Rachel Ma

IM II/6/12 AP
4/6/18

Midterm Compiled Annotations

Topic: Social Media Marketing in the Current Age

Style: APA

Bandyopadhyay, S. (2016). How a Cost-Effective Social Media Plan Can Make a

Difference for Small Businesses. Journal Of The Indiana Academy Of The Social
Sciences, 191-12.

Small businesses cause a significant contribution to economies within the United States,
employing around half of workers in the private sector; however, only half of small businesses
survive beyond five years. Lack of marketing efforts is one of the major reasons for this. While
lack of financial resources is one reason businesses cannot invest heavily in marketing, social
media can provide a cost-effective way to communicate and market to audiences. For small
businesses particularly, giving their brand a voice and engaging their customers is crucial to their
survival. To achieve this, it is important to develop a strategy and to set realistic, measurable
goals (i.e. SMART goals). Accurately measuring the success of their actions through analytics,
devoting ample time to monitoring its social media, and enduring trial and error to find the
optimum number of posts are various things a small business must face. The seven steps of a
strategy according to Cohen include determining objectives, knowing the target audience,
choosing three to five main topics for search engines, creating a presence on all platforms,
setting engagement, planning resource use, and measuring results. For small businesses,
Bandyopdhyay suggests the following steps: creating awareness of product offered, increasing
brand awareness and company reputation, strengthen relationships with users through
engagement, providing user support and customer service, and getting feedback. This article
provides a thorough review of existing approaches to social media marketing, adding the
author’s own detailed plan as well for small businesses to implement.

Carlson, A., & Lee, C. C. (2015). Followership and social media marketing. Academy of
Marketing Studies Journal, 19(1), 80+.

The article summarizes the current research on social customer relationship management
on social media. The two main purposes for social media are to market and provide a
management system for customers, including benefits of global collaboration, information,
reaching customers, and creating values. The current millennial generation, Generation Y,
requires marketers to think and act differently than before to adapt to this increased
communication and connectivity. Customer relationship management (CRM) is defined as a
model for managing company interactions with current and future customers. Research has
found that users have strong tendencies to “like” brands that help them express themselves, and
these brands in turn display positive influence on customer acceptance. Brands can address
customer needs through interactions and thus provide increased sales, profitability, and strength
for the brand. Marketing issues such as segmentation, targeting, and campaign design can be
resolved. User-generated content (UGC) in the form of product reviews and consumer created
advertising also play a component of online marketing. The article provides a comprehensive
overview of the current research on social media marketing in the context of the current
generation.

Chen, S., Su, X., & Wu, S. (2012). Need for achievement, education, and entrepreneurial
risk-taking behavior. Social Behavior and Personality: An International Journal, 40(8),
1311+.

This study uses entrepreneurial behavior theory (desirability and feasibility) to examine
the factors that lead to entrepreneurial risk-taking behavior, including the need for achievement
and education. Success for entrepreneurs depends on desirability, the need for achievement and
belief that the business is worth pursuing, as well as feasibility: the entrepreneur must have the
ability to take advantage of opportunities through education, knowledge, and experience. Risk-
taking is defined as one’s orientation toward taking chances in uncertain decision-making
contexts. Need-motive-value theory explains that people are motivated to behave in a way to
satisfy their particular needs. High need for achievement involves setting challenging goals with
degrees of uncertainty, and so those people with high need for achievement must be willing to
take more risks. Human capital theory states that individuals with more human capital than
others, such as experience and formal education, will have greater achievement and success. This
theory has been seen in relation to success in entrepreneurship. Risk thus becomes an attractive
option as they seek high returns. Results of the study clearly show that risk-taking was more
prevalent among those with higher need for achievement and higher education, and thus point to
the need for governments to invest in human capital (education). The article provides a thorough
examination on the factors of motivation and baseline knowledge to influence entrepreneurial
behavior.

Cowley, S. W. (2017). The BuzzFeed Marketing Challenge: An Integrative Social Media

Experience. Marketing Education Review, 27(2), 109-114.

This article relates the integrative activity entitled the Buzzfeed Marketing Challenge,
where students create and promote an article for a target market through BuzzFeed.com. While
students are inexperienced and lack intuition about the market and have limited access to
resources, this new approach simulates a real market setting easily. In some of the lessons given
to the students, strategy and product marketing plan were emphasized to the students. Consumer
behavior study included a focus on the role of identity, targeting, click-bait, and emotion in
generating sharing activity and viral diffusion of content. In summary, material that elicits strong
positive or negative emotions, is relevant to the audience, and incites curiosity is most likely to
be disseminated over a broader area. In developing a product, one should find external validation
to confirm their own opinions, and thoroughly familiarize oneself with media conventions in the
type of marketing platform used. Lastly, understanding the online traffic ecosystem and its
various channels and influences is crucial for outreach. The six influence principles from
Cialdini (1993): consistency, liking, authority, reciprocity, social proof, and scarcity, provide
guidelines in promotional strategies. This article provided an effective overview of the students’
marketing task and the ideas on marketing they learned.

Daniasa, C. I., Tomita, V., Stuparu, D., & Stanciu, M. (2010). The mechanisms of the
influence of viral marketing in social media. Economics, Management, and Financial
Markets, 5(3), 278+.

This paper highlights the role of social media and social media marketing in the spread of
information. Successful viral marketing messages aim to build an emotional connection between
a company and its customers. Instead of simply transmitting a message, the best online platforms
combine professional and user-generated content, and marketing consists of word-of-mouth
exchanges over which companies have no control. Such a phenomenon can be attributed to
social marketing, influencing behaviors and improving overall quality of lives. Marketers should
leverage the power of interpersonal networks to promote a product or service. Finding an optimal
group of individuals, consisting of family, friends, or colleagues, to target using marketing
strategies can trigger the widespread adoption of a product. This is due to the large influence
these groups have on one’s purchasing decisions. Brands or products that are unique, highly
visible, susceptible to discussion, or simple are the most effective when introduced with viral
marketing. Receiving freebies or uniquely powerful messages both boost the rate of success.
Overall, social media marketing is in the process of becoming highly utilized in the current
business frontier.

Duysen, C. A. (2012). Success secrets of the social media marketing superstars. Journal
of Applied Communications, 96(2), 14+.

Eccles, J. S., & Wigfield, A. (2002). Motivational beliefs, values, and goals. Annual
Review of Psychology, 109+.

This article reviews recent research involving the psychological aspects of goal-setting,
beliefs, and motivation. Many theories are focused on individuals’ beliefs of their own
competence and expectations for success or failure, which describes Self-Efficacy Theory. A
similar concept, locus of control theory, determines whether or not one feels they are in control
of their own fate. Theories involving intrinsic motivation, such as self-determination, state that
humans have needs for competence and stimulation. Goal and interest theories involve
situational, individual-based approaches to motivation. Ultimately, context defines motivation as
well, and thus complicates how it is perceived and defined. The article provided an expansive
overview of the basic theories behind motivation, and will be helpful as a basis to the research.

Gibson, C. D. (2013). A review of Likeable Social Media: how to Delight Your

Customers, Create an Irresistible Brand, and Be Generally Amazing on Facebook (and
Other Social Networks). Journal of Applied Communications, 97(1), 6+.
 Hunter, M. (2012). On some of the misconceptions about entrepreneurship. Economics,
Management, and Financial Markets, 7(2), 55+.

This article examines several myths of entrepreneurship and postulates several

refutations. Rather than “growth and glory”, the author claims it is more a narrative about
survival and subsistence. Most start-ups around the world involve little innovation, and do not
actively search for unique, new opportunities, instead duplicating existing ideas with little
modification. Entrepreneurial traits are difficult to pinpoint, and there is no way to explain the
phenomenon of entrepreneurship exactly, especially due to the varying nature of motivation.
However, one trait commonly misconstrued of entrepreneurs is their tendency to take risks:
entrepreneurs typically do not all have an all-accepting attitude towards risk, which varies among
cultures. New enterprises also typically do not last long, with heavy competition and low
profitability levels from the market hindering success. Inexperience, lack of marketing, selecting
too-small markets, lack of technology, poor customer service, and failure to manage funds have
all contributed to this high rate of failure. These clarifications could be further studied
quantitatively, and provide a new outlook on previous assumptions about entrepreneurs and
entrepreneurship.

Meadows, K. L., & Buckley, J. J., Jr. (2014, May-June). You, Inc. Journal of Healthcare
Management, 59(3), 173+.

This article defines the meaning of a personal brand and its influence on the continuous
development and realization of one’s career goals. Knowing one’s personal mission, vision, and
values in their brand will help build connections and advance one’s career. The drive and
motivation that propels someone, the roles they want to play, and how they want others to see
them will all create a cohesive brand image for others to view and understand. Outside
perception is crucial; evaluations from mentors and web searches can help one identify how
others see them. Indicating one particular distinguishing characteristic, as well as generating
recognition about one’s accomplishments, is important when beginning to market oneself.
Furthermore, being able to tie together all aspects of one’s brand, accomplishments, job
experiences, and future goals, will create a cohesive and attractive image for employers and
interviewers.

Minton, E., Lee, C., Orth, U., Kim, C.-H., & Kahle, L. (2012, Winter). Sustainable marketing
and social media: a cross-country analysis of motives for sustainable behaviors. Journal
of Advertising, 41(4), 69+.

Momany, M., & Alshboul, A. (2016). Social media marketing: utilizing social media to advance
brand awareness and increase online sales. International Journal of Business, Marketing,
and Decision Sciences, 9(1), 33+.

This study analyzes the influence of social media marketing in small businesses in the
bed and breakfast industry on brand awareness and online sales. The results indicate a strong
correlation, which is further emphasized through an overview of the past research on social
media and business performance. Social media is defined as internet tools that facilitate
interaction through the continuous generation, exchange, and modification of content. The main
benefits of social media for consumers include ability for customers to interact and gain
information from businesses, provide direct feedback, and leave recommendations or reviews.
For businesses, they are able to address customers’ problems (leading to fewer customers lost
due to satisfaction issues), distributing recognizable content, facilitating word-of-mouth
recommendations, saving costs and time and effort, expanding customer base, and share
information quickly. Social media marketing is unique in that it combines both Internet
marketing and word of mouth marketing. Even businesses who choose not to engage in social
media must deal with customers leaving reviews on their own social media platforms. In this
way, engagement (a strong predictor of online sales) and proactivity go hand in hand regarding
social media. This study’s findings coupled with background research help contextualize the
current findings on social media usage in marketing and in businesses.

Osborne, R. L. (1995, November 15). The essence of entrepreneurial success.

Management Decision, 33(7), 4+.

This article reviews some of the essential elements for entrepreneurial success, involving
risk, opportunity, and strategies. According to the article, the essence of entrepreneurial success
is found in the strategies that link the business and its environment, and being able to discover
opportunities such as customers, competitors, technology, social trends, and demographic
patterns. Being willing to ignore conventional wisdom about “how things are done” and create
new systems, such as selling flowers or computers from online catalogs, can greatly allow
businesses to succeed. A successful start-up strategy is outlined as: identifying unmet
marketplace needs, developing a product or service to meet those needs, creating a marketing
and financial plan (including resolve, resources, response, and results), and marshalling financial
resources. Successful entrepreneurs often have characteristic traits, including a strong need for
achievement, medium-level risk-taking behavior, goal-orientation, and independence. While the
article gives an adequate overview of entrepreneurial success, further study into how much these
qualities quantitatively correlate with success is needed for concrete conclusions.

Pullins, E. B., Strutton, D., & Pentina, I. (2012, Spring). The role of creativity in sales:
current research and future directions. Journal of Ethics & Entrepreneurship, 2(1), 73+.

This article gives a broad overview on the role of creativity in sales and management.
Innovation in creating or unearthing customer wants or needs where none previously existed is
one of the features of successful salespeople. Creating new messages or modes of thinking about
customer problems is essential. However, creativity and creation of new ideas remains a rather
abstract concept. Despite the research on creativity and adaptability being desired traits in
salespeople, few studies examine how to create or foster these traits. The article examines many
facets of sales creativity and why it is beneficial for the salesperson and the consumers, and its
topics can be expanded and referenced on in further research.
 Schiffman, C. M. (2010). An introduction to social media marketing. Strategies: The
Journal of Legal Marketing, 12(8), 4+.

The article gives a detailed look into the use of social media for marketing of law firms.
The article suggests to choose platforms that match with the firm’s culture, have the personnel to
engage in activities, implement a strategy (timeline and project plan), create policies on the do’s
and dont’s of social media, and define your target audience. Understanding and creating a solid
structure for social media is essential for any company. While the article is brief, it gives helpful
insight into the practical rules and regulations behind running a social media campaign that is
fairly new to the company.

Schmidt, J. J., Soper, J. C., & Facca, T. M. (2012). Creativity in the entrepreneurship
classroom. Journal of Entrepreneurship Education, 15, 123+.
This study examines an entrepreneurship curriculum related to students’ levels of
creativity and divergent thinking. Since the decline of creativity scores of U.S. students on the
Torrance test of creativity, many researchers are examining the qualities of creativity. It has been
found to be linked to entrepreneurship and motivation, and found to be an important factor to
success. The entrepreneurship curriculum has been improved over the years to meet the needs for
the new generations of students. In this study, performing exercises involving creating ideas
from pictures and discussing them found improvement in divergent thinking both in fluency
(ideas generated) and flexibility (range of expressed ideas). However, methodology limitations
still call for further research on the subject. This study gives a clear example of current methods
to enhance creativity both in entrepreneurial and non-entrepreneurial settings.

Schneider, R. (2014, October 1). Promoting ophthalmic practice through social media made
easy: tips for utilizing social media marketing with minimal administrative involvement.
Ophthalmology Times, 39(18), 57+.

In recent years, social media has emerged as a game-changer for companies to promote
their businesses outside of the print platform. This article discusses the benefits and details
behind the direct marketing strategies of social media. At the forefront of the discussion involves
a target audience for the social media: half of a typical audience is inclined to ignore ads, so this
indicates a need for persistence in targeting an audience. Customers are also more likely to
interact with marketing by becoming a part of the conversation within the topic on any social
media platform, instead of simply posting photographs or information and expecting people to
find them. Utilizing local media with a large social media presence is another important strategy
to expand this conversation. The article provides a helpful overview into how to best utilize
social media to spread brand awareness.

Shafigullina, A. V., & Palyakin, R. B. (2016). Social media marketing as an effective instrument
of the promotion of social business--project in social entrepreneurial activity. Academy
of Marketing Studies Journal, 20(SI 1), 1+.
 The article outlines the importance of marketing in social entrepreneurship, particularly
social media marketing (SMM) as an effective instrument for the promotion of business ideas.
“Social entrepreneurship” encompasses entrepreneurial activity aimed at mitigating or solving
social problems, introducing innovation into society. SMM’s advantages in this area include
reliability of information, wide coverage of audience, low cost, feedback, and precise choice of
target audience. However, there are no instant results, SMM requires constant work, and there is
a possibility of damaged reputation from users’ comments. Ultimately, the study showed a
successful use of social media marketing, but a common algorithm for marketing is necessary in
the long term. The article gives a brief but comprehensive overview of SMM in relation to social
entrepreneurship.

Tonyan, J. (2016). Chapter 7: Measuring the success of your social media presence with google
analytics. Library Technology Reports, 52(7), 38+.

While goals are essential towards any business, this article explains the procedure to track
these goals: through Google Analytics. Data provided directly from platforms such as Facebook
and Twitter offer built-in metrics to measure the effectiveness of one’s social media presence;
however, they alone cannot provide a comprehensive look into how users engage. Google
Analytics, once configured, can provide a wealth of data on social media channels, include what
users do and what drives traffic there. The article highlights useful social media reports and
campaign URLs as measures of marketing success. Using campaign URLs on different locations
can reveal where the most users are reaching your website. Conversions can show how many
people did a specific action, such as registering for a workshop. Overall, this article gives an
adequate introduction into Analytics, but could be more in-depth and detailed in scope.

Van Praag, C. M., & Van Ophem, H. (1995). Determinants of willingness and
opportunity to start as an entrepreneur. Kyklos, 48(4), 513.

This article discusses the effects of opportunity and willingness on becoming an

entrepreneur. Self-employment requires that an individual is both willing (has motivation) and
has had the opportunity (ability and/or capital) to switch to this occupational status. The article
aims to identify the contribution of these concepts to the decision of a wage worker to switch to
being an entrepreneur. Opportunity is defined as the possibility of becoming self-employed if
one desires, including the variables of starting capital, entrepreneurial ability, and the economic
environment. Willingness is defined as the valuation of work in self-employment versus
remaining employed or unemployed, and is dependent on individual preferences and perceived
attractiveness of options. Results found that a lack of assets restrains the opportunity to become
self-employed. However, variables such as education and overall opportunity does not impede
the individuals who switch to self-employment. Only a seventh of males who wish to become
self-employed actually have the means to do so. The article determines the influence of factors
such as assets and willingness on entrepreneurship and self-employment only in young white
male Americans; results may vary among other groups.
 You've got mail: 5 email marketing mistakes and how to avoid them. (2017, Fall).
Massage Therapy Journal, 56(3), 88.

This brief article pinpoints the major mistakes in email marketing, and how to
subsequently counteract or avoid them. First is lack of personalization: sending to clients based
on who they are and their needs, such as if they are a past or present client, can help increase the
chance they are interest and improve the call to action in your message. Second is not using
responsive design: using a simple and professional template, one that renders correctly on
various screens and browsers, is highly important. Third is focusing solely on promotion: it must
be balanced with how services can benefit clients or other useful information, not just
advertising. Fourth is using boring or deceptive subject lines: relevant and catchy subject lines,
without too many exclamations or promotional words, will help increase clicks. Lastly, not
tracking results: metrics such as open rates, click-through rates and return on investment (ROI)
provided by most email marketing software can help improve messages and show how effective
they are. The article provides a clear, streamlined, and concise overview of the main important
points of email marketing.