Trends in Social Media of US in Marketing to young customers and its effect pot

Purpose of the research is to analyze what is marketing throughsocial media, especially social network sites.. K OLB , SAGE, 2008In short, learning is a lifelong process for gaining know

Title Page

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(1) That the material contained in this Project is the result of my own work and that due

acknowledgement has been given in the bibliography and references to ALL resources

be they printed, electronic or personal

(2) The Word Count of this Project is: Part A: 4356 words

Part B:

Reflective Statement:

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Part A of this project mainly discuss about “Who am I as a learner?” and

“Implication for career choice” By taking some tests such as VARK questionnaires,Myer-Briggs type indicator, Honey and Mumford’s learning style questionnaires andBelbin team role inventory, the author will discover more about herself including thelearning styles, personalities and team roles However, after that the author should beable to reflect on how he is as a learner and learn to apply her personal attributes to thesuitable career choice in the future In the second section of this part, it will describe thecareer choice in future and the skills needed for the job and lifelong learning processes

Section B academically concentrates on marketing issue, which relates to thewriter’s study area Purpose of the research is to analyze what is marketing throughsocial media, especially social network sites Moreover, the reporter will evaluate theeffectiveness of social network sites on marketing toward young customers

Finally, reflective statement aims at concluding essential points over part A and

B This links the ideas of two parts to see how they are related to each other In thispart, the concepts of whole project are pointed out clearly

Finally yet importantly, I would like to thank all of you, my friends, for yourencouragement and giving me many comments and ideas in the process of making thisproject.

Table of Content

Title Page 1

Declaration 2

Abstract 3

Acknowledgement 4

Table of Content 5

List of Figures 7

Part A: 8

Introduction 9

1 Section 1: Who I am as a learner? 9

1.1 What is learning? 9

1.2 VARK questionnaire 10

1.3 Myers Briggs Tyne Indicators (MBTI) 12

1.4 Honey and Mumford’s Learning Styles Questionnaire 14

1.5 Belbin Team Role Inventory Test 17

1.6 Family and friends’ comments 19

2 Section 2: Implication for career choices 20

2.1 Lifelong learning 20

2.2 Transferable skills 22

2.3 Chosen career 23

Part B 25

Chapter 1: Introduction 26

1.1 Background information 26

1.2 Purpose and objective 26

1.3 Outline of sections 27

Chapter 2: Literature review – Trends in Social Media us in Marketing with young customers and its effectiveness 28

2.1 Definition of Social Media 28

2.2 Social Network Sites 29

2.3 Why are organizations joining SNS? 35

2.4 Effectiveness 38

2.6 Measurability 42

Chapter 3: Summary and Conclusion 45

References 46

Appendix 51

Appendix A 51

A.1 VARK 51

Multimodal Study Strategies 51

Visual Study Strategies 51

Aural Study Strategies 53

Kinesthetic 54

A.2 MBTI 56

A.3 Honey and Mumford learning style questionnaire 58

A.4 Belbin Test Result 67

Appendix B 71

B.1 Personal Development Plan 71

B.2 Curriculum Vitae 72

B.3 Job Description 74

B.4 Standard application form 79

Appendix C 85

C.1 Powerpoint Presentation 85

Reflective Statement 86

List of Figures

Figure 1: Kolb’s experiential learning cycle (Kolb, SAGE, 2008) 10

Figure 2: VARK test results 10

Figure 3: 16 personality types from MBTI result 13

Figure 4: MBTI test result 13

Figure 5: Honey Mumford’s learning style questionnaire result 15

Figure 6: The relations between four learning styles of Honey and Mumford 17

Figure 7: Belbin test result 18

Figure 8: Lifelong learning cycle (Sources: Merriam & Caffarella, 1999) 22

Figure 9: Percentage of people getting news on social networks 33

Figure 10: Top 10 Social-networking websites & forums by US market share of visit in 2012 34

Figure 11: number of companies measuring social marketing ROI 41

Figure 12: Social Media Measurement Process 43

Part A:

Section 1: Who am I as a learner?

Section 2: Implications for career choice

me to complete and improve my learning style by the best effective way, the pastlearning experiences will also be reviewed as supportive evidences for thequestionnaire results

Secondly, through the test results, I found out that my most suitable careerchoice is related to marketing field By analysing my strengths and weaknesses, I alsomention about lifelong learning and other reflections, which help me to find out how Iimprove by time and how I can struggle with challenges I also talk about thetransferable skills, how it impact on my career choice in the future

1 Section 1: Who I am as a learner?

1.1 What is learning?

There are many definitions about ‘learning’, from very long time ago; Klein cameout with the definition of learning which was a relatively durable change in the ability toexhibit a behavior; and this change occurs as a result of successful or failure (Klein,1987) People are born to learned and gaining knowledge for their whole life Thisdefinition is similar with affirmation “Learning involves changes” by Askew and Carnell(2011) (Susan Askew and Eileen Camell, 2011) On the other hand, learning can also

be clarified as the process whereby knowledge is gained through the transformation ofexperiences (Kolb, 2008) That means learning can be useful for your lifelong if youknow how to gained knowledge and apply it effectively in practical circumstances.Somehow, the definition of learning can be easily showed in the learning cycle which

F IGURE 1: K OLB ’ S EXPERIENTIAL LEARNING CYCLE (K OLB , SAGE, 2008)

In short, learning is a lifelong process for gaining knowledge, as a result, weknow that learning happens when people take newfound information and integrate it intotheir life

During the first semester of my final year, I had under taken VARK test and foundout my result through this figure below

F IGURE 2: VARK TEST RESULTS

According to VARK’s result, I am person who tend to study by visual, aural andkinaesthetic Therefore, I am a multimodal learning preference learner (Fleming, 2001).

In addition, with 10 points for Aural, the most effective ways of learning is listening,which means the learner learn best from lectures, discuss, and talking things through.The aural preference includes talking aloud than debating and arguing to other people.They get information through saying their idea and sharing it to someone else (VARK,2012) In fact, I normally I use to take a record form lectures, listen carefully to have themain points Moreover, I also try to understand some issues through communicating,asking others

Besides, I also have high mark at Visual that means I usually gain newinformation and knowledge better by using graphs, charts or pictures (Fleming, 2001)

In fact, highlight is one of the most effective visual learning methods I use to underlinemain ideas or keywords in whole paragraph (Beattie, 2011) Reflected with myexperiences, I feel easily when study through pictures, diagrams, flow charts or anyother visual methods For example, with same issue of problem, I use model mapping,symbols to make clear everything and easy find out the solution for problem throughthose maps

In addition, the most effective way for me is combing seeing, listening andpracticing Kinaesthetic is the last suitable style for my learning It is better for me when

I try to discover things out, try to transfer theories to real situation The original theoriesgive me the brief idea and practices help me to understand the topics as a whole deeplyand more reliable

On the other hand, my lowest score is Reading/Writing, which is also myweaknesses in learning style Therefore, to broaden and remember knowledge better, Ishould read more books, journals or articles on newspaper and then take information bynoting down As writer Shella Cameron mentioned, reading is one of the mostsophisticated skill that need for career, therefore, I should keep improving this skill aswell as other skills (Cameron, 2008)

In brief, it is approximately 75% of VARK result shows my real learning styles

strategies of effective learning “Taking VARK test does not contribute to improvelearning but it can only be improved when the learners make change according to theVARK preference” (Fleming, N D and Mills, C., 1992) Hence, according to my result,VARK questionnaire suggest me some useful ways to improve my learning style, whentaking information in, I should listen to class lectures, speaking/talking the topics withother people, using email, mobile phones, web chat to receive information In addition, Ican re-explain my own knowledge to another person or create funny stories or songscontain the lessons, information by me In the output step, because my strength islistening/discuss so I have advantage in examinations like interview, speaking test and Ihave disadvantages in examinations like writing assignments or writing test.

1.3 Myers Briggs Tyne Indicators (MBTI)

The second test that I took is MBTI This psychological test was developedbasing on former theory of Carl Jung (Petersen, 2006) Different from VARK, MBTI isanother way to identify my characteristics and how I perceive information and makedecision (Briggs M., I & Briggs, P B., 1995) Also according to Dr Jung, there are 16types of personality combined from each component of four pairs: Extraversion (E) –Introversion (I), Sensation (S) – Intuition (N), Thinking (T) – Feeling (F), and Judgment(J) – Perception (P)

F IGURE 3: 16 PERSONALITY TYPES FROM MBTI RESULT

F IGURE 4: MBTI TEST RESULT

According to test result, my closest personality styles belong to ISTP and INTP Ihave full marks at Introvert, Thinking and Perception and the equal range between

world of ideas and impression with the full score of Introvert (I) (Martin, 2011) It meansthat I am “a person predominantly concerned with their own thoughts and feelings ratherthan with external things” (Oxford Dictionaries, 2012) I strongly agree with this point,because in fact, I always prefer to work alone or keep my thought inside and do notshare to anyone At second preference result shows that I am a Sensation person (S), itmeans I always look at fact, takes a practical approach and tends to be interested inclear, detailed information Moreover, thinking is also important because it focuses onpresent and making decision based on logic and analysis My result shows I belong toThinking (T), which is true because I think logistic thinking can help me to make rightdecisions and avoid bad results I also belong to Perception (P) characteristic It means

I prefer a flexible life rather than an organized and structured life The characteristic alsoaffect my learning style, I often get the knowledge easily, or work more effective when I

am feeling happy, or I do not have any pressure of atmosphere It could be the mixbetween two types of personality (ISTP, INTP), which are suitable with me However,from my point of view and other friends’ comments, I think INTP is the most suitabletype of me

By doing the Myer Briggs test, it will help me to identify my life style in general aswell as my style with respect to specific areas such as business, love, education andcommunications Furthermore, it will help me a lot in my future career when I canchoose the best job for my personality type Through MBTI test result, I can see how Iwill react in certain circumstance and therefore predict the results if it is good or bad.Moreover, I also recognized what I need to develop and improve It cannot be totallytrue at all but it still has many advantages for me I will try to do what I’m planning toimprove my MBTI profile in the future in order to improve my team work skills to get theeffective result of work

1.4 Honey and Mumford’s Learning Styles Questionnaire

Honey and Mumford Learning Style questionnaire is made to discover thelearning styles preferences of learners, it help examiners can develop themselves andget more experiences than from others (Caple and P J Martin, 1994) As similar toVARK, this psychological test also aims at indicating preferred learning style The

difference between two tests is that VARK shows the suitable learning methods leading

to effective learning, while Honey and Mumford’s test gives the overall description if howeach type of learner tends to perform

6

15

15 16

My learning style through Honey and

Mumford's questionnaire

My learning style through

Honey and Mumford's

questionnaire

F IGURE 5: H ONEY M UMFORD ’ S LEARNING STYLE QUESTIONNAIRE RESULT

According to my result, I have strong preference in reflector, theories andpragmatist My highest score is pragmatist, which means I usually come up with newideas and trying to find out theories and techniques applying in practice (Peter Honey,Alan Mumford, 2006) Moreover, I always want to challenge myself by solving newproblems or face with new opportunities

As a reflector, Honey and Mumford mentioned that learner likes to think aboutthings in detail before taking action (Peter Honey, Alan Mumford, 2006) In fact, I prefer

to view the site from different perspectives to get knowledge and information about it;and then review, think carefully before coming to any conclusions by my own reflective.Moreover, I enjoy observing and listen to their others’ views before sharing my own

involved in new ideas and challenges (P Honey and A Mumford, 2000) I totally agreewith this conclusion as I find out that I am very interested in new challenges and havepositive attitude to solve the problems or take any exception with new opportunities (P.Honey and A Mumford, 2000)

Besides, my result also shows I am theories learner Honey and Mumford’s ideaabout theorists was described that they prefer to see how things fit into an overallpattern and also use logical and sequential begin to deal with problems (Peter Honey,Alan Mumford, 2006) For example, I would like study through reading books and try tounderstand the theories through my own way After reading or listening new information,

I use to reflect it through my own thought, which help me remember the knowledgebetter

Furthermore, it fits with me in Myers Briggs Type indicator too As an INTP type, Ilive in the world of the hypothetical potential, I always try to think about every theory andcases then apply them through my own reflections

To understand more about how the Honey and Mumford questionnaire is applied

to my learning, I will come up with the Learning style cycle through this figure below (F.Coffield, D Moseley, E Hall, and K Ecclestone, 2004)

F IGURE 6: T HE RELATIONS BETWEEN FOUR LEARNING STYLES OF H ONEY AND M UMFORD

(Source: (F Coffield, D Moseley, E Hall, and K Ecclestone, 2004))

In this figure, they show the cycle of our learning, firstly as a reflector we willobserve and reflecting on the results, after that we find a suitable theory to apply indifferent situation In real life, I do not use only one learning style but in fact using bothfour of the learning style however, some of them are using more frequently and moreeffectively than the other This learning cycle does not only apply to when we arestudying but also when we are in work It will help me in developing my career in thefuture too

1.5 Belbin Team Role Inventory Test

Belbin Team Role Inventory is a test, founded by Dr Meredith Belbin in the1970s, to study the personal behavioral tendency when working in-group (BelbinAssociates, 2010) According to E-belbin (2011), Belbin Self-Perception Inventory is “abehavior-based questionnaire” This test analyzes the personality of users into nineteam-role contributions (E-Belbin, 2011) This chart below shows my result after doingBelbin Team Role test:

49 19

47

70

Belbin Score

Belbin Score

F IGURE 7: B ELBIN TEST RESULT

According to the result, I have strong preference score in implementer, fisher and

as plant However, my most preferred roles in team are Implementer (IMP) The resultsdescribe very true roles that I always play in a team At first, as a reflector I am a “shit inthe corner” person because I want to observe and collect information through myunderstanding and then make a decision Therefore, my score in team worker is verylow With this role as an implementer, my strengths are disciplined, reliable, andconservative in habits and always taking practical systematic (Belbin Associates, 2010).Besides, I have high score for Plant and Completer so my most suitable working style isimproving (Belbin Associates, 2010) I totally agree with this part because I often want

to try new challenging, solve difficult problems; and I also work very painstaking,conscientious and always work on time In addition, those roles are very suitable with

my characteristic in MBTI test and my learning style In fact, my parents and friendsalways tell that I am a person who always tries to understand about everything I care in

very deeply way and keeps trying to find out solution for difficult troubles or challenges.Therefore, for working effective in team, I should improve my teamwork score, which isvery low preference I should opened-mind, share ideas to other members and increaselistening ability when working in team.

In addition, as the creator of the idea with high score in plant type, I know themost effective and creative way to get thing done In order to achieve that, I need toevaluate all of the alternatives for all decisions, methods and approaches so that theteam is positioned as competitively as possible Rather than thought oriented roles, Ialso play an action role too I have very strong preference in implementer and completerfinishers, which can be explained by my VARK questionnaire and MBTI results.Because I have a strong preference in kinaesthetic and INTP type so I always try towork things out to see how it is in real life

This test really helps me make out my weaknesses as well as defects that Ishould change I have very weak teamwork ability Sometimes, I found myself difficulty

in communicating with other members of the team about my idea and it is often hard toaccept any criticism of my innovative ideas (West, M A and Markiewicz Lynn, 2004) Infact, as I mentioned above, I prefer working individual rather than in team because I amnot only a perfectionist, but also a conservative person As being aware of importance

of teamwork, I have outlined disadvantages that I need to minimize and practice toimprove by experiences

1.6 Family and friends’ comments

Besides my own reflection about learning styles through those tests above, myfamily and friends’ comments are very important to me for improving my own learningand living’s skills At first, a huge friends of mine said that I do not share my ownfeelings and quite hard to understand That is very true with the MBTI result, whichshows that I am an introvert person However, they also commented that I am verycreative, intelligent and very good at communicating and leading other people Thatcomments are true some points with my MBTI, which showed that I am very interested

in logical thinking and want to find out solution for hard troubles/issues

On the other hand, my parents said that I am independence child from I was alittle kid until now; therefore, they did not worry too much at the first time I went studyaboard They feel that I can easily adapt new life style and Western environment That

is every true for me When I studied in high school, I had started to understand the lifestyles of Western people through TV channels Hence, I was not very surprise when Icame here Besides, when I started working in events, I got in touch and was friendwith many foreign people from many countries such as USA, UK, Australia or evenBelgium; therefore, I learn many interesting things from them Moreover, my motheralways encourages me on my own choices and decision because she knows that I willthink very carefully before making any decision, which is very same conclusion with myMBTI result

In addition, both of my family and friends said that I am a good listener I prefer tolisten to other than to talk and share my own though Moreover, I think that I can learneasier by listening from other rather than writing I use to record all lectures and reviewthe knowledge when I go back home by listen those records again It is an effectiveway for me because I can understand the information that teacher taught in class andimprove my English skills

In sort, after doing four questionnaires above and listen all comments fromfriends and family, I understand my learning style preferences deeply I not find out mystrengths in order to maintain and improve it, but also find out my weaknesses, whichwere needed to change to have better job in future

2 Section 2: Implication for career choices

2.1 Lifelong learning

Apart from being a legal requirement, studying is subconsciously an essentiallylifelong task for me as I was born in intellectual family My parents always support forand give priorities to our educations Those things are considered as great chances for

me because this is what most other people of their generation did not have

At that time, I studied under duress without showing interests and puttingadequate efforts One of main external reasons is because of Vietnamese educational

approach did not encourage most students to build self-awareness and confidence; and

to develop creativity, own way of thinking and personal study Students study like amachine, when teacher taught one is one, students cannot think that one is more thanthat However, to improve our learning and gain knowledge, I need to justify my lifelonglearning from many resources and experiences instead of what I have learned fromclass Knapper and Cropley defined lifelong learning as:

“The single crucial element in the notion of lifelong education is to be found in theword ‘lifelong’: It embraces a set of guidelines for developing educational practice(‘education’) in order to foster learning throughout life (‘lifelong’) Lifelong education thusdefines a set of organizational, administrative, methodological and procedural measureswhich accept the importance of promoting lifelong learning.” (Knapper, C and Cropley,

A J., 2000)

However, for me, I have created my own lifelong learning represented in aPersonal Development Plan (Appendix B2) Through that, I have planned my ownsystematically what I have to learn and what I have to achieve in order to meet my finalgoals for both sort term and long term For instance, I always want to work in marketingfield, which is very creative and interesting job In order to have suitable job and goodposition in an organization in Vietnam, I need to improve my basic knowledge aboutbusiness management and specially marketing at first That why I applied in a NationalEconomics University and study Business Management as my Bachelor of Art.Furthermore, it will give me a good back group to be able to apply for master degree ofStrategic Marketing at Northumbria University in UK

On the other hand, rather than the degree and certificates, I will also need manyother skills such as communication, negotiation, time management, leadership,computer skills, English skills, etc Those skills will help me a lot when I working in anyorganization Therefore, I keep practicing and improving them during my study time Allthe processes and plans for learning new skills and improving skills are represented in

my personal development plan

Finally, the lifelong learning can also be created based on the model of lifelong learning,

F IGURE 8: L IFELONG LEARNING CYCLE (S OURCES : M ERRIAM & C AFFARELLA , 1999)

Lifelong learning model is a model of directed learning that “integrates management (contextual control), self-monitoring (cognitive responsibility) andmotivational (entering and tasks) dimensions to reflect a meaningful and worthwhileapproach to self-directed learning” (Merriam, S.B and Caffarella, R.S., 1999) For mefirstly by doing the test as shown above, it helps me to understand more about myselfsuch as my personality, my roles as a team member, etc However, based on that Imove to the next step which is setting up specific goals which suitable for me.Continuing with the next step, as a learner I need to know how to study in most effectiveways in order to achieve my goals Lastly, I need to monitor and evaluate my ownlifelong learning to see if the process is working well and make chance where needed.2.2 Transferable skills

self-“Transferable skills are a set of social behaviors and skills that you learn to helpyou interact with other people in a variety of different situations” (Hind, 1994).Transferable skills can be simply understood as necessary skills, which are required toperform a good job Transferable skills pertain to skills, which are developed in specificsituation however, it still also utilized in other situations (Smith J.; Spurling A., 1999) It

is very important when we need to know how to transfer knowledge to practice in realsituation According to Atlay and Harris (2010), there are four broad areas about skills

we need to transfer: information retrieval and handling, communication and

presentation, planning and problem solving, social development and interaction In fact,those skills are very importance and we need to analyze our strengths as well asweaknesses of each skill and make a development plan for long term in order tocomplete ourselves (Gameron, 2009).

Moreover, Greenan justified the quality of staffs need basic skills included “theability to communicate effectively, the ability to work with others, functional numeracy,and familiarity with information technology” (Greenan, K.; Humphreys, P.; Mclveen, H.,1997) Therefore, those skills are very importance when you turning from studying toworking In other words, every student wants to have a good position in anyorganization, he/she needs to have transferable skills

In case of myself, I understand very clearly about the differences betweenstudying and working Therefore, I am trying to practice and improve these skills both inclasses and outside classes For example, I practice the teamwork skill when doingmany seminars in-group at classes, try to communicate and sharing ideas in order towork more effective in teamwork Moreover, working in classes also trains me manyother skills such as leading people, negotiation through debating/arguing sections, etc.Besides, I also need to improve many skills outside class such as time management, orchange my weakness, which is easy to get stressful

2.3 Chosen career

After doing previous questionnaires and looking through my lifelong learning andtransferable skills, I find out that it is suitable for me to do some jobs related toresearcher or lawyer However, I will not choose this kind of jobs when I graduate.Vietnam is a developing country and the economics is growing significantly recently.There are many foreign companies invest in Vietnamese market and developing veryfast The requirement of those companies for labor is very high, especially withstudents, who study oversea and good at English On the other hand, I am veryinterested in marketing field, which is reached the requirements and demands formmany organizations such as IBM, Oracle, AOS, etc Hence, I will choose marketingmanager as my chosen career

Payne & Whitaker (2006) considered three factors which effect on career choice:environment, personality factors and opportunities Based on that, I would like to justify

Secondly, I am studying BA in undergraduate in UK; hence, I have basicknowledge about all parts of business, which includes marketing In addition, my planfor next year is studying master degree with Strategic Marketing subject in order to havedeeper understanding about this field In order to get a better job and understand aboutmarketing department, I am looking for a job in Warwick University at Social Media &Marketing Executive Through the job description (Appendix B3), I can understand andimage what I need to do if apply in Marketing Department I believe that I can apply myknowledge and skills I got in UK to my future job when I go back to Vietnam

Finally, my personality is very important when I choosing future career When Istudied in BTEC or even this program, I am very interested in marketing subjects.Besides, reading many job descriptions for Marketing manager, I found out that as amarketer, you need to have creative and logic minded good in communication andnegotiation, and well understanding about market Moreover, I am also very good atdesigning, painting and good skills at music Therefore, it is easier for me to domarketing because of creative thinking

In conclusion, Marketing is my first choice for future career, which meet all threefactors above Hence, it is a reason for me to choose a topic in part B, which related toMarketing section

Part B

Topic title: The effectiveness of using social network sites on marketing on

young customers when doing business

Chapter 1: Introduction

1.1 Background information

Social media is significantly increasing communication phenomenon that digitalnatives, especially between the young generation form 18 to 29 years old which haveembraced and revolutionized daily interactions Social media technologies is specified

as “web-based and mobile applications that allow individuals and organizations tocreate, engage, and share new user-generated or existing content, in digitalenvironment through multi-way communication” (Davis, Deil Amen, Rios Aguilar,Gonzalez Canche, 2011) Many evidences form previous research showed that socialmedia is becoming a powerful addition to the marketing strategies for many industries.Social media marketing is become one of the most effective tools for any organization topromote themselves and getting back feedback from customers

Social media has been the discipline of public’s treatments and forums in recentyears Its power to spread information and prosecute consumers have been recognizedand researched by many researchers in different branch of knowledge; and most of thepublications have only described the features of these tools in business environment.From the amount of commentary on social media it seems to be a very dynamicecosystem (Safko, L and Brake, D., 2009), where marketing and advertising peoplehave found a new opportunity: it provides an active conversation between organizationsand their consumers

In part B of this report will indicates a literature reviewed of the effectiveness ofsocial media in marketing nowadays in young customers with further research andevidences

1.2 Purpose and objective

In the academic impact, there are seven main objectives of doing this report, whichaims to:

 Define what is social media, social media marketing

 Discuss about social network sites, especially Facebook

 Describe the trend using social media of young customers nowadays

 Explain why organizations join social network sites

 Discuss the effectiveness, return on investment of using social network sites onmarketing and how to measurable its effectiveness

1.3 Outline of sections

Section B is talking about three main parts Firstly is the introduction, whichincludes the background information, aims of chosen topic and outline for report Then,

it is a literature review about how social network sites can be main marketing activities

of many businesses with young target customers Finally, is the summary andconclusion of the reporter and give out with some recommendations

Chapter 2: Literature review – Trends in Social Media us in Marketing with young

customers and its effectiveness.

2.1 Definition of Social Media

Social Media is a term composed by two words that look familiar and, as such,the majority of people misconstrue it This was confirmed through a survey conducted

by Safko & Brake (2009) which revealed that 70% of 600+ respondents were notfamiliar with that social media was

One vague description states that social media is all sorts of different things, inall sorts of different ways That social media could be defined as content that has beencreated by its audience (Comm, 2009) This attempt at a definition could confuse anyreader if it is taken out of its context; it does not mention crucial elements of socialmedia such as online, computer-mediated communication Furthermore, why would anaudience wish to produce their own content? A possible answer to this is that users arelately trying to engage in multidirectional conversations; audiences could feel attracted

to be part of what is being released or even create what is being published (Morris,2010) Traditional media was about delivering content to the audience and very rarely areader would reply to the editor or publisher through a letter Moreover, the generalitywas to deliver content through one channel that did not allow immediate feedback or anautomatic reply

Based on different definitions offered by Morris (2010), Safko & Break (2009),and Kaplan & Haenlein (2009), there are few key words in common: conversation,exchange, and user generated content The word conversation can be found in most ofthe literature reviewed, so it is implied that a core characteristic of social media is itslevel of interactivity (Romero, M & Fanjul, C., 2009)

After summarizing the key concepts found in the definitions, social media is thendefined in this study:

“Social media is a set of web-based media tools, similar to offline media that allowpeople to interact by generating and broadcasting their own content with the means to

socialize and/or share information of interests through the internet The content can be

of personal, professional or commercial character” (Romero, M & Fanjul, C., 2009)

In this study, the main objective is on commercial content This is because the kind ofcontent that businesses and organizations produce in order to reach their audiencesand/or targets is of a commercial or marketing nature The significance of analyzing thecommercial aspect of social media is that the exponential growth of social media isforcing marketing and advertising to be redefined and adapted itself in order to alignwith the new communications model: interaction with customers (Romero, M & Fanjul,C., 2009)

Before reviewing the substantive research of this topic, it is important tounderstand the general features of what was referred to as social network sites (SNS).Their features are explained in the following section

2.2 Social Network Sites

In the previous section, the most common web applications were described withexamples and a brief review of their features This section focuses on social networksites

Social network sites (SNS) are defined in this section with the intention to supply

a general description of what social network are and what characterizes them Thisinformation will serve as a foundation for an understanding of the use of Facebook andTwitter and as references to their importance within the marketing field

SNS is a subcategory of social media and it is considered a phenomenonbecause it has attracted millions of users in recent years (Boyd, D and Ellison, N.,

2008) In common with other tools of social media ecosystem, SNS term is referred to

as social networking, social networking sites or simply: networking However,

‘Networking’ emphasizes relationship initiation, very often between strangers, and this isnot necessarily the case in these sites (Boyd, D and Ellison, N., 2008)

To define SNS we must first review what the term social network meant beforecomputing enable communication The term was related to the key words: personal

concept remains unchanged but with one additional characteristic: social networks can

be practiced either virtually or in person This can be referred to as online or offlinerespectively

It can be inferred then that there is a similarity between social network offlinepractices and SNS It is believed that SNS are subject to traditional network effects(Shih, 2009) For example if a group of friends join a SNS, there is a pressure effect forjoining the SNS as a way to enhance the existent offline contact (Westlake, 2008).Some are skeptical about this claim, but available research points out that most SNSuse primarily supports pre-existing social relations (Ellison et al 2007, quoted by(Boyd, D and Ellison, N., 2008)) So, if both social networks behave similarly, whatcould be determined as the core element of SNS that makes it so unique and attractive

to businesses?

It can be inferred then that SNS are unique due to the combination of all theseelements Its uniqueness is defined by the greater level of interactivity that they offerthrough the usage of different applications within the one site, for example: building apersonalized profile, the possibility of creating a network from existent offline contacts,the potential of connecting with new contacts, the participation elements offered throughdiscussion forums, creation of photo albums, sharing information, expressing a positivedisposition towards a topic or idea by clicking on the Like button and provision offeedback by comment on what other users write about

This is truly interactive nature of the collective technology allows businesses andorganizations to open a dialogue with their customers (Winstanley C., 2006) but thequestion here is to what extent should businesses open themselves to receive

feedback, especially unrequested feedback? The ‘writerly text’ or participatory reading

could be perceived as a positive outcome for users and businesses, which participate,and are part of conversations of their interest or benefit However, it could alsorepresent a potentially negative level of feedback for businesses in the case that theirproducts and/or services are exposed criticized or scrutinized, particularly if thebusinesses is not participating of the ongoing conversations

The impact of SNS has not only changed the way users interact with businessesbut also the way advertisers and marketers communicate with potential customers Theimportance of these sites has reached the point to which it is argued that a computerpage is the same as an advertisement, that there is no difference between it and anadvertisement in the newspapers (Cocheo, 2010) and this highlights the impact of SNSwithin the marketing field This could indicate that its impact on the public reach hasequaled other media, although this could be arguable and would require formalresearch comparing both media.

Another interesting aspect of SNS that has had impact in the marketing field isthat social influence in SNS is similar to the offline experience; a user can influenceother users This effect works similarly, to what a leader of opinion does While someusers are producers of content, others are consumers of content and those producinghave some impacts on others Although having many friends does not automaticallymake users influential per se (Trusov, M., Bodapati, A.V & Bucklin, R.E., 2010) It hasbeen proved by researchers that some users can have a very strong influence onothers

In recent years, the discussion related to SNS has also been centered on matterslinked to privacy SNS can provide behavioral data about users (Boyd & Ellison, 2008,

p 220) which would enable marketers to analyze consumers’ patterns, but providingthis information to businesses has proved to be a delicate topic In fact, another issuedirectly linked to the information that is possible to source from SNS is that the metricsobtained are heavily dependent on the information that the specific site/brand decides toshare, due to privacy issues (Stuart, 2009) For example, Facebook provides withgeneral insights of a fan page activity; while Twitter does not offer any insights service,any metrics must be sourced from external applications or social media companies thatare specialized in obtaining this data Therefore, marketers and advertisers only haveaccess to the information that the websites are open to share

What Westlake (2008, p 25) explained as a nonlinear way of reading text,represents a great opportunity for marketers and advertisers because every time users

recorded and it becomes track-able Every profile created is a source of accuratedemographic information: age, gender, location, marital status, etc with this informationthe numerous brands of SNS can provide their users with tailor-made advertising butmore importantly, they can offer their advertisers more accurate targets than offlinemedia This is the case of Facebook, which has included amongst its policies that thegeneral demographics of a user are always public Contrary to this, Twitter does notmake user’s profiles public and does not require demographic information when setting

up an account for the first time This process of using demographics to target specificaudiences is called hyper targeting or micro targeting Through very specific criteria,advertisers can directly deliver messages to a desired group, offering moreopportunities of contact, awareness or sales Shih (2009) as a new level of precisionand efficiency describes this activity but users of SNS may not necessarily agree withthis assertion This is an important debate in which some see that advertising has greatpotential within SNS but users question if SNS should advertise in the first place(Brown, 2007)

From an advertisers point of view, many unwanted users may join a brand’snetworks too, this illustrates that both personal and commercial users face advantagesand disadvantages of using SNS and websites in general

In summary, SNS became a phenomenon because it attracted millions of users

in recent years, which can be shown in the chart below:

F IGURE 9: P ERCENTAGE OF PEOPLE GETTING NEWS ON SOCIAL NETWORKS

(Source: on-news-intensify/)

http://stateofthemedia.org/2013/digital-as-mobile-grows-rapidly-the-pressures-Many authors (Trusov, Bucklin & Powers, 2009; Boyd & Ellison, 2008; Westlake,2008) attribute different core elements to SNS The core element of SNS defined in thischapter is the great interactivity generated through the accumulation of diverseapplication features within one site The high level of participation, interaction, andinfluence that SNS provide with can be seen as having both positive and negativeoutcomes On one side, increasing communication between users and businessesprovides feedback, but unrequested feedback can have potential drawbacks to theimage or reputation of a business The potential of SNS to track all the decisions made

by their users and to analyze demographic, psychographic and behavioral data hasincreased the interest of advertisers, marketers and businesses in this particular areabut it has raised data privacy concerns as well

F IGURE 10: T OP 10 S OCIAL - NETWORKING WEBSITES & FORUMS BY US MARKET SHARE

it is considered a platform for users to contact with others by using a customizableinterface and user created content It is also amongst the most popular for having morecurrent features included such as video, audio, games, blogs, albums, applications, etc.(Safko, L and Brake, D., 2009)

So far, we have a general idea of what Facebook has to offer to its individualusers, but what businesses, marketers and advertisers have recognized in SNS is itscommercial potential because users of Facebook are also consumers (Shih, 2009).Users who actively participate in conversations can recommend products and/orservices and furthermore, buy online

2.3 Why are organizations joining SNS?

The previous sections described SNS features, similarities and differences, andsome of the advantages and disadvantages of SNS usage This section explains thereasons why organizations are joining SNS, some of the risks involved and emphasesthe factors related to evaluating the effectiveness of SNS

Among the negative aspects involved in the implementation of SNS as amarketing tool, there is persistent mention of unrequested feedback In regular offlinebusiness practices, the product or service is defended and protected during the sellingactivity Feedback is valuable and welcome but rarely in great depth as happens inSNS There is a clear division of opinion in relation to level of feedback (Medcalf, 2004).The points of view vary in this aspect of SNS; Shih (2009) is very optimistic aboutimplementing SM tools and certainly encourages her audience to use Facebook andemphases the importance of always being transparent Others are more conservativeand take a precautionary perspective, warning that the speed of response of SNS andits constant interactivity are great demands on time and resources and that the level ofpreparedness of professionals implementing these tools may be low (Barnes, N &Barnes, F., 2009) However, all business investments imply certain levels of risk andthere are early implementers who prefer to lead in innovation So far, many of thosewho hold this view are already testing and experimenting with SM tools While there arerisks identified, there must be factors that have contributed to organizations deciding tojoin the SM ecosystem

The literature reviewed suggested that there are various factors whyorganizations are joining these tools every day Three of the most frequently identifiedfactors are: firstly, the market size and growth that SNS represent; secondly, aperception of urgency; and thirdly many examples that illustrate the power of onlineword-of-mouth

2.3.1 Market size and growth represented by SNS

The evident growth of SNS has generated great enthusiasm (Ross, 2007) but it

is not only the rapid growth of the SNS that has attracted businesses but also the fact

defined niche or target based on demographics, psychological and behavioral trendsonly by tracking the data that users enter in their personal profiles It is best practice inthe marketing field to identify market opportunities, then identify targets and finally todesign a plan to reach those targets SNS offer a place where targets are easilyidentified and the advertiser or marketer can focus on following up and monitoring theactivity of the ads or comments posted, this has nearly automated the targeting task.

The business opportunity presented by SNS resides in the size of the audience;the 150 million people around the world using Facebook at present (Shih, 2009) has torepresent an excellent market opportunity However, the challenge is that users do notwant to be harassed with more advertising and they are selective with the contactsincluding brands and companies that they add to their list of friends

On one hand, the size of the market offered by SNS represents an opportunityand on the other hand, a big challenge of commitment and constant participation withthe audience in order to create a link with the user that encourages them to add orexpress their interest for a particular brand, activity, product or service The particularquestion relevant to this research is if all this effort and time investment can achieve andoutcome sufficiently valuable that organizations consider SNS an effective tool

2.3.2 Trend and Urgency

Competitiveness is intrinsic to businesses Porter (1998) pointed out theimportance of competitive advantage and stressed that for businesses to perform theremust be an element of differentiation that can enable companies to compete with theircompetitors This could explain the urgency of organizations that do not want to be leftbehind when it comes to the implementation of new technologies (Ross, 2007) Apartfrom gaining a competitive advantage, businesses are facing changes in the wayadvertising is done SM has changed the way media works and this has been reflected

in the decline of newspaper circulation (Stassen, 2010) and the recent fall of othertraditional media, which are losing out to the new channel of communication: theinternet, a platform in which audiences keep growing

It is crucial for businesses’ survival that they are able not only to develop acompetitive advantage but are adaptable to changes to the various forces and

influences on their organizations The impression is given that organizations arenowadays focused on being everywhere, any time on any platform (Picard, quoted byStassen, 2010, p 2) However, this impression, in theory, is against perceivedadvertising best practice in which the idea is to find a suitable market to sell to ratherthan having an unjustified presence wherever it is possible to advertise.

In the day-to-day practice of many organizations’ advertising, there is very little indepth analysis In fact, there are studies that show little correlation between advertisingand consumers’ behavior This is despite the billions that are spent on advertising justbecause others are already doing it, thus making the advertising atmosphere a placewhere everybody exists Thus, there is little opportunity to have a significant impact onany audience and leaving a small benefit to each advertiser because of the diluted effortamong a crowd (Rantanen, 2005)

The SM ecosystem is not an exception; many businesses have joined SNS inrecent years because of the pressure exercised by competitors, each trying to provetheir ability to adapt to new technologies It could be that online advertising may havesimilar practices to offline, in which many will join just to add one more platform onwhich to advertise without assessing the suitability of the channel to the organization

2.3.3 Online word of mouth

Another reason why organizations are joining SNS is the power of these sites tocreate spread word of mouth Word of Mouth (WOM) has been proved as one of thestrongest tools of marketing A study conducted by Katz & Lazarsfeld (1955) revealedthat word of mouth was seven times more effective than advertising (Katz, E., &Lazarsfeld, P F., 1955) Online WOM is another characteristic of SM that behaves in asimilar way as the offline practices: its power to spread instantly has gained the title ofviral marketing; the origin of the term coming from the organic concept of virusesspreading WOM can be defined as a group phenomenon in which ideas are exchangedamongst individuals who do not represent a marketing source (Carl, 2006) However,this definition may not necessarily be accurate anymore; many of the current viralmarketing campaigns are sponsored or even produced by companies with the intention

WOM can also be categorized as ‘institutionalized’ or ‘everyday’ the former being part of

an organized WOM campaign and the latter defined as informal, evaluativecommunication between two individuals (Carl, 2006) Institutionalized WOM seems to

be the closest description to what has attracted businesses to join SNS

Some examples of viral marketing campaigns produced by brands are:Cadbury’s gorilla, Heineken closet and DIT movie trailer The videos that can be found

on YouTube are amongst the most popular viral campaigns Undoubtedly, thesecampaigns have received enough attention from the public However, a questionremains could the wide popularity gained through the spread of these videos beconsidered successful and, if so, does popularity determine effectiveness?

Certainly for businesses it has always been important to have some influence inWOM, because many consumers rely on references given at the early stages ofpurchase (SEVER, 2009) A great opportunity to increase the effectiveness of WOM isSNS in that it is possible to track electronic invitations from users making it very easy toassess the extent of outbound WOM (Trusov & Bucklin, 2009)

In conclusion, organizations are joining SNS regardless of the risks involved andthis may indicate that, although being considered an immature terrain, there are aspectsthat make it a potentially effective tool for marketing and advertising in most businesses.The factors found as the main driving forces of SNS adoption were: market size,urgency, and WOM

2.4 Effectiveness

In the previous section, SM and its ecosystem have been described through briefexamples of brands and its core features, putting special emphasis on Facebook andTwitter It also discussed the driving forces for businesses to joining SNS After definingthe general context of SM and SNS, effectiveness is discussed in order to determinewhat this means within the marketing aspect of SNS

The main research question of this study is to ascertain if SNS are effective as amarketing tool The concept of effectiveness appears constantly in the literaturereviewed, although no definition or conceptual frame is given making it difficult to affirm

whether the implementation of SNS is effective or not The intention of this part is todelineate the conceptions that contribute to categorizing something as effective

According to the Oxford English Dictionary ‘effective’ is defined as: ‘producing adesired or intended result’ (Dictionary, 2013) This confirms that effectiveness, as such,can only be determined if there is an intended result For example, Mabry & Porter(2010) explained Zufryden’s model of marketing planning in their study of ‘Effectiveness

of Official Websites Versus Online Promotional Contest’ and highlight that advertisingincreases awareness, awareness affects the intent and intent affects purchase andtherefore, overall revenue (Mabry, E & Porter, L., 2010)

Effectiveness in the literature reviewed seems to refer to several things but thereare two concepts that appear repetitively within the marketing context: Awareness(Mabry, E & Porter, L., 2010) and Return on Investment (Hess, M & Lamontagne, T.,2010) However, effectiveness is not a synonym of either of these concepts Instead,these can be inferred to be elements of effectiveness or factors that are to be achieved;effectiveness is seen as the attainment of goals

Marketing effectiveness, for example, is determined by five major attributes ofwhat is called marketing orientation This includes: customer oriented philosophy,integrated marketing organization, adequate marketing information, strategicorientation, and operational efficiency (Wilson M.S., and Gilligan C., 2007) Severaldimensions or categories could construct effectiveness within the SNS context

The common denominator in the literature revealed that effectiveness of socialmedia for marketing purposes is questionable, due to the lack of pre-set measurabilitymethods (Stuart, 2009) However, if effectiveness relies on an intended result, then themeasure becomes part of establishing what it is to achieve in the first place

Effectiveness seen as a goal-oriented concept should then have differentdimensions that can be measured relatively easily by means of a checklist anddefinitions of measurement in place In this way, the weak areas can be spotted at theevaluation stage and subsequently improved (Wilson M.S., and Gilligan C., 2007)

The concept effectiveness is therefore seen as the attainment of a goal, variousdimensions can determine this goal The dimensions suggested in this study, areReturn on Investment (ROI), Achievement of Measurability and Strategy These threedimensions are linked, although they are presented separately for practical purposes.2.5 Return on Investment of using Social Network Sites on marketing

Return on Investment (ROI) appears consistently in the literature reviewed asone of the most desired outcomes of SNS ROI is defined differently depending on itscontext; accountants define ROI differently to what marketers would recognize as ROI(Ross, 2007) This highlights the evident ambiguity of the terms used within SNSenvironment However, can ROI mean several things and not only profit? It was alsofound that when it comes to measuring SNS effectiveness, there are many othermeasures rather than ROI, these include: number of users, mentions, hits, clicks, etc.(Baker, 2009) Nevertheless, Zufryden’s model (quoted by (Mabry, E & Porter, L.,2010)) suggests that an element such as awareness affects the intent and the intentaffects the purchase, which impacts on overall revenue, so these elements could all belinked Could all these outcomes be considered ROI?

A very simplified statement related to ROI is that user involvement with a site, thetime spent on the site, the number of pages viewed and the amount of personalinformation revealed, can directly translate into revenue (Trusov, M., Bodapati, A.V &Bucklin, R.E., 2010) This statement may be perceived as over-optimistic as the salecycle is not concluded with the elements mentions, however it is true that the moreinformation that can be sourced from a user, the more likely that the user can become anew costumer It is also important to question how reliable it is to base revenue onanalytics reports This issue will be discussed in detail in the next section, which isrelated to measurability

At the same time, any brand advertising without a quantifiable ROI is going to beunder increasing pressure in the near future (Pearse, 2009) This is the reason why it isimperative that the any business implementing SNS increase its delivery in tracking andaccountability Pearse’s affirmation of having a quantifiable ROI makes us assume thatsocial networks will only be recognized as effective when these sources are able to