Introduction:
To begin, social media marketing first began with the use of publishing. It all started
when businesses shared their post and their content on all social media platforms to try to get
more traffic to their websites and eventually increase their sales. My proposal will consist of
ways one can build their brand, increase their sales and improve website traffic as well. When it
comes to marketing it will consist of engaging followers, analyzing the results, and then running
efficient advertisements. The purpose of my research is to demonstrate the impact that social
media has when it comes to a business trying to use the platforms to increase their sales and their
awareness. This research question is exciting and is worth pursing because I myself use many
different social media platforms to promote my business to attract more traffic to my website to
increase potential sales.
Purpose of the study:
“Research Question: How has social media changed the marketing strategies that we use
today? Hypothesis: If social media can be used on all platforms to promote a business then,
business will be able to prosper and be able to potentially increase their sales. The reason for
selecting my proposed research methodology was that when it comes to marketing in this day
and time social media plays a major part. I feel that if it wasn’t for social media business would
not be where they are today.
Methodology
The research strategy that I will use to explore the problem will be the factor analysis
method. This particular method has a basic procedure that consist of first choosing which layout
to use when it comes to selecting everything that is necessary or even the important factors. Then
you will assess the information that is relative to all of the factors. Now you will begin to rate the
alternative plans that may or may not go against the factors one at a time.
The method used to secure the sample population will be Questionnaire survey which
will consist of a set of questions having the intended purpose to get responses from people in a
pretty much standardized way. The questions that I will include will be both unstructured and
structured. The unstructured questions will allow them to provide their own opinion in their own
words and the structured questions will give them more than two choices to choose from. The
question I will provide will put together for those that are able to read, understand and able to
respond in a meaningful way.
The method of delivery for the survey question is mailing the surveys. When it comes to
mailing surveys, it will have its advantages and disadvantages. When it comes to the mailing of
surveys, they are said to be unobtrusive, they are also inexpensive to send out, and having
postage bought in bulk is fairly cheap in most countries. The downfall of mailing surveys is the
response rate considering most people are really not interested in mail surveys. Another
downside to the mailing of surveys is that there is a possibility that it could take several months
for people to fill out the survey and even return it. A way to help would be to send out reminders
of the survey and encourage people to send them back.
Online questionnaire survey that is conducted over the internet using interactive forms
will also be one that I use as well. I think that online surveys are a good way to receive feedback
when you are trying to research something. In my opinion surveys that are online are easy to
administer, the results are easy to record and if you need to modify your survey that can be easily
done as well. A downfall to the online surveys is that if they aren’t password protected or you
don’t have it set up to were multiple submissions are allowed by one person then that will make
it easy to compromise. I feel that sampling bias is also a major issue considering there are some
people who may not have access to a computer or may not have internet access.
The ethical considerations I will take into account is making sure that I receive informed
consent, let them know that the survey will not cause any harm, respect confidentiality and
respect privacy. The most common ethical issues in research would be conflict of interest,
plagiarism, and analyzing data correctly. It is important to follow research ethics because it
expands knowledge on a topic, idea or concept. It supports the values needed to obtain
collaborative work, and it also supports social and the moral values.
Conclusion:
My research project is valuable because it will allow me to better assess my view on
marketing for my business. I am now able to know what ways are more efficient when I want
things to sent out. I now know what research methods are better for me to use based off of the
target audience that I am trying to reach out to. I know the best and efficient way of conducting
surveys by knowing which type of questions to use. I now know the delivery method that is best
to use when administering surveys as well.
My research is connected to my major goals and future interest by allowing me to see first hand
what ways are better for me and it allows to properly adjust my ways of promoting and
marketing. This research has given me the chance to learn things that I may not have been aware
of.
The timeline of my research activities consists of first finding a research topic that I would be
able to elaborate on without an issue. Once I found my topic it was time to see what method of
research, I could use that would help me to better obtain the results that I need to get. Comparing
and contrasting methods that were more efficient and gave better results as well. Doing real
world survey’s and interviews to get a realistic view on what results for my research topic could
actually present to me.