Exploring Social Media &

e-Business
By: Dr. Shaba Ismail IFYP0023 Introduction
Week 9
to Business
Important Announcement!
Change in Class Times for Week 11
Session Time & Venue

25th April Lecture Time: 11:00 – 14:00

(Tuesday) Venue: 3R025
26th April Combined Tutorial 1 Time: 14:00 – 17:00
(Wednesday) &2 Venue: 3R024

*Attendance is compulsory for both sessions for ALL teams

unless a legitimate reason crops up. Should something of that
nature pops up, please notify me as soon as possible.
Important Announcement!
Change in Lecture Time for Week 10

Session Time & Venue

18th April Lecture Time: 11:00 – 13:00

(Tuesday) Venue: 3R017
19th April Tutorial 1 & 2 As Usual
(Wednesday)
 Week 9 Learning Objectives

1. Examine why it is important for a business to use social media.

2. Discuss how businesses use social media tools.
3. Explain the business objectives for using social media.
4. Describe how businesses develop a social media plan.
5. Explain the meaning of e-business.
6. Understand the fundamental models of e-business.
7. Identify the factors that will affect the future of the Internet,
social media, and e-business.
Essential Reading for this Week:
Pride, W.M., Hughes, R.J. and Kapoor, J.R.,
(2023). ‘Chapter 14: Exploring Social Media
and e-Business’ in Foundations of Business
(7th ed.), pp. 401-432. Cengage Learning.
 Social Media
The online interactions that allow people and businesses to
communicate and share ideas, personal information, and information
about products and services.
Social Media Use in the USA

Source: https://www.pewresearch.org/internet/2021/04/07/social-media-use-in-2021/

Source: https://www.pewresearch.org/internet/2022/08/10/teens-social-media-and-technology-2022/
Source: https://www.asiapacdigital.com/digital-marketing-insight/malaysia-digital-marketing-2022
Source: https://www.asiapacdigital.com/digital-marketing-insight/malaysia-digital-marketing-2022
Source: Pride, W.M., Hughes, R.J. and Kapoor, J.R., (2023). ‘Chapter 7: Creating a Flexible Organization’ in Foundations of Business (7th ed.), pp. 185-209. Cengage Learning.
Changes in the Most Popular Social Media Platforms Over Time
2004 – 2022
Why Businesses Use Social Media
By using social media, companies can:

• Share information about their products

and services
• Improve customer service
• Learn about customers’ likes and
dislikes
• Seek public input about products and
marketing
• Promote particular products

*Hashtag: A word or a short phrase preceded by

the pound sign (#), to identify different
topics
6 Most Important Benefits for a Business that Uses Social Media

Source: Pride, W.M., Hughes, R.J. and Kapoor, J.R., (2023). ‘Chapter 14: Exploring Social Media and e-Business’ in Foundations of Business (7th ed.), pp. 401-432. Cengage Learning.
Social Media Tools for Business Use
 Social Content Sites

Allows companies to
create and share
information about
their products and
services.
Business Use of Blogs
1. Blog: A Web site that allows a company
to share information in order to not only
increase the customer’s knowledge
about its products and services, but
also to build trust.

2. Blogs are effective at:

• Developing better relationships with
customers
• Attracting new customers
• Telling stories about the company’s
products or services
• Providing an active forum for testing
new ideas (i.e., Etsy)
 Photos, Videos & Podcasts
Media sharing sites – allow users to upload photos,
videos, and podcasts.

• Photo sharing – provides a method for a

company to tell a compelling story about its
products or services through postings on either
the company’s Web site or a social media site.

• Videos – have the ability to tell stories.

• Podcasts – digital audio or video files that people

listen to or watch online on tablets, computers,
smartphones, or other mobile devices.
Social Media Ratings

Sites for reviews and ratings

are based on the idea that
consumers trust the opinions
of others when it comes to
purchasing products and
services.

Examples: Yelp, TripAdvisor

Social Games

Social Games – a multiplayer,

competitive, goal-oriented activity with
defined rules of engagement and online
connectivity among a community of
players.

Example: Words with Friends, FarmVille,

Angry Birds
 Social Media Communities

1. Social media communities – groups of people who

share common interests and who want to engage in
conversations about issues they consider important
or interesting.

2. Types of social communities:

• Forum – an interactive version of a community
bulletin board that focuses on threaded discussions
• Wiki – a collaborative online working space that enables
members to contribute content that can be shared with
other people (i.e., Wikipedia).

3. Social media community manager – a high-level

executive who is responsible for all of a company’s
social media activities
 The Top 7 Social Media Networking Sites Used by Businesses

Source: Pride, W.M., Hughes, R.J. and Kapoor, J.R., (2023). ‘Chapter 14: Exploring Social Media and e-Business’ in Foundations of Business (7th ed.), pp. 401-432. Cengage Learning.
Why Do Businesses Use Social Media?
Crisis & Reputation Management
• Many executives believe that social media can
help a company recover from a crisis.

• During a crisis, companies can use social media

to:
1. Answer questions with carefully
worded posts
2. Reassure the public
3. Present positive information to help
rebuild their reputations

▪ Employees should be trained in social media

etiquette and monitor social media sites to see
what is said about the company and its products.
Targeting Customers
• Many companies are using social media to increase
awareness and build their brand among customers.

• It is especially valuable in targeting the Millennials.

✓ Millennials – tech-savvy digital natives born after

1980
✓ Millennials are America’s largest generation.
✓ Example: After researching the market for luxury
apparel, U.K. fashion firm Burberry found that 60
percent of the world’s population is under 30 years
old. Thus, Burberry’s designers created new
collections of styles that appeal to Millennials’
fashion tastes while building on the company’s
more than 160-year heritage.
 Generating New Product Ideas

• Crowdsourcing – outsourcing tasks to a

group of people in order to tap into the
ideas of the crowd.

• Companies can build communities for

specific brands in order to obtain
information and new ideas from
consumers.

• Example: Lego Ideas Platform

 Recruiting New Employees

Social media has been

used quite effectively by
large corporations, small
businesses, nonprofit
organizations, and
government agencies to
recruit new employees.
 Social Media Marketing
• Social media marketing: The utilization of software, computer
technology, and the Internet to provide information about a
firm’s products and services, increase sales revenues, and
improve customer service for a business.

• Research indicates that companies are shifting their

advertising money from traditional marketing to digital
marketing.

• Today, many companies have been quite successful using

social media marketing not only to develop customer
awareness, but also to obtain sales leads and increase actual
sales.

• Inbound marketing – a marketing term that describes new

ways of gaining attention and ultimately customers by
creating content on a Web site that pulls customers in.
Dove’s Real Beauty Marketing Campaigns
Snap’s Marketing Solutions for Other Businesses

Source: Pride, W.M., Hughes, R.J. and Kapoor, J.R., (2023). ‘Chapter 14: Exploring Social Media and e-Business’ in Foundations of Business (7th ed.), pp. 401-432. Cengage Learning.
 Social Media Marketing
Social media marketing is only one aspect of digital
marketing. Digital marketing also includes:

1. Search engine optimization : Using keywords in

a company’s Web site in order to rank higher in
search engine results

2. Search engine marketing: Buying ads like

Google’s AdWords to increase traffic to a
company’s Web site

3. Display advertising: Buying banner ads

4. Email marketing: Targeting customers through

opt-in email campaigns
5 Steps to Build a Social Media Plan
Step 1: Listen to Determine Opportunities
• Use social media to “listen” to what customers like and
don’t like about the company’s products and services.
• Monitor social media sites to gather information about
competitors.

Step 2: Establish Social Media Objectives

• An objective is a statement about what a social media plan
should accomplish.
• For most companies, the most popular objectives are:
1. Improving customer service
2. Increasing brand awareness
3. Acquiring new customers

Step 3: Segment and Target the Social Customer

5 Steps to Build a Social Media Plan
Step 4: Select Social Media Tools
• A company can use social media communities,
blogs, photos, videos, podcasts, or games to reach
potential or existing customers.
• It is also possible for a business to build a social
media community—especially when the objective
is to fund local community projects or nonprofit
organizations.
• Often money for worthwhile projects is obtained
through crowdfunding.
✓ Crowdfunding – a method of raising money to fund
a project for a business, a nonprofit organization, or
an individual

Step 5: Implement and Integrate the Plan

Types of Information That Can Help Target Different Social Media Customers

Source: Pride, W.M., Hughes, R.J. and Kapoor, J.R., (2023). ‘Chapter 14: Exploring Social Media and e-Business’ in Foundations of Business (7th ed.), pp. 401-432. Cengage Learning.
 Measuring & Adapting a Social Media Plan

Quantitative Social Media Measurement:

1. Quantitative social media measurement – using

numerical measurements, such as counting the
number of Web site visitors, number of fans and
followers, number of leads generated, and the
number of new customers

2. Key performance indicators (KPIs) – measurements

that define and measure the progress of an
organization toward achieving its objectives
Quantitative Measures for Selected Social Media Web Sites
Type of Social Media Typical Measurements
• Unique visitors
Blogs • Number of views
• Ratio of visitors to posted comments
• Number of followers
• Number of tweets and retweets
Twitter
• Click through rate (CTR) of tweeted links
• Visits to Web site from tweeted links
• Number of likes
• Number of comments
Facebook
• Growth of wall response
• Visits to Web sites from Facebook links
• Number of videos
• Number of visitors
YouTube
• Ratio of comments to the number of videos
• Number of embedded links

Source: Pride, W.M., Hughes, R.J. and Kapoor, J.R., (2023). ‘Chapter 7: Creating a Flexible Organization’ in Foundations of Business (7th ed.), pp. 185-209. Cengage Learning.
 Social Media Analytics Report: A Snapshot

Source: Pride, W.M., Hughes, R.J. and Kapoor, J.R., (2023). ‘Chapter 14: Exploring Social Media and e-Business’ in Foundations of Business (7th ed.), pp. 401-432. Cengage Learning.
 Social Media Analytics Report: A Snapshot

Source: Pride, W.M., Hughes, R.J. and Kapoor, J.R., (2023). ‘Chapter 14: Exploring Social Media and e-Business’ in Foundations of Business (7th ed.), pp. 401-432. Cengage Learning.
 Measuring & Adapting a Social Media Plan

Qualitative Social Media Measurement

Qualitative social media measurement – the

process of accessing the opinions and beliefs about
a brand that primarily uses sentiment analysis to
categorize what is being said about a company.

✓ Sentiment analysis – a measurement that uses

technology to detect the mood, attitudes, or
emotions of people who experience a social media
activity
Defining e-Business

• E-business (or electronic business) – the organized

effort of individuals to produce and sell, for a profit,
the goods and services that satisfy society’s needs
through the facilities available on the Internet.

• Not to be confused with e-commerce—buying and

selling activities conducted online.

• Mobile marketing – communicating with and selling

to customers through mobile devices.

• A growing number of companies have apps to make

mobile transactions faster and more convenient for
customers.
 Combining e-Business Resources

Source: Pride, W.M., Hughes, R.J. and Kapoor, J.R., (2023). ‘Chapter 14: Exploring Social Media and e-Business’ in Foundations of Business (7th ed.), pp. 401-432. Cengage Learning.
Other Business Models that Perform Specialized e-Business Activities

Advertising Advertisements that are displayed on a firm’s Web site in return for a
e-business fee. Examples include pop-up and banner advertisements on search
model engines and other popular Internet and social media sites
Online marketplaces where buyers and sellers are brought together to
Brokerage
facilitate an exchange of goods and services. One example is eBay
e-business
(www.ebay.com), which provides a site for buying and selling virtually
model
anything
Consumer-to- Peer-to-peer software that allows individuals to share information over
consumer the Internet. Examples include Craigslist (www.craigslist.org), which
model allows users to buy and sell all kinds of items
Subscription Content that is available only to users who pay a fee to gain access to a
and pay-per- Web site. Examples include investment information provided by
view Standard & Poor’s (www.netadvantage.
e-business standardandpoors.com) and business research provided by Forrester
models Research, Inc. (www.go.forrester.com)

Source: Pride, W.M., Hughes, R.J. and Kapoor, J.R., (2023). ‘Chapter 14: Exploring Social Media and e-Business’ in Foundations of Business (7th ed.), pp. 401-432. Cengage Learning.
Internet Growth Potential

• About 3.7 billion of the 7.5 billion people in the

world use the Web.

• Approximately 89 percent of the U.S. population

uses the Internet; thus, potential growth in the
United States is limited.

• On the other hand, the number of Internet users

in the world’s developing countries is expected
to increase dramatically.

• Experts predict that the number of companies

using e-business to increase sales and reduce
expenses will continue to increase
Number of internet users in Malaysia from 2013 to 2022, with forecasts up to 2028 (in millions)

Source: Statista (2023)

Ethical & Legal Concerns

• Unauthorized computerized tracking of users once they

are connected to the Internet.
✓ Cookie – a small piece of software sent by a Web site that
tracks an individual’s Internet use. Although this type of software
may produce valuable customer information, it also can be viewed as
an invasion of privacy.

• Data mining – the practice of searching through data

records looking for useful information.
✓ Based on information entered into customer registration
forms that give individuals access to a Web site, data mining
analysis can provide what might be considered private and
confidential information about those individuals.

• Employers monitoring employees’ computer usage.

Ethical & Legal Concerns

Exposure To & Risk of Cyber Crime

1. Malware and computer viruses

Malware – a general term that describes
software designed to infiltrate a computer
system without the user’s consent

2. Identity theft

3. Fraud
Future Challenges for Computer Technology, Social Media & e-Businesses

• Both businesses and individuals must

consider the cost of obtaining additional
information and computer technology.

• In an effort to reduce expenses and improve

accessibility, some companies and individuals
are now using cloud computing.

Cloud computing – a type of computer usage in which

services stored on the Internet are provided to users on
a temporary basis.

• In addition to cost, there are a number of

external and internal factors that a
business must consider.
Internal & External Forces That Affect an e-Business

Source: Pride, W.M., Hughes, R.J. and Kapoor, J.R., (2023). ‘Chapter 14: Exploring Social Media and e-Business’ in Foundations of Business (7th ed.), pp. 401-432. Cengage Learning.
 This Week’s Tutorial Activity
• For this week's tutorial activity, each group will be expected
to deliver a 10-minute presentation that analyses the external
marketing environment (cue PESTLE analysis) of the industry
your start up idea is based on.

• When analyzing, you can use these questions to help

structure your presentation:

1. What are the challenges some of these factors are posing for the
industry at large? And your start up specifically?

2. What opportunities are some of these factors presenting for the

industry at large? And your start up specifically?

3. What are major industry players doing to leverage or mitigate

these opportunities and challenges? Is there any important
takeaways for your start up here?
That’s All for Today!
Any Questions?
Thank you! ☺
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