The Effect of Using Social Network

Sites in Business Marketing

A STUDY OF BAHRAINI ORGANIZATIONS

By

Balqees Al.Mubarak

May, 2011

Introduction

Definition:

Social network site is best understood as a group of new

kinds of online services, which share most or all of the

following characteristics:

• Participation

• Openness

• Conversation

• Community

• Connectedness

Introduction

• People joining a social network usually

▫ create a profile and then,

▫ build a network by connecting to friends and

contacts in the network,

▫ inviting real-world contacts and friends to join

the social network.

The Difference between Conventional

and Conversational Internet

Social Network Sites in BahrainAccording to a research conducted by Jazeerah.net in February 2010, on

13 countries in the MENA region (Middle East and North Africa), the

total amount of Facebook users in Bahrain was 181,991 users. The

questions that can be raised here are:

▫ How many of these are actually organizations who are marketing for their

businesses?

▫ What about the other social network sites?

▫ Are Bahraini organizations benefiting from social network sites in

marketing?

▫ Do Bahraini organizations realize the benefit of social network sites to

maximize profit?

Research Objectives

1. Identify the usefulness of social network sites available for business

owners.

2. Determine the effective utilization of social network sites for marketing

purposes.

3. Investigate the need of using social network sites in marketing strategies.

4. Measure managers' preference of using social network sites.

5. Identify the relationship between the use of social network sites and

profit.

6. Identify the relationship between the using of social network sites on

customers' loyalty.

Literature Review

Timeline of the lunch dates of many social network sites.

Literature Review

"… History suggests that where there is so much

user engagement, dollars follow. “

Chris Dixon" (Fitton, 2008)

The Daily Reach of Social Network Sites

The Daily Reach of Social Network Sites: YouTube, Wikipedia, Facebook, MySpace, and Flikr.com. (Source: Social Media Roadmaps, Exploring the futures triggered by social media. By: Tony Ahlqvist, Asta Bäck, Minna Halonen & Sirkka Heinonen, 2008)

Social Network Sites Business Opportunities

(Source: Social Media Roadmaps, Exploring the futures triggered by social media. By: Tony Ahlqvist, Asta Bäck, Minna Halonen & Sirkka Heinonen, 2008)

Social Network Sites in Bahraini Business

Bahrain usage of twitter (Source: eHulool eCommerce Projects, 2011)

Social Network sites in Bahraini Business

The new statistics reveal usage trends of twitter in

Bahrain, and it is clearly stated that Bahraini usage

trend had jumped to a very high percentage due to

political events. New users had signed up to use

twitter, this in turn form a good basis of potential

customer base. This could be a good opportunity for

businesses to benefit from.

Research Methodology

• Research Questions:

1. Does the usage of social network sites in marketing affect people's

awareness of the business?

2. Does the utilization of social network sites influence customers' loyalty?

3. Does the number of visitors of a social network site reflect a better

reputation of the business?

4. Does the usage of social network sites in marketing influence the profit?

Research Design

• This study will incorporate the quantitative

descriptive research method, because it uses a

formal instrument that is needed to describe

frequencies, averages, and other statistical

calculations.

• A questionnaire and telephone interviews will be

used to collect data.

The Questionnaire

In designing the questionnaire, Bourque and Clark (1994)

suggest that the researcher can choose any of the three

methods for creating the questions. It could be either:

• Adopt questions that are used in other questionnaires,

• Adapt questions used in other questionnaires, or

• Develop new questions.

• New questions were developed for this study, in

addition to adopted questions.

• The questionnaire was divided into three parts;

the first part aims to collect general information

about the organization itself.

The Questionnaire

• The second and the third parts aim to check how

business people are interacting with their

customers through social network sites, and to

assess the effect of using social network sites on:

The Questionnaire

1. Customers' awareness of the

business,

2. Customers' loyalty to the business,

3. Business's reputation,

4. The effect on profit

generated.

• Structured questionnaire was also developed

based on qualitative research (in depth

interviews)

The Questionnaire

An interview was conducted with

the two e-marketing specialists in

Gulf Air, Mr. Nicola Simionato, a

Senior Manager Sales Steering

and Distribution at Gulf Air and

Mr. Ali Hussain.

The Questionnaire

Population and Sampling

• The target population consisted of all the

Bahraini organizations or businesses that use

social network sites to market their business.

• Used "Non-probability Convenience" sampling.

• Target sample was 50 businesses or

organizations.

• Used Quota sampling procedure based on

business size.

Population and Sampling

• The proportions would be the following:

▫ 70% of the sample will be of small size businesses

▫ 15% of the sample will be of medium size

businesses

▫ 15% of the sample will be of large size businesses

Population and Sampling

Data Collection Procedure

• An electronic form of the questionnaire was created,

and distributed the link through

Emails (official companies’ sites )

Facebook pages

LinkedIn profiles and groups

Forums (Bahrain Trade Center)

BlackBerry Messenger

Hard copy of the questionnaire was also distributed.

Validity and Reliability

Validity

▫ The measure (questionnaire) was tested by pilot

testers to insure its face validity.

Reliability

▫ "Reliability applies to a measure when similar results

are obtained over time and across situations"

(Zikmund, 2003).

Reliability

• The coefficient alpha of Cronbach's alpha is

calculated to check reliability.

• The results of the split-half reliability analysis

showed that Cronbach's alpha was 0.917.

Data Analysis and Tools

• Descriptive statistics is used to organize, summarize and

describe the responses of the participants.

• Inferential statistics such as Analysis of Variance

(ANOVA), and Pearson correlation coefficient.

• Using the Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS)

version 17.0.

Data Analysis and Results

• 65 responses representing 65 Bahraini

organizations using social network sites for

marketing.

Organization Size

Organization Age

Business Field

The Period in Which the Organization is

Using Social Network Sites

Social Network Sites that Bahraini

Organizations are using

Number of Organizations' Connections

Number of Daily asked Questions

Number of Daily Interactions

Scale Questions Frequencies

Answer to Research Question number 1

• "Does the usage of social network sites in marketing

affect people's awareness of the business?"

• The factors used are:

(1) Period of using social network sites for the business

(2) Number of connections the business has

(3) Number of daily questions sent to the sites

The Period of Using Social Network Sites

and People Awareness of the Business

• Using Spearman's rho (ρ) Correlation

Coefficient since the variables are of different

types.

ANOVA Test

• To assure the previous result ANOVA test is used

• Based on the results obtained by the correlation analysis

and analysis of variance, researcher can conclude that the

period since the business is using the social network sites

has no effect on people awareness of the business.

Recalling the Factors

(1) Period of using social network sites for the

business

(2) Number of connections the business has

(3) Number of daily questions sent to the sites

Number of Connections the Business has

• Using ANOVA test

From the above result, researcher can conclude that the

"number of the connections the business has" has no

effect on people awareness of the business.

Recalling the Factors

(1) Period of using social network sites for the

business

(2) Number of connections the business has

(3) Number of daily questions sent to the sites

Number of Daily Questions sent to the

Sites

• Using ANOVA test

Based on the results obtained, the researcher

concludes that the number of daily sent questions has

no effect on people awareness.

Answer to Research Question number 2

• "Does the utilization of social network sites

influence customers' loyalty?“

• The factor to test customers’ loyalty is

▫ People likeness of the business

• The Pearson Correlation Coefficient test is used to find the correlation between the two variables.

Answer to Research Question number 2

• ANOVA test is used to confirm the previous result.

Answer to Research Question number 2

Based on the results obtained, the researcher concludes

that customers' loyalty is affected by people likeness of the

business.

Answer to Research Question number 3

• "Does the number of visitors of a social network site

reflect a better reputation of the business?"

• The factors used to test this question are:

(1) Number of daily sent questions to the site

(2) Number of daily interactions encountered by the

site

The Number of Daily Sent Questions and

Business Reputation

• ANOVA test is used

Based on these results, the researcher concludes that

number of daily sent questions to the site has no effect on

business reputation.

The Number of Daily Interactions

Encountered by the site and Business

Reputation

• ANOVA test is used

Based on these results, the researcher concludes that

number of daily encountered interactions has no effect on

business reputation.

Answer to Research Question number 4

• "Does the usage of social network sites in marketing

influence the profit?"

• To test this question, the factors tested are:

(1) The increased number of inquiries,

(2) the increased number of orders,

(3) The increased revenue,

(4) the increased market share, and

(5) the increased profit.

• The five items mentioned are all of type interval

scale, which allows using the Pearson's

Correlation Coefficient test.

Answer to Research Question number 4

Answer to Research Question number 4

• This reflects strong relationship amongst all the

mentioned factors.

• In addition, ANOVA test is used to find the

differences in the means of the five items.

Answer to Research Question number 4

Answer to Research Question number 4

• Based on the results Pearson Correlation Coefficients,

and ANOVA test shown, the researcher concludes that:

▫ the increased number of inquiries,

▫ the increased number of orders,

▫ the increased revenue, and

▫ the increased level of market share

influence the level of profit.

Answer to Research Question number 4

Discussion

• The results obtained to answer the first research

question indicates that:

▫ There is no relationship between the factors

mentioned and people awareness of the business.

• The result obtained for answering the second

question indicates that:

▫ People likeness of the business affects customers'

loyalty.

Discussion

• The results obtained to answer the third research

question indicate the following:

▫ There is no relationship between the number of daily

sent questions to the site and business reputation.

▫ There is no relationship between the number of daily

interactions encountered by the site and business

reputation.

Discussion

• The results obtained to answer the fourth research

question indicate the following:

▫ There is a strong positive correlation between all the

five mentioned items. They are correlated in a

significant level of less than 0.01.

• This result can clearly explain the way businesses can

benefit from using social network sites for marketing.

Discussion

Conclusion

• From the research findings researcher can conclude:

▫ Social network sites marketing can only increase

people awareness to the business if used in a positive

way.

▫ Business reputation can not only be raised from the

increased number of customers' questions, inquiries,

and interactions, but from the way marketers deal with

these aspects.

▫ Customers' loyalty is built on their likeness and

awareness of the business.

▫ Social network sites marketing have huge potential to

gain profit.

Conclusion

Recommendations and Further Studies

• The same aspects used in this study can be used to get

more results regarding how organizations benefit from

marketing through social network sites.

• Further study can explore the effect of organization size

on profit.

• A study can utilize the sampling of customers using

social network sites to get their needs (either services or

products).

Thank You