This research examines the value and best practice of

using social media for business development and

marketing. It also explores how businesses are currently
using social media.
Student ID: 070155273

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 Living Through a Revolution: The Impact and
Value of Social Media for Marketing and Business
Development

Abstract
Purpose: A) To examine the value and best practice of using social media for business
development and marketing. B) To ascertain current enterprise social media activities.

Approach/Methodology: The research was conducted by: A) An extensive literature review to

identify the benefits and best practices for using social media. B) An online survey to gather the

views, experiences and current practices of 360 businesses using social media.

Findings: The research found that social media is a valuable tool for business development and
marketing. Businesses found the biggest challenges to be measuring effectiveness and Return on

Investment.

Research limitations: The research was designed to test only businesses using social media
rather than examine why some businesses are not using it. The survey results mainly reflect small to

medium sized businesses rather than large corporations.

Originality/value: The research added knowledge to the indicated information gap in academic
literature regarding social media activity for businesses.

Keywords: Social Media; Social Media Marketing; Business Development; Web 2.0

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Acknowledgements
I would like to express my appreciation to Serge Gladkoff, President of Logrus International

Cooperation and administrator of Localization Professionals group on Linkedin (5400+ members and

largest in the language industry), for his advice in the final stages of my dissertation. Thanks to

Serge, this research has been used as one of the reference research materials for Localization World

Berlin 2010 panel on using social media for the language industry.

Special thanks go to John Whaling, a sales specialist from Melbourne, Australia, with strategic

knowledge of Enterprise 2.0, Social Media, and business development. John contacted me on his

own accord to give me advice on survey structure and analysis, and later made suggestions for my

work.

Justin Souter, a business consultant from Newcastle, and Declan Metcalfe, a brand practitioner with

an in-depth knowledge of social media, must be thanked for their support, guidance and advice over

the course of my dissertation.

I would also like to acknowledge the help of Hazel Burton from the North East Entrepreneurs Forum,

who kindly put a link to my survey in their weekly e-newsletter, and Luke Bean, the online marketer

for Sony Pictures in Los Angeles, who ‘re-tweeted’ my survey link to his large number of followers.

I am extremely grateful for all the respondents of my survey, who not only provided rich data, but

also offered further support, advice and guidance.

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Contents
Abstract.......................................................................................................................i
Acknowledgements.....................................................................................................ii
Contents.....................................................................................................................iii
Figures and Tables......................................................................................................vi

Chapter 1: Introduction
1.1 Background...........................................................................................................1

1.2 Social Media Channels..........................................................................................3

1.3 Value of Research.................................................................................................3

1.4 Objectives.............................................................................................................4

Chapter 2: Literature Review

2.1 Brand Awareness............................................................................................5

2.1.1 Brand Exposure.....................................................................................5

2.1.2 Viral.......................................................................................................6

2.2 Positive Brand Association............................................................................10

2.2.1 Relationship Marketing ......................................................................10

2.2.2 Adopting the human voice..................................................................11

2.2.3 Transparency and honesty..................................................................12

2.2.4 Providing innovate, creative and engaging content............................12

2.2.5 Addressing and alleviating customer concerns...................................13

2.2.6 Negotiating the message.....................................................................14

2.3 Business Development..................................................................................15

2.3.1 Monitoring and learning from conversations.....................................15

2.3.2 Social Impact and Return on Investment (ROI)...................................17

2.3.3 Internal Communication and Business to Business (B2B)...................19

2.4 Relevant Customer Reach..............................................................................20

2.4.1 Target Marketing.................................................................................20

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Chapter 3: Methodology
3.1 Methodology…………………………………………………………………………………….……………..22

3.2 Distribution……………………………………………………………………………………………………...23

3.3 Sample and Population……………………………………………………………………….…………...24

3.4 Advantages………………………………………………………………………………………….…………..24

3.5 Disadvantages……………………………………………………………………………………….…….…..25

3.6 Limitations……………………………………………………………………………………………….….…..26

3.7 Ethical Considerations……………………………………………………………………………….…....27

Chapter 4: Data Collection and Analysis

4.1 Data Collection……………………………………………………………………………………………..….28

4.2 Survey Response Rate………………………………………………………………………………….....28

4.3 Data Analysis…………………………………………………………………………………………………....29

4.3.1 My sample………………………………………………………………………………………..29

4.4 Main Benefits.........................................................................................30

4.4.1 Brand Awareness…………………………………………………………………………..…30

4.4.2 Positive Brand Association………………………………………………………………..32

4.4.3 Business Development……………………………………………….................…….35

4.4.4 Marketing Spend..............………………………………………………………………..36

4.4.5 Relevant Customer Reach…....……………………………………………………..…..38

4.5 Main Concerns……………....…………………………………………………………………...38

4.5.1 Measurement and ROI.........................................................................38

4.5.2 Lack of Social Media Awareness..........................................................39

4.5.3 Challenges with Social Media...............................................................40

Chapter 5: Conclusions
5.1 Conclusion............................................................................................................41

5.2 Further Implications of the Study........................................................................42

Bibliography...............................................................................................................44

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Appendix...................................................................................................................48

Appendix A: Social Media Channels: Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, YouTube, Blogs....................................................48

Appendix B: Survey.....................................................................................................................................................51

Appendix C: Social Media Sites mentioned.................................................................................................................56

Appendix D: Measurement tools................................................................................................................................57

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Figures and Tables
Figures
Figure 2.1: Viral Funnel.......................................................................................................7

Figure 2.2: Influencers Pyramid..........................................................................................9

Figure 2.3: Non-financial/ Financial Impact......................................................................18

Figure 4.1: Years spent using social media.......................................................................29

Figure 4.2: Main Benefits..................................................................................................30

Figure 4.3: Social Media channels used............................................................................31

Figure 4.4: Time spent using social media per week........................................................33

Figure 4.5: Response to Negative Comments...................................................................35

Figure 4.6: Social Media Budget.......................................................................................37

Figure 4.7: Future Social Media Spending........................................................................37

Figure 4.8: Social Media Measurement............................................................................39

Figure 4.9: Challenges using Social Media........................................................................40

Tables
Table 4.1: Awareness of Social Media Tools.....................................................................39

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Chapter 1
Introduction
1.1 BACKGROUND: The Social Media Environment

With the advent of the Internet, the communications climate has transformed. We are currently

living through a key moment of change where the asynchronous, monological forms of traditional

media and marketplace have been met by Internet penetration and online global networks. Prior to

the web, marketing involved companies projecting a one-way message at a mass of consumers with

the intention to sell more products. The web has dramatically changed those traditional rules of

marketing.

Initially, web culture endorsed traditional forms of ‘push’ advertising, acting as an ‘information

superhighway’. In 2004 however, Web 2.0 took hold, marking a revolutionary turning point for web

culture, as the Internet became increasingly social. In the online environment, time and space have

been compressed to such a great extent that we are able to communicate, share, and collaborate

with one another with no physical or temporal boundaries. Online marketing has moved from

publishing to participation, as the democratisation of information means that society has the power

to publicly deconstruct marketing messages and co-create content.

The popularity of social media in the 21 st century has been meteoric and has infiltrated people’s

everyday lives. Visiting social sites is now the 4th most popular online activity with two-thirds of the

global internet population visiting social networks (Burmaster & Covey, 2009). Now more than ever

before, society is connected and empowered to participate and share its views. As a “centre for both

community and commerce in the virtual world” (Hearn, 2008: 210), it is imperative that marketers

leverage its power in order to create innovative brand experiences.

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Social media is an umbrella term for a wide range of technologies such as social networking sites,

blogs, micro-blogging sites, podcasts, wikis, and video and photo sharing sites. It has had significant

implications for marketing as it has dramatically disrupted the power balance between companies

and their consumers (Li & Bernoff, 2008), increasing productive consumer agency and causing a

surge in online consumer activity. Ample evidence suggests that postmodern customers continue to

eschew traditional forms of ‘push’ advertising, as they grow increasingly cynical and less attentive

(Scott, 2007: 7). In this increasingly consumer-orientated landscape, the traditional hierarchical

structure between brand and consumer has been suppressed so that “the people formerly known as

the audience are now the media” (Jaokar et al, 2009: 1). Distance between production and

consumption has been compressed to the extent that online participants are becoming “prosumers”

(Toffler, 1980), producing user-generated content that is facilitating co-creation. Forrester

researchers Li and Bernoff proclaim that there has been a “groundswell” (2008), whereby consumers

are able to share knowledge and opinionated views on brands, publish their own content, and filter

and create their own media feeds. The traditional dialectic between business and personal has

become increasingly obsolete, as the online sphere blurs our social and professional circles.

With social media propelling the rise of the consumer, brand behaviour is changing. There is “no

place for direct marketing” (Odden, 2009), and instead, marketers have to form reciprocal

relationships with their customers and engage in dialogical communication. Consumers have more

control over the “timing, medium and format through which they consume media” (Maymann,

2008: 47), shifting more authority to the users. Some companies are experiencing social media

phobias, feeling highly anxious at this loss of control over their marketplace and worried about being

overly exposed to public scrutiny (Gibson & Jagger, 2009: 35). However, marketing professionals

cannot afford to ignore this new dynamic. Instead they need to react to it, embrace it, and leverage

the power of the new tools that it provides. In this postmodern and somewhat turbulent

environment, companies need to re-evaluate their business strategies by incorporating social media,

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being creative, fast, and open to change (Christensen et al., 2008). Those that fail to do so will be at

a disadvantage to their competitors.

Forecasts envisage that this digital marketing trend is set to rise. Recent studies (SoDA, 2010;

Alterian, 2010) show that investment in traditional media is expected to remain consistent or fall this

year, whereas digital spending is predicted to increase. New research from Alterian (2010) that

surveyed 1,068 marketing professionals, found that 66% of marketers plan to invest in social media

over the next 12 months and 40% will shift more than one fifth of their traditional direct marketing

budget toward digital, interactive or social channels. These figures show that there is a healthy

outlook for the digital marketing industry. Future generations of consumers will expect brands to be

highly available online, and it is therefore imperative that companies are using social media as a

component in their marketing and business development strategy.

1.2 Social Media Channels

There are currently a multitude of social media channels that can benefit businesses. Each one is

unique and can add value to the company in different ways; therefore it is recommended that

businesses adopt a multi-channel communications strategy. Some channels may be more

appropriate for the business goals of the organisation. This research is primarily focused on

Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, YouTube, and blogs. For more information on these channels see

Appendix A.

1.3 Value of research

As a cutting edge area of study, using social media for marketing and business development is highly

relevant, yet academic research on the topic is still limited. With social media making a significant

impact on businesses, and with forecasts predicting further influence, companies must consider

using social media as an essential component of their communication strategy. The research

conducted by the Society of Digital Agencies revealed that 45% of the marketers surveyed

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considered social media as “top priority”, and a further 42% cited it as “very important” (Lent, 2010:

13). However, although most businesses recognise its importance, many are still unaware of how to

use it effectively and are still sceptical of using social media as a marketing tool. Regardless of

whether or not companies are going to participate, conversations about the brand will be occurring.

The new marketing paradigm is current, under-researched, and unfamiliar for many, making it a

highly salient research topic.

1.4 Objectives

The purpose of this research is to examine the following:

 The changes brought about by social media in the marketing communications environment

 The benefits of social media for businesses

 The best social media practises for businesses

 How companies are implementing social media for business development and marketing

 Company opinion and past experience in regard to using social media

This research will therefore contribute to the current assessment of the value of social media as a

tool for business development and marketing strategy.

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Chapter 2
Literature Review
Due to the contemporary nature of the research topic, literature regarding social media is relatively

sparse, and many leading social media experts share their knowledge in the form of online blogs or

online articles as opposed to hard print. Furthermore, as we are living through a period of rapid

technological change, details in the literature become outdated quickly, although many of the

underlying core concepts remain consistent.

The literature identifies a plethora of benefits of using social media and advice for best practise. To

enhance clarity, I have organised the theory into four main categories:

1) Brand Awareness

2) Positive Brand Association

3) Business Development

4) Relevant Customer Reach.

2.1 BRAND AWARENESS

Online global networks have caused a “compression of the world” (Robertson, 1992: 8), enabling us

to overcome the realities of physical space, time, and natural environments. This has dramatically

increased the fluidity of our landscapes, enabling communication to move “at high speeds across

various kinds of previously impervious boundaries” (Appadurai, 1990: 52). Such “spaceless

proximity” (Lievrouw and Livingstone, 2006: 38) provides businesses with a significant opportunity to

communicate brand messages quickly, over vast distances, and to a large audience.

2.1.1 Brand Exposure

Social media sites provide an excellent way to increase brand visibility in the online sphere. Although

social media marketing is compatible with traditional marketing methods, creating an online brand

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presence is fundamental as “content can reach thousands of new eyeballs quickly without

interfering with ... other marketing strategies” (Weinberg, 2009: 6).

Online message exposure is instantaneous and an opportunity for direct conversation that can

educate customers about the product or service that the brand provides. Brand messages can make

a lasting impact as the internet retains a level of permanency, and can be recalled in the future if the

promoted product or service isn’t relevant to the viewer at that particular time.

To gain exposure, specialists (Evans, 2008: 164) recommend participating among multiple channels,

as each social media tool is unique and therefore can add value to the brand in different ways. In

addition, communicating on various channels will help to build a brand empire, increasing the

brand’s Search Engine Optimisation, thus increasing brand visibility online (Clay & Esparza, 2009:

435).

2.1.2 Viral

Mitch Joel, in his recent book Six Pixels of Separation (2009), emphasises the highly interconnected

structure of online society, and provides sound advice for how this mediascape can help businesses

to flourish. Due to the highly connected infrastructure of social networking sites, brand content can

be shared from person to person rapidly. This viral marketing strategy encourages the growth of

message exposure and influence, creating a ‘snowball effect’ whereby the spread of the message

gathers momentum. Malcolm Gladwell, in his highly influential book The Tipping Point, suggests that

“ideas and products and messages and behaviours spread like viruses do” (2000: 7), consequently

increasing social mention and therefore brand visibility. Trusov et al. (2009), in their research on the

effect of word of mouth on social networking sites, found that word of mouth referrals are 20 to 30

times higher than that of marketing events and media publicity respectively. It is for this reason that

marketers are shifting from a broadcast approach to a many-to-many model, as shown in Figure 2.1.

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Figure 2.1: Viral Funnel (Mendez, 2007)

“We are currently living in a communications environment where there is a trust deficit” (Brogan,

2009: 14) and consumers are feeling increasingly cynical and hostile about traditional ‘push’

advertising and the dissemination of information (Meadows-Klue, 2007). Seth Godin, in his work on

Permission Marketing (1999), concurs that prospective customers are resenting the intrusive nature

of ‘interruption marketing’, and instead prefer to voluntarily endorse brands that have been

recommended or reviewed by their friends, highlighting that our peers have a huge influence on our

brand and product choices.

Users both intentionally and unintentionally recommend brands to their peers. Intentionally, users

can suggest that their friends ‘become a fan’ of a brand, or alternatively post a link to branded

content which “enhances discoverability” (Weinberg, 2009: 5). However, due to the open and

voyeuristic nature of social networking sites, users can also influence their peers unintentionally. For

example, when users publicly ‘befriend’ or become a ‘fan’ of a brand on Facebook, this as well as any

other interactions, will be displayed on their personal profile’s mini-feed or the main news feed.

People within their social circle therefore, will see these interactions and be more inclined to pay

attention to that brand themselves and regard it more highly. Furthermore, social adverts displayed

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alongside the newsfeed can incorporate friend’s names that are already fans, acting as personal

endorsements and thus stimulating this viral effect. This effect is otherwise known as ‘fanvertising’

or ‘community branding’ and makes the advert seem like an authentic and objective

recommendation rather than direct advertising. As Mark Zuckerberg, a creator of Facebook states:

“Nothing influences people more than a recommendation from a trusted friend. A trusted friend

referral is the Holy Grail of advertising” (Zuckerberg, 2007 cited Maymann, 2008: 38). Such activity

both extends the online presence of the brand and creates the opportunity to acquire a larger fan

base.

Viral spread can also occur from one social circle to another. This is particularly facilitated by groups

or pages, which act as a hub for people with similar interests. Members of these groups are usually

composed of ‘weak ties’ (Granovetter, 1973), bound by a common interest and relatively

heterogeneous in everything else, helping to bridge social capital. Individuals can also distribute

content into another destination such as a blog, and even commenting, rating or reviewing online

content such as a video on YouTube, can make it easier for others to discover later on.

In order to spread a brand message, it is fundamental that marketers create a dialogue with the

brand’s most powerful influencers. Gladwell (2000) highlights the power of word of mouth

marketing and identifies three personality types that pollinate ideas: Mavens, Connectors and

Salesmen. His Law of Few Theory (2000) suggests that information specialists, known as ‘Market

Mavens’, initiate “word of mouth epidemics” (2000: 67), sharing their expert knowledge with others.

This information is diffused by ‘connectors’, highly sociable individuals with a large network of

acquaintances. These individuals cultivate weak ties to facilitate the transfer of knowledge between

the Market Maven and the rest of the public, escalating word of mouth. These two personality

types, along with ‘salesmen’ who charismatically persuade people to buy into a product, service or

concept, endorse and advocate brands, tipping them to exponential success. It is therefore of prime

importance that marketers use these so-called ‘influencers’ as vehicles to influence the masses.

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Duncan Watts, a network theory specialist, challenges aspects of viral marketing theory. He claims

that the best influencers are not necessarily those with the biggest networks, but are those who

have a specific topic of interest. He believes that “it’s a function of passion, not position” (Watts,

2008 cited Maymann, 2008: 77) that makes the best influencers.

Infl Conversation Starters. Highly

ue social and professional. Many
connections. Influential.
nc
ers
Active Connectors. Will
distribute content.

Engagers
Observers. Open to
new ideas. Likely to be

Active Listeners influenced

Ignorers. Usually

Passive Listeners sceptical and cautious.

Unlikely to participate

Figure 2.2 Influencers Pyramid

Rather than a separate entity, online life is an extension of offline activities, thus making the binaries

of public and private increasingly obsolete. The way in which our “lived experience” and “mediated

experience” are “inseparable and interlaced” (Thompson, 1995: 230-231), is fundamental for

marketers, as the permeable boundaries enable online brand promotion to filter to offline word of

mouth and consumer activity, as well as offline marketing to instigate online discussions. It is for this

reason that social media marketing is so compatible with traditional marketing, as they can mutually

benefit one another. Ultimately, social media is a catalyst that can be woven into other brand

activity.

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2.2 POSITIVE BRAND ASSOCIATION

With increased exposure, it is vital that brands emit a positive public image and manage a healthy

reputation. Having explored the viral impact of social media, it is crucial that brands generate

positive word of mouth and boost popularity.

Brands are able to construct their identity as they wish it to be seen by their online voyeurs, taking

time to carefully construct their identity statements and promote a socially desirable image,

otherwise known as ‘egocasting’ (Rosen, 2004 cited Hearn, 2008: 210). Such control over impression

management provides an overwhelming opportunity for brands to have control of their self-

maintenance and promote an idealistic brand image.

2.2.1 Relationship Marketing

Communication online gives users greater control over who they wish to interact with. Rather than

being bound to one community, people are becoming online nomads, “manoeuvring through

multiple, specialised partial communities, giving limited commitment to each” (Haythornthwaite &

Wellman, 2002: 38). Some companies fear that customer connections made online are fragile,

ephemeral relations, and don’t necessarily signify brand loyalty. Participants are able to remove

themselves from fan pages and groups with just a click, making virtual communities incredibly

unstable and potentially temporary. On the other hand, reduced distance between producers and

consumers in the online world means that brands have an exceptional opportunity to increase

intimacy and improve customer relations. By building strong relationships, brands can strengthen

customer loyalty and multiply brand advocates.

In contrast to the top-down approach of traditional marketing, hierarchy has been suppressed so

that producers and consumers are engaged in a cooperative relationship. Marketers therefore need

to switch focus from short-term profits to relationship marketing, fostering dialogue and building a

rapport with their consumers. Brands need to utilise social media sites as a platform to insinuate

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themselves into the lives of the consumers, acting and being “treated as though they are citizens”

(Hearn, 2008: 214) in order to establish long-term relationships with current and potential

consumers (Weber, 2007). Practising effective Customer Relationship Management (CRM) by

remaining committed to customer relationships and building trust and rapport can help brands to

cultivate long-term advocates. By actively initiating and participating in conversation, the

‘community manager’ of the brand can engage members and build loyalty by fostering genuine

relationships (Weinberg, 2009: 64). Furthermore, by having their own profile, brands can be treated

as citizens and are able to ingratiate themselves into the lives of the consumers. With consumers

finding their friend’s content, such as photos, videos, and messages, more interesting than that of

professionals (Fine, 2006), marketers are embedding their brands into user content and talking to

them in ‘their online vernacular’ (Hempel, 2005). Such integration erodes previous hierarchy and

helps marketers to advertise their brand by their activity and status updates which become visible in

the news feeds. Such relationships build over time and are therefore difficult for competitors to

infringe on (Godin, 1999).

Offering rewards or incentives to support the brand such as discounts and coupons are effective

ways to capture the attention of the audience, increase customer satisfaction, and generate loyalty

(King, 2010).

2.2.2 Adopting the human voice

The Cluetrain Manifesto (1999), a set of 95 theses, was written to advise businesses on how to

respond to the Internet as a new marketing environment. The manifesto’s initial emphasis is on the

fact that “markets are conversations” (1999), and that the Internet facilitates discussion and high

levels of interactivity. In order to infuse themselves into the lives of consumers, brands need to

reject the ‘homogenised’ voice of business such as uninviting mission statements and contrived

brochures, and instead adopt the human voice. Shel Israel, co-author of Naked Conversations, agrees

with this approach, claiming that “All too often, professional marketers lose their credibility by

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hyperbole, hubris and amplification” (Shel Israel, 2004 cited Maymann, 2008: 91). Social media is

organic, and therefore companies need to belong to the community discourse in order to survive.

Brands need to break down corporate barriers, engage in natural, genuine conversations, and share

the concerns of their communities. The more a brand speaks to communities in the audience’s

vernacular and possesses human qualities, “the better it engages consumers in the social media

space, and the stronger the emotional ties it creates” (Maymann, 2008: 41). Blogs provide a good

way to achieve this, as they can act “as the sounds of independent voices” (Scott, 2007: 54),

authentic, and a way to decrease scepticism.

2.2.3 Transparency and honesty

Chris Brogan, an influential author and blogger, states in his recent book “Trust Agents” (2009) that

“the general public’s level of mistrust is at an all time high” (Brogan & Smith, 2009: 9). It is for this

reason that social media experts (Wright, 2005; Brogan and Smith, 2009; Joel, 2007) assert that

brands need to be open and transparent, “building [a] community based on trust” (Joel, 2007) in

order to prosper. By being committed, exceedingly visible, and willing to participate in social spaces

honestly, brands can develop sincere relationships with their customers. Joel emphasises that as

trust and rapport builds over time, it is imperative that brands connect with the online market now

in order to build these relationships and thus have an advantage over competitors. Similarly,

consistent time commitment will reinforce the brand’s devotion to the community and therefore

build and maintain trust (Weinberg, 2009: 17). Brogan believes that companies should employ a

‘Trust Agent’ in order to humanize the communication, “build fluid relationships” (2009: 21) and be

straight talking, diligent and upfront about their objectives.

2.2.4 Providing innovate, creative and engaging content

Brands need to cultivate creative cultures, producing content that is provocative, engaging and

original. Seth Godin, a bestselling marketing author, centres his book Purple Cow (2003) on how

brands can’t afford to be ordinary. Instead, he insists that they must be “remarkable”, keeping

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content dynamic, fresh, and relevant in order to sustain interest in the consumer and encourage

others to distribute it among their friends and network. The quality of the content will thereby

determine its viral capability. In the shift from old marketing to new marketing, engagement is

replacing interruption. As a result, we are living in “a full-fledged attention economy” (Goldhaber,

1997 cited Maymann, 2008: 50), whereby content needs to have distinct value that will capture

concentration that is becoming scarce. Gladwell refers to content that is memorable and able to

sustain attention as “The Stickiness Factor” (Gladwell, 2008). In order to encourage commentary,

brands need to create compelling, differentiated content that is open and interpretative in nature so

to “have room for additions and alterations at any point” (Maymann, 2008: 38).

Content that is interesting, funny, and worth commenting on or sending to a friend, can enhance the

personality of the brand and resonate with consumers. In social media, “you are what you share”

(Leadbeater, 2008: 1), thus innovative and creative content with distinct value will enhance the

brand identity. Simply having a statistical profile or having “an egocentric display of products and

services” (Scott, 2007: 37) is not enough. Brands must come to have faces and personalities to be

more appealing and intimate with their consumers.

Hall and Rosenberg, in their contemporary book Get Connected (2009), advise that companies share

content that is sometimes personal, sometimes industry related, and sometimes focused on news or

current events (2009: 40-41). Whilst personal content can be humourous, reflect personality, find

common ground, and create the illusion of intimacy, industry-related content can provide useful

knowledge, and can be passed on to others thus increasing the customer base. Posting updates

about current news can be equally provocative and create a sense of cohesion.

2.2.5 Addressing and alleviating customer concerns

The transparent nature of social media means that brands are able to observe the sentiment of their

customers. Although positive comments about the brand in such an open arena can be incredibly

beneficial for the brand reputation, companies fear that negative word of mouth could do

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fundamental damage. Negative statements, known as flak, can be spread quickly and over a large

distance by destructive participants, ultimately damaging its reputation.

To combat this, brands must take advantage of being able to monitor customer attitudes, be

responsive to customer concerns, and engage in conversation with their detractors (Defren, 2008;

Wright, 2005). This proactive approach to crisis management can “turn negative experiences into

very positive ones” (Weinberg, 2009: 27), consequently increasing customer retention and brand

loyalty. In agreement, Todd Defren (2008), a globally recognised Social Media and Public Relations

innovator, suggests in his blog “PR-Squared”, that in order to enhance customer retention,

companies must be responsive to feedback even if it is negative, to demonstrate approachability and

be part of the conversation rather than simply observing it. By acknowledging the public voice, the

consumer feels valued, empowered and therefore is more likely to be a brand loyalist.

Alleviating customers concerns online may solve other people’s problems simultaneously. Such

public customer service would be mutually beneficial to both the company and the customers,

saving time, resources, and effort.

“Everyone has the capacity to use media to express oppositional messages” (Harrison & Barthel,

2009: 165), but by having direct access to negative feedback, brands are able to learn from the

sentiment, which can facilitate clear, informed decision-making.

2.2.6 Negotiating the message

Increasingly, “your brand is what your customers say it is” (Li & Bernoff, 2008: 77). Companies are no

longer in control of the perception of their brand (Eikelmann, 2007), as consumers are now also

active producers of symbolic meaning, and can independently create and reshape its original

meaning.

Brands need to react to this “democratization of leadership” (Li, 2009) by being agile, endorsing

customer feedback, and being perceptive to their customer’s needs and desires. They need to be

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self-reflexive, revising and negotiating their projected identity and brand meaning and modifying

their behaviour to meet public expectations. Although many companies are anxious about losing

control over the interpretation of their brand, exploiting social media will help the business to

understand their consumer and therefore grant them more control.

2.3 BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT

2.3.1 Monitoring and learning from conversations

Rupert Murdoch, Chairman of Newscorp stated that “Media companies don’t control the

conversation anymore” (2007). Instead, social media has given a voice to the masses and power so

that “everyone can be a content creator” (Weinberg, 2009: 16) and therefore able to influence the

brand. Users are benefitting from an increased sense of agency as they are able to manage their own

media activity and are able to share, select, filter, and generate their own content. This is the

primary focus of Li and Bernoff in their stimulating book “Groundswell” (2008), who assert that the

masses are gaining influence over companies who cannot control their message anymore. Li, in her

spin off work “Leading through the Groundswell” (2009), re-iterates this by stating that people are

“using online tools to connect, take charge of their own experience, and get what they need -

information, ideas, products and bargaining power with each other."

However, leading social media experts maintain that brands should embrace the fluid structure,

encourage the exchange of new, free ideas and harness collective intelligence. As James Suroweicki

argues in his book The Wisdom of Crowds (2004), it is the power of the masses rather than the elite

that can provide intelligent decision-making, judgement, innovative thinking and forecasting. This

kind of thought leadership can manifest creativity, transcend obvious, linear thinking, and offer

innovative and compelling ideas to help propel the business forward. Brands now have a prime

opportunity to use social media platforms as a think tank whereby consumers can be idea

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facilitators, creating, advancing and sharing ideas that will influence the future direction of the

business.

Due to the ubiquitous nature of the Internet, power has become dispersed so that an individual’s

knowledge and expertise grants them high status (Matthews, 2007). From a Marxist perspective,

this kind of co-creation also indicates the exploitation of customers even if the co-productive

activities are voluntary, and at times, enjoyed (Zwick, 2008: 180).

Social media sites offer companies “a contact with the fast-moving world of knowledge in general”

(Terranova, 2000, cited Zwick et al., 2008: 172), helping them to understand their audience, listen to

opinions, needs and sentiment, and obtain direct and constructive feedback. Companies need to

become “sophisticated observers” (Christensen, 2008: 13) by monitoring conversations to learn

what their customers are talking about, what they are saying about their brand, and their

competitors. Learning from these conversations can make a big impact on the future direction of the

business and can capture new prospects.

In such an open arena, brands can exploit the voyeuristic nature to monitor competitor activity. By

observing the behaviours and practices of other brands, marketers are able to learn, incorporate and

exercise these techniques themselves, or conversely differentiate from the competitor activity.

However David Roth, the Director of Search Marketing at Yahoo, says how this transparency is a

‘double-edged sword’, as competitors will simultaneously be able to observe the brand’s practises

(2009). This monitoring ability is also highly beneficial from a Public Relations perspective, as brand

ambassadors can closely monitor public attitudes. This is extremely valuable for crisis management,

as any minor complaints can be dealt with quickly before they escalate.

Although listening to customers is significant, it is essential that companies also participate in the

conversation, acting as a catalyst and instigating quality conversations. As Chris Heuer stated,

“participation is marketing” (2007), thus by commenting and contributing, brands can add value to

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the customer experience and simultaneously benefit from further feedback and audience insight.

This view is shared by many leading practitioners. Li (2009) believes that brands need to engage with

the groundswell and drive peer to peer movements, and Joel (2009) shares the view that brands

can’t afford to be silent anymore; to be in control, brands must participate.

Companies need to ensure that the content they share is not too narcissistic, but rather is engaging

and interactive, displaying personality and encouraging intimacy. Such interaction between company

and consumer will build trust, loyalty and brand advocates.

2.3.2 Social Impact and Return on Investment

“One of the biggest challenges of social media marketing is measuring your ROI” (Weinberg, 2009:

17). The return on investment of social media marketing has been under-researched, and its

ambiguity has left many companies sceptical about the real effectiveness of using social media as a

marketing strategy (Gibson & Jagger, 2009: 35). Olivier Blanchard, a macroeconomist and author of

the blog BrandBuilder, which focuses on the role of social media, asserts that ROI is solely the

financial impact; “Not estimates, not potential, not yet-to-happen transactions” (2010). It is

necessary therefore to make a clear distinction between financial impact (ROI), and non-financial

impact (social return).

With regard to both of these categories, it is critical that to measure the impact of social media

marketing accurately, the company starts with a baseline. This baseline marks where the company

started before utilising social media and therefore provides a starting point from which to measure.

Secondly, the company should be clear about their business objectives, and what they are choosing

to measure.

When measuring financial return, businesses can measure how many sales they were making before

social media, and then measure this against how many sales they were making once social media

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had been implemented. Nevertheless, this will never be a precise, causal relationship, as other

factors such as other marketing strategies may also impact the sales made.

However, the majority of social media buzzwords are people-centric rather than about sales, and are

more focused on relationship building, trust, rapport, commitment and engagement. Business

owners question whether the social impact correlates with the financial impact and are unsure how

to measure it. Blanchard (2010) in his ROI model, suggests that there is a relationship between the

non-financial and financial impact, as people have to be influenced socially before they commit to a

sale.

Figure 2.3 Non-financial/Financial Impact

The relationship though, is not directly proportionate. Blanchard states that despite the number of

people influenced socially, “The body attached to those pair of eyeballs becomes one of three

things: A browser, an influencer, or a transacting customer” (Blanchard, 2010).

Jason Falls, a social media expert, suggests that “the problem with trying to determine ROI for social

media, is you are trying to put numeric quantities around human interactions and conversations,

which are not quantifiable” (Falls, 2008 cited Weinberg, 2009: 8). Here, Fall contradicts Blanchard’s

claim that ROI is solely finance related, thus highlighting the ambiguity of the term.

Furthermore, Falls’ statement it not absolute. Although factors such as engagement and influence

are difficult to determine, there are several tools that the platforms provide in order to measure

social impact. Companies can easily measure the number of fans (Facebook), followers (Twitter),

connections (LinkedIn), and views (YouTube), as these are displayed by the platform itself. External

websites such as Twitter Grader or Twinfluence can measure the profiles authority based on the

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number of people following, the number of followers, and the reach of those followers. However,

these sorts of frequency counts do not necessarily account for engagement, attention or sentiment.

Social media platforms such as Facebook recognise that it is not exclusively about the number of

eyeballs reached, and are therefore trying to measure engagement more effectively, providing

insights into interaction, quality of posts and interactions per post. These types of factors can be

quantified to a certain extent by the number of posts, comments, discussions, uploaded photos and

videos by active participants.

2.3.3 Internal Communication and Business to Business

Social media also facilitates business development beyond the brand to consumer relationship. They

provide an online platform through which internal employees can manage their relations (Gillin,

2008), exchanging ideas and knowledge, sharing best practises, co-ordinating activities and building

bonds. Blogs in particular provide an effective tool to “personalise the workplace in a meaningful

way” (Azua, 2010: 57). Management can update colleagues on a regular basis and personalise their

leadership in order to educate and retain their employees. Blogs can therefore help to handle

company stress by lowering communication barriers, bridging geographically dispersed employees,

and building relationships (Azua, 2010: 57-58). Presentation and document sharing sites such as

Slideshare or Scribd are also extremely valuable tools to publish and share professional information

with internal colleagues and external associates.

Furthermore, these sites provide a unique opportunity to network with like-minded business

professionals, to form partnerships with new clients, find new business prospects and make new

sales. LinkedIn in particular is suited to this business to business networking, and “has become

favorite tool for recruiters” (Vick & Walsh, 2006: 3), facilitating the search for highly skilled and

qualified job candidates.

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2.4 RELEVANT CUSTOMER REACH

Social media provides contact with a high number of people, helping organisations to increase their

customer reach and fanbase. It extends brand visibility beyond the organic world, and in doing so,

reaches new channels of customers and demographics that don’t respond to traditional media. As

explored previously, the excellent viral potential means that knowledge of a brand can spread

rapidly and widely, influencing a large number of people and gaining advocates.

2.4.1 Target Marketing

However, it is not all about numbers, but rather it is about the quality of these numbers. Contacts

must be relevant and engaged to ensure that the marketing is effective. Rheingold, in his seminal

text “The Virtual Community” (1993), argued that the Internet gave birth to a new community,

“bringing people together online around shared values and interests” (Rhiengold, 1993, cited

Castells, 2000: 386). Social media encourages communities of like-minded people and unifies people

with similar interests (Brogan, 2007), thus facilitating target marketing and the ability to reach niche

buyers directly. An effective way to make quality connections on sites such as Facebook and LinkedIn

is by joining groups that are specific to the interest or industry, and then generating conversation

and participating in discussions (Levine & Young, 2010: 278). This enables brands to address

consumers communally, and members are able to liaise with one another, diffusing reciprocity, and

thus revitalising the public sphere. On Twitter, businesses can build a virtual network of relevant

contacts by following people who share the company interests, who in turn will follow them.

The codified structures of social networking profiles encourage users to reveal their intimate details

and define themselves by their consumption tastes. Alice Marwick (2005) supports this by suggesting

that the self-presentation available on social networking sites is tied to capitalist interests. The

profile structure drives users to define themselves by their consumer tastes and their popular

culture preferences, which helps marketers to capture data, filter their audience, and target their

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marketing. Pertinent, tailored messages are therefore directed at relevant contacts, thus reducing

the bounce rate whereby visitors exit without engagement. This relevancy will in turn increase the

likelihood of users subscribing to the brand’s content, generating traffic to the website, and ensuring

that time is not wasted on marketing to uninterested parties.

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Chapter 3
Methodology
3.1 Methodology
The literature review has identified the potential benefits of using social media as part of the

business and marketing strategy and the best practises by which to maximise those benefits. The

research now takes a deductive approach by testing how the theory correlates with how companies

are currently engaging with social media.

For this research, a survey distributed in electronic format proved to be a robust method of

collecting and tabulating data regarding the opinions, behaviours and experiences of companies

using social media. The survey was constructed using Kwik Surveys, a tool designed specifically to

produce professional online surveys quickly and easily and then analyse feedback.

The survey followed a logical, structured topic guide, drawing incisive questions from the four

categories identified in the Literature Review: Brand Awareness; Positive Brand Association; Business

Development; and Relevant Customer Reach. These topical questions followed several general,

introductory questions, and preceded some concluding questions.

Questions examined the perceived benefits of social media for businesses, their current social media

practices, social media budget, and belief in the value and effectiveness of social media. “A

questionnaire is like a conversation which typically evolves in accordance with societal norms”

(Schwartz, 1996, cited Dillman, 2000: 86), which is why my survey opened with some simple, yet

salient introductory questions, and postponed more intrusive questions related to market spending

and financial return. My results were then used to examine the correlation between social media

theory, and practical use.

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The survey encompassed 25 quantitative and qualitative questions in order to generate a

combination of ‘hard’ statistical data, and ‘soft’ interpretative data. Access to empirical evidence

helped me to identify an external reality, and was more focused on factual information of how

brands are using social media. This positivist stance requested closed, multiple choice questions that

were mutually exclusive in order to produce tangible results. These encompassed nominal, ordinal,

and interval questions. Vague, ordinal quantifiers such as “very satisfied” were limited intentionally

as these are too broad, ambiguous, and open to subjective interpretation. These closed questions

however, limited and perhaps distorted responses to a fixed schedule, preventing respondents

answering in their own way (Gill & Johnson, 1991: 88).

Qualitative questions on the other hand, were used to search for meaning, and ascertained the

views, opinions and experiences of brands using social media. These open questions invited a variety

of responses and permitted flexibility, although their answers, as well as answers to any ‘other –

please specify’ categories, were post-coded and quantified later. The lack of structure however,

meant that the information was not readily codable and computable (Gill & Johnson, 1991: 89). A

printed sample of the final survey is published at Appendix B.

3.2 Distribution

My survey was distributed on several social media platforms; Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and my

blog. I used Facebook and LinkedIn by joining many relevant groups and pages related to social

media, marketing, and business, and added the survey link to the ‘wall’ and discussion pages. My

main method of distribution however was on Twitter, where a publicly visible message with a link to

the survey was sent to hundreds of companies. These messages were visible to their contacts and

were able to be forwarded (re-tweeted) to their newsfeed. Wordpress.com was used to create a

blog: ‘Building A Digital Footprint’, which provides an account of the research progress, social media

advice, and a link to the survey. Using multiple communication platforms meant that each one was

supplementing the others, as each site provided a link to another.

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3.3 Sample and Population

Placing the survey among social media platforms automatically targeted the population of interest,

producing a sample “likely to find the survey relevant to them” (Gilbert, 2008: 309) and as a result,

helping to obtain a representative sample. The viral nature of the Internet facilitates network or

snowball sampling, as respondents can pass it on to others. Although network sampling can limit

representation and therefore generalisation, the research benefited from the survey being dispersed

among networks of companies and those with a specific interest in social media. By placing the

survey link in different groups, it covered companies from a large range of industries to improve

generalisation and extrapolation.

“Evidence suggests that email survey participation requests gain higher actual response rates than

Web-posted surveys” (Hewson et al., 2003: 82). However, due to the significant number of users

who are likely to be exposed to the survey on social media platforms, large samples can be acquired

despite a low response rate (Hewson et al., 2003: 82). 360 respondents proved to be a statistically

robust and commendable number to work with and allowed me to work with the data to a high

degree of confidence.

3.4 Advantages

Online surveys were a suitable methodology for the purpose of the research. Unlike regular

research, they can transcend geographical and temporal barriers and can therefore gather a lot of

information quickly, from a large and diverse sample covering a vast geographical area. This granted

the opportunity to gain a more representative sample and improve the external validity.

In contrast to a postal survey, the production of hard copies of materials, distribution and data

collection was not required (Hewson et al., 2003: 43). Online surveys facilitate a faster response rate,

and responses are received in an electronic format, which makes them easier to sort and analyse. As

a result, online questionnaires have greater time and cost efficiency.

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A major advantage is that once the survey was released online it could be passed on virally, thus

gathering a larger sample. As the survey was distributed on social media platforms, it automatically

targeted the population of interest, thus ensuring that the respondents were relevant. Such

relevancy encouraged people to complete it, thereby increasing the response rate.

Participants were able to respond from the comfort of their own homes and at a time that suited

them, which was another factor to enhance the survey’s appeal and helped to improve the response

rate (Hewson et al., 2003: 44).

Unlike interviews, surveys “avoid interviewer subversion” (De Vaus, 2002: 130), as they minimise the

chance of the researcher influencing the response to the survey (Dillman, 2000). The interviewer can

not reveal their own opinion, give their own interpretation, or prompt a specific response. The

absence of leading questions in the survey helped to avoid the contamination of results, and

therefore increased the validity of the research.

3.5 Disadvantages

Some researchers (Czaji & Blair, 2005; Dillman, 2000) warn that the response rate for Internet

surveys is relatively low. However, they still obtain a higher response rate than postal surveys or

interviews because of the convenience that participants gain from Internet use (Dillman, 2000).

People can easily ignore questionnaires (Dillman, 2000), therefore it is better if they are sent to

current contacts or referred by a friend. The online environment facilitates this type of viral pass-on,

and by placing a link to the survey in relevant groups, many users were likely to complete it

voluntarily.

Some may give up if they find the questionnaire difficult, therefore all of the questions in this survey

were clear, relevant, and didn’t contain esoteric terminology. By starting with easier, multiple choice

questions, respondents were more likely to engage and co-operate.

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Open questions are more suited when the respondents can reply verbally, as “many people

experience difficulty putting their ideas in writing” (De Vaus, 2002: 129). Furthermore, there is no

interviewer to probe a clearer response from an inadequate answer, asking for clarification,

explanation or further detail. It is for this reason that the majority of the questions required

quantitative answers.

Although there are benefits to an absent researcher, this also poses difficulties. The researcher has

no control over the conditions under which the survey is completed, and is unable to judge the

sincerity of the response (Hewson et al., 2003: 44).There is also no guarantee that the identity of the

participant is genuine, and it is easier for participants to deceive the researcher, which may lead to

inaccurate information. However, sending the survey link to relevant contacts and ensuring that the

questions were only relevant to companies using social media attempted to omit these fraudulent

responses and increase accuracy.

Due to the public and viral nature of the online sphere, it would be impossible to calculate the

response rate of the social media distribution, as it would be “hard to assess how many people have

seen the Internet survey and how non-response might be patterned” (Gilbert, 2008: 309).

3.6 Limitations

Although targeting companies via social media would guarantee a relevant sample of people using

the medium, this also endured a limitation. By excluding people that don’t use social media, it

eliminated views of why people have chosen not to adopt the new paradigm. The chances are that if

they are engaging in social media, they have had a positive experience using it. As a result, the

research would encounter a sample bias and would lack responses where companies believe it is not

valuable. However, the research was concerned primarily with how to exploit social media as a

business and marketing tool, and how companies are currently engaging with it.

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Obviously, the research was limited to the companies that chose to fill in the questionnaire, which

limits its validity. However, this is unavoidable with any research, and the high number of surveys

completed increased the level of generalisation and external validity.

3.7 Ethical Considerations

In all aspects of research, it is essential that ethical concerns are considered. In the online

environment, the distinction between public and private domains is ambiguous. This has ethical

implications, as what people choose to disclose online could arguably still be private information and

not consented to for research use. However, my research ensured ethical integrity as the

respondents’ answers to the surveys were not publicly visible and remained anonymous, thus

maintaining confidentiality.

To certify that consent was given by the participants, all respondents were informed that the survey

was being used for research purposes, and it was clarified that participation was entirely voluntary.

Participants were able to withdraw from the study at any time, and therefore by submitting their

responses their consent was given.

Furthermore, as the researcher, I was ethically responsible for debriefing the participants after they

had completed the study. This consisted of a message of gratitude and my contact email address.

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Chapter 4
Data Collection and Analysis
4.1 DATA COLLECTION
The success of the distribution process demonstrated the power of networking and the viral

capabilities of social media. On Twitter, many people were forwarding (re-tweeting) the survey

voluntarily to make it visible to all of their contacts, thus accelerating viral pass-on. I intentionally

targeted including key influencers such as Herbert Kim, the CEO of the Thinking Digital Conference

and Codeworks, and Luke Bean, the online marketer for Sony Pictures in Los Angeles. The latter

contact in particular helped to gain more responses from overseas, increasing the diversity of the

sample and the external validity of the research. The North East Entrepreneurs’ Forum also placed

the survey link in their e-newsletter to increase exposure, viral spread, and credibility.

Making a strong social media footprint by participating on several social media channels generated a

considerable snow-ball effect, demonstrating how businesses can network and build online

relationships rapidly. Once a very active member of the Twitter community, users would ‘follow’ me,

regardless of whether or not I was following them, request to connect with me on Facebook and

LinkedIn, and comment on my blog posts.

The methodology in itself therefore highlights the high viral capabilities and the benefits of increased

exposure online. The survey was open for three weeks, and in that time received 360 responses,

providing a robust and reliable sample for valuable data collection.

4.2 Response rate

360 completed surveys provided a substantial amount of responses to increase the generalisation of

the research and highlight the power of social media. However as anticipated, the exact response

rate is unknown, as it was impossible to measure precisely how many people saw the survey.

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Despite this, the link received 886 clicks, indicating that 41% of the people that clicked on the survey

chose to complete it.

4.3 DATA ANALYSIS

4.3.1 My Sample

The respondents spanned a huge variety of industries, although 35% were communications based:

Marketing, Advertising, Media, PR, and Publishing. On reflection, this category should have been

broken down, although an exhaustive list of nominal category choices would have been undesirable.

Information Services (16%) and Accountancy and Business Services (13%) were also highly

represented.

The large majority of the companies in the sample were SMEs (84%) (holding under 250 employees),

and 220 companies (61%) comprising less than 10 employees, thus classing them as micro-firms. This

revealed that the results of this research mainly reflect how small companies are using social media.

According to the study, 238 companies (66%) have been using social media for two years or less,

highlighting that adopting social media for business is a recent phenomenon.

10 15 101
21

Less than a year

76 1-2 years
3-4 years
5-6 years
7-9 years
10 years or more
137

Figure 4.1 Years spent using social media

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4.4 Main Benefits
The research shows that companies using social media have achieved clear, definable benefits.

Respondents to the survey prioritise the benefits as shown below in Figure 4.2.

Figure 4.2 Main Benefits

4.4.1 Brand Awareness

Increased brand exposure was noted as the main benefit of using social media. The three most

popular social media platforms proved to be Twitter (26%), Linkedin (21%), and Facebook (20%),

although these results may have been influenced by uneven distribution of the survey among the

sites. Twitter was mentioned specifically elsewhere in the survey, and was commended for its

immediate and “significant exposure benefits,” with one respondent claiming that after engaging in

just three conversations their “followers have shot up!” Although numbers of followers doesn’t

necessarily signify brand loyalty, it does prove an increase in brand exposure.

In accordance with Mitch Joel’s analogy of a virus, companies are noticing that these online

networks have strong viral capabilities for their brand message, with one respondent asserting that

“social networking has put word of mouth on steroids.”

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It was evident that companies are using multiple platforms to increase their online brand visibility.

Results showed that many companies are using blogs (14%), YouTube (11%), Flickr (5%) and

Slideshare (3%). Forty companies mentioned alternative social media platforms that they use for

their brand. These included community sites such as MySpace and Stumble Upon, social news

websites, social bookmarking websites, video sharing sites, micro-blogging sites, applications and

blogging platforms (see Appendix C).

Figure 4.3 Social Media Channels used

Evidently, there are a plethora of social media channels which each have their own unique purposes,

with some more suited to certain businesses than others. As one respondent noted:

“It’s early in the curve for social media and therefore hard to know which
platforms will stay and which will fade away. That’s part of the fun!”

Social media tools are not stable, as popularity of certain sites will rise and fall over time. Although

some may find this refreshing and exciting, others see it as a burden: “It changes every day and

continues to - sometimes it’s hard to keep up!”

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However, the general consensus from the survey responses expressed that:

“The medium or platform may change but social

media will stay.”

4.4.2 Positive Brand Association

The survey results showed that companies are making good use of social media to create a positive

brand image and reputation. One respondent in particular noted: “I believe we have created a

younger, fresher image for our organisation by using Social Networking,” whilst another stated that

engaging in regular conversation has helped to “establish a strong brand personality”.

Building relationships with customers was recognised as a significant benefit to using social media,

with 42% saying that it has changed the way their business communicates with its customers. Tom

Nixon, a social media agency co-founder, noted that using social media as a marketing tool should

not be used just as promotion or an advertising alternative, but rather it should be used to:

“Bring an organisation and its stakeholders (customers, suppliers,

partners, employees) much closer together and engaged in the process of
running the organisation” (Tom Nixon, social media agency founder)

Although this is in line with the reviewed social media literature, some companies are finding

difficulty knowing the appropriate balance between social content and brand promotion. Overall,

companies prefer to adopt a professional, yet informal and personal tone of voice, conveying

enthusiasm and using humour. An independent cinema commented how it has helped to convey the

personality of their brand:

“It builds the brand in the exact way we want: it's personal, friendly,
light hearted and passionate, just like the people we talk to.”

The majority of companies in the sample (59%) spend less than 5 hours on social media platforms

per week, although 24 companies (8%) reported dedicating over 20 hours a week to social media.

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The majority of companies are therefore using social media for just under the recommended time

commitment, an hour a day (Evans, 2008).

16
20 24 28
Less than an hour a week
1-5 hours a week
6-10 hours a week
11-15 hours a week
65 16-20 hours a week
Over 20 hours a week
152

Figure 4.4 Time spent on social media per week

Furthermore, 65% of companies have someone responsible for social media, and 22% have someone

whose sole responsibility is managing social media. This suggests that social media is creating new

roles and functions within organisations. One respondent noted:

“Any company looking to generate online noise should invest a lot of time in
social media, even if it means bringing someone on board who knows how
to effectively use social media. The rewards will become clear very quickly.”

However, in an alternative question, 71 respondents believed that social media takes up too much

time. In answer to an open, qualitative question, one person suggested that time dedicated to social

media can be wasted:

“I think the one down side to it is you can lose track of time, spend too much time
seeing what others are doing but you feel like you're working on your business when
really you're not.”

The findings showed that companies are sharing a wide variety of content on social media platforms,

from photos, videos, events and blogs to advice, special offers, reviews, and case studies. Content

appears to be a mixture of business and personal interest as companies share documents,

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presentations, recent work and job vacancies as well as opinions, music, games and authentic

experiences. One respondent emphasised the importance of personal content stating:

“I try to talk about normal things and not overload people with posts about
new products etc”

Companies are also building relationships with their consumers by offering incentives to support

their brand. 24% of businesses said they have used incentives and rewards such as discounts, tickets,

cameras, ipods, Blackberrys, and game consoles. Many incentives were also specific to that

particular business such as a free month’s subscription to their program, free website design, and

upgrades and trials of new services.

One respondent said:

“If the marketing is informative and creates value,

people may pay attention to it. But it's a battleground
out there; fight for people's attention.”

This view is in line with Godin, author of Purple Cow (2003), who stresses the importance of creative

and dynamic content. One company in particular raised their concerns of finding such creative

content ideas.

48% of companies have never received negative comments about their brand online, although it

could be argued that they are not looking hard enough. For those that have received negative

comments, 62% respond to the complaints, 29% of which only sometimes. Only 3 companies delete

the negative comments, and 4% leave the comment open to public viewing and don’t respond to

them. This shows that the majority of companies are abiding by social media literature and

responding to concerns to improve customer relationship management, therefore boosting trust and

reputation.

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Figure 4.5 Response to Negative Comments

24% of respondents expressed their concern about the open nature of social media, making it an

“easy outlet for damaging content” and consequently harming the company image:

“People prefer to shout about things before they know all the facts and tend to
offer opinions on people or businesses without having any personal experience
with said people or businesses. This leads to slanderous comments that are in
the public domain when the person making those comments has never actually
interacted with said person or business”

However, the majority had the attitude that being aware of negative feedback is also constructive as

it is “better for improving the business rather than never knowing that this opinion exists.” They also

held the view that “social media enables [them] to track and respond to criticism,” providing “the

opportunity to turn a detractor into a neutral at least” by addressing the issue promptly.

4.4.3 Business Development

According to the survey, companies are using social media to develop their businesses with both

external customers and clients, and internal employees. As shown previously in Figure 4.2,

respondents revealed that they consider the second main benefit of using social media to be

acquiring new customers (17%), and they are capitalising on the open and voyeuristic nature of the

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internet by monitoring what their competitors are doing (86%) and monitoring what others are

saying about their brand (81%). An independent cinema stated their fondness of social media:

“I can't stress enough how important it is to me/the company I work for. It's
fantastic to keep in touch with customers, to see what they're saying, what
they want to see at the cinema, what they don't”

Companies also seem to be very open to customer suggestions, and willing to change their products/

services accordingly. 49% of the companies surveyed said that they had already done so, and a

further 10% would consider doing so if the suggestions were put forward. One company remarked:

“So far I have not, only because we are a brand new company; however, this is
something I would definitely consider doing because referrals/word of mouth
advertising is very powerful and if one or two clients felt strongly about one of our
services, it would definitely impact the decision others would make about using
the same service.”

In terms of internal business development, 16% of the companies have hired someone using social

media, and a further 15% have used it as a search tool for potential employees. Interestingly, 56%

haven’t used it as a hiring tool but would consider doing so, indicating that social media has great

potential to become an increasingly utilised recruiting tool.

One respondent emphasised the importance of internal collaboration, business growth, and building

strong customer relationships by not only using public social networks, but also private social

networking applications. They stated that:

“These are the powerful new tools that are changing organization charts,
communication within organizations and even the relationships among
companies, suppliers and customers.”

4.4.4 Marketing Spend

Respondents identified the third main benefit of social media to be its low cost (14%). Some

mentioned this as a particular advantage due to the current economic climate, and others compared

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its cost to traditional advertising whilst still reaching a high audience. 48% of the companies

surveyed said that they don’t have a social media budget, and those that do have a relatively low

one; with 44% of those with a budget only spending 1-5%. However, 25% with a social media budget

said that it is over 20%, demonstrating that companies are either investing a fair amount or very

little, with little middle ground.

58
20

1%-
21 5% 6%- 10%
11%- 15% 16% - 20%
Over 20% We don't have a social
10 media budget
139
9 I'm not sure
33

Figure 4.6 Social Media Budget

In regards to future spending, 48% said they would increase their social media spending in 2010 and
27% of which said this would be a significant increase. These figures may even be set to rise, as 19%
said they were unsure. Only one company said they would decrease their spending, and this would
be significantly. One respondent expressed their concern of this trend, who found it disconcerting
that their company “is cutting back in vital areas to expand [their] social network programs.”

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Figure 4.7 Future Social Media Spending

4.4.5 Relevant Customer Reach

Although the survey questions didn’t draw specifically on target marketing, a few respondents

commented that social media is “a great way of reaching a targeted audience”. This in turn helps to

boost clients, sales and reputation. Whilst one respondent stated that they “have gained work

through Twitter without meeting someone”, another said that:

“Social media gives us access to tools to connect to these customers, and gives
them tools to evangelise about our company, our brand and our values”.

Increasing the relevancy of the company’s online connections will help businesses to “tailor [their]

content very effectively” and increase responses to the company’s efforts “as they have agreed to

become engaged with you in the first place”.

4.5 Main Concerns

However some businesses engaging in social media have experienced some pitfalls or shortcomings.

4.5.1 Measurement and ROI

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As raised in the social media literature, the two main concerns of social media appear to be

measurement and ROI. As one respondent claimed:

“Measuring the damn thing is the

single most important issue”

The research revealed that most companies measure the effectiveness of their social media efforts

by:

 The number of followers/ fans (22%);

 Visits to the website (21%); and

 Social mentions (17%).

However, as Figure 4.7 shows, a significant majority of users are not measuring these factors.

100%
80%
60%
40%
20%
0%
followers/fans
visits to site
social mentions
Measured
Not Measured

Figure 4.8 Social Media Measurement

4.5.2 Lack of Social Media Measurement Awareness

In addition, 132 companies said they were aware of tools to measure social media efforts, although

only 76 companies (21% of the sample population) were able to name the tools, as depicted in the

chart below. This means a staggering 79%, or 284 of 360 respondents could not name a tool that

would measure ROI. For a list of tools mentioned see Appendix D.

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Table 4.1 Awareness of Social Media Tools

Respondent 360
population
  Aware Unaware/Unsure
Aware of tools 132 168
Aware of tool names 76 284

4.5.3 Challenges with Social Media

When asked “What are your challenge(s) with using social media?” respondents replied with:

Figure 4.9 Challenges using Social Media

These results show that although many companies (24%) claim not to have experienced any

challenges with social media, a significant 11% of companies surveyed don’t know how to measure

its effectiveness. When asked “What would you like to know about social media?” 10 respondents

mentioned that they wanted to know how to measure ROI, and a further 15 respondents mentioned

that they want to know more about measurement.

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However, although measuring quantifiable results was a concern, respondents were giving very

positive feedback about the social returns of social media. Serge Gladkoff, group administrator for a

LinkedIn group comprised of 5,400 members said:

“The idea is simple and very effective: Do good for people

without immediate return, and they will get back to you with
contacts, information, and opportunities. Serve people and it
pays”

With a staggering 22% of companies expressing that they don’t know enough about social media, my

research will provide businesses with a valuable insight into the best social media practices.

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Chapter 5

Conclusion
5.1 Conclusion

This study examined the impact of social media and its value as a marketing and business

development tool. In doing so, it explored the best practises, and how companies are currently

implementing social media, as well as their views and opinions towards the recent phenomenon.

The survey results revealed that the majority of businesses engaging with social media are complying

with the advice from social media literature (Scott, 2007; Li & Bernoff, 2008; Holzner, 2009;

Postman, 2009; Weinberg, 2009).

With an extensive literature review and a survey of 360 companies, this research found that despite

being a recent phenomenon, those who have adopted a social media strategy have recognised

tangible benefits, providing a compelling reason for others to also adopt social media for marketing

and business development purposes. Irrelevant of the size or industry of the company, having an

online presence is fundamental to increase awareness of the brand and build relevant customer

relationships at little to no cost. Companies should have a brand presence on multiple channels to

increase their visibility and SEO.

Social media has without a doubt put the ‘social’ back into business. By being a vocal activist and

joining conversations, companies are increasing their brand exposure, positive reputation and

building relationships with a large, relevant consumer base. Businesses are stimulating word of

mouth by sharing emotionally engaging, creative and dynamic content, adopting an authentic

human voice to reflect personality and building rapport rather than being seen as distant, inhumane

corporations. Most companies are being responsive to both positive and negative feedback, offering

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incentives, and assigning consistent time commitment to build a positive brand reputation and

encourage customer retention.

Businesses are currently monitoring customer feedback and their competitor’s actions, and are using

these insights to build the brand. By valuing their customer’s opinions and ideas, companies can gain

further understanding of the needs and sentiment of their audience, and let them influence business

decision-making and the future direction of the brand.

The research also showed that businesses are using social media to strengthen the internal structure

of the company, improving internal communication, recruiting, and updating and sharing

information between employees. Although companies are using social media as a searching tool for

hiring employees, few businesses have actually employed someone using the medium. However, the

majority of businesses are willing to do so, and this may be an increasing trend in the future.

Respondents were also enthusiastic for the future of social media, seeming convinced that it is here

to stay, and that so far we have only witnessed “the tip of the iceberg.”

The research exposed that a direct impact on sales and ROI remains unclear, however the companies

surveyed expressed that harnessing social media has had a positive effect on their company.

Companies should plan social media strategies for continuous engagement and should be clear

about their objectives, which they can measure using social media measurement tools,

5.2 Further Implications of the Study

The results from the study revealed that businesses are using social media appropriately and there

are strong links between social media literature and current use. However, businesses identified that

their main challenges were measuring the effectiveness of their social media efforts, and the Return

on Investment. The literature review has identified four main benefits of businesses using social

media: brand exposure, positive brand association, business development, and relevant customer

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reach. Although the research explored ROI (section 2.3.2), the survey revealed that companies are

questioning the value of social media investment and its direct influence on revenue generation.

Further study should therefore investigate how these social benefits correspond to revenue and

sales. As social media evolves, it is imperative that researchers monitor the advancements and

continue to study how this new online environment is impacting marketing and business

development.

l|Page
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 Appendix
Appendix A – SOCIAL MEDIA CHANNELS
Facebook

Facebook is a locus for social interaction, designed to facilitate connections between people as well

as businesses. First established in 2004, Facebook has expanded rapidly and currently boasts over

400 million users (Facebook, April 2010). It has a desirable demographic – predominantly educated

18 to 25 year olds with disposable income (Holzner, 2009: 7), and its open, transparent nature allows

users to observe their friend’s activity minute by minute.

According to company figures, 50% of active users log in everyday, which proves that the medium is

engaging its audience, and therefore provides a fertile ground for marketing. Currently, 1.5 million

local businesses have active pages on Facebook, and all Facebook pages have produced more than

5.3 billion fans (Facebook, April 2010). These statistics demonstrate that Facebook marketing is not

just for big corporate brands, but is also being embraced by smaller, local companies. Furthermore,

it reveals that consumers are reacting to this new marketing approach, and are willing to publicly

support brands.

Twitter

Established in 2006, Twitter is a micro-blogging site where users share ‘what’s happening’ in a

limited 140 characters. The site currently encompasses 18 million users mainly between the ages of

25-54 years old, and is saturated with businesspeople and marketers. By growing a network of like-

minded people, users are able to listen to knowledgeable conversations and stay informed about

market trends, product launches, and new research. Ultimately, people are able to “narrow [their]

cyber-eavesdropping to those conversations that are relevant to [their] field, skills, interests or

organisation” (Azua, 2010: 104) in order to “tap into business prospects, influencers and customers”

(Weinberg, 2009: 125).

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The tool facilitates the sharing of branded content, related news articles and blogs in order to

promote services and products to a target audience whilst simultaneously encouraging viral pass-on

(retweets) and immediate feedback.

LinkedIn

LinkedIn is a professional social networking site, which enables the user to collaborate with

experienced businesspeople. In contrast to Facebook, profiles bear resemblance to CVs and

encourage the user to display their professional identities. The profile structure compels the user to

provide personal work history, specialisms and recommendations from others.

The site currently holds 60 million users (LinkedIn, April 2010) who can provide “powerful business

intelligence” (Azua, 2010: 106), facilitating idea generation, thought leadership, and business

opportunities. The value of such professional networking enables the user to find “potential clients,

service providers, subject experts, and colleagues” (Weinberg, 2009: 163).

YouTube

YouTube is a video distribution platform that enables user-generated content to be uploaded and

shared with the world. Founded in 2005, the site now holds over 100 million users and is “the

world’s leading video community on the Internet” (YouTube, 2010). For brands, YouTube can be used

as a vehicle for engaging their target audience, acting as “a centralised location to share videos

related to the brand” (Azua, 2010: 109). Videos can be spread virally and uploaded onto the

company website, onto other social networking sites such as Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn, or

embedded into personal blogs. According to the latest YouTube statistics, 52% of 18-34 year olds

share content with their friends and colleagues (YouTube, April 2010), indicating its viral potential.

YouTube has a large and diverse user base, with the prominent age range being between 18 and 55

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years old (YouTube, 2010), demonstrating that it has great marketing potential to reach a large array

of audiences.

Blogs

Blogs provide a platform to share ideas, knowledge, and experiences, both within a business and

across the wider community. As a “creative outlet” (Scott, 2007: 45), they can incorporate text,

pictures, videos, and audio, and can be customised aesthetically to add personality. Blogs are often

seen as more of a “push” rather than a “pull” social media tool. In other words, blogs facilitate the

dissemination of information, acting as a hub for creating strong institutional memory. Tapping into

the blogosphere therefore provides a great opportunity for businesses to market their products and

establish themselves as authorities in their field (Weinberg, 2009: 87), whilst maintaining a human

voice. However, they also encourage dialogue, feedback, and commentary, thus acting as a trust-

building mechanism between the business and their consumers or clients.

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Appendix B – SURVEY

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Appendix C – Social Media Sites Mentioned

Social Video Photo Music File Micro- Social Social Applications Directories Blogging
Networking/ sharing sharing sharing sharing blogging News sites bookmarking Platforms
Community sites sites sites sites sites websites
Sites

Facebook YouTube Flickr Blip.fm Slideshare Twitter Digg Delicious Foursquare Plaxo Posterous

LinkedIn Vimeo Scribd Yammer Reddit Business Tumblr

Scene
MySpace Ping Propeller Wordpress
Squidoo Blogspot
Stumble Upon
Bebo
Hyves
Ping.fm
Ning
Eventbrite
Xing

Appendix D – Measurement tools

TweetBeep Google Analytics Social Radar Facebook Insights

TwitterGrader Radian6 Meltwater Buzz Bit.ly
TweetDeck Trackur BrandWatch Pulsepoint
Twinfluence Hubspot Buzzmetrics Techrigy
Mr Tweet Hootsuite Technorati Questus
CoTweet Socialmention.com Sysomos Cision
True Twit Validation Sm2.com Omniture
SocialOomph Social Radar

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Assignment Declaration

“I declare that this assignment is my own work and that I have correctly
acknowledged the work of others. This assignment is in accordance with
University and School guidance on good academic conduct (and how to avoid
plagiarism and other assessment irregularities)”.

Signed: Emily Hampton

Date: 12/04/2010

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