Social Media Impact on Consumer Behavior

This assignment delves into the significant impact of social media on consumer behavior. It examines how both user-generated content and marketer-generated content shape consumer purchasing decisions. The analysis draws upon relevant academic research and case studies to illustrate the influence of social media marketing activities on customer equity, particularly in the luxury fashion industry. Additionally, it considers the broader implications of social media for fostering sustainable behavior through community-based social marketing.

RESEARCH PROJECT

Table of Contents
RESEARCH TITLE.........................................................................................................................1
TASK 1............................................................................................................................................1
1.1 Research project outline specifications............................................................................1
1.2 Factors that contributes to process research project.........................................................2
1.3 Literature review..............................................................................................................2
1.4 Research project specifications........................................................................................4
1.5 Research plan....................................................................................................................5
TASK 2............................................................................................................................................6
2.1 & 2.2 Research methodology...........................................................................................6
2.3 Data collection..................................................................................................................9
TASK 3..........................................................................................................................................10
3.1 Research evaluation techniques......................................................................................10
Ethical implications..............................................................................................................11
3.2 Data analysis...................................................................................................................11
3.3 Recommendations .........................................................................................................18
CONCLUSION.............................................................................................................................18
REFERENCES..............................................................................................................................20

RESEARCH TITLE
“To analyse the impact of social media marketing on brand loyalty food industry: A case study
of McDonald's”.
TASK 1
1.1 Research project outline specifications
Marketing plays an important role in order to sell out a product or services to the end
customers. In present scenario, the concept of market has changed over the years. Earlier, the
organizations used to adapt traditional concept of marketing but the modern concept is being
adapted. In order to improve the concept of marketing, internet has plays an essential role. With
the help of different social media sites, the companies are able to promote the value of their
products. This has provided an assistance to the organizations to increase their customer base and
brand value as well. The major advantage of this concept is that the firms are able to create good
customer relationships which results in creating a sense of brand loyalty. However, the present
project is prepared with a motive to define the impact of social media marketing on food
industry. In order to gain deep knowledge of the stated topic, McDonald's has taken into
consideration (Berthon, Plangger and Shapiro, 2012).
Research aim and rationale
The present research project is prepared with an aim to analyse the impact of social
media marketing on brand loyalty food industry: A case study of McDonald's.
Research questions
 Define social media marketing in food industry?
 Explain the use of different social media marketing techniques which can be adopted by
McDonald's.
 Evaluate the impact of social media marketing on food industry.
Research objectives
1. To understand the concept of social media marketing
2. To investigate the techniques of social media marketing that can be adopted by food
industry
3. To evaluate the impact of social media marketing on brand loyalty.
Significance of the research
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The importance of this research is that it will enlighten the usefulness of social media
marketing in food industry. It will help in defining the tools and techniques through which the
customers can be attracted to this industry. In addition to this, it ill also assist a company to
increase its sales and revenues with the consideration of social media marketing. The major
significance of research is that, it will explain different techniques which leads this industry to
catch the attention of the customer in an effective manner (De Vries, Gensler and Leeflang,
2012).
1.2 Factors that contributes to process research project
Area of interest: it is the main factor that is why researcher has selected this topic. Scholar has
keen interest in the social medial marketing so this could be helpful in carrying out the entire
research.
Availability of data: Previously there were many researches conducted on the same topic. So
researcher is having wide information about the topic so it can help the person in preparing
effective report.
Feasibility of subject: Social media marketing is the feasible subject and on this topic indicual
was able to prepare the impressive report.
1.3 Literature review
Concept of social media marketing
According to(Berthon, Plangger and Shapiro, 2012), social media marketing can be
define as a tool which helps in increasing the customers to an organization with the use of social
site. This process provides a platform to the companies to communicate with the customers in
order to gain their attention. As a result, the ultimate impact of this concept is increased brand
awareness of the company's product in the market. Social media marketing is important not only
to increase the sales of the company but also to gain the competitive advantage at global market.
With the adoption of this concept, food industry will be able to increase its revenues with strong
customer base. However, food industry is the most demanded industry because each and every
human loves eating. In order to gain the attention of the customers this tool can remain useful.
On contrary to this,(Evans, 2012). opposed that social media marketing is not only beneficial in
terms of attracting customers but also provides an importance to a firm to grow and expand in
real and the virtual world. With the consideration of this concept, the food industry will be able
to make its positive image over virtual world. This will result into increased revenues and sales
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of this industry. However, it is important for this industry to adapt different media tools for the
growth and expansion of this industry.
Different social media tools for food industry
In the present scenario, social media has offered an effective platform to the organization
for present them in front of the audience. With the consideration of the stated tool, the
organizations will be able to trace the strategies and plans formulated by the competitors. This
leads to develop and improve the plans and policies of the cited industry. (Berthon, Plangger and
Shapiro, 2012) explained different social media marketing tool for the promotion of food
industry. Howsoever, the different tools and techniques are explained below.
Facebook: Facebook is the most visited and used social media site in this virtual world of
internet. As per the research, more than 70% people in this world surf Facebook in a frequent
manner. This site was prepared with a motive to communicate with friends and relatives. But
with the changing era, the organization can use this tool for the promotional purpose. In order to
promote the products of food industry, Facebook can remain useful for attracting consumers.
Here, the food organizations can prepare their pages where they can suggest the users to like and
visit their pages. This will allow the users to get aware of the new and existing food products and
discounts offered by the companies.
Twitter: This is another social media site which is used by people with a motive to share
pictures and information. However, the organizations like McDonald's can also use this social
media tool for the marketing of their food items in a way that it can attract huge customers. Here,
the firms can make a homepage where the products and services detail of the concerned
organization can be updated. This will allow the users to know about the upcoming food items
offered by the company.
Blogs and webpages: Companies like McDonald's can also adapt this technique for the
promotion of their products. Here, the firms can make their website and make their own page
where the information about the products are given. In addition to this, the customers will also be
able to communicate with the help of company websites. They can also share their views and
services of the company.
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YouTube: This is one of the most helpful social marketing tool which remain useful in attracting
the attention of the customers. Over You tube the organizations can make their videos which can
be uploaded here. With the help of this tool , the customers will find it more authentic instead of
shared information as it can be altered anytime. However, the food industry can adopt this tool so
that it can help them to offer food products as per their needs and demand.
Impact of social media marketing on food industry
As per (Kim and Ko, 2012), depicted that social media have both the positive and
negative impact on food industry. While adopting the concept of social media marketing an
organization needs to analyse the impact of social media marketing. Evaluating its pros and cons
will provide an assistance to the company to formulate effective stargates and plans. However, ()
explained that social media helps in making positive image of the company in front of the
customers. In addition to this, the customers will be able to communicate with the organizations.
They will be able to comment and share their thoughts and able to give feedbacks on the services
and products by the food industries. Besides this,(Berthon, Plangger and Shapiro, 2012) opposed
that, it can also provides a chance to the company to improve its food products with the help of
this tool. However, this concept will allow the customers share their views and thoughts with
references to the food. This will result in enhancing the services offered by the food industry.
On contrary to above para, (Kim and Ko, 2012) criticized that social media marketing
also has negative impact in terms of increased customer power. For an instance, a negative
comment or feedback of an individual customer can create negative image among the customers.
Additionally, there is also major chances of releasing the confidential information of the food
companies by the customers. For an instance, the ingredients used by McDonald's while making
burger can be discussed by the customers. As their burger is different which helps in attracting
the customers. However, this can result in leakage of their strategy.
1.4 Research project specifications
Research methodology is the impactful tool which can help researcher in preparing
effective report. With the help of relevant information issues and benefits can be analysed
significantly. Researcher has prepared the questionnaire so that it can find out the opinion of
respondents about the social media marketing.
 Deductive approach is being adopted by the scholar for this research.
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 Descriptive research design has been selected for the research.
 Data has been collected through primary sources via questionnaire. Researcher has also
used secondary data such as books, journals has been used by the scholar.
 Random sampling method has been selected for the research.
1.5 Research plan
Activities
in the
research
plan
Week1 Week2 Week3 Week
4
Week5 Week6 Week7 Week
8
Week9
Research
Proposal
Reading
previous
Literature
Set aims
and
objectives
Drafting
literature
review
Collection
of data
(secondary/
primary )
Analyze
data
Develop
research
approach
5

Draft
research
methodolog
y
Develop
questionnai
re
Arranging
interview
Conducting
interview
Accumulati
ng the data
Drafting
Findings
Analyzing
data
Completion
of
remaining
chapters
Taking
feedback
Revising
the draft
Printing
and binding
Submission
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TASK 2
2.1 & 2.2 Research methodology
Introduction
It is a beneficial tool and can help in achieving the goal of the organization.
Research philosophy
It is of two types; positivism and interpretvism. For the present positivism philosophy is
being selected.
Research design
there are mainly three types of design descriptive, exploratory and case study. For the
present report descriptive research has been selected by the researcher. It will help in gaining
accurate answers by the respondents.
Research approach
The present research project is prepared with a purpose to analyse the impact of social media
marketing on food industry: A case study of McDonald's. However, the research may adopt the
appropriate method among the two available methods such as inductive and deductive. For the
explained analysis, the investigator will adopt deductive approach of research. The deductive
research is based on general to specific where the research will analyse the social media then
he/she will move on to its impacts. This will help in giving an appropriate outcome of this
conducted research (Berthon, Plangger and Shapiro, 2012)
Research design
In order to investigate the impact of social media marketing, the researcher can adopt
descriptive research design. Whereas, descriptive research is based on the existing theories and
rules through which the end conclusion can be effectively made. This will allow the researcher to
get ample of knowledge about the social marketing theories. As a result, the investigator will be
able to identify the impact of social media on McDonald's.
Research type
The investigator can conduct the qualitative research for the cited research topic. The
qualitative type will provide an assistance to the researcher to evaluate the view point of the
respondents towards the impact of social media. In addition to this, the researcher will be able to
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know about the how consumers get influenced with the social media promotion (McKenzie-
Mohr, 2013).
Data collection
For the current topic, the researcher can adopt both the methods of data collection i.e.
primary and secondary. However, secondary data collection method will be adopt for gathering
requisite information about social media and its importance. But primary method will be use to
gather the consumers data in form of questionnaire. Here, the researcher will prepare a
questionnaire of 5 questions. This will be filled by the customers 50 customer of McDonald's at
their stores (Malthouse and et.al., 2013)
Questionnaire
Name:
Age
 18 to 23 years
 24 to 30 years
 30 and above
Gender
 Male
 Female
Q.1 How often do you prefer eating fast food in McDonald ?
 Daily
 Weekly
 Once in a month
 Yet not visited
Q.2 Do you like the fast food of McDonald's?
 Yes
 No
Q.3 How often you use social media tools for attaining organizational information?
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 Daily
 Often
 Rarely
 Never
Q.4 Why do you use social media?
 For making communications
 Gaining information
 To get exclusive offers
 Providing feedbacks to the online questionnaire
Q.5 Which social networking site do you use?
 Facebook
 Twitter
 Gmail
 Instagram
 Hi5
Q.6 Are you satisfied with the services offered by McDonald's?
 Yes
 No
Q7 Do you think social media measures helps you in enhancing brand loyalty?
 Yes
 No
Q.8 Recommend the ideas through which McDonald's can improve its services
2.3 Data collection
How often do you prefer eating fast food in McDonald ? Frequency Percentage
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Daily 11 22
Weekly 22 44
Once in a month 15 30
Yet not visited 2 4
Do you like the fast food of McDonald's? Frequency Percentage
Yes 35 70
No 15 30
How often you use social media tools for attaining organizational
information? Frequency Percentage
Daily 20 40
Often 10 20
Rarely 15 30
Never 5 10
Why do you use social media? Frequency Percentage
For making communications 15 30
Gaining information 10 20
To get exclusive offers 20 40
Providing feedback to the online questionnaire 5 10
Which social networking site do you use? Frequency Percentage
Facebook 20 40
Twitter 5 10
G mail 10 20
Instagram 10 20
Hi5 5 10
Are you satisfied with the services offered by McDonald's? Frequency Percentage
10

Yes 30 60
No 20 40
Do you think social media measures helps you in enhancing brand
loyalty? Frequency Percentage
Yes 40 80
No 10 20
TASK 3
3.1 Research evaluation techniques
Sampling
The researcher will adopt the random sampling method where the respondents will be
selected on random basis. Here, the questionnaire will be filled by the 50 customer at the
McDonald's stores. This will help the researcher to get accurate data and information with
relation to the social media impact on marketing.
Data analysis
In order to analyse the gathered data and information, the researcher will adopt the
thematic al analysis. This method will help the researcher to evaluate the impact in an easy and
appropriate method. This will also allow the investigator to identify the positive and negative
aspects of this concept.
Ethical implications
Ethical consideration are necessary at the time of conducting research effectively. During
the research process, the investigator may face certain issues such as convenience customers for
their personal information. In addition to this, the researcher may face issues in arrangement of
the resources. Besides this, it is the duty of researcher to keep in mind the awareness of
customers personal data and information. In addition to this, the investigator also make sure of
maintaining the authenticity and confidentiality of the consumers information. The collection of
information must be from authentic source (Malthouse and et.al., 2013).
3.2 Data analysis
Theme 1: People eat at McDonald's on weekly basis
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How often do you prefer eating fast food in McDonald ? Frequency Percentage
Daily 11 22
Weekly 22 44
Once in a month 15 30
Yet not visited 2 4
Daily Weekly Once in a month Yet not visited
0
5
10
15
20
25
30
35
40
45
22
44
30
4
Findings and analysis: On the basis of above table it can be analysed that 11 respondents prefer
eating at McDonald's. Whereas, 22 goes there on weekly basis. In addition to this, 15
respondents out of 50 prefer eating at McDonald's and 2 respondents are those who did not even
visited yet. However, this can be evaluated that large number of people are interested in eating at
this stated food organization.
Theme 2: Consumers like the fast food of McDonald's
Do you like the fast food of McDonald's? Frequency Percentage
Yes 35 70
No 15 30
12

Yes No
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
Findings and analysis: This aspect of the research focused on analysing the fast food demand
within the consumers. Thus the researcher evaluated the preference of McDonald’s within the
selected sample. Out of 50 respondents there are 35 people are there who like the taste and food
of McDonald's. On other hand, 15 respondents do not like the fast food at the cited firm. It can
be evaluated that, the consumers are interested in the food products of this organization.
Theme 3: On daily basis people use social media tools for attaining organizational
information
How often you use social media tools for attaining organizational
information? Frequency Percentage
Daily 20 40
Often 10 20
Rarely 15 30
Never 5 10
13

Daily Often Rarely Never
0
5
10
15
20
25
30
35
40
45
Findings and analysis: From the above table, it can be concluded that out of 50 respondents 20
are the one who use social media tools on daily basis. Besides this, 10 respondents use this often.
In addition to this, 15 respondents are those who use social media for organizational purpose and
5 respondents never use. Therefore, it can be evaluated that there are large number of people who
are interested in organizational information.
Theme 4: People use social media for getting idea about the exclusive offers.
Why do you use social media? Frequency Percentage
For making communications 15 30
Gaining information 10 20
To get exclusive offers 20 40
Providing feedback to the online questionnaire 5 10
14

For making communications
To get exclusive offers
0
5
10
15
20
25
30
35
40
Findings and analysis: Use of social media is done for different purpose. The researcher in the
given theme focused on evaluating the maximum usage of social media done by the consumers
to attain the relevant data on the research given. As per the analysis it was revealed that out of 50
respondents 15 said that they use social media platform for communicating. 10 however revealed
that the stated aspect was used for attaining information related to the subject. 20 respondents
also stated that social media helps in attaining exclusive offers to the consumers. However 5
respondents said the social media helps them in providing feedback to the online questionnaire.
Thus the overall evaluation effectively reflects that people use social media for getting idea about
the exclusive offers.
Theme 5: Facebook is widely used social networking site within people
Which social networking site do you use? Frequency Percentage
Facebook 20 40
Twitter 5 10
G mail 10 20
Instagram 10 20
Hi5 5 10
15

Facebook Twitter G mail Instagram Hi5
0
5
10
15
20
25
30
35
40
Percentage
Findings and analysis: This theme of the study focused on analysing the most effective
networking sites used by the consumers. This will help the businesses in analysing the most
widely used sites within the market. The evaluation stated that 20 respondents out of 50 selected
Facebook as mostly used networking site. 5 of them selected twitter as an effective networking
site. 10 respondents however selected Gmail for the same another 10 chose Instagram as an
effective networking option within people. Thus overall evaluation revealed that Facebook is
widely used social networking site within people.
Theme 6: People are satisfied with the services offered by McDonald's
Are you satisfied with the services offered by McDonald's? Frequency Percentage
Yes 30 60
No 20 40
16

Yes No
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
Findings and analysis: McDonald offer wide range of services within the market which help
companies in attaining high and significant growth aspects within the market. The evaluation
was made to effectively analyse the same. The results of the evaluation revealed that 30 out of 50
respondents gave a favourable response about services offered by McDonald’s. 2 respondents
however said they are not satisfied with the services offered by the organization. Hence the
overall evaluation of the study reflected that 60% of the respondents were satisfied with the
range of services offered by the organization however 40% were not.
Theme 7: Social media measures helps you in enhancing brand loyalty
Do you think social media measures helps you in enhancing brand
loyalty? Frequency Percentage
Yes 40 80
No 10 20
17

Yes No
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
80
Percentage
Findings and analysis: The aim of the present study is to analyse the impact of social media
marketing on brand loyalty food industry. The present theme focused on attaining a clear and
well defined information about the same. The evaluation of the results revealed that 40 out of 50
respondents said the social media tools helped in enhancing the brand loyalty within consumers
while 10 respondents said that social media plays an insignificant role in enhancing brand loyalty
within the consumers.
3.3 Recommendations
From the research it can be suggested that MacDonald should use social media sites
frequently. It can help in increasing sales of the company. Facebook is the most common social
sites, it can help in increasing the sales of the company. By giving advertisement can offers on
these sites cited firm can attract many customers and can gain their attention. Attractive offers,
trade discounts will be beneficial for the organization and ill help in increasing profitability of
the firm.
CONCLUSION
The overall evaluation of the study was carried out in a structured and well defined
manner. The aim of the study was to analyse the impact of social media marketing on brand
loyalty food industry. The study revealed that social media tools are used widely within the
market which helps the business unit in attaining effective results for the business growth. The
18

results revealed that on daily basis people use social media tools for attaining organizational
information. This helps them in creating a well define impact on business reliability. Facebook is
most widely used social networking site within people. Moreover the evaluation helped in stating
that Social media measures helps you in enhancing brand loyalty. Hence in order to develop a
well-defined growth and development impact on the business growth social media tools plays a
very crucial role.
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REFERENCES
Books and Journals
Berthon, P.R., Pitt, L.F., Plangger, K. and Shapiro, D., 2012. Marketing meets Web 2.0, social
media, and creative consumers: Implications for international marketing
strategy. Business horizons, 55(3), pp.261-271.
De Vries, L., Gensler, S. and Leeflang, P.S., 2012. Popularity of brand posts on brand fan pages:
An investigation of the effects of social media marketing. Journal of Interactive
Marketing, 26(2), pp.83-91.
Evans, D., 2012. Social media marketing: An hour a day. John Wiley & Sons.
Goh, K.Y., Heng, C.S. and Lin, Z., 2013. Social media brand community and consumer
behavior: Quantifying the relative impact of user-and marketer-generated
content. Information Systems Research, 24(1), pp.88-107.
Kim, A.J. and Ko, E., 2012. Do social media marketing activities enhance customer equity? An
empirical study of luxury fashion brand. Journal of Business Research, 65(10), pp.1480-
1486.
Kim, A.J. and Ko, E., 2012. Do social media marketing activities enhance customer equity? An
empirical study of luxury fashion brand. Journal of Business Research, 65(10), pp.1480-
1486.
McKenzie-Mohr, D., 2013. Fostering sustainable behavior: An introduction to community-based
social marketing. New society publishers.
Pooja, M. and Jiangmei, C., 2012. The impact of social media usage on consumer buying
behavior. Advances in Management, 5(1).
Saravanakumar, M. and SuganthaLakshmi, T., 2012. Social media marketing. Life Science
Journal, 9(4), pp.4444-4451.
Sigala, M., Christou, E. and Gretzel, U. eds., 2012. Social media in travel, tourism and
hospitality: Theory, practice and cases. Ashgate Publishing, Ltd..
Tuten, T.L. and Solomon, M.R., 2014. Social media marketing. Sage.
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