Marketing research proposal

Research Proposal Impacts of social media marketing on small restaurant businesses in Vietnam Table of Contents Research Proposal .1 Purpose of the Project 1.1 Purpose of the study 1.2 Aim, objectives and research questions Literature review 3 Proposed methodology .5 3.1 Types of data 3.2 Data collection method .5 3.3 Data analysis method Sources of data 4.1 Sampling 4.2 Primary data 4.3 Content of questionnaire Expected schedule - Gant chart References Appendix Purpose of the Project 1.1 Purpose of the study The proposed study is to explore the influence of social media marketing on small-sized restaurants in Vietnam The employment of social media for marketing has constantly grown Social media sites can be used for various tasks of marketing and communication such as marketing communication, PR, and customer engagement Specifically, social media helps companies grow by increasing the traffic of the site, generating more leads for companies to work on and more importantly, boosting sales (Das, 2020) Besides, communities on social media channels facilitate word-of-mouth marketing through consumers’ reviews and experiences of certain products and services, which is a big marketing trend for 2020 (Allen, 2020) In terms of restaurant businesses, social media is a powerful tool for food and restaurant brands advertising their products and services Furthermore, during the current Covid-19 climate, dining rooms have been closed for the majority of 2020, restaurants must focus on takeout or delivery services and especially, stick to a marketing approach that is safe and cheap Social media is argued to be one of the cheapest and most accessible ways to engage with customers during this unprecedented time (Smith, 2020) In Vietnam, food and beverages selling on social media sites have recently become a trend It is convenient for Vietnamese people to find any product merely by browsing Facebook or Instagram pages This fact has encouraged the researcher to bring forth the topic The study examines the negative and positive impacts of social media marketing on restaurant businesses in Vietnam via a thorough research The style of research is basic research, which is driven by the researcher’s curiosity In particular, the study applies exploratory research in order to investigate a problem by assessing the influence of social media marketing on restaurants in Vietnam from business owners’ point of view 1.2 Aims and objectives The study aims to investigate the negative and positive impacts of social media marketing on small-sized restaurants in Vietnam The following objectives will facilitate the achievement of the aim The first objective is to identify the tasks of marketing and sales that the small-sized restaurants use social media platforms for The second objective is to assess the benefits of social media marketing for those restaurants The third objective is to analyse the negative sides of using social media platforms to connect with customers The study will answer three research questions: Question 1: What are the arguments for small-sized restaurants in Vietnam using social media for marketing? Question 2: How small-sized restaurant businesses in Vietnam benefit from social media marketing? Question 3: What are the drawbacks of social media marketing for small-sized restaurants in Vietnam? Literature review For the past few years, some researchers have studied about how social media marketing contributes to enhancing brand equity, sales and consumer brand loyalty as well as challenges of incorporating social media marketing in restaurant businesses These existing studies would be of great significance for the proposed study This Section will review three recent works that are the most relevant to the topic Firstly, Timilsina (2027) studied the influence of social media on business activities of restaurants based in Oulu, Finland The research was conducted via a mixed qualitative and quantitative method A questionnaire with both Likert and open-ended questions were used to interview restaurant entrepreneurs or communication managers in Oulu region The result from the work shows that social media tools like Facebook and Instagram mainly used by the restaurants Importantly, marketing through these sites not only is affordable and easy to access but also increases the flow of customers, and boosts sales This research suggests a means of collecting information from business owners’ perspective, which is Face-to-Face interviews Besides, the prospective survey questions to be sent to restaurant owners or communication responsible in Vietnam can be referenced from the interview questionnaire in this study The proposed study also assesses the influence of social media marketing on restaurants from entrepreneurs’ point of view; hence, the work by Timilsina (2017) will be a good reference It is undeniable that every marketing tool poses challenges and negative influences on users The same happens in social media marketing Lepkowska-White (2017) conducted a research to explore the challenges of social media in small restaurants The study employed qualitative research through interviewing 20 small restaurants in North-eastern United States The similar aspect of this research and the proposed study is that both articles concentrate on small-sized restaurants, notwithstanding the location Besides, the interview questions from the work can be beneficial to the further research, exemplifying which content can be covered in the survey questionnaire sent to restaurant entrepreneurs in Vietnam Although the proposed study focuses on entrepreneurs’ point of view, it is essential to understand the topic from consumers’ viewpoints Patel (2019) evaluated the effectiveness of social media marketing in building customer loyalty through a case of the Indian cuisine restaurants in Nairobi, Kenya The study employed descriptive research design A structured questionnaire was sent to guests at nine popular Indian cuisine restaurants in Nairobi at the end of their meals The data, after that, was analysed by SPSS Findings from the study indicate that social media is an effective tool to create brand awareness and facilitate the interaction among restaurants and guests Besides, social media environment builds strong bonds between brands and customers These results were derived from the answers shared by guests Yet, the opinions from restaurants may be different or similar Hence, it would be interesting to survey restaurants’ opinions Proposed methodology 3.1 Types of data The aim of the study is to explore the impacts of social media marketing on small-sized restaurants in Vietnam The study considers the business owners’ perspective as an indicator of the influence of social media marketing In the proposed research, the author will merely collect primary data 3.2 Data collection method The study employs mixed methods where both qualitative and quantitative data will be collected To be more specific, the restaurant survey data will include both Likert and openended questions, pertaining quantitative and qualitative methods respectively A mixed methods study is argued to have numerous advantages such as reflecting participants’ viewpoints and gathering rich, comprehensive data (Wisdom and Creswell 2013) Mixed methods, hence, is believed to enrich the findings and give participants to raise their voice from their experiences 3.3 Data analysis method To analyse data collected, Excel will be used First of all, Excel helps to summarise participants’ personal information and their answers from the questionnaire Thanks to Excel, survey question results are illustrated in percentages, charts by the number of respondents to each question The researcher is also more familiar with Excel, which will facilitate the analysis and generalisation of findings For qualitative data collected in the survey, content analysis will be used Particularly, the texts relevant to the research question will be selected to analysed and categorised Sources of data 4.1 Sampling The population of the study is small-sized restaurants in Vietnam The randomly chosen sample will be a group of restaurant entrepreneurs taken from this large population To be more specific, the sample representing small- sized restaurants in Vietnam will be food entrepreneurs that are the researcher’s acquaintances, friends and the ones introduced or recommended These owners are from every part of Vietnam, namely, North, South and Middle The reason for this random selection is that restaurant businesses from different parts of Vietnam may have divergent views on social media marketing; and out of curiosity, the researcher desires to seek the truth and draw a more objective conclusion 4.2 Primary data Depending on the external factors, the questionnaire will be either online or offline For instance, in case of social distancing due to COVID-99, an online questionnaire as a Google form can be sent out to entrepreneurs’ email addresses or Facebook or WhatsApp, while offline survey can be conducted by visiting restaurants 4.3 Content of questionnaire When it comes to content of the questionnaire, such dimensions as background information, social media marketing strategy, benefits and shortcomings of social media regarding brand awareness, flow of customers, sales, and customer engagement will be involved Respondents will be asked to indicate the opinions on each statement via Likert scale Each Section will also comprise open-ended questions A draft questionnaire can be seen in the Appendix The studies listed in the literature review will be of great value to this survey research Expected schedule - Gant chart It is predicted to take weeks, from August 24 to September 13 for the proposal stage to be completed This stage include preparation, presentation of research proposal and obtainment of ethics form approval The research stage including literature review, data collection and data analysis is likely to last for two and a half months Data can be collected from September 14 to October 15 and then analysed from October 15 to the end of October In case analysis proceeds quicker than expected, report writing can start earlier and finish at the end of November During the period of September 14 – November 30, literature review can be written and reviewed simultaneously November and December is expected to be spent on completing the research and submitting the final version References Allen, R.,2020 Social media marketing trends 2020 [online] Smart Insights Available at: https://www.smartinsights.com/social-media-marketing/social-media-strategy/social-mediamarketing-trends-2020/ Das, M., 2020 23 Best Benefits of Social Media for Your Business [2020] [online]Kiran R.K.G Available at https://www.kiranrkg.com/blog/various-benefits-of-social-media/ Lepkowska-White, E., 2017 Exploring the challenges of incorporating social media marketing strategies in the restaurant business Journal of internet commerce, 16(3), pp.323342 Patel, A.R., 2019 An Assessment of Social Media Marketing On Consumer Brand Loyalty: A Case Study of the Indian Cuisine Restaurants in Nairobi (Doctoral dissertation, United States International University-Africa) Smith, D., 2020 How to Market Your Restaurant During and After COVID-19 [online]Modern Restaurant Management Available at: https://modernrestaurantmanagement.com/how-to-market-your-restaurant-during-and-aftercovid-19/ Timilsina, M., 2017 Impacts of social media in restaurant businesses: A case study of restaurants based on Oulu region Wisdom, J and Creswell, J.W., 2013 Mixed methods: integrating quantitative and qualitative data collection and analysis while studying patient-centered medical home models Rockville: Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality Appendix Restaurant survey (draft) The purpose of this research is to collect primary information in relation to restaurant entrepreneurs' opinions about the influence of social media marketing This data will form part of a study involving impacts of social media marketing on small restaurant businesses in Vietnam If you would prefer not to take part in the project, then I thank you for your time and you need not complete the questionnaire If you are happy to participate in this project, please can you complete the questionnaire All information given will be treated confidentially I am very grateful for your assistance Introduction Age of your restaurant older than Number of employees 1-10 2-20 more than 20 Your target customers Students 12- 18 Students 19-25 Ages 25- 35 Ages 35-50 Older than 50 Social media platforms you use for marketing Please indicate your reasons on 'other' box if appropriate Facebook Instagram Zalo Viber Other: How often you post on social media Never Every few months Every few weeks Weekly Daily Which parts of Vietnam are you from North South Middle Impacts of social media Read each statement carefully and indicate whether you strongly disagree (1), disagree (2), are neutral ( 3), agree(4) and strongly agree(5) Your sales have improved significantly since you started to use social media More customers know about my restaurant The customer flow has increased 10 Social media marketing is cheap 11 It is easy for you to advertise your business on social media platforms 12 You have access to paid advertising services on social media 13 You feel a stronger bond with your customers via social media 14 More customers have contacted you via social media tools 15 Customers have had negative feedback about your restaurant on social media communities 16 It is easy for negative things about your restaurant go viral on social media 17 Social media marketing is time-consuming 18 How has feedback social media marketing affected you and your business? Your answer 19 Other thoughts on social media marketing Your answer ... the researcher to bring forth the topic The study examines the negative and positive impacts of social media marketing on restaurant businesses in Vietnam via a thorough research The style of research. .. basic research, which is driven by the researcher’s curiosity In particular, the study applies exploratory research in order to investigate a problem by assessing the influence of social media marketing. .. social media marketing on small-sized restaurants in Vietnam The employment of social media for marketing has constantly grown Social media sites can be used for various tasks of marketing and