Advantages and Disadvantages of Using Social Networking in Car Sales

Question: Discuss about the Advantages and Disadvantages of Using Social Networking in Car Sales. Answer: Introduction Social networking can basically be defined as the use of websites or other applications found on electronic devices to interact, share, and socialize with other people who have the same interest. Due to advancement in technology, social networking has been at its peak with many people using it daily to achieve different goals. Many people use social networking to sell or advertise their products while others use it to advertise their services. By use of social networking, many companies have achieved their goals and hence making it one of the best methods to use for any company to increase profits. There are many sites which teach how to carry out social networking and be successful and many people enroll in those sites to sharpen their skills. The first social media site was developed in 1997 and was in existence till 2001 and it was called the six degrees (Holmes and Oloughlin 2014). Since then it has experienced a gradual development and has advanced. This study is designed to evaluate the advantages and disadvantages of using the social media sites for car sales. Many customers who want to buy cars base their search on social media sites and in a research done it was found that many of their car buyers want the social media to evaluate the type they want and the cost associated with that type (TyreeHageman et al. 2014). This research will evaluate the advantages and disadvantages of using the social networking in car sales. Research objectives The main objective of this study is to evaluate the advantages and disadvantages of using social media for car sales. The following are the other secondary objectives of the study. To access the attitude of customers towards social networking in regard to car sales. To determine if there is an increase in car sales contributed by social networking. To research if many car dealers prefer the use of social networking to market the product or not To evaluate if the use of social networking has positively or negatively impacted the sales of cars. Project scope This study will be based on the use of social networking for car sales and will not include any other form of car sales. Also, the study will majorly focus on the advantages and disadvantages of this method of car sales. The study will be carried out globally by use of the online survey. Literature review The use of social media has impacted many businesses in the world. Since the development of social networking from 1997 many businesses have experienced development and have gained a lot of profit due to its use. From that time many companies have transformed from analog to digital marketing whereby they use the internet to market their products (Shaw 2014). Other companies like Amazon and Alibaba have based their sales on the internet only and hence becoming more successful. Also, social networking has not been left out in advertising the services many people or companies offer. The social network analysis This is the process of investigating the structure of networks based on the graph theory to know how well or bad the structures are (Scott 2017). It involves analysis of people or things in the network based on sociology to know the attitude or the perception of those people and the things present in the network at that time. This analysis has its origin from sociologists who lived many years ago like George Simmel and Emile (Mc Carty and Molina 2015). The method of analysis was used early 20th century and its main goal was to analyze the relationship between social groups. This analysis is also in existence today and it helps those people who want to use social networking understand the best methods to adopt for them to be successful. In addition, social network analysis makes it possible for any marketers to know the best market and the best buyers to target. It is done by qualified statisticians who have knowledge in sociology and who can understand the attitude of people in a goo d way. How to carry out Social marketing in the best way There are many factors which one should consider before they start social media marketing. The first factor is the social media measurement. Social media measurement includes the use of analysis tools like surveys to measure the available market before you engage into the marketing strategy. This helps in understanding the investment which should be included in the marketing strategy. Another factor is the social network aggregation which includes the measurement of the best sites which have the target population. This helps in understanding which site one should do more advertisements. Another factor to consider before you start social networking is the cost associated with the advertisements so as to avoid loss and other related unnecessary costs. This helps in reducing the losses which may occur. Advantages of social networking There are many advantages associated with social networking. The following discusions will highlight some of those advantages and explain how they are important. High speed and efficiency Social networking has made communication very easy since one can communicate with another person who is far away in just a few seconds. In a recent research, it showed that communication speed had increased more than three times due to the availability of social media sites like facebook, twitter, and emails among others (Chu and Du 2013). Due to the increased speed, many companies make sales very fast and also customers find it very easy to get the items they want. Reliability Many people value the use of social media for easy access to commodities. They argue that it is more reliable and less expensive as compared to other forms of travelling cost and other associated costs have been minimized. This makes it very easy and more reliable hence making many people and companies adopt the system of social networking. Disadvantages of social networking Social marketing also has some disadvantages. The first disadvantage is cybercrime. Due to development of technology cybercrime has also increased and this has led to the loss of confidence as many people fear to be victims of this crime. Many sites which do online marketing are viewed as scams and hence people dont want to be associated with them. Cyber security has failed to control cybercrime (Broadhust et al. 2014). Cybercrime is sometimes carried out by the people who also practice cyber security hence making it very hard to curb the vice. Another disadvantage of social networking is lack of knowledge in the field. Many people when they hear social networking they think that it is easy and that they should jump into it without even consulting (Carins and Rundle 2014). When they join and invest in it they end up getting loss due to lack of knowledge. The attitude of people is another disadvantage. Many people are ignorant and they believe that social marketing or anything related to the internet is not good and is composed of many vices which should not be accepted in the society. This makes it very hard to convince them to join social media platforms and hence those people may be the targeted customers for a certain commodity and if that happens then the dealers may lack customers if social marketing id the only method to advertise their products. In addition, many people may not be willing to join social media platforms because they dont have the instagramtime or they dont know how to join them. Others may not be willing to join them and hence making it hard to do the social marketing. Social media and car dealers Many car dealers have adopted the use of social networking to carry out their business. Many of them use social sites like Facebook, Instagram, twitter, and other sites to do advertisements. In the process of carrying out the advertisements, they are also able to know their competitors (Armstrong et al. 2014). They use these platforms to upload new models so as to attract customers (JelenChick et al. 2013). Though the networking is used to get customers it also makes them aware of the best seasons to carry out the marketing. The car dealers post pictures on those sites and the people who are attracted end up sharing those pictures on their pages hence making them visible to other people. Through this process, much people are reached and hence making the business grow at a high rate. In a situation whereby a customer buys, the dealers may ship the car to the customers residence area hence making it easy for him or her get the product fast. This leads the customer to recommend much more people to shop with that dealer. This is one of the most important factors which have made car dealers to be motivated to use social networking to carry out their business. The platforms also benefit from these transactions and they become popular hence they also grow and accommodate many customers. Based on this information, it is very important to carry out a study to access the advantages and disadvantages of social networking for car dealers and that is what the study is based on. Research questions The primary research question of this study is What are the advantages and disadvantages of using social networking on car sales? The following are the other research questions of the study. What is the attitude of customers towards the use of social networking in regard to car sales? Is there an increase in car sales contributed by social networking? Do many car dealers prefer the use of social networking to advertise their cars? Has social networking positively or negatively impacted car dealers? Research hypothesis H0 customers have negative attitude towards social networking in regard to car sales Ha customers have a positive attitude towards social networking in regard to car sales H0 there is no increase in car sales contributed by social networking Ha there is increased car sales contributed by social networking H0 many car dealers do not prefer the use of social networks to advertise their cars Ha many car dealers prefer the use of social networks to advertise their cars H0 social networking has negatively impacted car sales Ha social networking has positively impacted car sales Research methodology Research methodology is the process which is used to collect data and analyze it so as to be able to make business decisions based on the data (Mackey and Gass 2015). This methodology should be scientific and verifiable. Also, it should be empirical and based on mathematical and statistical models. The following discussion will explain the methodology of this study. Research type This research will be a quantitative research. There are twelve steps which should be followed while carrying out a quantitative research. The following is a discussion of the twelve steps of a quantitative research. The first step is the formulation of the research problem. The researcher comes up with the problem which he or she wants to base the study on. The problem should be empirical and researchable (Brihla 2016). It should also be a real problem and which when researched on can benefit people. The second step is the formulation of the research objectives. In this step, the researcher comes up with the objectives he or she wants to meet after the research (Ramdhani et al. 2014). There follows the step of the scope of the study. in this step, the researcher explains well where the research will be conducted and gives a justification as to the chosen area to carry out the study is of interest. There follows the step of developing the research hypothesis which will be proved either wrong or correct by the data collected in the process of carrying out the research. The research hypothesis should match with the literature review and the objectives of the study so as to make them scientific hence making the research verifiable and reliable. The hypothesis should also be testable. The next step is the literature review. In this step, the researcher critically evaluates the existing literature under the topic of study. This gives the researcher a solid background of the topic and also enables him or her to be able to identify the gaps in the literature (Abbatielo et al. 2015). Then it follows the step of coming up with a research design which will be used in the study. In this step, the researcher comes up with the design of the study and explains why he chose to use it. The next step is the selection of sample size. The researcher explains the participants who will be included in the study and why they will be included. He or she also explains why the sample size has been decided to be a given number (Hesse-Biber 2013). The sample size is the main determinant of a study and should be selected carefully. Then it follows the process of data collection. In this step, the researcher collects data in the defined rules of the study. The data is then presented for analysis. in the step of analysis it where the data is transformed to digital and analyzed to make its information and get insights from it. The last step is the communication of the findings and recommendation. The researcher in these steps communicates the findings of the research and gives recommendations of what should be done. Research design This is the conceptual framework within which the study is carried on. It includes a blueprint of data collection and analysis (Harrison 2013). This study will use descriptive design where data will be collected by use of a questionnaire based on an online survey. The target population The target population of this study will be online car dealers. The researcher will conduct different sites which sell cars through networking and request them to fill survey questions which will be used for analysis. There will be a designed questionnaire which will be used to carry out the survey. Sampling procedures and sample size The research will include a sample size of 300 participants who will fill the survey questions. However, there will be no sampling method which will be used because the data will be collected online by use of a survey and hence there will be no sample selection. But there will be rules which will guide the participants to be included. Their participants must be car dealers and specifically doing the business online. They should also be willing to fill the survey. The survey will only be posted on sites which are composed of car dealers. Instrumentation The questionnaire will be the only tool for data collection and the questionnaires will be posted online on the sites which are composed of car dealers. The researcher will request them to fill the questionnaires. Once the limit of 300 participants will be reached, the researcher will collect the data and make it ready for analysis. Research limitations This research, has few limitations. The first limitation is that some of the car dealers may not be willing to participate in the study hence important information may be lost. The second limitation is that the data may not be more reliable since it will be collected online and some people may fill the questioners and they are not car dealers. Time schedule This research will be carried on for a period of two months. the following is the time schedule of the study. the first month first week understanding theoretical part of the study second week designing the questionnaire third week uploading the questionnaire to sites of car dealers fourth week monitoring the progress of the data collection online the second month first week retrieving the data for analysis second week data analysis third week communications of the findings fourth week communication of the recommendation Conclusion In conclusion, this study will be scientific and its main goal will be to determine the advantages and disadvantages of social networking for car dealers. The research will be carried out in the car dealers sites so as to get legit information and make it reliable. Car dealers will be requested to fill out the questionnaires so as to get genuine data for the study. 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