Social Media Effective Marketing Communicative Tool Caffe Nero Marketing Essay

This research primarily focuses on social media being an effective marketing communicative tool for Caffe Nero- the Italian coffee bar. Social media has made a huge impact both on the business and marketing world. Traditional marketing methods are not able to reach the target audiences as they did a decade ago with the same effect (Pelsmarker, Neijens 2009). Marketing communication which represents the voice of the company are a means to inform, remind and communicate about their products and services directly or indirectly to the consumers (Kevin lane keller, 2009).

Caffe Nero, the Italian coffee company which have been chosen for the research work, provides a great deal of value for their customers. They are dedicated to providing their customers with their finest range of high quality espresso- based coffees, cold coffees as well as a wide range of high quality Italian foods. By creating a friendly atmosphere, by integrating local environment and culture, they have proved to be customer focused. On a business perspective, to increase sales and to gain competitive advantage the company has been trying to communicate its products and services to the consumers through different marketing communication tools. But according to Kevin lane keller (2009), “marketing communication is changing enormously from what it was 10-30 years ago. Internet and technology are changing the way the world communicates and interacts”. Marketing communication is conveying messages about the products and services to audiences that are of values encouraged to offer attitudinal and behavioural responses (chris fill, 2005). There is no point in communicating if there is no audience to receive the message. This brings the researcher to the aim and objectives of the research

Marketing communication allows a company to link their products and services to other people, brands, places, feelings and experiences (Kevin lane keller, 2009). The media environment has changed dramatically in recent years. Traditional media such as Television, magazines, newspapers, magazines are losing their grip on customers. Attention age, as this current period is called, is overlapping the information age, as increasingly abundant information is available particularly on the internet (Richard A Lanham, 2006). This age was marked as individuals began to create, consume and share information freely and instantly on the internet using social media. The period began with the emergence of web 2.0 technologies and social media in the year 2000 (Lanham, 2006). Kaplan and Haenlein (2010), defines social media as ” a group of internet based applications that build on the ideological and technological foundations of web 2.0 and that allow the creation and exchange of user generated content”. With the emergence of web 2.0, internet allows individuals by providing a set of tools to share information and to build social and business connections. According to Dan Zarrella (2007), social media takes place in different forms. This includes blogs, microblogs(Twitter), social networking (Facebook, LinkedIn), social bookmarking and voting sites (digg, Reddit), forums, virtual worlds(second life), media sharing sites(Youtube, Flickr). The ultimate goal of these foundations is to create a platform that encages and empowers its customers with the opportunity to communicate with the organization. These platforms are important to organizations, as it allows the organization to measure and monitor the effects of organization on their customers. Building on the personal empowerment that internet offers, individuals are connecting and talking through social networking sites about anything and everything (Evan , 2008). Evan (2008) quotes social media to a Wikipedia process. He describes saying, “people can write anything and everything, whatever they want on sites like Wikipedia, encyclopaedia. But its also true that often within a few minutes, someone would look at what you wrote and either validate or comment on it. Safko, Brake (2009), defines social media to activities, behaviours and practices experienced among communities of people who gather online to share opinions, knowledge and information using conversational media”. This is where organizations should use social media to reach their customers. It’s not possible to receive a spontaneous response using traditional communication methods. Avoiding advertisements, media and audience fragmentation and technologies such as web 2.0, digital television makes it increasingly difficult to reach and convince the audience (the so called customers) with traditional campaigns (Pelsmarker, Neijens (2009). For organizations, social media serves as an inexpensive platform so to implement the marketing campaign. With this, it’s possible for organizations to receive direct feedback from their consumers and markets (Mangold, 2009). Social media can be used by organizations in giving direct response to customer complaints, broadcasting updates, announcements, news and promotions. In order for an organization to be successful, they need to define their goals and this depends upon the platform that the organizations choose. Ignoring social media completely can deprive a company of an important marketing vechile and potent, cost-effective tools (Stephen E Arnold, 2009). Arnold (2009), also makes it clear that social media when embraced by an organization allows to create a relationship with its customers. Rapid diffusion of powerful broadband internet connections, multipurpose cellphones, portable video music players and ad-skipping digital video recorder have forced marketers to rethink a number of their traditional practices (Kaplan Thaler, Koval 2003; kiley 2005)

Social media has become an effective tool for marketing and sales. As social media continues to grow, the ability to reach consumers has increased. Social media appeals to both small and big business. Brands are using social media to reach customers and to build and maintain reputation. In this new media environment, it is important for organizations (small or big) to have a social media presence.

3. RESEARCH METHODOLOGY:

Research methodology examines the ways in which the information is gathered in order to answer the questions imposed for research. In this study conducted on social media, the research methodology looks into the methods used for research, research design, sampling – its size and type and the limitations to the study. Both primary and secondary research contributes to the study conducted on social media, as an effective communicative tool. With regards to the primary research, both qualitative and quantitative methods are used for the purpose of the research.

3.1 Secondary research:

“Collection of secondary data helps the researcher to get a general idea of the research field; therefore acting as a helpful source of information” (Yin, 2003). With consideration to secondary research, data can be collected from books, journals, articles and websites which will help the research in getting an overall idea of the research topic.

3.2 Primary research:

“Collection of primary data is necessary when researchers are interested in socioeconomic and demographic characteristics, attitudes, intentions, motivations, opinions and behaviour” (Gemmy, 1999). As mentioned above, both qualitative and quantitative research methods are used for this study. Knight, McCabe (1997), suggests “that case study provides a vehicle through which several qualitative methods can be combined, thereby avoiding too great a reliance on one single approach”. The tools used under qualitative method to gain access to the data are focus groups and depth interview.

Focus groups:

“In focus groups, the verbal interactions between the participants are important. The planning and running of different types of group have no means of standard. At the end of the day, it is the skill of the moderator that determines the quality of the data” (Ray kent, 2006). The type of group chosen is ‘Mini groups’ consisting of 4-5 people in a group. As Ray Kent (2006), points out that, Mini Groups can be used for study related to personal issues or for in-depth explorations”. As this is a study conducted on social media (which is more of consumer related), all age groups, from younger to older are taken for the purpose of study. The number of group planned for the discussion ranges from 2-6. Goodyear (1990) suggests that for exploratory research or for strategic projects, a group number of 30 or more is required and for tactical projects a group number of 2-8 is required. Every method has its own advantages as well as limitations. Ray kent (2006) examines the advantages as follows

Advantages of focus groups:

Cultural and social influences are highlighted

Consumer differences are highlighted which helps in understanding a range of attitudes in a short span of time.

Observing the groups is made easier

Depth interviews:

In depth interviews, the main lines of communication are between the interviewer and respondent or respondents (Kent, 2006). Executive and consumer interviews have been panned to be conducted, as this serves the purpose of the study and for the collection of data. Executive interviews are conducted with managers, which will highlight the way in which organization does things, which is relevant for this research. Consumer interviews are planned to be conducted with a whole family, consisting of different age groups which helps the research to understand the influence of individual members of the family. The interview is planned to be conducted in an open-ended way, with a time period of 15-30 minutes. Kent (2006) considers the following to be the advantages

Advantages of depth interview:

It is possible to identify who said what

Majority and minority opinions can be captured

The tool used under quantitative method to gain access to the data is Questionnaire. Asking individuals questions and noting their responses systematically has been a method of social research since 1970 (Kent, 2006). Questionnaires in relation to marketing tend to be in association with survey research (Yin, 2003). A face to face method of questionnaire has been chosen as it helps the study to be more realistic. A face to face method when compared with a telephone interview helps to limit the number of questions and the questions will appear to be fairly simple and short. The question format chosen with regards to the questionnaire is multi-response question, giving the respondents the choice to pick more than 1 response category. The length of the questionnaire has been planned to be limited to about 10-15 questions. The longer the questions, the more the chance to create unwillingness among respondents to finish off with the questionnaire.

3.3 Research Design:

Chris fill, paul Baines (2008) defines research design as “a clear non-technical description of the research type adopted and the specific techniques to be used to gather the required information which includes sampling procedures, data collection instruments”. The research design used in this study conducted is of a case study design. Case study research is concerned with the particular nature and complexity of the case in question (Bryman, Bell, 2007). The question of how will a case study in the context of research design criteria, in terms of ecological validity, external validity, internal validity, experimental validity, replicability and reliability, depends on the researcher on how he feels that these are appropriate for the evolution of a case study research (Bryman, Bell, 2007) . But Yin (1984) considers that they are appropriate criteria and suggest ways in which the case study research can be developed to meet the criteria.

3.4 Sampling:

Researching a small sample carefully may in fact , result in a greater accuracy than either a very large sample or attempting a complete census, since the problems associated with handling a large number of interviewers and a large number of questionnaires may create errors of a greater magnitude than those arising from the sampling process (kent, 2006). Under qualitative research, the size of the sample used for focus groups and depth interview, involves a small number of respondents. The sampling method used for qualitative research is purposive samples, a non-probability sampling method which allows the researcher, to select using his/her experience or judgement drawn from qualitative research. Under quantitative research, the size of the sample used for questionnaires, involves large number of respondents. The sampling method used for quantitative research is stratified sampling, a probability sampling method which classifies the population based on certain characteristics such as age, gender, sex etc which is very relevant on the study conducted .

Traditional marketing methods do not provide the same effectiveness as it did a decade ago in reaching their target customers (Pelsmarker, Neijens, 2009). A thorough study conducted through a range of literature has shown the rise of a new vehicle which helps organizations in communicating to its customers more effectively than it used to be. Yochai Benkler (2006) uses the neologism network information economy or network economy to describe the underlying technological, social and economic characteristics of what is known as social media. Social media is able to reach a global audience, it can be assessed at a little cost, it does not require much skill, and also receives spontaneous responses.

Whether it is a small, medium or large business, consumers are using social media and there is no reason I can see as a researcher for organizations to not use social media as a means to reach their customers. The above findings from the literature have already proved social media as an effective communicative tool for Caffe Nero. Further results from the primary and secondary data will help the researcher to get a clear insight on whether social media can be used as an effective marketing communicative tool for Caffe Nero.