The online practices facilitated in promoting organisational products and services are referred to as social media marketing. The technological applications and strategies could be facilitated by an organisation in performing an efficient and effective social media marketing that is cost effective and time saving. The organisational performance could be estimated by the key element of an organisation i.e. customers.

1. 1
TO EVALUATE THE IMPACT OF SOCIAL MEDIA MARKETING ON
ORGANISATIONAL PERFORMANCE

2. 2
ABSTRACT
The online practices facilitated in promoting organisational products and services are
referred to as social media marketing. The technological applications and strategies could be
facilitated by an organisation in performing an efficient and effective social media marketing
that is cost effective and time saving. The organisational performance could be estimated by
the key element of an organisation i.e. customers. The UK fast-food market has been facing
increased competitors such that every fast-food organisation necessitates the efficient
utilisation of social media marketing to gain added market recognition. McDonald’s have
been facing difficult times due to its inefficiency based on social media marketing. Thus, in
this study the researcher focus on the impact of social media marketing on organisational
performance in reference to case study of McDonald’s, UK. The decline of 15% of annual
profit in the year of 2014 signifies the poor performance of McDonald’s. In facilitating an
efficient research study the researcher performs case study based on interpretivism
philosophy, followed by inductive approach. The researcher performed an exploratory study
with the support of case study and varied secondary data collection methods. Sample
selection was based on criterion sampling method. The researcher also presents the various
limitations and accessibility and ethical issues encountered during the research study.
Furthermore, the researcher provides recommendations on McDonald are based on the
issues identified during case study analysis.

3. 3
Table of Contents
ABSTRACT...................................................................................................................................2
LIST OF FIGURES AND GRAPHS ..................................................................................................6
CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION......................................................................................................7
1.1 Introduction......................................................................................................................7
1.2 Research Background.......................................................................................................7
1.3 Rationale of the study......................................................................................................8
1.4 Research aim....................................................................................................................9
1.5 Research objectives..........................................................................................................9
1.6 Research questions ..........................................................................................................9
1.7 Summary ........................................................................................................................10
CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW............................................................................................11
2.1 Introduction....................................................................................................................11
2.2 Social media and Social media marketing (SMM)..........................................................11
2.3 Assessment of social media landscape: Honeycomb Framework .................................12
2.4 Social media marketing in organisations .......................................................................14
2.5 Factors influencing social media marketing strategy.....................................................14
2.6 Organizational performance ..........................................................................................16
2.7 Factors affecting organizational performance...............................................................16
2.8 Impact of social media marketing on organizational performance...............................17
2.9 The Link between present study and existing studies ...................................................19
2.10 Conceptual framework.................................................................................................20
2.11 Summary ......................................................................................................................21
CHAPTER 3: RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODOLOGY............................................................22
3.1 Introduction....................................................................................................................22
3.2 Research philosophy ......................................................................................................22

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3.3 Research approach.........................................................................................................23
3.4 Research purpose...........................................................................................................23
3.5 Research strategy...........................................................................................................24
3.6 Data collection methods ................................................................................................25
3.7 Sample selection ............................................................................................................26
3.8 Data analysis plan...........................................................................................................27
3.10 Ethical issues ................................................................................................................27
3.11 Future scope for the study...........................................................................................27
3.12 Summary ......................................................................................................................28
CHAPTER 4: RESULTS, ANALYSIS AND DISCUSSION .................................................................29
4.1 Introduction....................................................................................................................29
4.2 Plan of analysis...............................................................................................................29
4.3 Case study of McDonald’s, UK .......................................................................................29
4.3.1 Social media marketing in McDonalds ....................................................................30
4.3.2 Factors influencing McDonalds social media marketing strategy...........................31
4.3.3 Factors influencing McDonalds organizational performance .................................32
4.3.4 Impact of social media marketing on organizational performance of McDonalds.33
4.4 Interpretation of data ....................................................................................................35
4.5 Identifying gaps..............................................................................................................36
4.6 Judgement on findings ...................................................................................................37
4.7 Summary ........................................................................................................................38
CHAPTER 5: CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS..........................................................39
5.1 Introduction....................................................................................................................39
5.2 Conclusions.....................................................................................................................39
5.3 Evaluation of results.......................................................................................................40
5.4 Recommendation...........................................................................................................41

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5.5 Limitations of the research ............................................................................................41
5.6 Recommendations for future researchers .....................................................................41
References................................................................................................................................43

6. 6
LIST OF FIGURES AND GRAPHS
List of figures
Figure 2.1: Honeycomb framework……………………………………………….11
Figure 2.2: Social media statistics………………………………………………..18
Figure 2.3: Conceptual farmework………………………………………………..19
Figure 4.1: Facebook and Twitter rating of McDonald’s………………………..29
List of charts
Graph 4.2: Customer Satisfaction Score among UK restaurants……………...31

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CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION
1.1 Introduction
Introductory section of this dissertation will exemplify the rationale and background for
initiating this investigation. Necessity of conducting this research in current context and
aims, questions and objectives developed to accomplish this work will also be discussed in
this introductory section.
1.2 Research Background
Social media marketing refers to the online marketing practices that attain increased
customer attention and retention. As Zarrella (2009) opines, the social media marketing
provides an efficient and cost effective marketing platform utilizing the most advanced
technologies and applications. Changing trends and technological advancements among
consumers necessitates organizations to attain effective social media marketing activities
and as Tsiakis (2015) states, in current era this has a direct impact on persuading customers’
purchase decisions. According to Austin (2013), organisational performance is attained
when an organisation performs efficiently and attains organisational goals and objectives.
Associated with three key elements such as market performance, financial performance and
shareholder performance, an organization’s performance can be defined as the upshot of
the services and amenities provided by the firms. Improved services, high quality products
and amenities, effectual marketing practices, etc. attracts and retains customers. Thus as
Austin (2013) opines, an organizations performance is highly influenced by the effectiveness
of customer engagement practices used by the firm. Thus in the prevailing market scenario,
social media marketing gains ample significance in ascertaining an organizations
performance as it provides an efficient platform to develop strong relation between
customers and company. Existing studies have shown that social media marketing is highly
effective in attracting the attention of customers and in engaging with them (Zarrella, 2009).
Studies of Tsiakis (2015), also reveals the fact that social media marketing can influence
customer buying behaviour. However, the relation between social media marketing and
organizational performance has not been effectively analysed in existing studies. In this
context, the researcher intends to investigate these perspectives and for strategic
assessment researcher has selected McDonald’s, UK as the business scenario. The plunge in
McDonald’s sales reported by Patton (2014) and ineffectiveness in its social media

8. 8
marketing determined by Schenker (2015) signifies the necessity of revitalizing McDonald’s
social media marketing practices. Thus in this investigation researcher will evaluate the
influence of social media marketing on organizational performance focussing on McDonald’s
business case.
1.3 Rationale of the study
According to Zarrella (2009), social media marketing enables organisations in developing a
firm relationship with their customers and enhance direct communication with them.
Efficiency in these marketing approaches establishes an intimacy between company and
customers and hence as Tsiakis (2015) opines, failure and its ineffectiveness results in
increased dissuasion of customers. Customers are the foremost elements that ascertain an
organizations performance. Increased customer satisfaction improvises the financial and
market gains and hence determines the elevation of overall organization performance.
Increasing rivalries in UK fast-food sector also necessitates efficient social media marketing
to attain adequate market recognition. However Schenker (2015) reports indicate the
ineffectiveness of current social media marketing activities that deters customers. Lubin
(2012) reports indicate the social media inefficiency of McDonald’s. Hence in this work,
researcher investigates these perspectives in concern to McDonald’s case.
Being the world’s renowned fast-food dealer, McDonald’s is expected to utilize highly
efficient social media marketing practices and attain improved organization performance.
However recent reports of Borison (2014) indicate the ineffective social media marketing
activities initiated by this organization. Failure in social media marketing has impacted the
reputation of this organization and deterred the customers. Issues in product quality and
customer service have also impacted McDonald’s gains and although the company had
utilized many social media practices to overcome these issues, it has not been effective.
Twitter marketing failures and profit falls of McDonald’s reported by Shandrow (2012) and
Patton (2014) respectively also signifies the issue with this firm.
Monaghan (2015) reports on the key challenges faced by McDonald’s. Reporter states that
the organization has been unable to convince its customers and this has led deprived
financial and market gains. Bold (2015) reports indicates the plunge in global sales of
McDonald’s and further author also states that in Europe, the company faced 1.1% decline

9. 9
in comparable sales thereby decreasing its operating incomes to about 14%. Issues with
#RonaldMcDonald hashtag and #McDStoriestwitter campaigns reported by Schenker (2015)
and Lubin (2012) respectively indicates the social media marketing failures of McDonald’s.
Decline in annual profit by 15% for the year 2014 reported by Neate (2015) signifies the
poor organization performance of McDonald’s. Thus taking into consideration these
perspectives, researcher determines the association between research variables with
regards to McDonald’s case.
Necessity in enhancing social media marketing activities at McDonald’s and thereby gains
attained that improves organization performance will be clearly identified through this
work. As this investigation establishes the link between social media marketing and
organization performance, it will help McDonald’s and similar firms to comprehend the
issues faced and thereby revamp its prevailing strategies.
1.4 Research aim
The aim of the study is to perform a research work on the impact of social media marketing
on organisational performance based on the case study of McDonald’s, UK.
1.5 Research objectives
 To perform study on social media marketing.
 To analyse the influence of social media marketing on customers.
 To analyse the impact of social media marketing on organisational marketing of
McDonald’s, UK.
 To provide recommendations to organisations on improving the social media
marketing develop customer relationship.
1.6 Research questions
1. What are the factors that influence social media marketing?
2. What are the factors that influence efficient organisational performance?
3. How does social media marketing affect the performance of an organisation?
4. What are the ways to improve the organisational performance through social media
marketing?

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1.7 Summary
The basic background of conducting this investigation and rationale that establishes the
significance of this work was explained in this section. Further aims, objectives and
questions formulated to accomplish this work was also covered in this preface section.

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CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW
2.1 Introduction
This chapter establishes the association between the research variables of the present
research study. The researcher provides sufficient details for analysing the impact of social
media marketing on organizational performance. Also, discusses about the research issues
and explores the research variables that are linked with the research issues with the aid of
literature review. By comprehensively analysing the fundamental concepts related to social
media and organizational performance the researcher will be able to understand the
relationship between these variables. In this chapter the researcher also discusses about the
link between the current study and existing studies. Finally, a conceptual framework is
developed after analysing the literature review.
2.2 Social media and Social media marketing (SMM)
Social media is referred to a set of internet based applications built on technological and
ideological foundations of Web 2.0 and these applications also enables the development
and exchange of user generated contents (Mangold and Faulds, 2009). However, Brain Solis
(2015) defines social media as the group of online word of mouth forums and it includes
discussion boards, social networks and blogs. The introduction of LinkedIn in the year 2003
marked the beginning of social media era in the current technological world. With the
advancement of technology newer and innovative applications were developed by the
corporate giants for providing a better platform that facilitates the interaction between
individuals in a community.
Social media marketing enables organisations in developing a firm relationship with their
customers and enhances direct communication with them (Scott, 2010). They follow the
concept of trustworthy and regular conversation with individuals having similar taste and
interest. SMM has been used by the organizations for improving the sales of their products
and services by providing better and innovative promotions through websites and online
social channels. With the aid of social media marketing the global organizations were able to
share details with the potential customers regarding the launch of new products or models
and the latest news concerning the organizational and performances (Brain Solis, 2015).

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2.3 Assessment of social media landscape: Honeycomb Framework
Honeycomb framework is a tool that is used by organizations for formulating the social
media strategies (Khan and Jan, 2015). This tool illustrates the social media marketing on
the basis of seven building blocks presence, identity, sharing, conversations, reputation,
relationships and groups. Each building block in a honeycomb framework defines the
structure of a social media website on the basis of the facilities provided by the website to
the clients or users (Khan and Jan, 2015). Thus, by balancing these blocks, an organization
will be able to formulate efficient and congruent social media strategies.
Figure 2.1: Honeycomb framework
Source: Khan and Jan (2015)
Presence
This block enables an individual to check whether their friends or colleagues are available
online. Presence dimensions acts a link between virtual and real world. This dimension
consists of information regarding an individual’s network, whether the individual is in real
world or virtual world (Khan and Jan, 2015).

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Identity
This dimension illustrates the extent to which an organization or groups or individuals reveal
their identity publically by disclosing their corporate and personal details such as name,
gender, organization, etc in social media applications.
Conversations
According to Khan and Jan (2015) conversations dimensions reveals the extent to which an
organization or individual communicate with their peers within a social media setting. The
major purpose of the social media websites is to make the conversation easier among
interest groups and individuals.
Sharing
Sharing dimension illustrates the manner in which an individual distributes, receives and
exchange contents within a social media setting. This dimension demonstrates the extent to
which individuals share contents regarding their lives and identity.
Reputation
Reputation dimension expresses the degree to which an individual or organization is
capable of identifying their reputation or relative position in a community or society within
social media (Khan and Jan, 2015).
Groups
This dimension enables an individual or organization to form sub-communities or
communities in social media. Higher will be the number of followers, groups, contacts and
communities if the network is more social and interactive.
Relationships
Relationship dimension depicts the degree to which an individual or a group is related to
another individuals or groups. Also, it illustrates the type of relationship that exists between
the individuals or groups (Khan and Jan, 2015).

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2.4 Social media marketing in organisations
The term social media marketing refers to the practice of attaining customer attention and
retaining customer relation through online sites. These programs focus on developing
subjects that gains the attention of readers and inspire them in sharing the same on other
similar sites (Zarrella, 2010). The study of Pradiptarini (2011) reveals that about 86 percent
of the companies included in Fortune 500 list make use of at least one social sites among
Twitter, blogs, You Tube or Facebook while 28 percent of the companies uses all the four
social media sites for enhancing their interaction with the potential customers.
This is similar to the observation made by Zarrella (2010) and the author reveals that 64
percent of marketers expend more than five hours per week on social media while 39
percent expends more than ten hours per week on the social media sites. Thus, corporate
companies make use of social media for enhancing their marketing and promotion of
products and services. It has been reported by Pradiptarini (2011) that social media provides
a platform for organizations to improve their interaction with customers which has been
established by means of promotions and marketing through traditional media.
2.5 Factors influencing social media marketing strategy
Social media marketing plays crucial role in attracting customers towards the organizations
and it highly influences their purchasing behaviour. The business are highly connected with
the social media due to its time bound nature and cost effectiveness. According to Tuten
and Solomon (2012) and Singh and Diamond (2012), the factors that influence successful
social media marketing are:
 Trust and long term relationship
In the observation of Evans (2012) trust and long term relationship is an essential factor in
marketing as it helps in creating customer loyalty. These two elements can highly be
maintained through two-way interactions and customer relevant information’s.
Humbleness, consciousness and honesty have to be followed in SMM so that it highly helps
in creating a sincere relationship with the customers.
 Involvement and timely updating of product and service details on social media.

15. 15
Ghorbani (2013) opines that failure social media marketing is mainly due to the absence of
involvement and up-to-date information’s regarding the products and services. High
commitment and time effective updations are an important criterion of SMM. It is also
found that both offline and online marketing are highly important for enhancing the
customer relationships and loyalty. In order to create more awareness among the
customers organizations must include call to actions, effective contents etc so that it can
lead to followers placing an order, liking a product etc. Thus this will help the firms to create
more followers and fans and build a strong and healthy association between the customer
and the organization.
 Usage of images and videos of product
Tuten and Solomon (2012) suggests that including and using images and videos of products
can highly improve the customers knowledge regarding the product further leading to
inspiring them to purchase the product and recommending it to the other users. It is also
observed that these images and videos enhances brand image, consumer consciousness and
also helps them to get a detailed information about the product.
 Quality of contents
Organizations while marketing through the social media must highly focus on the quality of
contents and infective contents can adversely affect the overall performance of the
organization further resulting in the failure of the product (Heymann-Reder, 2012).
 Sharing product details on networks that has maximum publicity.
Sharing of the contents and product details highly enhances the publicity of the product and
also helps customers to exchange the information, receives contents and also increases
distribution (Singh and Diamond, 2012).
 Periodic checking on the social media success
In the observation of Akar and Topcu (2011) for attaining success through the social media
periodic checking and updation is highly necessary and it also aids the firms in improving
their overall performance level.
 Accessibility and credibility

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Social media marketing is easier and simpler to use, requires minimal costs, easily
accessible, and does not need special knowledge or skills. High credibility have to maintain
the messages delivered through SMM and it also helps in keeping an emotional connection
with the targeted audience thereby motivating their purchasing behaviour (Saravanakumar
and SuganthaLakshmi, 2012).
Thus Steenkamp and Hyde-Clarke (2014), suggests SMM as an effective platform for the
businesses to reach large targeted customers by connecting directly and maintaining high
trust with the customers.
2.6 Organizational performance
Organizational performance determines the effectiveness of the firm in achieving the
objectives and gaols. Higher the performance greater will be the success attained by the
organization. For obtaining overall success various factors have to be focussed by the
organization and it is also found that both the internal environment (quality, employees,
strategy and leadership) and external environment (customers, suppliers, competition etc)
highly affects the performance of the organization (James, 2012).
2.7 Factors affecting organizational performance
As per the reviews of Walter, (2014) and James (2012) the factors influencing organisational
performance are:
 Employee attitude and behaviour
Employee’s performance is the main highlighted factor in the context of an organization and
it also has much higher influence on the overall performance level of the organization
(James, 2012). The attitude and behaviour of the employees towards providing services to
the customers helps in creating both positive and negative impact. Highly effective services
leads to enhancements of customer loyalty and vice versa.
 Customer satisfaction
Customer satisfaction is main objective of all the organizations and they effectively plan
their aims and goals for achieving the satisfaction of the customers (Walter, E., 2014). The
main motive of the all the firms is to satisfy the customers by providing them with effective
products and services. The organizations also make the employees focus on the customer

17. 17
satisfaction so that it ultimately leads to enhancement of organizational growth and
development.
 Customer awareness about product
The customers must be made aware about the products so that it highly enhances their
intensity to purchase the products and therefore the organizations must provide a detailed
knowledge regarding the products and services for enhancing the organizational
performance (James, 2012).
 Market position of the organisation
In the opinion of Walter (2014) organizational performance highly relies upon the market
position of the organization. The existence of strong competition leads the organizations to
strive hard for enhancing their overall performance and thus the organizations highly
concentrates in providing effective services and high quality products for capturing the
market and customer attractions.
2.8 Impact of social media marketing on organizational performance
As supported by many organisational theories, organisational performance is optimal if it is
capable of accomplishing its goals by utilisation of minimal volume of resources, argue
Gavrea, Ilies and Stegerean (2011). Social media marketing by effectively reducing the
consumption of resources in terms of cost and time drive performance status, state the
authors. In line to this, Pradiptarini (2011) opine that SMM is an inevitable ingredient to
achieve enhanced performance by the effective utilisation of various possibilities like
content dissemination, reputation management and product promotion. Moreover, Brain
Solis (2015) identified that serving as a communicative tool; it helps in building relationships
with existing customers and also drives the attainment of novel customers. Another target
of the usage of social media is to attain competitive status by being able to substantiate the
presence and thereby, brand image of an organisation. As pointed out by Pradiptarini
(2011), it allows high degree of involvement with all kind of its stakeholders and leverages
the relationship and also imparts an opportunity to incessantly upgrade with the help of
reviews and feedbacks. Its prospectus in announcing, contacting and educating the
employees has also been identified by Trainor et al., (2014) and this can augment the
productivity of employees to greater extents. As studied by Brain Solis (2015) brand image is

18. 18
strengthened by the ability to penetrate the consciousness of the consumer. SMM can
facilitate this by exploiting various dimensions of social media as discussed above using
honey comb model (Brain Solis, 2015; Blog growth, 2016).
Similarly, it also sets provisions to organisations to continuously monitor external and
internal environment to forecast and analyse the competitiveness of the situation and also
imparts information regarding the marketing activities and strategies of its rivals. This sheds
light on the necessary insights on building competitive advantage and also enhances the
process of innovation. Emerging trends of the market can thus be identified which promotes
the product development in accordance with the customer preferences. All these are
inevitable factors that influence organisational performance as found out by Trainor (2012).
SMM is more crucial in service industry as it facilitates the two-way communication and
enables the organisations to update on new products and new services, state Parveen,
Jaafar and Ainin (2015). As per the recent statistics, social media consumption is at its zenith
and it has surpassed 1000 million users as of now (Figure 2.1). This also underlines the need
for engaging in social media to leverage the connectivity so that performance level can be
raised.
However study by Trainor et al., (2014) show down falls of companies which have negated
the usage of social media and social media marketing. In addition, Gavrea, Ilies and
Stegerean (2011) argue that mere presence is not sufficient and its effectiveness depends
on many factors like quality of the content, degree of engagement by an organisation and its
link to other marketing platforms.

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Figure 2.2: Social media statistics
Source: Adapted from statista(2016)
Study by Trainor (2012) also argues that despite these abovementioned facts, companies
are still hesitant to engage effectively in SMM and regard it as ineffective with respect to
organisational performance. Gavrea, Ilies and Stegerean (2011) depict the concern of
companies over the conversion rate, increase in sales and buyer-seller relationship and
portray a significant volume of companies who have not integrated social media in to their
sites. In line to this, study by Parveen, Jafar and Ainin (2015) point out that SMM can
influence performance levels when it is capable of imparting customer delivered value only.
Thus it can be inferred that there is the lack of significance consensus in the findings from
several studies and hence it is necessary to review the correlation of these two research
variables to identify the true extent of impact.
2.9 The Link between present study and existing studies
Social media enables an organisation in enhancing connectivity with its stakeholders at cost
savings significantly; ascertain the study by Trainor et al., (2014). Likewise, Parveen, Jafar
and Ainin (2015) establish the positive effect of the SMM strategies on marketing

20. 20
performance. The extent of Facebook and twitter utilisation by companies in different
sectors in fulfilling the communication purposes have also been documented by Brain Solis
(2015). Similarly, the quantitative study by Gavrea, Ilies and Stegerean (2011) exerts that SM
serves as rich information repository and efficient platform to discuss and share new
services that can influence the buying decision of consumer. In contrast to this, study by
Chanthinok, Ussahawanitchakit and Jhundra-indra (2015) point out negative impacts which
can be created by negative reviews produced by the consumers shedding light on the other
dimensions of SMM. Though these studies have imparted significant theoretical
perspectives in relation to this study, these are mainly concerned with consumers and the
findings are ambiguous with regard to organisational performance. Thus by imparting
empirical evidences on the direct correlation of social media functionalities with the
performance of organisations, this study imparts credible and in-depth insights on this
context.
2.10 Conceptual framework
Figure 2.3: Conceptual farmework
Source: Created by author
As found out by the above findings, it can be conceptualised that organisational
performance is influenced by the different functionalities of social media like identity,
relationship, sharing, groups and the extent of conversations. These factors are in turn
influenced by the quality in the content dissemination and also by the degree of

21. 21
engagement by the company. Further, measures of accessibility and convenience determine
how effectively social media can augment its effectiveness. These factors can lead to the
satisfaction and thereby engagement of customers. Customer purchasing behaviour can also
be enhanced by promoting involvement and sharing and also by building the trust element
by periodically checking and updating.
Findings have also exposed the factors that influence organisational performance and the
major factors as identified by the study are customer engagement, awareness, employee
performance and brand awareness. As SMM can dictate these factors as revealed by the
study and by exploiting this, it can be linked ton organisational performance. Thus it can be
theorized that there is high degree of impact between SMM and organisational
performance.
2.11 Summary
Various theoretical perspectives related to the investigating variables i.e. social media and
an organizations’ performance was discussed in the above sections. Thus with adequate
literature support, researcher determined the relation between these variables in this
chapter.

22. 22
CHAPTER 3: RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODOLOGY
3.1 Introduction
This chapter discusses the different research methods adopted by the researcher for
carrying out the research study and they are research philosophy and approach, research
design and strategies, sampling and data collection methods. The researcher provides
appropriate justifications for the chosen research methods and also discusses about the
limitations and ethical issues in this study.
3.2 Research philosophy
According to Babbie (2010) research philosophy is regarded as the technique used by
researchers to find out accurate solutions relating to their research questions prepared for
the research study. Realism is referred as the supposition that can be made after analysing
the pragmatic study on the research topic whereas positivism is subjected to objective
analysis of the collected data (Crowther and Lancaster, 2009). Interpretivism philosophy is
dependent on the subjective examination of the collected data. Also, interpretivism
philosophy allows for integrating humanistic perceptions and outlooks while gathering and
analysing data relevant to research studies (Adams, Khan and Raeside, 2014).
For the purpose of conducting the present study, the researcher has chosen interpretivism
philosophy. This was because the researcher required accomplishing the present study by
analysing various aspects of the research issue from different angles. Hence, with the
assistance of interpretivism philosophy, the researcher was capable of analysing the data in
a subjective way, through which the researcher integrated the researcher’s individual
outlooks, observations, perceptions along with that of the respondents’ and other units’
standpoints when evaluating collected information. Besides, this philosophy was highly
helpful for the researcher in interpreting the gathered data in the data analysis and
discussion phases. Hence, by employing interpretivism philosophy, the researcher was
capable of identifying and comprehending various aspects of social media marketing, the
degree to which they impact on customers, effect of social media marketing on customers
of McDonald’s, UK.

23. 23
3.3 Research approach
As per Lichtman (2013), research approach intends to the procedures that researchers
adopt for efficiently collecting and analysing adequate information required performing a
research study. Inductive approach highly depends upon qualitative research studies while
deductive approach deals with quantitative research studies (Saunders, Lewis and Thornhill,
2012). In inductive approach, researchers initially make specific observations, views,
assumptions or hypotheses and on the basis of the observations made or assumptions set,
researchers develop general theories or models (Maxwell, 2012). In deductive approach,
researchers test existing theories and develop particular observations on the basis of
general, proven theories (Stangor, 2010).
In this study, the researcher has selected inductive approach over deductive approach as
the selected method was highly helpful for the researcher in making individual assumptions
regarding the research issue at the early phase of the course of this study. Besides, another
reason for selecting inductive approach was that the inductive approach is highly associated
with interpretivism philosophy (Maxwell, 2012). Thus, by employing interpretivism
philosophy, the researcher was able to perform the present study in a flexible format as the
researcher could provide essential inductive arguments while developing the different
phases of this study. Also, with the aid of interpretivism approach, the researcher was able
to make particular observations and assumptions related to the impact of social media
marketing on customers. Thus, the researcher was able to make specific understanding of
how McDonald’s had been using social media as a marketing tool to reach out the wider
customers and thereby to attain high profit.
3.4 Research purpose
According to of Kothari (2013), research purpose aids to discover the key goal of research
and gives an obvious explanation of research problem. Explanatory research purpose
considers about the connection between dependent variable and independent variable
(Kumar, 2010). If background knowledge is unknown for a researcher or is having only
primary idea of a topic, researchers adopt exploratory research purpose as it helps in
exploring the research topic. Descriptive research purpose investigates particular
phenomena in a detailed way for exploring or explaining the research topic (Maxwell, 2012).

24. 24
For this research study, the researcher has selected exploratory research design to
effectively formulate an overall framework for determining the best possible data gathering
and analysing processes. As the researcher had only a basic insight regarding the present
research issue, exploratory research design has assisted the researcher in exploring the
research area and thereby, accumulated a vast amount of information to effectively
understand the present study variables in-detail. Developing more knowledge about the
diverse aspects of the research questions was another benefit that the researcher gained by
employing exploratory research design. Furthermore, by exploring and reviewing various
materials and resources that were pertinent to refer for conducting this study, the
researcher has clearly understood the relationship between social media marketing and
organizational performance. Also, the researcher has explored the efficacy of McDonald’s
social media marketing that it employed in a bid to engage more customers for improving its
organizational performance. Hence, the researcher, by adopting exploratory research design
determined and comprehended how social media marketing develop customer relationship.
3.5 Research strategy
As per Saunders, Lewis and Thornhill (2012), research strategy is a method by which
information about the research are gathered in an organized way. Research strategy
provides both quantitative and qualitative information which are essential for a study
(Kothari, 2013). Collecting data in an inexpensive way can be done with the help of one of
the main strategies, survey strategy (Maxwell, 2012). According to Merriam’s (2009)
observation, the reliable method of dealing large population can be attained with the help
of this strategy. To narrow down the research to a particular topic case study strategy is
used as it conducts a detailed study on a particular organization only (Yin, 2009). When a
researcher and participant engage in a conversation where the questions and answers are
directly given it is known as interview strategy (Stangor, 2010).
In this study, the researcher has employed case study research strategy for successfully
evaluating the present research issue and questions. The reason for adopting this strategy
was that the researcher was capable of narrowing down the research area into a
controllable, workable research topic that could be accomplished within the limits of time
and cost boundaries. Moreover, the researcher was able to develop a profound
understanding regarding the concept of social media marketing and the significance of

25. 25
social media marketing in managing organizational performance in the fast food sector of
UK. The researcher was able to accumulate both qualitative and quantitative data by
employing case study research strategy in this research study. In this means, the researcher
did not necessitate primary data for accomplishing the present research study. Thus, with
the assistance of case study, the researcher was able to study the various aspects of the
McDonald’s in terms of implementing social media marketing activities for attaining a higher
organizational performance.
3.6 Data collection methods
As per the observation of Saunders, Lewis and thornhill (2009) data collection method is the
procedures adopted for gathering the essential amount of data required for carrying out the
research study in an effective manner. Primary data is the data that is collected by the
researcher by directly interacting with the participants while secondary data is gathered
through various internal and external sources such as books, online websites and
publications, company annual and sales reports, articles, magazines etc (Olsen, 2011). Both
qualitative and quantitative information are collected through the primary data collection
methods (Bryman and Bell, 2011). The data collected from the third party is termed as
secondary data and it is mainly gathered by reviewing various secondary sources. Secondary
sources depending upon the source of collection are divided into external and internal.
To perform the present study, the researcher has gathered secondary data with the help of
secondary data collection tools. The researcher, in an effort to attain diverse studies and
observations made on the present research topic has sought several secondary sources,
both internal and external. The prime reason for accumulating secondary data was that the
researcher has used case study research strategy in this study. Hence, by collecting
secondary data from McDonald’s website, company reports, books, journals, reports,
articles etc. the researcher was capable of developing the present research study in an
efficient manner.
By assembling case studies relevant on the present research topic, the researcher was able
to integrate the research issue by relating into practical instances. Case studies assisted the
researcher in obtaining and assessing data from various sources and in formulating
theoretical basis that direct data discussion and analysis. The researcher has gathered data

26. 26
for the present study primarily from earlier studies and research works and this has also
aided the researcher in developing a sound literature for the present study. Hence,
researcher has accumulated data regarding the effect of social media marketing on
customers, use of social media for engaging customers to attract towards the McDonald’s
brand etc. Also, as part of secondary data collection, the researcher has reviewed the
internal publications of the company, its promotional materials and resources etc. to
determine the effect of social media marketing on organisational performance.
3.7 Sample selection
Sample selection helps the researcher in carrying out the study in a time bound manner
(Yin, 2011). In case study research sample selection relates to decisions regarding the
number of case studies used in the study and criteria for selecting these studies.
Some of the commonly adopted sampling techniques are:
 Criterion Sampling: This method is adopted for selecting cases based on a predefined
criterion
 Extreme case sampling: In this method, the cases that discuss extreme aspects of a
phenomenon are selected.
 Homogenous sampling: In this method, cases that focus on a specific aspect of the
topic under consideration are selected.
 Convenience sampling: In this method, the sample studies are selected based on
convenience of availability (Yin, 2011).
In this study, the researcher has chosen cases that were pertinent to McDonald’s UK as well
as the study variables- social media marketing on organisational performance. The
researcher has utilized criterion sampling method for selecting adequate number of sample
studies that are relevant to address the research questions. The reason for selecting
criterion sampling was that this method highly assisted the researcher in selecting only
those cases that dealt with the key aspects of this study. The criterion for the present study
was that cases that extensively discussed the effect of social marketing on organisational
performance in the fast-food sector in the UK and moreover, cases that were published
after 2009 were only opted by the researcher to increase the dependability and relevance of
the study outcomes. By considering the purpose of the study, the researcher has chosen 10

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individual case studies to obtain adequate amount of data to develop this case study
research.
3.8 Data analysis plan
The researcher, to analyse the gathered information in the case study has used descriptive
analysis method for assessing both qualitative and quantitative data which were obtained
by employing secondary data collection tools. Through the descriptive analysis, the
researcher has facilitated extensive descriptions to the gathered data and thereby,
determined and comprehended repetitive themes and patterns in the analysed data.
Following the analysis and classification of repetitive themes, the researcher has accordingly
reached at effective conclusions and finally, compared the findings of data analysis and
discussion with the study objectives as well as the conceptual framework framed for this
study.
3.9 Research limitations
One of the major limitations of the current research study is that only case study is used for
conducting a detailed investigation on the research topic. Lack of interview and survey
based data has affected the reliability and validity of collected data. Another limitation is
that the researcher was not able to access some of the journals and earlier studies as they
were paid ones. The researcher has also faced difficulty while reviewing the company
related documents as some of them were highly confidential. Thus, the researcher was not
able to gain factual data regarding the issues faced by the company.
3.10 Ethical issues
Plagiarism and referencing styles are the major ethical issues faced by the researcher. In
order to avoid the plagiarism and also to follow proper referencing style the researcher had
to follow the University guidelines. Also, the researcher had to gain permission from the
management of the company for reviewing the most factual details and other secondary
data regarding the organization.
3.11 Future scope for the study
In this study the researcher has performed a case study analysis on the impact of social
media marketing on organizational performance in the case of McDonald’s. This lays a
future scope for the researcher to perform a detailed study by primary data by interviewing

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and surveying the managers and customers of McDonald’s respectively. Hence, it will help
the researcher to collect new data on the research topic.
3.12 Summary
This chapter has discussed about the various research methodologies used by the
researcher for collecting relevant data in order to resolve the research questions. In
addition, the researcher has provided proper justifications for the selected research
techniques. Also, the researcher has used interpretivism philosophy and inductive approach
for analysing the research variables. Furthermore, case study, descriptive and exploratory
method was used by the researcher to have an in-depth knowledge on the research topic.
Ethical issues and research limitations were reviewed in this chapter.

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CHAPTER 4: RESULTS, ANALYSIS AND DISCUSSION
4.1 Introduction
The most prominent chapter of a research study that enhance the research study by
answering the queries related to research problem is the chapter on results, analysis and
discussions. Therefore, in this chapter the researcher facilitates in gathering sufficient and
relevant data related to the research topic and arrives at suitable findings based on the
analysis and discussions performed upon the gathered information. The varied sources
adopted by the researcher in gathering relevant data in accomplishing the research study
was case study based on McDonald’s, secondary data collection with the support of online
sources, journals, articles, documentations, etc. Thus, this chapter discusses the case study
findings and analysis and discussions based on the researcher findings.
4.2 Plan of analysis
The data collection for current research study was enhanced in accordance to secondary
data collections sources such as case studies, website information’s, articles, organisational
documentations, journal contents, etc. that was availed from previous studies. A detailed
and in-depth case study was facilitated by the researcher in light of data gathered from
various sources. As per the quotes of Wilson (2010), data collections performed on the basis
of wide range of sources would facilitate with an improved quality of research study.
Graphs, charts and tables were utilised in presenting the research findings and the
interpretations are provided on the basis of literature review performed.
4.3 Case study of McDonald’s, UK
McDonald’s is the world’s biggest chain of fast food restaurants headquartered in Illinois,
USA, serving approximate 68 million clients daily in 119 nations through it’s above 36,538
outlets. McDonald’s serves more than 400 unique items including hamburgers, French fries,
soft drinks, cheeseburgers, breakfast items and disserts and now as per changing customer
tastes, the firm has expanded its menu to comprise fish, fruit, salads, wraps and smoothies
(McDonald’s UK, 2016).
McDonalds operates across 1249 outlets and employs over 85,000 people in UK and in 2014
revenue for the company’s UK operations increased by £67.5 million to £1.4 billion (Hellier,
2015). This means that the turnover of McDonalds has doubled even though the firm is

30. 30
highly franchising outlets, which tends to decrease revenues. The firm has been
implementing several practices and policies in order to enhance employee performance as
well customer satisfaction level. Though it is not largest food chain in Britain compared to
Greggs and Costa, UK’s National Customer Satisfaction Index for restaurants in 2013 reports
that McDonald’s customer satisfaction index rose by 7% in 2013 to a score of 74 while its
major rival Burger Kings satisfaction index raised by only 1% to 72 (NCSI-UK, 2013).
4.3.1 Social media marketing in McDonalds
McDonald’s communicate with its customers and engage them in varied act ivies with the
help of numerous social media platforms such as Twitter, Facebook, Youtube, Pinterest, etc
(Rose, 2014). And this has been a complicated task performed by the organisation as it
operates in 118 world-wide. The organisations need to ensure the authenticity and
consistency of messages forwarded to its customers all over the globe. As per the statement
formed by Moth (2013) the marketing decisions are taken by the local marketing teams
itself, as the firms is a global decentralised brand. McDonald’s performs real time
monitoring as part of Social Media strategy adopted. In facilitating this, the firm tracks and
records 2.5 million to 3 million conversations of the social media networks so as to
recognise customer trends. The tools chosen by the firm in increasing the speed and
visibility of customer issues are Radian6 and Sprout Social.
Figure 4.1: Facebook and Twitter rating of McDonald’s

31. 31
Source: Rose (2014)
In comparison with other brands of fast food sector namely, Subway, Pizza Hut, Baskin
Robbins, etc. it has been identified that McDonalds has the highest social media marketing
rating (Rose, 2014). Following the lead rate of McDonald’s Taco Bell has the second highest
rating in efficient utilisation of social media marketing. The major strategies adopted by
McDonald’s in customer retention are, in Twitter #makeitbetter hashtag, Q&A campaigns,
teaser ads in dailies, etc.
4.3.2 Factors influencing McDonalds social media marketing strategy
The major factors that influence social media marketing in attracting customers and thereby
influencing increased rate of purchase behaviour of customers at McDonald’s are trust and
long term relationship, involvement and timely updates of products and service details on
social media, efficient use of images and videos on products, quality of contents, sharing
product details on network with highest publicity, regular tracking on social media success,
accessibility and credibility, etc. As per the observation of Lamb, Hair and McDaniel (2016)
the major factor the influence social media marketing at McDonald’s is the trust and
transparency of products and services offered by the organisation. Secondly, the
involvement and timely updates of products and service details on social media, McDonald’s
makes the maximum use of social media in advertising and promoting new products and
services of the firm (Vinerean et al., 2013).
Another factor that plays a major role in social media marketing strategy of McDonald’s is
the accessibility and credibility. McDonald’s ensures that the social channels provided by the
firm assure customers the freedom in enhancing a feel of friendly and personal
communication (Walter, 2014). The customer service representative of McDonald’s
responds to every tweets and comments of their customers. Thus, McDonald’s provide a
customer friendly atmosphere through social media marketing. The ultimate factor that
affects the social media marketing of McDonald’s is the quality of content. McDonald’s
provides varied facilities in promoting different types of contents. According to Vinerean et
al. (2013) Sprinklr’s Social Business Index tool is utilised by the firm in providing efficient and
suitable content types. The trends emphasised by McDonald’s in attracting customers
through social media marketing is the issue of successful posts that mainly focus on

32. 32
customer experience. It has also been stated by Lamb, Hair and McDaniel (2016) that
campaigns such as Q&A campaigns plays a significant role in the successful posts in
promoting McDonald’s products and services. As per the observation of Walter (2014) a key
strategy followed by McDonald’s in social media marketing is that the marketing is
facilitated in terms of languages that are preferred by the local customers of a particular
region.
4.3.3 Factors influencing McDonalds organizational performance
As per observed by Walter (2014) customer satisfaction is the major objective of all firms,
McDonalds is constantly focussing on the improvement of customer satisfaction through
focussing on the cleanliness, better customer services/quality, launching new menus
regarding customer satisfaction compared to other active market rivals in fast food sector
(McDonald’s UK, 2016). McDonalds has been developing marketing mixes for satisfying
customers and enhancing their loyalty towards business. For instance, in UK McDonalds has
launched free Wi-Fi services, services while driving, new food manufacturing techniques etc
for customer convenience due to changes in technological factors (Jones, 2015). However,
in accordance with the data collected by NCSI-UK (2013) reveals that McDonalds scores only
74 while Greggs leads among food chains with an NCSI score of 80 followed by Subway (79),
Starbucks (76) and Nando’s (75). Nevertheless, the firm has been able to defeat its major
rival Burger King (72).
66
68
70
72
74
76
78
80
82
CustomerSatisfaction
Customer Satisfaction

33. 33
Graph 4.2: Customer Satisfaction Score among UK restaurants
Source: Adapted from NCSI-UK (2013)
McDonalds establishes a well-known position in customers mind through its branding. The
firm secures its long-term branding through developing sophisticated channelled
distribution system and operation in order to attain continues product taste and quality
among the countries in the world (Silberman, 2013).
The dedication of McDonald’s to staffs also reflects the policies and practices on enhancing
organizational performance in UK. McDonald’s employees are on the specific needs and
desires of customers to enhance their satisfaction level on the products/services (Silberman,
2013). Majority of staffs continuously engage with customers through social media or any
other platforms in order to access their feedbacks and recommendations and hence
develops business practices to limit customer complaints. The firm also intends to improve
employee skills and knowledge through proper training and development so that they
enhance their performance to satisfy the high quality standards and to create positive
impact among customers (McDonald’s UK, 2016).
McDonald’s positions itself as low cost, family friendly restaurant in UK fast food sector.
Marketing directly to the family market rather than to a specific age or demographic is the
major factor that differentiates McDonalds from competitors such as Burger King marketing
to youngsters (Wallop, 2014). Moreover, in addition to traditional media such as TV, radio,
Newspaper etc for marketing, McDonalds also focuses on event sponsoring, social media
campaigns, billboards etc which highly influences customers awareness and intention to
purchase from the restaurant, notes Rose (2014). As per Lamb, Hair and McDaniel (2016),
McDonalds realises the effectiveness of social media marketing and engage in it effectively
through campaigns such as Q&A, #McDStoriestwitter etc which highly helped the company
in increasing the conversation rates, sales and overall organizational performance of the
company.
4.3.4 Impact of social media marketing on organizational performance of McDonalds
The impact of social media marketing on McDonald’s is as follows. The video titled
“McDonald’s horror” that has received more than 4.2 million has showcased the

34. 34
justification on why McDonald’s food remains for longer hours without getting spoiled
(Zarrella, 2009). This has also received 8,859 likes and thereby, spreading the word of false
reputations on the firm. As per the findings of Schenker (2015) this has been the strategy
followed by social media in current world. The negative concepts regarding an organisation
are being posted by an unknown and this earns the belief of thousands, thereby the
organisation loosing most of its loyal customers.
This has been taken as an added advantage by competitors in spreading unethical and false
news upon the organisation (Monaghan, 2015). Any negative video or comments posted by
someone would be taken as an advantage by the competing organisations and enhances
maximum support towards the negative reports on McDonald’s.
All the above issues have led McDonald’s in facing several challenges in its social media
marketing strategies. As per the reports of Monaghan (2015) McDonald’s have been facing
difficulty in convincing customers that further led to drop in the financial market gains of
the organisation. Findings have also reported that McDonald’s faced huge fall in its sales
which was recorded as a decline of 1.1% in sales which eventually results in 14% decline in
overall operational income of the organisation (Bold, 2015). The impact of social media
marketing had a significant impulse on McDonalds that the annual profit decline of the firm
was recorded as 15% during the year 2014. This impact resulted in the poor performance of
the organisation.
The major factor that resulted in showcasing a significant impact on McDonald’s
organisational performance is the launch of Twitter campaign, #McDStories. This campaign
revived customer experience on Happy Meals. The adverse experiences of customers with
Happy Meals offers of McDonald’s were posted by many customers (Schenker, 2015). Thus
the impact of social media marketing facilitated with a bitter experience for McDonald’s in
its overall organisational performance. Customer feedback through social media was
uncontrollable.
McDonald’s identified that, if the negative recognitions regarding the firm was left un-
noted, this would impact the organisational performance adversely. Further leading to low
business performance and loses many of its loyal customers (Zarrella, 2009). it was also
noted that most of the tweets and comments regarding McDonald’s were ignored by the
organisational management, such that it created an impression on customers that the false

35. 35
stories on McDonald’s were true and thus, lost many of its customers and encountered
severe decline in the annual profit of 2014. As per the estimation of Schenker (2015) more
the tweets left un-noted, more false stories on the firm would rise and this would lead to
reduced customer attraction and satisfaction.
4.4 Interpretation of data
The researcher in this section analysis the cases study in reference to the literature review
performed in accordance to the research issue. Thus, in this sections the interpretations of
the researcher is being elucidated. As part of research study performance to be
accomplished by the researcher, the researcher had recorded the major objectives to be
analysed in the study.
The primary objective of this study was to perform an in-depth analysis based on the study
on social media marketing. As per the study facilitated by the researcher, social media
marketing provides support to an organisation in its developmental activities and thereby,
built an efficient, strong and long-term customer relationship. In the case study enhanced
on McDonald’s, Lamb, Hair and McDaniel (2016) reported that the major social media
marketing strategies adopted by the organisation was Twitter #makeitbetter hashtag in
Twitter, Q&A campaigns, teaser ads in dailies, etc.
Further objective of the study was to identify the influence of social media marketing on
customers. Tuten and Solomon (2012) and Singh and Diamond (2012) studies that the major
factors of social media marketing in influencing customer are are trust and long term
relationship, involvement and timely updates of products and service details on social
media, efficient use of images and videos on products, quality of contents, sharing product
details on network with highest publicity, regular tracking on social media success,
accessibility and credibility, etc. The facilities provided by McDonald’s for its customers as
per the study enhanced by Vinerean et al. (2013) was the long-term, strong relationship
with customers, quality of contents provided on social media, efficient and quick responses
to customer queries by the customer service representatives of McDonald’s. These services
provided by McDonald’s satisfied the major factors such as accessibility and credibility,
customer relationship, quality contents, etc.

36. 36
As per the case study analysis, it could be identified that social media marketing has paved
significant impact on the overall performance of McDonald’s (Monaghan, 2015). The false
impressions on the organisation based on video upload and tweets posted by people in
social media reduced customer loyalty of the organisation and declined the overall annual
profit of the organisation to 15% in 2014. The major challenge faced by the organisation was
based upon a Twitter campaign, #McDStories. Customer response to this tweet affected
adversely on the organisational performance of McDonald’s (Schenker, 2015). Thus, the
social media marketing had facilitated McDonald’s with bitter experiences and awaked the
organisational management upon the risk factors to be encountered during social media
marketing. The researcher provides recommendations based on the issues identified during
the case study on McDonald’s. The firm could conduct more social media engagements for
customers, to attract more customers as well as retain existing customers. Facilitate
customers with more online campaigns and provide faster and quicker Reponses to
customer queries. Provide authentic ads and teasers based on the offers and functionalities
provided by McDonald’s.
4.5 Identifying gaps
 The case study outlines that McDonalds understands the effectiveness of social
media marketing and engage in it efficiently through social media campaigns which
in turn highly helped the restaurant in increasing conversation rates, revenue and
overall organizational performance of the company (Lamb, Hair and McDaniel,
2016). However, in the literature review it was identified that organizations are still
reluctant to engage efficiently in social media marketing and considers it as
inefficient with respect to organizational performance (Trainor, 2012). This highlights
that there is a gap between the findings in the literature review and the findings of
the case study.
 From the case study it can be inferred that the major factor that affect social media
marketing at McDonalds is the trust and transparency of the services and products
provided by the company (Lamb, Hair and McDaniel, 2016). This is in contradiction
to the observation purported by Heymann-Reder (2012) in the literature review that
organizations while marketing via social media highly focus on quality of contents.
This indicates that there is contradiction exists between the findings of Lamb, Hair

37. 37
and McDaniel (2016) in the case study and the observations made by Heymann-
Reder (2012) in the literature review.
4.6 Judgement on findings
From the analysis of case study findings and literature review performed in the previous
sections, it was determined that the social media marketing by McDonalds has high
influence on organizational performance as the firm focus on influencing customer
satisfaction, employee performance, brand awareness and customer purchasing behaviour
through its social media factors. The findings also highlights that trust and long term
relationship, involvement and timely updates of products and service details on social
media, efficient use of images and videos on products, quality of contents, sharing product
details on network with highest publicity, regular tracking on social media success,
accessibility and credibility, etc are the major factors that influence social media marketing
strategy of McDonalds. The discussion also revealed that McDonalds has been able to track
and record 2.5m to 3.5m conversation through social media networks. It was also identified
that the issues related to McDonald’s social media marketing adversely affected its
customer satisfaction, profit and brand awareness. This indicated that there was a scope for
further enhancement in social media marketing of McDonalds.
The conceptual framework of the study outlined that factor of social media marketing
influenced customer satisfaction, employee performance, brand awareness, customer
engagement and purchasing behaviour. This in turn influenced the overall organizational
performance of the company. The findings of the study analysis also reveal that social media
marketing of McDonalds influenced customer satisfaction, customer engagement, and
brand awareness and employee performance. It was also inferred that social media
marketing factors such as trust and long term relationship has significant impact on
customer satisfaction level at McDonalds. Case study also revealed that McDonalds provides
a customer friendly environment via social media marketing and the quality of McDonald’s
social media contents plays a major role in attracting customers. This indicates that the
model derived from study analysis agrees with the proposed model.

38. 38
4.7 Summary
This chapter involves the discussion of the findings of the case study analysis in the present
chapter and literature review in chapter 2. Interpretation of the findings were backed-up
with own inferences, literature and is also aligned with the research objectives. Moreover,
the gaps between case study findings and literature review were also presented along with
reasonable judgement on the findings.

39. 39
CHAPTER 5: CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS
5.1 Introduction
In this chapter the researcher lays out the conclusions gathered from the previous chapters
and provides the necessary recommendations. The researcher outlines the conclusions
drawn in detail. Further in this chapter the researcher discusses the various limitations faced
by the researcher and also suggest recommendations for the future researchers.
5.2 Conclusions
In this section the researcher analyses the extent to which the objectives of the research is
met through the conclusions drawn from various findings.
Objective 1: To perform study on social media marketing.
The main aim of this research objective is to increase the researcher’s knowledge in the
social media marketing. From the literature review as per Scott (2010) Social media
marketing enables organizations in developing a firm relationship with their customers and
enhances direct communication with them and hence the researcher was able to identify
the social media marketing strategy used in McDonalds. The researcher identified that the
since the origination operates in many countries the organization social media strategies
were complicated since the consistency and authenticity of the messages forwarded to the
customer’s needs to be ensured.
Objective 2: To analyse the influence of social media marketing on customers.
The main purpose of this research objective is to analyses the influence of social media
marketing on customers. It was identified from the literature review that as per Zarrella
(2009) social media marketing aids organizations in developing a firm relationship with their
customers and enhance the scope for direct communication. Also it has been identified that
as per Borison (2014) in the case of McDonald’s Twitter marketing failures and profit falls of
McDonald’s and the company faced various challenges due the failure of social media
marketing issues. Also this objective has been verified from the case study report that the
organizations social media marketing had a significant impulse on McDonalds that the
annual profit decline of the firm was recorded as 15% during the year 2014.

40. 40
Objective 3: To analyse the impact of social media marketing on organisational marketing of
McDonald’s, UK.
This objective of the research study has been carried out through the case study carried out
by the researcher on McDonald’s, UK. Through the case study the researcher draw
conclusions that McDonald’s use various social media platforms such as Twitter, Facebook,
Youtube, Pinterest, etc. to communicate with their customers as per the opine of Rose
(2014). Also it was distinguished from the study that McDonalds has been developing
marketing mixes for satisfying customers and enhancing their loyalty towards business. Also
the company has showed less score when compared to other companies the strategies still
managed the organization to be one of the most sort out fast food chain. As per the study of
Monaghan (2015) it was noted that McDonald’s have been facing difficulty in convincing
customers that further led to drop in the financial market gains of the organisation.
Objective 4: To provide recommendations to organizations on improving the social media
marketing develop customer relationship.
The final objective set in this research was to provide recommendations to organizations on
improving the social media marketing develop customer relationship. The impact of social
media marketing had a significant impulse on McDonalds that the annual profit decline of
the firm was recorded as 15% during the year 2014 as per Bold (2015), this decline is profit
due to customer in satisfaction was analysed in detail by the researcher in the research. And
based on this observation the researcher has provided recommendations in the previous
chapters.
5.3 Evaluation of results
Some of the major research learning’s are discussed in this section. One of the major
outcomes of the research understands the impact of social media marketing on
organizational performance. The findings of the research revealed that social media
marketing enables organizations in developing a firm relationship with their customers and
enhance direct communication with them and hence its failure results in increased this
encouragement of customers. Hence it can be noted that the Customers are the most
important elements that determines an organizations performance also increased customer
satisfaction increases the financial market gains of the company and also determines the

41. 41
elevation of overall performance of the organization. As the case study revealed the social
media inefficiency of McDonald’s has been affecting the overall gain of the organization.
Issues in product quality and customer service and the inability to convince its customers
and this has led deprived financial and market gains are the major factors associate with the
decline in the annual income of the company and the company has utilized efficient social
media marketing practices and attain improved organization performance and therefore the
impact resulted in the poor overall performance of the organisation.
5.4 Recommendation
The case study findings revealed that McDonald’s ineffectiveness in managing social media
campaign enhanced bad publicity about the company and hence losing most of the loyal
customers. Hence, it is recommended McDonalds to effectively manage bad publicity
through producing positive PR’s. McDonalds can post positive stories and reviews such as
the firms best practices, community involvement etc that could help the company in
reducing bad publicity and satisfying customers.
The case study also revealed that most of the SMM campaigns such as #McDStories by
McDonalds were significantly impacted overall organizational performance of the company.
Also the case study reveals that the company finds managing social media networks difficult
as it operates in 119 nations worldwide. Hence, it is recommended McDonalds to partner
with any effective SMM agency to effectively handle campaigns.
5.5 Limitations of the research
One of the major limitations faced by the researcher during the course of the research is the
use of case study strategy. Since the case study is limited to a single case of McDonald’s and
uses only secondary data the future scope of the study is limited. The researcher also found
difficulty in gathering company related official data as prior permission was required.
Plagiarism and referencing styles are the major issues faced by the researcher.
5.6 Recommendations for future researchers
Since the current study only utilizes a single case study the researcher recommends the
future researchers to include more than once case study as it can increase the scope of the
research. Also the researcher suggests that including primary data through survey, case

42. 42
study etc. can improve the validity of the researched and increases the scope of generalized
implementation of the research.

43. 43
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