Impact of Social Media Marketing Elements on Consumer-Brand Engagement

A study of the impact of
social media marketing
for customer
engagement
With specific reference to Next
PLC, UK

Acknowledgement
This research study has been an extraordinary journey that ended one chapter in my life,
only to begin another. This journey could never have been completed without the kind and
support of my family, friend and relatives. I would like to dedicate a special thanks to my mentor
who guided me throughout this thesis.

Abstract
Social media is the latest buzz in the marketing world and it has created a huge impact on
the business houses. Different types of social networks are acting as important communication
channels for firms due to immense growth of internet. The online environment has been viewed
by the users from a different perspective in the recent years. It is more being used in a
commercial manner. The purpose of this report was to identify the impact of social media
marketing for customer engagement with specific reference to Next PLC, UK. A qualitative as
well as quantitative study was performed. Primary data was collected from 50 employees of Next
PLC by using the approach of questionnaire. Technique of SPSS has been used for evaluation.
Chi-square tests was performed in order to test the framed hypothesis. The research has
concluded that social media is an effective method for engaging both potential as well as
potential customers. It has been a genuine game changer for business as social media can
facilitates high profitability and sales for the company.

Table of Contents
CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION....................................................................................................1
1.1 Research Background............................................................................................................1
1.2 Background of the organization.............................................................................................4
1.3 Rationale for the study...........................................................................................................5
1.4 Research issue........................................................................................................................5
1.5 Structure of the report............................................................................................................6
CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW.........................................................................................7
2.1 Introduction............................................................................................................................7
2.2 Importance of social media marketing for business firms.....................................................7
2.3 Advantages and disadvantages associated with the social media..........................................9
2.4 The relationship between social media marketing and customer engagement....................12
2.5 Conclusion...........................................................................................................................17
Conceptual framework...............................................................................................................18
Chapter 3 Research Methodology..................................................................................................19
3.1 Introduction..........................................................................................................................19
3.2 Research Tools and Techniques..........................................................................................19
Chapter 4 Data Analysis................................................................................................................28
4.1 Introduction..........................................................................................................................28
4.2 Hypothesis development......................................................................................................28
4.3 Tables and findings..............................................................................................................29
Pie charts and graphs.................................................................................................................35
4.4 Chi Square Tests..................................................................................................................46
CHAPTER 5 CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATION......................................................55

5.1 introduction..........................................................................................................................55
5.2 Conclusion...........................................................................................................................55
5.3 Recommendations................................................................................................................58
5.4 Scope for further research....................................................................................................59
REFERENCES..............................................................................................................................60

LIST OF FIGURES
Figure 1: Internet users across the globe.........................................................................................2
Figure 2 Percentage reporting the importance of social media.......................................................8
Figure 3Benefits of social media marketing..................................................................................10
Figure 4 Process of engagement....................................................................................................14
Figure 5 Top 10 Facebook brands.................................................................................................15
Figure 6Typology of consumer’s online brand related activity.....................................................17
Figure 7: Types of Sampling Techniques......................................................................................24

CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION
1.1 Research Background
People have become more concerned about the social environment surrounding them.
Due to presence of online platforms, companies are being able to business in more effective
manner. Different types of social networks are acting as important communication channels due
to immense growth of internet (Ahmed, 2013). It is increasing the number of virtual communities
across the world. This kind of world is making large number of directions for social
communication. The online environment has been viewed by the users from a different
perspective in the recent years. It is more being used in a commercial manner. The emergence of
the online stores and other developments has turned the users into consumers (Bernhardt, Mays
and Hall, 2012). Along with that, communication between consumers and marketers has also
changed a lot due to emergence of social media. Firms are not been able to see their customer
physically but they are able to influence their behavior with the help of social media.
Social media can be regarded as an instrument, which helps to communicate and interact.
It has emerged as cultural phenomenon and quickly driving towards becoming a business
phenomenon (Brown, 2010). The existing and prospective customers are using this platform in
order to get information about the products and services that they intend to purchase. The
Leading business houses have recognized the importance of tapping into these customer-to-
customer communications. They are making lot of efforts to leverage these social interactions for
their business benefits (Bruhn, Schoenmueller and Schäfer, 2012)
It acts as media for social interaction by making use of highly accessible and scalable
communication methods. The experts make use of web-based and mobile technologies in order
to transform the communication into interactive dialogue (Chott, 2011). According to Andrews
and Kim (2007), a combination of internet-based applications is constructed on ideological and
technological foundations of web 2.0. It facilitates the creation and exchange of user-generated
content. It can also be regarded as the Consumer Generated Media (CGM) (Perrey and Spillecke,
2011). There are certain characteristics of social media that can be described as follows:
 Participation – a very active participation is involved in the contribution process. People
are ready to share the news and to offer feedback
1

 Openness – The information is welcomed with openness. Barriers in passing of the
message are very low and the content is reachable to the audience (Wang, Zhang and
Ouyang, 2009)
 Conversation – It is a two sided communication process where responses are derived very
quickly. Information is given but feedbacks are also derived speedily.
 Community – Common interests, hobbies, passions are creating groups where all the
information can be shared (Bernhardt Mays and Hall, 2012).
Social media has been emerging as the next big frontier for the customer engagement and
interactions. Very high number of customer interactions is taking place on these sites in regular
manner (Bruhn, Schoenmueller and Schäfer, 2012). It is expected that this market will grow in
exponential manner over the next 5-6 years. It is because the number of active users is increasing
all over the world. This trend has also resulted in fundamental shift from predominantly
company-customer interactions to customer-customer interactions (Chott, 2011). Hence it has
become imperative for the firms to have a sound social media customer engagement strategy.
Figure 1: Internet users across the globe
(Source: The Rise of Social Media, 2014)
The above graph reflects the number of internet users across different parts of the world
such as North America, East Europe, Middle East, Africa, Central Asia etc. According to the
2