Investigation of the Impact of Social Media Tools on Emirates Airlines - Research Proposal Example

 Investigation of the Impact of Social Media Tools on Emirates Airlines Abstract Emirates Airline has been experiencing high levels of competition in the market. The company has used social media to advertise its services and get the feedbacks from the customers on the service delivery. The aim of this study will therefore, be to investigate if the use of social media has improved the performance of the company. In order to come up with an in-depth conclusion, both qualitative and quantitative method will be used to collect data. Regression analysis will be used to analyze the data. The major objective will therefore, determine whether the company can increase its budget towards social media marketing. This will be achieved through determining the perception of the customers towards the new form of marketing being used by Emirates Airlines. Contents Contents 2 Introduction 3 Literature Review 4 Time Scale (Ghatt chart) 6 The Objective of the Study 8 Specific Objectives 8 Research question 8 Methodology 9 Analysis 10 Limitation 10 Ethical Consideration 11 References 12 QUESTIONNAIRE 14 Introduction With the increasing levels of globalization resulting from liberalization of markets, efficient flow of information, and integration of economies, the level of competition in the market has increased immensely. This has resulted from the entry of multinational companies in the local market. These global firms have the adequate funds to segment the market, position the products strategically in the market and attract customer loyalty towards their products or services. The aviation industry has been the most affected. For instance, in the past one decade, Emirates Airline has faced immense competition from new entrants (Edelman, 2007. This aspect has necessitated the need to form a strong marketing department and use of efficient advertising channels in order to reach the customers. However, the media has increased the cost of advertising in order to benefit from the demand for their services. Therefore, Emirates airlines decided to seek cheaper channels that will help the firm reduce the cost of advertising (Mangold, & Faulds, 2009). The airline decided to use social media which continue to gain popularity among the young generation which forms the largest part of the target market. In addition, the media is also being used as a platform for conducting research. This is because the users are able to give their feedback, an aspect that enables the businesses to adjust their operations in order to meet the customer requirements (Fenwick & Wertime, 2013). Various researches have been conducted on the importance of social media. However, Emirates Airline is yet to conduct a study on how the new marketing strategy has affected the overall performance of the business. Literature Review Currently, the technological sector is growing tremendously. People are able to get access to the internet through their mobile phones and even laptops. This has made the use of social media record an immense growth, an aspect that is making it to gain some considerable attention from global media. The current trends indicate that there is no signs of slowing down as various studies indicate that young generation are shunning away the audio, visual, and print media for social media (Chevalier & Mayzlin, 2003). The internet can be used to understand the interests of the target market. Emirates airline has been making various changes in service delivery according to the response from the loyal customers. With the increasing levels of competition in the market, customer relation management has become one of the important aspects that ensure that the firm retains its competitive advantage over the competitors. The most popular social media is Facebook and Twitter. The company has therefore created a specific department mandated with ensuring that the feedbacks from the social media customers are reported and acted upon by the management (Wind & Mahajan 2001). The internet has become an important tool for research (Palmer & Koenig-Lewis 2009). Businesses use the internet in research about new products, methods of creating new products and pricing information. The internet has also become important in researching about competitors pricing and products. This enables the businesses to upgrade their systems and make them effective in order to increase its competitiveness in the market. The Internet is also an important tool in locating the target customers, and learning about their characteristics. This has become crucial in digital marketing (Parkin, 2009). Decisions on the media selection and planning are increasingly becoming complex and challenging. The strategy for marketing environmental friendly cars must incorporate multiple media options and marketing planning. Marketing managers indicate that there is a stronger need to have flexible communication plans. Corporate are investing in social bonding and carefully choosing the marketing media. Given the rising globalization has caused companies to turn to marketing strategies which are internationally acceptable. Social marketing is important when promoting environmental friendly strategies (Chan & Guillet, 2011). Social media marketing entail the use of the virtual space and mobile applications. With Emirate Airlines expanding its operations to different parts of the world, there has been a need to look for a cheap media that will be able to reach various customers located in various parts of the world. However, the firm is yet to determine if the media has contributed into the improved performances being experienced by the company (Constantinides & Stagno, 2011). The objective of this study is to understand how emirates airline has benefited from the entry of social media in the market. The main task in the current market is to retain the customers and bring referrals. As a result, market orientation has become an important tool for building loyalty and offering superior value to the customers (Boyd & Ellison, 2007). This research will therefore help to determine the major relationship between the utilization of the social media tools during marketing and the success of the company. Although social media has provided the firms with an advertising platform, it has also exposed the business to open critics and unhealthy wars between the competitors. Different firms have been using the platform to tarnish the reputation of other major players in the market (Ghose & Yang, 2009). This aspect has seen some cases being filed in the courts as different businesses seek compensation for defamation. Time Scale (Ghatt chart) Activity Week 1 Week 2 Week 3 Week 4 Week 5 Week 6 Designing the research problem and objectives Designing research methodology Literature review Data collection and analysis Report writing and submission The Objective of the Study General Objective: Investigation of the impact of social media tools on Emirates Airlines Specific Objectives To determine whether social media has been instrumental in increasing the company’s customer base To analyze if the social media has enabled emirates Airline to penetrate the global market To determine whether the recent campaign by the airline to improve the customer relations has been boosted by the use of the social media Research question The examination of the existing literature concerning the social media marketing prompted the investigation of the following question. What impact does social media tools has on Emirates Airlines performance and customer relations? The following hypotheses were raised from research question: HO1: Social media has a major role in increasing the airline’s customer base HO2: Social media has enabled the airline to penetrate the global market HO3: Recent campaign to improve customer relations has been boosted by the use of social media Methodology A quantitative method will be used in order to collect information concerning the topic of study. This will be crucial in coming up with an in-depth conclusion that will help the management to make crucial decisions on whether the social media has played a significant role in the success of the company. The central point of this study will be objectivism. For the purpose of getting specific information concerning the topic of study, a structured interview will be conducted (Barnes & Barnes, 2010). Due to logistical challenges, the interview will be conducted online. This will save on time and resources. The interview will be significant in getting information that cannot be collected through the use of questionnaires which cannot be obtained through the use of other research tools. A sampling method will be used to determine the number of people who use social media to get crucial information concerning the Emirates Airlines. The samples will be selected randomly in order to avoid any cases of biasness. 50 respondents will be used to get the information. The survey will concentrate on the existing customers. This will be significant in ensuring that the information obtained is reliable and up-to-date (Fogel & Nehmad, 2009. In addition, this will be important in understanding if the customers have been using the online platform to get crucial information concerning the company. Other methods that will be used include telephone interviews for the people living in far areas, and use of emails. However, I think it’s good to email them personally. Qualitative research will also be conducted. The nature of the problem can only be understood through exploratory research. The use of sampling ensures a reduced survey bias through the use of focus groups. It also ensures that the ideas from a broad spectrum have been used before making the final findings and conclusion. The wide amount of views is important in ensuring that questionnaire constructed is of conventional standards. The group will be developed through in-depth consultation. A focus group shall be having a membership of eight members. The discussions shall be taped. The questionnaire shall have a complementary role for the acquisition of the targeted information. The aim shall be to get a wide range of opinions. Questionnaires will design, to collect fundamental factors about consumer perceptions on digital marketing. Based on the research objectives, a self constructed five –item structured questionnaire is imperative. The questionnaire shall be prepared to use 5- point Likert scale. Qualitative research will need a systematic way of coding, organizing, analyzing and organizing the non-numerical data. The research shall use both print and electronic sources. Analysis With the importance of this study, all variables that affect the outcome of the research will be taken into consideration. In order to achieve this aspect, correlation and regression analysis will be used. This will be significant in determining the positive relationship between the variables of social media tools and utilization of market orientation strategy and the performance of the company (Shankar & Malthouse, 2007). This will be significant in determining if these variables have a direct impact in the overall performance of Emirates Airlines (Palmer & Koenig-Lewis, 2009). Other descriptive methods such as mean, standard deviation and mode will be used to come up with an exhaustive conclusion. Limitation One of the limitations is lack of effective cooperation from the respondents. Airline industry is very strict when it comes to time. As a result, some of the respondents might feel that the study is interfering with the schedule. This aspect might have an impact on the overall results of the study. Sending the survey to all respondents is expensive. As a result, it will be hard to obtain their responses. In addition, it will be time consuming. Ethical Consideration Ethical issues will be considered in order to ensure that the research is credible and reliable for decision making. Many employees may feel that giving out crucial information concerning the performance of the company will risk their jobs. As a result, personal information about the respondents will not be revealed to the third party. This will create confidence among the respondents. Employees will be interviewed far from their seniors. In addition, they will be interviewed individually. This will be crucial in ensuring that they are not intimidated by the presence of senior manager. This will ensure that they provide accurate information. On the other hand, customers’ identity will be concealed as a way of maintaining their confidentiality. References Barnes, N. D., & Barnes, F. R. 2010. Equipping your organization for the social networking game. IEEE Engineering Management Review, 43(6). Boyd, D., & Ellison, N. B. 2007. Social Network Sites: Definition History and Scholarship. Journal of Computer-mediated Communication, 13(1), 210-230. Chan, N. L., & Guillet, B. D. 2011. Investigation of Social Media Marketing: How Does the Hotel Industry in Hong Kong Perform in Marketing on Social Media Websites? Journal of Travel & Tourism Marketing, 28(4), 345-368. Chevalier, J. A., & Mayzlin, D. 2003. The Effect of Word of Mouth on Sales: Online Book Reviews. Journal of Marketing Research, 43(3), 345-354. Constantinides, E., & Stagno, M. C. 2011. Potential of the social media as instruments of higher education marketing: a segmentation study. Journal of Marketing for Higher Education, 21(1), 7-24. Edelman, D. C. 2007. From the Periphery to the Core: As Online Strategy Becomes Overall Strategy, Marketing Organizations and Agencies Will Never Be the Same. Journal of Advertising Research, 47(2), 130-134. Fenwick, I., & Wertime, K. 2013. Digimarketing: The essential guide to new media and digital marketing. Hoboken, N.J: Wiley. Fogel, J., & Nehmad, E. 2009. Internet social network communities: Risk taking, trust, and privacy concerns. Computers in Human Behavior, 25(1), 153-160. Ghose, A., & Yang, S. 2009. An Empirical Analysis of Search Engine Advertising: Sponsored Search in Electronic Markets. Management Science, 55(10), 1605-1622. Mangold, W. G., & Faulds, D. J. 2009. Social media: The new hybrid element of the promotion mix. Business Horizons, 52(4), 357-364. Palmer, A., & Koenig-Lewis, N. 2009. An experiential, social network-based approach to direct marketing. Direct Marketing: An International Journal, 3(3), 162-176. Parkin, G. 2009. Digital marketing: Strategies for online success. London: New Holland Publishers. Shankar, V., & Malthouse, E. C. 2007. The growth of interactions and dialogs in interactive marketing. Journal of Interactive Marketing, 21(2), 2-4. Wind, Y., & Mahajan, V. 2001. Digital marketing: Global strategies from the world's leading experts. New York: J. Wiley. QUESTIONNAIRE Emirates Airlines We are conducting a research on how often you use social media to get information about the airline and your perception on Airlines customer relations. Your views would be highly valuable to us. All information provided will be kept confidential and will not be disclosed to any other company or individual. The information collected will be used by the firm to improve service delivery and customer relations. 1) Gender (Please tick ) Male Female 2) What is the level of satisfaction that you received from the services offered by Emirates Airlines? Low Medium High 3) During your travel with us, was the communication through the use of social media efficient? Yes No If not, what other services would you like provided in the future__________________. 4) How often do you use social media to get information on Emirates Airlines? Often Not Often 5) What is the most popular social media you use for information? Facebook Google plus None Twitter Other Specify _________________________. 7) How satisfied are you with the customer service at Emirates Airlines? Low Medium High 8) Do you think the airline should invest more on social media marketing? Yes No If not, why? ___________________________. 9) Are you satisfied with how the employees handle your concerns? Yes No If not, why? ___________________________________________________________. 10) Do you consider the current social marketing effective? Yes No Thank you for your time…. Read More