HND Business Research Project: Sainsbury's Social Media Marketing

This research project examines the effectiveness of Sainsbury's social media marketing strategies, focusing on the impact of Facebook and LinkedIn on customer engagement and acquisition. The project begins with an introduction outlining the importance of marketing and the increasing use of social media platforms like Facebook and LinkedIn for business promotion. It reviews relevant literature and sets out the research aim, objectives, and methodology, including both primary and secondary data collection. The project employs a descriptive research design, inductive research approach, and interpretivism philosophy to analyze the data gathered through questionnaires distributed to Sainsbury's managers. Thematic analysis is used to interpret the collected data, revealing insights into managers' knowledge of social media marketing and their perceptions of Facebook and LinkedIn's effectiveness in reaching customers. The research identifies key themes related to managers' understanding of social media marketing, the role of Facebook and LinkedIn, and the areas where Sainsbury's strategy can be improved. The project concludes with an analysis of the collected data, drawing conclusions about the effectiveness of Sainsbury's social media marketing efforts and providing recommendations for future strategy development. The project also acknowledges limitations, such as the small sample size, and emphasizes the ethical considerations of data handling.

RESEARCH PROJECT

INTRODUCTION
Marketing is one of the important function of management that help it in achieving its
goals and targets in determined time period. There are number of ways in which marketing is
done by the business firms through number of methods like social media. Facebook and
LinkedIn are emerging as one of the important tool of marketing through which deeply
connection is established with prospective customers. Several social media like Facebook and
LinkedIn are used by the firms to do marketing of their product. Sainsbury is one of most famous
company of UK that is operating in retail sector and is growing at fast rate in the UK. Extent to
which firm is using social media for marketing of its product is given in the report. In this regard
literature are reviewed and data analysis is done. At end of the report, conclusion is formed in the
report.
TASK 1
1.1
Background of study
It was already a difficult task for the business firms to determine the way in which
marketing must be done to turn prospective in to real customers. This is because consumer
behaviour of the people keeps of changing consistently. Thus, strategy that is followed in
specific time period can be no longer useful to the business firm. In pastime period varied
researchers are carried out on the social media in terms of way in which firms are using them to
create customers in the business. In present research study main focus is on identifying how
much social media platform successfully assist corporate in attracting footfalls of customers in
premises and help it in communicating its message in proper manner to the customers. In pastime
period number of researches carried out on social media and role it played in increasing return on
investment of the business firms. Social media help firms in extracting details that are floating on
social media platform in respect to their product.
Aim of research: To identify positive impact of social media on the Sainsbury marketing
operations.
Objectives of research
 To identify limit by which Facebook and other social sites help firms in communicating
information about their product in proper manner to customers.
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 To identify role which Facebook and LinkedIn play in assisting companies in increasing
its customer base.
 To understand pillars of the Sainsbury social media strategy.
 To find out areas where Sainsbury need to work to improve its marketing strategy (SM).
1.2
There are number of factors due to which research project was selected. One of them is
that firms are using social media increasingly to enhance product sales. It can be identified from
the literatures that many new technologies are arriving in the market by using which firm can
gather information about consumer behaviour of the people by tracing information that are on
social media platform in respect to the business firm. There are number of business firms that
observe elevation in number of customers in the business after using social media. This is
because through same they are interacting with the customers and solving their grievances. All
these things motivate individuals to understand sort of impact that Facebook and LinkedIn usage
have on corporate. Hence, it can be said that there are number of factors that are contributing to
research project selection.
1.3
According to Hays, Page and Buhalis (2013) social media assist corporate in interacting
with its customers. It is identified that by using common channels of communication which are
TV and newspaper it becomes difficult to task to provide entire information to the customers. It
is the social media through which different posts of the product can be done in respect to its
features. Customers can be made more informed about the product.
Contrary to this DeMers (2014) state that social media does not guarantee that firm will
be able to successfully do marketing of its product. This is because it is the only platform
through which communication is established with the customers. It same will not be used
effectively then in that case better results can not be obtained by the business firm.
According to Tiago and Veríssimo (2014) social media play a great role in increasing
customer base of the business firm. This is because firms by using advance technology gather
facts from the social media sites and then by using text mining and customer analytics entire data
is analysed and useful patterns are identified by the business firm to increase sale of its product.
It can be said that there is huge importance of the social media in respect to increasing customers
in the business.
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Contrary to this Eagleman (2013) state that it is the right marketing strategy that help
firm in winning the battle. This is because technology can give one an information about things
customers talking about on social media. Preparing strategy in better manner depends on the
managers and it is not necessary that every time managers on the basis of received inputs make
correct decisions. Thus, it can be said that social media can help firm in making decisions but it
cannot be a hundred percent effective.
According to Shen and Bissell (2013) there may be number of things that any firm can
consider in to its social media strategy. Some of these things are customer service, crisis control
and sales. All these three and other factors are taken in to account by the business firms to form
social media strategy. It is very important to consider these factors in formation of strategy
because if firm is focused on sales factor then it can increase sales of product at rapid pace. This
is because already firm is on right track. It is observed that many people consciously does not
make use of social media and sometimes due to emotions post wrong comment on FB page.
Other people also read same comments on Facebook page and they also start thinking negatively
about company which is not good for it. Crisis management strategy help firm in handling such
kind of situations. On time service is provided to the customers and it can be said that this help
firm in satisfying its customers.
As per views of Parsons (2013) in case of many firms some weak points are identified in
the social media marketing strategy. Some of them are that firms failed to differentiate its
strategy and way of promotion on social media in comparison to company. Due to all these
reasons some time it failed to attract all relevant candidates towards its stores. This is the major
limitation of the social media strategies that are followed by the firms. It can be said that firms
needs to modify their social media marketing strategy.
1.4
As part of the research project specification aims and objectives are given below.
Aim of research: To identify impact that Facebook and LinkedIn have on the Sainsbury
marketing activities.
Objectives of research
 To identify limit by which Facebook and other social sites help firms in communicating
information about their product in proper manner to customers.
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 To identify role which Facebook and LinkedIn play in assisting companies in increasing
its customer base.
 To understand pillars of the Sainsbury social media strategy.
 To find out areas where Sainsbury need to work to improve its marketing strategy (SM).
In present research study both primary and secondary data is collected and analysed.
Secondary data is collected from books, journals and magazines. On other hand primary
data is gathered from specific respondents. Major limitation research study is that sample
size taken is small in nature but it is ensured that data is taken from those candidates that
have strong knowledge of research topic. As part of ethics it is ensured that data taken
from respondents is safe and no one can take it without approval of researcher.
1.5
S. No. Activit
y/
Week
April
2016
May
2016
June
2016
July
2016
25 2 9 1623 3 10 17 24 18
Week
number 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 1
011
1 Preparation of research proposal which will
cover entire details related to project.
2 Developing objectives and aims of present
research study
3 Data collection and analysis of same from
books, journals and magazines.
4 Developing structure of the research report
and content that must be included in it.
5 Collection of primary data from market.
6 Data structuring so that analysis can be done in
proper manner.
7 Data analysis by using themes under which
sort of response given by respondents will be
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recorded and analysed.
8 Preparing conclusion of entire file.
9 Developing recommendation of report.
10 Preparing report.
11 Submission of report.
TASK 2
2.1
In order to carry out proper and effective research there are several kinds of resources are
highly required. Such needed resources are like human, financial, it etc. in which human lead to
support in order to collect data from respondents. When researcher is appointed then salary has
to provide by the company where financial resources play integral role (Beckman, 2014). Along
with this, for recording data which are collected by the scholar softwares and technologies
required. Hence, such kinds of resources are needed for make appropriate analysis.
Research Questionnaire
Demographic information
Name:____________
Age:__________
Occupation:__________
Que. 1 You possess strong knowledge of marketing that is done through Facebook and
LinkedIn?
 Yes
 No
Que. 2: Are you agree that, Facebook and LinkedIn are emerging as one of the powerful
channels of communication?
 Strongly agree
 Agree
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 Neutral
 Disagree
 Strongly disagree
Que. 3: Facebook and LinkedIn are one of the powerful channel of communication then TV and
Newspaper?
 Yes
 No
Que. 4: Are you agree that, IOT help corporate in withdrawing important facts from Facebook
and LinkedIn and this assist it in allocation of resources in better manner at retail store.
 Strongly agree
 Agree
 Neutral
 Disagree
 Strongly disagree
Que. 5: What are the aspects which play an important role in making SM strategy effective in
nature for Sainsbury ?
 Crisis management strategy
 Sales strategy
 All of above
Que. 6: As per you opinion, Social media strategy of Sainsbury either strong or poor?
 Yes
 No
Que. 7: From below given options which factor in your opinion play vital role in making SM
strategy weak?
 Lack of differentiation
 Poor implementation of strategy in the business
2.2
Research design: Several designs for conducting research are included which are such as
exploratory, descriptive as well as experimental. In this project, regarding to the topic like social
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media the scholar has knowledge up to the certain level but not in depth (Research Methodology,
2016). Moreover, deep analysis of social media's effectiveness is needed in which descriptive
method of research design of research is adopted.
Research approach: A method of research which provides a clear outline and instruction
that in which the study has to start and accomplish as well is considered as research approach.
Herein, basic two tools involved which are such as inductive as well as deductive. In the current
study, inductive research approach is taken into consideration because the project is of the
qualitative nature. When the study is completed on the basis of quantitative nature then deductive
approach of research is applied (Kumar, 2014).
Research philosophy: To determine by scholar that which particular method in order to
gather required information will be suitable, research philosophy is used. It comprises with major
two kinds which involve interpretivism and positivism. Herein, interpretivism kind of philosophy
undertaken by the investigator rather than another mentioned. The reason is that, positive
consists of some scientific techniques and time consuming therefore, another tool is ignored in
the current study (Panneerselvam, 2014).
Data collection: In accordance with this particular research tool, information and needed
data from selected population is collected in an effective direction. It comprises with basically
two type of data which include secondary as well as primary. In this current project there are
primary data are collected for carry out reasons and solutions of the research problem (Vaioleti,
2016). In this questionnaire are framed by the analyst and then distributed among respondents
through online method.
Data sampling: In order to determine the sample data among whole available
respondents simple random sampling tool is used at this case study. Through this method sample
are selected randomly which are like 25 managers of Sainsbury company. Further, between this
selected sample size, research questionnaire are distributed and responses collected (Flick, 2015).
Data analysis: When needed data from the targeted population as well as sample size
collected then arranged by scholar for analysing in an appropriate structure. In order to analyse
the information basically two analysis methods are there i.e. thematic and statistical (Hunleth,
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2011). The current project is based on qualitative investigation type due to which thematic
analysis tool seems suitable rather than another mentioned.
2.3
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TASK 3
3.1
Qualitative: The method of evaluation in which all the tools relating to the theory part are
included like thematic etc. is known as qualitative. When overall research and data are on the
basis of theoretical concept and avoids to the numeracy part then it seems highly fruitful for
derive better solutions (Silverman, 2016). Same condition is in the current study where numeracy
not taking any place and due to which qualitative evaluation method is adopted or implemented
by analyst.
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Quantitative: The tool in which statistical or SPSS techniques are applied on the data set
collected for deriving the conclusion is identified as quantitative evaluation technique. Various
tools implemented are such as standard deviation, median, arithmetic mean, correlation etc.
which are not taking any part at the current scenario (Bauer, 2014). Due to this cause the
quantitative tool is not considered and apply by the researcher in this study.
3.2
Thematic Analysis
Theme 1: Managers possess strong knowledge of marketing that is done through Facebook and
LinkedIn.
Yes No
0
2
4
6
8
10
12
14
16
18 17
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Interpretation
From the present theme, knowledge as well as awareness of managers of the Sainsbury
company regarding social media marketing is to be analysed in proper manner. It can be found
that 17 between 25 managers are highly aware about the concept of marketing like social media
properly. On the other hand side, only 8 managers not posses an effective as well as adequate
knowledge related to social media marketing which is highly beneficial for organisations for
raising customers.
Theme 2: Managers strongly agree that “Facebook and LinkedIn are emerging as one of the
powerful channels of communication”.
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Strongly agree
Agree
Neutral
Disagree
Strongly disagree
0 2 4 6 8 10 12 14
13
7
3
2
0
Interpretation
When the company is going to launch the new product or service in the market then
social media is used by it for interact with the community. 13 managers strongly agree and said
that discussed marketing technique is one of best platform in order to interact with the people to
increase awareness among them about potential products. Along with this, 7 managers are only
agree through the current theme or concept of the marketing of social media. Moreover, those
managers who unaware about the social media are not giving either positive kind of response or
negative.
Theme 3: Facebook and LinkedIn are one of the powerful channel of communication then TV
and Newspaper
19
6
Yes
No
Interpretation
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In the marketing several kinds of approaches and channels included which are modern,
traditional etc. Herein, it has been interpreted by present theme that, total 19 managers give
positive kind of response to the statement asked among selected sample size of 25. Considering
to another aspect then there are total 6 managers came into consideration who say opposite to the
questionnaire asked them.
Theme 4: Managers strongly agree that “IOT help corporate in withdrawing important facts
from Facebook and LinkedIn and this assist it in allocation of resources in better manner at
retail store”.
Strongly agree Agree Neutral Disagree Strongly disagree
0
2
4
6
8
10
12
14
16
14
6
2 2
1
Interpretation
From the above graph it has been seen that, 14 managers between total sample size which
is 25 strongly agree to the above mentioned statement. Herein, only 6 managers of the selected
business enterprise of retail sector agree that, from IOT as well as innovative technology the firm
able to collect valuable data and information for the social media. Further, decisions are taken
that by management in order to serve or use marketing strategies in effective ways.
Theme 5: aspects which play an important role in making SM strategy effective in nature for
Sainsbury.
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7
5
13
Crisis management
strategy
Sales strategy
All of above
Interpretation
There are various number of factors and elements play highly integral role in the
marketing through social media in order to make successful for the firm. As per the views of 7
and 5 managers crisis management and sales strategy respectively plays significant role. Further,
most of the respondents like 13 managers give thri opinion that, both the stated aspects and
elements have pivotal place for considering SM marketing.
Theme 6: Social media strategy of Sainsbury is highly strong.
Yes
No
0 2 4 6 8 10 12 14 16 18 20
7
18
Interpretation
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From the aforementioned graph it can be assessed that, marketing strategy like SM of the
Sainsbury is strong and attractive on the basis of 18 managers. Moreover, when looking at the
negative point then there are only 7 respondents come consideration who give their opinion that,
SM strategy of the retailer is not strong.
Theme 7: Factors which are responsible and play vital role in making SM strategy weak.
Lack of differentiation
Poor implementation of strategy in the business
11.4
11.6
11.8
12
12.2
12.4
12.6
12.8
13
13.2
12
13
Interpretation
Behind occurring weaknesses under in the social media marketing there are some aspects
are accountable which are described through present analysed theme. As per the opinion of 13
managers, it can be identified that Sainsbury not able to implement as well as execute this
technique of marketing in proper ways which lead to create issues and weakness. Further, as per
the 12 managers, lack of differentiation in the marketing tools and methods lead to incur
weakness for the selected company of retail sector.
3.3
From the above analysis it has been articulated that social media strategy for marketing
its products and services is highly effective and appropriate for the chosen company as compared
to the traditional methods. Along with this, this kind of technique is one of the best because it
supports to entity in terms of aware and attract higher customers. When talking about its impact
on the marketing department of Sainsbury then it can be said that social media helps to it up to
the higher extent. Moreover, there are some weak points also of this type of marketing or
advertisement but at the negligence level.
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It can be suggested through present analysis that Sainsbury company should use social
media marketing in more number as compare to the other traditional methods. The cited strategy
supports to aware higher number of local community because in the present era most of the
people using internet and social media networks. Through this burden of marketing of respective
department will be reduce and decline up to the higher extent. Moreover, it can be said that
management of Sainsbury must use existing and innovative techniques of social media to make
the marketing operations effective. In addition to this, it can be recommended that it should
implement social media techniques with fruitful and effectual manner which will help to become
highly effective for its marketing function.
TASK 4
4.1
Covered in PPT
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