Objectively Describing What Happened In the Learning Process
Everyone would love to have an involving and interesting learning experience while pursuing his studies. My personal experience while undertaking business research which was very important to my coursework, future ambitions and career was to research the advantages and disadvantages of social media on businesses. It was an effective encounter that I can keep in my books of records having enabled me reach a higher handle in my coursework. Additionally, having moulded my research skills and data analysis not forgetting problem solving skills. (Tomlinson 2014, p.35) states that learning is not all about sitting in class and being taught, a time comes when I had to get out of class and at the same time learn and build my academic profile. I would therefore suggest that if such learning experience could have been used on daily basis in instruction, learning could have been very much effective than it is currently.
All encountered experience at personal level was very interesting. I cannot quote it to any asset. I had never had a reproductive session like the one I did while doing business research. Having imaginations in the recent years that a business research is something very boring and tiresome was just another dream I realized. The experience I had can make me write a whole novel. I liked everything that went all through the research up to the time I got information and analysed and started making conclusions. I cannot actually quote the worth of the study and the experience that, it cannot be measured because I know it turned my academic life a new leaf.
This learning experience would in future help me in establishing my job having ambitions of establishing a big business firm. The lessons I learnt will help me devise strategies that will fit my business or even apply them in the organizations I will work with. The research has greatly changed my thinking and made me realize a lot of things which I had not known before. This research was to help me go through my course work before I was to do the final exams, so definitely I was to add 20% marks of the whole mark in the coursework.
This research not only enabled me to succeed in my program but also, since I had ambitions of becoming a great businessperson, helped me get skills which could help me in future when I will be establishing my business. Having learned how social platforms can be integrated with business, therefore, was such a wonderful experience. These experiences if integrated with my educational experiences can greatly change the course of my life(Yunus, Moingeon, and Lehmann, 2010).
The Usefulness of the Learning Process
To start with, I carried the research with the main objective of finding out the merits and demerits, if there was, of social media to businesses. For this case, my business was Starbucks Corporation. Conducting a research in this organization almost made me think of opening a social media based business where all my product could just be advertised for free! The project was very important having enabled me to be aware of the social networking concepts and how they can be integrated into businesses to carry out various business activities for instance marketing and advertising(Culnan, McHugh and Zubillaga, 2010). Business research at Starbucks Corporation was not just a research but a learning process which was to build up my course in Business Administration. Having studied for years and now being in a higher institution doing my final project can mean a lot when I say the project was something I could not do without. It was, to sum up, a certain percentage of my grades to enable me to complete my course.
The encounter started by selecting research subjects found it relevant to tackle the issue of social media networks in business thought it was just a one-hour activity only to be shocked that a lot was to be done. I formulated the research hypothesis from the research problem. My scope was aimed at increasing awareness about positive and negatives sides of social networks in Starbucks Corporation. Having learned that social networks, for instance, Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram played a great role and were used as an effective technique by organizations using them to share information about their products across all people. According to the book written by (Mangold and Faulds, 2009), the number of people on social platforms has been greatly increasing recently, organizations such as Starbucks Corporation have been on the frontline of ensuring those social networks are put to maximum use to promote their products. Through social media, Starbucks Corporation is capable of communicating with its customers hence obtaining a higher competitive benefit. The corporation uses social media advertisements to target people who like coffee and are interested in other related products(Bolotaeva and Cata, 2010). Additionally, organizations can also use social media networks to hire employees since the networks connect to people across the globe(Kluemper and Rosen, 2009). These people can also be interviewed just by the use of this networks. Social platforms have an advantage of free advertising. A company just needs to create a Facebook page and start getting likes on every post they make. These pages come to grow and have millions of followers most who act as a market base for the company’s products.
Evaluating the Value of The Learning Experience
However, on the other side, the networks also have a few challenges. For instance, many organizations like Starbucks Corporation have suffered a substantial financial loss as a result of criminals hacking their social networks(Molina and Martínez, 2010). Criminals have devised new ways and strategies of accessing into Facebook pages of organizations for their own benefits despite the measures these accounts have put in place. Additionally, most people including customers may practice cyberbullying where they comment unhealthy comments on the business’ pages(Piotrowski 2012, p.367). These negative comments are usually criticized and end up affecting the company’s brand negatively.
According to (Drucker 2012, p.45), many businessmen and women have been having business ideas and capital but do not have the strategies on how to get to consumers and make they know they are selling certain products. This plan will help me establish business in the near future and be a businessman who utilizes resources efficiently. I ought to do more of social media marketing since it is cheap and reliable. After I complete my education
Conclusion
In conclusion therefore, conducting my research to learn about social networks was an eye-opener to my ambitions. This would help me one day integrate the experiences I learned in my future business. This leaning was important in many ways, breaking the class monotony was just one of them. I could now see the real business world that I used to study in books. Having practiced the various techniques of gathering data and no had practiced them was the second importance which enhanced the practical aspect of my education. The research also helped me to appreciate the need for me to study my course as now I could see how it applied to the outside environment. Business research has been one of my interesting activities to me as a scholar. This has helped me at a personal level to increase my awareness about business trends as much as social marketing is concerned. Organizations should employ social network methods to make customers know the products they are dealing with, this is always free.
References
Bolotaeva, V. and Cata, T., 2010. Marketing opportunities with social networks. Journal of Internet Social Networking and Virtual Communities, 2010, pp.1-8.
Culnan, M.J., McHugh, P.J., and Zubillaga, J.I., 2010. How large US companies can use Twitter and other social media to gain business value. MIS Quarterly Executive, 9(4).
Drucker, P., 2012. Managing for results. Routledge.
Kluemper, D.H., and Rosen, P.A., 2009. Future employment selection methods: evaluating social networking websites. Journal of Managerial Psychology, 24(6), pp.567-580.
Mangold, W.G. and Faulds, D.J., 2009. Social media: The new hybrid element of the promotion mix. Business Horizons, 52(4), pp.357-365.
Molina?Morales, F.X. and Martínez?Fernández, M.T., 2010. Social networks: effects of social capital on firm innovation. Journal of Small Business Management, 48(2), pp.258-279.
Piotrowski, C., 2012. From workplace bullying to cyberbullying: The enigma of e-harassment in modern organizations. Organization Development Journal, 30(4), p.44.
Tomlinson, C.A., 2014. The differentiated classroom: Responding to the needs of all learners. Ascd.
Yunus, M., Moingeon, B. and Lehmann-Ortega, L., 2010. Building social business models: lessons from the Grameen experience. Long range planning, 43(2-3), pp.308-325.