Are Alternative Farmers Yielding Success with Online Marketing and Communication Tools for Their Social Capital and Business Viability?

To foster direct-to-consumer marketing, some alternative farmers are shifting to online tools like social media. What is unknown, however, is how they use them and what impacts use has on their business. The purpose of this study was to characterize and determine influences and outcomes of alternative farmers’ use of various online communication channels to better understand what they stand to gain (or lose) from participation in these activities as it relates to their farm business viability and social capital. Through survey data of 82 alternative farmers, it was learned their personal use of social media was highly correlated with their business use. Most of their time on the Internet was spent finding farming information and finding and interacting with customers; these activities (along with several others) were positively correlated with online bridging social capital. Personal uses of Facebook were indicative of greater social capital, whereas business uses of any social media were not. For business viability, the more Facebook Page likes their farms had, the more revenue they had, but no relationships were found between their business use of social media and customer loyalty or customer relationship. In sum, alternative farmers’ use of online communication tools was positively related to their social capital and their use of Facebook Pages was positively related to farm revenue. This study provides critical benchmark data to later determine the impact of effective use of these tools

Contemporary media production and transformation : media convergence in a public service broadcaster

Mobile apps, social media platform as well as the digital devices have changed our lifestyle tremendously. In the modern capitalistic society, long working hours and limited personal time are common among in the society. Although the limited personal time restricted our leisure time, our media consuming habit is also shifted to adapted to the limited personal time thanks to the advanced information communication technologies (ICTs). ICTs not only help us to consume vast amount of information around the world, but also inviting us to access to the internet regardless of the physical place and time. It also helps us to digitalise different format of information, such as texts, audio, videos, etc., in the same digital bit so users can access to different formats of resources through various types of digital device now. The above media convergence provides many entertainment for the internet users and it suits the contemporary capitalistic society lifestyle. With the vast amount of information available on the internet, the conventional media is facing severe competition from the cyberspace counterparts. The static and fixed TV schedule is a thing of past because audience can consume various TV programmes regardless of time and place on the internet now. As such, media convergence brings difficulties in operating media business in the contemporary society. TV ratings of the conventional media are affected by the prevalentce of using ICTs. However, some conventional media view the media convergence and digitalisation are new opportunities for development. The high definition resolution and advanced technical quality of the digital footages and increasing channels or platforms for broadcasting the media products mean there are more channels for the users to approach or learn about own media products. The key is how to make their media products adapt to different media platforms on the internet and invite more internet users to consume the programmes afterwards. In this Thesis, we will use a conventional media in Hong Kong – RTHK to study the transformation of conventional media in adapting to the network society. Media convergence brings many possibilities to this 87-year-old Public Service Broadcaster (PSB). Media convergence also helps this institution to produce many niche and edgy programmes in a more attractive way for the general public to understand different social issues. RTHK case not only helps us to understand the media convergence in a conventional media, but also gives us an insight to learn about the nature of PSB as well as the difference between PSB and private media business.published_or_final_versionMedia, Culture and Creative CitiesMasterMaster of Social Sciences in Media, Culture and Creative Citie

How is Social Media Influencing the Way we Communicate?

Social media has transformed the way we think our campaigns and communicate with our audience, but also it changed the way we get in touch with our target and make it react to what we are saying or doing. The objective of this paper is to emphasize that we not only use social media on a personal level, but we’ve transformed it in an important marketing tool for our business. Today we live in online almost as much as we live in the real world. A company without a website and social media presence it does not exists. For researchers and headhunters, social media have become an important tool. So we have to be careful with things we post online, because they can say a lot of things about us and can influence our professional development. The fundaments for this paper are based mainly on the following studies: (1) “Social Media and the Romanian Business Milieu – Impact of Marketing through Social Media on Local Business Environment”, published in October 2013, by Ernst & Young, (2) “Social Media Primetime Survey”, publish by the Romanian consultancy and training company The Connector, (3) “Online Landscape – South-East Europe”, published by Gemius Knowledge, in 2014 and (4) “Online Social Networks”, by Daedalus MillwardBrown, published in 2011. They all show how social media and online development have impacted on traditional media and how companies cannot ignore these new communication and business channels. Studies on social media also showed that internet and mobile platforms are getting more and more popular, that people and companies are drowned into the digital world, communicating through all types of apps and networks. Used wisely, social media can generate greater and faster results with less money than traditional media (print, television, radio, outdoor). The sources used for this paper say that social media is “the it thing” in the 21st century, when almost every person on the planet has a cell phone or access to one, and more and more people are online daily or have easy access to an internet connection. The value of this paper is given by its impressive numbers. Every day, almost one billion and a half people are active on Facebook, millions and millions are using the internet for information, research, entertainment, and Google become the main source of information globally, with 3 billion queries a day in 2015

The Role of Social Media as Key of Business Development

Social media has changed the way the world communicates, creating real time interconnectivity between people, businesses, and geographies. As social media continues to grow in popularity, brands are looking for ways to increase their fan base and leverage their social presence to increase sales and brand affinity. Social media is a powerful tool for engaging your customers and fans in a conversation. Open up two-way communication between your business and your consumers to provide a way to stay connected with your fans and to introduce your brand to those who are less familiar. Interact with your fans and reply to what they have to say. By engaging in conversation, you’ll gain exposure on social channels and increase credibility by getting your customers to refer your brand or talk about their experience with your company. In dynamic market environment, distribution channels, marketing activities, diversification strategies, and food quality are increasingly important. Innovation in social networking media has revolutionized the world in 21st Century. Social networking media presents potentially opportunities for new forms of communication and commerce between marketers and consumers. As advertisers typically want to find some way to follow their target audiences, many new media opportunities are presented to advertisers. Communication through social networking media is more specified, with effective interactive strategy among its users. In recent days, internet advertising has taken new forms which have more advantages over the traditional mediums like print media, TV and radio. Marketing communication is becoming precise, personal, interesting, interactive and social. Dialogue between consumers and the brand is presented in the paper on the case of a leading brand in the category of fast moving consumer goods on market. The paper presents internet marketing activities that have contributed to building a relationship with the brand. The main thesis of present case was an effectiveness of communication and strategy done through social networking media could increase brand relationship with young people. Keywords: Internet, Social networking media, Fast Moving Consumer Goods

Strategic selection of communication channels during organisational change

The purpose of this study was to provide a guideline for selection of communication channels during organisational change. The study was conducted across industries in South Africa, with inclusion criteria being the experience of a form organisational in the past three years. The questionnaire for data collection was based on rich media theory (six channels) while for communication satisfaction an instrument of Downs and Hazen (1977) was adapted and utilized. Data was collected online with social media platform such as LinkedIn and Whatsup used for snowball sample as population was unknown. A total of 162 response were obtained, of which ten were excluded as they did not meet the inclusion criteria of experience of organizational change. There were four main findings of the study. First, Emails was the most dominant forms of communication the management which is media poor media. This communication channel by management were similar to employee preference of communication channels. Second, Of the six constructs, superior communication, communication climate, media quality personal feedback, co-worker communication and corporate information. Five of the six variable were found to have both convergent, discriminant validity and reliable using Partial Least Square Structural Equation Modelling (PLS-SEM). Four of the five constructs were found to statistically different from the hypothesis value of Ô3Õindicating that there was high customer satisfaction except for communication climate where participants were undecided. Third, On the media rich, face to face meeting and video conferencing were positively correlated with communication satisfaction with weak to medium strength relationships, while on the media poor showing a weak relationship between emails and posters with some dimensions of communication satisfaction. It can be concluded that the organisations do not use media rich communication channels, but rather a mixture media rich and media poor and there is a relationship between communication channels and communication satisfaction, with media rich channels having a stronger relationship. These findings should be considered with the context of inadequate generalisability due to the use of snowball sampling technique. It is recommended that practitioners, select communication channels with caution to ensure that key issues (uncertainty, successful transfer of information) are addressed adequately For academic community, more research is required as communication channels evolve with technology to ensure that the portfolio of channels used during organisational change.Mini Dissertation (MBA)--University of Pretoria, 2017.lt2018Gordon Institute of Business Science (GIBS)MBAUnrestricte

How can Magic Chinese Health Massage shop survive and develop itself in the competitions of marketplace?

This is a report on how to effectively improve the management of a massage shop in Hamilton. About this massage shop, this is a newly opened shop, located in Hamilton Central Centre, providing up to 10 massage services to its clients. However, the store is facing the threat of lack of operating experience and competitions from the same type of stores. The goal of this report is therefore to find solutions to deal with such as identifying the target markets, analyzing clients through research, finding ways to increase business. There were several significant findings from the survey, including the fact that the primary source of the customer base is those who work in Business, Health and Community, Retail and Personal Services. $ 40 is the most acceptable amount of spending for respondents, they usually go to the massage shop when there is a health issue with the body, the visit is often weekend, and after work, consumers are eager for quality service, Facebook is ideal Advertising media. According to such this finding, there are serval recommendations for the massage shop. First, to find out a target advertising group and use proper media channels. Second, provide a more excellent range of products and have a particular pricing plan. Third, achieve customer relationship management through promotions

Customer Acquisition in rural Norway - An in-depth exploration of how to acquire customers in the middle of Norway.

The continuous decrease in and aging of the rural population in Norway makes customer acquisition in rural Norway an important topic to investigate. By presenting the rural consumer, the rural business, and factors such as promotional channels, perceived quality, market segmentation and mindset equity, we cast a foundation for qualitative and quantitative study. Since customer acquisition has been a relatively scarce explored topic, particularly in Norwegian rural areas, in-depth interviews with independent business owners shed light on the perception of rural consumers as cautious and price conscious. In addition to this, we found that interpersonal relationships are crucial for the business, but also that the businesses perceived local shopping as a conscious choice by shoppers’ vs non-shoppers. Promotional channels available to the businesses were Facebook, Instagram, posters, and the local newspaper, which we chose to explore in the quantitative study. Through a web-based survey we explored the consumers side of rural shopping behaviour. The study validated rural consumers as cautious and price conscious but found no significant evidence that these factors influenced purchasing intentions or visiting frequency. We did however find that relationships are positively correlated with both purchasing tendency and visiting frequency. In addition to this, we found high numbers of positive attitude towards local businesses since Covid-19, clearly in favour of local businesses. Exploration of promotional and communication channels revealed that printed promotional channels such as flyers and local newspapers were most preferred, in addition to Facebook being a good choice for social media visibility. Whilst a perception of calling to be a dying form of communication, the sample had calling as their preferred communication channel in addition to Facebook Messenger. We find that customer acquisition strategies for rural businesses should focus on relationships, personal interaction, and an increased visibility of product/service- and price-range

Mobile Social Media as a Strategic Capability: Expanding Opportunties Social Media Has to Offer to B2B Firms

Mobile social media (MSM), an interaction, exchange of information and creation of user-generated content, mediated by mobile devices is becoming the locomotive that drives forward evolution of online world. So far, limited number of academic studies touched upon the MSM subject with all the papers being of conceptual nature. No empirical evidence is available to prove whether and how firms utilise MSM for their best advantage. This paper addresses this gap by employing the grounded theory approach (GT) to analyse interviews conducted in twenty-six B2B firms. This study found that eighteen firms use mobile technology primarily as a platform to access social media sites, understand canons of MSM consumption and utilise MSM as a strategic capability to reinforce the strategic position of a firm. Our data illustrates that the MSM strategic capability includes four main activities: (1) market sensing; (2) managing relationships; (3) branding and (4) developing content. These activities can results in the decreased research and development spendings without sacrificing innovativeness because MSM is a valuable source of information about the market and a source of ideas for new products/services. In practical terms firms can examine MSM activities and decide whether there is an opportunity to utilise MSM advantageously

A proposed marketing strategy for GO2HK.COM

Within these few years, the Internet becomes popular in the world. There are many well-known websites, such as the eBay, Amazon and Yahoo, etc.. In foreign countries, Web auction is very famous for the Internet users in foreign countries, while it is a new kind of electronic business in Hong Kong. The trend of web auction has penetrated into Hong Kong in this few years, but it is still at a growth stage of the industry life cycle. Web auction seems to be a new type of business in electronic commerce, thus it can attract the people to participate it in future. The potential market for web auction is quite large. In Hong Kong, there are four major companies that work on the business of web auction. They are the (1) Red-dots, (2) Go2hk, (3) Yahoo and (4) Clubciti. Whereas, go2hk is the smallest company in terms of company size, it is the second in terms of the number of registered users. The industry is growing rapidly and facing a keen competition. Therefore, the company needs to have good marketing mix strategies to establish its brand name. This project aims to purpose an appropriate marketing strategy of GO2HK.COM, which can allow the company to match the consumer needs with marketing strategy. Interviews are conducted and questionnaire surveys are initiated to look into the most preferable strategy for GO2HK. Before doing the questionnaire survey, we have interviewed the company, in order to identify the current marketing mix first. After that, questionnaire surveys are used to access the information about the procedure of non-users, sellers and bidders. Based on the findings, a proposed marketing strategy is recommended for go2hk. To conclude, security is the most critical aspect that both users and non-users are highly concerned