Marketing Commons^™

Social Customer Relationship Management In Rural Commerce: A Study Of Small Businesses In Southern West Virginia, Timothy John Anderson

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

The limited-resource context in which small businesses operate impedes the ability of the proprietors of small businesses in implementing customer relationship management. Despite the availability of a more cost-effective alternative in the form of social customer relationship management, there is a failure to utilize the practice because of a lack of knowledge of the use of social media platforms for the purposes of customer relationship management. The purpose of this study was to explore the influence that the use of social customer relationship management has on the small businesses located in Southern West Virginia. The study used a qualitative research …

Measurement Of Visual Cues And Their Effects On Online Users: An Image Mining Approach, Shuya Lu

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

Textual marketing communication is effective in various contexts such as print advertising, user-generated content, and social media (Diamond 1968; Ludwig et al. 2013; Nam and Kannan 2014). However, visual marketing communication studies are limited in the context of print advertising (e.g., Hagtvedt and Brasel 2017). This dissertation includes two essays to examine the visual communication effectiveness online.

Essay 1 develops a conceptual framework to examine the visual-based brand perception (VBBP) and related concepts on social media. We propose that the VBBP is a co-creational process between a company and its consumers and exhibits three characteristics: i) a two-way communication that …

Boys That Blend: How Men In Makeup Can Affect Social Media Marketing Efforts, Matthew Meyers

Chancellor’s Honors Program Projects

No abstract provided.

Is Utilization Of University-Sponsored Social Media Associated With Increased Social Integration And Retention Among Online Students?, Gary C. Eaton

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

Despite the growth of online higher education, online student retention remains a problem for many colleges and universities. The seminal higher education retention models developed for residential students also explain the contribution to retention resulting from connecting online students with other students, faculty, staff, and connecting with the daily life of the university in order to create a sense of belonging and community. The difficulty for the university is that online students may live at such distances from the school that participation in on-campus activities or even a singular campus visit is impractical. Further, online students are often non-traditional students …

Using Social Media To Improve Student Engagement And Learning, Tommy Hsu

Atlantic Marketing Association Proceedings

No abstract provided.

The Sea Turtle As A Marketing Symbol For The Anti-Plastics Movement, Hannah Chiu

Pitzer Senior Theses

The anti-plastic straw movement uses the sea turtle to bring an empathetic symbol to broaden the scope of the plastics problem in the ocean, giving the public a powerful visual image for the first time in the history of the anti-plastics movement. In this thesis, I build on existing conversations on charismatic megafauna and flagship species, to explore the emerging anti-plastic straw movement and its use of the sea turtle as a symbol. I also provide an analysis of the imagery and comments on social media sites of green marketing companies and non-governmental organizations. These social media sites, such as …

Social Media Listening: Revealing The Indirect Effects Of User Generated Content (Ugc) On Product Adoption, Nga Ho-Dac, Ian Clark Sinapuelas

Association of Marketing Theory and Practice Proceedings 2019

Industry studies suggest social media listening espouses several advantages. Evidence from academic research however is lacking and the need to investigate its impact especially in the context of product development is needed. This research explores how UGC influences market outcomes indirectly via its impact on product development. Building on current findings from empowerment-product demand and new product adoption research, we propose that product improvements building on consumer social media conversations are more likely to succeed. Using a system of equations modeling in the open source software context, we verify that increasing forum posts lead to a greater number of codes …

The Role Of Brand Personality In Setting Expectations For Engagement On Social Media, Joanne T. Cao, Jamye Foster, Gallayanee Yaoyuneyong

Association of Marketing Theory and Practice Proceedings 2019

In recent years, business has leapt on to the social media marketing bandwagon. However, many have learned that social media marketing is not equally beneficial for all brands, and that there is a difference between aiming for more followers versus aiming for more engagement and deeper relationships. Recently, the shift has been toward engagement as the ultimate social media goal, rather than mere followers. But just as all brands do not need to be on social media, do all brands have to aim toward high engagement? This study attempts to answer this question by considering communication based on brand personality …

Customer Service In The It/Social Media Marketing Era: Reverting To A Zero-Sum Game, Jon Martin

Association of Marketing Theory and Practice Proceedings 2019

During the past 10-15 years marketers and consumers have increasingly pondered and discussed if customer service has improved or declined. During this time we’ve experienced the great marketing power of IT and social media but have also heard and/or shared many “horror stories” of poor customer service in a changing marketplace. Which is true? Has customer service declined, improved, and/or merely changed? The answer is simply, “YES - all of the above”. However, the key challenge, for both consumers and marketers, is not so much a “yea vs. nay” determination, but to better examine the what, why, and how of …

Use Of Social Media By Sales Students For First Post-Graduation Job-Search: An Exploratory Study, Linda G. Mullen, Randy S. Stuart, Michael L. Thomas

Association of Marketing Theory and Practice Proceedings 2019

As students who studied/majored in professional sales approach graduation and start looking for their first post-graduation/entry-level positions, what avenues are used to pursue these opportunities? One might suspect that with the explosion of social media and the millennial generation’s prolific use of said media this would be their preferred choice for job hunting. Are sales students engaging social media and other online activities to land entry-level career positions or are they still using traditional methods (i.e. College/University Career Fairs, College/University Career Services, Internships, etc.) to find these positons? This paper looks at the avenues millennial students who studied/majored in professional …

The Dual-Mediation Effect Of Perceived Accuracy And Perceived Connectedness On Consumer Attitude Toward Social Network Advertising, Tao-Sheng Chiu, Kai-Yu Wang, Wen-Hai Chih, Jaime Ortiz, Ying-Ching Lin

Association of Marketing Theory and Practice Proceedings 2019

Despite the importance of social media advertising, few studies have investigated the factors that influence its effectiveness (Jung, Shim, Jin, and Khang 2016). Because advertising on social media is a relatively new phenomenon (Okazaki and Taylor 2013), several studies are exploratory in nature and lack a solid theoretical framework (e.g., Campbell, Pitt, Parent, and Berthon 2011; Pehlivan, Sarican, and Berthon 2011; Sashittal, Sriramachandramurthy, and Hodis 2012; Waters and Jones 2011). For this reason, the present study examines the factors affecting consumers’ attitudes toward advertisements they view on social media.

This paper draws on the stimulus-organism-response (S-O-R) model to investigate the …

Keep Exploring, Sharing, And Tweeting: Connecting Millennials, Social Media And Destination Canada’S Brand, Michael Lever, Michael S. Mulvey, Statia Elliot

TTRA Canada 2018 Conference

Social media has become a powerful influencer in its ability to sway customer intentions and behaviors in an online setting. Given the importance of social media and its users in acting as information spreaders and disseminators, particularly in the context of global tourism, the goal of this research is to profile and/or understand youth travellers within the context of their social media behaviour. Using latent class analysis which helps to identify unobserved subgroups within a population, this study utilizes the rich dataset offered by Destination Canada which gives valuable traveler-focused information across the globe, including Brazil, China, Australia, Germany, South …

Essays On Performance Implications Of Social Media For Established And Nascent Firms, Alireza Golmohammadi

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The possibility of large-scale communication with stakeholders brought about by social media has made these new channels of communication an important arena for spending marketing budgets. Despite the increasing share of social media in firms’ marketing budget, there is significant heterogeneity in firms’ social media communication practices even within the same venue and among firms from the same industry. As such, there is need for more research on how firms can leverage social media to achieve better performance. In order to address this broad question, two essays have been designed and executed.

The first essay utilizes integrated marketing communication as …

A Social Media Analysis Of Users, Their General Happiness, And The Impact On Marketers, Megan Hamberg

Mahurin Honors College Capstone Experience/Thesis Projects

As the internet and social media become more prominent in today’s society, it is important for marketers and others to understand who is using these platforms and how this usage affects overall happiness. Using data gathered from the General Social Survey (GSS) 2016 Cross-Section and a survey created and distributed to Western Kentucky University (WKU) Students, this research examines the effect of demographic variables on whether or not respondents utilize Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and Snapchat. Then, the impact of having accounts on these social media platforms on users’ overall general happiness is analyzed. Several other regressions were run and analyzed …

Vlogging In Korea: From Film Student To Youtuber, Kalyn Edwards

Mahurin Honors College Capstone Experience/Thesis Projects

Video blogging, or vlogging, has become its own genre on YouTube in almost a “reality show” type atmosphere. This project aims to examine that world of video blogging from a personal level, not only as a film student, but also from the perspective of an aspiring businesswoman. The goals of this project are to take on the role of a vlogger, along with all its struggles, while exposing myself to a new culture in hopes of appealing to a certain demographic. It appears as though we have gone from a world relying on telegrams and postcards to becoming a society …

Implications Of Social Media Use On Instruction And Student Learning: An Exploratory Study, Mayur Desai, Lucy Ojode

Southwestern Business Administration Journal

Despite being a norm in contemporary organizations including in academia, there is limited understanding how multimedia technology use might impact learning. We have also seen a rise in the use of social media applications such as Facebook, tweeter, Instagram, skype, flickr, and blogging among students, but it is unclear the extent to which the academe embraces these applications. In this study, we examine the potential role of multimedia technology and social media use in the learning process. We explore the potential implications for instruction and on student learning of the marriage between multimedia technology and social media use. Focusing on …

Branding Strategies Of A Private International School, Balasubramanian Varadarajan, Timothy Malone Dr.

The Qualitative Report

Demand for international K-12 schools in India is growing, and this is causing competition between them. The purpose of this paper was to explore the branding strategies that private international school leaders in India use to enhance the school brand. Case study method was used where fifteen participants were interviewed from an international school in Southern part of India. Interviews were conducted with five school leaders, five teachers, and five parents using a semi-structured interview method with open-ended questions related to branding strategies. Brand-oriented organizations have internal approaches to developing their brand based on vision, mission, and values. As education …

G3 Facebook Campaign, Virginia Rose Lee

Agricultural Education and Communication

G3 Enterprises, started by the third generation of the Gallo family, provides packing and supply chain services within the wine industry. The transportation department focuses and specializes in transporting wine grapes from vineyards to the wineries for Gallo and external companies. In some ways, marketing a service as business-to-business can be more complex than marketing a business-to-consumer product according to B2B International (Hague, Harrison, 2017). Therefore, G3 needs to branch out of its traditional marketing and keep up with current trends by creating a greater social media presence. If G3 Transportation can successfully showcase its trucking service through social media, …

Social Media Marketing Among Small Retail Clothing Businesses, Irene Michel Abrons

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Social media marketing influences consumer trust in businesses, and trust accounts for about 37% of consumer purchasing decisions. The purpose of this multiple case study research was to identify the barriers to social media marketing that owners of small retail clothing businesses must overcome to be competitive. The conceptual framework was the technology acceptance model. Collected data consisted of company documents and semistructured interviews with 3 small retail clothing business owners in Chicago, Illinois, who had experience with social media marketing. Data analysis consisted of an open coding approach and member checking. The study revealed the small business owners who …

Marketing Strategies To Increase Sales In Small Family-Style Restaurant Businesses, Tammira Lucas

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Small business owners understand the advantages of using social media as a marketing tool; however, some of these owners do not leverage social media marketing strategies to increase sales. Small business owners who fail to implement social media marketing strategies minimizes the potential to gain new customers; thus, negatively impacting sales. The purpose of this qualitative multiple case study was to explore social media marketing strategies used by five small family-style restaurants in Maryland. Berry's relationship marketing theory was the conceptual framework for this study. Data collection included semistructured interviews, documents pertaining to social media marketing strategies, and social media …

Redefining The Sales Call, Judi Billups

Doctor of Business Administration Dissertations

The sales process is undergoing a revolution as a result of social media and related technological advancements. Although each step of the sales process is being affected, the most drastically altered step is likely the sales call. The purpose of this research is to examine the impact the type of sales call used by sellers has on both the buyer’s evaluation of the salesperson and the seller’s attribution of sale call success or failure. The study consists of two essays. The first focuses on the buyer’s evaluation of the salesperson based on the frequency and alignment of their use of …

A Study Of Digital Communications Between Universities And Students, Perry D. Drake

Dissertations

This study examined the digital and social media communication practices of nine urban universities including UMSL and compared those to known corporate best practices.

The purpose of this study was to (1) research how these universities are using social/digital communications to engage with students and prospective students; (2) compare the executional tactics of universities to corporate best practices; (3) determine if by applying corporate best practices universities reap the same benefits as corporate in terms of higher engagement rates with their customers; and (4) determine if a correlation exists between a university’s Forbes ranking and its use of social media …

Health Professions At Carolina: Promoting The University Of South Carolina Galen Health Fellows And Health Sciences Initiatives Using Social Media Marketing, Sarah Adair Roof

Senior Theses

This project sought to bring awareness to the newly developed Galen Health Fellows and health sciences programs at the University of South Carolina. In collaboration with the University of South Carolina Office of Admissions, investigators created and promoted a trackable social media marketing campaign for prospective program participants composed of online profiles of current USC health science students. These profiles aimed to promote the beyond-the-classroom experiences and advantages gained from pursuing a health sciences career at the University of South Carolina, particularly as a Galen Health Fellow. Student profiles were posted on the USC Admissions account of the blog site …

Fostering Parasocial Relationships With Celebrities On Social Media: Implications For Celebrity Endorsement, Siyoung Chung, Hichang Cho

Research Collection Lee Kong Chian School of Business

The purpose of this study was to explore the underlying mechanisms through which the use of social media affects endorser effectiveness. Based on theories related to parasocial relationships,self-disclosure, and celebrity endorsement, this study proposed a theoretical research model and empirically tested the model using online survey data collected from 400 Korean Wave fans in Singapore. The results showed that consumers’ parasocial interactions with celebrities though social media have a positive impact on celebrity endorsement. Specifically, we found that: (1) parasocial relationships mediated the relationships between social media interactions and source trustworthiness, (2) social media interactions influenced parasocial relationships via self-disclosure;and …

Comparative Content Analysis Regarding Brand Management Through Influencer Marketing, Julia Hurt

Masters Essays

The divide between advertising, marketing, and public relations has deteriorated over time, where each has a specific focus but no longer a particular correct way of reaching audiences. With the ever-growing presence of online social influencers, a new marketing practice known as influencer marketing has evolved, where brands connect with consumers in an authentic and meaningful way. Influencer marketing is a form of marketing that identifies and targets individuals through the influence of bloggers and their active voice. Research indicates how influence plays a role through social media to reach consumers. However, there is a gap in research when it …

Strategies For Implementing Advertisements In The Green Industry, Ashley Deal Castle

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

After a growth in sales of 30% from 2007 to 2010, green product market sales declined 2% from 2010 to 2014 in the United States. Business leaders need to incorporate sustainable business practices and use green messaging within advertisements and marketing campaigns to assure that present needs do not compromise the ability of future generations to meet their needs. This qualitative case study explored marketing strategies that business leaders in the green advertising industry use to increase the sale of green products. The social cognitive theory was the conceptual framework used in this study. In-depth interviews with 5 purposively selected …

Brand Promotions Via Social Media Advocacy: Strategic Implications For Improving Brand Equity, Manisha Mathur

Association of Marketing Theory and Practice Proceedings 2017

Social media is all about consumer networks and consumer relations that challenge marketers to leverage social media as a means to develop and improve their connections with consumers. Despite the opportunities available through social media marketing activities, understanding customers and their behavior, and incorporating that information in marketing strategy formulation is critical to successful strategy implementation. This study takes a significant leap forward in this direction. Theoretically grounded in two different fields-the field of sociology in combination with the field of relationship marketing, this study develops a conceptual model of optimizing social media characteristics of customers. The current study uses …

Tweet Upon A Star: Organic Brand Engagement With Celebrities On Social Media Platforms, Kristin M. Adams

William & Mary Business Law Review

Social media is a rapidly evolving form of digital communication in the modern age. Brands continue to focus increasing resources on garnering consumer attention on social media platforms and are demanding measurable results from agencies or internal social media marketing teams. To both increase and demonstrate the value of a brand’s social media presence, many companies are engaging in behaviors that entail riskier legal strategies. Perhaps the most substantial legal land mine is “real-time content,” in which brands create and post content on vastly accelerated timelines with truncated legal approval processes in order to interact meaningfully with consumers. This Note …

Establishing A Brand: How To Create A Household Name For A Wine Brand Through Social Media And Image, Megan Rodrigues

Journalism

This paper was conducted as a Senior Project for the Journalism Department at California Polytechnic State University in San Luis Obispo, California during a 10 week quarter. This paper explores the topic of wine branding through social media and image. The research for this paper consisted of interviews with three experts that are currently working in the wine industry as well as a literature review of several articles and books that support the topic. The questions that arose about wine branding, brand recognition, social media, wine label and image during the literature review were then asked to the three experts: …

Marketing Strategies Restaurant Leaders Use To Develop Their Customer Base, Carrie Weinreich

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Surviving past the first year of operation is a growing concern for independent, full-service restaurants. Some restaurant leaders lack the marketing strategies necessary to develop a loyal customer base and survive beyond the first year of operation. The purpose of this multiple case study was to explore the marketing strategies that independent, family-oriented, full-service restaurant leaders located in the Pittsburgh, PA, metro area in business for at least 5 years have used to develop their customer base during the first year of operation. This study was guided by the 7Ps of marketing theory, which emphasizes how people, including customers and …