Business Research Proposal: Social Media's Impact on Telstra's Growth

This business research proposal examines the impact of social media on Telstra's business performance. It begins with an introduction highlighting the increasing significance of social media in modern business, particularly within the telecommunications sector. The proposal outlines the project objectives, aiming to understand the advantages and disadvantages of social media for Telstra, analyze its role in business enhancement, assess its impact on growth, and recommend improvements. The scope focuses on the Australian market, acknowledging social media's global reach. A comprehensive literature review explores existing research on social media marketing, customer loyalty, and the benefits of online connectivity. The proposal then presents research questions, both primary and secondary, to guide the investigation. It details the research design and methodology, including qualitative and quantitative approaches, data collection techniques (surveys, interviews, and literature review), and sampling methods. The research limitations, including time constraints, are acknowledged. Finally, the proposal includes a time schedule for the research plan and concludes with a summary of the expected findings and recommendations.

Business Research Proposal

TABLE OF CONTENTS
1. INTRODUCTION.......................................................................................................................1
2. PROJECT OBJECTIVES............................................................................................................1
3. PROJECT SCOPE.......................................................................................................................2
4. LITERATURE REVIEW............................................................................................................2
5. RESEARCH QUESTIONS.........................................................................................................4
Primary question.........................................................................................................................4
Secondary questions....................................................................................................................4
6. RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODOLOGY.......................................................................5
Qualitative research.....................................................................................................................5
Quantitative research...................................................................................................................5
7. RESEARCH LIMITATIONS......................................................................................................6
8. TIME SCHEDULE (RESEARCH PLAN)..................................................................................6
9. CONCLUSION............................................................................................................................8
10. REFERENCES..........................................................................................................................9
11. APPENDIX..............................................................................................................................10

1. INTRODUCTION
Social networking mediums are changing the ways of doing the business drastically. It
has become very popular and significant all around the world. Telstra is using social media in the
most effective way. The company believes that this is one of the best way to communicate with
consumers globally. Social media is considered as the “must have” tool for all the organizations
today (Trainor and et.al., 2014). This will give the platform for the organization to share the
news about their products and services. The company can also get to know their brand reputation
through social media. The concept of using social networking medium is very flexible and it
requires very less investment in terms of marketing.
It was found out that above 90% of the organizations of telecommunication is using
social media as their main tool for marketing. It increases their sales rate. Majority of the
Australian companies are using social networking sites like Facebook, Twitter, Instagram to
aware their customer's about their services and products. This will improve the brand value and
also increase the customer's loyalty. This report will show the advantages and disadvantages of
social media as well as the impact it will be having in terms of the performance of the company.
2. PROJECT OBJECTIVES
The use of social networking medium is increased in last couple of years, because Telstra
is able to communicate with their consumer's in most effective way. The aim and objectives of
this business proposal are:
Aim To understand the advantages and disadvantages of social media in improving the
business of Telstra.
Objectives
 To analyse the role of social media in enhancing the business.
 To understand the relationship between business and social networking medium to
improve customer loyalty.
 To evaluate the impacts of social media in increasing the growth rate of Telstra.
 To recommend the ways by which the company can improve the effectiveness of the use
social media in their business.
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3. PROJECT SCOPE
This business proposal will be very helpful in understanding the value of social media in
terms of rising the business performance. Social networking medium will play an essential role
in the expansion of the business in Australia (Fan, Lau and Zhao, 2015). This discussion will be
helpful for Telstra in knowing the advantages and disadvantages of social media and the impacts
it will create in enhancing their business. The scope of using this networking medium is not
limited, because by using this the company can reach to their customer's all across the globe. The
organization can take help of social websites in promoting their products and services. This will
be the most cost effective tool and it will definitely improve the performance of the company.
4. LITERATURE REVIEW
Shintaro and Charles (2013) have identified three main foundations which can be used by
the company for putting up the advertisement of social media. They are the networking
capabilities, personal extensibility and image transferability (Shintaro and Charles, 2013). Telstra
can take use of this for advertising their products on social media, so that they can attract more
number of consumers. An effective advertisement will help them in gaining the attention of the
customers. The advertisement on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter will make sure that majority
of people will see their products and take interest.
Nory, Richard and Ebru (2015) stated that social media sites will improve the awareness
and enhance the loyalty of the consumers. The company will be able to reach more customer's all
across the globe. They will be able to solve the queries of the consumers in more effective way.
The social marketing strategy used by the organization will enhance the retention of the
consumers and their loyalty (Nory, Richard and Ebru, 2015). This tool is becoming very
essential for all the Australian companies because they can take feedback from their users. This
will be helpful in improving the quality of the services and products, so that they will be able to
retain majority of the customer's and also improve their trust on the company.
In addition, Julie and et.al (2016) expressed that due to the increase in the connectivity in
rural areas, the company is able to generate more number of consumers. The networking
mediums are wireless and internet access is present almost everywhere. So the companies of
telecommunication like Telstra will be having great advantage of using social media, as they will
draw the attention of the customer's towards their products (Freeman and et.al., 2016.). This will
attract the new customer's and thus, the sales rate of the company will be increased.
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Moreover, Kevin and et.al (2014) stated that the company will use all the social media
technologies and customer's centric management. It will have major contribution in maintaining
the relationship between the company and their consumer's. They have further told that the
feedbacks on social media are very necessary for the company, so that they can improve the
quality of their products and services, this will make sure that the customer's gets satisfied by
their efforts in improving the products. It will improve the relationship between the company and
their consumers. In this way the company will be able to retain their consumers for the longer
period.
Loannis and Michail (2014) told that social media is becoming very popular over the last
10 years in Australia to increase the growth rate of the company. This is very essential for
Telstra, because it will give effective ways of communication among the colleagues and
consumers. For work purposes, the use of this is very vast as it will give the platform to the
company to show appreciation for their customers on social media. Mostly Facebook and Twitter
is used, because the platform is so huge. This will ensure that the relationship between the
employees and the companies will remain very healthy.
Social media will provide an open communication which will lead to reinforced delivery
processes. This will also allow the employees to discuss their views and ideas, so that they get to
know the reactions of the consumers. It will also provide an opportunity to Telstra to widen their
business and target the wide audience (Laroche, Habibi and Richard, 2013). They can increase
the sales rate from this. The company can use this for recruiting new employees. It will definitely
increase the reputation of the company and the base of their clients by making minimal
investment. But the use of social media can possess certain disadvantages as it will give the
chance for the Hackers to hack the website of the company and post the false information.
However, Leftheriotis and Giannakos (2014) thinks that social media will be having the
risk of people falling in to online scams. The consumers who are not loyal towards the company
can post negative comments about the employees of the company. It will reduce the reputation of
the organization. The productivity can be reduced because the employees will be more focused
in updating the profile of the company rather than focus on improving the productivity. Further,
they said that even though social media is having large audience, it is free and it increases the
brand loyalty but the company can face embarrassment if any of the consumer posted negative
comments about the company or about the workers of the company (He, and et.al., 2015). The
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time taken for maintaining the presence in social media is very time consuming. For any small
organization, it is very difficult to give the time on social media in maintaining their website.
Georgios and Sergios (2014) stated that most of the organizations are using social media
for announcing their new products and services, giving advice and information to their followers
and interacting with their fans. Telstra can take motivation from their competitors on social
media. The interaction with the consumers will improve the relationship, enhancing their
engagement with customer's and the promotion of the products. This will increase the sales rate.
The company can target new consumers by organizing some prize competitions. Social media
will be used in reducing the marketing and advertising cost. Most of the people prefer to use
online services for buying or selling something.
Social media will provide greater scope to access the international market. The company
can run an online survey, so that they will get the feedback from their clients. Telstra can use
these websites, so that they can solve majority of the problems online. But the marketing
strategies on social media will not be clear, so it can reduce the total benefits of the company.
Some additional resources will require more time from the employees (Georgios and Sergios,
2014). Such kind of medium requires daily monitoring and updates. The company have to be
active on all the social media platforms, then only they can watch the real benefits of these
mediums. The exposure is very high, it will increase the risk of getting hacked or leakage of any
confidential information.
5. RESEARCH QUESTIONS
Primary question
 What are the advantages and disadvantages of social media in improving the business of
Telstra?
Secondary questions
 How to analyse the role of social media in enhancing the business?
 What are the ways to understand the relationship between business and social networking
medium to improve customer loyalty?
 What methods and techniques are used to evaluate the impacts of social media in
increasing the growth rate of Telstra?
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6. RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODOLOGY
Qualitative research
It is done by using the data collection techniques which includes interviews, surveys,
observations etc. The steps of quality research starts from setting the aims and objectives of the
study (Georgios and Sergios, 2014). This will be followed by the data collection methods, their
validity and reliability and finally a questionnaire will be prepared to get to know the views of
consumers about company.
Reliability and validity: The data should be collected from the authentic books and journals
articles, so that the company can rely on that information. That data will be valid because the
sources are legal.
Data collection method: The data collection is done by using both primary and secondary data
collection techniques. Primary is done by using surveys and questionnaires. Secondary is
conducted by using books, articles and literatures available.
Sampling and sampling size: This Qualitative research was done by using both probability and
non-probability sampling techniques. The sample size selected is 50 customers. They are the
ones who are using online services the most, that is the reason for their selection.
Variables specifications: For completing this study, the researcher have taken both dependent
and independent variables.
Quantitative research
This type of research will start from finding out the problems and followed by the
methods to solve those problems (Schaupp and Bélanger, 2013). The data collection techniques
is done, followed by data analysis, interpretation and conclusion.
Interviewing and questionnaire design: This should be in well structured form, the survey and
questionnaire will be having open ended questions.
Sampling and sampling size: Random, stratified and multi-stage sampling technique is used on
the basis of the total quantity of primary data. Sampling size is 50 consumers.
Data analysis process: Mostly, thematic data analysis is used for the gathered data.
Approaches to reliability and validity: Pilot testing was used, so that the researcher will get the
valid, legal and reliable data.
Research instrument: Primary and secondary data collection techniques is used to collect the
information.
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7. RESEARCH LIMITATIONS
There were few limitations when the survey was being conducted and these barriers leads
to reducing the scope of business. The time of conducting this research was very less, so the
researcher was not able to collect all the information by using all the sources available (Tsimonis
and Dimitriadis, 2014). The funds of doing this study was not enough so the scholar was not able
to take use of all the resources excluding those which are available. The data collection
techniques was difficult to identify, because the social networking websites are too many, so it
was tough to find out the best one, from where authentic data can be gathered.
8. TIME SCHEDULE (RESEARCH PLAN)
Activity 1th
Week
2nd
Week
3rd
Week
4th
Week
5th
Week
6th
Week
7th
Week
8th
Week
9th
Week
10th
Week
Find
research
Topic
Literatu
re
Review
Drafting
of
methodo
logy
Finish
Proposal
Design
question
and pilot
research
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Carry
out &
Record
Researc
h
Data
Analysis
and
Making
Graphs
Discussi
on and
Conclus
ion
Final
Report
Editing
&
Complet
ion
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9. CONCLUSION
From this business proposal it has been concluded that social media is the must have
component for business marketing and advertising. It is observed that majority of people believes
that social media is essential in terms of improving brand performance and enhancing consumer's
loyalty. The negative aspect is that there are chance of leakage of confidential information,
which can be very harmful to the image of Telstra.
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10. REFERENCES
Books and Journals
Nory, J., Richard, B., and Ebru, U., 2015. Impact of social media on small businesses, Journal of
Small Business and Enterprise Development. 22(4). pp.611-632.
Shintaro, O., Charles, R. T., 2013. Social media and international advertising: theoretical
challenges and future directions, International Marketing Review. 30(1) pp.56-71.
Georgios, T., and Sergios, D., 2014. Brand strategies in social media, Marketing Intelligence &
Planning. 32(3) pp.328-344.
Schaupp, L.C. and Bélanger, F., 2013. The value of social media for small businesses. Journal of
Information Systems, 28(1), pp.187-207.
Tsimonis, G. and Dimitriadis, S., 2014. Brand strategies in social media. Marketing Intelligence
& Planning, 32(3), pp.328-344.
Trainor, K. J., and et.al., 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.
Freeman, J., and et.al., 2016. The Importance of Broadband for Socio-Economic Development: A
Perspective from Rural Australia, Australasian Journal of Information Systems. 20.
He, W., and et.al., 2015. A novel social media competitive analytics framework with sentiment
benchmarks. Information & Management. 52(7). pp.801-812.
Leftheriotis, I. and Giannakos, M. N., 2014. Using social media for work: Losing your time or
improving your work?. Computers in Human Behavior. 31. pp.134-142.
Laroche, M., Habibi, M. R. and Richard, M. O., 2013. To be or not to be in social media: How
brand loyalty is affected by social media?. International Journal of Information
Management. 33(1). pp.76-82.
Fan, S., Lau, R. Y. and Zhao, J. L., 2015. Demystifying big data analytics for business
intelligence through the lens of marketing mix. Big Data Research. 2(1). pp.28-32.
Online
The Advantages and Disadvantages of Social Media Marketing, 2017. [Online]. Available
through: <https://www.webpagefx.com/internet-marketing/social-media-marketing-
advantages-and-disadvantages.html>. [Accessed on 15th July 2017].
Pros and cons of using social media for business, 2015. [Online]. Available through:
<https://www.business.gov.au/info/run/advertising-and-online/pros-and-cons-of-social-
media>. [Accessed on 15th July 2017].
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11. APPENDIX
Name -
Age -
Gender -
1. Are you a member of social networking sites?
 Yes
 No
2. Which networking site you are using the most?
 Facebook
 Instagram
 You tube
 Twitter
3. Why you are using these sites for?
 Communication with friends and family
 Planning events
 Shopping
 Gathering information
4. Do you think social networking plays an important role in marketing?
 Yes
 No
5. Does social sites will improve the performance of the companies like Telstra?
 Yes
 No
 Not sure
6. Do you agree with all the privacy policies of social media?
 Strongly agree
 Agree
 Neutral
 Disagree
 Strongly disagree
7. Are you able to communicate with the company in solving your query?
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