The Influence of Social Media on External Communication in Australian Retail Industry

This research paper analyzes the influence of social media on external communication in the Australian retail industry. It discusses the advantages and disadvantages of social media, perspectives of employees, rising complexity of the industry, and CSR communications. It also includes a research methodology and data analysis. The study aims to improve communication within the industry and provide insights for future studies.

Running head: USE OF SOCIAL MEDIA FOR EXTERNAL COMMUNICATIONS
Use of Social media for External Communications
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author Notes

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Table of Contents
Chapter 1: Introduction....................................................................................................................3
1.1 Background of the study........................................................................................................3
1.2 Background of the Chosen Industry.......................................................................................4
1.3 Significance of the Research..................................................................................................6
1.4 Problem Statement.................................................................................................................7
1.5 Rationale of the Research......................................................................................................8
1.7 Research Objectives...............................................................................................................9
1.8 Research Questions..............................................................................................................10
1.9 Structure of Dissertation......................................................................................................10
Chapter 2: Literature Review.........................................................................................................11
2.1 Advantages and disadvantages of implementing social media in external communication 11
2.2 Perspectives of employees on organization external communication.................................13
2.3 Rising Complexity of the Australian Retail sector..............................................................15
2.4 Employment issues related with Communication problems................................................16
2.5 External Communication issues in the Australian Retail sector..........................................17
2.6 CSR communications through social media........................................................................18
2.7 Application of Social media data for competitive intelligence............................................19
2.8 Conceptual Framework........................................................................................................20
Chapter 3: Research Methodology................................................................................................22
3.1 Aim of the Study..................................................................................................................22
3.2 Research Philosophy............................................................................................................22
3.3 Research Approach..............................................................................................................24
3.4 Research Design...................................................................................................................25
3.4 Participants...........................................................................................................................26
3.5 Research Strategy.................................................................................................................28
3.6 Justification for the Chosen Research Strategy....................................................................29
3.7 Data Collection methods......................................................................................................30
3.8 Accessibility issues..............................................................................................................30

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3.9 Ethical consideration............................................................................................................31
3.10 Procedures..........................................................................................................................32
3.11 Data analysis......................................................................................................................32
3.12 Gantt chart..........................................................................................................................33
3.13 Summary............................................................................................................................35
Chapter 4: Data Analysis and Discussion......................................................................................36
4.1 Introduction..........................................................................................................................36
4.2 Collection and analysis of data............................................................................................36
4.3 Analysis of the collected data..............................................................................................37
4.4 Facebook Data analysis for Coles, ALDI and Woolworths.................................................43
4.5 Discussion............................................................................................................................50
Chapter 5: Conclusion, Recommendation and Future Work.........................................................56
5.1 Conclusion...........................................................................................................................56
5.2 Addressing the objectives....................................................................................................61
5.2 Recommendations................................................................................................................62
5.3 Future Work.........................................................................................................................62
References......................................................................................................................................64

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Project Title: the influence of using social media as a tool of External communication in the
retail organizations of Australia
Chapter 1: Introduction
1.1 Background of the study
In the modern age of digitization, the social media is considered to be one of the central
parts of the communication tool. With the evaluation of the digital communication channels, the
social media has gained high level of popularity among people in all parts of the society. It is
also currently used as a tool of external communication in all major business organization. One
of the major advantages of the use of the social media is due to the fact that it is one of the
easiest ways to spared information in all parts of the globe (Haddud, Dugger and Gill 2016). The
social media communication provides the opportunity to connect with wider range of external
audience. Hence, it is one of the essential elements of establishing effective public relationship.
Most people are currently engaged in the use of the social media as they are able to keep in touch
with various family members and friends in all parts of the globe. Hence, one of the main
features of the social media that it is usable both in the forms of formal and informal
communication channel (Ruck and Welch 2012, p.295). Consequently, social media has also
become an integral facet of external communication in many major business organisations,
which can be used as an essential marketing tool. It is also considered as an essential tool for
generating brand awareness among the public by providing essential brand information and
brand management (Schivinski and Dabrowski, p.189).
One of the important elements of business that determines the rate of success is
dependent upon the effectiveness of the business communication tool. Effective modes of

4USE OF SOCIAL MEDIA FOR EXTERNAL COMMUNICATIONS
communication in the workplace are one of the essential criteria that ensure that employees in
the workplace are able to maintain high level of coordination. With the introduction and
advancement of the digital technology, new tools and framework has been introduced that has
improved upon the level of efficiency. As stated by Mehmet and Clarke (2016), in their research
paper marketing operations strategy of business and the functioning are highly dependent upon
the effectiveness of the communication tools that are being implicated in the following cases. As
per mentioned by Huy and Shipilov (2012, p.73), the emails are believed to be one of the
essential part of the communication tools that are used as one of the easiest modes of
communication. The managers of a business organization can use the email channels as one of
the easiest and widely used business tools. This is also one of the effective ways to reach out to
every clients and external stakeholders and receive feedbacks from them. Official documents that
are needed for all types of business transactions can be transferred with the help of the email
documents. Web message is another mode of the business communication, where the clients and
the managers of an organization in different parts of the globe are able to interact among
themselves to discuss about organizational issues (Haddud, Dugger and Gill 2016). The
managers within the sales department use this form of communication to attract the customers
and also listen to the demand of the clients. There is also the tool of instant messages that is
believed to be one of the easiest ways to communicate to bulk number of employees in very
period of time.
1.2 Background of the Chosen Industry
The Australian retail industry is believed to be one of the fastest developing sectors
within the economy. The effective use of the tools of business communication is believed to be
one of the major causes of success of the sectors over the recent times. There are nearly 140,000

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retail business organizations in Australia that accounts for nearly 4.1% of the total nation’s GDP.
This also accounts for 10.7% of the total employment within the Australian economy and is
considered to be the largest industry source of employment within the nation (Zarkada-Fraser
and Fraser 2015). The overall the expenditure within the retail sector has decreased by 35% that
has resulted in the revenue shortage. This shortage occurred mainly within the period of last 4-5
years due to frequent change in the demand levels of the customers (Mehmet and Clarke 2016,
p.93). In the recent past, the retail industry within the nation of Australia is struggling to expand
as the consumers are not willing to spend more within the retail products. The trading conditions
of the companies are also worse as they are not able to meet up with the expectations levels of
the customer. With the introduction of the online forms of business, there are new forms of
challenges in the matter of business communication. The intensity of the competition also has
increased as more number of companies is entering into the respective market segment.
The retail industry within Australia comprises of wide ranges of job roles, which is
needed to deal with the diverse ranges of products in the market. There are specialty department
are within the retail sectors that includes the furniture, electronic and electrical shops. The long-
term and frequent structural change with the retail organization is causing huge challenges within
the industry. It is also important to mention that the communication gap is also one of the major
issues that have been main cause of challenges within the industry.
The retailers with the industry of Australia need to have effective levels of business
communication that can help in the matters of improving the supply chain. They will able to deal
with the quality issues that are often encountered by the customers. As mentioned by Bailey et
al. (2015), the customers often face the issues of search costs in the process of acquiring the

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information about the new feature details. Comparative information is also one of the important
matters that can help in the process of providing the details and unique features each product.
The retail companies are making use of aggressive marketing tools in the form of social
media marketing, where the companies can provide optimized information to the public about
the product and service features. It is also possible to inform the external stakeholders about the
elements of change management that are implemented in the due course of the organization
(Dutot, Lacalle Galvez and Versailles 2016). Therefore, higher levels of clarity are being
maintained about the latest marketing and business policies.
Due to the presence of International and local players within the Retail Industry, where is
tough level of competition. In order to sustain in the tough competitive environment, most of the
local companies are implementing innovative business communication techniques with the help
of social media, with the aim of better understanding the market condition and the demand of the
customers. Due to the introduction of online platform within the Retail Industry, communication
plays an even more critical role as the customers have better option to connect with the company.
In the given context, the success rate of the retail organizations is highly dependent on their
ability to maintain relationship with the external stakeholders that includes the supply chain
managers for better procurement management. The opportunity to better communicate is also
one of the major competitive advantages for all online retail stores. The customers are also able
to get better details of product feature and pricing strategy. Logistic service is also able to
provide better service with the help of online communication media. The social media can be one
of the effective tools that are used for providing information related to the supply chain
management.

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1.3 Significance of the Research
The current research work is highly significant in the context that it will help in the
matters of improving the matter of communication within the retail sectors of Australia. The
main purpose of the research is to incorporate the usage of social media to improve the levels of
internal communication. Essential data will be collected from the employees and other external
stakeholders of the retail industry that will help to identify the loopholes within the process of
communication. The existing literature related to the communication tools that are used within
the existing retail industry will be discussed. It will also analyze the importance of social media
that can be used as the communication tool within the business of the retail industry. Within the
current scenario of the business environment within the retail industry, it is essential to improve
upon the communication process that can help in uplifting the overall productivity. Improving
the official business relationship is also required in the context of understanding the importance
of external supply chain network. With the use of social media, it will be possible to make use of
advanced level of information that is needed to implement effective business plan. The findings
of the current research will help to provide the advanced level of information that can be used for
all future studies and implementing effective external communication plan for business.
1.4 Problem Statement
In the current era of digitization, where the world is connected through social media, the
use of same is highly essential in business operations and HR management. As the range of the
retail industry of Australia increased, more number of employees has been deployed. There is a
huge challenge for the industry to properly communicate with all employees and provide them
with all proper information. There are also issues for communication with the external

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stakeholders that includes supply chain managers and logistics operators. The flow of essential
information is not well maintained within the internal and external stakeholders.
The current issue that are faced by the communication department of the retail industry is
mostly due to the inability to use the social media. Hence, it is not possible for the management
to deal with the issues related to lack of information among the stakeholders. The research in the
given context will help in popularizing the usage of social media within the internal department
of Australian social media.
1.5 Rationale of the Research
What is the research issue?
As the level of competition is increasing within the retail industry, communication plays
a major role in determining the efficiency rate. With the improvement in the infrastructure of
communication technology, most of the business transactions are executed with the help of
advanced communication forms.
Most of the retail organizations within Australia have not been able to implement the
communication techniques to make most use of the latest communication technology (Bashir,
Papamichail and Malik 2017).
Why it is an issue?
Without the usage of proper communication techniques, it is not possible for the retail
industry to meet up the increase in the business demand of the retail industry. Without the usage
of social media, it is also not possible for the retail industry to understand the needs and the
demand of the customers. Hence, the industry is facing the issues due to lack of improper

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communication. This is also one of the major business coordination issues between the internal
and external stakeholders
Why it is an issue now?
The recent issues in the communication industry are mostly due to the increased levels of
competition. Without the usage of proper communication tools, it is not possible to gain
competitive edge. Proper flow of information is required for the all types of change management
that frequently occurs within the external business environment of the retail sector. Hence,
currently, many business organizations within the retail industry are not able to deal expand their
business due to lack of communication issues. In most of the cases, the communication issues are
causing challenges in the operational functions of the retail industry.
What can the research shed light on?
The aim of the current research is to highlight upon the recent communication issues that
are encountered by the retail industry. In the given context, the purpose of the research is to
highlight upon the importance of using social media as an external communication tool. Proper
data will be collected from primary and secondary sources, which will help in the purpose of
understanding the potential of the social media as the external communication tool. It will
therefore be possible to implement the social media tools in the current context of high levels of
competition within the social media. It can also help to establish external communication
channels that are needed for the development of the marketing tools used in business.
1.6 Research Aim
The aim of the current research is to explore the importance of social media as an
external communication tool within the Australian Retail sector.

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1.7 Research Objectives
 To identify the external communication issues within the retail industry of Australia
 To highlight upon the importance of social media as business operational tools
 To explore the applicability and significance of social media as an external
communication tool in Australian Retail sector
1.8 Research Questions
 What are the external communication issues that are encountered by the Australian retail
sector?
 What are the importance of social media as a tool for business communication?
 What are the significances of social media tool in the context of external communication
within the retail sector of Australia?
1.9 Structure of Dissertation
Chapter 1: Introduction and Back ground to the topic, Rationale and Research Aim, Objectives
Chapter 2: Development of the relevant Literature Review
Chapter 3: Framing of proper Research Methodology
Chapter 4: Data Analysis and Findings
Chapter 5: Conclusion and Recommendations
1.10 Summary
The current chapter has discussed about the background of using social media as a part of
external communication tool. It has also helped to identify all types of issues within the external
communication that are encountered by the Australian retail sector. Proper research objectives
and questions have been framed that will help to draw proper conclusion of the research.

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Chapter 2: Literature Review
2.1 Advantages and disadvantages of implementing social media in external
communication
According to Haddud, Dugger and Gill (2016), in this era of internet, social media can be
used as an effective tool in order to promote the relationship between the internal and external
stakeholders, which will eventually result in the more productivity of the organization. One of
the chief benefits of internal social media communication can be referred to the easy way that it
provides which enables employees to share professional as well as personal information with
their co-workers. In this research, the relationship between employee engagement and internal
social media usage in multinational organizations in North America has been analyzed. The
paper also includes detailed analysis of the relationship between purpose and level of internal
social media usage and competencies of the employees. In order to evaluate the above mentioned
factors, a survey was conducted on 1694 employees and it was found that greater is the amount
of self-reported internal social media usage, greater is the level of employee engagement.
Young and Hinesly (2014) opined that social media is incorporated as a part of external
communication in various organizations in order to enhance the strategies of those organization.
While some organizations are opting for renowned social media sites like Facebook or Twitter,
some other organizations are running their own social network sites on their own servers.
According to the research, external social network has both advantages and disadvantages. This
technology helps the management to remain aligned and focused with the aims of the
organization, share resource more efficiently and empower employees by flattening corporate

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hierarchy, provide ability to communicate with other employees and superior in order to resolve
an issue and develop valuable insights. On the other hand, social media has several
disadvantages like risk of losing important information of the organization due to spam, virus or
hacker attack, risk of legal consequences in cases like view of offensive or objectionable
materials by employees. This can be used by the external stakeholders to make misuse of the
existing information by leaking the same in the public domain. There are also higher levels of
risks, where proper information is not passed within the stakeholders, thereby increasing the risk
of data loss. Loss of the overall productivity of the organization may also occur due to unofficial
usage of social media within work time. The research suggested that companies should provide
authentic and concrete examples of law violation that is related to the data protection act.
Langer (2014) stated that, considering the fact that social media can improve the overall
productivity of an organization, business organizations should undergo certain courses in order
to implement social media as an effective tool to improve employee relationships and employee
productivity. In this research, detailed description of courses offered to learn the skill of social
media usage in order to increase employee productivity has been discussed.
Moreno et al. (2015) argued that although effective external communication among the
employees has improved the relationship between the marketing agents and supply chain
managers, it is important to maintain a separation between professional and personal life in order
to maintain personal boundaries. According to several business stakeholders, a healthy
organizational culture can effectively improve the overall productivity of an organization and for
this, it is really crucial to respect personal boundaries. However, usage of social media for
personal communication between the employees and external stakeholders should be monitored
since it often results in loss of productivity of the organization.

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2.2 Perspectives of employees on organization external communication
The employees with an organization plays essential role in deciding on the level and
degree of communication that needs to be maintained for effective level of business operations.
This is evident for better levels of business communication that is needed in higher levels of
supply chain operations (Zsidisin et al. 2015).
The social media external communication network does not affect organizational
dependency while enabling employee’s trust and policy changing distribution. According to a
survey conducted on five private hotels of London, it has been found that employees of
organizations with inter communicational network are showing more efficiency in teamwork and
knowledge sharing performances. Although several researchers found that due to negative
comments of the employees about the organizations on social media, equity of the organizations
get affected, according to employees’ perceptions, social media intercommunication does not
affect the equity of the company.
Harris, (2011) argued that a good number of employees are not using social media for
internal communication. According to the research, even though social media has a huge amount
of positive impact on the organization, a lot of employees are not showing eagerness to use
social media at work place. According to this research, although organizations are implementing
user friendly sites and tools in order to enhance communication between the employees and
supervisors, majority of employees are refraining from using the mentioned sites or tools.
According to Herlle and Astray-Caneda, (2013), employees are getting distracted due to
excessive and unofficial usage of social media in work place. In this research, detailed evaluation
of the implication of social media in workplace has been performed and several
recommendations are provided to control the unofficial usage of social media in workplace. The

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research suggested implementation of clear policies in order to prevent wastage of time through
unofficial usage of social media. Besides that, safe and collaborative environment should be
provided to the employees along with educating them about the proper usage of social media as a
part of internal communication. Employees should be taught about the risks and legal
consequences of posting inappropriate comments or pictures in official sites. They should be
clearly informed about the legal action that shall be taken by the company in case of theft or
unofficial usage of official information. According to the research, if employees are made aware
of their value for the benefit of the organization with the help of social media
intercommunication, a feeling of satisfaction will develop in them which in turn will increase the
productivity of the organization.
However, Ferreira and Plessis (2009) argued several misconceptions are there about the
reduction in overall productivity of an organization due to usage of social media networking as a
part of external and internal communication. However, online social networking can be
implemented in organizations and retail companies in order to increase collaboration between the
employees and stimulate knowledge sharing between them. In this research, evaluation of the
impact of social media intercommunication on the overall productivities of the employees has
been performed. The evaluation process includes assessment of the nature of employee’s social
media intercommunication activities and perception of the employee’s attitude towards the
technology. The research concluded that, social media inter communication between the
employees should be channeled in effective ways to ensure maximum results (Hearn, Foth and
Gray 2009). Existence of a number of loopholes like unofficial usage of social media, are the
main reasons behind the requirement of this strategy. Organizations are advised to develop their
own social network in order to utilize the usage of this technology to the fullest. The research

16USE OF SOCIAL MEDIA FOR EXTERNAL COMMUNICATIONS
also suggests that employers to implement a clear and acceptable policies while dealing with
social media intercommunication issues. Organizations should develop various strategies that
include site restrictions, information confidentiality and personal relevance, without
implementing restriction on employees from getting benefits from social Web Technology. This
will in turn serve as the benefit of the organization in the long run as it will increase employee
satisfaction and productivity.
2.3 Rising Complexity of the Australian Retail sector
Due to the global economic crisis, the Australian Retail sector is facing high levels of
challenges in the supply chain. This has resulted in slower rate of growth within the retail sector
(Nelsonet al. 2018). There is also the rising trend of online shopping that is also demanding
improvement in the operational functions of the retail business. This can help a business
organization to gain significant competitive advantage in the context of the modern day business.
The Australian retail stores are facing higher levels of challenges due to the supply chain
marketing strategies of the international brands. It is estimated that the international retailers
have nearly 20% advantage over the domestic ones. This is due to the fact that the international
brands are able to bypass the Goods and Service Tax, which helps to reduce the overall cost of
the materials (Simshauser and Whish-Wilson 2017).
It is essential for the domestic retail segment to rapidly adopt with the changes with the
respective sector. This can be achieved by overall re-structuring within the cost management
plans. It is also essential to highlight upon the business issues that are related to the operational
management. In order to boost the productivity, it is essential to implement both long-terms and
short-term objectives.

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The changes within the retail sectors are mostly due to the economic and technological
improvement that has occurred within the global society. The concept of data technology was
introduced within the sectors in the year 1990, which has helped within the process of improving
the business communication and the supply chain.
The advancement within the retail sector within the department of communication is
dependent upon the advancement in the process of using technology. The communication sector
has been one of the major agents of business expansion for the Australian retail sector. The faster
rate of development within the communication sector with the broadening nature of the
telecommunication network has helped in rapid rate expansion of the retail market. This is
evident from the faster rate of economic improvement of the Australian consumer market.
2.4 Employment issues related with Communication problems
According to Jing, Avery and Bergsteiner (2014), it is highly essential to maintain
efficient communication that is needed to deal with the issues related with lack of understandings
between the workers. The trade business of the Australian retail sectors is highly dependent upon
frequent change in the demand levels of the customers. It is important to have flexible work
culture that can help to provide a persistent supply of labor within the supermarket. The retail
companies are also recruiting per time employees, who can work in the night shift for providing
24 hours support to the customers.
Price (2016), has mentioned that communication satisfaction is one of the major
elements that are needed to improve the levels of productivity within the retail sectors. Advanced
levels of communication are required to deal with complex issues that are caused due to the
frequent changes in the levels of customer demand. The level of productivity within the

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employees is directly dependent upon the levels of communication that are used within the
workplace. It is essential for the employees to get the proper levels of supervision that are needed
to get the detailed levels of information about the business plan. This can help the workers to
understand the business plan. The employees therefore, need to be exposed to effective forms of
communication that are needed for enhancing the flow of information. The companies can also
expect higher levels of return.
Gray and Laidlaw (2002), have mentioned about the importance employee relations that
are needed to for maintaining healthy workplace environment. The aspects of effective
communication can help to underpin the issues faced at the workplace.
It is also essential to highlight the matters related with that of the horizontal
communication. This can help to transfer essential information between different departments
within the organization. The overall pattern of the communication is being decided depending
upon the organizational structure and hierarchy. The major advantage of the horizontal
communication is associated with improving the levels of productivity.
2.5 External Communication issues in the Australian Retail sector
The Australian Retail Industry is currently facing deregulation in the trading business due
to frequent change in customer demand. Many business organisations have to remain open 24
hours in a day in order to fulfil the growing demand from the client. Flexible employment and
shift timing are required in order to manage longer hours of service that are required from the
employees. According to Tamm et al. (2015), it is essential to have flexible mode of
communication within the organisation that are needed to coordinate employees working in
different shifts within the day. It is important to understand the element of communication

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satisfaction, which is required for smooth operational functions within the retail sector. The
communication satisfaction within an organisation is dependent upon the flexible flow of
information. External dissatisfaction with communication can be one of the major issues for Poor
service quality within the retail organisation. Without prior communication satisfaction it is not
possible to bring about workplace satisfactions that are needed to motivate employees.
2.6 CSR communications through social media
The CSR communication strategy is one of the essential elements of external business
communication for business. The public in the Australian community are becoming highly aware
about the social responsibility that includes proper use of resources and green marketing policies.
Dutot et al. (2016), have mentioned that after proper content analysis of the social media network
of large scale organization, it is possible to under the role of social responsibility that is one of
the major part of business strategy. The advancement of the internet channels has helped the
companies in the Australian retail sectors to influence the public about fostering relationship
between public and business strategy. As the companies are able to externally share information
related social responsibilities, they are able to promote the importance of sustainability. This is
possible due to the longer relationship between brand and community that is achieved by higher
levels of commitment. The social media network provides the platform for the public to raise
their social concerns that is directly affected by the business strategies.
The main purpose of the CSR strategies is to ensure that the business is able to maintain
effective corporate relationship by fulfilling their responsibility towards the external
stakeholders. The issue related with the labour market and other human resource factors are few
of the major external concerns that can compromise quality of business. Kent and Taylor (2016),
have agreed with the fact the CSR communication strategies are the major parts of the social

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media strategies that are implemented in practice. In the given context, the exact message of
social media that are posted for public domain can help in the purpose of awareness generation
and brand management. The online reputation of the company is highly dependent on their
ability to construct optimised post in the social media platforms with essential information
related to public awareness.
One of the major issues related with the implementations of CSR practices is associated
with the financial management. As the CSR policies are implemented, it can affect the financial
performance of the company, as they are not able to implement the aggressive competitive
strategies. With the help of constructive message that are delivered through the social media
platforms, it is possible to maintain balance and safeguard the interest of both internal and
external stakeholders (Podnar and Golob 2017).
One of the main aim effective CSR communications is to maximise the business returns
that are associated with the maintaining effective relationship with public. Hence, with the mode
of effective CSR communications with the use of the social media networks, it is possible to
generate higher levels of future returns.
2.7 Application of Social media data for competitive intelligence
In the rapidly changing competitive environment of the modern days, gathering data is an
essential part of the competitive intelligence. This relevant information can help in the purpose
of understanding the demand and the needs of the customer. The social media platform can act as
an important platform to distribute information about the competitive environment to the external
stakeholders. He et al. (2015), have mentioned about the importance of social media analytics
that is an essential tool of information collection that is part of business intelligence for external
communication. Analysis of the external data that are obtained from the social media platform is

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essential part of the business strategy making process. Advanced forms of content analysis tools
are used to define the patterns of data that is usually obtained from the social media posts related
to business operations.
Itani et al. (2017), have added that the social media data contains information related to
opinions and feedbacks from the external stakeholders. The social media data can also help to
identify the issues within the existing business operations. As analysis of massive real life data
can be obtained, it is possible to understand the trends and future changes in the business. The
framework for business analysis depends on the competitive environment that is used for
identifying all forms of external business threats. It is will therefore be possible for business to
focus on issues that help to improve the quality of business.
The buyers in the modern days have the habit of comparing data about the product
reviews of each website mostly available in the social media network. Hence, the feedbacks used
in the social media data can help to understand the perspective of people about the quality of
product. Case stud related to business operations needs to be one of the primary sources of given
data. The companies get the opportunity to directly interact with the external stakeholders
understand their perspectives in respect of the existing business environment. It can therefore be
said that data obtained from the competitive intelligence can help in the process of fostering
innovation within the competitive environment. There is also the added advantage, where the
companies get the opportunity to directly implement the inputs of change in the business
operations (Bashir et al. 2017).
2.8 Conceptual Framework

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Figure 1: Conceptual Framework
(Source: Author)
Employment issues due to poor
communication
Use of social media for Competitive
Intelligence
Implication of social for external Business
Communication
(Advantages and Disadvantages)
Employee’s Perspectives on the use of
social media tool for external
Communication
CSR communications with the use of
social media
Complex situation that in the
communication of Australian
Retail
External communication issues in
the Australian Retail sector

23USE OF SOCIAL MEDIA FOR EXTERNAL COMMUNICATIONS
Chapter 3: Research Methodology
3.1 Aim of the Study
The aim of the given study is to collect relevant information from the external
stakeholders of the Australian retail sector that will help to under the communication issues faced
at different levels.
The following chapter intends to highlight the suitable as well as relevant research
methodology, which the researcher can select for the conduct of the research effectively. For the
conduct of this process, the researcher will gather relevant information as well as knowledge
from various theoretical as well as conceptual models that were outlined in the previous chapters.
Therefore, the selection of the appropriate research method becomes very important, as it will
assist the researcher in solving the various research problems that were raised in the previous
chapters of the research. The effective selection of the research methodology will enable the
researcher to achieve desired results.
3.2 Research Philosophy
Research philosophy, can be defined, as the belief or the manner in which the various
information or the relevant data regarding the conduct of a research can be collected, analyzed as
well as utilized (Knobe and Nichols 2013). The process of research philosophy generally consists
of two types of philosophy, namely, the philosophy of Positivism and the Interpretivism
philosophy (Knobe and Nichols 2013). The two philosophies are very diverse in their approach.
The theory of Positivism for example in analyzing the research problems as per the truths as well
as the real facts that can be derived from various sources, whereas the theory of Interpretivism

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deals with the conception that the people or the individuals have over any particular object or
situation (Knobe and Nichols 2013). Thus, it can be safely concluded, that the theory of
Positivism is very helpful for the process of the logical interpretation of the data, which has been
collected for the conduct of the research programs the process involves the analysis as well as the
interpretation of the data based on actual evidences as well as facts (Knobe and Nichols 2013).
Figure 1: Research Paradigm
Source: (Harrison and Reilly, 2011.p11)
The approach followed by the two Research Philosophies for the investigation as well as
the analysis of the data or the information is very diverse. Therefore, a careful choice of the
method becomes very important. After a thorough analysis of the two methods, the researcher
opts for the method of Positivism theory, which allows the researcher to conduct the
investigation or the analysis of the data or the information collected during the data collection
process in a more effective manner based on the actual evidences as well as facts. The

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philosophy of Interpretivism depends on the application of the observation of the individuals in
order to analyse the problems faced during the conduct of the research (Glaser 2017). The theory
of Positivism on the other hand involves the interpretation or the analysis of the data or the
information on the basis of the actual evidences or the facts collected from various sources.
Thus, the researcher has selected the method of Positivism over the Interpretivism as the
philosophy of Interpretivism proves to be insufficient for the conduct of the present research on
the process of external communication in Australian retail sector.
3.3 Research Approach
Research approach, can be defined as the approach or the process, which entails the
collection as well as the conversion of information or data that is required for the conduct of the
research by the researcher (Saunders and Lewis 2012). There are two major kinds of research
methods, namely, deductive and inductive approach. According to Saunders and Lewis (2012),
majority of the researchers opt for the deductive approach of research as it focuses on the process
of obtaining information or knowledge. This approach is often called by the name of top-bottom
approach, as it entails the creation of a hypothesis based on the literature review. The hypothesis
enables the researcher to obtain appropriate data, which helps in the process of finding out
whether the existing theories as well as hypothesis about the concerned topic are relevant or not
(Neuman 2013). The inductive approach, on the other hand, is very useful for those research
works, which require the researcher to come up with new theories as well as hypothesises that
are relevant as well as appropriate to the research topic under consideration (Neuman 2013). This
approach proves to be very effective at the initial stages of the research, where the research needs
to create new hypothesises or theories so as to facilitate the process of his or her research work.

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The researcher after making a thorough analysis of the inductive as well as the deductive
research approaches opts for the deductive approach as this approach entails the process of
deducing data or information from the various existing concepts, theories as well as the models
of communication which are used in the process of external communication in the retail sector. It
is evident that there is very little scope left in the field of the communication process especially
in the retail sector for the researcher to develop new theories or model. Therefore, the inductive
approach becomes the more suitable method for the researcher to conduct the research.
3.4 Research Design
Research design, can be defined as the concept, which entails the overall strategy by
means of which the various components or the elements of the research or study will be
incorporated into the same (Mackey and Gass 2015). There are three commonly used types of
research design, namely, explanatory, descriptive and the exploratory (Mackey and Gass 2015).
The research design is normally selected by the researcher based on the aims as well as the
requirements of the research that is being conducted by him or her. In case of explanatory design,
the researcher is required to explain the data or the information without taking into account the
positive or the negative aspects of the outcomes (Mitchell and Jolley 2012). The exploratory
design, on the other hand, requires the researcher to take into account psychological aspects of
the matter under discussion. Therefore, the exploratory as well as the explanatory designs of
research can be utilised by the researcher when he or she is not required to develop or form
formal set of questions or objectives as also when he or she does not have sufficient amount of
information or data regarding the research topic. Descriptive research design takes into account
both the negative as well as the positive aspects of the outcome while presenting the same in a

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report format (Mitchell and Jolley 2012). Therefore, this research design is very effective for the
kinds of research, which entails a set of questions and objectives.
The research design selected by the research for the conduct of this research is the
descriptive design. Descriptive design is selected for the process of the conduct of the research,
as it is suitable for formal as well as structured researches. It also provides the researcher the
scope or the chance for a detailed as well as enriched analysis so that the researcher can collect
appropriate as well as relevant information or data for the conduct of the research. Moreover, the
descriptive method also allowed the researcher to conduct cross sectional survey for the
collection of relevant as well as required information. The primary limitation, which was faced
by the researcher during the conduct of the research, was the problem of time constraint.
Therefore, the method of descriptive design is more appropriate as it enables the researcher to
access large volumes of information or data on the process of external communication in the
Australian retail sector within a very short time from the various related theories as well as
studies already conducted in the past.
3.4 Participants
The participants of every research work are chosen through random and non-probability
sampling methods. Sampling method can be defined, as the procedure by means of which the
researcher can select the various sample members from a given population (Kogan and Herzog
2012). The two most commonly used sampling methods are probability sampling method and
non-sampling method (Kogan and Herzog 2012). The probability sampling method, can be
defined, as the method by means of which the researcher can utilise the various forms of random

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selection (Kogan and Herzog 2012). Therefore, in order to utilise the probability sampling
method the researcher needs to set up some procedure or process, which will ensure that the
various diverse units of the population under consideration get equal probabilities of being
selected. The non-probability sampling method, on the other hand, entails the procedure by
means of which the researcher gathers samples which does not give equal chances to all the
members or the individuals of a given population of selection or representation (Kogan and
Herzog 2012).
Figure 2: Probability and Non-Probability Sampling methods
Source: (Created by the Author)
The researcher for this dissertation uses a combination of both the sampling methods of
probability as well as non-probability in order to gather the relevant information, in particular the
primary data or information. The emphasis or the focus of the probability sampling method is on

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the unbiased management or the representation of the population under consideration in a very
time effective as well as cost efficient manner. Moreover, for the purpose of collecting data or
information during the process of social media post conversation, the method of non-probability
sampling method has been used as it focus on the particular members of the population and is not
concerned with the concept of providing equal representation to all the members of the given
population under consideration (Neuman 2013). Moreover, the researcher needs to approach the
various respondents that will include both internal and external stakeholders of Australian retail
sectors. The particular attention will be given on the posts related to the business conversation
between the two groups, which will be chosen randomly.
Hence, the given research work has used both random and non-probability methods of
sampling while selecting the social media post and collecting information from the same.
3.5 Research Strategy
Research Strategy, can be defined, as the process by means of which a detailed as well as
a thorough action plan, is selected by the researcher (Kratochwill 2013). This action plan enables
the researcher to give direction to his or her thoughts as well as efforts in order to conduct the
research systematically as well as in a more effective manner, so as to produce detailed reporting
as well as quality results (Kratochwill 2013). Therefore, the choice of the appropriate research
strategy depends on the objectives as well as the aims of the research that the researcher is
conducting. The commonly used research strategies, which are used for the purpose of research
work by the researchers, include interviews, case studies, surveys, experiments and various
others (Kratochwill 2013).

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The narrative research strategy depends upon spoken words or visual representation
collected from the chosen sample size. Conversation of stakeholders within the research is the
main form of narrative strategy for data collection. The approach of the research is to follow the
type of narration (Bashir et al. 2017). There is also phenomenology research strategy, where
essential data are collected from real life experience. This is as per with the narrative research,
where the real life conversation are given special focus for qualitative analysis related to the
research subject. Another important research strategy is using of case study, which is an essential
real life tool for understanding the theories relevant to the research subject. It is possible to get
empirical in-depth information of the research topics by analysing the case study (Dowling et al.
2015).
3.6 Justification for the Chosen Research Strategy
For the given study content analysis research strategy will be followed, which is a part of
narrative research strategy. The content of the social media post related to the conversation
between external and internal stakeholders of Australian retail sectors will be chosen. It will
therefore be possible to implement the phenomenological research strategy, which will focus
upon real life experience of the stakeholders as they use social media for communication. The
content of the conversation will also help to implement case study analysis, where relevant topics
of conversation will be discussed. The tweets and the comments of every post also need to be
carefully evaluated that is a part of case study content analysis. Following element will be given
special focus, which can include the colour of the post, common word used in the comments,
emoji’s or symbols used and the total number of comments that are associated with each social
media posts. Few of the common taglines can also be highlighted that are necessary to
understand the level of engagement between the external and internal stakeholders of the

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Australian retail sector. The two main social platforms chosen for the current research work
includes Twitter and Facebook.
From this research strategy it is possible to collect essential primary data related to the
subject area of Investigation.
3.7 Data Collection methods
Data collection can be defined as the process by means of which the information or the
data that are required for the effective conduct of the research can be gathered as well as
measured on the various targeted variables in a more established as well as systematic fashion
(Mayer 2015). This process enables the researcher to find the relevant answers to the questions
that were raised during the research and also to evaluate the validity of the results or conclusions
derived.
There are two kinds of data collection methods, namely, the Primary data collection
method and the secondary data collection method. In the primary data collection method, data is
collected on the basis of the various surveys as well as questionnaires from the people who
already have an idea or knowledge of the topic concerned (Glaser 2017). In the secondary data
collection method, information is collected in the basis of the interviews from the experts in the
field concerned.
For the given research for primary data will be collected from the respective social media
posts use between the internal and external stakeholders of Australian retail sector. Essential data
can be obtained from content analysis research strategy, which has been discussed in the
previous section.

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3.8 Accessibility issues
Accessibility issues are a common problem faced by almost all the researchers. It is to be
noted that this particular problem is faced by the researcher mainly during the process of the
collection of data or information necessary for the conduct of the research (Seale 2013). It often
happened that during the process of the collection of information via the interviews, the
managers were not available.
The content of the social media post may not be published in public domain, which is one
of the major accessibility issues for the given case. There are also options where, the
stakeholders may delete or remove certain essential section of the social media posts. Due to the
protection act associated with the social media, the investigators have not been able to
understand the full case that is associated with every posts conversation.
3.9 Ethical consideration
There are various ethical considerations which a researcher needs to take into
consideration during the entire process of research and more importantly during the process of
the data collection (Miller et al. 2012). During this particular research as well as the research had
to take into account certain ethical issues for the ethical conduct of the research. The first and the
foremost thing which the research had to take into account was that the guidelines of the Data
Protection Act, 1998 (Miller et al. 2012). This particular act states that for the process of the
collection of data, there should be no pressure on the individuals who are taking part in the
research (Miller et al. 2012). Moreover, the research is also under an obligation not to reveal the
identity as well as actual opinions of a particular individual concerned. The researcher can use

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the information derived from the entire survey or questionnaire only in a collective manner and
should not disclose the identity of the individual participants. Moreover, the individual
participants should have the liberty to leave the survey or the questionnaire at any point of time
they want or feel uncomfortable with (Miller et al. 2012). The researcher is also under an
obligation for the safe keeping of the data collected (Miller et al. 2012).
Special measures need to be taken while doing content analysis of social media post
between external and internal stakeholders of the Australian retail sector. It is also sensible for
the investigators to eliminate all type of controversial and sensitive social media post that can
hurt the sentiment of the Australian public.
3.10 Procedures
The procedures for the given research were including selection of social media platforms
that are mainly used by the Australian retail sectors. Proper selection of the social media
platform will help to ensure that optimised information can be gathered by the investigators for
proper analysis in step by step method. After choosing of social media platform, the investigators
had narrowed down the search with dedicated social media pages for the Australian retail
companies. Most recent conversation posts have been preferred in order to ensure that the latest
issues within the retail sector are given special focus. It is however essential to take proper
permission from the respective retail organisation before content analysis of the social media
post is being done.

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3.11 Data analysis
This particular research will make use of the both the data collection methods of primary
data collection as well as the secondary data collection method (Glaser 2017). The data derived
by means of quantitative data collection through the use of the various methods of surveys and
interviews will be transformed into percentages. The collected data will also be given expression
in the form of the various graphs, charts as well as tables in order to make it more convenient for
the readers. In addition to that, the transcripts for the various interviews will also be provided for
the convenience of the readers and for an in-depth study of the subject concerned.
3.12 Gantt chart
Gantt Charts can be defined as a horizontal bar chart which is used by the researchers
during the process of research (Glaser 2017). It helps the various researchers in the proper
planning as well as the conduct of the research. Therefore, it is often considered to be an
important tool for the conduct of the various researches. This particular production control tool
was developed by Henry Gantt in the year 1917 (Glaser 2017). A brief overview of the research
as per the Gantt chart is provided by the below given figure-
Main activities
and stages
Week 1 Week 2
to 9
Week 9
to 15
Week
15 to 20
Week
20 to
23
Week
23 to
25
Week
26
Topic selection
Collection of
data
Planning the

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proper layout
Reviewing
literature
Development of
research plan
Selecting
research
technique
Gathering
Secondary data
Data analysis
Interpretation of
findings
Conclusion
preparation
Project rough
overdraft
Final submission
The above provided Gantt chart clearly indicates the plan which will be followed by the
researcher for the conduct of this particular. The chart clearly indicates the various processes
involved in the research and the particular amount of time which will be devoted to each
particular section of the research. It is to be noted planning and effective time management are

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an important part of the entire research and with the help of this particular tool the research
intends to achieve the process of effective planning as well as management of time.
3.13 Summary
The above discussion clearly indicates the methods which will be followed by the
researcher for the purpose of conducting this particular. It is to be noted that methodology plays
an important role in the process of the entire research itself and therefore the selection of a
proper research methodology is very important for the process of the entire research itself.
Therefore, with this particular purpose in view the research has selected the above mentioned
methods of research and the relevant data collection methods to facilitate the process of the
entire itself. Data collection forms an important aspect of the entire research itself. It is to be
noted that the results of the research depend on the entire collection methods. Therefore, the
effective selection of the data collection method is also very important for the entire research as
it is normally seen that an error in the data collection method can alter the entire result of the
findings by the researcher. The researcher also needs to take into consideration the various
accessibility as well as the ethical issues during the process of the conduct of the research.
Essential steps of data analysis for the given research work has been done by analysing
the content of the social media post that is conducted through the conversation between external
and internal stakeholders of the Australian retail sector. It is essential for the investigators to
carefully choose the social media post for getting optimum information without violating any
ethical protocols.
It is often noticed that an error in the process of data analysis can alter the results of the
entire research and therefore care should be taken to avoid such errors. Finally, proper planning

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as well as time management forms an important aspect of the process and it is advisable to take
the help of the various planning tools like Gantt charts and others to plan out the entire research
process before. This particular action is likely to save the researcher a considerable amount of
time as well as resources in the latter part of the research.
Chapter 4: Data Analysis and Discussion
4.1 Introduction
Presently the social media platforms are used by the business organizations to get
feedback about the products and the services they provide from the customer. In this way, the
organizations are by giving their customers a space for sharing their comment or opinion in order
to improve the services. Business organizations are getting aware about the importance of
consumer engagement with their business is growing day by day. Organizations like the Coles,
Woolsworth are following the trend to use the social media platforms suchas Twitter, Facebook
and so on. In addition to that, they organizations are using this platform to drive consumer
business behaviour, increasing and sustaining the customer loyalty, improving the revenue from
the business, consumer satisfaction and most importantly building brand awareness to acquire
new customers.
In the following sections we have briefly discussed the data collection process from the
twitter platform and sentiment analysis for the tweets that are posted by the users or the
customers.

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4.2 Collection and analysis of data
In order to collect the data from the Twitter we used twitter API along with the Python as
the programming language. We created a app and collected the consumer key, consumer key
secret, access token, access token secret so that we can collect the data after clearing the
authentication process.
API or the Application Programming Interface is considered as a program which acts as a
isinterface between application that needs to communicate with the web applications to perform
actions. In this assessment we added Twitter API to the python script in order to access and
utilize different functions or features provided by the Twitter through the API services. Use of
the API services enables us to directly interact with the twitter data and applications blogs.
For the data analysis of the customer engagement, we have the following pages and
hashtags of “Aldi”, “Coles” and “Woolsworths”
For Woolworths: https://twitter.com/woolworths?lang=en
For Aldi Australia: https://twitter.com/ALDIAustralia
For Coles: https://twitter.com/Coles
4.3 Analysis of the collected data
The analysis of the tweets is done depending upon the three classification categories.
Each of the comments are categorized in one of the three sentiments either positive, negative or
normal. This classification is done based on the library sentiment of English words. The opinion
words are available at https://github.com/datasets-io/liu-positive-opinion-words-en, and
https://github.com/datasets-io/liu-negative-opinion-words-en.

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Sentiment analysis of the collected data is given below for Woolworths,
Plotting of the positive, negative and neutral posts by the customers,
From the above screen shots of analysis of the tweets about the Woolworths depicts that
there are almost similar number of positive tweets (22% of the total collected tweets) about the
Woolworths product and services and only 18% of the tweets are negative about the

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organization. After categorizing process of the comments or tweets, thenext step is analysis of
the data to discover patterns and knowledge of customer engagement for the company. In this
step, the words in the tweets are compared with the opinion words of the library to identify the
positivity or the negativity of the tweets related to the concerned organization.
In case of Woolworths most of the tweets are related to the lack of stocks about the
A/W18 lingerie collection, which are unavailable in the stores of Woolworths. In case of the,
negative tweets, we found that tweets are related to the Woolworths promise to not to use the
Plastic for its product deliveries. One of comments are given below related to that,
“@woolworths you’ve got to be kidding me! Such unnecessary use of plastic.
#WoolworthsHobart #Woolworths #Plastic #Unnecessary #Waste #SaveThePlanet.”
For Aldi Australia, On the other hand, in case of Aldi Australia, we found that there are
mainly neutral tweets about the organization and its business. Therefore, it is suggested that, the
organization should work on engaging the customer more on the social media platform.

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Plotting the sentiment in pie chart
By analysing the tweets related to the Aldi Australia we found that, the employees of the
organization are also supporting the organization for its healthy work environment. Such as, the
tweet “From our archives: "The best part of my job is to witness the growth of my team. That’s
why I come to work.” Which is available at theurlhttps://t.co/JLhyAkG9aF is helpful in
improving the reputation of the business organization “Aldi Australia”. In addition to that, there
are mainly tweets about the sale of rocking chair in the Australian continent.
For Coles supermarkets, We have the following result,

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There are almost 57% of the tweets are positive about organization which implies that
the customers are mostly happy with the products and services by the organization. Whereas in
most of the cases the tweets are related to the use of plastic that were promised not to be used by
the organization. In addition to that, there are some tweets that were related to the recall of the
products due to the complaints of the customers on their twitter page. Some of the tweets are
listed below,
Newsagents news! While Coles supermarkets may gave the fancy, season specific, stand,
there is nothing stopping new… https://t.co/DdL5ULm3Ey
@ashulz @OnKetoDiet @Coles @woolworths @ashulz, I'm in the early stages of creating
an "smarter" shopping list app,… https://t.co/hzFPi6j5oO
One of the major supermarkets here apparently has "Apples exclusive to Coles".
Make sure to preorder at Coles to g… https://t.co/Xdyz978h5n
RT @7NewsBrisbane: **PRODUCT RECALL - Coles Chocolate** Statement: @Coles is
recalling Coles Sugar Free Dark Chocolate 100g and Coles Sugar…
**PRODUCT RECALL - Coles Chocolate** Statement: @Coles is recalling Coles Sugar
Free Dark Chocolate 100g and Coles… https://t.co/sY0Yp6SLkC
RT @7NewsToowoomba: **PRODUCT RECALL - Coles Chocolate** Statement:
@Coles is recalling Coles Sugar Free Dark Chocolate 100g and Coles Suga…
Statement: Coles Supermarkets is recalling Coles Sugar Free Dark Chocolate 100g and

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Coles… https://t.co/pWXtYWPxwT
@Coles I know, but it's a shame you're being dragged down to this level of trash TV. That's
how many will see you -… https://t.co/C00wlcnUsR
RT @7NewsSC: **PRODUCT RECALL - Coles Chocolate** Statement: @Coles is
recalling Coles Sugar Free Dark Chocolate 100g and Coles Sugar Free…
RT @7NewsMelbourne: **PRODUCT RECALL - Coles Chocolate** Statement: @Coles
is recalling Coles Sugar Free Dark Chocolate 100g and Coles Suga…
**PRODUCT RECALL - Coles Chocolate** Statement: @Coles is recalling Coles Sugar
Free Dark Chocolate 100g and Coles… https://t.co/MyoD55DEBp
**PRODUCT RECALL - Coles Chocolate** Statement: @Coles is recalling Coles Sugar
Free Dark Chocolate 100g and Coles… https://t.co/d76qRhEncq
**PRODUCT RECALL - Coles Chocolate** Statement: @Coles is recalling Coles Sugar
Free Dark Chocolate 100g and Coles… https://t.co/kHFZIuMaR3
**PRODUCT RECALL - Coles Chocolate** Statement: @Coles is recalling Coles Sugar
Free Dark Chocolate 100g and Coles… https://t.co/w43x70W9Zb
**PRODUCT RECALL - Coles Chocolate** Statement: @Coles is recalling Coles Sugar
Free Dark Chocolate 100g and Coles… https://t.co/nkHEkiFMSn
**PRODUCT RECALL - Coles Chocolate** Statement: @Coles is recalling Coles Sugar
Free Dark Chocolate 100g and Coles… https://t.co/yqPbkLiMRF
**PRODUCT RECALL - Coles Chocolate** Statement: @Coles is recalling Coles Sugar
Free Dark Chocolate 100g and Coles… https://t.co/uyNf6X3qZM
**PRODUCT RECALL - Coles Chocolate** Statement: @Coles is recalling Coles Sugar
Free Dark Chocolate 100g and Coles… https://t.co/qURGpawOqA
**PRODUCT RECALL - Coles Chocolate** Statement: @Coles is recalling Coles Sugar
Free Dark Chocolate 100g and Coles… https://t.co/QDNaIvZ5bp
**PRODUCT RECALL - Coles Chocolate** Statement: @Coles is recalling Coles Sugar
Free Dark Chocolate 100g and Coles… https://t.co/TRoMLC3jcS
**PRODUCT RECALL - Coles Chocolate** "Coles is recalling Coles Sugar Free Dark
Chocolate 100g and Coles Sugar Free… https://t.co/AHWLR9w30h
Woolworths and Coles take action on plastic use! https://t.co/zqEHCB0ygL
Woolworths and Coles take action on plastic use! https://t.co/Sv4xN1K58n via
@ChangeAUS #waronplastic
Woolworths and Coles take action on plastic use! https://t.co/dIjmDKd7DL via
@ChangeAUS
Woolworths and Coles take action on plastic use! https://t.co/GzHDX99V3R via
@ChangeAUS why not use home compostabl… https://t.co/sbph0XTlMB
At last!
Woolworths and Coles take action on plastic use!
#keepthepressureup https://t.co/Z4rmBWOOEl via @ChangeAUS
Ideal for sandwiches and burgers. Available at Coles Supermarkets! #Adelaide
https://t.co/hqFyGaWv0W https://t.co/glTYBKpzDM
RT @hookedonhegs: * STOP THE PRESS *
Our gorgeous PINK Hegs Pegs now available in Coles Supermarkets.
#hegspegs #coles #innovation #pinkheg…
@deandavidgray @itslola2u Hi Dean,Tropical Pineapple block is currently available for a
limited time exclusively fr… https://t.co/M4wf2q1kd7
* STOP THE PRESS *
Our gorgeous PINK Hegs Pegs now available in Coles Supermarkets.
#hegspegs #coles #innovation… https://t.co/ApH5tCwdf6

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4.4 Facebook Data analysis for Coles, ALDI and Woolworths
Analysis process
In order to collect the data related to the Coles, ALDI Australia and Woolworths we used
the Facebook graph API. After getting the access token from the user account we tried to get the
page ID of different pages of this retail supermarkets.
The Graph API allows the researchers to filter and collect data on certain attributes. In
this way we can run different data analysis tasks and makes it easier than other process.
For ALDI
In this process we tried to find out the comments for specific posts by the organization
on its Facebook page. As an example, we have considered the posts of ALDI Australia which
includes the posts with “Special Buys” and “ALDI Snow Gear Special Buys” marketing camp
gains. For the first one we got only 25 comments whereas got 200 comments for the next post.
Some of the scraped tweets are provided in the following table
For “Special Buy”
The natural cashews are mine! All mine!!!!
Leanne Smith stock up for our bake off!
Looks good 😊
Any of the nuts grown in Australia?

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Kat Kilpatrick looks nutty
Casey Balcombe keen
Rebecca Cook
Jessica Vatadroka
Aaron Haigh
RituBhanot
Michael Niotakis
Rick Woods
Luke Cerruto
For the “ALDI Snow Gear Special Buys”
How can I buy on line? I live in Tasmania no Aldi stores here 🙁
Hi Aldi Australia... will ALL stores have snow gear?
Genine Hudson Jay Hudson This is the one
Pravin, Gareth, Isaac, Steve, James, Shan, Richa GET KEEN! Rhi if you decide to
join we will all be at Aldi before 8am to get out ski gear 😝
Suzanne Saba buying boots again.... yearly tradition. SaideGebrael you'll love

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their snow boots. Best for the farm!! We buy a pair every single year
The ski gear is rubbish! Brought the ski pants. Don't insulate you from the cold and
the stitching came apart. It might be ok for ski season in Australia but not the cold in
Europe or nz
Monique Delaney i have been waiting for this all year. Wanted camp notes out by
this. Race you to the middle tables..lol
Ngaire Robinson, Karen Drysdale, Georgia Rowe you guys need any ski gear - Aldi
Sale Saturday 19th May - you have to get up early - lol!
Claire Stonell maybe someone can pick some up and hand them over to you in
Melbourne the following weekend? Noni Stonelli need any thermals?
True Wishes get on this! I will be all over it next Sat. I'll be the one at the front door
breathing on the glass 😂
Feel like another snow sale Leigh Pronkhaha😂 but really the kids do need some
winter gear this year haha
Ash Witt the only reason to go to aldi.. stock up in snow gear for the kids
Nicola!! The Aldi snow gear is coming!!!
Sue Hohenhaus if you are out and near Aldi at all can you please pick me up a
catalogue.
Monique Terry if you happen to pass Aldi tomorrow could you please grab me a

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catalogue? 😃
They need the store manager to come out and say LET THE GAMES BEGIN!!
Aunty Joyce you should grab a jacket, pants & boots if you are near an aldi on the
19th
Blair Brownlee...am i ur on call aldi buddy? Will get my mean face and elbows
ready 😂
Maree Jackson I hope you're ready to race to Aldi for the all essential snow gear
Elle Gray if you still need snow gear aldikids stuff is great
Debra Murray....the Aldi snow gear chaos!
Roxanne Lynch remember my moon boots from Aldi? 😂
Sue Connolly Moriarty any chance you're heading to Aldi??
From the scraped comments related to “ALDIAustralia” we can easily say that, most of
its customers are happy with its products and services. This analysis supports the twitter data
sentiment analysis.
In the similar way scraped data from the Coles and Woolworths Facebook pages for the
arbitrarily chosen posts.
After the analysis of the collected comments we found following sentiments,

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For this specific analysis we found that, for any post from one of these supermarket
competitors, ALDI Australia has most number of comments and customer engagement on the
social networking site. On an average the posts of ALDI Australia page get more than 100
comments where as the number of comments for average post of Woolworths Coles are limited
(often 40-50 comments). According to our analysis we found the customers gets prompt
responses and interactions from the page in case they post their grievances as well as their issues.
From the sentient analysis, it is clear that the majority of the tweets are positive postedby the
customers in the pages of the ALDI.
Some of the comment’s collected in our analysis are listed below,
For Coles
Yum
Awaiting the first whinging vegan
The only one Coles dont have is the Pumpkin & Spinach ...I would really like that
one.....but the sourdough base ones in general. Are great.
Are they actually any good though? One can only assume at that price no
They're absolutely tiny.

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Rodney Hart
For the Woolworths some sample comments for the post id 1995015507237237are given
by,
Lettuce turnip the beet
Woolworths, you have too much tyme on your hands
You didn’t leave mushroom for more commentary.
Seriously? Lettuce leaf this alone ok!
Yes agreed isn’t it great. Do you no what else would be great...If you offered
oregano plastic free 🙁 just like this picture you have shared we want #plasticfreeproduce🙁🙁
I posted ten puns and have yet to receive a like for any... I thought as least one of
my puns would get a like... Unfortunately, I guess no pun in ten did....
Alastair Christie-Johnston is this you?
Kayla Nunn for some reason this reminds me of roger 😂😂😂
Clayton Budd Gavin Bradtke I think he’s bike set up might be a bit out 😂😂

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From the analysis it is found that, usually Woolworths there are no specific product
campaigns in the recent time which engages its customers to the products and services of the
organization. Where as in this case, it is found that, the ALDI uses product specific campaigns
which easily engages its customers. This helps the organization to acquire new customers and
retain the existing one.
Figure 1: Fetching and analysing Facebook comments related to Woolworths
From our analysis we found that, the Woolworths and the ALDI is sharing almost similar
amount of engagement with its customers through the social media channels. According to the
market surveys of Morgan Stanley, it is found that, due to the engagement of the customers, they
switch their preferred supermarkets in order to get the promotional offers that are campaigned
through the social platforms (Morgan Stanley 2018).

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4.5 Discussion
The discussion is based on the results that have been attained with respect to the
concerned companies in accordance to the use of social media for the purpose of external
communications. The analysis has been undertaken with respect to the extent of communications
that have been done with the help of Facebook and Twitter. The data that has been collected
earlier has explained the fact that Woolworths is the firm that has been performing effectively in
the economy of Australia. With the advent of time there has been an observation that use of
social media in every aspect of the business for the purpose of promotion and sale of the
products and services of several companies has increased rapidly. Facebook being one of the
renowned social media websites are being used by most of the individuals all over the globe and
therefore this medium is acts as one of the significant ways with the help of which the companies
are able to promote their products.
The advantage of using Facebook has been due to the fact that the Facebook offers the
advantage of uploading pictures and videos and accordingly comments can be posted by the
companies as well as the users so that feedback can be provided and accordingly changes can be
made by the companies. In the same manner, Twitter plays a vital role to play as well and it is
seen that comments can be given on the posts that have been made. The development of social
media has been a boon for all the companies and accordingly Aldi Australia, Woolworths and
Coles have tried to make use of the same (He et al. 2015).
The analysis that has been taken with respect to the data has indicated the fact that the
companies in accordance to the current time period has been interacting with their potential
customers and even with the virtual online users with the help of which the companies are able to
increase their level of sales and maintain a healthy relationship with the customers. The analysis

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of the data has been undertaken by considering the Facebook graph API. The comments that
have been given by the users is taken into account and a comparative analysis has been
undertaken with the help of which a proper understanding can be attained with respect to which
retail company has been performing in an effective manner with respect to communicating with
the help of external communications and even addresses what the users have commented
regarding the selected retail companies. All the companies that have been taken into
consideration has been looking to interact with the help of social media and the comments that
have been given has been analysed. Several instances have been looked into consideration and
accordingly the comments have been used in the statistical analysis with the help of which the
effective results can be obtained. ALDI Australia, Coles and Woolworths are all retail
companies within the economy of Australia and it is seen that numerous comments have been
given with the help of which analysis has been done. The results attained for ALDI Australia has
explained the fact that the company has been performing actively with respect to the replying to
the comments that have been customers who are active in the social media. It is seen ALDI is
engaged actively in the social media and they are very much active with respect to answering to
the comments. The company has been posting several pictures and updates in Facebook in their
page and these pictures and the posts are open for comments. ALDI Australia has a separate
division where they are associated to monitoring the number of views that have been done and
the number of likes and comments that been provided on that post. The department even
segregates the likes that are positive for the firm and the posts that are negative to the companies
and thereby knowledge has been attained with respect to the operational activities of the firm
(Aldi.com.au. 2018). The company with the help of these comments can even make changes in
their operational plans and accordingly can assist in the development of the company.

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When assessing the activeness of Coles in accordance to their engagement in Facebook, it
is seen that the company is active in Facebook but the activeness is less than ALDI Australia.
Coles are not in the opinion of interacting much with the help of social media. The company has
been looking to interact face to face and with the help of which the company would attain better
feedback. However, analysis has been made for the posts that have been made by the company
and the comments and the posts that have been made by the public are assessed. A comment on
the post has been taken into consideration with the help of which effective analysis can be
undertaken. The comments that have been received provide negative and positive feedback
provided by the users and accordingly an understanding has been attained with the help of which
the company can make changes. Coles posted their promotional activities in Facebook and even
provided their products they offer with the help of which the online users would have certain
idea on the products offered and accordingly the users would be able to gain knowledge and
accordingly make purchases for the products. Most of the results that have been attained
explains that most of the comments have been positive and accordingly the results that have been
obtained have been helpful in the development of the company.
Now considering the analysis of the posts that have been made by Woolworths, it is seen
that the firm has been looking to increase their level of sales and accordingly has been looking to
increase their revenue. The company is engaged actively in the social media and has been
looking to interact with the consumers with the help of which they would be able to attain the
idea and make changes as well. A graph has been constructed with the help of which an idea can
be attained with the help of which analysis of the comments can be undertaken. An instance has
been taken into consideration with the help of which activeness of the company can be attained.
The results that have been obtained indicates the fact that several comments are provided by the

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users with respect to the posts that have been uploaded by the company. It is seen that the
company is actively engaged in Facebook but is not as active as ALDI Australia. ALDI Australia
has their own department that looks into the online aspect of communication. On the other hand,
Woolworths does not have their own departments but with their existing departments they are
able to monitor the social media interactions and accordingly are able to promote their sales and
activities.
The analysis of the responses that have been received by the three companies from
Facebook, it is seen that Coles is the least actively engaged company in Facebook and
Woolworths and ALDI are very much active however, the level of responses provided by ALDI
on the comments received are higher with respect to the responses provided by Woolworths.
However, the overall results indicate that the Woolworths has a better market capture than the
other two companies in Australia as their level of profit is higher and their sales as well as their
customer base is very much higher in accordance to the other firms that have been taken into
consideration.
In this section of the discussion an evaluation of the social media interactions would be
done for Coles, ALDI Australia and Woolworths with respect to the posts and the comments they
receive via Twitter. The results that have been obtained can be taken into consideration with the
help of which an effective conclusion for the paper can be constructed.
The comments that have been provided were segmented into positive, negative and
neutral sentiments. The first company that has been taken into consideration has been
Woolworths and the company has been posted several tweets in the Twitter websites. The
company has been looking post most of the tweets with respect to their products and services that

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have been offered and accordingly the feedback of the customers can be attained. The results
have indicated the fact most of the consumers have remained neutral in their posts and has not
look to comment anything on the products and the services that have been offered. This explains
that the consumers do not wish to disclose in public. The percentage of positive feedback has
been better with respect to the negative posts and this explains that online users are satisfied with
their services and products offered even though there are number of comments that were
negative. Most of the tweets that Woolworths have posted have been based on the inadequacy of
stocks for the company. The negative tweets that have been attained have been responded by
Woolworths by promising that they would not provide plastic at the time of delivery of the
products.
The company that has been taken into consideration has been ALDI Australia and the
tweets that have been gathered have mostly been neutral in nature. The outcome that has been
attained from Twitter has been contrary to the engagement of the company in Facebook.
Therefore, it can be said that the company has to undertake the strategies with the help of which
they would be able to increase their engagement in Twitter and increase the social interactions
with the help of external communications. The tweets that have been attained have mostly been
related to the healthy environment of the company and results have been able to explain the fact
that the employees of the company support the company with respect to maintaining a healthy
environment. This is helpful in increasing the brand image and the reputation of the firm.
The other company that has been taken into consideration relates to Coles and the results
that have been obtained explains the fact that most of the tweets have been positive in nature and
accordingly this explains the fact that most of the customers of the company are comparatively
happy in accordance to the products and the services that have been offered to the company. The

56USE OF SOCIAL MEDIA FOR EXTERNAL COMMUNICATIONS
other tweets that have been discovered addresses the factors that are related to the usage of
plastic as promises were made not to make use of public. There have been numerous other tweets
that have been associated to answering the complaints that have been tweeted by the customers
with respect to the products offered. The results that have been attained with respect to the tweets
of the customers have explained the fact that customer engagement is a key aspect that is taken
into consideration by most of the retail companies and the results have been able to signify the
fact that active engagement in the social media would lead to a better work environment and
better operational activities from the side of the companies. In the earlier days customer
engagement had been undertaken with the help of the traditional plans and strategies in order to
get the customers involved within the business, but in the current time period, it is seen that with
the development of social media, it has become pertinent for the companies to make use of the
same in order to enhance their level of external communication with the help of which the
overall business can be developed.
Most of the leading organizations in the retail super market industry has already accepted
the fact the one of the most important factors that can affect their business is the customer
engagement ono the social media platforms. This factor correlates and helps the organizations in
improving the growth of revenue from the business by making the customers more loyal to the
organizations, increases the generation of positive word-of-mouth. Ina addition to that it also
reduces the likelihood of a customers’ intention to switch between the available organizations
choices.
From different previous researches it is found that the organization that positively affect
customer engagement on the social media using it as external communication tool is more likely
to see engaged prospects from the customer’s end. The engaged customers consider the

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company’s products as their first choices, less likely to switch between the available options, and
purchase more regularly. Organizations like Coles, WoolsWorth and Aldi are developing
customer engagement strategies using the focus on creating a positive and consistent online and
offline customer experience while communicating about their new product releases and
addressing the grievances of the customers.
In this paper we have analysed the effectiveness of using the twitter as an external
communication tool by doing sentiment analysis. The Sentiment analysis is all about text mining
that involves parsing and analysis of the comments and suggestions posted by the customers.
This mainly addresses the engagement of the customers and their engagement of the customers
to the organization. Through the analysis of the context of the data, emoticons used, polarity of
the comments rather than only depending on the words.
Chapter 5: Conclusion, Recommendation and Future Work
5.1 Conclusion
The conclusion of the thesis is constructed based on the results that have been attained
from the earlier section of the thesis. The outcome has been effective in creating an
understanding of the effectiveness of using social media as a technique for external
communication with respect to the retail firms in Australia. The background of the paper has
focused on the introduction of digitalization that has taken place in the global world in the
current time period. In the same way, the development of social media and how with the advent
of time this process has become the heart of communication has been explained in a proper
manner. The rise in the level of competition in the retail industry has compelled the companies to

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make use of new and effective mediums in order to promote their products and services and
attract new and existing customers. It is seen that in the current world, the social media is looked
upon to be the one of the most effective means with the help of which individuals are able to
interact with each other and the interactions can be made through out the globe. It is seen that
there has been a rise in use of social media even by the companies in order to promote their
business activities and even enhance their operational level. The use of social media is helpful
for the development of effective level of formal and informal communications among the
customers and the companies. The success rate of an organization in the current time period is
dependent on the kind of communication technique that has been utilised by the companies. The
interactions that are made with the help of social media are helpful for the development of the
business and accordingly sale of their products and services have increased. There are several
communication tools that are available to the companies and it is seen that use of social media
has been developing rapidly.
In this aspect, three of the renowned companies of Australia have been taken into
consideration and each of the companies have their unique way of operating their business. The
companies in order to attain competitive edge has looked to make use of social media
interactions and accordingly have made changes in their plans with the help of which better
relationship with the customers are maintained.
A precise background of the companies that have been selected has been explained so
that the readers can have an idea about how the company has been performing previously and
what are the areas in which the companies have been excelling and the areas that requires
developments. The overall structure of the companies has been explained with the help of which
an understanding can be attained about the hoe the companies are able to make use of the social

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medial communication tool. The job roles that are existent in the retail industry has been
addressed with the help of which an idea has been gathered about what roles are levied over the
employees. The existent marketing tools that are used by the firms are addressed and in the same
way how the companies are able to understand how social media and marketing tools can be
combined in order to bring about a better way to interact with the customers and establish an
effective means to expand their business in the Australian market.
The significance of the research has even addressed so that the factor that has motivated
to undertake research on this topic can be understood. It is seen that with the development of
digitalization, the use of social media has developed. Human beings with the help of social
media websites have been able to interact with each other and therefore companies have opted to
make use of this medium in order to communicate with the consumers. The results have
indicated the fact that in accordance to social media, there are several limitations and benefits as
well and therefore assessment of the same has been essential. There have been several previous
researches that have been made in order to discover the significance of social media in the
development of the businesses and therefore in order to have an understanding of the
significance of social media in the retail industry, this thesis paper has become vital. The
problem statement of the paper has looked to explain the issues that are related to digitalization.
The advent of digitization has improved the lifestyle and the functional activities of the business
and therefore, it is seen that there has been a rise in the overall business activities in the
economy. The retail industry in Australia has seen rise in the level of competition and therefore it
has been pertinent for the business enterprises to construct strategies with the help of which they
would be able to strategies the communication tools in an effective manner. The development of
the business is dependent on the relationship with the customers and therefore social media has

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been looked upon to be an effective tool that would enhance the relationship with the customers
and between their employees. Therefore, issues that are associated to social media has been
addressed so that an idea about social media has been assisting in the development retail industry
in Australia can be attained.
The issue that is related to the research and with the topic has to be attained in order to
undertake the research analysis effectively. The aims and objectives of the research have been
explained and after the outcome of the paper is attained, a comparison between the outcome of
the paper and the objectives of the paper would be undertaken. The effectiveness of the outcome
of the thesis would be defined once the results are able to address the objectives.
The literature review of the thesis has looked to define the aspects related to the topic that
have been explained by several researchers so that an idea can be attained and with help of the
opinions that have been developed. The benefits and the limitations of introducing social media
as an external communication is addressed and accordingly the point of view of the employees
have even been taken into consideration. The complexities that are seen within the retail sector in
Australia have even been explained with the help of which an idea can be gathered with the help
of which the companies would be able to improve their marketing and the operational activities.
The complexities have aroused with the introduction of several aspects and factors and therefore
the use of these elements in a proper way would be helpful in the development of a better
performance for the retail companies. The organizations are looking to implement the changes
that are taking place in the economy so that a better operational activity can be attained. The
communication issues that have even been addressed and the issues have been mainly been
because of the issues that have been developed by the employees. The issues that are present
with respect to the tools of external communication have even been explained so that measures

61USE OF SOCIAL MEDIA FOR EXTERNAL COMMUNICATIONS
to mitigate the same are used with the help of which the companies are able to develop their
business effectively. The communication of corporate social responsibility with the help of social
media is even addressed in order to have certain level of idea about the benefits social media tool
has been able to offer to the companies in the retail sector in Australia. Social media has even led
to the development of the development of competitive intelligence and accordingly these aspects
would be helpful in the development of overall business activities of the retail organizations.
The methodology of the thesis has explained the type of data that has been used for the
purpose analysis and the process that has been used for the collection of the data. The validity
and the authenticity of the data plays a vital role as the fairness of the data is able to determine
the effectiveness of the results that has been attained. The research approach that has been used
by the researcher and the kind of data that is suitable for the current research is addressed in the
methodology section. The analysis of the data is based on the comments and the likes that have
been given by the users over the tweets and the comments that have been given in Facebook and
Twitter and comparative analysis has been able to address which out of the three companies have
been able to make use of social media in the most effective manner. The analysis of the data has
been able to explain that Aldi Australia has been the most active in the social media and they
have been communicating the most with the online customers in order to gather their feedback
and provide their answers to the feedback as well. Woolworths has even been active in social
media, but their activeness is lower than the ones that are seen from Aldi Australia. Coles have
been the least active of the three and they have concentrated mostly on the conventional process
of communication with their customers. However, the overall performance of the three
companies explains the fact that Woolworths have been performing the best even though their

62USE OF SOCIAL MEDIA FOR EXTERNAL COMMUNICATIONS
activeness is social media is not that effective. The effectiveness of the data would be understood
once a comparison with the objectives of the thesis is made.

63USE OF SOCIAL MEDIA FOR EXTERNAL COMMUNICATIONS
5.2 Addressing the objectives
Objective 1: To identify the external communication issues within the retail industry of
Australia
The outcome has been able to explain the issues that are within the external
communication in the retail industry, as it is seen that relationship and transparency among the
customers and the company would lead to better transactions in the industry. It is seen that
problems and issues that are pertinent with these elements have been explained so that the
researcher would recognise the limitations of the social media tools.
Objective 2: To highlight upon the importance of social media as business operational
tools
The significance of social media as an operational technique is even discovered and it is
seen that use of the social media has been able to increase the level of sales and even improves
the relationship with the customers as well. It is even seen that social media has been able to
provide feedback and with the assistance of the feedback from the customers, the companies are
able to improve their business activities.
Objective 3: To explore the applicability and significance of social media as an
external communication tool in Australian Retail sector
The applicability and the significance of social media as a communication tool in the
Australian Retail Sector has been discovered because of the fact that the companies have been
able to understand what the customers want from them and even it is seen that the customers are

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actively engaged in the social media in order to provide their views regarding the posts and the
comments that have posted in Twitter and Facebook by the retail firms of Australia.
Hence, it is seen that the outcome of the thesis is effective and precise because of the fact
that all the objectives have been attained and addressed.
5.2 Recommendations
The recommendations are based on the results that is gathered and the utilisation of the
recommendations by the companies would be helpful in creating a better working environment
for the companies and this would be helpful in the development of the retail sector with respect
to profit and customer base.
It is recommended that the companies need to undertake effective strategies and plans
with the help of which they would be able to maintain healthy and cordial relationship with their
customers.
It is even suggested that feedback from the customers are taken on a frequent basis with
the help of which the issues that the customers face can be resolved and a better operational
framework can be created.
Recommendations can even have been stated with respect to the fact that use of social
media by the companies for the purpose of promotional activities related to their products and
services would reduce their costs as the customers would be now well aware of all the activities
of the company without any kind of extra efforts.

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5.3 Future Work
The thesis has explained the fact that there has been scope of future work on this topic as
with the advent of time the technologies related to social media would improve and this would
lead to better social media interactions with the help of which better services can be offered by
the companies. Therefore, by undertaking a research based on this topic in the future better and
different results can be obtained and making a comparison with the current thesis would be able
to provide the differences that have taken place in the future with respect to the current time
period.

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