The Facebook Experiment
Discuss about the Understanding Consumer Behaviour and Consumption.
A Facebook experiment was conducted in the year 2014 in which the contents posted by the users in the newsfeed of their accounts was taken into consideration. By collecting these contents, the changes in the emotions shown by the users have been assessed. From the news feeds of almost 700,000 users of Facebook, a company gathered information and all the details of the positive and the negative posts posted by the users on a particular product or service. The main aim of that project run by Facebook was that they wanted to test whether the emotional state of the consumers can be altered. Another objective of this research was to test whether more amount of positive or negative posts about a particular product change the views of the consumers about that product or that brand and result in updating the newsfeed of the users with the respective positive or negative feedbacks. The Facebook research has shown that the users who came across more negative comments about the particular product or service have posted comments negatively about the product in their news feed and the users who came across positive comments about the product have posted comments positively about the particular product or service in their news feed. This approach of the research conducted by Facebook was highly questioned by several companies due to the ethical issues and the research design which was extremely poor.
A new social networking site XYZ who is new to the market was greatly inspired by this research that Facebook has conducted in 2014. This new social networking site is thus also interested in testing the emotional state of the consumers. As the research that Facebook conducted failed pretty badly due to the issues regarding ethics and poor research design, this new company wants to do the research following the research ethics and by developing the research design to a better one. Thus, instead of using the newsfeed of the users of the social networking site, they wanted to use the digital scent technology to develop their research design. Thus, the social networking site XYZ was more interested to evaluate whether the differences in the smell of the products was efficient enough to have impact on the users to update their news feed pages. Thus, the following research has been conducted on the basis of the needs of this new social networking site XYZ.
Introduction to Social Networking Site XYZ
The research is mainly focused on how various products such as groceries, perfumes, bakery products, accessories used at home encourages and influences the customers to buy the products and thereby increase its sales. The concept of scent marketing is making the customer feel the unique smell of the products by regenerating the senses in them (Eldon 2013). The concept is similar to the concept that listening to music will enhance a customer to visit a music store. Some examples of how scent marketing is applied to various products and services are illustrated here. While walking by a Starbucks coffee shop, a person will be influenced by the unique smell of caffeine along with the smell of freshly baked food and the music playing softly in the background might be efficient enough to attract the customers to enter the shop and taste the different flavors of coffee provided by Starbucks (Georges, Tourtoulou and Badoc 2013). Similarly, in a retail chain of stores selling cosmetics having a fruity smell and flavor in various crèmes, makeup wears and body lotions might be an efficient cause to attract the senses of the customers and influences them to buy the product by impacting their brain both emotionally and through intelligence. With this approach, a memory is created in the minds of the people which is quite delightful and impacts the customers by creating an interest in them into experiencing the product by buying it, so that satisfaction is achieved (Pfeffermann, Minshall and Mortara 2014).
This study is a collection of the summaries of the theories that already exist and also on the interpretations that are already published on this particular topic. The aim of this research is mainly to evaluate different ways that can be adopted by the social networking site XYZ which will be helpful in influencing the potential consumers emotionally to opt for the products with the help of this online scent marketing technology (Ryan 2015). This method will be further helpful in recognizing the different ways that are used by the users to update the pages of their newsfeed and involve themselves emotionally in one particular product or brand of that product (Alderson 2017). This involvement in updating the pages of the newsfeed can be both positive as well as negative. A lot of secondary researches have already been conducted in this regard to synthesize and interpret the results obtained from researches that have already been carried out. Comparison between the understandings of the previous researches and revelation of the results can be done more efficiently (Scheve and Salmella 2014). It is the responsibility of the XYZ social networking to control the reactions or any kinds of activities that are perceived by the individuals for the promotion of the brands.
Scent Marketing
As per the research conducted by (Henshaw 2013), the different combination of scents when portrayed as pictures such as images of baby powder demonstrating that it has an alleviating and distinct smell by relating it with the pictures of the flowers will impact the mother consumers to make an impression about how it is to use the baby products. The site XYZ, keeping in mind the end goal to make a motivation on the clients should utilize pictures which complement the items and give a genuine involvement in framing a judgement to the client about the item. Hence, it will modify the feelings in the correct way both for the client and friends by expanding its deals and brand images (Scott 2017). On the opposite side, XYZ social networking would likewise pick up a focused edge over other systems administration locales and it will pick up fame by not being condemned for any disrespectful alterations of client’s feelings. Furthermore, the clients will be commenting positively with more positive reviews (Berkhout, 2015).
This research is mainly aimed at identifying the approaches that can be used by the social networking site XYZ to conduct this research of testing how the application of scent technology can affect the behavioral sensitivities of people on a psychological way. The creation of this impact was to assess the extent to which the emotions of the users are influenced without violating the ethical standards and avoid all kinds of consequences that are negative with regard to privacy, confidentiality and integrity. Hence, the research question that can be framed keeping in mind all these discussions is presented as follows:
- Is there any impact of Scent marketing strategy adopted by different brands towards the emotional behavior of the consumers through the XYZ social networking site?
In this section of the research report, focus is mainly on the identification of different techniques that will be addressing the research problem. A lot of different methods have been applied for the exploration of the current issues and the questions for which answers are necessary in order to solve the main problem of this research program.
In this research, applied research design has been used. This is a type of research design which is practiced quite widely. There are certain theories as well as knowledge that can be tested for the support of a particular purpose. These methods are explanatory research, exploratory research and descriptive research studies (Rajagopal and Castano 2015). In this report, applied research method will be applied to test the objective.
This research will be conducted with the help of qualitative research approach. The qualitative research approach mainly deals with the insights which are identical and unique and tries to recognize the reasons that are the cause of these insights. In this research, the qualitative approach is used as the research question involves dealing with problems that are emotional and altering of feelings that are on the basis of perceptions (Petersen, Person and Nash 2014). Estimation of the extent of the emotions to be delighted or hurt is not possible. Different literatures and ideas that are most effectively addressing the research concerns will be supporting the research. As this is a secondary research, there will not be any results which are newly obtained (Babin and Harris 2015). The research will mainly be based on the results that have already been proven from previous researches and will be useful evidence for this research.
Research Design and Objectives
There can be certain activities performed during the research process which are unacceptable. These can take place at the time when the XYZ social networking site will be conducting the research in order to find answers to the research questions or satisfy the research objectives. To make sure such mistakes are not made, the following suggestions are to be followed. Sampling methods and sampling techniques are necessary for this research report as this is a secondary research study. Help of observations, surveys, interviews, etc. are required only when primary research is conducted (Riva, Wiederhold and Cipresso 2015). Here, the research will mainly be based on previous researches, theories and beliefs which are available in published format from authors that are renowned. Thus, the issues that has to be kept in mind so that no unacceptable mistakes like Facebook did in the year 2014 are made has been discussed as follows:
- The participants participating in this study must be ensured of their privacy. Otherwise, the ethical conduct of the XYZ social networking site would be put under question.
- Confidentiality of the information must be ensured especially to the participants the views of whom are changing due to this online scent marketing.
- At the time of revealing any particular information about any particular product to the users, honesty should be maintained. The wrong information about any product should not be shared with any participant to forcefully make him or her change their decisions (Pelosi 2016).
- Deception of the implications could be had on the participants’ emotions.
- There should not be any discrimination at the time of promoting any particular product or brand through the XYZ social networking site. If discrimination happens, the psychological factors of the human minds start to impact their decisions which will not be effective for the study.
- Storage of data is extremely important and it has to be kept in mind that the data used for one study might also be helpful for some other related studies. Thus, the data should not be disposed of after completion of the research and must be stored securely (Edmonds and Kennedy 2016).
- The framing of the research proposal at the beginning of the research must be clear and coherent. The researcher will have a clear idea of the research area on which he or she has to work on.
- This research will be conducted on a social networking site. Thus, the responses obtained will be changing each day and hence, it is important to monitor the data collection quite strictly and regularly.
The social networking site XYZ will be conducting this study. The target population for this study will be all the population of the country. There are only two possible outcomes to the experiment. Either the decision perceived by the people of the country can be altered with the implication of the scent technology or it cannot be altered. But it is not possible to study individually the total population of the country. Thus arises the need of sampling (Song 2016). A questionnaire containing questions about all the necessary information required for the study can be prepared and made available through the social networking site XYZ. The people visiting the website will gain access to filling up the questionnaire and as soon as the required number of responses are achieved, the data can be put to analysis. Unlike the experiment conducted by Facebook, it will not be possible for the participants to watch the comments posted by others and alter their minds. Thus, the data collected will be authentic.
This method of data collection for the purpose of the study is known as collection of primary data and this data collection process is expected to be useful. To conduct the research, two major questions has to be kept in mind:
- Whether the visitor of the site purchase the product.
- Does the advertisement regarding the scent of the product influence the visitor to purchase the product?
The hypothesis of the research study can be framed with the help of these two variables. With the help of a regression analysis, the impact that scent technology is having on the intensity to purchase a product by a user can be established. The coefficient of determination or the R Square value obtained as a result of regression will be able to establish the percentage of the influence that scent technology will be having on the intensity to purchase a product by a user (Cameron 2013). The significance of the relationship between the purchasing intention of the people affected and not affected by the use of scent technology can be established with the help of ANOVA. The value of the F-statistic from the ANOVA table will be used to conclude the result (Cameron 2013).
Qualitative Research Approach
The reliability and the validity of the data has to be checked before running any research and interpreting the results. The results obtained from a data which is unreliable will not be proper representation of the population and the results so obtained will also be unreliable. Thus, conclusions drawn from analysis of unreliable data will result in bad predictions. Hence to test the validity and the reliability of the data, Cronbach’s test of reliability is usually conducted. The value of Cronbach’s alpha obtained from the test indicates the reliability of the data. The closer the value of Cronbach’s alpha to 1, the more reliable the data is (Stieler 2017). In this case, it can be expected that the collected data will be reliable as the customers will be sharing their very own views and their views are not manipulated by any other factors.
However, this research study framed is not perfect and there are certain limitations to this design as well. The updates can be made by the participants at any time of the day and the timing of the updates cannot be controlled. If the updates are made public by some participant, then it will not take much time for the method to be outdated. Nobody will have any control over explaining the questionnaire to the participants. Thus, the questionnaire must be designed in an easy and simple manner so that it can be understood easily by the participants (Tettegah 2016). The ethical practices have to be kept in mind with the highest priority so that the trust of the users of the XYZ social networking site can trust the site.
Conclusion
This research proposal will provide XYZ with some ideas that can be implemented for the betterment of the users’ perception of products and brands. With the achievement of the convincing the participants, sustainability in the market can be achieved quite easily. Some factors are important for the social networking site XYZ to keep in mind. The participants’ behavior should not be affected offensively. To do this, the participant must be offered sufficient time to understand the attempt that XYZ is going to take. Further, the users must not have the feeling that they are manipulated with the introduction of all the new methods.
References
Alderson, M. 2017. The Scent of You.US: HarperCollins, p.1.
Babin, B. J., and Harris, E. 2015.CB7. US: Cengage Learning, p. 7.
Berkhout, Constant. 2015. Retail Marketing Strategy: Delivering Shopper Delight. UK: Kogan Page Publishers, p. 7.
Bradford, S., and Cullen, F. 2013. Research and Research Methods for Youth Practitioners. UK: Routledge.
Cameron, A.C. and Trivedi, P.K., 2013. Regression analysis of count data (Vol. 53). Cambridge university press.
Edmonds, W.A. and Kennedy, T.D., 2016. An Applied Guide to Research Designs: Quantitative, Qualitative, and Mixed Methods. Sage Publications.
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Georges, P.M., Tourtoulou, A. B., and Badoc, M. 2013.Neuromarketing in Action: How to Talk and Sell to the Brain. UK: Kogan Page Publishers, pp. 9-12.
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Petersen, L. B., Person, R., and Nash, C. 2014. Connect: How to Use Data and Experience Marketing to Create Lifetime Customers. US: John Wiley & Sons, p. 176.
Pfeffermann, N., Minshall, T., and Mortara, L. 2014.Strategy and Communication for Innovation. Germany: Springer Science & Business Media, pp. 195- 200.
Rajagopal and Castano, R. 2015. Understanding Consumer Behavior and Consumption Experience. US: IGI Global, pp. 2-3.
Riva, G., Wiederhold, B. K., and Cipresso, P. 2015. The Psychology of Social Networking Vol.1: Personal Experience in Online Communities. Germany: Walter de Gruyter GmbH & Co KG, pp. 4-5.
Ryan, D. 2015. Understanding Social Media: How to Create a Plan for Your Business that Works.UK: Kogan Page Publishers, pp. 227-232.
Scheve, C. V., and Salmella, M. 2014. Collective Emotions: Perspectives from psychology, philosophy, and sociology. UK: OUP Oxford.
Scott, D. M. 2017. The New Rules of Marketing and PR: How to Use Social Media, Online Video, Mobile Applications, Blogs, News Releases, and Viral Marketing to Reach Buyers Directly. US: John Wiley & Sons.
Song, A. 2016.Capture Your Style: Transform Your Instagram Images, Showcase Your Life, and Build the Ultimate Platform. US: Abrams.
Stieler, M. 2017. Creating Marketing Magic and Innovative Future Marketing Trends: Proceedings of the 2016 Academy of Marketing Science (AMS) Annual Conference. Germany: Springer.
Tettegah, S. 2016. Emotions, Technology, and Social Media. US: Academic Press, p.4.
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