“Effectiveness of Social Media Performance Metrics in the Attraction and Retention of Customers.”
CHAPTER ONE
Problem Statement
Social media has emerged as a contemporary platform of communication which has revolutionized the way people communicate with one another by creating a seamless network through which social media users can engage and interact with one another across the world (Marshall, 200, pg.20). The effectiveness and ease of use of these platforms has subsequently resulted in the emergence and mass subscription to these pages by millions of users across the world since they were first created over the last ten years (Sponder, 2011, pg67).
These social media websites include Facebook, YouTube, Instagram, Pintrest and Snapchat among many others that continue to merge every day and provide users with a variety of functions such as video sharing, messaging, chat, photo and other types of file sharing abilities (Gerard, 2015, pg. 78). People are more involved in the handy and more accessible and real time social media platforms like facebook than the slightly old ways of the radio and television.This new and ever evolving developments have shifted several human relation dynamics.One instance of such dynamics is the business arena.Business entities have taken notice of these platforms and have adapted to the shifts by also finding means to engage marketing techniques to the users of the platforms.They have subsequently created their own social media platforms with the intention of capitalizing on the large potential number of customers that these websites portend in the form of active registered social media users. A Business entity refers to business oriented activity that sells a product or service in accordance to commercial laws (Sponder, 2011, pg.50).Owing to the complexities,proceses and dynamics involved in engaging a business entity to the social media platforms,the business entity has to be large enough interms of financial capability and infrastructural investment.The companies can be coorporations or limited liability companies.The prowes of the business entity to engage online social media marketing should be measured interms of the products and or service offered and the ability to deliver the product or service to the customer.Such include global and multi-global companies.
Purpose of This Study
Consequently, the primary purpose of this study is to understand and establish approaches that can be sued by these business entities in evaluating the effectiveness of social media strategies within the current business environment. Specifically, this study will concentrate on the metrics that are used within the social media sphere to evaluate the overall effectiveness of these platforms in generating value to a business entity.
The study will focus of the effectiveness of these platforms from the perspective of whether the said metrics that are used to measure the performance of these social media websites are able to deliver value to a business entity in the form of attracting and retaining new customers. The focus on customer attraction and retention in this study is critical because it blends well with the primary objective of business entities which is to create and maximize profits. This objective of profit maximization cannot subsequently be achieved by these entities if they are unable to attract and retain new customers because it is these customers who will drive the revenue growth through increased demand for a business`s goods or services (Looy, 2015, pg45).
Aims of the Research
The aim of this study is to find out the effectiveness and the impacts of using Social Media Performance Metrics in the Attraction and Retention of new Customers with regard to meeting the goals of a business enterprise which is to add value and to maximize profits.
Objectives
CHAPTER TWO
Literature Review
Introduction
This paper entails a detailed analysis,review and eveluattion of the relevant literature in relation to the performance measurement metrics that are used in the sphere of social media. The fundamental objective of this review is to gain an in-depth understanding of the perspectives and assertions of other authors, industry experts and scholars in regards to the use of performance metrics in gauging how effective social media platforms and corresponding campaigns are in the attraction and retention of customers by a business entity.
Social Media Effectiveness performance Metrics
According to TRB (2012, pg. 42), there are several metrics that can be used in gauging the effectiveness of a social media campaign in attracting and retaining new customers depending on the specific platform preferred by an entity. TRB reviews and evaluates social media platforms like Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, Pintrest and Instagram among any other similar platforms (Eldon, 2013, pg.229). Acording to TRB, the metrics used in evaluating how effective and useful these platforms are to an organization is the number of likes, retweets, hits, page views, friends, followers or repeat visitors.This can be a good indicator because mostly it depict that there are actual potential clients out there and are also willing to pass on the information regarding the brand offered by the business.
Weinstein (2012, pg.158) adds that the conversion rate can be used as an important metric in the evaluation of the effectiveness of a social media campaign or platform. The conversion rate in this regard refers to the transformation of a social media users from a visitor of a given entity`s page to an actual buyer.In his view, Weistein assumes that once a social media user sees the post or advertisement about a certain service or product will actually become a buyer.In my view,the conversion rate should only be used once the costomer feedback actually indicates that they were informed about the product through social media metrics.
The specific actions and activities of a customer who visits an entity’s website as a result of a social media campaign can also be used as corresponding metric in the evaluation of the effectiveness of such a campaign in attracting and retaining customers (Camillo, 2015, pg.157). These activities include the percentage of abandoned online shopping carts, the overall profit per customer as well as the cost of retaining each customer among other similar metrics according to Camillo (2015, p. 160).The metric reviewed by Camilo in this context is also a directly feasible approach.The percentage of abandoned carts against those that result into real purchases is an indication of whether or not the method is a measurement of the degree of customer attraction and retainment.
Social Media Performance Effectiveness Strategies
There are several factors that determine the effectiveness of a given metric in evaluating the overall performance of a social media campaign in attracting and retaining customers for a given business entity. Sponder (2011, pg.311) proposes that business organizations should set specific goals prior to a social media campaign and evaluate its overall performance by comparing the actual results with the previously set goals and objectives.
Secondly, Kubacki (2014, pg.815) adds that the overall validity of a given metric in evaluating the performance of a social media campaign of an organization should be reviewed first before the said metric is used in the evaluation process. In this regard, Marshal (2011, pg.12) adds that the validity measurement process of a metric can be achieved through the gauging of whether a given metric is capable of measuring that which it was designed to measure. For example, does the liking of a company`s post by a social media user imply that the company has subsequently entered into a business engagement with the said client?
According to Looy (2015, pg.59), the use of leading indicators is an important element in the evaluation of how effective a social media campaign or platform is to an organization that seeks to attract and retain new customers. Leading indicators in this regard include the total number of page views by social media users to a company`s website according to Looy (2015, pg.59). Other leading indicators include the number of click-throughs by the social media users as well as their corresponding comments to a company`s pots among others (Looy, 2015, pg.59).
Weinstein (2012, pg. 1750 introduces a new perspective in the evaluation of the effectiveness of a social media platform or campaign in the attraction and retention of new customers to a business. Accordingly, Weinstein assets that the Cost of Ignoring (COI) social media usage by a business should be compared with the corresponding Return on Investment (ROI) of the same platforms to determine how much an organization would lose if it ignored a social media usage approach in its operations.
According to Marshall (2011, pg.26), the effectiveness of social media campaigns in the attraction and retention of new customers by a business entity can be further improved through the use of metrics and models that enable the organizations to predict what is likely to happen to the near future. Looy (2015, pg.70) further adds that business organizations that are able to develop such metrics and performance evaluation models should stick with them going forward so as to enable them develop a consistent evaluation and review rate of the performance of their social media platforms.
Conclusion
This chapter has undertaken a comprehensive review as per other authors who have done research on the social media metrics that are used in the evaluation of the effectiveness of social media campaigns in the process of attracting and retaining new customers. Accordingly, this chapter has defined the various metrics that contemporary business entities use in the process of the measurement of the said performance. An in-depth review of the various approaches that can be used in leveraging of these metrics has also been undertaken in this paper.This research by other authors is equaly important.however,this research aims at adding value to the current research by developing other theories on the metrics.
CHAPTER THREE
Research Design
The chapter consists of the research design, target population, sampling procedures and sample size, research instruments, reliability and validity of the instruments and data collection procedures to be used and the method that will be used for data analysis.
Research approach
The quantitavie approach method will be be used for this research . A quantitative approach in this regard entails the collection of data in measurable quantities using various scales such as weight, height and length.Quantitive concept will be used since it uses numerical data which is the primary data that will be collected.
Since this research is aimed at creating a new theory,the approach of inductive reasoning will be used. The inductive approach refers to the generation of new insights and ideas as a result of the data collected and insights gained in the course of undertaking a research study (Marshall, 2012). Since the social media sphere is relatively new as an industry, then it is highly likely that the data collected may lead the researcher to formulate new theories as a result of the discoveries which they will make in the course of undertaking this study.
Target group
The target research group will entail the business that engage social media in their marketing strategies.The companies will include software companies such as Microsoft and Apple,mobile phone compamies such as sumsung and nokia,airlines companies such as virgin atlantic and American express,beauty product companies such as fragrance direct,refreshment companies such as McDonalds among other companies.
Research Methodology
This study will apply the use of sampling as a primary data collection method which will be used in the mobilization of the necessary raw data and information required in the course of this research.Sampling as a data collection method is highly preffered for research since it will be convenient for the researcher in terms of saving time and resources.Sampling also enables a large population of the target group to be studied in small groups to represent the entire population. In this regard, the sampling approach will entail the selection of a population consisting of business entities that use social media actively in the promotion of their products and services. These businesses will be drawn from all sectors of the economy as part of the sampling requirements so as to eliminate the possibility of bias if only one sector or industry of the economy is selected.
Sampling procedure and sample size
Secondary data will also be used in the course of the data collection process of this study. Accordingly, this data will be derived from previous articles, books and other forms of writing that were authored by scholars and industry experts with the intention of giving the study a theoretical background on which it will be founded on.
Research intruments
The intruments that will be used for this study include interviews,questionnaires and online surveys.The online surveys include the “survey monkey” which will be administered to companies which cannot be physically accesed and also for potential online buyers to fill regarding their preffered suppliers.From the samples, interviews will be conducted and questionnaires administered to the targeted respondents with the aim of collecting valuable quantitative data which will be analyzed and subsequent insights drawn from it with the intention of achieving the aims and objectives of this research.
The questions which will be used in the questionnaires will be closed in nature so as to limit the amount of responses to a specific sphere for quantitative purposes. Accordingly, these questions will comprise mainly of queries related to various measurable aspects of the respondent’s social media usage such as the total number of social media users that they have subscribed in their respective platforms.
On the other hand, the interviews that will be conducted face to face will entail open-ended questions that will give the interviewer the leeway to seek further clarification from the respondent on various aspects which they may not understand. In so doing, these interviews will provide qualitative aspects to the collected data.
Validity
The intruments for this study will be tested for validy to ensure that they yield the resulst for which they were designed. clarity of wording and whether the respondents will be interpreting all questions in the similar ways.
Reliability
This will be done through a pre-test on one business entity which will later be excluded from the population during the actual research.Reliability as a method ensures that the same research instrument actually yields the same results when used repeatedly.
Data collection procedures
For this study to be smoothly undertaken,certain apects of the research must be considered.Seeking permission from the institution and have the teacher sign that they have authorized the reaserch.Then proceed to the target groups and request that a research be conducted on them on social media metrics.
Data analysis
The data that will be collected from this study will be analyzed using descriptive statitistics like frequency distributions:percentages and averages.Statistical packages like SPSS,R and SATA will be used for the data interpration process. Standard deviations will be computed for each research question to test for consistency and the variability of responses across the study participants.
Ethical considerations
Access to People Organizations and Documents
This research study will be undertaken in an ethical manner that ensures that the access to sensitive information, people and their respective organizations will be done above board in a manner that respects their privacy and ensures that confidential information is treated as such without being exposed to unwarranted 3rd parties.
Honesty
In the course of a research study such as this one, honesty in relation to the data collected may prove to be an ethical issue as some researchers may employ tactics that yield data which has not been honestly collected. In the case of this study, the researcher is committed to ensuring that no fabrication, misrepresentation or falsification of the collected data and information will occur.
Objectivity
Objectivity may also prove to be an ethical issue in the sense that personal and subjective perceptions may cloud the researcher`s judgment in reaction to the interpretation of the collected data. Accordingly, this research will be conducted purely on the basis of objective conclusions as evidenced by the data collected.
Some of the information sources may also prove to be unreliable or inaccurate thereby implying adverse ethical consequences. In the course of this study, due diligence will be conducted to ensure that all data is reliable and trustworthy as to guarantee accurate findings, conclusions and recommendations.
Conclusions
The topicon “Effectiveness of Social Media Performance Metrics in the Attraction and Retention of Customers.” Is an important topic of consideration owing to the usage of social media and the revolution that is being seen on information technology sector.The research that has currently been done provides information on these metrics and how they are used but fails to indicate clearly the impacts that it can have on product branding,acquisition and retaining of new customers.Therefore,this research is a bid to further understand the topic on metric of social media and further contribute to the research by other researchers.
Appendices
Appendix 1-Time Plan
Bibliography
Camillo, A., 2015. Handbook of Research on Global Hospitality and Tourism Management.
NJ: IGI Global
Eldon, L., 2013. Organizations and Social Networking: Utilizing Social Media to Engage
Consumers. NJ:IGI Global
Gerard, B., 2015. Social Media - Simple Steps to Win, Insights and Opportunities for Maxing
Out Success. NJ: Emereo
Kubacki, K., 2014. Ideas in Marketing: Finding the New and Polishing the Old. New York:
Springer
Looy, A., 2015. Social Media Management: Technologies and Strategies for Creating Business
Value. New York: Springer
Management Association., 2015. Social Media and Networking: Concepts, Methodologies,
Tools, and Applications. NJ: IGI Global
Marshall, S., 2011. Effective Tools for Building, Interpreting, and Using Metrics. New York:
McGraw Hill
Sponder, M., 2011. Social Media Analytics: Effective Tools for Building, Interpreting, and
Using Metrics. New York: McGraw Hill
Transportation Research Board., 2012. Uses of Social Media in Public Transportation. London:
Transportation Research Board
Weinstein, A., 2012. Superior Customer Value: Strategies for Winning and Retaining
Customers. NJ: CRC Press
