Positive and Negative Impact of Social Media on Business Performance
Question:
Discuss about the Indigenous Statistics for Quantitative Research Methodology.
Social media represents a modern tool for marketers that have provided a complete new dimension to the business activities. Increasing reach of internet facilities in the world has also enhanced the popularity level of social media largely (Aral, Dellarocas & Godes, 2013). In fact, social media has become an integral part of modern day life where people remains connected with rest of the worlds at any point of time. For that reason, businesses have tried to use social media for reaching potential global customers in an effective way. Social media provides two-way communicational platforms for the businesses. It can help businesses to resolve any queries or problems of the customers in an instant manner. On the contrary, creating desired impact with the social media platforms requires lots of effort and time. Majority of the time new post in social replace previous posts from the timeline (Mackey & Gass, 2015). Therefore, lifetime of any information post in social media is very low, which is also likely to increase the effort required for creating desired amount impact on the market. The study aims to evaluate different positive and negative aspect of using social media platform on the overall performance level of the businesses. The research study will aim to analyze the exact amount of impact social media platforms can have on the overall performance level of the businesses. For assessing the advantage and disadvantage of using social media platforms in business, the study will consider following questions: How much influence can social media have on the overall performance level of the businesses?
- Why marketers use social media platform for creating desired impact on the target market?
- Is it necessary to use social media platforms for accomplishing all the business goals and objectives?
- What is the recommended way to use social media platform for providing businesses the opportunity to achieve sustainable growth in the market?
For assessing the kind of positive and negative impact social media can have in businesses, it is essential to examine the kind of influence social media can overall performance level of the organizations. The prime objective of utilizing social media is to reach to large number of targeted customers for fulfilling all the business objectives (Erdo?mu? & Cicek, 2012). Therefore, assessing the revenue level of businesses before and after the use of social media will allow having a clear idea. For that reason, the prime question of the research study focuses on evaluating the amount influence social media can have on the overall performance level of the businesses.
Secondly, the study will look identify the exact factors that induces marketers to use social media platforms for fulfilling all the business objectives in an effective way. Identification of factors will also help the study to assess the necessity level of using social media for enhancing the sales volume largely. Proper assessment of all the factors is important to direct social media activities towards the fulfillment of business goals and objectives (Walter & Andersen, 2013). As a result, it will help the study to recommend best possible way to use social media tools for maximizing the impact on the market.
Research methodology reflects the process that allows research studies aim to achieve all the goals and objectives comprehensively. Research methodology provides a systematic guideline for the studies that showcase the best possible way to achieve desired outcome (MacDonald, 2012). It includes different factors like research approach, research philosophy and research design that studies need to utilize for capturing required information about the topic. In order to identify the advantages and disadvantages of using social media at businesses, the study will look to utilize all these factors associated with the research methodology process in an effective manner.
Factors Inducing Marketers to Use Social Media Platforms
Choice of research philosophy is extremely important to cover all aspect of the research topic. It deals with the nature, source and development of the knowledge about the research topic. Positivism, realism and interpretivism are the three prime parts of the research philosophy that studies can use for fulfilling all the objectives comprehensively (Miller et al., 2012). For assessing the kind of influence social media platforms can have on the businesses, the study will use positivism research philosophy. The study will use positivism research philosophy for gathering factual knowledge about the research topic. It will also help the study to include different logical argument regarding the kind of impact utilization of social media networks can have on the business procedure. On the contrary, realism and interpretivism research philosophy will not be considered, as it will increase the time required for completing the study significantly.
Research approach has two prime categories including inductive and deductive research approach (Smith, 2015). The study needs to focus on identifying the availability of data about the research topic at the time of selecting research approach. Now, many studies have been conducted on the kind of impact social media can have on the business processes. Therefore, the study will get enough relevant information about the research topic. For that reason, it will select deductive approach for highlighting the positive and negative aspect of using social media networks in businesses. Selection of deductive approach will provide the authority to analyze all the previous literature, model, article and framework related to the research topic. Hence, it will help to add value to the outcome of the study. Moreover, deductive approach will also allow the study to develop appropriate hypothesis regarding the kind of impact social media networks can have on the business procedure. On the other hand, the study will not consider inductive research approach, as it does not have to include any new concepts.
It describes the way all the activities associated with the research procedure will have to be implemented for ensuring successful completion of the research study. Exploratory, explanatory and descriptive are the three prime parts of the research design that studies use for collecting required information about the topic (Flick, 2015). In this study, descriptive research design will be selected. It will allow the study to identify the prime issue related to the research topic in an effective manner. Selection of descriptive research design will also help the study to capture primary data about the research topic in an effective manner. Therefore, it will help to depict the actual impact social media networks can have on the business processes. On the contrary, the study will not consider any other research design, as it has already identified the research issue or problem comprehensively.
In this study, the focus will be on primary data collection procedure, as it will help to identify the factors inducing organizations to use social media networks in the business process. Moreover, utilization of primary data collection procedure will allow the study to depict the actual impact of social media on the businesses (Silverman, 2016). Here, the study will use both quantitative and qualitative data collection technique in order to capture all information relevant to the research topic. The qualitative data collection technique will provide in-depth information and different perspectives of the respondents. On the other hand, quantitative data collection technique will help to identify trend about the outcome of the research topic.
Research Methodology
In order to collect quantitative and qualitative data about the impact of social media networking in business, the study will use two separate set of questionnaires. Open-ended questions will be included in the qualitative questionnaires while closed-ended questions will be included in the quantitative questionnaire (Taylor, Bogdan & DeVault, 2015). The study will select online survey procedure for collecting quantitative data and face-to-face interview process will be conducted for capturing qualitative information. Moreover, the study will use non-probability sampling technique for selecting respondents who are capable of providing in-depth information about the research study. It will select 70 executive levels of employees working in different organizations for capturing quantitative information. On the other hand, it will select 10 managers from different organization for gathering qualitative information about the research topic.
In order to fulfill the aims and objectives of research topic, the study will look to assume few aspects. Firstly, the study has very limited amount of time to establish its objectives in an effective way. For that reason, it will look to use very small sample size for collecting primary data about the research topic. The study will assume that the outcome of the small sample data will able to reflect actual scenario correctly. The study will also have to be conducted with limited budget, which will also can create impact on the overall outcome of the research topic. The study will limit the data collection procedure in small geographical area, which might not reflect the actual impact social media in businesses.
The above analysis is expected to cover all aspect of the research study in an effective way. It is expected that the study will able to identify the factors that induces marketers to use social media platform for enhancing the sales and revenue level in a major way. The study is also likely to assess the way organizations use social media platforms as a marketing tool for creating desired impact of the market. Therefore, it is expected that the study will able to assess the exact amount of advantages and disadvantages organizations have to face at the time of using social media platforms.
References:
Aral, S., Dellarocas, C., & Godes, D. (2013). Introduction to the special issue—social media and business transformation: a framework for research. Information Systems Research, 24(1), 3-13.
Billig, S. H., & Waterman, A. S. (Eds.). (2014). Studying service-learning: Innovations in education research methodology. Routledge.
Erdo?mu?, ?. E., & Cicek, M. (2012). The impact of social media marketing on brand loyalty. Procedia-Social and Behavioral Sciences, 58, 1353-1360.
Flick, U. (2015). Introducing research methodology: A beginner’s guide to doing a research project. Sage.
MacDonald, C. (2012). Understanding participatory action research: A qualitative research methodology option. The Canadian Journal of Action Research, 13(2), 34-50.
Mackey, A., & Gass, S. M. (2015). Second language research: Methodology and design. Routledge.
Miller, T., Birch, M., Mauthner, M., & Jessop, J. (Eds.). (2012). Ethics in qualitative research. Sage.
Neuman, W. L., & Robson, K. (2012). Basics of social research: Qualitative and quantitative approaches.
Panneerselvam, R. (2014). Research methodology. PHI Learning Pvt. Ltd..
Silverman, D. (Ed.). (2016). Qualitative research. Sage.
Smith, J. A. (Ed.). (2015). Qualitative psychology: A practical guide to research methods. Sage.
Taylor, S. J., Bogdan, R., & DeVault, M. (2015). Introduction to qualitative research methods: A guidebook and resource. John Wiley & Sons.
Vaioleti, T. M. (2016). Talanoa research methodology: A developing position on Pacific research. Waikato Journal of Education, 12(1).
Walter, M., & Andersen, C. (2013). Indigenous statistics: A quantitative research methodology. Left Coast Press.