Social Media Analysis and Customer Behaviour - Research Proposal Example

Social Media Analysis and Behaviour Chapter Introduction Social media is used to connect people to information as well as each other online, the use of social sites have influenced marketing trends in a major way. It is now easier for sellers and buyers to communicate easily on various brands. The internet has provided a platform for discovering and inventing new ways to share ideas and information. As a result the markets have evolved and become smarter with the use of social media tools. The new marketing era, has been revolutionized with the consumers turning into researcher andhaving unlimited quantity of information at their fingertips. With this accessibility and transparency of information the decision making process of the consumer is highly influenced. Traditional methods of advertising through the use of mass media have become highly ineffective as the consumers are eager to seek more information directly from the company. Therefore, companies have to work the market and find out the reception of the consumers to their brand, what influences their decisions positively and negatively (Lee, 2013). In this paper we shall examine the influence of social networks on the decision of a buyer. The first segments will presents an introduction to the chosen theme which includes the background and statement of the problem, the objectives and significance of the study, in the next chapter relevant information on literature review will be clearly provided from previous specialized studies. The third chapter will describes the research methodology and data analysis and final conclusions of the study. Background of the problem Marketing was done mainly through the mass media, advertisements would run on televisions and announced on the radios. Telemarketers would call consumers to market their brands and offer promotion services. This was all done beforeinvent of the online platform. The consumers would rely on the information offered by the manufacturers on the advertisements about the products.In the 20th century the internet was in full force and various social sites would connect people online, through easily- accessible and innovative features various social sites have linked people from different places in the world and has helped the layman connect with professionals. The use of mobile based platforms has increased the online presence of consumers as most people subscribe to different social sites. Companies have embraced this trend and established multiple accounts that offer customers services to their consumers. The online presence has made today’s consumer more divulging with information and the social sites use this information to predict their preferences and style, companies using social media marketing programs concentrate on creating content that will attract the attention and encourage the readers to share it with their social networks. Thisincreased communication fosters brand awareness and improved customer service. This platform is also deemed cheap for implementation of marketing campaigns by companies. Marketers have used technological advancement as an opportunity to influence the consumer’s choices by disseminating information and getting insight on their products (Dholakia, Bagozzi, &Pearo, 2004). Statement of the problem Social media has created the perfect forum for the exchange of ideas and information between the consumers and firms however; there is both positive and negative impacts on the use of social media as a marketing tool for organizations. These impacts are influenced by the attitudes and opinions of the consumers. Companies are using data and personal information obtained from these sites to influence their consumers and advance their brands; this analysis then influences the relationship that a company establishes with their consumers online (Thiel et al 2012). However, the problem arises in transforming this data into usable and actionable information in order to comprehend the needs of the customers and behaviorsof a targeted group of individuals with respect to the current products and services offered by the firm. This is because social media content is highly irregular ranging from high quality information to abusive content. The availability of such varying content increases the task of identify reliable content onsocial media sites. According to Agichtein, (2008), the aim of the text analysis to the company is to understand the perception and opinions associated with their product brand, to better their marketing and sales, and get the customer support. Traditional method that focused on published material had a far narrower content compared to the content available on the web today which has user-generatedcontent as more users take part in content creation, rather than just consumption. Various studies have shown that using of text analysis speeds and broadens the analysis while lowering the cost and reducing time wastage in getting relevant information (Chakraborty et al, 2013).  Therefore this provides the necessary behavior insight into the preferences of the consumers giving the firm a higher predictive power. Thesetoolsare a necessary in any competitive market in order to monitor, comprehend and participate in public discourse. They also allow large organizations to respond in a more personal manner to the dynamic marketplace.This is because consumers are making more cautious and considered purchases after researchonline which includes reviews by blog experts, opinions and recommendations from customers and friends (Ayanso&Lertwachara, 2014). Objectives of the study The study aims to establish the impacts of social media on the market through dialogue in the online platform between consumers and between the firms and consumers. Additionally, the study is aimed at the use of text analysis methods by companies, to analyse the large amount of data that available on social sites to determine consumer’s perception on the products. The specific objectives include: i. Establish the positive and negative impacts of social media on markets ii. Consider the different forms of text analysis of social media in regards to customer behavior iii. Show the benefits of use of text analysis of social media Purpose of the study The purpose of the study is to clearly elaborate the use of social media as an online platform for marketing and the benefits that firms can reap from the use of social sites by communicating with their clients. Significance of the study Everyone with an easy access to internet is signed up in at least one social site, therefore online presence is majorly contributing to the upcoming trends globally. The use of mobile sites and smartphones has made access to information significantly easy for the consumers and the firms as well. The use of this information and the interaction of all major parties and contributors to further the goals and promote the success of a company are most valued. Chapter 2 Literature Review Introduction This chapter covers the theoretical context of the use of social media and text analysis in the market. It will look at recent studies on the traditional and non-traditional forms of measuring social media analysis and discuss how social media is measured in depth. Social media & consumer behavior Recent studies have shown that the decision making process of the consumer is highly influenced by various product reviews and recommendations found online. This is because most social sites are dedicated to consumer related information therefore a buyer will look at the rating of the product from other consumers as well as the customer services offered and this will influence their decision either positively or negatively depending on the reviews (Ho-Dac, Carson, & Moore, 2013). Hawkins and Mothersbaugh (2009) explained that social media influences the customer loyalty to the brand through the constant communication and feedback on the products, brands will take recommendations given by their consumers and work on them to improve their products. Due to this elevated interaction individual consumers become part of the brands and even start endorsing them on social sites and by word of mouth. This makes theconsumers loyal to the brands that they love. This is also a strategy of advertising the firm’s products. Firms have also found ways to influence their customer’s behaviors and promote advertising by providing incentives and product promotions online. They will hold online contest for their followers and the winners receive instant prizes. This endears the brand to their consumers. Traditional and non-traditional forms Traditional analytic tools were more focused on how to collect and report data and the immersive understanding of thechannels of analysis and what makes them unique, while the modern analytic methods are concerned with understanding the medium and uniqueness of the channels used (Sterne, 2010). In traditional analysis the text was from interviews, discussion and transcripts in social research and narrativesof films, television programs and editorial and advertising content of newspapers and magazines. This definition was provided by Stocchetti&Kukkonen (2011). It was the study of mass media that has then been revolutionized to a primary research method to study communication behavior as a form of human behavior. Neuendorf, (2002) provided that content analysis in these traditional form the reliability of content analysis for drawing inferences or making predictions depended on the methodology employed like the quantitative v qualitative content analysis that would look at both the content and consider media form used to portray this content. Qualitative content analysis, according to Riff, Lacy, & Fico (2014) examines the relationship between the text and its target audience; this makes it open to multiple interpretations. This type of content analysis looks at the audience, media and contextual dynamics. Modern text analysis was presented with the introduction of computer coding to automatically scan texts. Macnamara (2005) Coding is in a software where data is entered manually, and content analysis is a time-intensive process that uses scientific methods to help in sifting, verification and reduction of data to give the needed information.In content analysis, both the traditional and non-traditional methods insist on the selection of media forms, selection of issues and the sampling of relevant content from within those media. Barefoot & Szabo (2010) Explain that any method used for content analysis should be able to consider the return on investment as a strategy. The success should be reflected in quantifying both returns and costs. This can be done by comparing the cost of a social media strategy to the cost of strategies in other forms of media that can be used and weighing their advantages and disadvantages. Both forms insist on keeping the conversation going among the consumers while amplifying the sales volume and economic value of the company. Different Medias appeal to different audience and hence a company should choose their marketing strategies based on this fact to receive positive impact. The use of social media text analysis in marketing helps to scale large amounts of data into usable information creating a competitive advantage for the companies.Ting Hong & Wang (2012) the information collected is then used to determine the aspect of the brand that needs more attention as well as identifying threats and opportunities based on environment of the industry and providing a model for collaborative brainstorming in the firm How social media is measured Most social media sites provide built-in analytics tools for tracking interactions; these are convenient at measuring the performance within the social media context, but do not show how the social media actions contribute to conversions in the market. In measuring the ROI or Return on Investmentof a social media, Sanders (2012) explained that the tools used must show the impact of social actions that yield the best results, an example of such a tool is Google Analytics. Brand awareness is the familiarity of a brand to the targeted audience. In his book Lovett (2011) states that measuring social media involves evaluating the social media exposure, its influence and engagement. In the determination of the social media exposure this method can be highly unreliable and inefficient because it highlight the number of people the brand has attracted through the social media, here there is a potential for duplication of users among other errors. Engagement is also a way to measure social media;this is based o the reaction that the message received, onTwitter or Facebook this can be determined by the number of likes, retweets, replies among others. The information and engagements may illicit positive, neutral or negative sentiment (Bertino & Matei, 2014).  The use of influence as a measurement tool is displayed in the sentiments and it is deemed important to spend time engaging with both influential and average user on social media. Therefore brand awareness in the social media is measured through exposure, influence and engagement. This is the discipline explained by Lipschultz (2014) in understanding the information acquired through these channels and its impact,it gives the firm a leeway to apply those methods in other social sites. He explains that every social measurement has a margin of error however this is not significant enough to distort the data acquired but reflects on strengths and weaknesses. Sentiment analysis and opinion mining In the research paper Sentiment Analysis and Opinion Mining , the authors define sentiment analysis also known as opinion mining as a process for identifying the mood of the general public about a particular product or service.it comprises building a system that collects and examines opinions about products made in various social sites. It is useful in identifying the success of campaign ads or launch of new products and can be used to recognize the popularity of various products in the market as well as demographics that like or dislike a certain product. There are some challenges facing this method like in some situations a word may be considered positive while in others it may be negative, the second challenge is that people do not express opinions in a same way some people may be sarcastic while others are blunt. The third challenge is that most reviews n social media will have both positive and negative comments, which may be easy for a human to understand, but difficult for a computer to analyze. Sentiment analysis has sentiment classification which deals with classifying entire documents according to the opinions towards certain objects, and opinion summarization which is different from traditional text summarization because here only the products features that the customers have expressed their opinions on are mined. Most traditional text processing relies on the fact that small differences between two pieces of text dont change the meaning very much. Sentiment analysis differs from the traditional methods of text analysis because it concentrates on the attitudes, whereas in traditional text mining the focus is on the analysis of facts. Most traditional text processing relies on the fact that small differences between two pieces of text dont change the meaning very much this is not so in sentiment analysis where it is perceived that different texts change the entire meaning (Vinodhini & Chandrasekaran, 2012). Impacts of social media on the market Social media setting provides a forum where the consumers can give immediate feedback about products; this feedback is visible to other users from investors to other consumers. According to Ho-Dac, Carson and Moore (2013) online customer reviews may increase or decrease the sales of a weak brand but have no significant effect on stronger, more established brands in the market. Social Media is also involved in brand protection, users will write product reviews to protect others from bad experiences, Many customers use social media to engage with brands on a customer service level so as to get speedy feedback and services. According to Noor and Hendricks (2012) most firms have established customer care accounts that provide information for the consumers as well as address their complaints all the while updating them on the progress.  The trend of consumers acting as ambassadors for brands through social media has increased online. Most active and popular social networkers follow brands that recruit them to spread word-of-mouth recommendations about their products and services they share their experiences and give brand recommendations to their followers. They are also interested in giving product improvement recommendations and customization (Richardson, Gosnay& Carroll, 2010).  According to Kelly (2012), the real value of social media initiatives is to develop and strengthen the relationship between brands and their consumers. Firms are advised to set up business objectives before the start of social media campaigns. These goals may involve reducing the cost of customer service, introducing new brands or generating revenue. The communication in social media is the modern consumer based that focuses on the needs and perceptions of the customers. It should reach the target audience and provide value to them all the while retaining the already existing consumers. Chapter 3 Research Methodology This paper is a literature survey research progressing through a review of selected literature on impacts of text analysis of social media on the market. Focus was placed on written text, journals and articles to review the already existing literature. An analysis of this literature formed the basis for all findings reached. This is useful for development of further information and the facilitation of further studies in similar fields. Extensive research has been done to collect all the available and relevant information on this topic. This has enabled a deep analysis of the issues at hand and led to an accurate view of these issues. Information sources are mainly secondary in the form of articles, magazines, journals, studies, blogs, books and any other written sources of information on the matter (Rugg&Petre 2007).The benefits of using secondary research material for this study as explained by Kothari (2005) is the wealth of secondary research materials means that the study will be well informed on matters discussed. There is sufficient wealth of secondary material produced by knowledgeable scholars for the reader and learner gain invaluable insight on the topic. Primary research is applicable through online surveys and questionnaires on the social media sites, there are various recommended surveys like surveymokey that can be used gather important details from the consumers. The advantage is that the feedback is instant and with the use of text analysis methods the firms will have an easy time deciphering through the large amount of data received online. Computerized online surveys may be self-administered and may be costumed to contain question that will ask the consumers on their attitudes about a particular product as well as their preferences, these surveys are used by the firms to improve their products and identify a market gap that need to be filled with new products. This research will also reveal the preferences of consumers in shopping online.Data selection is used to determine the appropriate data type and source that will allow the researcher to answer their research questions adequately. This is done after all the information has been collected from the various research methods that were employed. Data selection depends on the nature of the investigation and the existing information that has been provided. It is influence by cost and convenience to collect this data.Data can be collected in a variety of ways, however it should be collected in the most appropriate way to prevent the data from being useless.Data selection should endeavor to maintain the integrity of the research (Liu & Motoda, 1998).  Conclusion and Recommendations Social media is the largest and most dynamic information base for human behavior; it carries new opportunities to help understand different groups and society as a whole. Social media analytics is the automated collection and analysis of human interactions. Therefore, text analysis is an important tool in any firm using the social media, as described it is used to predict the behaviors and sentiments of the consumers on a brand, firms with serious business objectives are better suited to achieve their target goals with the use of these tools. The consumers are willing and ready to offer information and this is a goldmine for the companies. Consumer retention and brand recognition are the most important factors for using social media. The rights tools of analysis will impact the firm positively leading to more brand recognition and generated sales while negative impacts will lead to the collapse of the brand market in a competitive market. Wasserman and Faust (1998) recommend that firms should not just rely on social media analysis to gather information; they should also incorporate the traditional methods of survey and research. After collecting all the data they receive online companies should get experts to analyze it and help meet the consumer’s demands as well as bridge an existing niche in the market.The firms can also ensure customers satisfaction by making it clear they have the customer’s feedback and will keep them updated; this makes certain that the firm values the customer’sopinions. 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(2010). The Social Media Management Handbook: Everything You Need To Know To Get Social Media Working In Your Business. Hoboken: John Wiley & Sons, Inc. Read More