performance and Profitability

Various researchers have According to ErdoÄŸmuÅŸ&Cicek (2012), there are numerous advantages of using social media in the business. The first and foremost is enhanced customer insights. The business entity can get a better understanding of their customers as their demands and queries are answered and addressed by the company. Social media facilitates a better understanding of customers’ opinion. In addition to this, by making use of social media, a company can address and issues faced by the customers. According to Forbes, nearly 70% of the customers who receive a quick response from the company are likely to remain with the company and recommend it to others. Cost efficiency is another aspect that social media brings to the company (Bird, et.al, 2012). When the company has a budget constraint for its marketing, nothing can be better than social media. It has a large target market and better reach than any other marketing media. It is cheaper than the other traditional marketing methods. Hence, it makes marketing cost-effective for companies.

The most important feature of using social media is that it connects the company to the customer and their changing preference and lifestyle. Telstra can adapt to their changing demands and can be able to attend the dynamic interests. In addition to this, they can innovate on their marketing concept in accordance with the campaign accordingly (Ellison& Boyd, 2013). Establishing brand awareness and increasing sales are the two crucial aspects of business companies are expecting from social media. It is very easy to create brand awareness in the local and international market by using Facebook, YouTube, and Instagram. The social media companies have designed these platforms to be used for branding by corporate businesses.  

According to Macarthy (2018), social media has revolutionised the people connect with the business. Traditional ways of marketing comprise TV, radio, print ads, and other. All these approaches are expensive and obsolete. Using social media, companies can increase their sales tremendously. Organisations can achieve specific objectives by using social media as a marketing tool.

5.3.Downsides of Social Media

There are many researchers who criticise social media and implementing it in the business. According to ErdoÄŸmuÅŸ&Cicek (2012), it is very difficult for the company to measure the return on investment. However, the company needs to put its large amount of resources in calculating it. This makes social media an expensive method. Huang, et.al. (2015) highlighted that the company is represented by the employees handling the social media account of the company. Any mistake committed by the employee can cause severe damage to the company’s image. This might cost a fortune to the company. Social media usually has control issues. Organisations need to formulate policies and take necessary measures for the same. This is a very concerning issue as again the image of the company is at stake. Hence, a stringent framework is a must in the following case. Ngai(2015) discussed that social media affects the sales of the company in a negative way. It has been seen that negative reviews of a product and service shared by the existing users might affect the perception of potential or target users. It is required from the companies to address those negative reviews as soon as possible. Otherwise, the company will have to suffer a lot. Social media pages require regular updates in order to have a better impact on the target. If this does not happen, then the company will have to bear high loss (Macarthy, 2018).

6. Methodology

6.1.Research Approach and Sources of Data

This business research makes use of both numerical and conceptual data. Hence, there is a strong need for carrying out the data collection by making use of mixed methodology. This way the investigator can conduct data collection by making use of qualitative and quantitative research method. The data would be collected from primary and secondary sources as the scope of the research demands their use. The literature review and other business report analysis provide the secondary data. The research is more dependent on the research from kinds of literature and the gap identified in them. Apart from this, the primary data will be collected by making use of surveys and questionnaires. The data collected will be of both types i.e., qualitative and quantitative. Therefore, the separate sample size and sampling population will be composed in accordance with the need of the research work (Johnson& Turner, 2013). The data collected consists of people’s preference among various social media platform, consumers of the Telstra, employees, and senior management. This would help in a better understanding of the use of social media and the influence it has on the organisation and its consumers (Johnson&Turnerm, 2013). For this report, the proposed method for collecting data and analysis will be done properly.

6.2.Proposed Data Collection and Analysis Techniques

Population

For the following business research, the target population comprises the employees working in the Telstra, investors, consumers and distributors, government agents, senior management, etc. Each of them might be influenced differently by the use of social media platform by the company. Therefore, it is important to consider them for the study.

Sampling

The qualitative and quantitative methods are being used for the research. Hence, the sampling for each method might be different. For the former approach, the sample size will be small in comparison to the latter. The sample size of qualitative approach comprises only 8-10 individuals for the accuracy in the data collected. In addition to this, face-to-face interview technique will be used to gather useful information and the systematic sampling technique will be implemented in this case. On the other hand, for quantitative research method requires a large sample size. Hence, the minimum sample size for this research approach is 50 and individuals will be selected by a random or probability sampling method.

Variable and Analysis

The goals of this research works are to elucidate the influence of social media on the business profitability and performance. From the following research, a positive impact on the business is expected. Hence, the autonomous variable is the social media in the research and the reliant variable is net profit or Return on Investment. As already discussed, social media helps in improving employee’s satisfaction and motivation and profitability of the company. Hence, qualitative research will try to determine the motivation and satisfaction among the employees and quantitative research will try to determine the quantitative aspects like ROI, profits, and some more (Johnson&Onwuegbuzie, 2014). The quantitative data will be analysed by making use of MS Excel and R-Commander that would help in understanding and making an inference from the data collected. Various analysis techniques, such as regression analysis, statistical analysis, etc., can also be used if needed for making the analysis process easier.

6.3.Organisation of Study

It is important to note here that the whole research will be documented as a report that will comprise quite a few chapters. The whole organisation of the report has been provided below in a well-structured and systematic form:-

• In chapter one, the research proposal will be provided.
• In chapter two, the overview of Telstra and its modus operandi will be elaborated.
• Chapter three comprises the detailed research methodology along with a literature review, data collection method, sampling method, indicators, variables, and data analysis techniques.
• Chapter four contains whole research outcomes and analysis
• Chapter five will provide the inferences and summary of the proposed research and make the final outcome of the research i.e., using social media platform has a positive or negative influence on the performance and profitability of Telstra.

6.4.Budget, Project Activities, and Gantt chart

Looking into the project scope and resources it requires, the budget for the following research is $4500 so to complete the research in the stipulated time frame as provided in the timeline. The reason for this specified amount is that the literature review requires the use of the Internet to access the online resources, online journal, use of e-books, journal articles, and some printed books. Some of them are not free and hence, they need to be purchased. For this purpose, $1200 have been allocated from the budget. The collection of secondary data also requires data purchase from government and private agencies. Therefore, $2000 has been allocated for this part of the data collection. The data analysis requires the use of some software that is not freely available. So $1000 has been allotted to software licence purchase. In addition to this, $300 is for miscellaneous expenses that could take place during the research.

Timeline

7. Conclusion

In the following research, it has been seen that telecommunication companies are greatly impacted by this unique approach. Organisations are carrying out there can carry out their promotional campaigns, educate their users, and a lot more things. However, this has many downsides too that had been covered in the report. This project report discussed the impact of social media on a business entity in the context of Telstra. The following report was a business research proposal that comprised the problem statement, research aim, and objectives. In addition to this, the research hypothesis and methodology were elaborated thoroughly in the report. Moreover, the research timeline in a Gantt chart and research budget were also provided before ending the research.

8. References

• Bird, D., Ling, M., & Haynes, K. (2012). Flooding Facebook-the use of social media during the Queensland and Victorian floods.  Australian Journal of Emergency Management, The,  27(1), 27.
• Capriotti, P. (2012). Communicating corporate social responsibility through the internet and social media.  The handbook of communication and corporate social responsibility, 358-378.
• Ellison, N. B., & Boyd, D. M. (2013). Sociality through social network sites. In  The Oxford handbook of internet studies.
• ErdoÄŸmuÅŸ, Ä°. E., &Cicek, M. (2012). The impact of social media marketing on brand loyalty.  Procedia-Social and Behavioral Sciences,  58, 1353-1360.
• Gilley, K. M. & Rasheed, A. (2012). “Making More by Doing Less: An Analysis of Outsourcing and its Effects on Firm Performance”. Journal of management, 26:4, 763-790.
• Goh, K. Y., Heng, C. S., & 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), 88-107.
• Huang, J., Baptista, J., &Galliers, R. D. (2013). Reconceptualizing rhetorical practices in organizations: The impact of social media on internal communications.  Information & Management,  50(2-3), 112-124.
• Israel, D. (2013). Using Secondary Data for Needs Assessment, Fact Sheet PEOD-10, Program Evaluation, and Organizational Development Series, Institute of Food and Agricultural Services, University of Florida.
• Johnson, B., & Turner, L. A. (2013). Data collection strategies in mixed methods research. Handbook of mixed methods in social and behavioral research, 297-319.
• Johnson, R. B., &Onwuegbuzie, A. J. (2014). Mixed methods research: A research paradigm whose time has come. Educational Researcher, 33(7), 14-26.
• Macarthy, A. (2018).  500 Social Media Marketing Tips: Essential Advice, Hints, and Strategy for Business Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, Google+, YouTube, Instagram, LinkedIn, and More!.CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform.
• Ngai, E. W., Tao, S. S., & Moon, K. K. (2015). Social media research: Theories, constructs, and conceptual frameworks.  International Journal of Information Management,  35(1), 33-44.
• Straubhaar, J., LaRose, R., & Davenport, L. (2013).  Media now: Understanding media, culture, and technology. Cengage Learning.