HI6008: Evaluating Social Media Marketing in Australian Businesses

This report examines the use of social media marketing by Australian companies, focusing on its advantages and disadvantages. It begins with an introduction to social media marketing, highlighting its cost-effectiveness and accessibility. The report then outlines the project's objectives and scope, followed by a literature review summarizing previous research on the topic. Key aspects covered include the different types of social media channels, such as Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, and YouTube, and their respective benefits for businesses. The research questions address the advantages and disadvantages of social media marketing strategies, as well as their implications for Australian businesses. The research design and methodology section details the use of quantitative methods, including a survey of digital marketing executives. The report also acknowledges research limitations and provides a time schedule for project completion. It concludes by emphasizing the importance of social media marketing for improving business performance and integrating it with traditional marketing methods. This resource is available on Desklib, a platform providing study tools and solved assignments for students.

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Table of Contents
Introduction......................................................................................................................................2
Project Objective.............................................................................................................................2
Literature Review............................................................................................................................2
Research Questions..........................................................................................................................5
Research Design and Methodology.................................................................................................5
Research Limitations.......................................................................................................................7
Time Schedule.................................................................................................................................7
Conclusion.......................................................................................................................................8
Reference list...................................................................................................................................9
Appendix........................................................................................................................................11
Survey questionnaire..................................................................................................................11

Introduction
In the present times, social media is extensively used in the marketing process to communicate
with the stakeholders, employees and the consumers. It is a cost-effective business, which can be
used to interact with the local customers as well as the customers outside the country. There are
several built-in programs, which can be used to communicate with different stakeholders. In the
recent, most of the companies are using marketing campaigns or to allow the customers to post
on the websites or through feedback reviews. There are several platforms such as Whatsapp,
yelp, Instagram, Snapchat, reddit or Tumbler. According to the news article published in
socialmedianews.com, the business enterprises in Australia are using different social media sites
such as wordpress.com, Instagram, Facebook, LinkedIn, and Trip advisor (Trainor, Andzulis,
Rapp and Agnihotri, 2014). The social media is used for different purposes such as branding,
increasing sales and promotion.
Project Objective
 To identify the various forms of social marketing used by the Australian companies, in
business
 To analyze the advantages and disadvantages of using social media for marketing in
Australian companies
Literature Review
In the recent times, social media platforms are gaining popularity as it is cost-effective method
for increased access to different companies. The social media can be used to launch the business
in global platform without the need of proper expansion. The companies, which are not using

social media techniques are not adapting themselves with technology and falling behind in
competition.
In the perspective of Jussila, Kärkkäinen and Aramo-Immonen (2014) there are several unique
advantages of social media accounts, such as it provides effective business expansion and
provides honest communication between the customers as well as the suppliers. With the help of
tweets and Facebook posts, the company remains connected with the company. The company
can also conduct market research with the help of social media posts and develop strategies
which can be address the needs of the customers. The feedback of the customers on online
platforms can be used to enhance the marketing techniques and develop attractive marketing
techniques.
In the perspective of Aichner and Jacob (2015) the social media marketing is comparatively
cheaper way of advancing the products of the organization to the clients of the organization. The
online marketing is an inexpensive way to enhance the sales of the company as it connects to
greater mass in a very short period of time. The social media is an easy exhibit to what the
company has to offer and improve the performance of the organization.
In the views of Rauniar and Johnson (2014), the social media marketing refers to the marketing
approaches, which can use different marketing channels such as Facebook, Twitter and
Instagram. The social media marketing promotes different brands and increase awareness, which
can interest the public in different platforms. The social media marketing will promote the
presence of the company in different social media platforms and advertise the organization
globally. It will attract the potential customers and attain the feedback in a comprehensive, time
saving manner.

According to Stelzner (2014), in the customer-focused companies, the marketing in the social
media platforms have supreme importance as the social media increases the awareness in the
minds of the customers about the company in an effective manner. The customers get attracted
towards the advertisement as they get the post from the sources, which are trusted by them.
There are numerous social media channels, and a firm recently introduced should have access to
all the major social media platforms for gaining recognition.
In the perspective of Sunstein (2018) it is challenging for the companies to realize the platform,
which they should focus on. Every media channel is unique and has its own specialty. Twitter is
widely used social media communication platform, which is used to initiate a conversation or
debate on any topic. It has a special importance for the social media applications, which allows
the companies to post, interact and initiate the conversation with a person. It can be used as an
open platform for the exchange of feedbacks and complaints.
According to Wamba and Carter (2016) Facebook is another tool, which can be used for personal
messaging, contacting and initiating conversation with the buyers. However, it is important that
the corporate page of the company should not look like an advertisement and make the people
disinterested in it. Instagram is another social media tool, which is specifically used by the
companies in lifestyle, fashion, food and industry. If the page of the company is creative, then it
should have more followers and customers. A page with average content fails to attract the users
in the organization.
LinkedIn is a professional website, which is used by the companies to create a healthier
relationship with the job seekers and other stakeholders in the in the [professional community.
Therefore, it is important that the LinkedIn profile of the organization is professional, which

connects the recruiters and the job seekers. The YouTube is also used by the companies, which
emphasize brand management and focus on the video content. The videos posted on YouTube be
are highly advertised on the Google platforms; therefore, the companies are using title of video
as the company’s name to attract attention of the organization. There are several underlying
concepts in the social media theory such as content, content targeting and strategy (Ngai, Tao
and Moon, 2015).
Research Questions
The primary question of the research is:
 What are the advantages and disadvantages of using social media techniques for
marketing in Australian companies?
The secondary questions of the present research are:
 What are the advantages and the disadvantages of social media marketing strategy?
 What are the implications of social media marketing strategy for the Australian business
organizations?
Research Design and Methodology
The research design is an integral part of the research process. The research is a method of
scientific query, which involves the collection and interpretation of knowledge. In the present
research, descriptive research design is used, which means that the researcher will describe the
characteristics of the social media marketing strategy. In the descriptive research design,
different characteristics of a particular phenomenon are analyzed. The present research will
discuss the positive and the negative of the social media marketing strategy for the organization.

Basically, there are three types of research, exploratory, explanatory and descriptive research.
The exploratory research is aimed at finding new information and knowledge related to the
research. In this type of research, the researcher pursues novel information whereas the
explanatory researcher tries to explain a social phenomenon (Marczyk, DeMatteo and Festinger,
2017).
It impacts the overall research process; therefore, the research design tools and techniques
should be selected in a proper manner. There are two types of research, namely, qualitative
research and the quantitative research. In the qualitative research, the researcher takes use of
qualitative information, which cannot be analyzed through statistical means. The qualitative
research emphasizes the use of information, which is used for explaining a certain meaning of
the social phenomenon. However, qualitative research is time-consuming and takes lot of time.
The quantitative research is easy and cost-effective method for the data collection and analysis
(Mackey and Gass, 2015).
In the present, quantitative methods are used for collecting the data for the research process. In
this process, the quantitative data collection method is used in which the data can be analyzed
through statistical means. The graphical representation method will be used to represent the data
in the analytical form. The positivism research philosophy is used for the research, which means
that the researcher has assumed that he will remain separated from the research. The deductive
research design will be used for the research. The researcher will collect and analyze the
information for obtaining the information related to the research questions. In the present
research, a survey will be conducted with 50 digital marketing executives in the Australian
business organizations (Betley and Noble, 2017).

Research Limitations
There are certain limitations of the research, such as the research has used quantitative methods
for the data collection, which means that the information collected thorough secondary sources is
not reliable. Another limitation of the research is the lack of available or reliable sources in the
research filed. There is also limited number of studies on the research topic, which makes it
challenging for understanding and investigating the research problem. The literature review
forms a basis of the research as it develops a background knowledge related to task (Neuman,
2014).
Time Schedule
In the present section, a gantt chart is designed for presenting the time schedule of the research
on time. Designing a timeline is important in monitoring the progress of the research.
Activities 1st month 2nd
month
3rd
month
4th
month
5th
month
6th
month
Selecting
research topic
creating aim of
the research
Reviewing the
literature
Data collection
from survey
questionnaire
Data analysis

Conclusion and
recommendatio
n
Final
submission
Conclusion
It can be concluded from the research proposal that the social media marketing is a novel
technology, which can be used to improve the business performance of the companies. The
social media technology is growing at a quick rate and there are a large number of people, who
are joining the social media for developing their business. The business organizations should
take benefit of this technology to convert the potential leads into new customers. The social
media marketing is a novel technology, which is cheaper than the traditional advertising
mediums. Therefore, the companies should integrate social media along with traditional
marketing mediums.

Reference list
Aichner, T. and Jacob, F., 2015. Measuring the degree of corporate social media
use. International Journal of Market Research, 57(2), pp.257-276.
Betley, R. and Noble, I. 2017. Visual Research: An Introduction to Research Methods in
Graphic Design. Bloomsbury Publishing.
Jussila, J.J., Kärkkäinen, H. and Aramo-Immonen, H., 2014. Social media utilization in business-
to-business relationships of technology industry firms. Computers in Human
Behavior, 30, pp.606-613.
Mackey, A., and Gass, S. M. 2015. Second language research: Methodology and design.
Routledge.
Marczyk, G., DeMatteo, D., and Festinger, D. 2017. Essentials of research design and
methodology. John Wiley.
Neuman, L. W. 2014. Social research methods. Pearson Education Limited.
Ngai, E.W., Tao, S.S. and Moon, K.K., 2015. Social media research: Theories, constructs, and
conceptual frameworks. International Journal of Information Management, 35(1), pp.33-
44.
Rauniar, R., Rawski, G., Yang, J. and Johnson, B., 2014. Technology acceptance model (TAM)
and social media usage: an empirical study on Facebook. Journal of Enterprise
Information Management, 27(1), pp.6-30.

Stelzner, M., 2014. 2014 Social Media Marketing Industry Report. Social media examiner, pp.1-
52.
Sunstein, C.R., 2018. # Republic: Divided democracy in the age of social media. Princeton
University Press.
Trainor, K.J., Andzulis, J.M., Rapp, A. and Agnihotri, R., 2014. Social media technology usage
and customer relationship performance: A capabilities-based examination of social
CRM. Journal of Business Research, 67(6), pp.1201-1208.
Wamba, S.F. and Carter, L., 2016. Social media tools adoption and use by SMEs: An empirical
study. In Social Media and Networking: Concepts, Methodologies, Tools, and
Applications(pp. 791-806). IGI Global.

Appendix
Survey questionnaire
1. What industry are you operating in?
A. Manufacturing
B. Service
C. Transportation
D. Construction
2. Does your organization have specific marketing executives?
a. Yes
b. No
3. Are you using social media marketing for the organization?
a. Yes
b. No
4. Which social media websites are used by your company?
a. Facebook
b. Twitter
c. LinkedIn
d. Youtube

5. What are the main purposes of using social media?
a. For product advertisement
b. Gaining feedback from the customers
c. Consumer engagement
d. Increasing brand awareness
6. Do you think social media is useful for your company?
a. Yes
b. No
7. What are the major benefits of social media marketing strategy?
a. It can be used for brand awareness
b. It is effective for selling product or service
c. It is beneficial for consumer engagement
d. It can be used for developing the product brand
e. All of the above