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UNIVERSITI TEKNOLOGI MARA
LSS ACADEMY SDN BHD:
“THE EVALUATION OF SOCIAL MEDIA EFFECTS ON MARKETING
COMMUNICATIONS FROM CONSUMERS’ PERSPECTIVE”
PREPARED FOR:
ENCIK ZULKEPLY KAMARUDDIN
PREPARED BY:
NURSHEILA BINTI AHMAD
2008500133
BACHELOR OF BUSINESS ADMINISTRATION (HONS) (MARKETING)
FACULTY OF BUSINESS MANAGEMENT
UNIVERSITI TEKNOLOGI MARA SHAH ALAM
NOVEMBER 2010
1
LETTER OF TRANSMITTAL
8 NOVEMBER 2010
Encik Kamal Mohd Nor
The Head of Program
Bachelor of Business Administration (Hons) (Marketing)
Faculty of Business Management, Universiti Teknologi MARA
40450 Shah Alam, Selangor Darul Ehsan
Dear Sir,
SUBMISSION OF PROJECT PAPER
Attached is the project paper entitled “LSS ACADEMY SDN BHD: THE
EVALUATION OF SOCIAL MEDIA EFFECTS ON MARKETING
COMMUNICATIONS FROM CONSUMERS’ PERSPECTIVE” to fulfill the
requirement as needed by the Faculty of Business Management, Universiti
Teknologi MARA Shah Alam for your kind perusal.
Thank you.
Yours sincerely,
Nursheila binti Ahmad
2008500133
BBA (Hons) (Marketing)
2
BACHELOR OF BUSINESS ADMINISTRATION (HONS) (MARKETING)
FACULTY OF BUSINESS MANAGEMENT
UNIVERSITI TEKNOLOGI MARA SHAH ALAM
“DECLARATION OF ORIGINAL WORK”
I, Nursheila binti Ahmad (NRIC: 850317-14-5760)
Hereby, declare that,
i. This work not previously been accepted in substances for any degree,
locally or overseas and it is not being concurrently submitted for this
degree or any other degrees.
ii. This project paper is the result of my independent work and
investigation, expect where otherwise stated.
iii. All verbatim extracts have been distinguished by quotation marks and
sources of my information have been specifically acknowledged.
Signature: ______________________ Date: 8 NOVEMBER 2010
3
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
First and foremost, I would like to thank Allah S.W.T. for giving me
opportunity and strength to accomplish my project paper on “LSS ACADEMY
SDN BHD: THE EVALUATION OF SOCIAL MEDIA EFFECTS ON
MARKETING COMMUNICATIONS FROM CONSUMERS’ PERSPECTIVE”.
I would like to express profound gratitude towards my supportive advisor,
Encik Zulkeply Kamaruddin and also dedicated examiner, Puan Norliah Abd Aziz
for their invaluable support, encouragement, supervision, and dazzling
suggestions for my research. I am as ever, especially indebted to my parents, for
their love and strong support throughout my life. Not forgotten, my sincere thanks
and appreciations to my beloved friends and colleagues, who shared their
knowledge, brilliant ideas, and experiences with me.
I am heartily thankful to all my Managing Director in LSS Academy, Dr.
A.Aruleswaran, my supervisor, Denison Chua (Sales & Marketing Manager),
Penton Wong (IT Manager) and all my colleagues whose encouragement,
guidance and support from the initial to the final level enabled me to develop an
understanding of the subject. Last but not least, I offer my regards and blessings
to all the respondents and for those who supported me in any respect during the
completion of this project paper.
Thank you.
Yours sincerely,
Nursheila binti Ahmad
2008500133
BBA (Hons) Marketing
4
TABLE OF CONTENTS
LETTER OF TRANSMITTAL
DECLARATION OF ORIGINAL WORK
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
TABLE OF CONTENTS
FIGURES AND TABLES
ABSTRACT
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
2
3
4
5
7
8
9
TITLE PAGES
1.0 INTRODUCTION
1.1 BACKGROUND OF THE COMPANY
1.1.1 MISSIONS
1.1.2 WHY COMPANY INVEST WITH LSS ACADEMY
1.1.3 PRODUCTS
1.2 BACKGROUND OF THE STUDY
1.3 PROBLEM STATEMENT
1.4 SIGNIFICANCE OF THE STUDY
1.5 RESEARCH OBJECTIVES
1.6 THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK
1.7 HYPOTHESIS
1.8 LIMITATIONS OF THE STUDY
1.9 DEFINITION OF TERMS
12
14
16
17
23
26
28
29
31
33
34
35
2.0 LITERATURE REVIEW
2.1 SOCIAL MEDIA
2.2 WEB 2.0
2.3 SOCIAL MEDIA MARKETING
40
45
48
51
5
2.4 INTERACTIONS THROUGH SMP
2.5 AWARENESS OF SMP
2.6 CONSUMER 2.0 –WEB 2.0 CITIZENS
54
58
62
3.0 RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
3.1 INTRODUCTION
3.1.1 DESCRIPTION AND JUSTIFICATION OF THE
METHODS
3.2 RESEARCH DESIGN
3.2.1 DATA COLLECTION METHOD (PRIMARY AND
SECONDARY DATA)
3.2.2 THE QUESTIONNAIRE DESIGN
3.2.3 TARGET POPULATION AND SAMPLING
DESIGN (SAMPLING FRAME, SAMPLE SIZE,
SAMPLING TECHNIQUE)
3.2.4 RELIABILITY AND VALIDITY
3.2.5 DATA ADMINISTRATIVE AND ANALYSIS
72
73
75
76
77
79
80
4.0 FINDINGS AND ANALYSIS
4.1 DEMOGRAPHIC PROFILES
4.2 AWARENESS OF SMP
4.3 INTERACTIONS THROUGH SMP
4.4 FREQUENCY TABLES FOR TECHNOGRAPHIC
PROFILES OF SMP USERS –CREATOR, JOINER,
SPECTATOR, COLLECTOR, AND CRITIC
82
88
90
93
5.0 CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS 112
BIBLIOGRAPHY
APPENDICES
120
6
FIGURES AND TABLES
Table 2.1 Online Community Needs
Table 4.1 Frequency Table of Gender for Social Media Users
Table 4.2 Frequency Table of Groups of Age for Social Media Users
Table 4.3 Frequency Table of Races for Social Media Users
Table 4.4 Frequency Table of Nationality for Social Media Users
Table 4.5 Frequency Table of Monthly Income for Social Media Users
Table 4.6 Frequency Table of “Do you aware of SMP?”
Table 4.7 Frequency Table of “Do you / your organization use SMP tools?”
Table 4.8 Frequency Table of “How long have you been using this tool?”
Table 4.9 Frequency Table of “Are you familiar with the concept of UGC?
Figure 1.1 Theoretical Framework
Figure 2.1 Key Social Platforms
Figure 2.2 The Closed Loop of Needs
Figure 2.3 Participation Model of Web 2.0 Service
Figure 4.1 Percentage of Gender for Social Media Users
Figure 4.2 Percentage of Age Group for Social Media Users
Figure 4.3 Percentage of Races for Social Media Users
Figure 4.4 Percentage of Nationality for Social Media Users
Figure 4.5 Percentage of Monthly Income for Social Media Users
7
ABSTRACT
Purpose – The evaluation of social media as affective marketing
communications tool and channel, and also the identification of consumer’s
profile of social media in Malaysia.
Design / methodology / approach – The quantitative research was conducted
by arranging consumer survey among social media users. The deductive logic
was used to verify the hypothesis.
Findings – The general Malaysian consumer profiles were identified. The
hypotheses were proven that social media can be a valuable tool and channel for
marketing communications.
Research Limitations / Implications – The research was designed to test only
the users of Social Media Properties (SMP). Even though, it gathered the needed
data to help marketers in their search for suitable tools when marketing in social
media environment.
Originality / Value – The conducted study added the knowledge to the indicated
information gap in academic literature regarding the social media usage for
marketing campaigns from the consumer perspective. It defined the main social
media tools and tested the consumer perceptions about the possible practices.
Keywords – Social media, Web 2.0, social media marketing, marketing
communications.
8
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
Social media is a conversation supported by online tools. People are not
just demographics anymore; to connect with them, we need to understand that
relationships are more powerful than marketing. Every company seems to be
jumping onto the social media bandwagon, but some companies do it better than
others.
There is no denying that social media is changing the way companies
communicate in the pursuit of brand building and commerce. Social media is
continuously evolving, and staying abreast of its impact and potential is critical to
the success of our business.
An important transition in the use of social media for marketing purposes
is taking place. A rapidly increasing segment of marketers are gaining the
experience required to advance from novice to competent practitioner capable of
achieving social marketing objectives and proving ROI. Social media has opened
a whole new world of possibilities for marketers.
In the past year, marketers have been captivated by the ample hype about
Twitter, Facebook, blogs, and other social media platforms. Their reaction was,
for the most part, counter-intuitive to proven marketing principles. They jumped
into this new medium thinking tactically about the latest social media platforms
they could add to the mix rather than thinking strategically about the objectives
they needed to achieve.
In the year ahead, we see social marketing maturing to the point where a
majority of organizations will be in transition from the trial phase to the strategic
phase of the learning curve. We see marketers first researching the medium
(starting with resources like this report) and monitoring audiences to determine
9
realistic objectives, then formulating tactics, and implementing tools for
accomplishing those objectives.
In addition, companies are just beginning to tap the potential of
collaborative, community focused websites, known collectively as social media or
Web 2.0, as a communications medium. Early attempts to integrate social media
into the marketing mix have often treated social media marketing (SMM) as an
experimental, ‘viral’ channel that exists outside the organization’s primary
marketing and advertising initiatives.
These viral initiatives demonstrate a willingness to innovate and can
provide excellent feedback on extreme changes in creative direction. However,
the unpredictable nature of viral success and the uneven return on investment
(ROI) when such efforts are successful, make it an inadequate long-term SMM
strategy.
Furthermore, while companies increasingly understand the need for
ongoing participation in social media, the lack of dedicated time, resources, and
expertise in the medium hinders many companies from developing social media
as a more robust marketing and advertising channel that can be integrated with
the rest of their marketing plan in cross-channel campaigns. These marketers
report inadequate support from traditional marketing vendors in their SMM
efforts, as traditional agencies often try to apply traditional tactics in an online
environment that is typically hostile to those attempts.
Last but not least, detailed planning, execution, and reporting of SMM by
an interactive agency with SMM expertise can make social media a viable and
powerful channel within an integrated marketing campaign, complementing and
enhancing the results from other efforts and increasing ROI for the entire
initiative.
10
CHAPTER ONE
11
1.0 INTRODUCTION
1.1 Background of the Company
Quality + Speed X Fusion = Sounder Bottom Line
Lean 6 Sigma is the de-facto methodology in the market today for organizations
to adopt continuous improvements and drive towards maximized returns to the
share holders. Lean Six Sigma (LSS) Academy Sdn Bhd is a thought leader in
applying deploying Lean 6 Sigma to product and service firms in South Pacific &
South East Asia. LSS Academy’s deep, value-based management expertise
provides them with a clear framework to connect value creation priorities to Lean
6 Sigma project planning and execution initiatives. LSS Academy is creating a
record of successful consultancy, building the thought-leading practices in the
critical areas of value creation and superior shareholder returns.
LSS Academy Sdn Bhd, an MSC Status Company, founded in 2007 by
Dr.Arul Aruleswaran, aims to create the foundations in capability, technology and
cultural change management to accomplish, achieve, and sustain greater returns
of shareholder value and returns. The LSS Academy’s team formerly operated
within IQL Consulting and partner, Kirtland Leadership Propriety Ltd, has
successfully provided consultancy services for several international clients. LSS
Academy is creating a record of successful implementation of Lean Six Sigma
whilst building the thought-leading practices in the critical areas of value creation.
12
LSS Academy delivers the strategic insight and execution methodology
that is required to surpass the goals of growth, speed and cost to businesses,
organizations, and the personnel that are driving towards continuous
improvement, innovations, and complexity elimination.
LSS Academy’s unique value creation approach is to build business
culture by addressing all four leadership levels: personal, interpersonal,
managerial, and organizational –that creates a sustainability effect on the
capability to grow and succeed in a changing environment.
13
1.1.1 Missions
a) Customer Satisfaction
LSS Academy believes that the success of a business rests entirely
with the successful relationship with its clients. This organization is
designed around client relationships. As a result of the client-centered
approach and the results delivered, virtually 100% of our clients are willing
to serve as references.
b) Intellectual leadership
LSS Academy brings new, innovative solutions to their clients to
help them create strategic insight, improve operational performance, and
deliver sustained value. LSS Academy thoughts leadership is embodied in
principals of Lean 6 Sigma, Innovation and Business Process Automation.
c) Value Creation
LSS Academy works and guides their clients to maximize the
“intrinsic value” of their organization, focusing on value creating activities
aimed at measures such as Customer Satisfaction, Revenue Growth,
Profitability, Market Share, Wallet Share, Cross-Sell Ratio, etc. LSS
Academy is unique as the teams are able to work with all spectrums of
clients from generating strategic insight, to leading hands-on
implementation, to creating deep client capability.
14
d) Investing in People
LSS Academy believes in helping their clients to internalize their
methodologies, encouraging trainees, trainers, change agents, Black
Belts, Green Belts, and sponsor to grow to their individual potential. Thus,
with every client relationship LSS Academy creates sustainable human
capital in the client organization, eliminating the need for external
consultation support in 18-24 months.
15
1.1.2 Why Company Invest with LSS Academy
LSS Academy prides itself on Business Excellence & Performance,
providing not only Coaching & Mentoring, but also Training & Certifications,
and Change Management & Leadership. Among the benefits that company can
gain by investing with LSS Academy are as follow:
Increase Uptime
Lowering Costs & Lower Cost of Quality
Improve Teamwork Culture & Improve Productivity
Maximize Asset Utilization
Faster Customer Response
Less Inventory
Optimized Shop Floor Utilization
Flexibility-Multi-Product Lines
Simplicity of Operation
Improved Response with a Multi-Product Line
Reduced wait time, queue time, and other delays
Improved product warranty and compliance
Reduced Inventories and Improved Working Capital
Improved Customer Response, Relationships
Gain in Market Share with Improved Revenues & EP
Improve Supplier Performance
Improve Complaint Management
16
1.1.3 Products
LSS Academy has come out with LSS Solutions which include different
aspect of product needed such as Leadership Series, Enterprise Performance,
Delighting Customers, Maximizing Shareholders Values, Design & Innovation,
and Technical. The brief introductions of each section are as follow:
a) Leadership Series
This is a program for Champions who play a pivotal role in a successful
Lean 6 Sigma initiative. They serve as mentors to project teams and act as a
bridge between Black Belts and organization management. Without Champions,
efforts can become entangled with internal obstacles, become misaligned with
core business objectives, lose focus and track of time, and may not yield
expected benefits. However, Champions need help to be successful. The Lean 6
Sigma Champion program provides that help by exploring basic Champion roles,
investigating a sustainable support infrastructure for Champions and preparing
Champions to avoid common pitfalls and lead successful Lean 6 Sigma
initiatives.
b) Enterprise Performance
This workshop is designed for senior staff as a major stepping stone on a
journey to creating a Lean Enterprise in their own organization. In order to
develop a truly Lean Enterprise it is necessary for leaders to understand what
17
lean thinking is, how it needs to be approached, what their role is in leading the
organization and how they need to instill a set of, often, new behaviors and
levels of engagement. A significant step on this journey is participating in the
‘Lean for Management Workshop’. Participants will learn the following:
Gaining an understanding of what ‘Lean Thinking’ is
Gaining an understanding of what it means to you
Gauging where you are on your lean journey
Establishing a broad implementation plan and the next steps to
take
Using the ‘QS Finance Model’, the workshop will provide you with insights
into what true Lean Enterprise are, the different elements that must be
addressed, where you are on your lean journey, and perhaps most importantly
provide a framework for you to consider how you might go about creating a Lean
Enterprise in your organization. It ensures that the initiative begins with a broad,
cohesive approach to lean transformation, and is led by a knowledgeable, unified
management team.
c) Delighting Customers
This is a program involving intense classroom training. This course
provides the analytical tools and practical skills to bring results to a
manufacturing environment. This course takes candidates through a proven,
step-by-step methodology on the transfer of knowledge and process skills that
18
leads to improved project results through support of Black Belt initiatives and
enhanced technical problem solving skills. The widely accepted DMAIC model is
taught, including the popular principles such as histograms, Gage R&R, flow
charts, data collection and measurement, failure mode and effects analysis,
voice of the customer, and many more.
Participants will learn how to apply statistical methods for business
process improvements like:
Communicating a business strategy across the organization
Integrating with Lean Manufacturing, TOC, & other improvement methods
Applying the DMAIC improvement process
Selecting successful Six Sigma projects and project teams
Planning and executing projects
Significantly increasing profitability through Six Sigma projects
Selecting the right statistical tools
d) Maximizing Shareholders Values
Lean 6 Sigma Black Belts are the centerpiece of the program integrating
the strategies of Lean and 6 Sigma. Lean 6 Sigma Black Belts are improvement
experts that are deployed to conduct the project work that delivers to your overall
goals and objectives. Throughout development, participants internalize the
methods and tools of Lean and 6 Sigma. Participants apply the new knowledge
from each session immediately between the training sessions. It is this
19
mechanism that ensures progress is being made quickly, and that the learning of
Lean Six Sigma Black Belt methods and tools takes place with real world goals in
mind.
Lean 6 Sigma Black Belt Training program builds competent, data-driven
Lean 6 Sigma practitioners. The curriculum follows the DMAIC phases, teaching
candidates how to integrate a variety of Lean Six Sigma tools into an overall
approach to process improvement. Participants are taught how to define and
successfully launch a project, how to transition it from phase to phase, and
finally, how to complete a project and evaluate its success.
There will be a hands-on, real-life approach to Lean Six Sigma Black Belt
training. Candidates work on an actual business project and apply classroom
techniques to the project. The Black Belt program is technically challenging to
ensure that all graduates learn how to implement solutions that can produce
financial results. Instructors provide formal project specific feedback to
participants in each phase. Students are also encouraged to schedule one-on-
one mentoring sessions with their instructors to discuss project specific hurdles.
e) Design & Innovation
TRIZ is rapidly gaining popularity as a powerful methodology for
enhancing innovation and creativity inside corporate environments. Research
and development teams, product developers, manufacturers and service
20
businesses alike are finding TRIZ to be a powerful tool for solving practical
problems and building new technologies in their business.
TRIZ helps companies generate more solutions of a higher quality in less
time. TRIZ is applicable to every industry and in every environment for the
acceleration and innovation of problem solving. TRIZ is also used to improve the
scope and strength of intellectual property. This program offers an intensive
introduction to the foundational elements of TRIZ and provides an understanding
of how to use them effectively to solve problems in a manner that is predictable,
reliable and creative.
f) Technical
Basic Minitab Training maximizes your ability to improve quality. It will
teach you how to use Minitab to implement successful data-driven improvement
projects. Our training will also help you make more effective business decisions
by teaching you how to more effectively analyze your data with Minitab. You will
learn when and how to apply Minitab and practice your new skills immediately by
working through scenarios and exercises that mirrors your own work. Topics
covered are as follow:
Charts
Histograms
Boxplots
Dotplots
21
Scatterplots
Tables
Measures of Location and Variation
ODBC
Advance Minitab Training augments your graphical analysis skills using
Minitab's powerful statistical tools. Develop the foundation for important statistical
concepts such as hypothesis testing and confidence intervals. By analyzing a
variety of real world data sets, learn how to match the appropriate statistical tool
to your own applications and how to correctly interpret statistical output to quickly
reveal problems with a process or to show evidence of an improvement. Learn
how to explore critical features in your processes through statistical modeling
tools that help to uncover and describe relationships between variables. A strong
emphasis is placed on making good business decisions based upon the practical
application of statistical techniques commonly found in manufacturing,
engineering, and research and development endeavors. Tools covered include:
t-Tests
Proportion Tests
Tests for Equal Variance
Power and Sample Size
Correlation
Simple Linear and Multiple Regression
ANOVA & GLM
22
1.2 Background of the Study
Technological development has been seen as one of the main factors
effecting company’s processes and profitability in the last century. The birth of
the Internet and its success in changing our society has been largely researched
in various subjects and defined in various terms. But as year’s passes by, the
Internet evolves and creates new rules for companies interacting and doing
business with their customers and partners.
The new applications and services are being developed and offered in
order to catch up with changing information society define new concepts of doing
business. In the last few years the terms of Web 2.0 and social media has
emerged as the definitions for second generation of web based services and
communities that emphasize online collaboration, networking and user created
content (Eikelman et al, 2008).
According to Strategy Analytics report (2007), social media users will
exceed 1 billion by 2012. The enormous growth of social networks (Facebook,
Twitter, MySpace, etc.), Blogs, Wikis and consumer’s participation in these
platforms forces companies to reevaluate their business strategies. The recent
investments by leading companies like Microsoft (240 millions in Facebook) and
Google (900 millions in MySpace) in social networks gives a clear signal that
23
company’s presence in dialogue with consumer gains a new meaning in terms of
communication strategy.
LSS Academy is now implementing social media marketing and Web 2.0
due to the emerging ‘world of technology’. Besides promoting and selling its
product through the Internet, LSS Academy also gets the chances to enhance its
marketing communications with potential and existing clients, partners, and also
sponsors.
LSS Academy has a positive judgment that social media marketing is a
great engagement tool with online communities to generate exposure,
opportunity, and sales. It is the process of promoting the site or business through
social media channels and it is a powerful strategy that will get the links, attention
and massive amounts of traffic. Social media marketing enables marketers to
take engagement to the next level. It is about having a dialogue in which
consumers and marketers are alike participate and respond.
There is no other low-cost promotional method out there that will easily
give large numbers of visitors, some of whom may come back to the website
again and again. Common social media marketing tools include Twitter, Blogs,
LinkedIn, Facebook, MySpace, YouTube, and many more. It is great for creating
mindshare, branding initiatives, and brand awareness.
24
Social media is also a part of brand experience when users interact in
these channels. If the experience is positive, high-energy, interesting or
attractive, all of these elements will support a unique brand experience and
support ongoing initiatives in this area. Both positive and negative experiences
can really have great impacts on a brand. Few examples of positive experiences
include interesting videos, useful contents, flash games, good products, and
attractive contests based on user participation. Each of these methods helps
engage in a deeper dialogue or closer interaction with the existing consumer and
also potential customer.
Back to the basic, the bottom line for many marketing campaigns is to
bring an increase in sales. Sometimes this is done directly and sometimes it is a
very indirect process. It is very hard to create a social media marketing campaign
that will result in direct sales. This is because marketers are reaching consumers
in a non-purchasing stage of the cycle. It contrasts from standard SEO (search
engine optimization) where consumers are looking for what you’re selling and at
the point of purchase already. On the other hand, social media is less intrusive,
and a part of the reason people engaged is because there is more than just a
selling message. Social media marketing is also good for brand building,
relationship management, product development, reputation management,
customer interaction, customer feedback, customer support, community building,
and etc.
25
1.3 Problem Statement
Unquestionably, social media has taken the web by storm over the last
few years. As Internet users flock to community-focused and collaborative
websites, marketers have struggled to determine effective ways to communicate
their brand messaging to that audience.
Some companies may still be wondering why they should go to all this
elaborate effort in the first place. The reasons are many and compelling.
Audiences in general are moving from traditional media to the web and from the
static web to Web 2.0 / social media as their preferred free time activity,
according to a recent study by Fox Interactive Media (FIM). Social network users
spend more than seven hours per week on social networks, and most of them list
social media interaction as their favorite leisure activity, above television.
A similarly compelling survey from IT Toolbox, whose participants
consisted of business managers, developers, executive decision-makers, IT
analysts, and IT decision-makers, indicated that social media content was their
most trusted source of information for purchasing decisions, second only to
vendor websites as a reference for purchasing decisions. This same audience of
decision-makers indicated that they spent on average of 2.93 hours per week on
social media websites, as compared to 2.89 hours per week on editorial media,
such as Information Week, CNN, and WSJ.com.
26
Nevertheless, there is a clear shortage of academic literature which
defines the social media environment and Web 2.0 application. Moreover, it is
not clear what applications and how they should be used by the company in
order to make these communications more valuable. Finally, this subject is not
enough researched in different environments. The most of the rare academic
literature and professional insights are dedicated to US market and there are no
findings presented how consumers perceive company’s initiatives to influence
their private space on the net in Malaysia.
So clearly, social media is a growing channel with a large and influential
audience that is too big to be ignored for long. Viral standalone campaigns can
sometimes achieve success in this venue, but for social media to reach its
maximum potential as a marketing communications tool, effective strategies for
integrating it into an organization’s primary marketing and advertising efforts
need to be established.
27
1.4 Significance of the Study
It is essential to stay current on the latest industry trends because
social media evolves at a rapid pace.
Define social media and Web 2.0 and its benefits.
Evaluate the influence for different types of Web 2.0 applications by
the consumer in terms of communication interactivity.
Analyze the general patterns of the consumer’s perception about the
differences between social media and traditional media in Malaysia
market.
Discover the evaluation of social media effects on marketing
communications.
28
1.5 Research Objectives
According to Constantinides and Fountain (2008), in order to enable
Social Media Properties (SMP) to integrate into corporate commercial strategy,
these areas must be researched in greater depth; the effects of Web 2.0
applications on consumer behavior, differences between exiting Web 2.0
applications effectiveness and their relationship with traditional mediums. As this
study concentrates particularly on the marketing communication strategies, the
two main aims are identified below, followed by the objectives of the research:
Aim 1 - To determine the social media environment and identify Malaysian
consumer’s profile:
To define the main changes brought by social media in marketing
communications environment.
To identify “Who” are the users of SMP in Malaysia?
To identify “What” SMP are they using?
To identify “Where” and “How” are they using SMP?
29
Aim 2 - To evaluate the SMP effectiveness as marketing communication
tool and channel:
To verify if the interactions through SMP could result in positive
outcomes for the company.
To verify if different SMP have to be used for different
communication purposes.
To verify if SMP could be a valuable channel in changing
consumer’s attitudes towards the company.
To verify if communications through SMP triggers the positive word
of mouth.
To verify the level of involvement needed by the company in order
to maintain positive relationship with consumer.
To verify if different type of consumers use different type of
mediums
30
1.6 Theoretical Framework
A theoretical framework is the foundation on which the entire research
project is based. The relationship between the literature survey and the
theoretical framework is that the former provides a solid foundation for
developing the latter. Variables are anything that can take on differing or varying
values. There are four types of variables:
Dependent variable
Independent variables
Moderate variables
Intervening variables
31
Figure 1.1: Theoretical Framework
Interactions through SMP
Awareness of SMP
Technographic profiles of SMP users (Creator, Joiner, Spectator, Critic, Collector)
The Evaluation of
Social Media Effects on
Marketing Communications
Dependent Variables (DV)
Independent Variables (IV)
*SMP – Social Media Properties
In this research, there are three independent variables that will influence
the dependent variable:
i. Interactions through SMP
The interactions through Web 2.0 applications generate different
outcomes for the company. Not only is interactivity a
fundamental difference between traditional media and online
media, but the various online tools also differ in their degree of
interactivity.
ii. Awareness of SMP
SMP will create awareness of the public since marketing
communications is evolving and Web 2.0 applications are now
being used widely all over the world.
iii. Technographic profiles of SMP users (Creator, Joiner, Spectator,
Critic, Collector)
To investigate if there is a significant relationship between
technographic profiles (Creator, Joiner, Spectator, Critic,
Collector) of the consumer and the preferred media channel
chosen.
32
1.7 Hypothesis
H0 = Null H1 = Alternate
H0 – There is no significant relationship between the interactions through Social
Media Properties and the evaluation of social media effects on marketing
communications.
H1 – There is a significant relationship between the interactions through Social
Media Properties and the evaluation of social media effects on marketing
communications.
H0 – There is no significant relationship between the awareness of Social Media
Properties and the evaluation of social media effects on marketing
communications.
H1 – There is a significant relationship between the awareness of Social Media
Properties and the evaluation of social media effects on marketing
communications.
H0 – There is no significant relationship between technographic profiles of Social
Media Properties users (Creator, Joiner, Spectator, Critic, Collector) and the
evaluation of social media effects on marketing communications.
H1 – There is a significant relationship between technographic profiles of Social
Media Properties users (Creator, Joiner, Spectator, Critic, Collector) and the
evaluation of social media effects on marketing communications.
33
1.8 Limitations of the Study
In conducting this research, there were certain limitations that the
researcher had discovered. It is very challenging to distribute the questionnaires
to the respondents through web survey. Occasionally, they will give incorrect and
irrelevant answer to each sequence of questionnaire. It is quite tough to control
the obstacle since the research is conducted virtually.
Furthermore, there is a doubt that the respondent may not really exposed
to the terms of Social Media Properties (SMP) and Web 2.0 which can affect their
understanding in answering the questionnaires. Most of the SMP users might
know how to use the Web 2.0 application very well, or can learn it naturally as
they get used with the applications, although they are not really aware of the
terms and definitions.
Finally, the information for this research is very hard to attain because this
subject is not enough researched in different environments. Most of the
academic literature, professional insights, and empirical study are dedicated to
US market and few Europe markets compared to Malaysia market. This limitation
will contribute to the lack of local sources in Malaysia.
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1.9 Definition of Terms
a) Social Media
The real power of people can be noticed in the new revolutionized
media channel – social media. According to Mayfield (2008), social media is
best understood as a group of new kinds of online media, which share most
or all of the following characteristics; participation & engagement, openness,
conversation, community, and connectedness.
According to Anthony Bradley (2010), social media is a set of
technologies and channels targeted at forming and enabling a potentially
massive community of participants to productively collaborate. IT tools to
support collaboration have existed for decades. But for social media
technologies such as social networking, Wikis and blogs, enable collaboration
on a much grander scale and support tapping the power of the collective in
ways previously unachievable.
b) Web 2.0
Web 2.0 should be perceived as the new tools for the marketing
communication mix, facilitator and enabler of social media. Constantinides
and Fountain (2008) defined Web 2.0 as a collection of open-source,
35
interactive and user-controlled online applications expanding the experiences,
knowledge, and market power of the users as participants in business and
social processes.
Accessed from Webopedia.com, Web 2.0 is the term given to describe
a second generation of the World Wide Web (www) that is focused on the
ability for people to collaborate and share information through online. Web 2.0
basically refers to the transition from static HTML web pages to a more
dynamic web that is more organized and is based on serving web
applications to users. Other improved functionality of Web 2.0 includes open
communication with an emphasis on web-based communities of users and
more open sharing of information. Over time, Web 2.0 has been used more
as a marketing term than a computer-science-based term. Blogs, wikis,
and web services are all seen as components of Web 2.0. Web 2.0 was
previously used as a synonym for Semantic Web, but while the two are
similar, they do not share precisely the same meaning.
c) Social Media Marketing
Geoff Livingston (2008), author of Now is Gone and CEO of a Media
Relations Firm said that social media marketing really requires networking
skills first, because we are building relationships, not overtly promoting. It’s a
unique blend of networking skills (relationships); traditional Public Relations
36
skills (building goodwill), marketing skills (giving customers what they want),
and customer service (delivering resolutions to issues).
According to About.com, social media marketing consists of the
attempt to use social media to persuade consumers that one's company,
products and / or services are worthwhile. Businesses use social media to sell
their products or services. To use social media marketing effectively,
businesses have to be perceived as members of the social media community
and willing to interact with other members.
d) Marketing Communication
According to Websitemarketingplan.com, marketing communication is
a broad term that encompasses all the ways businesses interact and
communicate with a market. Those in general marketing, brand managers,
Internet marketers, direct marketers, advertising managers / agencies,
publicists, public relations professionals, promotions specialists, and sales
people, all participate in some aspect of marketing communications. For
most, the ultimate goal is to present an integrated, uniform impression across
all forms of communication. This means addressing product, service, and
company communication, goals in the business and / or marketing plan.
37
According to David Picton (2005), marketing communication is the
management process that integrates the marketing function relates to
audience to realize the wider brand and its consistency.
e) Technographics
According to Wikipedia.com, technographic is a segmentation of
market research analysis tool used to identify and profile the characteristics
and behaviors of consumers through the process of market segmentation.
Traditionally market researchers focused on various demographic,
psychographic, and lifestyle schemes to categorize and describe
homogeneous clusters of consumers that comprise possible target markets.
With the advent of personal computers and home video in the late
1980’s and the explosion in Internet use, personal digital assistants,
BlackBerry, video games, cell phones, and others in the 1990’s, information
and communication technologies have emerged as a central focus and
defining force in a wide range of occupations and lifestyles. Accordingly,
market researchers realized the need for a segmentation scheme based on
the role that technology plays in consumers' lives.
38
CHAPTER TWO
39
2.0 LITERATURE REVIEW
The last century was a gold age for the media development. The new
technologies as telephone, radio, and television have changed people’s lives
forever. The new ways of communications have been successfully adopted and
become a norm. The last decade of the century brought the new innovative
technology – Internet. As predicted by Newman (1991), Internet:
Altered the meaning of geographic distance.
Allowed the huge increase in the volume of communication.
Provided the possibility of increasing the speed of communication.
Provided opportunities for interactive communication.
Allowed forms of communication that was previously separate to overlap
and interconnect.
Grieco and Holmes (1999) (cited in Combe et al, 2003) identifies three
powerful features of Internet:
1) Disintermediation or the removal of brokers by allowing direct
communication across spatial and sociometric distance.
2) Asynchronicity of the removal of temporality as a barrier to
communications.
3) Oculacy or the ability to communicate messages through images.
40
According to Hermeking (2006), the global spread of modern technology,
including information, and communication technology (ICT), is commonly
regarded both as an indicator of the postmodern era of globalization and as the
very precondition for that era of intensive worldwide interactions of people and
exchanges of goods, services, information, and capital. Hoffman (Hoffman et al.,
1995) argues that the popularity of the WWW as a commercial medium (in
contrast to other networks on the Internet) is due to its ability to facilitate global
sharing of information and resources, and its potential to provide an efficient
channel for advertising, marketing, and even direct distribution of certain goods
and information services.
According to Linda Peters (1998), the “Web” presents a fundamentally
different environment – both as a medium and as a market – from traditional
communication channels perspective. It creates the market space – a virtual
realm where products and services exist as digital information and can be
delivered through information-based channels (Rayport and Svikola, 1994). The
companies and consumers quickly adopted the new concept of the new
interactive world for their own benefits. These interactive channels allowed
companies to reach new markets or have a greater influence in the existing one’s
(i.e. media companies transferred their newspapers in order to reach new
audiences) and the consumers had an opportunity to save time and money by
communicating, looking for information, or buying product and services online.
41
According to Liu & Shrum (2002), emergence of new media (Internet),
brought new models of interactivity; user-to-user and user–to-message.
Contemplating about user-to-user interactivity, Ha and James (1998) suggested
that “The more communication in a computer-mediated environment resembles
interpersonal communication, the more interactive the communication is”. Steuer
(1992) defined users-to-message interaction as follows: “The extent to which
users can participate in modifying the form and content of a mediated
environment in real time”.
Commercial online services and the introduction of the web have created
the potential for a mass interactive dialogue between exchange parties (Peters,
1998). The world have witnessed the evolution of a universal interconnected
network of audio, video, and electronic text communications that blurred the
distinction between interpersonal and mass communication, and between public
and private communication (Neuman, 2003).
The new market space changed the behavior of the people and the
communication models. The shift is then from a “one (firm)-to-many (consumers)”
model of communication to the “many-to-many” model where contribution to the
medium and the message may come from both directions (Hoffman and Novak,
1996). Chaffey (Dave Chaffey et al., 2007) argues that such kind of
communications allows mass customization and personalization and the
messages send through Internet can be targeted more effectively.
42
Moreover, the web is changing the traditional marketing communications
concepts as the consumers can go all the way from “Awareness” to “Interest” to
“Desire” to “Action” (AIDA Framework), all within the same medium and within
the same session (Economist, 2008). Peters (1998) suggests four main changes
in communication model; comparing the new and old media:
i. Communication style - tend to have little or no time lag between the
giving, receiving, and responding aspects of communication between the
parties.
ii. Social presence - or perceived personalness, the feeling that
communication exchanges are sociable, warm, personal, sensitive, and
active.
iii. Control of contact - early research into the willingness of consumers to
utilize technology in shopping behavior concludes that the ability to control
the pace and presentation of product information has the strongest
influence on willingness to engage in computer-mediated marketing
activity (Carson et al., 1996).
Content – the content can be customized either by users or by
senders. Where users are able to control the content or presentation of
the message, it is said to be interactive.
43
Andrew L. Shapiro (1999) argues that the emergence of new, digital
technologies signals is a potentially radical shift of who is in control of
information, experience, and resources. One of the key features of the new
electronic communication media is the ability of consumers to control both
contact and content (Peters, 1998). Sohn and Lackenby (2002) suggest that
individual’s participation in social communication processes is the crucial factor
for increasing the perceived interactivity of the Internet (citied in Stafford and
Ronald, 2005).
Moreover, according to Normann and Ramirez (1994) the consumers
become co-producers, because the value is constantly created in interaction with
many different players, including consumers, suppliers, employees, and
managers. As a result, marketers are losing control over the communication
messages their trying to deliver to their consumers. According to Gatarski and
Lundkvist (1998) when communication, in the meaning of sharing information,
meets interactivity, it creates not simple massages but forms two-way
conversations. These conversations can be applied in production as
implementation of mutual ideas (consumers’ and producers’) in order to create
new enjoyable products or services.
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2.1 Social Media
The real power of people can be noticed in the new revolutionized media
channel – social media. According to Mayfield (2008), social media is best
understood as a group of new kinds of online media, which share most or all of
the following characteristics:
1) Participation & Engagement: Social media encourages contributions
and feedback from everyone who is interested. It blurs the line between
media and audience.
2) Openness: Most social media services are open to feedback and
participation. They encourage voting, comments, and the sharing of
information. There are rarely any barriers to accessing and making use of
content – password-protected content is frowned on.
3) Conversation: Whereas traditional media is about ‘broadcast’ (content
transmitted or distributed to an audience), social media is better seen as a
two-way conversation.
4) Community: Social media allows communities to form quickly and
communicate effectively. Communities share common interests, such as
hobbies, current issue, political and economic issues, entertainments,
games, and many more.
5) Connectedness: Most kinds of social media thrive on their
connectedness, making use of links to other sites, resources, and people.
45
Drury (2008) suggests that when analyzing social media, marketers too
often concentrates on the “media” factor, when “social” element is the key,
because marketing within social media is about building a relationship and
conversation with the audience, where the simple message delivery is changed
by ongoing exchange of perceptions and ideas between company and the
consumer.
Haven (2008) suggests that social media key elements are not entirely
new as features of sharing, connecting, opining, broadcasting and creating has
been long in our lives, but there are several characteristics of new technologies
and behaviors that set them apart from the past:
i. Reach — Historically, audiences for the common person have been
limited; a tribe, family, friends, neighbors, or the local community. Today's
technologies provide scale and enable anyone to reach a global audience.
ii. Accessibility — The means of production for most media used to lie in
the hands of enterprises with unlimited resources (financial or human).
Today's technologies for media creation are available to anyone at little or
no cost.
iii. Usability — The means of production typically required specialized skills
and training, both technically and creatively. Today's technologies simplify
those processes, or in some cases reinvent them. So anyone can create
and operate the means of production.
46
iv. Transparency — People, especially Americans, historically kept personal
information to themselves and had a general distrust of authority
(enterprises, government, etc.). Today, people are willing to share
anything about themselves (interests, location, family situations, health
condition, and others) in a public venue, and today's technologies make
that both possible and purposeful.
v. Recency — When people did have the means of production and
distribution in the past (albeit limited), the time lag between
communications was typically long (days, weeks, or even months). It was
a limitation of the technology or system in which it operated. Today's
technologies enable instantaneous responses and dialog where only the
participant determines the delay in response.
47
2.2 Web 2.0
Social media and Web 2.0 are two terms which are often used
interchangeably in the marketing literature, even though they are not entirely the
same. From the marketing perspective, the Web 2.0 should be perceived as the
new tools for the marketing communication mix and facilitator and enabler of
social media.
The Web 2.0 terms was introduced by Tim O’Reilly in 2004. It has
originated from talks about social software and the communities surrounding
these applications. According to Tim O’Reilly (2007) “The companies that
survived the dotcom boom had something in common,” these companies realized
that the “Web” is much more useful for delivering service than being used just as
a platform for “packaged” products (i.e. software).
Constantinides and Fountain (2008) defined Web 2.0 as a collection of
open-source, interactive and user-controlled online applications expanding the
experiences, knowledge, and market power of the users as participants in
business and social processes. Web 2.0 applications support the creation of
informal user’s networks, facilitating the flow of ideas and knowledge by allowing
the efficient generation, dissemination, sharing and editing / refining of
informational content.
48
Hoegg (Hoegg et al, 2005) suggests that Web 2.0 is the philosophy of
mutually maximizing collective intelligence and added value for each participant
by formalized and dynamic information sharing and creation. Hoegg (Hoegg et al,
2005), and Constantinides and Fountain (2008) classified Web 2.0 into 5 broad
types according their nature:
i. Blogs: Short form for Web logs; the online journals, the most known and
fastest-growing category of Web 2.0 applications. Blogs are often
combined with Podcasts, that is, digital audio or video that can be
streamed or downloaded to portable devices. Examples: Wordpress.com,
Blogger.com, Xanga.com.
ii. Social networks: Applications allowing users to build personal websites
accessible to other users for exchange of personal content and
communication. Examples: Myspace.com, Facebook.com, Tagged.com,
Friendster.com, LinkedIn.com, Hi5.com.
iii. Content Communities: Websites organizing and sharing particular types
of content. For instance, applications of video sharing: Video.google.com,
Youtube.com, applications of photos sharing: Flickr.com, social
bookmarking: Digg.com, and publicly edited encyclopedias (wikis):
Wikipedia.org.
iv. Forums / bulletin boards: Sites for exchanging ideas and information
usually around special interests. For examples: Epinions.com,
YahooAnswer.com.
49
v. Content aggregators: Applications allowing users to fully customize the
web content they wish to access. These sites make use of a technique
known as Real Simple Syndication or Rich Site Summary (RSS).
Examples: uk.my.yahoo.com, google.com/ig.
Tim O‟Reilly (2005) argues that Web 2.0 doesn't have a hard boundary,
but rather, a gravitational core which could be visualized as a set of principles
and practices that tie together a veritable solar system of sites that demonstrate
some or all of those principles, at a varying distance from that core. Therefore, it
is difficult to classify the Web 2.0 into the precise groupings, because the
applications are interrelated and most of the time a few Web 2.0 features works
on one platform. The mixture of Web 2.0 applications working under one site are
known as “Mash-ups”.
According to Mayfield (2008), this combination of two or more pieces of
contents (or software, or websites) is one of the phenomena in social media that
make it at once so exciting, fast-moving, and sometimes bewildering. But even
more important feature of Web 2.0 applications is the adaptability in the different
platforms. Social applications are becoming more and more popular on mobile
devices (Phones, iPods – via podcasts). In fact, according to BBC News (2008)
one of the reasons the Internet usage on the mobile devices is increasing is
because of Web 2.0 applications.
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2.3 Social Media Marketing
As the prevalence of social media continues to rise, organizations of all
types and sizes are recognizing the ways in which social media can help them
better understand, respond to, and attract the attention of their target audience.
As a result, businesses are now jumping on the social media bandwagon at a
rapid pace, embracing blogs, social networks, wikis, and other vehicles to
achieve their marketing and public relations goals.
There are few types of benefits that can be achieved by corporations with
the use of effective social media strategy:
i. Get the Message Out Faster – and to More People
Social media enables more rapid sharing of information. It may take hours,
or even days, for a new announcement to reach the end consumer through
traditional channels. When a press release is issued, a journalist or writer must
first wade through all the sales and marketing lingo to find the key points. Then,
the content must be re-purposed in article format, and sent to an editor or
proofreader before it is published.
Social media vehicles, on the other hand, allow for instantaneous
dissemination of not just news, but images, audio, video, and other multimedia
51
content as well. And because releases geared toward social media outlets
contain only key highlights, pertinent facts, and hyperlinks to related statistics
and quotes, the information they contain can be immediately picked up and
posted by bloggers and other online journalists.
Social media also provides more widespread coverage, enabling breaking
news to reach a much larger and broader reader base than standard media
outlets alone. While magazine readership and the number of available print
publications continue to decline, the number of consumers using the Internet to
access and share information continues to rise sharply. For example, one recent
study showed that almost one out of every four Internet users over 41 million
people total in 2006 visits MySpace on a regular basis.
ii. Improve Branding
Social media and blogs in particular, can be a highly useful tool for
enhancing both awareness and image. Blogging can help “spread the word”
about a company, its products, and its services to more people, dramatically
increasing brand recognition and awareness.
Additionally, social media can enable executives to gather input and
feedback directly from their target audience, and use that intelligence for more
52
effective reputation management. Insight into why people like or hate a brand is
needed to help change and control audience perceptions and preferences.
iii. Boost the Impact of Direct Marketing
Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is a key component of today’s direct
marketing and lead generation strategies, and social media has proven its ability
to significantly complement SEO initiatives. Many social media techniques such
as frequent use of common jargon and key phrases, title tags, ticker symbols,
and links to blogs and other relevant Web content can dramatically improve
search engine rankings.
Additionally, while SEO relies on just a handful of popular search engines
such as Google and Yahoo to drive target prospects to a site, social media
expands the potential audience by creating alternate channels. For example,
when content is published to a site, and that content is then linked from
del.icio.us or Reddit, it can generate a tremendous boost in Web traffic. Many
companies also find it much easier to generate compelling content that is likely to
be picked up by bloggers, than it is to keep up with the “rules” required to rank
high in today’s popular search engines.
53
2.4 Interactions through SMP
The interactivity gains a new meaning when it is applied through Web 2.0
platforms and social media channels as dialogue between consumer and
company becomes much more active and interactive. As summarized in the
media landscape analysis, the past decade was all about two-way
communications and interactions models. Most of the marketing academics
(Kotler, 2003; Pettit and Brassington, 2005) recognized the importance of
creating two-way marketing channels between consumer and company for brand
building, CRM, sales (and etc).
Social media, itself, does not change this idea, but redefines interactivity
and takes it to another level. Armano (2008) argues that social media goes
beyond the interactive marketing which is facilitated by computer-human
interaction, and introduces human-to-human interaction enabled by technology.
The main difference is that the companies instead of pushing the content (i.e.
automated e-mails) through online channels, empower people to engage and
interact with other people and produce new content about the company
(blogging, commenting, social networking, and etc.). Free production of content
and voluntary distribution is the key elements of the social media. Meadows-Klue
(2008) suggests that in social media marketing, engagement replaces
interruption; diversity and self-expression replace conformism and unity; the
54
media of the masses replace mass media; granular insights and rich data
replaces generalization and conversations in marketing replace control.
Another major change from the marketing perspective is the shift from
persuasion to influence. Past decades marketing practitioners were using the
communication mix in order to “attack” consumers with pervasive messages to
make them buy goods and services offered, but in the age where 25 percent of
search results on Google for the world’s 20 largest brands links to consumer-
generated content (Nielsen Buzz Metrics, 2007), to do this is too late, not
practical or impossible, as the messages are already floating out there.
According to Mitchell (2008), this process is facilitated by the change of
information flows from “top down” (B2C) to “bottom up” (C2B), which redefines
marketing environment as marketers do not own the message. Armano (2008)
suggests that people can be divided in different grouping according their
“strength” as the massagers.
The User Generated Content (UGC) can become influential message of
the consumer to the consumer (C2C) about the company and therefore should
be carefully monitored. In fact, the content is the new message in social media
channels. According to Eikelmann (Eikelmann et al, 2008), the best marketers
can do in this environment is to try to engage with the consumers through social
media in order influence these messages. Drury (2008) suggests that instead of
sending simple messages, marketers should provide the content which would be
55
relevant for consumers and would generate conversations among them.
Therefore, influence will become a standard measurement in Marketing 2.0
(Dowdell, 2008). As blogger and social media strategist Douma (2008) put it:
“The age of persuasion is over. Welcome to the age of influence.”
Marketers are forced to look for alternative communication strategies to
market in the social media environment because advertising clutter, growing
advertising literacy, and changing consumer behavior drives down the return on
investment (Biegel, 2008; Constantinides and Fountain, 2008). These strategies
have to consider the increasing fragmentation in the markets which may shift the
rules of targeting into behavioral marketing favor (Meadows-Klue, 2008). Armano
(2008) suggests that micro interactions and permission marketing /
unconventional marketing (Godin, 1999) should be the right strategy to approach
the consumer in the new media world.
Micro strategies are more valuable in fragmented media environment, as
they generate more precise consumer insight and as a result are better targeted.
According to Godin (2008), unconventional marketing principals are effective
because it considers the needs and wants of the people and listens to them.
Therefore it aims to build a more in-depth and lasting customer relationship
based on loyalty and trust (Masterson, 2007).
56
Viral and Word of Mouth (WOM) marketing principals are the essentials in
social media. This medium provides a platform for Web 2.0 applications and
tools, which works as enablers in order to increase reach and speed of the
messages. According to Lockhorn (2007), word of mouth campaigns can take off
very quietly through niche communities and can be powerfully persuasive, or
conversely result in an astonishing backlash. It should be closely monitored by
marketers as various researches (RazorFish, 2008; Internet Consumption
Report, 2008) shows that people make purchasing decisions according what they
here form other people about the products or services.
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2.5 Awareness of SMP
It was only approximately 20 some odd years ago that the average person
was beginning to become associated with the Internet. Prior to that, the Internet
was mostly reserved for academia and various government agencies. Before
that, it was only reserved for the U.S. government (the official origins of the
Internet began back in 1969 with the U.S. military’s funding of a research network
dubbed “Arpanet”). Today, we not only have the Internet, but also social media
tied in there as well.
The term “social media” implies; “media” (place where publications occur)
and “social” implies that there is sharing occurring –sharing of ideas, opinions,
and images. Social media also implies the tools, places, and services that allow
people to gather for social interaction. Social media allows individuals to gather
and express themselves in a much more simple and immediate fashion. By
giving people this capability, they not only have the ability to share ideas,
opinions and other contents, but also (if they wish) gain notoriety, and expand
their influence.
The ability to do so has altered the way ideas change hands and how fast
those ideas spread. At the same time, news and any information that would
usually take days or even weeks to go from one location to another can now
occur in seconds. This ease of communication has never been so available to
58
people around the world as it is now and it is still continuing to evolve.
Remember that throughout history, many countless numbers of governments
have created and held onto their power by controlling information and the
spreading of ideas. Because of social media, many of these types of
governments can no longer function this way any longer. Why? Because the
technology available to a person is so economical and simple to utilize that
virtually anyone with some education or training on the subject can become a
point of contact for the communication of information.
The Delivery of News, the Sharing of Ideas, and the Expression of Opinions
Figure 2.1: Key Social Platforms
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The spreading of an idea, or of news occurring somewhere in the world
can no longer be completely blocked by any organization. As long as one person
is able to connect to the Internet and express their view about a situation or
simply about an idea, then the information that individual will want to share, will
get out into the world. Remember, last year during the Iranian elections when
there were (and to some extent still are) people disagreeing with the “official”
election outcome, the Iranian government attempted to control the
communication and the images of what was occurring in Iran from getting out.
They were never able to control all the information and images that were being
seen by the world in ‘real-time’. In another example, when an earthquake rocked
the country of Haiti, not only were images from the torn country in the aftermath
of the quake being seen around the world, but commentaries and opinions of
what people were seeing were being read and heard (from Haiti). Sites such as
Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, and FriendFeed allow people to share ideas on not
just news, but also on products and services. Products and services that before
social media, many people would not have even heard about them, let alone
request or want the service.
Needless to say, social media has forever changed the way society works,
whether it’s the sharing of an idea, the communication of news, or the availability
of a product or service. Society today is on the verge of a new way of existing
that it’s never experienced before. No longer will people from one side of the
world be really able to say that they will never see a person or communicate with
60
someone from the other side of the world ever in their life. No longer will people
not be able to share an idea, if they really want to share it (no matter how radical
it may be or no matter how many people may disagree with it). No longer will the
spreading of information or the expressing of an opinion be able to be completely
silenced. As long as there is a person who wishes to express their opinion, share
their music or art, or simply say hello to another human being in another country
or culture, social media will allow them to do so. Here are few questions related
to the awareness of social media:
What are some of your opinions as to how social media has changed
society?
How do you believe social media will be in the future?
What will social media look like in 5 or even 10 years from now? 15 or 20
years from now?
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2.6 Consumer 2.0 –Web 2.0 Citizens
As powerful as it is technology is just enabler and it‘s the technology in the
hands of almost always connected people that make it so powerful (Blume, 1996;
citied in Li and Bernoff, 2008). A decade ago Raaij (1998) identified that social
and technological developments will create new options and possibilities for
consumers and will bring some real changes for marketing managers. For the
past 18 years, the active discussions have taken place in marketing literature
analyzing the relationship of postmodern marketing, semantic web, interactivity,
tribes, and changing consumer behavior (Raaij, 1998; Flart et al, 1995; Cova
1997; Constantinedes, 2004; Simmons, 2008), but only today the discussed
thoughts embrace their real meaning. The mass acceptance of the Web as social
medium is the biggest recent change in internet behavior which allows the
postmodern marketing concepts to flourish (Razorfish, 2008). These changes in
postmodern marketing era are mostly driven by the new consumers.
Digital natives, Millennial, Generation Y, just a few names often met in
marketing literature, describing the new generation of tech-savvy, success
driven, self-confident, independent but community-minded people (Deloitte,
2005). According to Tapscott (2008), it is the first global generation ever which is
smarter, quicker, and more tolerant of diversity than their predecessors.
Millennial never experienced life without computers and are just a click away
from the world any minute.
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The reverse accumulation of knowledge is typical for them - the younger
they are, the more they know (Deloitte, 2005). Tapscott (2008) identifies eight
norms that define Net Geners:
They value freedom and choice in everything they do.
They love to customize and personalize.
They scrutinize everything.
They demand integrity and openness, including when deciding what to
buy and where to work.
They want entertainment and play in their work and education, as well as
their social life.
They love to collaborate.
They expect everything to happen fast.
They expect constant innovation.
Moreover, Deloitte (2005) suggests that Generation Y is impatient, needs
the flexibility and space to explore, wants to produce something worthwhile and
seeks to make a difference in order to be rewarded with a respect. This
generation fits well the description of postmodern consumer which lacks the
commitment to grand projects and seeks different experiences, and is willing to
see oneself as a (marketable) object in the different situations he / she
encounters in order to make each a supremely exciting and enjoyable experience
(Flrat et al., 1995)
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Even though, they are not the only ones affecting the marketing
environment. So called “digital immigrants” (Palfrey and Gasser, 2008) or fast
adapters of the technology arguably might have even bigger influence on the
ongoing changes in marketing as they are aware about the changing situation
and they have a power, knowledge, and resources to influence this phenomenon.
As both of these consumer groups are very important for marketers they could be
grouped under one term of - Web 2.0 Citizens.
Web 2.0 Citizens worries marketers as their consumption patterns and the
perception of the value are evolving and the old marketing models are not
working on them. Wipperman (Trendbureo, 2008) argues that the Maslow‘s
pyramid of needs is changed with the closed loop (a feedback loop) where in the
process that is never completed self-actualization remains the individual‘s basic
motivation and is increasingly coming to the means of self-optimization.
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Figure 2.2: The Closed Loop of Needs, Source: Trendbureo (2008)
The changing needs affects buying behavior which makes it difficult for
marketers to target the consumer, especially when the new consumer takes the
initiative for transactions, at the place and time they want, what has considerable
consequences for the distribution of goods and services (Raaij, 1998). Easily
satisfied, psychological and safety needs moves the postmodern consumer onto
the search for social and self-actualizing experiences. The consumption
becomes a way for individuals to creatively appropriate and construct self-images
that allow them to become more desirable or likeable in various social contexts
(Dawes and Brown, 2000; Goulding, 2003).
Constantinides and Fountain (2008) argues that in social web era,
consumer preferences and decisions are based on new inputs provided by
parties beyond the control of online marketers; peer reviews, referrals, blogs,
65
tagging, social networks, online forums, and other forms of user-generated
content uncontrollable by the marketers. These content creating people are keen
in building online communities, in order to satisfy their social, self-esteem and
self-actualization needs. According to Kim (2000) (cited in Bowman and Willis,
2003) the hierarchy of needs differ between offline and online communities.
Table 2.1: Online Community Needs, Source: Bowman and Willis (2003)
According to Cova (2002), the main differences are that the brand
communities are explicitly commercial whereas tribes are not, furthermore, brand
communities are concerned about relationship between brand and consumer,
whereas tribes –relationship between consumers. Muniz and O’Guinn (2001)
(citied in Ouwersloot and Odekerken-Schroeder, 2008) describes a brand
66
community as a specialized, non-geographically bound community that is based
on a structured set of social relations among admirers of a brand. Mairinger
(2008) suggests that:
The brand community is not just formed around a brand; it creates the
brand.
The brand community is not just formed around a product; it is part of the
product.
Therefore, the creation and development of brand communities is one of
the most important tasks of the marketer as it can guarantee the company
success in the long term. According to Mairinger (2008), brand communities can
add real experiences and emotion to the brand, reach the long tail, address both
individualism and collectivity needs and replace the celebrity endorsers with
community brand advocates. Considering that 49 % of people made a purchase
based on friends recommendations on social media property (Razorfish, 2008),
social media can be viewed as an important channel and tool to interact, manage
and enable these brand communities.
Communication Process
Changing consumers requires different communication approach from
marketers. According to Tapscott (2008), Web 2.0 citizens do not accept the one-
way communication approach because they have been immersed in two-way
communication from childhood or their growing frustration with traditional
67
communication approaches has reached the maximum limit. This media literacy
evolved into digital media literacy and let the audience to manage and select
their own exposure to marketing messages (Meadows-Klue, 2008). Therefore, a
power shift can be observed from the sender (advertiser) to the receiver
(consumer) where communication obtains a service-oriented (experience
creating) rather than a persuasive role (Raaij, 1998). Flrat (Flrat et al., 1995)
argues that in emerging postmodernity the consumer may be finding the potential
to become a participant in the customization of his/her world by immersing
her/himself as an object into the world of objects, instead of trying to maintain a
position that is privileged to and detached from the objects. Therefore, marketing
has to include the consumer not as a target for products but as producer of
experience. Creating and sharing positive experiences becomes more important
than just sending simple messages to the consumer. Constantinides and
Fountain (2008) argues that changing communications has to consider the new
factors influencing the decision making process of the consumer (online
uncontrollable marketing factors).
Changing customer’s perception of value affects the communication
process as it is difficult to create suitable value proposition and target the
consumer. Lawer and Knox (2006) identified the new drivers of value which has
to be considered when planning communication strategy. Moreover, as the lines
between consumers and producers disappear, the value is gained trough
completely different experiences where consumer becomes a producer –
68
prosumer. Creativity and co-creation engages consumer, especially when it
happens in neo-tribes or brand communities where the consumer can share the
experience with others. As a result, the service or product itself can be modified
in order to enable the consumer to take a part in co-creation process and
guarantee a positive word of mouth for the company. Lawer (2006) proposes
eight styles of company-consumer value co-creation.
From the social media perspective, the people could be divided in 6 social
technographic profiles according to their participation level (Li and Bernoff, 2008):
i. "Creators" - Publish a blog / website; upload created videos/music;
write articles or stories and post them.
ii. "Critics" - Post ratings / reviews; comment on blogs and forums;
contribute to articles or wikis.
iii. "Collectors" - Use RSS feeds, add tags to web pages or photos
iv. "Joiners" - Maintain a profile / an account on social media site
(Social network, Content community).
v. "Spectators" - Read blogs or customer reviews, watch video or
listen to audio (podcasts).
vi. Inactives - None of these activities.
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It is important to understand how social technologies are being adopted by
the company’s costumers as according to consumer’s profile, the social strategy
could be adopted (Li and Bernoff, 2008). Especially, marketers should be
concerned about “Creators” as they are most likely to be the trend setters / brand
evangelists (opinion leaders). Hoegg (Hoegg et al., 2006) summarized the
participation model of a Web 2.0.
Figure 2.3: Participation Model of a Web 2.0 Service, Source: Hoegg (2006)
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CHAPTER THREE
71
3.0 RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
3.1 Introduction
Research methodology can be defined as a highly intellectual human
activity used in the investigation of nature and matter, and deals specifically with
the manner in which data is collected, analyzed, and interpreted.
This chapter will outline the research methodology, applied techniques,
and procedures undertaken. It will also explain how the research was planned
and implemented. The thorough description of research design will also be
presented in this study.
By conducted a good research design, the effectiveness and efficiency of
the research project can be achieved. A deep understanding of the following
component of research design is required:
i. Identify data and information
ii. Collection of data and information
iii. Analyze the data
iv. Disseminate the information
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3.1.1 Description and Justification of the Methods
There are two general types of the research approaches; scientific and
ethnographic. According to Maylor and Blackmon (2005), the scientific (or
objective) approach is more concerned with understanding the general patterns
of people’s, organisations’ and social systems’ behaviour as an opposite to
ethnographic (subjective) approach which is analyzing practices more than
theories in greater depth and more at individual level.
This research can be considered as a theory-led scientific study, since the
main objective of this research is to verify a set of theories that describe “what” is
changing in the marketing communications environment and analyze consumer’s
behavior according to these hypotheses. Even though it is considered to be
scientific research there are some appearances of ethnographic inductive logic.
Maylor and Blackmon (2005) suggest that sometimes when there is scarcity of
data it may be an acceptable to use two research approaches in one study.
Sometimes it may not be possible to develop any hypothesis at all, if it is being
investigated for the first time as there are no previous data is available
(Bhojanna, 2007). Therefore in this study, because the research subject is
relatively new, the literature review was dedicated not to generate hypothesis,
but to build-up the theory itself and to prove that in changing media landscape,
there are new marketing communication tools and channels requiring greater
73
consideration, and that chosen hypothesis are valid. Furthermore, the findings in
the literature review were adopted in data analysis.
The quantitative research strategies are used to count and measure the
data in order to answer the questions “what”, “where”, “how”, “how many”, and
“how much” as an opposition to qualitative research questions “why” and “how”.
There is a debate going on whether qualitative or quantitative research is better,
but according to Maylor and Blackmon (2005), both qualitative and quantitative
research have their advantages and disadvantages and are used for different
purposes.
The success of the quantitative study is based on the validity of the data
and statistical significance of the results that could be generalized. Therefore,
appropriate data had to be collected and processed. According to Maylor and
Blackmon (2005), a suitable way to verify the research hypotheses and capture
opinions, behaviors, attitudes, and facts is by doing a survey. In a result,
according to sample size and time frame, the self-administrated online
questionnaire method was chosen for conducting the survey. In the short time
frame, it is considered to be one of the best tools to gather large amounts of valid
data.
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3.2 Research Design
3.2.1 Data Collection Method (Primary and Secondary Data)
Malhotra and Birks (2003), states that an appropriate data collection
method contributes to the successfulness of research project. There are two
types of data; primary data which has been collected in the process of the study
by the researcher; and secondary data which has been already collected and
analyzed by others (Ghauri et al, 1991). Both sources of data should be used to
achieve efficiency and effective research objective. The secondary data provides
an ability to save time and money. Therefore it has to be analyzed first before the
collection of the new material. The primary data has to be collected as well, as
the secondary data may not always provide the needed answer to all research
questions (Ghauri, 1991). In order to answer the research questions, the primary
and secondary data were used in this study.
First of all, to discuss the reasoning behind the hypothesis, literature
review was performed which analyzed secondary data. The secondary data
was collected from various academics and practitioners sources. Because of the
scarcity of data in the academic literature, some of the most valuable information
was gained through the community of marketing bloggers and research reports
by individual companies. The academic articles and research papers, books,
75
published case studies, academic and industrial magazines or solitary articles
where used to generate a broader view on the subject.
In order to answer the main research question and to test the hypothesis
proposed in the introduction, the primary data was collected through the web
survey (self-administrated questionnaire were used). It enabled researcher to
apply statistical analysis methods for the study.
3.2.2 The Questionnaire Design
According Easterby-Smith (1991), within the short time frame and limited
resources, a self- administrated questionnaire is the most appropriate method to
collect data for research. Maylor and Blackmon (2005) suggest that in order to
gather appropriate data with a questionnaire, the design and planning are the
vital parts. In order to produce a reliable questionnaire and minimize biases in the
research, the designer has to consider three areas of main issues; the wording of
the questions, the appropriate categorization of variables, and the general
appearance of the questionnaire (Sekaran, 2003). The simple commonly used
expressions and terms were used in order not to confuse respondents. The
general appearance of the questionnaire was selected from pre-designed themes
for thesis type surveys suggested by the web portal providing the surveying
services (Surveymonkey.com).
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In order to gather necessary data, different types of questions were
chosen. The closed-ended question was mostly used in this research in order to
gather defined answers. Even though, in some questions the combination of
closed-ended and open-ended question were used in order to leave a possibility
for respondents to identify additional concerns.
3.2.3 Target Population and Sampling Design (Sampling Frame, Sample
Size, Sampling Technique)
According to Maylor and Blackmon (2005), the choice of the sample and
correct sampling methods are one of the key factors in gathering valid and
measurable data for the research. Malholtra (2003) suggests the five steps for
sampling design:
i. Define the target population
ii. Determine the sampling frame
iii. Select the sampling frame
iv. Determine the sample size
v. Execute the sampling process
77
Population
The target population was chosen considering the objectives of this research.
As a result, only the people who have ever used Social Media Properties
(SMP) were considered as possible respondents.
Sampling Frame
The biggest social networking website, Facebook.com which represents
almost all Web 2.0 features in one site was chosen as the sampling frame for
this research. This sampling frame was used to define the sample size
needed to collect appropriate and valid data for the research
Sampling Size
Due to limited data about the total number of social media users in Malaysia
and short time frame and the budget, only followers from LSS Academy’s
Facebook were considered as the possible respondents. The researcher had
determined the target to get 100 responses from the web survey
questionnaires as the sample size.
Sampling Technique
According to Maylor and Blackmon (2005), if there is an accurate sampling
frame and the probability sampling methods are employed, there is a better
chance to reduce the sampling error. Therefore, probability simple random
sampling (SRS) method was applied as the sampling technique in this study.
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3.2.4 Reliability and Validity
As the questionnaire is a highly structured data collection tools, limiting the
powers of the researcher, the design of questionnaire should include three
characteristics (Bhojanna, 2007):
i. Validity: Validity is the most critical criterion and indicates the degree
to which an instrument measures what it is supposed to measure.
Validity can also be thought of as utility.
ii. Reliability: Reliability means, measuring instrument should provide
consistent results, even if it is measured repeatedly.
iii. Practicality: Measuring instrument must be economical and easy to
use by the researcher. That means researcher must be able to
measure what he intends to measure.
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3.2.5 Data Administrative and Analysis
The researcher attached the questionnaires link at LSS Academy’s fan
page in Facebook. The researcher used different analysis to analyze the
quantitative data generated by the dichotomous, multiple choice, and Likert-scale
questions. In order to investigate the relationship between independent variables
and dependent variable, the researcher used correlation analysis to test and
achieve the objective. Frequencies were used to analyze the demographic profile
and also other data. In addition, reliability measure has been used to test the
reliability of the variables. Finally, Statistical Package Social Sciences (SPSS)
was used to administrate and analyze all the data.
1.
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CHAPTER FOUR
81
4.0 FINDINGS AND ANALYSIS4.1 Demographic Profiles
In order to achieve the “Aim 1” and create a general consumer
profile of SMP in Malaysia, the answers to the questionnaire were
analyzed. The first question was designed in order to find out the
dominating sex of Social Media Properties in Malaysia. As it seen in the
Table and Figure 4.1, the gender distribution among users is very
similar, but female users outweigh the males. 52% of the respondents
represented female and another 48% represented male.
Gender
Frequency Percent Valid PercentCumulative
Percent
Valid Male 48 48.0 48.0 48.0
Female 52 52.0 52.0 100.0
Total 100 100.0 100.0
Table 4.1: Frequency Table of Gender for Social Media Users
82
Figure 4.1: Percentage of Gender for Social Media Users
83
As shown in the Table and Figure 4.2, the respondents from 21 – 30 years
age group where most keen in participating in the survey with the percentage of
35%, followed by 31 - 40 year olds with the percentage of 28%. It is possible to
make an assumption that theses two groups are the main users of SMP from
LSS Academy’s fan page in Facebook.
Age
Frequency Percent Valid PercentCumulative
Percent
Valid Below 20 years 25 25.0 25.0 25.0
21 - 30 years 35 35.0 35.0 60.0
31 - 40 years 28 28.0 28.0 88.0
41 years and above
12 12.0 12.0 100.0
Total 100 100.0 100.0
Table 4.2: Frequency Table of Groups of Age for Social Media UsersFigure 4.2: Percentage of Age Group for Social Media Users
84
As shown in the Table and Figure 4.3, majority of respondents, which
represented 41% are Indian. This is followed by 33% of Chinese, and 17% of
Malay. Other races such as Sikh and Caucasian represented the percentage of
9%.
Race
Frequency Percent Valid PercentCumulative
Percent
Valid Malay 17 17.0 17.0 17.0
Chinese 33 33.0 33.0 50.0
Indian 41 41.0 41.0 91.0
Others 9 9.0 9.0 100.0
Total 100 100.0 100.0
Table 4.3: Frequency Table of Races for Social Media Users
Figure 4.3:
Percentage of Races for Social Media Users
85
As shown in the Table and Figure 4.4, most of the respondents who
represented 66% are Malaysian citizen, another 34% are non-citizen. LSS
Academy’s Facebook has international followers and customers since LSS
Academy provide training not only in Malaysia, but also in India, China, etc. LSS
Academy also has partnership with international consultation firm.
Nationality
Frequency Percent Valid PercentCumulative
Percent
Valid Malaysian 66 66.0 66.0 66.0
Non-Malaysian 34 34.0 34.0 100.0
Total 100 100.0 100.0
Table 4.4: Frequency Table of Nationality for Social Media UsersFigure 4.4:
Percentage of Nationality for Social Media Users
86
As shown in the Table and Figure 4.5, majority of respondents who use
SMP are from the income group of RM 2000 – RM 2999 (35%), followed by the
income group of RM 3000 – RM 3999 (30%). The least are from the income
group of less than RM 1000. We can interpret that the two majority groups have
stable monthly income.
Monthly Income (RM)
Frequency Percent Valid PercentCumulative
Percent
Valid Less than 1000 3 3.0 3.0 3.0
1000 - 1999 28 28.0 28.0 31.0
2000 - 2999 35 35.0 35.0 66.0
3000 - 3999 30 30.0 30.0 96.0
4000 and above 4 4.0 4.0 100.0
Total 100 100.0 100.0
Table 4.5: Frequency Table of Monthly Income for Social Media Users
Figure 4.5:
Percentage of Monthly Income for Social Media Users4.2 Awareness of
SMPBased on Table 4.6, 89% of the respondents are aware of SMP and another
87
11%, which contribute the least percentage, do not aware of SMP. We can say
that, most of us today realize the existence and usage of SMP.
Frequency Percent Valid PercentCumulative
Percent
Valid Yes 89 89.0 89.0 89.0
No 11 11.0 11.0 100.0
Total 100 100.0 100.0
Table 4.6: Frequency Table of “Do you aware of Social Media Properties (SMP)?”
Based on Table 4.7, 100% or all respondents agree that they use SMP tools
in their organization.
Frequency Percent Valid PercentCumulative
Percent
Valid Yes 100 100.0 100.0 100.0
Table 4.7: Frequency Table of “Do you / your organization use Social
Media Properties (SMP) tools?”
88
Based on table Table 4.7, 56% of respondents (majority) have been using SMP
for 2-3 years. It is more than half, that’s mean most of them are aware of the
usage of SMP for quite some time.
Frequency Percent Valid PercentCumulative
Percent
Valid 1 - 2 years 26 26.0 26.0 26.0
2 - 3 years 56 56.0 56.0 82.0
3 years and above
18 18.0 18.0 100.0
Total 100 100.0 100.0
Table 4.8: Frequency Table of “How long have you been using this
tool?”Based on Table 4.9, 50% of the respondents are not familiar with the
concept of UGC and another 50% are familiar with the concept. It is equal, and
we can interpret that the term of UGC are rarely being applied by SMP users.
Frequency Percent Valid PercentCumulative
Percent
Valid Yes 50 50.0 50.0 50.0
No 50 50.0 50.0 100.0
Total 100 100.0 100.0
Table 4.9: Frequency Table of “Are you familiar with the concept of User-
Generated Content (UGC)?”4.3 Interactions through SMP
Did you (or will you) use Social Media Properties (SMP) recently?
Frequency Percent Valid PercentCumulative
Percent
Valid Yes 100 100.0 100.0 100.0
All respondents (100%) were / will be using SMP recently.
89
How long do you spend your time for Social Media Properties (SMP) per day?
Frequency Percent Valid PercentCumulative
Percent
Valid Less than 1 hour 5 5.0 5.0 5.0
1 - 3 hours 38 38.0 38.0 43.0
4 - 6 hours 32 32.0 32.0 75.0
7 - 9 hours 15 15.0 15.0 90.0
10 hours and above 10 10.0 10.0 100.0
Total 100 100.0 100.0
38% of the respondents spend 1-3 hours for SMP per day.
32% of the respondents spend 1-3 hours for SMP per day.
The least percentage is 5%, which means only 5 respondents use less
than 1 hour for SMP per day.
From where do you use Social Media Properties (SMP) the most?
Frequency Percent Valid PercentCumulative
Percent
Valid Home 46 46.0 46.0 46.0
Workplace 30 30.0 30.0 76.0
Educational Institutions
5 5.0 5.0 81.0
On the go Mobile 19 19.0 19.0 100.0
Total 100 100.0 100.0
46% of the respondents use SMP at home.
30% of the respondents use SMP at the workplace.
19% of the respondents use SMP through on the go mobile (i.e. iPhone, Blackberry, etc).
90
Why do you use Social Media Properties (SMP) tools?
Frequency Percent Valid PercentCumulative
Percent
Valid Communication 23 23.0 23.0 23.0
Networking 16 16.0 16.0 39.0
External Knowledge (blogs, internal wikis)
10 10.0 10.0 49.0
Hiring 8 8.0 8.0 57.0
Marketing 18 18.0 18.0 75.0
Community Involvement
8 8.0 8.0 83.0
Customer Analysis 7 7.0 7.0 90.0
Customer Service 10 10.0 10.0 100.0
Total 100 100.0 100.0
The highest percentage, 23% of the respondents use SMP tools for
communication.
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Are Social Media Properties (SMP) tools met your business goals?
Frequency Percent Valid PercentCumulative
Percent
Valid Yes 89 89.0 89.0 89.0
No 11 11.0 11.0 100.0
Total 100 100.0 100.0
89% of the respondents agree that SMP met their organizational goals.
Does Social Media Properties (SMP) provides any business advantage over traditional media?
Frequency Percent Valid PercentCumulative
Percent
Valid Yes 100 100.0 100.0 100.0
100% or all of the respondents agree that SMP provides business
advantage over traditional media.
How do you gauge the use of technology in your organization?
Frequency Percent Valid PercentCumulative
Percent
Valid Excellent 57 57.0 57.0 57.0
Good 23 23.0 23.0 80.0
Fair 20 20.0 20.0 100.0
Total 100 100.0 100.0
57% of the respondents rate the use of technology in their organization as
excellent, 23% rate as good, and none of them rate for poor.
4.4 Frequency Tables for Technographic Profiles of SMP users –Creator, Joiner, Spectator, Collector, and Critic
92
Who are you the most?
Frequency Percent Valid PercentCumulative
Percent
Valid Joiners (Maintain a profile/an account on social media site: Social network, Content Community)
42 42.0 42.0 42.0
Spectators (Read blogs or customer reviews, watch video or listen to audio)
24 24.0 24.0 66.0
Creators (Publish a blog/website: upload your created videos/music: Write articles or stories and post them)
17 17.0 17.0 83.0
Critics (Post rating/reviews: Comment on blogs and forums: contribute to articles or wikis)
10 10.0 10.0 93.0
Collectors - Use RSS feeds, add tags to web pages or photos)
7 7.0 7.0 100.0
Total 100 100.0 100.0
42% of the respondents are Joiners, 24% are Spectators, 17% are Critics,
and 10% are Collectors.
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Most likely actions after the interaction with the company on SMP by Creators
Frequency PercentValid
PercentCumulative
Percent
Valid Make a purchase 3 17.6 17.6 17.6
Trust the company more
4 23.5 23.5 41.2
Interact more with the company
4 23.5 23.5 64.7
Recommend the company to your friends
4 23.5 23.5 88.2
Will interact more with other companies
2 11.8 11.8 100.0
Total 17 100.0 100.0
The Social Media Properties (SMP) used by Creators
Frequency Percent
Valid Percent
Cumulative Percent
Valid Blogs ( Blogger, Wordpress, Xanga, etc)
5 29.4 29.4 29.4
Social Networks ( Facebook, Myspace, Hi5, etc)
2 11.8 11.8 41.2
Microblog (Twitter, Tumblr, etc)
3 17.6 17.6 58.8
Content Communities (Youtube, Flickr, Digg, etc)
4 23.5 23.5 82.4
Opinion Networks (Forums/Bulletin Boards)
3 17.6 17.6 100.0
Total 17 100.0 100.0
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Most likely actions after the interaction with the company on SMP by Creators
Frequency PercentValid
PercentCumulative
Percent
Valid Make a purchase 3 17.6 17.6 17.6
Trust the company more
4 23.5 23.5 41.2
Interact more with the company
4 23.5 23.5 64.7
Recommend the company to your friends
4 23.5 23.5 88.2
Will interact more with other companies
2 11.8 11.8 100.0
Statistics
The Social Media
Properties (SMP) used by
Joiners
The content preferred by
Joiners
The external reasons for
engagements by Joiners
The obstacles to interact on Social Media
Properties (SMP) by Joiners
N Valid 42 42 42 42
Missing 0 0 0 0
95
The Social Media Properties (SMP) used by Joiners
Frequency Percent Valid PercentCumulative
Percent
Valid Blogs ( Blogger, Wordpress, Xanga, etc)
7 16.7 16.7 16.7
Social Networks ( Facebook, Myspace, Hi5, etc)
19 45.2 45.2 61.9
Microblog (Twitter, Tumblr, etc)
2 4.8 4.8 66.7
Content Communities (Youtube, Flickr, Digg, etc)
11 26.2 26.2 92.9
Opinion Networks (Forums/Bulletin Boards)
3 7.1 7.1 100.0
Total 42 100.0 100.0
The content preferred by Joiners
Frequency PercentValid
PercentCumulative
Percent
Valid User-generated Content (UGC)
9 21.4 21.4 21.4
Company provided content
6 14.3 14.3 35.7
A mixture of both 14 33.3 33.3 69.0
No difference 13 31.0 31.0 100.0
Total 42 100.0 100.0
96
The content preferred by Joiners
Frequency PercentValid
PercentCumulative
Percent
Valid User-generated Content (UGC)
9 21.4 21.4 21.4
Company provided content
6 14.3 14.3 35.7
A mixture of both 14 33.3 33.3 69.0
No difference 13 31.0 31.0 100.0
The external reasons for engagements by Joiners
Frequency Percent Valid PercentCumulative
Percent
Valid Reward 2 4.8 4.8 4.8
Fast changing content 9 21.4 21.4 26.2
Popularity of the content
11 26.2 26.2 52.4
Relevant content 15 35.7 35.7 88.1
Tools and platforms 5 11.9 11.9 100.0
Total 42 100.0 100.0
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The obstacles to interact on Social Media Properties (SMP) by Joiners
Frequency PercentValid
PercentCumulative
Percent
Valid Privacy 9 21.4 21.4 21.4
Time 13 31.0 31.0 52.4
Poor content 7 16.7 16.7 69.0
Technology capabilities
4 9.5 9.5 78.6
Not enough info 6 14.3 14.3 92.9
No sharing 3 7.1 7.1 100.0
Total 42 100.0 100.0
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Statistics
The content preferred by Spectators
The external reasons for engagements by
Spectators
N Valid 24 24
Missing 0 0
The content preferred by Spectators
Frequency PercentValid
PercentCumulative
Percent
Valid User-generated Content (UGC)
5 20.8 20.8 20.8
Company provided content
3 12.5 12.5 33.3
A mixture of both 6 25.0 25.0 58.3
No difference 10 41.7 41.7 100.0
Total 24 100.0 100.0
The external reasons for engagements by Spectators
Frequency PercentValid
PercentCumulative
Percent
Valid Reward 2 8.3 8.3 8.3
Fast changing content
5 20.8 20.8 29.2
Popularity of the content
5 20.8 20.8 50.0
Relevant content 7 29.2 29.2 79.2
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Statistics
The content preferred by Spectators
The external reasons for engagements by
Spectators
N Valid 24 24
Tools and platforms 5 20.8 20.8 100.0
Total 24 100.0 100.0
Statistics
The Social Media Properties (SMP)
used by Collectors
The external reasons for
engagements by Collectors
The internal reasons for
engagements by Collectors
N Valid 7 7 7
Missing 0 0 0
100
The Social Media Properties (SMP) used by Collectors
Frequency PercentValid
PercentCumulative
Percent
Valid Blogs ( Blogger, Wordpress, Xanga, etc)
1 14.3 14.3 14.3
Social Networks ( Facebook, Myspace, Hi5, etc)
1 14.3 14.3 28.6
Content Communities (Youtube, Flickr, Digg, etc)
2 28.6 28.6 57.1
Opinion Networks (Forums/Bulletin Boards)
1 14.3 14.3 71.4
Content Aggregators (RSS)
2 28.6 28.6 100.0
Total 7 100.0 100.0
101
The external reasons for engagements by Collectors
Frequency PercentValid
PercentCumulative
Percent
Valid Fast changing content 2 28.6 28.6 28.6
Popularity of the content
1 14.3 14.3 42.9
Relevant content 4 57.1 57.1 100.0
Total 7 100.0 100.0
The internal reasons for engagements by Collectors
Frequency PercentValid
PercentCumulative
Percent
Valid Personal satisfication and actualization
2 28.6 28.6 28.6
Brand myself 1 14.3 14.3 42.9
Develop myself 2 28.6 28.6 71.4
The feel of power and influence
1 14.3 14.3 85.7
The sense of belonging to the community
1 14.3 14.3 100.0
Total 7 100.0 100.0
102
Statistics
The content preferred by
Critics
The external reasons for
engagements by Critics
The internal reasons for
engagements by Critics
N Valid 10 10 10
Missing 0 0 0
The content preferred by Critics
Frequency PercentValid
PercentCumulative
Percent
Valid User-generated Content (UGC)
2 20.0 20.0 20.0
Company provided content
3 30.0 30.0 50.0
A mixture of both 4 40.0 40.0 90.0
No difference 1 10.0 10.0 100.0
Total 10 100.0 100.0
103
The external reasons for engagements by Critics
Frequency PercentValid
PercentCumulative
Percent
Valid Reward 1 10.0 10.0 10.0
Fast changing content 2 20.0 20.0 30.0
Popularity of the content
2 20.0 20.0 50.0
Relevant content 3 30.0 30.0 80.0
Tools and platforms 2 20.0 20.0 100.0
Total 10 100.0 100.0
The internal reasons for engagements by Critics
Frequency PercentValid
PercentCumulative
Percent
Valid Personal satisfication and actualization
4 40.0 40.0 40.0
Brand myself 1 10.0 10.0 50.0
Develop myself 1 10.0 10.0 60.0
The feel of power and influence
2 20.0 20.0 80.0
The sense of belonging to the community
2 20.0 20.0 100.0
Total 10 100.0 100.0
104
Reliability Test for Awareness of SMP:
Reliability Statistics
Cronbach's Alpha
N of Items
.321 4
Based on the result, the researcher can interpret that the factor of
awareness of SMP is not reliable because the value of Cronbach’s Alpha
is 0.321, which means the strength of association is low or poor.
Reliability Test for Interactions through SMP:
Reliability Statistics
Cronbach's Alpha
N of Items
.746 7
Based on the result, the researcher can interpret that the factor of
interactions through SMP is reliable because the value of Cronbach’s
Alpha is 0.746, which means the strength of association is quite strong.
Reliability Test for Creators:
Reliability Statistics
Cronbach's Alpha
N of Items
.969 2
Based on the result, the researcher can interpret that the factor of
interactions through SMP is reliable because the value of Cronbach’s
Alpha is 0.969, which means the strength of association is very strong.
105
Correlation Analysis of Awareness of SMP:
Correlations
Do you aware of
Social Media Properties
(SMP)?
How long have you
been using this tool?
Do you aware of Social Media Properties (SMP)?
Pearson Correlation
1 .577**
Sig. (2-tailed) .000
N 100 100
How long have you been using this tool?
Pearson Correlation
.577** 1
Sig. (2-tailed) .000
N 100 100
**. Correlation is significant at the 0.01 level (2-tailed).
r (sample) = result, p (<,=) number
r (100) = 0.577, p < 0.01, two tailed
There is a significant relationship between the awareness of Social Media
Properties and the evaluation of social media effects on marketing
communications.
106
Correlation Analysis of Interactions through SMP:
Correlations
How long do you spend
your time for Social
Media Properties (SMP) per day?
From where do you use Social Media
Properties (SMP) the
most?
Why do you use Social Media
Properties (SMP) tools?
Are Social Media
Properties (SMP) tools met
your business goals?
How do you gauge the
use of technology
in your organizatio
n?
How long do you spend your time for Social Media Properties (SMP) per day?
Pearson Correlation
1 .468** .948** .377** .872**
Sig. (2-tailed)
.000 .000 .000 .000
N 100 100 100 100 100
From where do you use Social Media Properties (SMP) the most?
Pearson Correlation
.468** 1 .527** .009 .345**
Sig. (2-tailed)
.000 .000 .926 .000
N 100 100 100 100 100
Why do you use Social Media Properties (SMP) tools?
Pearson Correlation
.948** .527** 1 .419** .921**
Sig. (2-tailed)
.000 .000 .000 .000
N 100 100 100 100 100
Are Social Media Properties (SMP) tools
Pearson Correlation
.377** .009 .419** 1 .565**
Sig. (2-tailed)
.000 .926 .000 .000
107
met your business goals?
N 100 100 100 100 100
How do you gauge the use of technology in your organization?
Pearson Correlation
.872** .345** .921** .565** 1
Sig. (2-tailed)
.000 .000 .000 .000
N 100 100 100 100 100
**. Correlation is significant at the 0.01 level (2-tailed).
There is a significant relationship between the interactions through Social
Media Properties and the evaluation of social media effects on marketing
communications.
108
Correlation Analysis of Technographic Profile:
Correlations
Most likely actions after
the interaction
with the company on
SMP by Creators
The Social Media
Properties (SMP) used by Creators
Most likely actions after the interaction with the company on SMP by Creators
Pearson Correlation
1 .950**
Sig. (2-tailed) .000
N 17 17
The Social Media Properties (SMP) used by Creators
Pearson Correlation
.950** 1
Sig. (2-tailed) .000
N 17 17
**. Correlation is significant at the 0.01 level (2-tailed).
r (sample) = result, p (<,=) number
r (100) = 0.950, p < 0.01, two tailed
There is a significant relationship between technographic profiles of Social
Media Properties users (Creator, Joiner, Spectator, Critic, Collector) and
the evaluation of social media effects on marketing communications.
109
Finding 1: The Changing of Marketing Communication Environment and
Consumers’ Profile in Malaysia.
In the literature review the social media environment was analyzed and
the main changes were indentified. It was noticed that the interactivity is much
more personal in social media and is based on human to human interaction.
Moreover, it was indentified that social media is changing the communication
processes as the power shifts from company to the consumer and the meaning
of the message itself is changing (content becomes the message). The various
Web 2.0 properties were grouped and defined. The research found that social
media environment comprises the features of medium and tool and is suitable for
marketing to postmodern consumer.
The research had identified the general consumer profile within Malaysia
market. According to technographic typology, 5 groups of Web 2.0 Citizens were
analyzed and the main differences between them were identified. It was noticed
that, that social media in Malaysia penetrates into all aspects of daily life, but the
consumption patterns slightly differs from the consumers in other countries (US)
and it differs amongst the 5 technographic consumer groups as well. Moreover, it
was identified that in general consumers prefers UGC rather than company
provided content, but most of them see no difference between them or wants a
mixture of both. The relevance of the content is the single most important factor
among all the consumers in Malaysia. According to the research results, the
110
personal satisfaction or self-actualizing needs are driving the consumption and
that the biggest influencers of Web 2.0 citizens are their friends, who are most
likely to affect their behaviors and “push” to the interactions. It was found that
most of the consumers are afraid of losing time and privacy when participating in
conversations within social media environment, but these communications push
towards closer relationship with the company and are likely to outgrow into the
monetary relationships.
Finding 2: The influence of SMP on the Consumers and Comparison with
Traditional Media
In order to evaluate the influence of Social media as a medium for
marketing communication campaigns, 3 Hypothesis were tested. According to
the results, the main findings can be summarized. The gathered data suggests
that there is a relationship between SMP used and the positive outcomes after
interaction. Therefore, it could be concluded that interactions through SMP could
result in positive outcomes for the company. The interaction through Social
networks, Content communities and Blogs are most likely to cause grater
relationships with the company and build trust. Moreover, the result suggest that
different SMP have to be used in order to achieve different marketing
communication goals, with a common trend that Content communities, Blogs and
Social Networks can be considered for Advertising and PR purpose.
Surpassingly, according to gather data, irrespectively from the message
111
distributor consumers agree that the messages delivered through social media
are likely to change their attitudes towards company or its products. As a result, it
can be concluded that SMP could be a valuable channel in changing consumer’s
attitudes towards the company. Moreover, it is important for them to approach
the company by themselves or recommendations in order to spread positive
word of mouth about the company. In any case, the assumption can be made
that communications through SMP triggers the positive word of mouth. In terms
of media channels, marketers have to consider that Web 2.0 citizens differ
amongst themselves. In order to integrate social media in to the whole marketing
communication campaign successfully they have to consider what other media
channels are liked most by what type of group of consumers. Due to this, it can
be stated that different types of consumers use different type of mediums.
Finally, according to the results from the consumers perspective there is no
difference who initiates the interaction. Therefore, it can be concluded that the
company can start the conversation with the consumer on SMP without fear to
annoy him / her.
112
CHAPTER FIVE
113
5.0 CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS
The evolving media landscape and changing consumer behavior presents
new challenges for marketing practitioners. The growth of social media properties
forces marketers to consider new tools in approaching the postmodern
consumers. As summarized in the findings, these tools vary depending from the
consumers’ group, media channel, and SMP itself. It is clear that this media /
marketing channel is here to stay, but as it is still developing and changing,
therefore the constant monitoring of SMP tools is required by marketing
professionals and academics. This research achieved its main goals and showed
that the consumers welcome company’s initiatives to communicate through
social media and the Web 2.0 applications can be used successfully as the new
tools in marketing communication mix. Even though, as this research just tested
the theory that that social media is an effective marketing tool and channel, the
further, possibly qualitative research is needed in order to understand the
effectiveness of every tool on the consumer’s behavior.
LSS Academy on the other hand, discovers that the emerging of social
media, social media marketing, and the rapid change of technology forces them
to fully utilize the Web 2.0 applications. Hence, LSS Academy also promotes and
markets its products through Facebook fan page, Twitter, Youtube, and other
social media channels in order to reduce cost of advertisement and also to get
engage with a long-term customer relationship.
114
The implication of this research should mostly concern the marketing
professionals as the data gathered provides interesting insights about the social
media environment in Malaysia. Nevertheless, it gives an opportunity for other
academic researchers to adapt or verify the presented theories in different
marketing backgrounds.
Web 2.0 and social networks drive down the cost of communication, which
accelerates volatility because when people talk, ideas change and lead to action,
and digital conversations happens faster and less expensively. Social networks
are rapidly making the Web human, thereby attracting an ever-larger portion of
all human communications online. In 2009, adoption reached critical mass, ramp-
ing strongly among consumers, so many enterprises are following. The Web 1.0
adoption rhythm is very instructive.
Pervasive Web 2.0 also means reexamination or disruption of most areas
of life, culture, society, government, and business because social networks alter
how many and what kind of relationships people have. The impact is similar to
Ford’s production line, except it is more powerful; it scales relationships. Large
organizations will remain in a profound state of turmoil because they were not
built, with withstand the volatility these forces are unleashing. Many Fortune 500
companies will be confronted with their survival, and some will not make it. Entire
industries will consolidate over the next several years (automotive, airlines, bank-
ing, hotels, food, consumer goods, etc). Web communications mean we con-
115
sume novelty far more quickly, which curtails product life cycles and leads to
ultra-fast commoditization. Companies will require unprecedented innovation to
even stay in place. New entrants around the world compete for customers and
leverage their lower costs and better innovation processes.
Nowadays, we can see that the Knowledge Economy represents a pro-
found shift in society and business. The good news is the way we make our tran-
sition to it will largely determine whether we survive or thrive. The macro trends
are economic uncertainty and increased collaboration tools, skills, and expecta-
tions. Company’s place in the value chain / web and the relationships with stake-
holders will determine how immediately these trends affect us. In
general, customers are consulting each other on what, how, and when to buy
everything, so companies need to be engaged with influencers. It is no longer
about having ads and “content” available, it’s about interacting and creating rela-
tionships. Company needs to know how to show the right people how you care
about them.
As for recommendations, Enterprise should identify, define, understand,
and engage the Web 2.0 ecosystem. Web 2.0 communication and empowerment
are rapidly changing stakeholders’ expectations, and most companies do not
understand how. Enterprise needs concrete answers for:
What are stakeholders (customers, investors, regulators, employees, part-
ners, alumni) doing in Web 2.0 venues?
116
Why they are into Web 2.0 and what are they trying to accomplish?
Which venues do they use and how do they use each venue and why?
How are they engaging with each other, competitors, and other players?
Based on your culture, core competencies and business goals, how can
you engage efficiently and effectively?
Furthermore, Enterprise should develop resident skills with Web 2.0
technologies, processes, and sensibilities. This is a strategic imperative because
stakeholders will increasingly expect us to be available. Our presence will have a
major impact on buying decisions. For many companies, 2010 will be the last
year that they can move ahead of their competitors. Keep in mind, Web 2.0 is all
about social behavior; it’s not a technology we can buy and put in place; our peo-
ple and proxies have to learn how to act, and that’s a process we need to pursue
aggressively.
Blogging is about what we think, not about selling. Leave the latter for your
website. No matter what your business is, you have to share your
thoughts online. This also means engaging bloggers with impact on your
stakeholders by commenting on their blogs.
Contribute to online forums frequented by stakeholders. This might be
LinkedIn Answers, industry forums prominent blogs, MySpace or Yahoo
forums, wherever stakeholders are asking questions and solving
problems.
117
Deploy social business infrastructure internally to drive skill development
and increase productivity; kick off pilots in which teams use wikis, blogs,
microblogging, social bookmarking, and rich media.
Next, Enterprise should assign a top executive to manage our adoption of
Web 2.0 because changing stakeholder expectations will change our business.
This will proactively help to guide stakeholders’ expectations.
Develop a social business strategy that includes your overall approach
considering risks, rewards and business strategy; goals, timelines and
resource requirements; metrics and measurements; a risk-managed
process to scale your initiatives. Your availability to interact with stake-
holders will increasingly drive your brand value because they will expect
you to be present, appropriate and sincere. Your company, employees
and proxies need to learn how to do that. It’s not easy because people
have to unlearn some key things that used to work but no longer do.
The strategy will enable you to create a strategic dialog among manage-
ment; in 2010 and 2011, executives are going to be doing remediation
because social projects are happening all over the enterprise, in some
cases counteracting each other. Having goals and meeting them collabo-
ratively will significantly increase returns.
Create a strategic dialog within the organization and with partners and
people outside. You need an adoption approach that considers the spec-
118
trum of risks and focuses your efforts on rewards that move your business
strategy.
Your champion should have experience leading “innovation”-type initia-
tives that break rules and ruffle feathers. He / She should also be open to
personally embracing social practices (i.e. blogging, tweeting, interacting
online).
In addition, Enterprise should create and maintain a relationship-centric
mindset for your Web 2.0 initiatives and use risk management best practices to
maintain momentum. Keep pilots small, specific and rapid to shrink ROI discus-
sions, measure results, and scale what is working.
Finally, Enterprise should partner with IT on certain initiatives, and engage
“realistic enthusiasts” to understand IT’s capabilities and willingness to syndicate
social content in from outside.
As for individual, here are some useful recommendations to keep track with Web
2.0:
Start blogging.
Take your LinkedIn Profile up a level. People go to LinkedIn when they are
looking for expertise. Remember, Web 2.0 is about interaction, not con-
tent. You can pay for content, but your attention is priceless. On LinkedIn,
this means:
119
Participating in LinkedIn Answers: Answer others’ questions and
ask questions; this attracts attention.
Putting your slides on your profile via Slideshare.
Invoking your blog posts on your profile with the WordPress or
BlogLink Apps.
Commit to tweeting. Twitter is a new mode of communication that you
need to understand because it is transforming communication and creat-
ing new kinds of relationships.
Cut back on unproductive networking. Don’t fall into networking as an
activity trap. You could have written 6 blog posts and answered 4 LinkedIn
questions. When you have a content strategy for your blog, it creates digi-
tal breadcrumbs that are always working for you. If you choose the
LinkedIn questions you answer judiciously, people will discover them at
any time. At face-to-face networking events, the value dissipates much
more quickly. Cutting back on two events per month will give you more
than enough time to ramp up online, where the leverage is far greater.
Relentlessly conduct yourself, so that you increase trust with people who
count. Make introductions, answer questions, give help, ask for help, and
follow through on what you promise. In Web 2.0 environments, other peo-
ple are observing our interactions. We can choose to be creped out by
that, or use it to our advantage. When you are authentic and help people,
other people see. Huge leverage.
120
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Further Reading
Burnett, J. and Hutton, R. B. (2007). New Consumers Need New Brands, Journal
of Product & Brand Management, Vol. 16/5, pp. 342-347.
Bruce, H. (1999). Perceptions of the Internet: What People Think when They
Search the Internet for Information, Internet Research: Electronic Networking
Applications and Policy, Vol.9, No.3, pp. 187-199.
Cova, B., Pace, D. J. and Park, D. J. (2007). Global Brand Communities Across
Borders: The Warhammer case, International Marketing Review, Vol.24, No.3,
pp. 313-29.
Fang, E., Palmatier, R. W. and Evans, K. R. (2007). Influence of Customer
Participation on Creating and Sharing of New Product Value, Academy of
Marketing Science, Vol.36, pp. 322-336.
Ferguson, R. (2008). Word of Mouth and Viral Marketing: Taking the
Temperature of the Hottest Trends in Marketing, Journal of Consumer Marketing,
Vol.25/3, pp. 179-182.
Mason, R. B. (2008). Word of Mouth as a Promotional Tool for Turbulent
Markets, Journal of Marketing Communications, Vol.14/3, pp. 207-224.
Wright, D. K. and Hinson, M. D. (2008). How Blogs and Social Media are
Changing Public Relations and the Way it is Practiced, Public Relations Journal,
Vol.2, No.2.
135
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