Impact of Social Media on Marketing in Saudi Arabia - Research Proposal Example

? Interim Assessment Report of the Problem Definition The analysis of Saudi market, in terms of infrastructure and the consumer acceptance of mobile market reflect that it is still at its infant stage. However, the basic issue that business houses of Saudi Arabia are facing today is about how they can build and promote their brand through social media channels. Moreover, there is a need to identify the impact of mobile phone search & social media on marketing and liberalization in Saudi Arabia. A case study will be conducted to indicate the best social platform and its effectiveness for business fraternity and general populace of Saudi Arabia. Research objective Research objectives are the most important elements of a study. It is often regarded as the foundation of a research work (Babbie, 2012; Kumar, 2005). Moreover, the scope of the research is also established on the basis of the objectives of the study. This study principally aims to examine the impact of mobile search &social media on brand awareness, marketing and liberalization in Saudi Arabia. However, the study also has other objectives as well. The different objectives are presented below: - To identify the influence of mobile search & social media on brand awareness, marketing and liberalization in Saudi Arabia. To recognize how social media can drive customers towards a business and how it can help companies to embrace loyal customers. To identify the best or the most popular social media in Saudi Arabia. To explore how the indentified social media is helpful for the common people and business houses of Saudi Arabia. To identify how mobile search & social media can be used by business houses to investigate the business environment and simultaneously bring innovation to the business. To create an independent model to survey the business environment by employing mobile search & social media. B- 7.1.1 Choice of Appropriate Paradigm Research is often described as a systematic investigation or inquiry of the subject of concern (Saunders, Lewis & Thornhill, 2009; Riley et al., 2004; Pannerselvam, 2000) The research process includes collection of the data, analyzing it and interpreting the findings in different ways. The interpretation is mostly done on the basis of the requirement of the study (Burns, 1997; Mertens, 2005). In the similar context, O'Leary (2004) put emphasis on the fact that what used to be defined with ease 30-40 years back has now become exceedingly complex in the recent times. One of the obvious reasons is the rapidly changing business scenario and arrival of different type of research methods. Thus, which used to hold true 30-40 years back, not hold fully acceptable or not at all acceptable in the present days. In general, there are two broad research paradigms namely positivism and interpretivism. Positivism is often referred to as a scientific method of doing a research. A researcher believing in this philosophy considers realism as true and can be expressed from the viewpoint of an objective (Tobin &Joseph, 2006). Another significant differentiating factor between the two philosophies is that positivists considers quantitative analysis as the more reasonable and helps to draw a logical solution of the subject of concern. Researches believing in this philosophy often consider questionnaire survey, online polls, surveys as the best way of collecting data (Blaxter, Hughes & Tight, 2006; Scharff, 2002). The interpretivism philosophy on the other hand believes in anti-positivism concept. They do not consider reality to be stable or reality is articulated from the objective viewpoint. On the contrary, they regard reality is not stable and is constantly changing (Creswell, 2003). Furthermore, they also believe that the behavior of human being is constantly changing as the surrounding in which they exist, strongly impacts them. The researchers belonging to this category also tries to unearth the perception of people about the circumstances in which they exists (Mukherji & Albon, 2009). The differentiating factors from the positivists are that these researchers believe that data collection should be qualitatively and hence research instruments such as observation, focus group interview session and semi structured interview are commonly used (Hakim, 2000; Muijs, 2010; Silverman, 2004). This study aims to shed light on the impact of mobile search &social media on brand awareness, marketing and liberalization in Saudi Arabia. Apart from that, the study also intends to recognize how social media can drive customers towards business houses and can help companies to embrace loyal customers. On the basis of the findings, the study aims to create an independent model to survey the business environment by employing mobile search & social media. Therefore, on the basis of the requirements of the study and considering the characteristics of the research paradigms a combination of both positivism and interpretivism, philosophy will be adopted. C- 7.1.3 Fieldwork Field work is another vital task of a research study. The importance of field work is more if the study involves interaction with external audiences. This study intends to identify the influence of mobile search & social media on brand awareness, marketing and liberalization in Saudi Arabia and identify how mobile search & social media can be used by business houses to investigate the business environment and simultaneously bring innovation to the business. Therefore it is evident that this study will involve collection of data from the field. The field work for this study will include questionnaire survey, online poll and also semi structured interview session with the managers and executives of the companies belonging to Saudi Arabia. In addition, the field work will also involve interaction with the general consumers of Saudi Arabia. D- 7.1.5 Data collection methods Data collection is one of the indispensable parts of the research planning process. The most important task of a data collection process is selecting the most fitting and suitable variable that is judged as the best for responding to the research questions. This process of selecting candidates from a pool, is also known as sampling. According to Deming (1996), sampling is the process selecting the subset of population among the mass. The principal reason behind pursuing sampling is that it is impossible to survey each of the candidates. Thus, sampling is undertaken to make sure some of the respondents represents the entire population (Singh and Bajpai, 2008; Somekh and Lewin, 2004; Srivastava and Rego, 2011). Since, the study has multiple objectives and most of the topics are broader, respondent group will be chosen from different spheres of the industry. It will include customers and the other for the online customer care staff members, managers and employees in Middle East of different companies, literary persons like professors and lastly the Saudi Arabian people who use the social media. Once the respondent groups are selected, the next task in the data collection process is ensuring accurate recording of data as well as measuring it. Finally, the task is to ensure valid and reliable data has been collected from the market. As discussed earlier, the data collection method to be applied for this sturdy is questionnaires, online polls, and structured personal interview. E- 7.1.6 Data Analysis The task of data analysis comes after raw data has been collected from the market. Through the process of data analysis the raw data is converted into information. This information in turn is used to conclude the objectives of the study. This study will involve both qualitative as well as quantitative analysis of data. The qualitative data will be analyzed theoretically or in other words, the responses from the participants of the study will be deduced in order to draw a conclusion. On the other hand, the quantitative data will be analyzed with the help of analyzing tools such as MS-excel and SPSS (Software package for Social Science). F- 10 Originality and Contribution The study conducted is absolutely original and it did not involved collection or stealing of data from the work of other researchers. Most of the data has been collected directly from the market and some of the information has been collected from the authorized and authentic sources. Although, similar studies can be found in large numbers, but the conclusion of this study has been purely drawn from the information collected by the associated members of the study. Hence, any kind of collusion or lifting from others work have been strongly avoided. In the meantime, it is also believed that the study has been able to contribute significantly to the field of business research. The principal contribution of this paper is the identification of a new and independent model to survey the business environment by employing mobile search & social media. It will be real breakthrough in the field of technological innovation for business research. Since, mobile devices and social media are extensively used nowadays; the retrieval of information by the business houses will not be a major cause of concern. Since, the study also thrown light on the influence of mobile search & social media on brand awareness, marketing and liberalization in Saudi Arabia, it will be able to highlight the importance of social media in the marketing activities of a company. Therefore, it is believed that the findings of the study will greatly contribute towards the improvement of marketing activities. References Babbie, E. R. (2012). The Practice of Social Research. Connecticut: Cengage Learning. Blaxter, L., Hughes, C. & Tight, M. (2006). How to Research (3rd ed.). New York: McGraw-Hill International. Burns, R. B. (1997). Introduction to research methods (3rd ed.). Sydney: Longman. Creswell, J. W. (2003). Research design: Qualitative, quantitative, and mixed methods approaches (2nd ed.). California: Sage. Deming, W. E. (1996). Some Theory of Sampling. New York: Courier Dover Publications. Hakim, C. (2000). Research Design: Successful Designs for Social and Economic Research. London: Routledge. Kumar, R. (2005). Research Methodology: A Step-by-Step Guide for Beginners. California: SAGE. Mertens, D. M. (2005). Research methods in education and psychology: Integrating diversity with quantitative and qualitative approaches (2nd ed.). California: Sage. Muijs, D. (2010). Doing Quantitative Research in Education with SPSS. California: SAGE. Mukherji, P. & Albon, D. (2009). Research Methods in Early Childhood: An Introductory Guide. London: SAGE. O'Leary, Z. (2004). The essential guide to doing research. California: Sage. Pannerselvam, R. (2004). Research methodology. New Delhi: PHI Learning Pvt. Ltd. Riley, M., Wood, R. C., Clark, M. A., Wilkie, E. & Szivas, E. (2000). Researching and Writing Dissertations in Business and Management. Connecticut: Thomson Learning. Saunders, M., Lewis, P. & Thornhill, A. (2009). Research Methods for Business Student. 5th ed. New Jersey: Pearson Education Inc. Scharff, R. C. (2002). Comte after Positivism. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Silverman, D. (2004). Qualitative Research: Theory, Method and Practice. California: SAGE. Singh, Y. K., and Bajpai, R. B. (2008). Research methodology: Techniques & trends. New Delhi: APH Publishing. Somekh, B. and Lewin, C. (2004). Research methods in the social sciences. California: SAGE. Srivastava, T. N., and Rego, S. (2011). Business research methodology. New Delhi: Tata McGraw-Hill Education. Tobin, P. & Joseph, K. (2006). The Use of Stories and Storytelling as Knowledge Sharing Practices: A Case Study in the South African Mining Industry. Retrieved from http://upetd.up.ac.za/thesis/available/etd-07302006-065725/. Read More

 

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