Campfire Stories - Matching Content to Audience Context - Ryan Brock
Using social network sites
1. The Effect of Using Social Network
Sites in Business Marketing
A STUDY OF BAHRAINI
ORGANIZATIONS
By
Balqees Al.Mubarak
May, 2011
2. Introduction
Definition:
Social network site is best understood as a group of new
kinds of online services, which share most or all of the
following characteristics:
• Participation
• Community
• Openness
• Connectedness
• Conversation
3. Introduction
• People joining a social network usually
▫ create a profile and then,
▫ build a network by connecting to friends and
contacts in the network,
▫ inviting real-world contacts and friends to join
the social network.
5. Social Network Sites in Bahrain
According to a research conducted by Jazeerah.net in February 2010, on
13 countries in the MENA region (Middle East and North Africa), the
total amount of Facebook users in Bahrain was 181,991 users. The
questions that can be raised here are:
▫ How many of these are actually organizations who are marketing for their
businesses?
▫ What about the other social network sites?
▫ Are Bahraini organizations benefiting from social network sites in
marketing?
▫ Do Bahraini organizations realize the benefit of social network sites to
maximize profit?
6. Research Objectives
1. Identify the usefulness of social network sites available for business
owners.
2. Determine the effective utilization of social network sites for marketing
purposes.
3. Investigate the need of using social network sites in marketing strategies.
4. Measure managers' preference of using social network sites.
5. Identify the relationship between the use of social network sites and
profit.
6. Identify the relationship between the using of social network sites on
customers' loyalty.
8. Literature Review
"… History suggests that where there is so much
user engagement, dollars follow. “
Chris Dixon" (Fitton, 2008)
9. The Daily Reach of Social Network Sites
The Daily Reach of Social Network Sites: YouTube, Wikipedia, Facebook, MySpace,
and Flikr.com.
(Source: Social Media Roadmaps, Exploring the futures triggered by social media.
By: Tony Ahlqvist, Asta Bäck, Minna Halonen & Sirkka Heinonen, 2008)
10. Social Network Sites Business Opportunities
(Source: Social Media Roadmaps, Exploring the futures triggered by social media.
By: Tony Ahlqvist, Asta Bäck, Minna Halonen & Sirkka Heinonen, 2008)
11. Social Network Sites in Bahraini Business
Bahrain usage of twitter
(Source: eHulool eCommerce Projects, 2011)
12. Social Network sites in Bahraini Business
The new statistics reveal usage trends of twitter in
Bahrain, and it is clearly stated that Bahraini usage
trend had jumped to a very high percentage due to
political events. New users had signed up to use
twitter, this in turn form a good basis of potential
customer base. This could be a good opportunity for
businesses to benefit from.
13. Research Methodology
• Research Questions:
1. Does the usage of social network sites in marketing affect people's
awareness of the business?
2. Does the utilization of social network sites influence customers' loyalty?
3. Does the number of visitors of a social network site reflect a better
reputation of the business?
4. Does the usage of social network sites in marketing influence the profit?
14. Research Design
• This study will incorporate the quantitative
descriptive research method, because it uses a
formal instrument that is needed to describe
frequencies, averages, and other statistical
calculations.
• A questionnaire and telephone interviews will be
used to collect data.
15. The Questionnaire
In designing the questionnaire, Bourque and Clark (1994)
suggest that the researcher can choose any of the three
methods for creating the questions. It could be either:
• Adopt questions that are used in other questionnaires,
• Adapt questions used in other questionnaires, or
• Develop new questions.
16. The Questionnaire
• New questions were developed for this study, in
addition to adopted questions.
• The questionnaire was divided into three parts;
the first part aims to collect general information
about the organization itself.
17. The Questionnaire
• The second and the third parts aim to check how
business people are interacting with their
customers through social network sites, and to
assess the effect of using social network sites on:
1. Customers' awareness of the
3. Business's reputation,
business,
4. The effect on profit
2. Customers' loyalty to the business,
generated.
19. The Questionnaire
An interview was conducted with
the two e-marketing specialists in
Gulf Air, Mr. Nicola Simionato, a
Senior Manager Sales Steering
and Distribution at Gulf Air and
Mr. Ali Hussain.
20. Population and Sampling
• The target population consisted of all the
Bahraini organizations or businesses that use
social network sites to market their business.
• Used "Non-probability Convenience" sampling.
21. Population and Sampling
• Target sample was 50 businesses or
organizations.
• Used Quota sampling procedure based on
business size.
22. Population and Sampling
• The proportions would be the following:
▫ 70% of the sample will be of small size businesses
▫ 15% of the sample will be of medium size
businesses
▫ 15% of the sample will be of large size businesses
23. Data Collection Procedure
• An electronic form of the questionnaire was created,
and distributed the link through
Emails (official companies’ sites )
Facebook pages
LinkedIn profiles and groups
Forums (Bahrain Trade Center)
BlackBerry Messenger
Hard copy of the questionnaire was also distributed.
24. Validity and Reliability
Validity
▫ The measure (questionnaire) was tested by pilot
testers to insure its face validity.
Reliability
▫ "Reliability applies to a measure when similar results
are obtained over time and across situations"
(Zikmund, 2003).
25. Reliability
• The coefficient alpha of Cronbach's alpha is
calculated to check reliability.
• The results of the split-half reliability analysis
showed that Cronbach's alpha was 0.917.
26. Data Analysis and Tools
• Descriptive statistics is used to organize, summarize and
describe the responses of the participants.
• Inferential statistics such as Analysis of Variance
(ANOVA), and Pearson correlation coefficient.
• Using the Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS)
version 17.0.
27. Data Analysis and Results
• 65 responses representing 65 Bahraini
organizations using social network sites for
marketing.
37. Answer to Research Question number 1
• "Does the usage of social network sites in marketing
affect people's awareness of the business?"
• The factors used are:
(1) Period of using social network sites for the business
(2) Number of connections the business has
(3) Number of daily questions sent to the sites
38. The Period of Using Social Network Sites
and People Awareness of the Business
• Using Spearman's rho (ρ) Correlation
Coefficient since the variables are of different
types.
39. ANOVA Test
• To assure the previous result ANOVA test is used
• Based on the results obtained by the correlation analysis
and analysis of variance, researcher can conclude that the
period since the business is using the social network sites
has no effect on people awareness of the business.
40. Recalling the Factors
(1) Period of using social network sites for the
business
(2) Number of connections the business has
(3) Number of daily questions sent to the sites
41. Number of Connections the Business has
• Using ANOVA test
From the above result, researcher can conclude that the
"number of the connections the business has" has no
effect on people awareness of the business.
42. Recalling the Factors
(1) Period of using social network sites for the
business
(2) Number of connections the business has
(3) Number of daily questions sent to the sites
43. Number of Daily Questions sent to the
Sites
• Using ANOVA test
Based on the results obtained, the researcher
concludes that the number of daily sent questions has
no effect on people awareness.
44. Answer to Research Question number 2
• "Does the utilization of social network sites
influence customers' loyalty?“
• The factor to test customers’ loyalty is
▫ People likeness of the business
45. Answer to Research Question number 2
• The Pearson Correlation Coefficient test is used
to find the correlation between the two variables.
46. Answer to Research Question number 2
• ANOVA test is used to confirm the previous
result.
Based on the results obtained, the researcher concludes
that customers' loyalty is affected by people likeness of the
business.
47. Answer to Research Question number 3
• "Does the number of visitors of a social network site
reflect a better reputation of the business?"
• The factors used to test this question are:
(1) Number of daily sent questions to the site
(2) Number of daily interactions encountered by the
site
48. The Number of Daily Sent Questions and
Business Reputation
• ANOVA test is used
Based on these results, the researcher concludes that
number of daily sent questions to the site has no effect on
business reputation.
49. The Number of Daily Interactions
Encountered by the site and Business
Reputation
• ANOVA test is used
Based on these results, the researcher concludes that
number of daily encountered interactions has no effect on
business reputation.
50. Answer to Research Question number 4
• "Does the usage of social network sites in marketing
influence the profit?"
• To test this question, the factors tested are:
(1) The increased number of inquiries,
(2) the increased number of orders,
(3) The increased revenue,
(4) the increased market share, and
(5) the increased profit.
51. Answer to Research Question number 4
• The five items mentioned are all of type interval
scale, which allows using the Pearson's
Correlation Coefficient test.
53. Answer to Research Question number 4
• This reflects strong relationship amongst all the
mentioned factors.
• In addition, ANOVA test is used to find the
differences in the means of the five items.
55. Answer to Research Question number 4
• Based on the results Pearson Correlation Coefficients,
and ANOVA test shown, the researcher concludes that:
▫ the increased number of inquiries,
▫ the increased number of orders,
▫ the increased revenue, and
▫ the increased level of market share
influence the level of profit.
56. Discussion
• The results obtained to answer the first research
question indicates that:
▫ There is no relationship between the factors
mentioned and people awareness of the business.
57. Discussion
• The result obtained for answering the second
question indicates that:
▫ People likeness of the business affects customers'
loyalty.
58. Discussion
• The results obtained to answer the third research
question indicate the following:
▫ There is no relationship between the number of daily
sent questions to the site and business reputation.
▫ There is no relationship between the number of daily
interactions encountered by the site and business
reputation.
59. Discussion
• The results obtained to answer the fourth research
question indicate the following:
▫ There is a strong positive correlation between all the
five mentioned items. They are correlated in a
significant level of less than 0.01.
• This result can clearly explain the way businesses can
benefit from using social network sites for marketing.
60. Conclusion
• From the research findings researcher can conclude:
▫ Social network sites marketing can only increase
people awareness to the business if used in a positive
way.
▫ Business reputation can not only be raised from the
increased number of customers' questions, inquiries,
and interactions, but from the way marketers deal with
these aspects.
61. Conclusion
▫ Customers' loyalty is built on their likeness and
awareness of the business.
▫ Social network sites marketing have huge potential to
gain profit.
62. Recommendations and Further Studies
• The same aspects used in this study can be used to get
more results regarding how organizations benefit from
marketing through social network sites.
• Further study can explore the effect of organization size
on profit.
• A study can utilize the sampling of customers using
social network sites to get their needs (either services or
products).
