Management

This week, you have been hired as a market researcher to complete an exploratory study the innovative market sectors:

· Games, apps, and social media

· Use research results from previous Homework (Anticipated consumer behaviors/Anticipated consumer needs)

Choose only one innovative market sector, and using the Plunket Research Online Database, the class textbook, and at least one article from a marketing journal, complete the following:

1. Summary of the market analysis and anticipated consumer needs

2. Competitive forces

3. Create a prototype of one potential product or service using the "Layers of the Product" (Salomon et al., 2017, p. 236)

· Use images, designs, or blueprints

4. Outline potential market and marketing challenges

5. Present your results to the classroom as a 10-minute audiovisual deliverable with slides (e.g., narrated PowerPoint, visual Voice Thread, Kaltura, Camtasia, etc.)

6. View the presentations of two class peers and synthetize your critical perspectives on the research results. What you learned? What you confirmed? What additional marketing consequences have these results for the future of that specific industry market?

One of the major goals of marketing is to study markets facts, industry tendencies and equally important consumption behaviors to enable an organization to produce goods and services that create value for diverse consumers. Therefore, having been hired as a market researcher to complete an exploratory study brief on the innovative market sector of games, apps and social media, the paper will analyze consumer behaviors, anticipated consumer behaviors, anticipate consumer needs, research goals and also in this perspective I will also explain how I would conduct primary research for this product.

According to (Plunkett 2017) research , Global Social media ad spending has more than doubled from 16 billion in 2014 to almost 31 billion in 2016 which clearly portrays how much advertising and target marketing is done through social media platforms like facebook, Instagram, youtube etc. Social media, as well as device powered applications, have affected consumer behaviors. For instance, before the days of online shopping people had to travel to the store, and spend long hours in lines just to make a simple purchase. However, with the power of social media (online shopping) through such platforms as Twitter or Facebook among others, people can make orders from anywhere. For example with the help of mobile enhanced applications, it easy to purchase products. In this case, the power of social media greatly controls the way consumers shop. Nowa day’s consumers would rather conduct research on a product than buy a product they know little about (Ashley, & Tuten, 2015). On the other hand, consumers have become fond of reading what other people have posted on social media. As a result, social media generally trust their family or friends to an extent they would even trust a stranger opinion about a product. Similarly, shopping decision is as well affected by social media in the sense that consumers have figured another approach of researching about a product using their devices to reinforce their decisions. Therefore as consumer behavior changes so does sales and marketing strategies. Business is forced to market their product differently in a way that makes their brands more personal and in a way that communicates with their consumers more personal.

Organizations are nowadays better equipped to handle more consumers’ issues with the assistance of social media because the process is faster and enables instant feedback (Ashley, & Tuten, 2015). One of the best things about social media is that it allows companies to turn negative situations into positive ones. This is an approach that has been used by many companies to counterattack such negative circumstances such as Delta Airlines that use twitter as a tool to communicate with a large number of people. Therefore with the current trends in social media as well as other device powered applications, consumers are highly connected to such changes. Just to mention, today we are experiencing the world ever connection between brands and consumers. In this perspective, consumers are willing to share their personal accomplishments on social media which literally explains anticipated consumer needs.

From the selection methods described by Solomon et al. (2016) to collect data, surveying public would be the most appropriate method to conduct primary research for this product. Based on the facts that among those who are using social media, people aged 25-34 would be the most likely to distribute their surveys via social media. At the same time, they are very likely to encourage other respondents to share their surveys within social media networks. Further assuming that the rest would not be willing to share their survey through social media, I would create a special platform in various areas to collect information. It would also be reasonable to utilize social media itself to conduct primary research. For instance, we would create an online platform to enable public participation. However, in order to have a comprehensive research, I would also conduct interviews with various groups in the society based on their willingness to share their views online.

References

Ashley, C., & Tuten, T. (2015). Creative strategies in social media marketing: An exploratory study of branded social content and consumer engagement. Psychology & Marketing, 32(1), 15-27.

Sim, J. (1998). Collecting and analysing qualitative data: issues raised by the focus group. Journal of advanced nursing, 28(2), 345-352.

Plunkett, Jack W., Plunkett, M. B., Steinberg, J. S., Faulk, J., & Snider, I. J. (2017). Social Media Generates $31 Billion in Global Online and Mobile Ad Revenues. Games, Apps & Social Media Retrieved January 28, 2018, from http://www.plunkettresearchonline.com.