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Emiliano Joyner

ENC1102

Munsell

11/11/22

Word Count: 1215

Rhetorical Analysis of a Professional Text

Unless you have been living under a rock for the past few years, you may have noticed

the rise of social media and the influence and role that it plays in our society. Social media has

had a noticeable effect on businesses and the way they operate. The text “The use of social media

in sales: Individual and organizational antecedents, and the role of customer engagement in

social media” by Guesalaga, Rodorigo, provides an insight on how social media has been and

will be used in business aspects. It is now more important than ever to reflect on the usefulness

of social media and how it can be effectively used as a tool to help businesses succeed. The

previously mentioned text does a tremendous job in showing us and proposing the usefulness of

social media. The text heavily relies upon the use of logos, the appeal of logic, to show, explain,

and convince the audience of its claims. The text has a strong use of evidence and studies done in

the field and the past that support the importance of social media.

“The use of social media in sales: Individual and organizational antecedents, and the role

of customer engagement in social media” by Guesalaga, Rodorigo is an article from a bigger

publishment “Industrial Marketing Management, 2016, Vol.54”. The purpose of this text is to

provide theoretical, empirical, and case based research that is used to inform and convince the
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audience that social media plays a big part in business and that it can directly affect sales. The

article is used to inform people that are already in a business profession, those who are soon to

be, or marketing scholars. There are claims that social media usage can directly affect sales, that

a company’s competency can be measured by their use of social media, and that it is a must that

executives must be trained on the use of social media. It is made obvious throughout the text that

if a company is to thrive in the future, or even have a future, they must assimilate. While this text

makes big claims it certainly does back them up and it does it rather convincingly and

thoroughly. The text primarily makes use of the appeal of logos as they used logic and

quantitative data to represent their findings. Most of what is stated in the text is backed up by

research that was done in this field. I found this text to make a very compelling argument that

supports the significance of social media in this modern age.

The use of logos in this text is heavy and many instances of it can be found numerous

times throughout. The text revolves around appealing to the audience’s logic and reason. One

particular piece I found to be interesting was, “people spend more time on social media than any

other category of sites, with an average of 121.18 min per day in 2012, which represents an

increase of 37% with respect to the previous year.” (Guesalaga 71). I found this to be especially

compelling as it not only shows the large amount of time people spend on social media every day

but also that the amount is increasing exponentially every year. This supports the idea from the

text that social media is extremely relevant in all facets of life because it is the most used

category of sites on the internet. It uses the appeal of logos as it is trying to logically convince

you through the use of empirical evidence that is gathered from statistics found in studies that are

relevant to the topic of discussion.

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This text mainly focuses on numbers, statistics, and facts as those are what matter to the

business community, the intended audience of the text. Although the main appeal of this text is

logos, there are still instances of the other appeals that can be found. Instances of the appeal of

pathos can be found such as, “increasing importance of social media in sales has encouraged

scholars to study the breadth of social media tools for sales, its main benefits and challenges, and

the role that salespeople play in deploying social media strategies to increase performance and to

build customer relationships” (Guesalaga 72). In this particular excerpt, I did not find the

meaning behind the words being said to be the best appeal to pathos but rather the way in which

the author chose to write it. The tone, language, and diction used suggest that what was being

said really matters. The ‘increasing importance” and “encouraged scholars” makes me feel as

though if others are this impassioned about it, it must be worth listening to. I felt that this excerpt

played on my emotions in a way and persuaded me to believe in the claim.

When talking about the rhetorical appeal ethos in this text, we can find it in the form of

the appeal to character. The text expands on the idea that the integration of social media into the

realm of business may not just be for the best of business but also for others. The text claims,

“When we analyze the extent to which each factor mediates the relationship between customer

engagement in social media and social media usage in sales, we find some interesting

differences. Overall, the mediating effect is much stronger for the organizational factors than for

the individual factors.” (Guesalaga 77). Looking at this excerpt, we can see that social media is

not only important for the success of business but that there is also evidence to suggest that

social media can also be to the benefit of the customers. I found the idea of this to appeal to the

audience’s ethos as it in a way suggests that it is the right and just thing to do. If everyone

benefits from the implementation of social media then how can it be bad, right?
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I found this text to be wonderfully put together and that it achieved its desired effect of

informing the audience of its main message. Social media is extremely relevant and can have a

major influence on not only the outcome of a business but also society in a bigger picture. To

successfully run a business in this modern age, the company must be aware of its own presence

within social media and have employees versed in it. The text reached its audience and argued

for its claims through the use of rhetorical appeals. It claimed that social media matters logically

by showing statistics, research, and evidence. It used ethos to suggest that the use of social media

in businesses could better help not only the business but also the customers and better

accommodate them. Lastly, pathos was used in the language and tone throughout the text to

signify and convey the importance and magnitude of the claims. This text is extremely important

because it not only makes the audience, people in the profession of business, aware of the

importance of its message, but it also informs them of ways they can better themselves through

the text. It is not only an advisory but also a guide. As Guesalaga states best in the text, “Social

media is here to stay, and its potential benefits for personal selling and sales management are

enormous” (Guesalaga 78).

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Works Cited

Guesalaga, Rodrigo. “The Use of Social Media in Sales: Individual and Organizational

Antecedents, and the Role of Customer Engagement in Social Media.” Industrial

Marketing Management, vol. 54, 2016, pp. 71–79,

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.indmarman.2015.12.002.