Business Research Report: Social Media's Role in Marketing Strategy

This business research report examines the role of social media in modern marketing strategies, with a specific focus on Starbucks Corporation. The report delves into the advantages and disadvantages of using social media as a marketing tool, including its ability to reach a wider audience at a lower cost, as well as its vulnerability to cyberattacks. The research employs both qualitative and quantitative methodologies, including literature reviews, interviews, and surveys, to analyze the impact of social media on business performance. The report also explores strategies to enhance social media marketing practices, offering valuable insights for businesses looking to improve their marketing approach. The study's objectives include understanding the concept of social media marketing, identifying its pros and cons, and suggesting strategies for improvement, offering a comprehensive analysis of social media's influence in the marketing landscape.

Running head: BUSINESS RESEARCH
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Table of Contents
Introduction......................................................................................................................................3
Project Objective.............................................................................................................................3
Project Scope...................................................................................................................................4
Literature Review............................................................................................................................4
Research Questions/Hypothesis.......................................................................................................6
Research Design and Methodology.................................................................................................7
Qualitative research......................................................................................................................7
Quantitative research....................................................................................................................9
Research Limitations.....................................................................................................................11
Time schedule................................................................................................................................12
Conclusion.....................................................................................................................................12
References......................................................................................................................................13
Appendix........................................................................................................................................15

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Topic: The role of social media in Marketing Strategy
Introduction
Social media platforms are being used as a marketing tool by a large number of companies. It has
contributed to the success and growth of the business. Social media platforms are being used for
the purpose of interacting and sharing information with friends and family. The gaining
recognition of social media sites may influence company as it provides chances to connect with
the customers. It could be used to advertise the product and gather feedback about their product.
Different advantages are attached to the use of social media and these benefits include lower
cost, gaining sales, larger audience, and ease of research (Leung, Bai and Stahura, 2015).
Apart from advantages, there are certain drawbacks of exercising social media for
marketing like harassment, lack of determination technique, and vulnerability to hacking.
Numerous company is using social media for marketing as it facilitates an innovative and
effective platform for a corporation to sustain in the market and makes a link with their
customers (Armstrong, Kotler, Harker and Brennan, 2015).
This research discusses the role of social media in the marketing strategy of modern
companies. It also defines the pros and cons of using social media for marketing. This report also
depicts the suggestion to enhance the social media marketing strategy. In the last, it explains the
research methodology to complete the research in a systematic manner.

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Project Objective
The primary objective is to gather data regarding the role and impact of social media in the
marketing strategy of an organization and on the performance of the organization. All these
aspects will be discussed in relation to Starbucks Corporation so as to develop knowledge of the
role played by social media in the marketing strategy. Another objective is to analyze the pros
and cons attached to the use of social media platforms as an advertisement tool.

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Project Scope
The focus of this project is on developing an understanding of the role and importance of social
media in marketing strategy. This report will focus on the role of social media in relation to the
marketing strategy of Starbucks Corporation. Different articles will be assessed which are
prepared by different authors. These articles will help in focusing on the influence of social
media platforms on the customers.

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Literature Review
According to Leung, Bai, and Erdem (2017), the company uses social media for several business
practices like gathering feedback, recruitment, communicating with customers, conducting
market research and marketing. The ease of social media facilitates a bigger platform to the
corporation. Hence, the company can use social media to get advantages. For instance, social
media could be used by the company in the recruitment process and recruit the talented human
resource without any additional expenses.
In support of this, Kim, Lim, and Brymer (2015) stated that organization like Starbucks
has used social media in their marketing strategy to get the advantage over the competitors in the
industry. The key benefit of exercising social media sites for marketing is that it enables a
company to cover the wider areas and connects the company to customers. For illustration,
television and radios have an adequate range as it could be used only for connecting with the
local customers. Hence, the company can use social media to broadcast their advertisement on
international channel. However, it could sustainably gain the expenses. It is also analyzed that
billboard marketing has also limited scope because only local people could see the advertisement
of the billboard. Thus, it could be stated that all these issues could not exist in social media
marketing as the internet is an international platform (Tuten and Solomon, 2017).
In the view of Ashley and Tuten (2015), social media marketing is easier and affordable
method to advertise the product offered by the company as compared to the traditional technique.
The traditional advertisement sources are radio, television, and billboard which need the
considerably high cost of investment and only focus on limited customers. In contrast to this, in
the social media marketing, the cost is lower and also provides larger customers. Social media
channel facilitates the opportunities regarding free of cost marketing to a company that could not

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be possible with another platform. Use of social media platforms has reduced the cost as well as
efforts of the company.
In contrast to this, Scott (2015) opined that the interested customer who prefers the brand
could follow the company to the social media account. As a result, it gains the following of
company on social media channels. The company can directly advertise to their customers
without compensating money to social media sites for demonstrating the advertisement. For
instance, Starbucks post on its social media channel that they are offering new drinks for free. It
could be beneficial to the company as the company can reach the customers in a better manner.
Felix, Rauschnabel, and Hinsch (2017) stated that one of the key disadvantages of using social
media marketing is the vulnerability to cyber-attack. For using the social media sites, the
company has required uploading their information to online users and link to the online channel
as there are chances of gaining cyber-attack. The rate of cybercrime is gaining with the
popularity of social media sites because hackers are targeting social media accounts for
accessing the confidential information of the company for gaining an advantage.
In support to this, Tiago and Veríssimo (2014) evaluated that the companies which are
implemented social media marketing approach should invest in online security software as
cybercrimes are gaining rapidly and company can lose all of its followers in the case of hacked
social account. The company should not treat as social media sites as another traditional source
of marketing. Since people can give their negative feedback on this channel and could ruin the
reputation of the company.
Justification of research problem
In the existing phenomenon, workforces are not required to utilize traditional marketing
practices. Hence, they should implement social media marketing strategy in business. This

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research is beneficial to analyze the pros and cons of using social media marketing practices.
This research is also significant to understand the strategies to improve the social media practices
(Zhu and Chen, 2015).
Literature gap and opportunity
In this literature review chapter, an investigator will emphasize on the pros and cons of using
social media in business. This literature review facilitates the opportunity to analyze the
advantages and disadvantages of using social media practices in business. This research will
focus on the strategy to enhance the social media practices in the business organization. A
research will take small sample size because few people are interested to participate in the survey
through a questionnaire.

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Research Questions/Hypothesis
Primary question
 What is meaning and concept of social media marketing strategy?
Secondary question
 What are the pros and cons of using social media marketing strategy in business?
 What are the strategies to enhance the social media marketing in business?

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Research Design and Methodology
The research design is essential to obtain the appropriate instruction with respect to gathering the
opinion and analyze the findings regarding research issue. There are some kinds of research
design that could be implemented by a researcher to complete the research (Rodriguez, Peterson,
and Ajjan (2015). It is described as following:
Qualitative research
Chart 1: Qualitative research process
(Sources: Agnihotri, Dingus, Hu and Krush, 2016).
Qualitative research process contains four phases of the research. In the initial phase, an
investigator will discover the research and makes planning. In the second phase, an investigator
will screen the criteria and recruitment. In the next phase, an investigator will discuss the guide
and homework. After that, an investigator will consider focus group strategy and make a final
report to complete the research in a targeted time period (Adamopoulos and Todri, 2015).
Approaches to reliability and Validity

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A researcher will implement the inductive approach because research issue is based on
subjective nature. This approach will enable a researcher to build theoretical aspects associated
with research aspects. Thus, this approach would be significant to enhance the reliability and
validity of research outcome (Ju, Jeong, and Chyi, 2014).
Sampling and Sample Size
Sampling is a process of choosing the participants from larger population size. Non-probability
sampling method will be applied by an investigator for conducting the investigation as this
research issue relies on qualitative nature. However, long time period and high expenses will be
required for using non-probability sampling tool due to the open-ended questionnaire in an
interview (Schulze, Schöler and Skiera, 2015). For obtaining the interview, 5 marketing manager
will be selected from Starbuck Corporation, which uses social media practices in the business.
Data Collection Method
Primary data technique will be implemented by a researcher to complete the research in a
specified time period. This data would be gathered by using the survey through questionnaire
and interview. Hence, it could be appropriate for obtaining the depths information from the
targeted sample size. This technique is also essential to get first hand and new data related to
research issue (Risius and Beck, 2015).
Variables Specifications
There are two kinds of a variable which could be executed by a researcher such as an
independent and dependent variable. Independent variable is social media marketing strategy and
the dependent variable is the business performance of Starbuck Corporation.
Quantitative research
Chart 2: Quantitative research process

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(Sources: Ngai, Tao and Moon, 2015).
As per the above chart, it could be depicted that a researcher will identify the research problem
and purpose at the initial level. After that, it will develop the hypothesis regarding research issue
and makes the literature review as per the research objective. Under this research, research has
been designed to choose the sample and apply research instrument. After this process, legal
ethical consideration will be included in the research design. Later, data will be collected and
analyzed by using different sources. After that, the budget would be estimated by a discussion of
research (Minazzi, 2015).
Research Instrument
A researcher will implement secondary research to perform the research. This research would be
obtained from certain sources such as government publication, offline and online websites,
academic journal and annual report. This technique is executed by a researcher to support the

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primary data. Thus, this instrument would be effective to find reliable outcome (Ju, Jeong, and
Chyi, 2014).
Quantitative Data Analysis Process
Chart 3: Quantitative data analysis process
(Sources: Schulze, Schöler and Skiera, 2015).
As per the above chart, it could be stated that a researcher will prepare the information on
primary phase. Later, a researcher will gain their intellectual capacity with respect to mean,
recording and frequencies of information. After that, data would be assessed by implementing
Ms-excel software to demonstrate the data through different tables, charts, and graphs.
Subsequent gathered data would be interpreted in a meaningful manner. Consequently,
quantitative data analysis could be advantageous to complete the research objectives in a
specified time structure (Risius, and Beck, 2015).
Sampling and Sample Size
For this research, probability sampling technique would be selected as it provides equal chances
to their selected candidate to share their ideas regarding the role of social media marketing
strategy in business. Consequently, it could be effective to decline the partiality from survey
through a questionnaire. For conducting the survey questionnaire, a researcher will choose 55
employees who are involved in social media practices in business. It is beneficial for a researcher

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to gather the trustworthy and feasible outcome with minimum time as close-ended questionnaire
would be implemented for this research (Ngai, Tao, and Moon, 2015).
Reliability and Validity of Data
Validity defines the extent by which feasibility of research could be determined by quantitative
information. For instance, a researcher will apply the survey through a questionnaire to assess the
pros and cons of using social media in business. Furthermore, reliability approach could be
applied to assess the trustworthiness of research outcome. The qualitative information is
determined by literature review to improve the reliability and validity of research outcome in a
systematic manner (Minazzi, 2015).

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Research Limitations
There is different research limitation which might be faced by a researcher during the research.
These limitations could be inadequate time, cost and resources. Another limitation is an
insufficient sample size to obtain the information through a survey. Further, an investigator
would be accountable for maintaining the confidentiality of participants. As a result, these
limitations could impact on the research outcome (Rodriguez, Peterson and Ajjan, 2015).

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Time schedule
Research activities which would be
performed
Time that will be taken for
performing each activity
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
Selection of research concern
Creating purpose of research
Tools of data collection
Building questionnaire of research
Appropriate selection of sampling
tool
Analysis of gathered information
Final writing of report
Submission of report
(See: Exhibit 1)

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Conclusion
As per the above discussion, it can be concluded that social media is used as marketing practices
to persuade a large number of customers. It could be summarised that there are different benefits
of social media practices such as less time and cost. Further, it could be evaluated that company
has some drawbacks of using social media marketing like cybercrime threat. It could be also
concluded that company should use effective strategy to improve the social media practices such
as invest in online security software.
It could be also concluded that both quantitative and qualitative research design would
be implemented by a researcher to generate the quality information regarding research concern.
A researcher will need 10 weeks for completing the investigation in a methodological way.

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References
Adamopoulos, P., & Todri, V. (2015, August). The effectiveness of marketing strategies in social
media: Evidence from promotional events. In Proceedings of the 21st ACM SIGKDD
International Conference on Knowledge Discovery and Data Mining (pp. 1641-1650).
UK: ACM.
Agnihotri, R., Dingus, R., Hu, M. Y., & Krush, M. T. (2016). Social media: Influencing
customer satisfaction in B2B sales. Industrial Marketing Management, 53, 172-180.
Armstrong, G., Kotler, P., Harker, M., & Brennan, R. (2015). Marketing: an introduction. UK:
Pearson Education.
Ashley, C., & Tuten, T. (2015). Creative strategies in social media marketing: An exploratory
study of branded social content and consumer engagement. Psychology & Marketing,
32(1), 15-27.
Felix, R., Rauschnabel, P. A., & Hinsch, C. (2017). Elements of strategic social media
marketing: A holistic framework. Journal of Business Research, 70, 118-126.
Ju, A., Jeong, S. H., & Chyi, H. I. (2014). Will social media save newspapers? Examining the
effectiveness of Facebook and Twitter as news platforms. Journalism Practice, 8(1), 1-
17.
Kim, W. G., Lim, H., & Brymer, R. A. (2015). The effectiveness of managing social media on
hotel performance. International Journal of Hospitality Management, 44, 165-171.
Leung, X. Y., Bai, B., & Erdem, M. (2017). Hotel social media marketing: a study on message
strategy and its effectiveness. Journal of Hospitality and Tourism Technology, 8(2), 239-
255.

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Leung, X. Y., Bai, B., & Stahura, K. A. (2015). The marketing effectiveness of social media in
the hotel industry: A comparison of Facebook and Twitter. Journal of Hospitality &
Tourism Research, 39(2), 147-169.
Minazzi, R. (2015). Social media marketing in tourism and hospitality. Heidelberg: Springer.
Ngai, E. W., Tao, S. S., & Moon, K. K. (2015). Social media research: Theories, constructs, and
conceptual frameworks. International Journal of Information Management, 35(1), 33-44.
Risius, M., & Beck, R. (2015). The effectiveness of corporate social media activities in
increasing relational outcomes. Information & Management, 52(7), 824-839.
Rodriguez, M., Peterson, R. M., & Ajjan, H. (2015). CRM/social media technology: impact on
customer orientation process and organizational sales performance. In Ideas in
Marketing: Finding the New and Polishing the Old (pp. 636-638). USA: Springer, Cham.
Schulze, C., Schöler, L., & Skiera, B. (2015). Customizing social media marketing. MIT Sloan
Management Review, 56(2), 8.
Scott, D. M. (2015). The new rules of marketing and PR: How to use social media, online video,
mobile applications, blogs, news releases, and viral marketing to reach buyers directly.
USA: John Wiley & Sons.
Tiago, M. T. P. M. B., & Veríssimo, J. M. C. (2014). Digital marketing and social media: Why
Bother?. Business Horizons, 57(6), 703-708.
Tuten, T. L., & Solomon, M. R. (2017). Social media marketing. USA: Sage.
Zhu, Y. Q., & Chen, H. G. (2015). Social media and human need satisfaction: Implications for
social media marketing. Business Horizons, 58(3), 335-345.

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Appendix
Time Schedule (Research plan)
Research activities which would be
performed
Time that will be taken for
performing each activity
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
Selection of research concern
Creating purpose of research
Tools for data collection
Building questionnaire of research
Appropriate selection of sampling
tool
Analysis of gathered information
Final writing of report
Submission of report