comm research final final project!!

8/3/2019 Comm Research Final Final Project!!

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How Corporations Have Used Social Media to Increase Profitability, Marketing, and Publicity 1

How Corporations Have Used Social Media to Increase Profitability, Marketing, and Publicity

Chadwick J. Formica

James F.M Baker

Miles P. Kerbein

Queens University of Charlotte

[email protected]

[email protected]

[email protected]

Submitted: December 7, 2011
mailto:[email protected]:[email protected]:[email protected]:[email protected]:[email protected]:[email protected]


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Abstract

In the world of business, communication is a prevalent part to expanding networks,

building relationships and marketing products. As social networks continue to expand and

become more popular companies have used this tool to help market their products and

communicate with consumers. No other form of innovation has been more effective then Twitter,

blogs, Facebook, and LinkedIn. These social media forms have helped businesses to improve

overall profits and increase their revenues. Not only have these social media forms helped to

increase business for large corporations but smaller companies have benefited from them as well.

Communication between corporations has been changed due to these social media advancements

and the size of the world has been greatly minimized. This study looks to show how social media

has increased profitability, publicity, and marketing for corporations. It also looks at how

consumers view corporations use of social media in everyday life.


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Table of Contents

ABSTRACT 2

Introduction 4

I. LITERATURE REVIEW

Social Media in the 2009 Inc. 500: New Tools and New Trends 4A Social Media Revolution 6Finders Keepers: Social Media Strategies Help Find Top Talent 8Social media: The new hybrid element of promotion mix 10The Real Value of Social CRM 12The Power of Social Media 13Key for Tellers During Financial Crisis: Calm the Customers 15Social CRM as a business Strategy 16

Social Media Embraced as Companies. 17Turning Social Media into Profit 18

II. Methodology

Survey Objective 19Participants and Procedures 19Variables 20Research Questions 20Hypotheses 20Questionnaire Design 21

III. Results 22

IV. Discussion 23

V. Conclusion 25VI. References 26


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Introduction

Whether we know it or not every single day we are affected by some form of media.

From billboards to television people are tapping into everything possible to influence the public.

As the Internet becomes more and more popular organizations use of social media is becoming

one of the most influential ways to target consumers and create an emotional long lasting

connection with them. Although this new craze is not even ten years old corporations are using

the different social medias to increase profitability, marketing, and publicity.

Literature Review

Social Media in the 2009 Inc. 500: New Tools and New Trends:

In 2009 a study was conducted to look at how fast-growing corporations have used social

media. The study was conducted by the Marketing Research Center at the University of

Massachusetts at Dartmouth (Barnes & Mattson, 2009,p. 70). The study compared Fortune 500

companies (publicly traded companies) to Inc. 500 companies (privately owned companies). The

study gathered their list of corporations from a listing published by Inc. Magazine that comes out

with a yearly list of fastest-growing private corporations (Barnes & Mattson, 2009,p. 70). The

study conducted their research over a three-year period (2007, 2008, 2009). The first study

conducted by the group was released in 2007 (Barnes & Mattson, 2009,p. 70). They found that

the Inc. 500 companies were leading Fortune 500 companies in the use of social media. Results

showed that 8% of Fortune 500 companies were involved in blogging compared to the 19% of

the Inc. 500 (Barnes & Mattson, 2009,p. 70). Results in 2008 continued on that trend with 16%


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of Fortune 500 companys blogging compared to the 39% of Inc. 500 companies (Barnes &

Mattson, 2009,p. 70). This trend continued in 2009 with 45% of Inc 500 companies using blogs

(Barnes & Mattson, 2009,p. 70). At the time of the study the results for the Fortune 500

companies had not been released yet however it was estimated that this lower percent of

blogging by the Fortune 500 companies would stay the same (Barnes & Mattson, 2009,p. 70).

The biggest concept to take away from these results is that their was a significant increase in the

use of blogging by both Fortune 500 companies and Inc. 500 companies. Another key fact to take

away from this study is that the size of a corporation does not hinder the use of social media. In

fact, this study shows that the smaller a corporation the more beneficial the use of social media

is. The study used six different social media types (blogging, podcasting, online video, social

networking, message boards, and wikis) (Barnes & Mattson, 2009,p. 71). Another key statistic

to take away from this study is that over 75% of participants in the study said that they were very

familiar using social media which was an 18% increase from the year before (Barnes & Mattson,

2009, 71). Twitter, which at the time of the study was still a relatively new form of media, still

had a high rate of familiarity amongst 62% of participants (Barnes & Mattson, 2009, 71).

According to Barnes and Mattson (2009) social media matters and is here to stay (p. 71). In

2009 43% of Inc. 500 companies said that social media was very important to their business

and marketing strategy (Barnes & Mattson, 2009,p. 71). An even greater statistic from the study

is that in 2009 91% of the Inc. 500 companies were using at least one social media tool (Barnes

& Mattson, 2009,p. 71). All of the statistics from this study show that social media is widely

used by corporations and that companies have invested time and money into developing and


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adapting to these new social media culture. (ex.Twitter).

A Social Media Revolution: by Megan E. Hershey


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With the introduction of social media into our vast collection of communication methods,

we are given a new way to communicate at a whole new speed. The history of social media is

one worth knowing; Hershey states (2010) the World Wide Web or Internet went public on

August 6, 1991. (p. 2). Hershey (2010) also says that in the early 90s, Americans began to use

the first form of social media; forums (Hershey, 2010, p. 3). However, there is an ongoing

debate whether you can classify forums as a form of social media because it does not allow you

to have a community of cohorts. (Hershey, 2010, p.3).

With the development of social media sites, it has drastically changed the way that

companies and corporations target their advertisements to potential consumers. In this journal,

Hershey (2010) discusses how 2009 was marked the worst economy in over 65 years. However,

with the economy struggling, Facebook managed to gain its 100-millioneth member. (Hershey,

2010, p. 5). With the economy declining in value so rapidly, social media is growing

exponentially. According to economists, social media may be continue to help companies pitch

relevant and effective marketing for less of a financial cost (Hershey, 2010, p. 5).

A companys image can be portrayed positively or negatively through social media sites.

There are many examples of individuals being unhappy with the service they received from a

specific company and turning to the Internet to help spread their story. Hershey (2010) gives the

example of Dave Carroll and how he managed to portray United Airlines as a second-class

airline for the way that they handled his luggage (Hershey, 2010, p. 5). The airline was accused

of breaking his guitar with their negligence, and Dave created a song that received over eight

million views on YouTube (Hershey, 2010, p. 6).

Though social media sites can have a negative effect on a specific companys image, they

can also help create an incredibly positive image for that said company. Hershey suggests they


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can do this (2010) by participating in two-way communication outlets with consumers and

stakeholders, companies show they care, giving a rise to a strong sense of corporate social

responsibility. (p. 7). It gives a sense of feeling that these organizations who are utilizing social

media sites are close to you and care for you. Another positive affect that social media has on

the corporate world is that with companies and consumers being connected through a

commonality like social media sites, they can react more quickly to maintain good relations.

(Hershey, 2010, p. 8).

Overall, social media is changing the way, which we view, and surf the Internet. It is also

drastically changing the way that us as humans interact. With social media playing such a large

role in our daily life, it is certain that it will continue to grow not only in size, but relevance and

importance. Hershey (2010), discusses how in order to succeed in the 21st century, we must be

familiar with all that social media has to offer (Hershey, 2010, p. 12).

Finders Keepers: Social Media Strategies Help Find Top Talent: by Kristen Gunderson Hunt

Businesses have continued increasing the use of social media in all aspects of their work.

In a survey conducted by CareerBuilder of 2,500 employees 35% of them responded to using

social media to help promote their business, 21% said that they use it to recruit employees, and

18% said they use it to strengthen their employment brands (Hunt, 2010,p. 37).

These statistics show that the use of social media is becoming pretty widespread and that

companies are tapping into all sorts of different categories. The different social media forms the

article highlights are blogs, social networks such as Facebook, Twitter, Yahoo!, LinkedIn, and

video sites such as YouTube (Hunt, 2010,p. 37). Companies have really started to tap into these


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tools for recruiting because it really allows candidates to get an in depth look at the company. It

allows them to see pictures, videos, and gives them a sense of what the company is really all

about. You are also able to read reviews and input that current employees and others have posted

(Hunt, 2010,p. 37). The three most common sites businesses have used to start recruiting are

LinkedIn, Facebook, and Twitter (Hunt, 2010,p. 37). With LinkedIn companies are able to

search and find candidates over the website for free. All the firm has to do is set up a profile on

the website and they can start searching. If a company chooses they can also pay for an account

which allows them access to posting jobs, sending private messages, saving profiles, and asking

for introduction to people within other organizations (Hunt, 2010,p. 38). With over 75 million

users LinkedIn is a strong asset for companies (Hunt, 2010,p. 38). Another tool is Facebook

which has shifted from its reputation of friends connecting to a recruiting tool for businesses.

With Facebook companies really use it most to promote their employment brand, and try to draw

people into working for their company (Hunt, 2010,p. 38). Facebook allows people to use blogs,

photos, video, audio, polls, and surveys to engage their audience (Hunt, 2010,p. 38). Aside from

all those things companies have also started posting different jobs on their pages and setting up

links for prospective employees to view which include job applications, and moving into an

interview (Hunt, 2010,p. 38).

Twitter is another resource that businesses have tapped into to help with the recruiting

process. Most companies have used Twitter to simply tweet job opening and link an address

back to a site that highlights more information (Hunt, 2010,p. 39). This is an extremely cost

effective way to reach out to a wide range of people that are already interested in the company.

Companies are also able to identify candidates by searching under key words and are also able to

send direct messages to potential employees (Hunt, 2010,p. 39). Behind all of these tools


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however companies must have a strong strategy to how they want to recruit individuals. The

information a company chooses to post should always reflect the culture and brand of the

company. People look to see what these companies are all about (Hunt, 2010,p. 39). Companies

must also be able to develop information that helps candidates learn more about the company

and give them reasons as to why they should work there. It is important to provide people with

information not just self-serving posts (Hunt, 2010,p. 39). Last its important to make sure and

stay active on the sites, constantly be updating things, and responding to your audience. Constant

interaction with your audience is what is going to keep them coming back for more and increase

their interest in the company (Hunt, 2010,p. 40).

Social media: The new hybrid element of promotion mix by W.G. Mangold

This study was performed by The Kelley School of Business at Indiana University. This

article argues that social media has multiple purposes within the promotional mix of a

corporation because it is used for the obvious use, which is that the company will interact with

their customers using it, but the uncommon action that was happening was that consumers were

talking directly to each other over these social media websites, not just the companies and

discussing about products and the companies themselves

This article focuses mainly on integrated marketing communications (IMC) which

attempts to coordinate and control the various elements of the promotional mix-advertising,

personal selling, public relations, publicity, direct marketing, and sales promotion in order to

produce a unified customer focused message (Mangold, Faulds, 2009, pg. 357), but it also

focuses on two other subjects. The first is that Mangold and Faulds looked at the comparison

between traditional communication, which was based primarily on marketing techniques

throughout the years, and new communication, which social media falls under today. The other


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topic they look at is how managers can use consumer to consumer communications to benefit

their company more and cater to what the consumers want and need.

The fact that consumers talk more with one another over social networking sites demands

that a company must advertise and market themselves honestly and consistently because if they

are caught with a lie about their services or false information about a product then the entire

world will know within a matter of minutes and their credibility and public image is ruined,

which in turn results in loss of sales.Tools and strategies have changed over the years to reach consumers. The largest change

is social media. This form of media describes a variety of new sources of on line information

that are created, initiated, circulated and used by consumers intent on educating each other about

products, brands, services, personalities, and issues (Blackshaw & Nazzaro, 2004, p. 2). As for

the strategy side of marketing, Conventional marketing wisdom has long held that a dissatisfied

customer tells ten people. But that is out of date. In the new age of social media, he or she has the

tools to tell 10 million (The New Influencers, Gillin 2007 p. 4) The main problem for managers

then becomes how to figure out the ways that social media can be used for positive reasons

rather than negative ones in order to benefit their company (see Figure 1). Managers have the

ability to see what their consumers are saying about them and can provide feedback to them.

Managers must learn how to shape consumer discussions in a way that is consistent with the

organizations mission statement and overall goals. This will create secure feelings among the

consumers that the managers they buy from actually care about what the customer thinks. The

key ways that managers can communicate with consumers effectively according to Mangold and

Faulds are, providing consumers with networking platforms, using blogs and other social media

tools to engage customers, using both traditional and internet based promotional tools to engage

customers, provide information, be outrageous/unique, provide exclusivity, design products with


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talking points and consumers' desired self image in mind, support causes that are important to

consumers, utilize the power of stories (Mangold, Faulds 2009).

The Real Value of Social CRM by Barton Goldenberg

Although most companies are now using social media there are a lot of different sites that

are available for them to access. With all these different uses how do the companies manage all

the comments, posts, and activity? This article explains a process companies are using to gather

all these comments and put them into readable profiles. All of these things help in customer

relations management (CRM) (Goldenberg, 2011,p. 6). By adding data from regular forms of

CRM and adding insights from the social media you are able to gain a much better understanding

of your customer which improves categories such as marketing, sales, and relations (Goldenberg,

2001,p. 6). The way they do this is by pulling all social media sites such as Facebook, Twitter,

and LinkedIn into one home page or home site the company creates also known as the social

media community. (Goldenberg, 2011,p. 6). You then are able to analyze all data and find

common trends and topics in which you would like to explore. This helps companies because

this gives them the ability to own the data and have more direction over the community. You are


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also able to create a better dialogue with your consumers (Goldenberg, 2011, 6). In the example

the author works with a retail energy business which is lagging in growth and profitability. The

biggest problem they are having is creating a relationship with customers. They decided to create

their own social media page that is similar to Facebook. This page could be an implementation

off of their original page as well. This allows or a more intimate relationship with the consumers

(Goldenberg, 2011,p. 6). The article also talks about how powerful social media is becoming and

how to turn doubters into believers. Executives of the company felt that going into social media

may not be the best idea so to help change their minds they surveyed current and potential

customers to find out their interest, thoughts, and whether or not they thought this was a good

idea. There was an overly positive response that felt this would be good for a company

(Goldenberg, 2011,p. 6).

The Power of Social Media by Jonas Colliander and Micael Dahlen

With the increasingly rapid growth of social media of the last few years, it has been sent

under the limelight. Companies have found this new method to be incredibly beneficial in its use

for marketing. The method that this article, Following the Fashionable Friend: The

power of Social Mediaby Jonas Colliander and Micael Dahlen discusses the specific social

media advancement of blogging. Colliander and Dahlen (2011) suggest, blogs have become

highly fashionable among writers, readers and marketers. They now are leading destinations

among Web users. (p. 313). More examples suggest that with company-blog relationships

growing exponentially, so are the companies overall revenue. An example would be that of how

theThe New York Times reported that a mainstream blog who endorsed a popular company

helped grow that companies revenue from $100,000 to $4 million (Colliander & Dahlen, 2011, p.

313).


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Blogs are unique compared to other social media sites like Facebook, Myspace and

Twitter. It is more of a word of mouth approach compared to a forum-based approach

(Colliander & Dahlen, 2011, p. 313). An article published in 2009 byThe Economist

suggests contemporary consumers use social media to help make purchases because they rely

on recommendations from friends. (Colliander & Dahlen, 2011, p. 314). It provides a more

open discussion that allows individuals to advocate or discourage certain products.

This article also discusses the para-social interaction (PSI) (Colliander & Dahlen, 2011,

p. 314). It conducts a survey by comparing the effectiveness of marketing through blogs or

online magazines. It places two identical forms of content on each form of social media, and

then measured the resulting effects on attitudes and intentions toward the brand covered in the

texts. (Colliander & Dahlen, 2011, p. 314). As stated earlier, blogs are compared to a form of

word of mouth relationship; this allows readers to be influenced more by a bloggers opinion.

Bloggers have found that running a popular and successful blog opens many windows of

opportunity for endorsement from major companies. This determines that blogs are more

effective when it comes to marketing through social media due to its fashionable image.

However, the researches believe that it is necessary that the marketing pitch is unbiased

and that it originates from the blogger himself compared to the company sponsoring the

advertisement. Another key point that Colliander and Dahlen (2011) bring up is that marketers

who use social media must take a different approach to marketing compared to traditional means,

due to the fact that social media is more focused on friend building and relationship building (p.

319).

Key for Tellers During Financial Crisis: Calm the Customers: Barnes, Ganim Nora

According to a recent study by Society for New Communications Research and Nuance


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Communications As on line social media usage becomes more popular, affluent consumers are

using these channels to share their personal customer service experiences and learn about others

care experience. This study can have a huge impact on corporations that interact with their

customers on a regular basis and can teach them a lot of things about how consumers interpret

their company and also how that company is viewed by the public and how to influence the

public and consumers views in a positive way.

In this research over 300 consumers who are active internet users participated in a survey

that focused on how corporations treat their customers and how that effects brand reputation due

to the widespread use of social media. The results showed that 59 percent of respondents use

social media to vent about a customer care experience. 72 percent of respondents research

companies customer care on line prior to purchasing products and services at least sometimes.

84 percent of respondents consider the quality of customer care at least sometimes in their

decision to do business with a company. 74 percent choose companies/brands based on others

customer care experiences shared on line. 84 percent of respondents consider the quality of

customer care in their decision to do business with a company at least sometimes. 81 percent

believe that blogs, on line rating systems, and discussion forums can give consumers a greater

voice regarding customer care, but less than 33 percent believe that businesses take customers

opinions seriously. Search engines are the most valuable on line tools for this research, according

to respondents (Barnes, 2008,pg. 4).

The main points that a corporation should take away from this study is that they need to

listen to their consumers and know what they want and need to provide better service. They also

need to know how to properly respond to these needs and handle it the best way that they can.

The last thing they should know is how to improve and better their company to deal with


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consumers and make them as happy as can be. This research should inform corporations of how

good or how poorly they are doing in the aspect of social media use and consumer relations.

With consumers increasingly using social media to share feedback on their care experiences, it

has become increasingly difficult for businesses to ignore or hide from bad experiences, said

Lynda Kate Smith, vice president, Care Business, Nuance Enterprise Division. As this research

highlights, the consumers voice is louder and travels further than ever before. One poor

customer interaction can have a very significant impact on a public impression of a

brand (Barnes, 2008,pg. 4).

Social CRM as a business Strategy, by Woodcock, Green and Starkey discusses the

impact that social media has on customer relationship management. (Woodcock & Green &

Starkey, 2011, p. 1). Social media has been transformed from a new method to meet friends and

build relationships, to a cost effective method for companies to engage with potential consumers.

The authors also informed us that consumers talk to each other like never before through a

multitude of social channels. (Woodcock & Green & Starkey, 2011, p. 2). These social media

channels include, Facebook, Twitter, Myspace and many more. The tone in which companies

communicate with consumers through social media is much different compared to that of

television and radio. This form of communication through social media tends to take a more

relaxed approach. A focal point of the authors discussion is that The locus of control in the

brandconsumer relationship is shifting from brands to consumers. Brand marketing is becoming

less about pushing messages out to consumers within a static relationship, and more about the

brand being part of the dynamic conversation, listening, serving relevant content/ experiences to

earn the trust of consumers. (Woodcock & Green & Starkey, 2011, p. 2).


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Social media is a method of communication that allows consumers to interact directly

with corporations at their terms. Companies have been able to use social media to obtain and

observe consumer feedback in relation to certain products or services they offer.

Social Media Embraced as Companies. by Marty Graham

In this article featured in the San Diego Business Journal by Marty Graham suggests that

social media is a relatively cheap and cost effective method and strategy for marketing. Graham

(2011) suggests, Using social media is now a widely accepted as a standard part of marketing.

(p. 12). Social media is even being recognized by some of the most profitable and influential

companies in the world. Also, Graham (2011) discusses how Google has recently began to

integrate social media buttons into its many searches (p. 12).

Certain social media sites have recently been used to increase exposure for that

companys services or product. YouTube in particular has been used as a place to upload

commercials or content that may be deemed inappropriate for television or radio. An interesting

aspect of YouTube is that you can monitor the amount of views that specific video draws after

being uploaded. Graham (2011) discusses a specific example of this in the commercial for Old

Spice Body Wash. After uploading their commercial and its views skyrocketing over 30 million,

their sales more than doubled (p. 12). The goal for these companies that utilize YouTube is to

catch the publics eye, thus creating public discussion amongst the users of the Internet and social

media sites.

A companys main focus should be to build relationships compared to placing emphasis

on their specific campaign. The content that makes up that relationship is more valuable than the

content that makes up their proposed campaign to consumers.

Turning Social Media into Profit: Deb Evans and Thomas Scott.


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InTurning Social Media into Profit by Deb Evans and Thomas Scott, their goal is

to give instruction and direction that allows businesses to use social media in order to make a

profit. Social media can be used to help increase franchise sales by emotionally engaging

franchise candidates and it is a powerhouse if used at the local level in a franchise system.

(Evans & Scott, 2011, P. 1). In other words, if a company that is dependant on the local

economy, social media can have an overwhelming effect on community and building

relationships. The authors state, social media is conversation between people that share a

common interest. (Evans & Scott, 2011, P. 1).

The authors believe that they key to increasing profit is to enhance engagement with

consumers. It also discusses how important the specific content you post truly is. With bland or

uninteresting content, you will receive little to no attention. With exciting and creative content,

you can create an online environment that is conducive for marketing. Also, the synchronization

of social media sites is highly recommended in order to create a clear and direct message being

presented to consumers. This in turn reduces confusion.

All in all, social media is a method of communication that is not disappearing anytime in

the near future. It is a simple and effective way to create communities and relationships based on

a common interest.

Methodology

Survey Objective:

With our questionnaire we are looking to find how consumers are affected by

corporations use of social media to increase profitability, marketing, and publicity. With this

questionnaire we hope to unveil the fact that the different social media outlets used by


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corporations are extremely affective tools in creating relations and marketing their message to

consumers.

Participants and Procedures:

To measure how corporations use social media to communicate with their consumers we

targeted forty-four students at Queens University of Charlotte. This group of students ranged

from the ages of 18-25 years old to ensure they had experience using social media networks such

as blogs, Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, and others. Students were both male and female and had a

wide variety of educational studies which provides different views into how students view the

message. For example, business students may look at how these companies use marketing and

advertising to solicit their product in comparison to other majors that may look at this from a

more of a consumer way and really look at sales, promotions, and products of these specific

corporations. The questionnaire was administered during the month of October 2011 throughout

the campus of Queens University of Charlotte.

Variables:

Predictor Variable - The exposure consumers have of social media presented by

corporations.

Outcome Variable - How social media actually influences consumers perceptions, beliefs,

and desire to buy products from corporations.

Research Questions:

1. Have new social media advancements increased overall communication to consumers?

2. Have social media advancements increased overall profits and revenues for corporations?

3. Have consumers responded to the use of social media in the corporate world?

4. Has social media changed the way in which buyers and sellers communicate on a daily basis?


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5. Do large corporations have a greater advantage using social media than smaller corporations

Hypotheses:

We believe that corporations have used social media to increase profitability, strategic

marketing, and publicity among their consumers and the general public. Social media has created

a new market place for corporations to advertise themselves and build a stronger relationship

with their consumers.

Questionnaire Design:

This questionnaire looks to examine the influence businesses have on consumers using socialmedia networks. This survey is voluntary and feel free to skip any question. Individuals whopartake in this will remain anonymous.

1.) How often do you use social media? (In one day)A. Over 6 hoursB. Over 4 hoursC. 2-3 hoursD. 1-2 hoursE. Less than 1

2.) How often do you come in contact with corporations that use social media?A. Very OftenB. OftenC. NeutralD. Not OftenE. Never

3.) Do you think that corporations use social media affectively?A. Strongly agreeB. AgreeC. NeutralD. DisagreeE. Strongly Agree

- How Could they improve this?

4.) Is using social media a beneficial tactic for corporations?A. Strongly AgreeB. Agree


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C. NeutralD. DisagreeE. Strongly Disagree

5.) Do you follow corporations using social media networks? (Facebook, Twitter, etc.)?

A. YesB. No

6.) How often have promotions given over social media persuaded you to buy a product?A.) Very OftenB.) OftenC.) NeutralD.) Not Often

E.) Never

7.) How often do you redeem coupons offered through social media networks?A.) Very OftenB.) OftenC.) NeutralD.) Not OftenE.) Never

8.) Do you perceive a companies online reputation to be the same as their offline reputation?A.) YesB.) No

9.) Do you feel that corporations should use social media as a means of advertisement comparedto offline advertisement?

10) In your opinion, what is the most effective way for corporations to market/communicate tothe public?

Results

Our results for this study were very interesting and we found a lot of great data. We found

that on average students use social media sites between 1-3 hours each day. This accounted for

thirty-one out of the forty-four participants which was 70% of students. We also found that most

students often come into contact with corporations over social media. Twenty-two out of the


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forty-four participants which equaled out to 50% of participants felt this way. 72% of students

felt that these corporations use social media affectively. Another 93% of students either strongly

agreed or agreed that social media was a beneficial tactic for corporations to use. Almost 60% of

participants said that they follow corporations using social media websites. Thirty-two out of the

forty four participants said that promotions given over social media dont really persuade them to

buy a product and 36% do not often redeem these coupons from the companies which was a

majority. When asked whether or not they felt that corporations had the same reputation online as

they did off line 61% said they feel it is the same. With an overwhelming 97% of participants felt

that corporations should use social media as a means of advertisement.

QuickTime and adecompressor

are needed to see this picture.


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Discussion:

When looking over our results we found a lot of rich data that fit into our hypotheses. We

found that on average most students spend between 1-3 hours a day using social media. This is a

pretty decent amount however we thought that students would have spent much more time on the

sites. Most students came into contact with corporations which was much more than we

anticipated. From the corporations point of view this is exactly what companies strive for.


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Knowing this they can continue to push forward in expanding social media. Students also felt

that corporations use this social media very affectively. This shows that corporations do a great

job in persuading, addressing, and attracting consumers to view their site and overall company in

a good light. One of the short answer questions we asked the students was what companies could

do to improve using social media affectively.

The most common answers written by the students were they wanted to see more

incentives, give-aways, and advertisements. In general it looks like students want to see more

deals and ways these social media sites can help them save money. An overwhelming amount of

students (93%) felt that using social media was beneficial for corporations. This was very

interesting because when looking at other peer reviewed sites we found that lots of companies

and CEOs are hesitant in making the jump to social media and dont always feel it is the best

thing to do. It was pretty interesting to see that most students feel that it does help the

organization and that if executives saw this statistic they might be more willing to make the

jump. When asked how often promotions given away online persuaded the consumers to buy a

product 72% said they are not really persuaded and dont take advantage of the offer. This was

contradicting to our previous results because when asked how to improve social media most

students said they wanted more discounts however when given the discounts they really dont

take advantage of them. This could be do in part to the kind of discounts given or the actual offer

not being enticing enough. Our second short answer asked students in their opinion what was the

most affective way to market for corporations and communicate to the public. An overwhelming

amount of people said that social media, television, and radio were the best ways to go with

social media coming in first. This shows that people are very open to some of the newer ways

companies have tapped into reaching their audience.


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Conclusion

In all we felt that our results really showed that consumers view social media as an

extremely reputable source and really take into account everything the company puts on their

social media site. Some of the limitations we encountered were the fact that we were not able to

sample people of older age. Most of the students we sampled were of the millennial generation

which is seen as more tech savvy. It would be interesting to see how people who had not grown

up with social media felt on the uses and effectiveness. Other limitations included the fact that

we were not able to talk with actual social media professionals in some of the top Fortune 500

companies and get their take on how consumers feel about their sites. Some suggestions for

future researchers would be to interview multiple generations, look at how companies that

havent used social media compare to companies that do, and also how large corporations using

social media compare to smaller corporations using social media and their impact on consumers.


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References

Barnes, N. G., & Mattson, E. (2009). Social Media in the 2009 Inc. 500: New Tools and NewTrends.Journal of New Communication Research, 4(2), 70-78. Retrieved December 2,2011, from the Ebscohost database.

Barnes, N. G. (2008). Key for Tellers During Financial Crisis: Calm the Customers.Tellervision, 1376, 1-3. Retrieved December 2, 2011, from the Business Sourche Premierdatabase.

Colliander, J., & Dahlen, M. (2011). Following the Fashionable Friend: The Power of SocialMedia.Journal of Advertising Research, 51, 313-320.

Evans, D., & Scott, T. (2011). Turning Social Media Into Profit. Engage121, 12, 46-48.Retrieved December 2, 2011, from the Ebscohost database.

Goldenberg, B. (2011). The Real Value of Social CRM . Reality check , 15(11), 6-6 .Retrieved December 2, 2011, from the Ebscohost database.

Graham, M. (2011, March 28). Social Media Embraced as Companies Try to Get Their Arms

Around the Concept.The San Diego Business Journal , pp. 12-16 .

Hunt, K. G. (2010). Social Media Stategies Help Find Top Talent. Finders Keepers, ., 36-40.Retrieved December 2, 2011, from the Ebscohost database.

Hershey, M. E. (2010, March 12). A Social Media Revolution. 2-12.


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Mangold, W. G., & Faulds, D. (2009). Social Media: The New Hybrid Element of the PromotionMix. ScienceDirect, 52, 357-365.

Woodcock, N., Green, A., & Starkey, M. (2011). Social CRM as a Business Strategy .ThePractitioner, 18, 50-64. Retrieved December 2, 2011, from the Ebscohost database.

Appendices

This questionnaire looks to examine the influence businesses have on consumers using socialmedia networks. This survey is voluntary and feel free to skip any question. Individuals whopartake in this will remain anonymous.

1.) How often do you use social media? (In one day)A. Over 6 hoursB. Over 4 hoursC. 2-3 hoursD. 1-2 hoursE. Less than 1

2.) How often do you come in contact with corporations that use social media?A. Very OftenB. OftenC. NeutralD. Not OftenE. Never

3.) Do you think that corporations use social media affectively?A. Strongly agreeB. AgreeC. NeutralD. DisagreeE. Strongly Agree

- How Could they improve this?

4.) Is using social media a beneficial tactic for corporations?A. Strongly Agree


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B. AgreeC. NeutralD. DisagreeE. Strongly Disagree

5.) Do you follow corporations using social media networks? (Facebook, Twitter, etc.)?A. YesB. No

6.) How often have promotions given over social media persuaded you to buy a product?A.) Very OftenB.) OftenC.) Neutral

D.) Not OftenE.) Never

7.) How often do you redeem coupons offered through social media networks?A.) Very OftenB.) OftenC.) NeutralD.) Not OftenE.) Never

8.) Do you perceive a companies online reputation to be the same as their offline reputation?A.) YesB.) No

9.) Do you feel that corporations should use social media as a means of advertisement comparedto offline advertisement?

10) In your opinion, what is the most effective way for corporations to market/communicate tothe public?

Charts and Graphs


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comm research final final project!!

Documents