Social Media Marketing : Apple Case Study Sample

Introduction Of Social Media Marketing On Customer Buying Decisions: Case Study Of Apple In The Uk

As depicted by Mason and Narcum (2021), Social Media Marketing (SMM) activities help to satisfy customers and consumers for better growth of the company. Hence this chapter would analyze diverse aspects of SMM to influence the decision of customers. Besides that, these chapters would also reflect on diverse SMM strategies implemented by Apple in the UK.

1.2 Background of research

This research would focus on the diverse aspects of SMM in the growth of the Apple Company in the UK. As opined by (Jamil et al., 2022), Smm helps to foster better communication between markets and their customers which helps to enhance the brand image and value of the company for better economic growth. Hence Apple has implanted diverse SMM strategies to enhance its market position in diverse parts of the UK. As Apple is one the biggest Smartphones, Laptops, and tablet companies in the world that has a strong market hold in the UK.

Figure 1.1: The brand value of Apple in recent years

(Source: Statista.com, 2023)

The brand value of Apple reached over 880.5 billion dollars in 2023 (Statista.com, 2023). On that account, SMM has helped Apple to enhance its brand value and also helped to enhance its market position in the UK. Along with Apple, social media marketing has helped the company to excel in its market position in the UK and also helped to enhance its brand image and awareness. In the UK over 94% of people are aware of Apple and over 47% of users like the brand of Apple (Statista.com, 2023a). Hence SMM has played a vital role for Apple in their development In the UK.

1.3 Research Rationale

SMM helps diverse companies to enhance their market position and the value of brands which helps to develop their market position. However, SMM also creates major problems for companies that can impact their growth. As per the view of (Dwivedi et al., 2018), SMM marketing leads to the pressure of time. Hence SMM marketing can impact the brand image of Apple Company and can hamper its revenue growth. Hence these are major problems that can impact the growth of Apple Company in diverse parts of the UK that can impact their market growth. Therefore these papers would discuss problems of SMM implementation in the Apple Company.

1.4 Problems statement

SMM has played a vital role in the development of Apple in diverse parts of the world including the UK which has helped the company to develop its market position. However, Apple is facing major problems In the UK that have impacted its financial growth. Sales of iPhones have decreased to over 5% in 2022 (Bbc.com, 2023). Hence Apple is facing major problems that have impacted its growth. On that account, this research paper would discuss major problems in Apple Company to implement diverse SMM strategies. Shares of Apple are facing a decline that has impacted their brand image and their economic growth in recent years. Shares of Apple have dropped 4.8% to over 181.99 dollars, which has hampered the 3 trillion valuation of the company (Bloomberg.com, 2023). Hence Apple is facing major financial problems that have impacted the growth of the company.

1.5 Aims and Objectives

The aim of this research paper is to understand the influence of social media marketing on customer buying decision of Apple.

Objectives

• To analyze the Impact of Social Media Marketing on the growth of Apple in the UK.
• To identify significant problems in the social media marketing strategies of Apple
• To analyze the impact of Apple's social media marketing strategies on customers' buying decisions in the UK.

1.6 Research questions

• How has social media marketing helped Apple develop its economic growth in the UK?
• What are the major problems in the social media marketing strategies of Apple?
• How have Apple's social media marketing strategies impacted customers' buying decisions in the UK?

1.7 Significance

This research shows the impact of SMM to influence buying decisions on customers. Besides that, this paper also aims to show the impact of SMM on the growth of Apple in the UK. Along with that, this chapter has highlighted diverse factors of SMM to the growth of the company Moreover this paper aimed to show major problems that Apple has faced in order to implement SMS in their company to develop a perception of the company in the UK. Apple is one the biggest phone company in the UK that has strong market growth and reach. Hence this research paper aims to show the impact of SMM to develop brand value and awareness of the company.

Chapter 2: Literature Review

2.1 Introduction

As depicted by (Gunawardane et al., 2022), SMM helps companies to develop their brand awareness and also helps change the perspectives of clients. This research paper has aimed to discuss various aspects of SMM in the development of Apple Company in the UK. As opined by (Gunawardane et al., 2022), SMM helps companies to develop their relationship with their customers which plays a vital role in enhancing the performance of the company. On that account, this literature review world discussed the importance of SMM in the development of Apple in the UK.

2.2 Impact of social media marketing on the growth of Apple in the UK

According to Appel et al. (2019), Social media helps markets to interact freely with other customers which help to engage new customers in the company. On that account, Social media marketing has helped Apple to enhance its interaction with its customers which has helped the company to maintain its strong economic growth. As analyzed by Yu (2023), Apple company uses SMM with the help of diverse social media platforms that help Apple to develop its brand competitiveness. Hence SMM has played a vital role in the development of Apple's brand awareness has helped Apple to attract new customers and also helps to enhance its financial performance.

Figure 2.1: iPhone owners in the UK by age

(Source: Statista.com, 2023c)

In the UK over 73% of 18 to 19-year-old people are using an iPhone in 2023 (Statista.com, 2023c). SMM has played a critical role in the development of Apple in diverse areas of the UK which has helped the company to excel in its market growth and market reach. As opined by Dolega and Rowe (2021), SMM helps to enhance web traffic which helps to enhance sales of products and also helps to improve the income of the company. On that account, SMM has helped Apple to enhance their numbers of web traffic has impacted sales of the company, and also developed the market performance of Apple in the UK. In the UK over 65% of people between 20-29 are using an iPhone in 2022 (Statista.com, 2023c). The impact of SMM is visible in the growth of Apple in the UK and also SMM has helped Apple to develop their brand awareness for better revenue growth.

On that account, social media has helped Apple to enhance its market position which has played a vital role in the success of Apple in the UK. Besides that, SMM has also helped Apple to enhance awareness of its products in the UK market. Apple has over 19.7 million users that accounted for over 40.4% (Yougov.co.uk, 2021). Hence SMM has played a vital role in the success of Apple products reach in the UK.

2.3 Major challenges in SMM strategies of Apple

SMM has played a vital role in the success of Apple inc in the UK as SMM has helped the company to excel in its economic growth. However, there are major problems in Apple SMM that have impacted its growth in the UK. One of the major problems of SMM is the lack of online presence in diverse social media platforms which has impacted the sustainability of the company in the UK. Contrary to Luca (2022), improving presence online helps to lead a company's revenue by 5%. Hence lack of online presence of Apple company in diverse platforms of social media can hamper their rate of engagement which can also impact their sales in the UK. Sales of Apple products have faced a decline of 2.5% to over 75.42 billion euros in the UK (Sky.com, 2023). Therefore lack of online presence is a major challenge for Apple company that played a critical role in the decline in sales of Apple products in the UK.

As per the view of Kromidha and Robson (2020), digital presence helps to develop the identity of a firm and also enhances the image of a company. In the UK over 57.1 million people use social media which accounts for over 84.4% of the population of the UK (Statista.com, 2023a). Hence Apple's lack of presence in diverse social media platforms can impact its sales rate in the UK

2.4 Different Social media marketing strategies of Apple that helped to influence the buying decisions of the customer

As depicted by Silvia (2019), SMM is a useful tool that helps develop brand awareness and plays a vital role in engaging new customers. Hence Apple uses diverse SMM to engage their customers which helps the company to develop their perception of the company and also helps the company to excel in their growth. One of the major SMM strategies of Apple is to use social media influencer marketing which has helped the company to excel in its reach and helps the company to build better brand awareness. According to Joshi et al. (2023), marketing of social media influencers helps the company convey its message better, which helps drive better engagement and also helps to develop loyalty to the company. On that account, influencer marketing helps Apple to reach its target audience which helps to excel in sales of Apple across parts of the UK. Along with that influence marketing has helped Apple drive better traffic on their website which is useful for the company to drive better sales.

Influencer marketing has helped Apple to enhance its overall engagement on its website which helps the company to excel in its market position in the UK and other parts of the world. As Apple's original website site has achieved a global rank of 111 and over 666 million people have visited the website of Apple in 2023 by July (Semrush.com, 2023). Hence influencer marketing is one the major SMM strategies of Apple that has helped companies to increase engagement on their website. Moreover, Apple also spent a lot of money to enhance the quality and reach of their ads across parts of the globe. As depicted by Peterson (2021), Apple spent over 64.8 million dollars in their marketing of ads in 2020 which ranks 12th across the world. Hence Apple uses SMM stages of the influencer market to attract new customers which helps to develop customer buying decisions and helps Apple to develop their economic growth in the UK.

2.5 Theoretical Perspective of Apple Marketing

Social capital theory

As depicted by Coppe et al. (2022), Social capital theory helps to explain complex social relationships. On that account, Apple Inc. can implement SCT that can help the company to understand complex social relationships that can be useful for better brand image and SMM process to drive engagement. Along with that SCT also allows Apple Inc. to work in a group that can help the company to achieve the purpose of the company. Besides that ACT is also useful for Apple Company to share their identity and norms that can help develop better mutual relationships with customers. As opined by Alpino and Mehlum (2021), social capital is the good of the public that helps provide benefits to society. Hence SCT can help develop the relationship of Apple with society which helps to enhance the networks of the company. On that account, SCT is one of the major theories related to SMM that can help Apple develop a sense of belonging in their customer.

Cultivation theory

As per the view of Cynthia Vinney (2019), Cultivation theory helps to develop exposure to media influences that also helps to develop beliefs of the real world. Hence CT can play a vital role in the development of SMM strategies for Apple. As CT can help a company to predict the overall media viewing that can be critical for the engagement rate of Apple, that also can help a company to influence the buying decision of customers in the UK. Besides that CT can also help Apple company to influence the values and beliefs of their customers which can directly impact sales of Apple products in the UK. Moreover, CT also can help Apple to understand society with television with the help of dramatizing norms and their value. Furthermore, CT can play a critical role for Apple to shape their audience which helps to develop a perception of the company that can influence the buying decision of their customer.

On that account, CT is the most important theory related to SMM that can help to develop the value of Apple customers and also helps predict the viewing methods of their audience. As opined by Shah et al. (2020), CT helps to develop exposure to the audience and helps to develop perception with the help of the media of people. Hence, implementing CT theory can be fruitful for Apple company economic growth. Apple can adapt CT theory to develop brand identity and perception of a company.

2.6 Literature gap

As per the view of Jamil et al. (2022), SMM helps to gather long-term information that helps to develop strong social relationships. The author has not shown every strategy of SMM of Apple. Along with that, the author has only discussed the impacts of SMM on Apple in the context of the UK. In addition author has analyzed the strategies of SMM therefore a brief analysis could do to analyse the importance of SMM. Moreover, this study has only focused on the SMM strategies of Apple in the UK. Hence the author needs to show the impact of SMM in other industries. Moreover, the author needs to discuss the importance of SMM strategies to understand SMM.

2.7 Summary

This paper has highlighted the impact of SMM in the development of Apple company to influence the decision of buying from their customer. Besides that, this chapter has also highlighted the SMM strategies of Apple to develop its brand image and market position. Moreover, this literature review has also analyzed the problems of Apple to enhance its SMM to attract new customers. Therefore this paper has discussed theories related to SMM to evaluate the understanding of SMM. On that account, this research paper has analyzed the importance of SMM to drive buying patterns of customers.

Chapter 3: Methodology

3.1 Introduction

Methodology is an important aspect required at the time of conducting research work. Therefore choosing the correct methods and approaches is required to make a research work successful. This chapter has discussed the different data collection methods used. It has contributed towards definitions of specified tasks with the available tools.

3.2 Research Philosophy

Realism philosophy is used in the case of finding any new facts and figures. Thus, provides liberty in thinking to the researchers. Interpretivism is used in qualitative aspects. Positivism philosophy is used in cases when data and facts are derived from old data (Bairagi et al., 2019). Thus, in this research work, positivism philosophy is used. This philosophy supported various dimensions of the research and also interpreted the results of this research based on the discussions in the earlier literature (Fischer, 2019). In this aspect, all the factors were suitable, as the researchers have derived data that are related with the research aim and objectives and focused on the earlier studies as well.

3.3 Research approach

The research approach helps to provide support to data that has been extracted by researchers. There are basically two types of research approaches, one is the “inductive research approach” which is developed in order to get new ideas and hypotheses where researchers are keen to explore new data and facts. The deductive research approach is mainly used in order to derive conclusive evidence (Pandey et al., 2021). Furthermore, the researchers are keen to obtain perspective and well-defined perspectives. In this aspect, no new ideas and thoughts are developed.

Therefore, in order to specify this piece of research, a deductive research approach has been adopted. As this research is based on getting data and figures on the influence of social media on the marketing of Apple, thus old data was required to have a comparison.

3.4 Research design

The overall framework of research work is based on selecting an appropriate design, that is helpful in reaching set aims and objectives. There are basically three types of research design adopted in research work, such as explanatory, exploratory and “descriptive research design”. Exploratory is used for exploring various facts through earlier analysed data that are suitable according to the study. Explanatory is used in defining predefined facts according to a scenario. This provides various attributes to a study. Descriptive design is used to provide factual aspects of a study. Thai is analysed as a rich design. However, thai research design has used descriptive research design, which has identified the most relevant factors (Feyerabend, 2020). This has helped with adhering to various information based on topics and has analysed results from earlier research and theories.

3.5 Research Strategy

This research strategy is analysed as a process that is followed at the time of conducting research work. In order to meet the objectives of the study, it is required to find out a proper research strategy. This could also be seen as a guide to any research work (Smith, 2019). It is required to follow a proper research method and ensure that a way of data collection method is helping to reach to the specified direction. Hence, this could help in providing the quality of the research paper (Evens, 2022). Therefore in this research study, thematic analysis has been used for the “secondary qualitative analysis”. Moreover, the gaps have also been identified so that there are no mistakes at the time of collection of data.

3.6 Data Collection of Apple

Data collection has been helping the researcher to collect adequate and authentic data. Furthermore, this paper has been focusing on the secondary qualitative data collection method. Primary data collection method promotes the aspects related to statistical and numerical data (Descartes, 2022). Therefore, secondary papers have been selected and this provides published information. The “secondary data collection method” is a way where data are collected through journals and articles through authentic sites. This does not consider analysing new facts and figures. Furthermore, this paper has excluded the published paper before the 2018.

Therefore in this research study secondary research method is used. The data and facts are chosen from relevant journals and authentic sources such as Google Scholar, Pubmed, and Proquest.

3.7 Data Analysis of Apple

After the data collection process, the researchers have to focus towards the data analysis process in order to meet with aims and objectives. Therefore, there are various analysis plans developed for different types of data. In this research secondary qualitative data has been used. This has provided various themes based on research work. Thus, in this case, theme development is considered vital for researchers (Curley, 2020). There have been various objectives considered keeping in mind the aim of each. Thus, themes have been analysed through various journals and articles that are related to this topic.

3.8 Ethical consideration of Apple

Ethics and rules are to be considered at the time of conducting research work. This is required both in the case of primary and secondary research types. As this research work has followed secondary research work, the researchers have kept in mind tahr all data are derived from authentic sources. Journals were considered sincerely in order to conduct a thematic analysis. There has been proper copyright followed (Boland, 2020). There has not been breaching of copyright. Proper acknowledgement and referencing have been done. All data has been erased after the work has been completed. Moreover, there has been no data manipulated or used by any researcher for their personal use.

3.9 Summary

Therefore, it can be summarised that proper methodology has been used in selecting the proper philosophy, approaches, and strategy. Moreover, a secondary data collection method has been used, so that there could be a comparison of data and facts from old sources.

Chapter 4: Research Findings

4.1 Introduction

This chapter briefly discusses the findings of the research paper as well as the significant importance of “social media marketing” strategy for Apple in the UK tech market as well as this chapter will also discuss the various factors impacting the “social media marketing” strategies of Apple. Overall, with the use of various sources, this chapter will discuss the impact of Apple's SMM strategies on customers' buying decisions in the UK.

4.2 Findings

Theme 1: The impact of Social Media Marketing on the growth of Apple in the UK

There are various marketing factors that can significantly impact the growth of any company. As stated by Dolega, Rowe and Branagan (2021) SMM can significantly improve the overall sales of the company. In addition, in 2018 with the implementation of social media marketing within the business retail companies have improved sales by 20% in the UK. On the other hand, as one of the largest technology companies Apple has implemented its own SMM strategy compared to its competitors. In addition, Apple has focused on the “Less is more” social media strategy (Yu, 2023). Furthermore, Apple also limited its social media approach to its consumer in order to provide only necessary information to its consumers. Furthermore, apple also implemented various social media rules for targeting different consumers as well as to focus on the development of the company.

Brand awareness is one the crucial factors for any company to grow online by using social media marketing. In addition, Apple has managed to maintain proper brand awareness with the use of a proper marketing strategy. Furthermore, in the UK Apple has a total of 94% of brand awareness among its online consumers. In addition, the above figure also represents the overall online growth of Apple in 2022 compared to its competitors in the UK. On the other hand, in the UK Apple also holds over 50% of the total tech market share as well (Statista, 2023). As opined by Laricchia (2023) compared to its rivals Apple has over 30% more brand awareness in the UK. Furthermore, various SMM strategies implemented by Apple have also increased its consumer loyalty by 79% in 2022 (Statista, 2023). Overall, it can be stated that with the use of an efficient social media marketing strategy Apple has managed to increase its overall growth significantly in the tech market of the UK.

Theme 2: Factors impacting the social media marketing strategies of Apple.

In the global tech market, there are several challenges faced by Apple during the implementation process of social media marketing. As stated by Nigam, (2023) strong social media presence can ensure a profitable place for any company to hold a strong position in the tech market. However, due to the lack of interaction with consumers through social media Apple's brand loyalty and consumer trust can be affected significantly. Apple also heavily relies on its old industrial promotion structure which creates various challenges during the implementation process of social media marketing. On the other hand, inefficient resources also slow down the implementation process of social media marketing for Apple. In addition, the low amount of posts and low engagement process with consumers on social media also makes consumers lose interest in the product.

As opined by Dwivedi et al. (2021) tech companies can significantly improve their overall growth with the use of every aspect of SMM. Furthermore, it will also allow the company to drastically improve the social marketing strategies for its future business. Furthermore, the strict rules implemented by Apple for its SMM also limit consumer interaction as well as Apple's unable to gather enough feedback from its consumers, therefore, it also stands as a major obstacle for Apple during its “social media marketing” implementation process. On the other hand, in order to implement social media marketing strategies properly it is essential to be consistence with the targeted audience to improve consumer interaction and to improve brand awareness as well, however, due to the strict social media interaction rules Apple is not enough engaging in its social media platforms. Therefore, it significantly decreases the initial impact of social media marketing. In addition, limited interaction with the customers within social media sites also drastically impacts the social media marketing field of Apple.

Theme 3: The impact of Apple's social media marketing strategies on customers' buying decisions in the UK.

Social media marketing strategy is an essential key to providing consumer satisfaction to the customers during the various stages of the information-collecting and evaluation process. As stated by Johnson (2022) social media marketing strategies are one of the most effective ways to reach out to a large amount of audience at the same time with low expenses. In addition, it also helps companies to improve the overall sales performance of the product. Furthermore, social media marketing strategies allow companies to influence purchasing decisions of consumers significantly while buying products online. In addition, Apple has also implemented unique marketing strategies such as user-generated content in order to significantly influence the buying decisions of its consumers as well as this method also helped Apple to improve its brand and customer loyalty significantly.

As one of the most valuable tech brands of all time, Apple has continuously improved its social interaction with its consumers in order to create an effective brand reputation and promote its products efficiently. Therefore, Apple has managed to significantly influence its customers buying behaviours in order to build its brand reputation. Furthermore, the above figure represents the overall brand value of Apple from 2006 to 2023. Additionally, by analyzing the above figure it is also noticeable that in 2021 Apple managed to suppress other popular tech companies such as Google by implementing proper social media marketing strategies in the UK to influence its consumer buying behaviours. In addition, in 2021 Apple had net sales of a total of £287.96 billion (Statista, 2022). Overall with the use of proper social media marketing strategies Apple has managed to significantly improve its overall product sales by influencing its customer buying behaviour, in addition, it also drastically improved the overall product sales of Apple as well.

4.3 Summary

It can be summarized that Apple's brand loyalty and consumers' faith in the company are at risk of suffering dramatically if the company does not engage with its customers via social media. When it comes to offering client satisfaction across the many stages of the information-gathering and assessment process, having a social media marketing strategy in place is a crucial component that must be there. In addition, Apple's net revenues in 2021 totalled £287.96 billion, which was a record high for the company.

Chapter 5: Discussion

5.1 Introduction

This chapter discusses the key findings of the analysis through which proper aspects related to the topic can be understood. Aspects related to SMM of the company Apple has also been analysed through this.

5.2 Discussion of the Research

Discussion of Theme 1: “The impact of Social Media marketing on the growth of Apple in the UK”

Social media marketing is an essential key to reducing the gap between the brand and the consumer. In addition, social media marketing strategies allow companies to interact with a larger scale of audience with the help of various social media platforms by implementing different social media strategies within their product promotion process. Furthermore, brands can also significantly improve the overall sales of their products with the use of these social media marketing strategies (Mason, Narcum and Mason, 2021). Therefore, it will also significantly enhance the overall growth of the company as well. In addition, social media marketing will also allow the brands to attract more customers for their products as well (Mason, Narcum and Mason, 2021). As stated by Jamil et al. (2022) consumers are more likely to purchase products from the brands they are personally connected to in various social media platforms. On the other hand, the communication process between customers and the brand is also an essential key to improving the overall quality of the business (Appel et al., 2019). Furthermore, it also allows the companies to improve brand awareness among its customer, in addition, it is also an essential key for the overall growth of the company (Li, Larimo and Leonidou, 2020). In the UK tech market, Apple has implemented different social media marketing strategies to improve its overall growth in the UK market, including different communication channels in order to communicate with its customers, as well as Apple also used various social media marketing tools and platforms to interact with its customer as well as to provide necessary and essential pieces of information regarding their product.

In order to grow any business more efficiently it is crucial to provide proper customer services to the consumers as well as to maintain brand transparency it is also essential for companies to interact with their customers (Liu, 2023). Therefore, in order to provide necessary customer services to its consumers Apple has implemented different customer service tools in its different social media platforms, furthermore, to promote its products more efficiently Apple also launched various campaigns on its different social media platforms as well (Hessler, 2018). Overall, different campaigns and different social media customer service tools have drastically enhanced the overall growth of Apple in the UK tech market. Additionally, in order to grow more efficiently Apple initially follows a creative advertising social media marketing strategy, therefore it helps them to develop and promote creative ads for their products as well as it also attracts more consumers in that way (Liu, 2023). On the other hand, Apple also focuses on the experience-based promotion process to sell its different products by creating various portfolios of its different products. In addition, this method also allows them to sell more products as well. Overall, with the use of strategic marketing promotion methods and proper social media marketing strategies Apple efficiently improved its business in the UK.

Discussion of Theme 2: “Factors impacting the social media marketing strategies of Apple”

Social media is one of the most dominant places for the digital marketing process, therefore, various companies are also trying to implement social media marketing strategies within their business in order to grow their business more efficiently as well as to reach out to a larger amount of customers. However, there are several challenges these companies are facing during the implementation process of different social media marketing strategies within their business. As stated by John, Walford and Purayidathil, (2022) social media marketing allows companies to generate more revenue with a minimum amount of ad expenses. However social marketing also requires a quality management process in order to fulfil the potential goals of the company, it includes the proper communication process with customers as well as gathering information about different customer feedback from various social media platforms as well (Jami Pour, Hosseinzadeh and Amoozad Mahdiraji, 2021). However, Apple follows some strict social media rules for the promotion process of its products as well as for the interaction process with its consumers.

Therefore, the minimum interaction process with consumers on various social media platforms can significantly impact the overall engagement process of the company with its consumers. Furthermore, the lack of interaction process can also affect Apple's brand transparency and consumer trust can be affected significantly (Jami Pour, Hosseinzadeh and Amoozad Mahdiraji, 2021). On the other hand, Apple also follows the “Less is more” social media strategy, therefore, it also creates a lack of online presence for Apple in different social media platforms which significantly impacts the social media marketing approaches of Apple (Yu, 2023). Furthermore, the lack of presence is also impacting the overall sales performance of the company as well as it also created a difficult situation for Apple in the UK. As stated by Bermeo-Giraldo et al. (2022) maintaining a proper online presence allows companies to be more engaging with customers as well as it also helps the company to maintain brand transparency. In addition, it also improves the overall sales of the company drastically. Overall, the lack of an online presence at Apple has significantly impacted overall growth and product sales in the UK. In addition, it also created major obstacles for the social media marketing process of the company in the UK tech market.

Discussion of Theme 3: “The impact of Apple's social media marketing strategies on customers' buying decisions in the UK”

Apple has been analysed as one of the renowned names among consumers in electronics. They are not just providing effective services, but, also with its best cloud-based services and their innovative computerised technologies. With the emergence of the Apple brand in the current life, it is not unusual for this company to have a large social media presence. Its products and branding are followed with a minimalist that is less in more And this mainly applies to its social media marketing also (Fondevila-Gascón et al., 2020). This company provided its presence in the year 1976 as Apple Inc. and now has become the world's largest leader in technological innovations. With emerging ups and downs, this company has constantly proved itself from time to time that they are not so focused on following the status quo (Torous et al., 2021). They are also very reluctant in following the same paths as the other businesses that have transferred directly with social media. The trust prevails that this company could do and also not do a different aspect in social media extremely not (Hanlon et al., 2023). As they are having a large dedicated, substantial customer,mer base and an astronomically huge pile of partners in using and marketing their services. It is found that SMM is used by Apple in order to diversify its social media presence. Therefore, SSM is analysed as the one that played an important role towards the development of Apple's brand awareness and also attracts new customers towards its services.

There are major issues faced by this company that largely impacted their sustainability in the markets of the UK. Online presence made this company to increase its revenue of this company by 5%. Lack of online presence of Apple company in various platforms of social media can hinder their rate of engagement which can also affect their sales in the UK. Apple was unable to gather enough feedback from its consumers, therefore, it also stands as a major obstacle for Apple during its social media marketing implementation process. According to the research, it was found that digital presence helped to develop the identity of a firm and also enhances the image of a company. Moreover, SMM had helped this company to excel in its economic growth. It was also found that Apple heavily relied on its old industrial promotion structure which creates diverse challenges during the performance process of social media marketing (Cheung et al., 2020). This company had a low amount of posts and less engagement strategy with consumers on social media, which also made consumers lose interest in its product. In comparison to its opponents, Apple has about 30% more brand awareness in the UK. Moreover, miscellaneous social media marketing strategies executed by Apple have also increased its consumer loyalty by 79% in 2022.

It is well analysed that brand awareness is necessary reach to customers. Apple had used diversified SMM tools in improving such strategies. The SMM strategy of Apple is to use social media influencer marketing that has helped the company to excel in its reach and helps the company to build better brand awareness. This company spent a lot of money to enhance the quality and reach of its ads across parts of the globe (Kuerbis et al., 2023). This company has also implemented exceptional marketing strategies such as “user-generated content” with a view to significantly influence the buying decisions of its customers as well as this method also helped Apple to improve its brand and customer loyalty significantly. This company has also improved their social interactions with a view to improving create an effective brand reputation and promoting its products efficiently. According to the analysis, it is found that Apple operated to subdue other popular tech companies such as Google, and others, through implementing proper social media marketing strategies in the UK to influence its consumer buying behaviours (Abbas et al., 2019). The survey also provided information that this company was able to improve its net sales by the year 2021 with a total of £287.96 billion (Statista, 2022). Using correct social media marketing, this company has been able to improve its sales volume by influencing the customer's buying decisions, also there has been a drastic improvement in the overall sales volume of this company.

5.3 Summary

The following chapter includes a brief discussion of the research paper's aim and objectives, in addition, this chapter also includes the essential graphical figures and charts related to the research study's aims and objectives. Overall, this has individually analyzed the aim and objectives of the research paper to provide a detailed overview of the research paper's aim and objectives.

Chapter 6: Recommendation and Conclusion

6.1 Conclusion

This chapter is based on concluding the overall research paper. The above analysis and findings have provided information that marketing factors have a high influence towards the buying behaviour. Currently, social media has become the biggest advantage for companies to enhance their sales volume. Apple has also used such strategies to improve their sales with the motto “less is more”, in its social media strategy (Gordon et al., 2021). There have been various social media rules applied for targeting the customers and focusing towards the development of the company. Apple has managed to maintain proper brand awareness with the use of a proper marketing strategy. Apple has currently made a huge market approach due to its strategies. It has been analysed that Apple also heavily relies on its old industrial promotion structure which creates various challenges during the implementation process of social media marketing. There has been a large improvement in sales volume in the retail sector after the implementation of social media in the marketing aspect. Moreover, it is found that social media is reducing gaps between brands and customers (Sawhney et al., 2020). Marketing strategies are making it able to have an interaction between customers and companies. Communication plays an important role in improving the sales volume of a product.

6.2 Linking with Objectives

Objective 1: “To analyze the Impact of Social Media Marketing on the growth of Apple in the UK”

The objective has been specified in the literature section. This shows that Apple has made its market by adopting different approaches. Moreover, Apple has managed to increase its overall growth significantly in the tech market of the UK.

Objective 2: “To identify significant challenges to implementing social media marketing in Apple company”

The objective has been specified in the literature section. A strong social media presence has made it able to create a strong position (Kurdi et al., 2022). However, major challenges were faced by them. It required technological requirements to compete and make its strong presence. The demand for Apple increased, it become necessary to improve the stock. There had been a high demand and thud technological improvement helped to foster such.

Objective 3: “To analyze the impact of Apple's social media marketing strategies on customers' buying decisions in the UK”

The objective has been specified in the literature section. Marketing through social media creates a strong impact on the minds of customers considered as one of the most effective ways to reach out to a large amount of audience at the same time with low expenses.

6.3 Recommendation

As per the above study, it can be further recommended o researchers so that they can develop their study and research in a more compact manner. The certain recommendations are as follows,

It has been analysed that there are major factors that lead Apple to increase their demands to reach such a position, are not analysed properly. All the discussions are developed on certain assumptions of researchers and their findings based on earlier research. It can be recommended that researchers could have made current years analysis and get data. This data could have been further compared with previous years' data to find out the difference in sales volume. This could also have been easy for others to make an easy understanding.

In order to get present and past data there could have been a primary data collection method adopted. This could provide data and also fresh views of customers and its managers. Moreover, future plans could also have been identified with such a strategy.

6.4 Future prospect of Study

This research is based on finding the importance of sales volume due to the adoption of social media in Apple. Therefore, analysing conditions, discussions on this topic and furthermore, analysing particular aspects of this research is important. A proper analysing and conclusive findings could be helpful for researchers to make a huge contribution towards the required outcome of this topic. It has been seen that there are various reasons that made this company make its market (Natale et al., 2019). However, there is no such information provided that can be proven with such words. There have been sales volume analysed, however, no such data comparisons are done. This research could have been successful in case, it had adopted the primary data collection method. Furthermore, a comparative analysis could also have helped with analysing the factors that are related to such topics. This study would be helpful for researchers to analyse the differences ins sales volume.

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