Table of Contents
Proposed research methodology: 6
Why are these sources appropriate?. 9
What type of information you will gather from these?. 9
How you will access these sources: 10
The proposed time-frame for the work in detailed chart form: 10
Title:
To understand the food business and the marketing strategies used in the industry in the UAE, the paper will analyse how the restaurants in the UAE use social media as part of their marketing strategy for in their products.
The Team:
Qureshi:
He would be responsible for the creation of the questionnaire that will be used for the collection of the primary data. Along with Baker and Ali, he would be responsible to get the survey done for the primary research.He would work with all the others in the findings and conclusion part. In addition, all would work together in the final proposal.
Baker:
Along with Qureshi, he would create the questionnaire for primary research. He would be responsible with Qureshi andAli to get the survey done for the primary research. He will write the literature review along with Ali of the proposal on the research problem that the proposal seeks to address. He would work with all the others in the findings and conclusion part. In addition, all would work together in the final proposal.
Ali:
He will complete the analysis of the primary research and write the literature review along with Bakeron the research problem that the proposal seeks to address. He would work with all the others in the findings and conclusion part. Along with QureshiandBaker, he would get the survey done.In addition, all would work together in the final proposal.
Qureshi,Baker, and Ali:
They will get the survey done. In addition, they would be responsible to compile the analysis and bring the findings from the primary and secondary research. They would also make recommendations based on the findings.In addition, they would work with each other in the findings and conclusion part. In addition, all would work together in the final proposal.
The Problem area:
The aim of any business venture is to maximize on the profits. The key factor that ensures that a business is in a position to maximise on profits is the form of marketing strategies used.
According to Moe (2014),themain aim of marketing on a social media platform is to ensure that the business is in a position tocreate a new brand of a commodity to the market, and is able to maximize n their profits margins.
Moe (2014) further explains that the use of social media in marketing has greatly increased over the years with more business ventures joining the market with the intention of reaching out top more consumers. He explains how the Instagram provides a “behind the scenes” look.
For example, taking pictures of a specific food, say the food or soup of the day,that a restaurant has prepared,will easily entice customers to visit that restaurant to consume or purchase that specific food.The performance of this platform for marketing will depend on how current the platform used is and how it connects with the customers.“
The social media plays an important role in convincing the customers about the consumption of a certain product or service in the market. Either it may convince the customers to consume the commodity or discourage them from consuming the product based on what the public is saying” (Moe,2014).
Expenses that come along with marketing for products are relatively high. Firms are competing for the limited access to the print media, radio and televisions in order to market their products. It becomes almost impossible for the smaller business ventures to secure slots for advertising their products. This has resulted to some of the business exiting the market due to poor performance.
Others are not maximising on their profits, as they should because of the type of marketing strategy used in advertising their products. There is a higher population that has joined the social media. Therefore, advertisement through this platform would attract many potential consumers. It is also cheaper regardless of the size of the business (Zarrella, 2010).
This paper will therefore seek to address the high payments that investors in the food business are paying when there are other cheaper avenues that can be adapted.
According to Kotler (2011), financial meltdown results to the consumers adjusting their lifestyles in order to reduce on their expenses. Producers should therefore use marketing strategies that are cheaper in order to reduce on the production costs so that the customer can buy the commodities at relative prices. One avenue that can easily cut on these expenses is the social media marketing strategy.
As Neher (2013)stated,Instagram gives people an opportunity to share pictures and short videos using their smart phones and tablets.Restaurants can easily use this avenue in sharing the pictures of the dishes they prepare to the customers in order to convince more of them to come and have a taste of their products.
One good example is KFC Dubai Mall, which shares pictures of the dishes they prepare so that customers can comment on the Instagram and Facebook. Yellow Egg Café also shares photos of the products they sell in their café.
They also, on rare occasions, provide videos of the recipes and procedures of preparing certain dishes.For example, the Kardashian Family, who are very influential celebrities in America, visited the KFC Dubai Mall, with the numerous photos they took while there,and posted in Instagram, more people were enticed to try out the foods available at the KFC Dubai mall. They were launching millions of milkshakes and the fact that many of their Dubai fans were there, it gave KFC quite a boost.
The research questions are as follows:
Firms are likely to maximize on their profits when they adapt using the social media in marketing of their products. The research question will include;
- Are restaurants ready to adapt to using the social media in marketing their products?
- Will the use of social media as a marketing tool increase the sales in a food business?
- Do customers find the use this marketing strategy effective in informing them about the existence of a new commodity in the market?
Proposed research methodology:
The research methodology is a vivid study of the application of the social media marketing strategy by the food business industry in the UAE. The research paper will use a descriptive design for the analysis on the use of social media in marketing especially in the food business.Primary and secondary research will be used.
Primary research:
Development of questionnaires will be vital for the success of this proposal. The questionnaire will be composed of a few questions, which will be sent to the entrepreneurs in the food business in the UAE especially in Dubai and to a few customers. The choice of who to answer the questionnaire will be random in order to eliminate any form of biasness in the research.
This will include people from all possible kinds of demographic, gender, job types, and age provided they have an account in the social media, especially Instagram. There should be around 100-150 respondents for the successful implementation of primary research in the report.
The type of questions in the survey should include:
- Check boxes:
The respondent is given a variety of answers represented in a boxes format. He or she is expected to tick on the answer that he or she chooses. The researcher will give the respondent options for the answer; therefore, there will be more than one correct answer.
- Dichotomous (Close-ended):
These are questions with two possible answers, “yes” or “no”. This therefore implies that any answer out of this bracket is not accepted. Analysis of data from these forms of questions is easier and takes less time compared to the open ended. This is because the respondent has no freedom to answer as he or she pleases.
- Open ended:
These forms of questions have no direct and specific answers. There is freedom for the respondent to answer as he or she pleases. The analysis of data from this type of data is abit technical.
- Multiple- choice questions:
The researcher gives the respondent possible answers option and the respondent has to choose one. In the event where the question asked has more answer options and the one he or she intends to choose is not in the list, the researcher provides the respondent with the option “more” for him or her to fill. Such forms of questions include asking the marital status of the respondent.
- Scale Choices:
This provides the respondent with a scale for him to fill. The larger the value the respondent will attach to the answer, the better the item chosen. Such a question will include asking how effective has the social media been in the food business as a tool for marketing.
Secondary Research:
Secondary research will be instrumental in determining how businesses use the social media in marketing for their products. This will involve analysing how businesses use their Instagramaccounts to market their food business. Secondary research will help the researcher to determine the situation on the ground and determine other marketing tools used by the food business other than the social media.
Secondary research will be usedto find out the real and actual market position and situation at the current level and now. This will help determine the success of the food business in the UAE and how social media marketing has helped the businesses excel. The data will be collected to analyse the present market situation considering that it will create a base for primary research.
Indicate specific sources:
Survey responses: Here the information will be collected through the primary survey. This will describe how the consumers feel about the use of the social media in the food business for marketing products.
The views of the consumer will dictate whether the use of Instagram will be successful as a marketing tool or not. Products are produced for the consumers to consume. Therefore, this method will determine how many consumers consumed the food products based on adverts they saw in Instagram.
This will give the situation on ground in as far as the consumer behaviour of the social media marketing is concerned. The questions therefore need to be framed properly inorder to get the right view of the consumers thought on the marketing strategy. The suppliers will also give information on whether there will be an increase in sales once the social media marketing strategy is adapted.
Internet Primary Research: This research will collect data from Internet. The sources will be the information from KFC Dubai on how they have adapted to the use of the Instagram and the significance it has brought to their sales in the UAE.The Internet will also be instrumental in determining what the consumers think about social media marketing by reading some of their comments in the Instagram.
Why are these sources appropriate?
Surveys: Surveys give reliable information to the businesses. The researcher will be able to establish the needs of the consumers through the answers they provide in the questionnaires.Feedback relayed from the use of questionnaires directly implies what the consumers think. This therefore simplifies the businesses’ goal of ensuring that they produce products that the consumers want.
Surveys will provide information on how many people understand what it means to market food business on the social media platform.By doing survey, it would be easy to understand the market for the Organization. It drives the business ideas on what to implement in their use of social media in marketing their food business. Survey gives us the choice of collecting the data that we are looking. We can collect information for broader set for which there is no previous available information available.
Internet Data: it will provide information that is hardly available or is hard to collect through a survey. It will also provide information, which would be costly for a researcher to get if he or she were to carry the research.
What type of information you will gather from these?
- From primary research:
- The form of marketing strategies used in by the food businesses in the UAE.
- The different social media platforms used by the entrepreneurs in the food business in the UAE.
- The social media platform used by KFC Dubai
- The use of the Instagram by entrepreneurs in the food businesses
- The effectiveness of using the social media selected by the business
- Consumer views on social media marketing
- From Secondary research:
- Confirmation of whether a respondent has a social media account.
- The achievements of the social media in supporting business in terms of marketing their products
- Social media platforms used by other businesses
- Acquiring the email addresses of respondents
How you will access these sources:
Primary research using surveys will be carried out in the field. We will go to the different place to issue the questionnaires. Other questionnaires will be sent to the email addresses of people chosen in random.
Meeting people and asking them one on one questions strategy will also be used. It is important to ensure that the survey is short so that we do not waste the respondent’s time in trying to make him or her answer questions.
The secondary research will be done through the online portal of Government of the UAE regarding the list of emails to be selected. We would also do Google search to find other related information.
The proposed period for the work in detailed chart form:
| Month(2014) | Work | Team member |
| September | Preparing Questionnaire | Member 1 and 2 |
| September | Internet Research-Data | Member 1 |
| October | Collecting all primary data | All members |
| October | Analysing data | Member 3 |
| November | Preparing results | All members |
| November | Conclusion and Recommendations | All members |
| December | Action to be taken | All members |
References
Halligan, B.& Shah, D. (2010).Inbound marketing get found using Google, social media, and blogs. Hoboken, N.J: Wiley.
Jennings, M. (2012).Business : its legal, ethical, and global environment. Mason, OH: South-Western Cengage Learning.
King, D. (2008). United Arab Emirates. New York: Marshall Cavendish Benchmark.
Kotler, P. (2011). Reinventing marketing to manage the environmental imperative.Journal of Marketing, 75(4), 132-135.
Moe, D. (2014). Marketing and Social Media.
Neher, K. (2013). Visual social media marketing : harnessing images, Instagram, Infographics and Pinterest to grow your business online. Cincinnati, Ohio: Boot Camp Pub.
Pride, W., Hughes, R. &Kapoor, J. (2012).Business. Mason, OH: South-Western Cengage Learning.
Zarrella, D. (2010). The social media marketing book. Beijing Sebastopol, Calif: O’Reilly.