Importance of Using Social Media for Business Promotion - Research Proposal

This research proposal aims to investigate the importance of social media marketing for promoting business, with a focus on Chameleon Restaurant. The proposal covers the current trends and theories related to social media, the scope of the study, proposed methodology, research limitations, and more.

Running head: RESEARCH PROPOSAL
RESEARCH PROPOSAL
Importance of Using Social Media as the Viable Medium for Promoting Business
Name of the Student:
Name of the University:
Author Note:

1RESEARCH PROPOSAL
Table of Contents
Industrial Background..........................................................................................................4
Organizational Background.................................................................................................5
Issues in the Organization:...............................................................................................6
Research Motivations(s).......................................................................................................7
List of Five Peer Reviewed Journals:...............................................................................8
Summary of the peer-reviewed articles................................................................................9
Proposed Methodology......................................................................................................11
Survey Questions:..........................................................................................................11
Research Limitations..........................................................................................................12
Reference List:...................................................................................................................13

2RESEARCH PROPOSAL
Abstract
The research proposal aims to deal with the question of social media marketing and the
benefits that can be utilized by Chameleon Restaurant for improving its business. The paper
covers significant aspects of study like the current trends and theories connected with social
media and its usability in future. The scope of the study is that the proposed study will
investigate the involvement of Instagram and other social media platforms in business
sectors. The study will not include the negative aspects of the current social media trends
both in business or personal lives of its users. The research proposal would also include the
value of community based interactive marketing to boost sales of Chameleon Restaurant.

3RESEARCH PROPOSAL
Industrial Background
Business industry involves the hotel industry can be understood on taking a
kaleidoscopic view of the economic, social positioning of the Chameleon Restaurant in the
light of an organized and systematic way of incurring profit. Chameleon Restaurant is an
aesthetically adorned restaurant located in New Zealand that hosts private parties, team
meeting, non-profit events and family meals. Chameleon falls in the sector of food industry.
The ambience that Chameleon Restaurant offers encourages the customers to hold their
interactive and quality time within the circumference of the restaurant.
Advantages: One of the many advantages of Chameleon Restaurant for operating in the
market of New Zealand it caters to the rapidly changing lifestyle pattern and needs of its
consumers with innovation (Castronovo & Huang, 2012). Chameleon Restaurant has the
advantage of customer loyalty for catering to the market to market considering their health
along with ensuring the highest degree of food safety to them.
Threats: Some of the potential threats of Chameleon Restaurant could be the booming of
restaurants that largely serve customers with the help of mobile technology applications. This
has been considered as one of the major threats since Chameleon Restaurant offers a more
traditional way of catering meals to its customers. An increase in the popularity of such tech-
startups that provide instant gratification to the customers can be threatening to the more
traditional concepts of restaurants.
Political Scenario: The political scenario of Chameleon Restaurant is not favorable
especially with the growth of fast food chains that emphasizes more on providing cheap
quality fast food to the customers (Armstrong et al., 2015).

4RESEARCH PROPOSAL
Socio-economic:The socio-economic factors are in favor of Chameleon Restaurant since
with the rising concern of healthier food choices, consumers are more inclined towards
healthy and organic food. This has given Chameleon a loyal base of customers.
Technological: The technological aspect has a major impact on Chameleon considering the
range of advantages that it has bestowed upon the business sector. It is the market where a
business can no longer simply rely on pen and paper in order to reach out to a wider
audience. If Chameleon is lagging behind in the technological sector it requires developing a
well-crafted set of strategies to have a competitive edge (Ha, 2015).
Legal: The legal factors are connected with the laws and regulations that might have an
impact on Chameleon Restaurant. Under the current circumstances the union laws have the
power to determine the responsibilities that the hotels have towards their employees (Mooney
& Slobodian, 2016).
Organizational Background
Restaurants falls in the sector of hospitality industry, a profit based institution that
focuses more on catering to a diverse range of customers. Chameleon Restaurant has been
operating in the market with the help of active cost control strategies so as to ensure the
highest profit for the business (Ha, 2015). Its management is centralized on producing the
best results in the areas of employee selection and retention, managing finance, food and
inventory and looking after the technological aspects of the business. This is significant to
ensure an overall high quality functioning of the restaurant as well as for accommodating it
with the changing pattern of the market. The restaurant is located at Wellington, New
Zealand, considered a quaint posh locality. Currently the restaurant has 650 employees
belonging from diverse culture and ethnic background. Its financial condition is stable with

5RESEARCH PROPOSAL
its sustainable mode of establishing business. Website:
http://www.chameleonrestaurant.co.nz/
It has a moderately good social media presence in several platforms like Facebook
and Instagram. Operations it has a commercial foodservice operation. Strengths: in its
strength it can be said that Chameleon offers a lucrative dining experience to its customers,
New Zealand market hugely benefits from its surge in customers with strong preference
towards fine dining options, cafes and restaurants.
Weaknesses: lack of upgraded marketing has resulted in the loss of brand identity amongst
the newer generation who are much more acquainted with social media platforms for
accessing information.
Issues in the Organization:
Some of the main issues that the organization is plagued with are:
1. Inadequate presence within the current generation is a growing issue (Taecharungroj,
2017). This has led to a loss of popularity and relevance amongst its consumers.
Relevance of product or service is an important factor to maintain competitive edge
in market.
2. Intense staff pressure to compete with the rival competitors who offer better and
comfortable services for the consumers to choose from. This has also resulted in ill-
health amidst the employees for a constant burden of out-performing their
competitors.
3. Stiff competition in the face of “reputation economy” where due to the digitalized
age, the restaurant’s reputation can be at stake. Chameleon has been struggling to
grip its control over the market however with little success.

6RESEARCH PROPOSAL
4. Struggle of maintaining brand consistency especially in an age where mobile based
applications are flooding their customers with numerous options to choose from
(Taecharungroj, 2017). This has provided with one of the main challenges of an
intensely complicated market where Chameleon is constantly fighting with the data
harnessing process. It due to these technological advances that customer are
upgrading their performances especially based on biased customer review and
ratings.
The above mentioned are some of the issues that Chameleon Restaurants wants to solve
in order t gain a better market with more opportunities for growth.
Research Motivations(s)
Considerable decline in the presence of younger generation as customers of the Chameleon
Restaurant has resulted in a thorough investigation of the operation and marketing process of
the restaurant. This was unprecedented before and therefore a growing concern which might
lead to development of new strategies as effective control measures.
Research Objective(s)
The research objectives are as follows:
1. To evaluate the requirements for updating Chameleon’s social media presence as
well as marketing strategies that would fuel its popularity in market.
2. To examine the social media business strategies taken up by rival firms or similar
industry.
3. To find out the extend of profitability that social media marketing and usage of
graphics would fetch to Chameleon Restaurant

7RESEARCH PROPOSAL
4. To recommend better strategies to deal with the threats of world based on smart-
phones and reviews.
Research Questions
1. How can chameleon restaurant maximize the benefits of utilize Instagram?
2. How other restaurants of wellington are using Instagram?
3. Why are hotel restaurants using Instagram?
Outline of Relevant Topics of Discussion and Theories- influencer marketing is a huge
social media trend in the domain of business marketing
The generation has an addictive relationship with instagram hashtag which has been in turn
used for social media marketing and customer dependency.
The culture of image sharing and community formation with the help of instagram and
other social media platforms is beneficial for business.
Keywords- instagram trend, search engine, current users, influence of social media,
istagram hashtags, power of visuals, instagram community worldwide, instagram marketing
and business, culture
List of Five Peer Reviewed Journals:
Hollensen, S. and Raman, A. (2014). Social Media Marketing. Pearson Education, pp.5-9.
House, R., & Street, L. R. (2016). CULTURAL MARKETING STRATEGY. Acessed from
https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Sonja_Poole/publication/308894478_Are_future_busine
ss_professionals_ready_for_multicultural_marketing_An_empirical_investigation/links/
57f5afbf08ae8da3ce552fb5.pdf

8RESEARCH PROPOSAL
Jayanetti, A., Jones, A., & Freeman, B. (2018). Pizza, burgers and booze: online marketing and
promotion of food and drink to university students. Australian and New Zealand journal of
public health, 42(1), 110-111.doi/abs/10.1111/1753-6405.12746
Taecharungroj, V. (2017). Starbucks’ marketing communications strategy on Twitter. Journal of
Marketing Communications, 23(6), 552-571. doi/abs/10.1080/13527266.2016.1138139
Ting, H., Wong, W. P. M., de Run, E. C., & Lau, S. Y. C. (2015). Beliefs about the use of
Instagram: An exploratory study. International Journal of business and innovation, 2(2),
15-31. Accessed from
https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Hiram_Ting/publication/272026006_Beliefs_about_
the_Use_of_Instagram_An_Exploratory_Study/links/54d9749c0cf24647581e492e.pdf
Summary of the peer-reviewed articles
As stated in Ting et al., (2015) it is aptly observes how Instagram is being used for
both business and personal reasons and more so due to its recent acquisition by Facebook,
which has made instagram synonymous with photo sharing in order to develop social
relationships. The sheer excitement and aesthetic pleasure that users feel via the art of taking
photos and beautifying it with the multiple numbers of filters that instagram allows for. A
number of business organizations ranging from start-ups to established sectors have taken
advantage of this dynamic of photo sharing which helps in the formation of attitudes and
beliefs. Another interesting theory as put forward by Ting et al., (2015) is the fact that with
photo sharing and viewing the consumers establishes a sense of identification with one or
two aspects of the products and therefore becomes inclined towards it. Hash tags serve the
role of publicizing the photos and therefore the product or service to the users. According to
Jayanetti, Jones & Freeman, (2018). with the help of social media marketing through
instagram a number of fast food outlets were slowly penetrating its growth within the

9RESEARCH PROPOSAL
university campus due to the rising popularity amongst the teenage students. Moreover
according to twitter Hollensen & Raman, (2014). The new mode of establishing
communication via social media is more about frequent sharing of information and user
feedback has enabled the marketers to know better about the changing dynamics of choices
amongst their customers. This would foster new relationships with the customers.
Advertising through pictures has the advantage of reaching out to the millions of smart
phone users today with easy access to internet. As argued by Taecharungroj, (2017) today’s
advertising does not necessarily revolve round the interaction between buyer and seller but
the people who are surrounding the seller. This can have a positive impact on the growth of
its business and facilitate smooth interaction with the customers. With the growth of viral
marketing and customer-driven interaction has boosted business reputation and hit targeted
customers with “shotgun” mass media methods. It explores in a systematic manner how
purchasing a commodity is not an individual phenomenon but a social process and therefore
the larger social picture should be taken into consideration with the medium of Instagram.
The boon of picture sharing in different platforms has accelerated the power to beautify a
service or brand and appeal to the aesthetic senses of the consumers. As stated by House &
Street, (2016) instagram could be exploited for addressing a multi-cultural communication
like many other business establishments are doing in order to create a marketing campaign
going beyond the limitations of racial ideologies or biased cultural preferences. The mass
appeal that instagram has can be utilized for an improved sale of products. Business
organizations relying on a generation based on hash tags for the successful conveyance of
information, sharing stories and poems to generate something more than a mere concept of
traditional marketing, a marketing bordering on aesthetic story sharing and creating brand
awareness.

10RESEARCH PROPOSAL
Proposed Methodology
For the purpose of data collection method the method of Qualitative data
collection method would be used. The participants would be based on their knowledge
and proficiency over social media, ranging from 16 years to established professionals of
up to 55 years of age. For arriving to correct conclusions survey questions, data and
statistics collected from authentic internet sources would be used following a thorough
comparison of the assorted data. The respondents would be chosen on the basis of their
profession as well.
Survey Questions:
1. What has developed your dependence on instagram and hash tags? Why do you think
hash tags are important part of picture description today?
2. What Key Performance Indicators should be implemented on instagram marketing?
3. What are your favorite community pages? What influences your choice? How often
do you check their posts?
4. How have you created a loyal community on instagram for your brand? How far it
was effective in gaining you a better audience?
5. In your opinion what might be the best engagement strategy for followers on
instagram? Do you think it would provide for a consistent strategy for long-term?
Why?
The various statistics, charts and graphs that would be collected for the project would be
analyzed via SAS that would help for an easy comparison of data. For keyword analysis
SEMrush would be used that would be helpful for obtaining the country names as well.

11RESEARCH PROPOSAL
Research Assumptions
1. People are aware of their own stance and opinions regarding the usage of
social media and especially instagram
2. Users can distinguish between marketing and normal sharing of photos by
communities
3. People and their opinions are not subject to frequent fluctuations depending on
mood or other inclinations.
4. Participants are socially aware that would help them to generate culture
specific responses to the questions.
5. Respondents would not be unethical or biased in their views and they would
answer the questions according to their best abilities.
Research Limitations
There might be however, certain limitations to the study, for instance the current theories
and journals published on the subject might not be sufficient enough to undertake a thorough
assessment of the subject. It might also be the instance that there are limited access to people
data and personal opinions which would otherwise be imperative for the successful
completion of the study. The other possible limitations are lack of adequate funding and
biased answers of other marketing experts on their utilization of Instagram.

12RESEARCH PROPOSAL
Reference List:
Hollensen, S. and Raman, A. (2014). Social Media Marketing. Pearson Education, pp.5-9.
House, R., & Street, L. R. (2016). CULTURAL MARKETING STRATEGY. Acessed from
https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Sonja_Poole/publication/308894478_Are_futur
e_business_professionals_ready_for_multicultural_marketing_An_empirical_investi
gation/links/57f5afbf08ae8da3ce552fb5.pdf
Jayanetti, A., Jones, A., & Freeman, B. (2018). Pizza, burgers and booze: online marketing
and promotion of food and drink to university students. Australian and New Zealand
journal of public health, 42(1), 110-111.doi/abs/10.1111/1753-6405.12746
Taecharungroj, V. (2017). Starbucks’ marketing communications strategy on
Twitter. Journal of Marketing Communications, 23(6), 552-571.
doi/abs/10.1080/13527266.2016.1138139
Ting, H., Wong, W. P. M., de Run, E. C., & Lau, S. Y. C. (2015). Beliefs about the use of
Instagram: An exploratory study. International Journal of business and innovation, 2(2),
15-31. Accessed from
https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Hiram_Ting/publication/272026006_Beliefs_about_
the_Use_of_Instagram_An_Exploratory_Study/links/54d9749c0cf24647581e492e.pdf
Johansson, F., & Engström, S. (2016). Instagram Brand Equity: How Generation Y can be
reached through Instagram Marketing. Accessed from
http://www.diva-portal.org/smash/record.jsf?pid=diva2%3A944096&dswid=1911
Ha, A. (2015). An Experiment: Instagram Marketing Techniques and Their Effectiveness.
Accessed from http://digitalcommons.calpoly.edu/comssp/185/

13RESEARCH PROPOSAL
Armstrong, G., Kotler, P., Harker, M., & Brennan, R. (2015). Marketing: an introduction.
Pearson Education. Accessed from http://uhra.herts.ac.uk/handle/2299/16526
Mooney, M., & Slobodian, S. (2016). Seeing the wood for the trees: Fixing large undefined
problems in digital marketing. Journal of Digital & Social Media Marketing, 3(4), 294-
303. Accessed from
http://www.ingentaconnect.com/content/hsp/jdsmm/2016/00000003/00000004/art00002
De Vries, L., Gensler, S., & 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), 83-91. Accessed from
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1094996812000060
Vinerean, S., Cetina, I., Dumitrescu, L., & Tichindelean, M. (2013). The effects of social media
marketing on online consumer behavior. International Journal of Business and
Management, 8(14), 66. doi:10.5539/ijbm.v8n14p66
Castronovo, C., & Huang, L. (2012). Social media in an alternative marketing communication
model. Journal of Marketing Development and Competitiveness, 6(1), 117. Accessed
from https://search.proquest.com/openview/180ba2f3409de6e5fc87629ebee02796/1?pq-
origsite=gscholar&cbl=536309