M37COM Research Methods: Social Media Mining for Business Promotion

This project investigates the use of social media data mining for targeted business promotion. It evaluates the role of data mining in understanding online behavior and developing business strategies for reaching specific audiences. The research aims to analyze the effectiveness of social media data mining in creating targeted advertising strategies, contrasting it with traditional advertising methods. A primary research plan is outlined, focusing on data collection through online surveys to understand the impact of social media on business promotion. The study also addresses the advantages and disadvantages of using social media for business, ultimately aiming to provide insights for business organizations and future researchers in the field. Desklib provides access to a wealth of similar assignments and study resources.

Running head: RESEARCH METHOD IN COMPUTING
Research Method in Computing: Abstract and Primary Research
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author Note

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Table of Contents
Section 2: Abstract and Primary Research Method.............................................................2
2.1. Project title: Social Media Data Mining for targeted business Promotion...............2
2.2. Abstract.....................................................................................................................2
2.3. Client, Audience and Motivation..............................................................................3
2.4. Primary Research Plan..............................................................................................4
References............................................................................................................................8

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Section 2: Abstract and Primary Research Method
2.1. Project title: Social Media Data Mining for targeted business Promotion
The social media data mining is a process of collecting and processing unstructured
information. The different techniques of data mining can help in understanding the online
behavior along with the likes and dislikes of a particular audience. The data obtained from the
mining can help in developing business strategies for promoting business to a targeted audience
through social media. The details about the posts, followers, following lists and interest of the
people can be collected for providing targeted advertisements for the audiences. The role of
social media in business promotions has become more significant in recent years (Wu et al.
2014). The social media provide an opportunity for understanding the human behavior and their
interest which are appropriately used by the business organizations in developing a tailored and
targeted advertisement (He, Zha and Li 2013). The aim of this research is to evaluate the process
by which the social media data mining can be used for business advertisements. The project has
been undertaken in order to understand the role of social media in business promotions. Mining
of the data of social media considerably helps in developing the business strategies for promotion
of business in social media. The objective of this project is to analyze the effectiveness of social
media data mining is developing targeted advertising strategies for online audiences. The entire
research plan for this research project is formulated in the following paragraphs.
2.2. Abstract
With the emergence of the internet and social media, many business organizations make
use of this social to promote their business and product. Since social media has made it easier to
communicate with hundreds and thousands of people, this is considered to be one of medium for

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business promotions. The research study mainly evaluates and identifies the use of social media
in business promotion. In this context the role of data mining in gathering the details about the
interests and online behavior of the people is evaluated as well. The use of social media in
business promotions stands as a contrast with the traditional process of advertising and
marketing. There are a number of issues associated with traditional advertising which can be
eliminated in online advertising. One of the significant advantages of making use of online
advertising is that it is one of the cost effective solution for business advertising. The research
question that this research study aims to answer is associated with the effectiveness of data
mining in developing targeted strategies for business advertising. The research study aims at
evaluating the advantages and disadvantages of social media in business promotion. For this, a
primary research is performed in order to understand the role of social media in business
promotions along with the use of social media data mining in understanding the online behavior
of the customers that a particular business is trying to target. The mining of social media data
helps in understanding the preferences of the customers, which in turn contributes to targeted
advertising.
2.3. Client, Audience and Motivation
This research project is important as use of social media in business promotion has been
increasing rapidly over the years and is still increasing. It will be interesting to evaluate the
reason behind the use of social media in business promotion. The research questions that this
research study will address are as follows (Alvesson and Sandberg 2013)-
1. What is the role of social media in business promotion?
2. What are the advantages and disadvantages of social media in business promotion?

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3. How can social media data mining be used to for business promotions in social media?
The findings from this research will benefit the business organizations who will be
considering social media as a medium for business promotion. With a number of advantages of
use of social media in promoting business, there are a number of disadvantages as well. This
research might help the business organizations in identification of the issues associated with the
use of social media in business promotion.
In this research project the use and mining of the social media data is considered as well
in order to develop strategies of targeted business promotions (Russell 2013). However, the data
of the social media is mainly user generated and therefore is noisy and unstructured. Analyzing
the mined data is mandatory for developing the strategies for targeted business promotion in
social media. Social media is considered to be an efficient medium of getting in touch with the
customers. Customers can easily solve their queries in an online platform and get in touch with
the customer support quite easily. Thus online advertising provides an efficient way of getting in
touch with the customer.
This research will not only benefit the organizations that will undertake online
advertising, but the future researcher will also be benefitted by the findings of this research
study. Since a primary data will be collected for this research topic, the findings of this research
study will be helpful for both the business organizations and for the future researchers in this
field (Al 2013). The research findings will help in evaluating whether the use of social media is
actually advantageous for business promotion.
2.4. Primary Research Plan

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The research involves collection of primary data from in order to understand the need of
data mining in social media based business promotion. Evaluation of a research methodology for
proper execution of a research study is essential (Chandra and Sharma 2013). Research
methodology is generally defined as the collection of tools, techniques and processes for
gathering the information necessary for conducting a research study. The research methodology
not only defines the processes and techniques that will be required to conduct a research study,
but also outlines the concepts that are needed to understand the aim and objectives of the
research study. The aims and objectives act as a driving force for the research.
There are mainly three research approaches which are deductive, abductive and inductive
research approach. In this research project, deductive research approach will be followed
(Novikov and Novikov 2013). This approach is one of the most appropriate research approaches
for this project since it utilizes the cases where the similar hypothesis has been study. The
deductive research approach takes into consideration the concept and ideas that are aligned with
the research domain and development of the hypothesis (Brown and Stowers 2013). Therefore,
the choice of deductive research approach is appropriate for this research study. After selection
of an appropriate research approach, it is essential to formulate a proper research design so that
the research study can be executed in a planned manner. Research design is a technique that is
used to gather information that act as a guide to information gathering associated with a
particular research project (Salaberry and Comajoan 2013). For this research project a
descriptive research design is taken into consideration that will help in understanding the process
of data mining and the use of social data mining in business promotions (Mitchell and Jolley
2013). The extracted data help in development of targeted strategies for promoting the business
of an organization in an online platform. Apart from this, it is essential to identify the research

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philosophy that will be followed throughout the research project. The research philosophy
provides fundamental ideas for directing the research in a legitimate way. Research philosophy
that will be followed for conducting this research study is positivism philosophy (Leedy and
Ormrod 2013). This particular research philosophy will propel the thinking of the researcher with
this particular research and therefore the choice of this particular research philosophy will be
justified for this research study.
This research will be considering the collection of primary data. The process of primary
data collection incorporates the collection of information from the sources who have a firsthand
experience about the topic or subject of the research. The primary data can be gathered with the
help of several techniques or approaches, which include interview, observation and online
surveys. Interviewing the experts linked with the research domain often helps in getting an
access to a set of information that can be in turn used for the research project. However,
conducting surveys is considered one of the best processes of data collection. In this research
study, online survey will be conducted in order to understand the effectiveness of social media
data mining in business promotions.
The research will largely depend on the availability of the information and therefore a
primary research approach is chosen for this research study. Both qualitative and quantitative
analysis of the data will be performed in order to get an idea of the role of social media in
business promotion and the contribution of social media data mining in development of the
targeted business strategies for the projects.
50 people will be randomly chosen for this research project in order to collect the primary
data for the project. Those data will be used for qualitative and quantitative research study

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(Uprichard 2013.). However, one of the significant ethical considerations for this project is to
take the consent from the participants of this research study.

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References
Al, S. 2013. Interpretive research design: concepts and processes. International Journal of
Social Research Methodology, 16(4), pp.351-352.
Alvesson, M. and Sandberg, J. 2013. Constructing Research Questions. London: SAGE
Publications.
Brown, J. and Stowers, E. 2013. Use of Data in Collections Work: An Exploratory
Survey. Collection Management, 38(2), pp.143-162.
Chandra, S. and Sharma, M. 2013. Research methodology. Oxford: Alpha Science
International Ltd.
He, W., Zha, S. and Li, L., 2013. Social media competitive analysis and text mining: A case
study in the pizza industry. International Journal of Information Management, 33(3), pp.464-
472.
Leedy, P. and Ormrod, J. 2013. Practical research. Boston: Pearson.
Mitchell, M. and Jolley, J. 2013. Research design explained. Australia: Wadsworth Cengage
Learning.
Novikov, A. and Novikov, D. 2013. Research methodology. Leiden, Netherlands: CRC
Press/Balkema.
Russell, M.A., 2013. Mining the Social Web: Data Mining Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn,
Google+, GitHub, and More. " O'Reilly Media, Inc.".

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Salaberry, M. and Comajoan, L. 2013. Research Design and Methodology in Studies on L2
Tense and Aspect. Boston: De Gruyter.
Uprichard, E. 2013. Sampling: bridging probability and non-probability designs.
International Journal of Social Research Methodology, 16(1), pp.1-11.
Wu, X., Zhu, X., Wu, G.Q. and Ding, W., 2014. Data mining with big data. IEEE
transactions on knowledge and data engineering, 26(1), pp.97-107.