MNG93003 Research Proposal: Social Media Marketing & Customer Needs

This research proposal examines the effectiveness of social media marketing compared to traditional marketing strategies in meeting changing customer needs and influencing buying behavior, with a case study focus on Binary Trends, a digital marketing company. The study aims to identify factors driving organizations to use social media, evaluate its effectiveness, analyze the relationship between social media marketing and customer buying behavior, and recommend ways for Binary Trends to leverage social media. The research employs a positivism philosophy, deductive approach, and descriptive design, utilizing primary data collected through surveys. Quantitative data analysis will be used, and ethical considerations, including plagiarism and data privacy, are addressed. The limitations include a small sample size and lack of interviews due to constraints. The proposal outlines the structure of the study, including a literature review covering marketing concepts, innovation, and the benefits of social media marketing, along with the research methodology. The references used are also included in the report.

SOCIAL MEDIA
MARKETING AND
CHANGING
CUSTOMER NEEDS
RESEARCH PROPOSAL

RESEARCH TOPIC
 A study to analyze the effectiveness of Social Media
Marketing over Traditional Marketing Strategies for
meeting changing customer needs and influencing
customer buying behavior: A case study of Binary
Trends

INTRODUCTION
 According to Lee and Lee (2015),
recent technological developments
had made the usage of innovative
marketing practices possible for the
business enterprises.
 Fargnoli et al. (2018) are of the
viewpoint that because of the recent
technological developments or the
innovations the business corporations
no longer had to depend on the
traditional marketing or promotional
practices used by them.

OVERVIEW OF BINARY
TRENDS
 Binary Trends is a Melbourne based
company which specializes in offering
digital marketing solutions to the
business corporations of Australia.
 It tries to create social media
advertisements for its clients taking
into account the business strategies
followed by them.
 The effective focus of the business
corporation is on the entity of return
on investment (ROI).

RESEARCH AIM
 The aim of this research is to analyze
the effectiveness of Social Media
Marketing over Traditional
Marketing Strategies for meeting
changing customer needs and
influencing customer buying
behavior in the particular context of
the organization Binary Trends.
 It is on the basis of this research aim
the researcher will formulate the
research objectives and the research
questions

RESEARCH OBJECTIVES
 To understand the factors which propel the
organizations to use social media marketing strategies
for meeting the changing needs of the customers and
influencing customer buying behavior
 To evaluate the effectiveness of social media
marketing over traditional marketing strategies for
meeting the customer needs and influencing customer
buying behavior
 To analyze the relation between social media
marketing and the customer buying behavior keeping
in perspective their ever-changing needs
 To recommend ways through which Binary Trends can
take the help of social media marketing to influence
the buying behavior of its customers and thereby meet
their needs

RESEARCH QUESTIONS
 What are the factors which propel the organizations
to use social media marketing strategies for meeting
the changing customers needs and influencing
customer buying behavior?
 How social media marketing is more effective for
meeting customer needs and influencing customer
buying behavior in comparison to traditional
marketing strategies?
 What is the relation between social media marketing
and the customer buying behavior keeping in
perspective their ever-changing needs?
 What are the ways through which Binary Trends can
take the help of social media marketing to influence
the buying behavior of its customers and thereby
meet their needs?

RESEARCH PROBLEM
 Donate and de Pablo (2015) are of the
viewpoint that because of the ever
changing needs of the customers it had
become very difficult for the business
corporations to formulate adequate
digital promotional advertisements.
 The business corporations are also not
always sure whether the innovative
marketing practices they are planning
to use would be appreciated by the
customers or not.

LITERATURE REVIEW: OVERVIEW
OF THE CONCEPT MARKETING
 Palacios-Marqués, Merigó and Soto-
Acosta (2015) are of viewpoint that
the tool of marketing helps the
business corporations to adequately
promote or advertise the commodities
or services offered by them.
 The usage of adequate marketing
practices enables the companies to
influence the buying behavior of the
customers (Hami, Muhamad and
Ebrahim 2015).

MARKETING PRACTICES
AND INNOVATION
 As stated by Kamboj and Rahman (2017), over
the years the business corporations had relied
on the traditional marketing practices.
 The ever-changing expectations or the needs of
the customers and also the recent technological
developments had made it important for the
business corporations to use innovative
marketing practices like social media marketing
and others (Donate and de Pablo 2015).
 Thus, it had been seen that the majority of the
business corporations are resorting to the usage
of digital marketing strategies.

BENEFITS OFFERED BY THE USAGE
OF SOCIAL MEDIA MARKETING
 Alexander and Doherty (2019) are of
the viewpoint that an important factor
which propels the business corporations
to use social media marketing can be
attributed to the benefits offered by
them.
 It is highly cost-effective, timely, has
global reach, help business corporations
to effectively influence the buying
behavior of the customers and others
(De Silva, Howells and Meyer 2018).

SOCIAL MEDIA MARKETING AND
CUSTOMER BUYING BEHAVIOR
 According to Iannuzzi (2017), an
interesting trend seen within the
modern business world is that the
customers get influenced by the social
media promotions rather than the
traditional ones.
 The social media promotions are more
likely to appeal to the rationale or the
thought process of the customers and
thereby helps in influencing their
buying behavior (Kjellberg, Azimont
and Reid 2015).