Social Media Marketing & Zain Telecom Company - Research Proposal Example

Title: Social media marketing & Zain Telecom Company Student’s Name: Instructor’s Name: Course Name and Code: University: Date of Submission:   Introduction Social media marketing has attracted a significant amount of attention from marketers in the recent past and has actually been considered to be the next face of business marketing in the contemporary world. The use of social media marketing has been singled out as a highly efficient marketing tool that is expected to earn businesses a significant amount of revenue. The use of social networking sites and mobile marketing are especially popular and they promise to enhance business in a significant manner. As a rapidly growing company, Zain Telecom could gain significantly from the use of social media marketing; hence the reasons why this study will use the company as a case study for the subject. Aims of the research The main objective of the research is to establish the impact of social media marketing on overall marketability of Zain Telecom. It will seek to establish the changes that would be expected if Zain undertakes social media marketing as opposed to traditional media such as television, newspaper and radio advertising. The research will aim at answering the following questions: 1. What is social media marketing and what role does it play in business marketing? 2. Which forms of social media marketing tools are available for use by businesses? 3. What is the impact of using social media marketing at Zain Telecom? 4. What is the relevance of social media marketing in consumer buying decisions? Background context It is notable that social media marketing has been identified as a growing trend in contemporary businesses and that it is being constantly used in advertising company products. Essentially, companies that use social media marketing are expected to be highly successful as opposed to those who stick to traditional media (Russell, 2009). As a growing business, it is important to explore the possibilities of gaining from social media marketing at Zain Telecom. This paper will seek to establish the impact that social media marketing would have on the company so as to establish the effectiveness of this new trend. Scope While this paper aims at conducting research that is directed towards the entire business world, the impact of social media marketing at Zain Telecom will be discussed. The research therefore is mostly about Zain and how social media marketing is expected to impact on the company. Literature review A considerable level of research has been conducted in this area due to the recent popularity in social media marketing. Cerado (2008) introduces the concept of social media marketing through an article that attempts to explain the relevance of social media in business. According to Cerado (2008), social media provides companies with a chance to interact with customers globally; enhance communication with customers; improve customer service; obtain relevant information; and market products in a convenient manner. Benkler (2006) further notes that social media helps a company in the collection of information from stakeholders hence improving the quality of service. Social media according to Walter (2010) has generally been triggered by the advancing use of the internet around the globe; which has given individuals increased access to the World Wide Web. Besides, there is an increased use of mobile phones which are highly utilized in social media marketing (Al-alak & Alnawas 2010; Michael & Salter, 2006; Pelau & Zegreanu, 2010). The importance of social media takes a central role in this discussion and the literature by the authors identified above will be highly useful in the study. Social media marketing has created an interactive form of marketing where companies are in a position to identify customer needs instantly as opposed to doing research. This according to Tapscott and Williams (2006) and Dan (2010) is highly desirable because the customers’ needs can be addressed in a more proactive manner. Further, it ensures that the company can market its product directly to the customers thus having a greater ability to get attention from the customers (McCarthy, 2005; Li & Bernoff, 2008). According to Kaplan and Haenlein (2010) and Brotherton (2010), social networks are the fastest growing social media marketing tools due to the increasing popularity of social networking sites. Examples include Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, YouTube and Yahoo Messager; all which provide a form of viral marketing chain as marketing information passes within the network (Matthias et al, 2010). A number of studies establish that social media marketing could improve business performance to a significant level. These include Powell, Groves and Dinmos (2011); Mangold & Faulds (2009); and Li & Bernoff (2008) among others. They all note that greater interaction with customers create good relationships such that marketing messages are likely to be received with more consideration. A plan of the methods In order to meet the research objectives, this research will use a variety of methods including the use of interviews, questionnaires, secondary data and case study. Each of these methods is highly effective in obtaining relevant information for the research and their ability to provide accurate results can be justified. Interviews and questionnaires are a good source of first hand information or primary data. They will play the role of determining how people view social media marketing and thus establish whether it is worth investing in. According to Holliday (2007), interviews are effective in that they ensure that the researcher interacts directly with the respondent and thus guide the research. Further, the researcher can probe the respondent further in order to get more information thus making it highly effective in obtaining reliable information (Clark & Creswell, 2010). Questionnaires on the other hand provide respondents with flexibility such that they can fill the questionnaires during their free time which enhances convenience (Orcher, 2005). The use of secondary data can be justified by the fact that previously researched studies are rich with information and they are highly effective in providing a background for the study. Secondary data is also expected to be highly reliable because the facts in the research have been thoroughly scrutinized and proven as true. Case study on the other hand provides a practical example and hence gives authenticity to the subject under research (Holliday, 2007). Population sample The respondents to be used in the research will be obtained from Zain Telecom and randomly selected customers from the Zain database with permission from the administration. Only 10 employees, mostly managers will participate in the interviews. Questionnaires will be sent to 40 employees and 50 customers. The total population sample is therefore 100 people. Each question in this research will be answered using the method that best suits the question. 1. What is social media marketing and what role does it play in business marketing? This question will mostly be answered using secondary data from books, articles and websites that have been written regarding social media. Further, interviews and questionnaires will provide some information on the same through asking the respondents their views on social media. 2. Which forms of social media marketing tools are available for use by businesses? The forms of social media marketing tools will be identified using secondary sources. These sources are likely to have already established research on social media marketing and the tools used can therefore be easily identified. 3. What is the impact of using social media marketing at Zain Telecom? This is a question that will be answered using a combination of methods in order to establish exactly what impact social media marketing has on Zain. It will involve reviewing whether Zain is already using social media marketing and what future use of social media marketing is likely to have on the company. This question will be answered through the use of questionnaires where the respondents will be asked to identify whether Zain Telecom has been using social media marketing such as the internet and mobile advertising; and what impact this has had on the company. Further, an analysis of the company’s website and social networking sites will be done in order to establish whether Zain has been engaging in social media marketing. It will involve an analysis of three major networks including Facebook, Twitter and YouTube. The use of secondary data regarding the use of social media marketing as well as a case study of a company that has been using social media marketing will be used in order to establish the impact of the use of social media marketing. Lastly, the case study will effectively provide a guide on the actual effect of social media marketing from a real life case. 4. What is the relevance of social media marketing in consumer buying decisions? This question mostly involves getting people’s views and perceptions of social media marketing. It will involve asking respondents what they think about social media marketing and whether their purchasing decisions are likely to be affected by social media marketing. Questionnaires and interviews are therefore justified for this question. Critical discussion of proposal This proposal is expected to be of great importance to companies that intend to take strategic measures towards enhancing their performance. It will provide a perfect guide on the use of social media marketing and how companies can use social media marketing to enhance their businesses. Literature on the subject suggests that social media marketing is bound to have a positive impact in the business front and that companies that use social media marketing are likely to be successful due to its ability to reach a great number of people (Lu & Zhan, 2003). Through this research, it will indeed be established whether this proposition is actually true and whether companies can indeed benefit from social media marketing. The use of Zain as an example will ensure that this objective is achieved. Notably however, this research will only seek to establish the perceived benefit of using social media marketing a Zain Telecom but will not establish the actual impact that Zain will gain following the use of social media marketing. As with any other research, there are certain limitations and problems that I am likely to face during the research. This begins right from obtaining consent from the population sample and gaining permission to conduct the research among Zain Telecom employees. Failure to get approval from the management could prove to be a significant problem as this would limit my ability to acquire first-hand information from employees within the company. There is also a problem of incomplete questionnaires and failure of respondents to give accurate information. This is especially so where sensitive company information such as the changes in profitability is required due to the fear of victimization. Accordingly, this is likely to impact on the accuracy and reliability of the research. Possible alternatives to the proposed methods include the use of an experiment to establish the impact of social media marketing on companies. This would involve coming up with an advertisement to be placed strictly on one social network that is considered highly popular such as Facebook. Zain Telecom sales at the beginning of the period would then be compared to sales at the end of the period to determine whether the advertisement has changed the volume of sales in any way. Such an experiment would however take long to conduct because results of strategy are normally visible after a considerable time and this may not be enough for the research period. It would also involve collaboration with the company which is expected to be a lengthy procedure. There are various ethical issues for consideration as far as this research is concerned. To begin with, it is notable that the questionnaires and interviews used will largely involve giving personal opinions and to a large extent company information. This requires the researcher to ensure that respondents are assured of confidentiality and that the interviews and questionnaires are only used with their consent. This will avoid the ethical issues of privacy of information and opinions as well as respondent consent to be included in the research (Clark & Creswell, 2010). Accordingly, information collected must be treated with utmost confidentiality and should not be disseminated to a third party (Orcher, 2005). References Al-alak, B. A. M. & Alnawas, I. A. M. (2010). 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