Course work

RESEARCH PROPOSAL

Effects of Social Media adverting on consumer buying behaviour; a case study Nokia’s performance in a smartphone market

Student name: Ashir Khan

Student id number; 200224

Contents Page No

1. Introduction 2

1.1 Study Rationale 3

1.3 Research Aims 4

1.3 Research Objectives 4

1.4 Research Questions 4

2. Literature Review

2.1 Social Media 5

2.2 Social Media as an advertising tool 5

2.3 Social Media and Consumer buying behavior 6

2.4 Social Media advertising affecting Nokia 7

3. Research Design and Methodology 8

3.1 Type of Investigation 8

3.2 Data Collection Methods 9

3.3 Qualitative and Quantitative Research 9

3.3 Sampling Information 10

3.4 Ethical Considerations 11

3.5 Research Limitations 11

4 Conclusion 12

References 12

Timetable Framework 14

1

Research Proposal

IntroductionIn todays’ globalized world, the communication technology has revolutionized all facets of life.

Through this technology various new innovations are introduced. One of them is the

introduction of social media. Social Media is splaying its role in various ways such as social

networking, e-mail marketing, multimedia sharing, blogging and adverting. Currently, the

establishment of communication process through the extensive use of social media has

engendered tremendous transformation. In business world, social media is growing rapidly and

is playing an indispensable part for every organization. According to (Wikström and Ellonen,

2012), social Media has a significant impact on the lifecycle of businesses and it is an effecting

marketing and advertising tool that is unavoidable. As said by Chung (2010) “Social media is a

reality and no longer remains a trend for marketers”.

Organizations are using social media as an effective advertising tool that has started to

integrate systems in order to meet the consumers’ demands. It is observed that business

corporations are going beyond the traditional boundaries of purchasing, selling and are

disappearing the national boundaries of marketing by becoming distinct. The concept of

marketing through social networking sites such as Facebook, Flicker, Twitter and many others

are influencing the consumers buying behavior as the use of social media is becoming wide by

the consumers.

In this specific research study, how the buying behavior is affected through the use of social

media as an advertising tool will be evaluated. The researcher will use a cellular brand as case

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organization in order to enhance the understanding regarding the topic under consideration.

The case organization selected for this specific research study is Nokia.

Rational of StudyWith the increase of mass media and effectiveness of advertising, a significant reduction has

been observed in conventional media. Digital advertising and marketing have provided

consumers knowledge and relevant choices about the organizational products and services

(Kumar and Raju, 2014). With the purpose of identifying the impacts of social media advertising

on consumers buying behavior will not only help the researcher to identify the significant

factors of social media advertising affecting on consumers buying attitudes and behaviors but

the outcomes of this research will also help organizations to understand how their customers

perceive their products.

Moreover, this specific research is going to be conducted in special context of Nokia, one of the

well-known cellular brands. From last decade, the use of mobile phones have increase a lot and

the have moved to the necessities of routine life from extravagancies, and the use of social

networking is assumed to become most important and eminent part of the use of mobile

phones. The investigation of variable mentioned in this research will also help to inquire

whether mobile companies are satisfying their corporate social responsibilities towards its

users and whether they proved themselves to be successful in advertising the right medium in

order to reach their customers and to attract them through their products.

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Aims of the ResearchThe primary aim of this specific research is to investigate the impacts of social media

advertising on consumers buying behavior. The secondary aim is to identify the impact of social

media advertising being executed by Nokia on buying behavior of its users.

Objectives of the Research To review and examine the importance of social media as an advertising platform

To determine a relationship of social media advertising and consumers’ buying behavior

To examine the overall effects of social media advertising on organizational

performance

To review and examine the impacts of social media advertising on Nokia’s operational

performance and its customers’ buying attitudes

To recommend Nokia how effective social media advertising strategies can change their

buying attitudes

Research Objectives What are the effects of social media advertising on consumers’ buying behavior?

How social media act as an advertising platform for telecom industry and particularly

Nokia?

How an organization can create brand image through social media advertising?

How effective advertising through social media can influence the organizational

performance?

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Literature Review

Social MediaSocial Media can be referred as an environment that adopts an attitude of giving and getting

since the communication between users is based on transformation of content that is free of

cost as compared to traditional media. Bucher (2015) consider social Media as a platform that

provides emerging sources of online information. The information is being produced and sent

to customers with primary of creating awareness of products, brands, services, issues and

personalities to consumers.

According to Dou et al, (2010) social media is growing to be successful through its increased

fundability. It means the access to social media sites is becoming easy and people can easily

access to the organization through search engine optimization. More accessibility can create

more added values to the social media websites. Moreover, a strong social networking has also

been observed through this important feature of social media.

Social Media as an advertising toolSocial Media is a media platform that allows marketing communications to develop and seize

opportunities. The direct effect of democratization of information is developed through a

change between communication from one way to a two way communication model where

apart from communicating organizations with their customers, customers also communicate

with one another (Kaplan and Haenlein, 2010). Advertising through social media provides an

opportunity to organizations to target its audiences and helps them to provide relevant and like

information to their customers.

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The use of social networking is increasing day by day. People through the use of social

networking sites such as Facebook, Flicker and twitter like or dislike the products being

advertised by the companies, hence creating a sense for organizations regarding customers’

choices. Later on an organization can use that product or service to advertise through other

media as well.

Moreover, a significant role is being played by social media and that is the development of

International branding. Social media has made the world smaller which has indicated a global

awareness of the organization’s brand. With increasing opportunities through globalization, a

small business tends to start locally and expand into global marketing. The role of allowing

small business into bigger organization is taken up by Social media in order to explain why it has

the best product or best customer service (Jhonston, 2014).

Social Media and Consumer behavior RelationSocial media is considered to be a tool that empowers economic and social networking.

Through social networking sites, millions of people meet virtually and share their thoughts.

Organizations find this tool as a great communication tool and a perfect tool for dissemination

of marketing messages, establishing a wider presentation of their products or services

(Goldsmith and Lafferty, 2002). The replacement of traditional marketing tools such as

magazines, newspapers and others into conventional ways such as social media and people

departure from traditional shopping environment to spending more time on internet cannot be

ignored. People spent majority of their time in using social media websites, social media has

penetrated itself into the entire society. In this way, it has its impacts on commercial life as

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well. People have changed their consumption trends and social media plays its important role

in this regards.

Organizations offer their products and find opportunities for praising their products through

social media. However, they also come to know to what extent their products or services are

being criticized. Social Media advertising changes consumers’ decision making choices and

buying behavior (Choi, 2011). If the products are widely accepted by customers, this trend can

be easily represented through social media. Hence social networking websites are playing their

important role for oragzniatuons in determining the customers buying behavior followed by

satisfaction of dissatisfaction after purchase of relevant products.

Social Media Advertising affecting Nokia Nokia marked itself as pioneer in cellular industry. It was among those organizations that

presented first smart phone in late 19’s and which has transformed it into the business sector

pioneer among its rivals. However, with the emergence of iPhone and android smartphones,

Nokia has to confront a declining trend. These smart phones with far better and unique

features have changed the cellular industry. It was observed that Nokia gradually lost its market

share in in competitive industry and its branding image has been affected a lot (Nokia.com,

2015). Now Nokia is trying to come with different ways in order to attract its customers back.

As, the purchaser conduct was not appeared to be in accordance with promoting strategies

executed by Nokia-Microsoft, Nokia is setting back its key arrangements for attracting its

customers and effective social media advertising could be one of those key arrangements.

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Research design and MethodologyKeeping in view the main objective of research methodology, (Chilisa, (2012) stated that

researcher should adopt the research methodology that helps him to discover the truth

through a scientific procedural application. Research methodology generates the outcome of

any research and it is very important to select the appropriate research methods in order to

make the research project successful.

Type of investigation Investigation is usually categorized into three types; Descriptive, Exploratory and Explanatory.

Due to the quantitative in nature, descriptive research takes up bulk of surveying. Descriptive

research is considered to be conclusive as it is preplanned and its design is structured so that

the collected data can be statistical inferred on a population. Explanatory research is also

considered to have a structured design and is preplanned. It is also conclusive in nature;

however, it attempts to explain a relationship between cause and effects of variables under

observation. On the other hand, exploratory research is widely use in marketing and business

research. The main purpose of this research is to investigate the ideas and insights as opposed

to collection of statistical data (Turabian, 2007).

As this specific research is exploratory in nature, this specific research will investigate the

advertising of social media and its impacts on consumer buying behavior. Two important

aspects of marketing innovations will be discussed in detail such as advertising through social

media and consumers’ behavior and their attitudes. However, the selection of Nokia as case

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organization for this specific research study will be an effort to bridge the research gap in this

field.

Data Collection MethodsThe selection of data collection methods is one of the important elements in a research project.

In order to understand different research approaches and methods for collecting data it is

necessary for researchers to give great importance to this section (Creswell, 2003). Data can be

collected through primary as well as secondary sources. Primary data is information collected

from original resources or directly from respondents for research purpose and for addressing

specific problems. The main sources include structured interviews, survey and questionnaire.

On the other hand, secondary data is information collected from existing data collected and

compiled from other researchers (Saunders, Lewis and Thornhill, 2007). Primary data will be

collected through distribution of questionnaire to the target audience which will be around 150

who are engaged in surfing internet and particularly are Nokia users. From this sample

population of 150 the intention will be to collect at least 140 complete responses. The sample

respondents are large because this consumer market is also huge. Secondary data will be

collected from existing sources such as Journal articles, newspapers, books and magazines.

Moreover, majority of data will be collected through internet such as Google and other search

engines. Nokia official website will be helpful in collecting most relevant and authentic

information.

Qualitative and Quantitative ResearchQuantitative research is normally comprised of data collection and its transformation into

statistical presentation thus the statistical calculations can be derived and conclusions can be

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drawn (Quinlan, 2011). The researchers are usually concerned in deriving conclusions from

their findings related to larger clusters. And because of this specific reason, it is important to

have the individual engaged in the research related to the illustrative sample of the bigger

population. On the other hand, qualitative research primarily associates with recording,

assessing and interpreting in-depth significance and effects of human behaviour and

understanding, accompanied with contradictory views, feelings and behaviours (Nielsen, 2011).

Very small individuals’ numbers are engaged in qualitative study. It is primarily because of the

methods engaged such as deeper interviews and open ended questionnaire.

For this specific research study, open ended questionnaires will be distributed among 150

sample population as to collect qualitative information about social media advertising and its

impacts on consumers’ buying behavior. This method will specifically adopt as it will provide the

researcher detailed answers that will be enrich in providing information and unanticipated

findings will be discovered.

Sampling InformationAs mentioned above the sample population included in this study will be 150 and sampling will

be systematic and filtered because this study is about particular consumers i.e. not all

consumers in the market are using Nokia brand. Therefore, sample population or respondents

to be included in this study will be strictly Nokia users with age ranging from 20-50 years. This

age group is included in the sample because it will provide with opinion from respondents

belong to diverse age groups and will add value in the results and findings of this study. Both

male and female Nokia users will be targeted in this study.

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Ethical ConsiderationResearch studies are not easy to conduct because these activities also hold some ethical

considerations that are essential to be fulfilled by the researchers for raising and ensuring the

reliability and validity of the research findings. Ethical considerations can take various forms

depending on the nature of particular research activity. In this research study researcher will

meet ethical considerations by taking appropriate steps. For example, researcher will take

formal permission from the university regarding undertaking data collection and will adhere to

the ethical form provided by university. Moreover, researcher will take formal permission and

approval of respondents for taking part in this data collection activity and no force or

compulsion will be posted on any respondent for responding to the questionnaire. The

academic nature of this study will be informed to all participants and anonymous nature of this

study will also be maintained throughout so that respondents can respond with ease without

any fear of implications.

Research LimitationsResearch activities are conducted in particular contexts due to which certain limitations are

prone to be attached with each study. In this particular study the skills and competencies of the

research to handle and conduct research process can be a limitation because lacking in any area

can cause damage to the findings of this study. Another limitation can be the embedded

biasness while developing questionnaire and while interpreting results from the side of

research and biasness from respondents based on their positive or negative past experience

can deteriorate the findings.

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ConclusionThis research study will be investigating the impact of social media advertising on consumer

behaviour of Nokia brand users. Literature and theoretical concepts have been presented and

research method chosen is quantitative with questionnaire as main tool of data collection.

Chosen method is justified using literature and context of this study.

References Bucher, T. (2015). Networking, or What the Social Means in Social Media. Social Media +

Society, 1(1).

Chilisa, B. (2012). Indigenous research methodologies. Thousand Oaks, Calif.: SAGE

Publications.

Choi, S. (2011). Guest editorial: Advertising and social media. International Journal of

Advertising, 30(1), p.11.

Chung, C., Austria, K. (2010). Social Media Gratification and Attitude toward Social

Media Marketing Messages: a Study of the Effect of Social Media Marketing Messages

on Online Shopping Value. Proceedings of the Northeast Business and Economics

Association. 581-586.

Creswell, J. (2003). Research design. Thousand Oaks, Calif.: Sage Publications.

Jhonston, K. (2014). The Role of Social Media in International Branding. [online] Small

Business - Chron.com. Available at: http://smallbusiness.chron.com/role-social-media-

international-branding-68363.html [Accessed 12 May, 2015].

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Kaplan, A. and Haenlein, M. (2010). Users of the world, unite! The challenges and

opportunities of Social Media. Business Horizons, 53(1), pp.59-68.

Kumar, D. and Raju, K. (2014). A Study on Adoption Levels of 3G Services in Andhra

Pradesh. Journal of Commerce and Management Thought, 5(2), p.325.

Nielsen, R. (2011). Cues to Quality in Quantitative Research Papers. Family and

Consumer Sciences Research Journal, 40(1), pp.85-89.

Nokia, (2015). International homepage. [online] Available at:

http://www2.nokia.com/en_int [Accessed 15 May 2015].

Quinlan, C. (2011). Business research methods. Andover, Hampshire, UK: South-Western

Cengage Learning.

Turabian, K. (2007). A manual for writers of research papers, theses, and dissertations.

Chicago: University of Chicago Press.

Wikström, P. and Ellonen, H. (2012). The Impact of Social Media Features on Print Media

Firms’ Online Business Models. Journal of Media Business Studies, 9(3), pp.63-80.

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Time Table Framework

Research Activities Week

1

Week

2, 3

and 4

Week

5 and

6

Week

7 and

8

Week

9

Week

10 and

11

Week

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Introduction

Secondary data

collection and

Literature Review

Design of data

collection methods

Primary Data

collection and

interpretation

Analysis

Conclusion &

Recommendations

Sending first draft

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