Business Research Methods: Social Media Strategies and Applications

This report examines the increasing importance of social media in business, particularly for market research and customer behavior analysis. It discusses the evolution of social networking, relevant theories like the social information processing (SIP) theory, and common themes such as online knowledge sharing and direct customer communication. The report highlights the significance of creativity in social media content and enhancing customer engagement through various strategies. It also addresses study limitations, including data accuracy and potential biases in online research. Future research directions include considering demographic variables and using larger sample sizes to improve the reliability of findings. The report concludes that social media has revolutionized global business by providing a platform for product and service discussions, boosting business objectives, and increasing customer awareness. Desklib provides access to similar solved assignments and past papers for students.

Running head: BUSINESS RESEARCH METHODS
Business Research Methods
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BUSINESS RESEARCH METHODS
Table of Contents
Introduction................................................................................................................................2
Theory and progression in use of social media.........................................................................2
Common themes.........................................................................................................................3
Difference in themes..................................................................................................................4
Study limitations........................................................................................................................4
Future directions proposed in the articles..................................................................................5
Conclusion..................................................................................................................................5
References..................................................................................................................................6
Appendix....................................................................................................................................7

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Introduction
In the current study we have focussed upon the importance of social media in real
world management. Within the current decade the social media has gained considerable
importance and is used by business organizations for conducting market research. One of the
most important aspects of using social media by business organizations is to study and
analyse the customer behaviours. The feedbacks provided by the customers over social media
regarding a range of products can further help the organizations customize and improve their
services accordingly.
In the current study we have analysed the importance of social media within business
organizations. There are different theories and concepts guiding the use of social media in
business contexts, a few of which have been critically discussed in the later sections.
Theory and progression in use of social media
The social networking and the pattern of its uses had hugely evolved within the last
50 years. Though, the advent of e-mail happened in 1960, it was not made available to ht
general public till 1991. The e-mail technology helped in the sharing of messages from one
computer to another. It was followed by development of ARPANET (Advanced Research
Projects Agency) in 1969. It formed an early network of time-sharing computers based on
which internet evolved. Social media was further developed during the 1970s in order to give
real time virtual world experience using multi-user dimensions. Some of the theories such as
the social information processing (SIP) theory guides interpersonal communication between a
computers mediated environment (Siricharoen 2012). Additionally, some of the theories have
defined social media as platforms where people interact freely sharing and discussing
information and are structured by topics (Trainor et al. 2016).

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By 1990s many social networking sites were developed such as Black Planet, Asian
Avenue etc. By 2004, many common names had already entered the market such as
facebook, YouTube, Cyword, Yahoo! 360.
Common themes
The importance of social media in business context has been further discussed with
the help of a number of scholarly journals. The journals have been extracted from secondary
databases such as google scholar, pubmed, NCBI, SCIENCEDIRECT etc. These have been
extensively studied for finding out some of the common theme which are-online sharing of
knowledge and information among different groups of people; personal to personal
communication with the organization (Baruah 2012; Siricharoen 2012).
The different article evaluated over here highlights the importance of social media in
the sharing and dissemination of knowledge among wide public platforms. These are mainly
structured around common areas of interest ranging from hobbies, education, music, culture,
friends, and social communities (Felix et al. 2017). As mentioned by Parveen et al. (2015),
internet and social media technologies provide one global roof to the world.
Additionally, the social media pages used by organizations allow the target customer
segment to lodge their complaints regarding the products and services directly to the
company executives. As mentioned by Agnihotri et al. (2016), the advent of social media has
allowed for the delivery of products and services in much real time. Moreover, the
informative user interfaces allows the target customer segments to check the products and
services before making the decision of availing them. The free interactive surfaces also help
in the development of user interface.

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Difference in themes
The different themes which were highlighted though the article were – infusing
creativity in social media and enhancing customer engagement online. In the age of digital
communications and social media there are thousands of webpages which are displaying the
same information based upon viewers preferences search history. However, we would only
like to go to a page, which would disseminate much useful information in a concise manner,
as there lays difference between reading a voluminous book and a social media page. As
suggested by Trainor et al. (2016) internet is supposed to provide much coherent and
structured information in much real time. Hence, designing the WebPages in a creative
fashion can help in attracting the maximum number of target customer segments (Siricharoen
2012). This could be done by making the WebPages more concise, informative and colourful,
which optimizes most of the information in a small space.
Additionally, user engagement is another important concept, which could be
maximized using appropriate marketing gimmicks and strategies (Vinerean et al. 2013). For
example, facebook, instragram, whatsapp are some of the most used social media platforms
which attracts people of all age groups. Therefore, pasting in a link leading to the product
information and details in some of these sites can enhance user engagements.
Study limitations
There are a number of limitations to this effect where when a number of secondary
data such as organization’s website and documentation are accessed there is least guarantee
that the data might be accurate (Derani and Naidu 2016).

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The limitations associated with quantitative journals are unsystematic sampling
procedures and low response rates of online surveys further act as hindrance to this effect
(Vinerean et al. 2013). Therefore, the business research conducted using online social media
are subjected to confounding biases, which can affect the end results of the research.
Future directions proposed in the articles
The limitations discussed above may provide further avenues for future research.
Some of the research articles failed to discuss the demographic variables such as age, gender,
sex and nationality which again guide the responses of the candidates to a great extent. These
open the gateway for future research where all these factors would be taken into
consideration for doing the research analysis. Additionally, the small size of the samples
again provides confounding results. Therefore, future research studies should be developed in
a manner which can take into consideration large sample sizes.
Conclusion
The study here discusses the advent of social media and its implications in today’s
business world. Social media has brought about a revolution in the context of the global
business by providing a much larger platform for people to discuss regarding their products
and services. It not only provides a boost to the business objectives but also generates
sufficient customer awareness. It also helps in the promotion of some of the themes such as
the importance of creativity in social media and enhancing customer engagement.

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References
Agnihotri, R., Dingus, R., Hu, M.Y. and Krush, M.T., 2016. Social media: Influencing
customer satisfaction in B2B sales. Industrial Marketing Management, 53, pp.172-180.
Baruah, T.D., 2012. Effectiveness of Social Media as a tool of communication and its
potential for technology enabled connections: A micro-level study. International Journal of
Scientific and Research Publications, 2(5), pp.1-10.
Derani, N.E.S. and Naidu, P., 2016. The impact of utilizing social media as a communication
platform during a crisis within the oil industry. Procedia Economics and Finance, 35,
pp.650-658.
Felix, R., Rauschnabel, P.A. and Hinsch, C., 2017. Elements of strategic social media
marketing: A holistic framework. Journal of Business Research, 70, pp.118-126.
Parveen, F., Jaafar, N.I. and Ainin, S., 2015. Social media usage and organizational
performance: Reflections of Malaysian social media managers. Telematics and
Informatics, 32(1), pp.67-78.
Siricharoen, W.V., 2012. Social Media, How does it Work for Business?. International
Journal of Innovation, Management and Technology, 3(4), p.476.
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.
Vinerean, S., Cetina, I., Dumitrescu, L. and Tichindelean, M., 2013. The effects of social
media marketing on online consumer behavior. International Journal of Business and
Management, 8(14), p.66.

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Appendix
Provide reference for each academic article (formatted
using the Harvard Referencing Style)
Conceptual article
(proposed theory)
Siricharoen, W.V., 2012. Social Media, How does it Work for
Business?. International Journal of Innovation, Management
and Technology, 3(4), p.476.
Quantitative
article
Vinerean, S., Cetina, I., Dumitrescu, L. and Tichindelean, M.,
2013. The effects of social media marketing on online
consumer behavior. International Journal of Business and
Management, 8(14), p.66.
Qualitative article Derani, N.E.S. and Naidu, P., 2016. The impact of utilizing
social media as a communication platform during a crisis
within the oil industry. Procedia Economics and Finance, 35,
pp.650-658.
Mixed method
article
Baruah, T.D., 2012. Effectiveness of Social Media as a tool of
communication and its potential for technology enabled
connections: A micro-level study. International Journal of
Scientific and Research Publications, 2(5), pp.1-10.