Exploring the Challenges of Incorporating Social Media Marketing Strategies in the Restaurant Business

The purpose of this study is to explore the adoption, challenges, and current uses of social media in small restaurants. Past research in this area is scarce, and most focuses on larger establishments. To address the research objectives, 20 small restaurants in Northeastern United States were interviewed. Literature identifies a variety of goals that social media can play in fostering interactions, engagement, relationships, and building communities online, but this study shows that few restaurants attempt to do this. Even though in most small restaurants social media significantly contributes to their marketing strategy, the majority of small restaurants use it as a low-cost advertising tool to gain exposure, generate interest, inform, and spread word of mouth. The study suggests ways in which social media could be embraced by small restaurants to help them address the challenges they face, so they can go beyond using social media as merely an advertising tool.     

Social Media Marketing Management: A Conceptual Framework

Managers today face many challenges when using social media in their marketing strategies. Drawing from social media literature, this study introduces a new framework to assist managers in developing and using social media as a marketing tool. This framework has four dimensions related to the actions managers perform when implementing and engaging with social media: messaging/projecting, monitoring, assessing, and responding. Each dimension of the framework may be applied differently based on the firm’s strategic direction or focus. The framework provides an opportunity for a firm to examine the entire scope of social media marketing from a broad strategic perspective as well as a more tactical perspective. Propositions formulated by the authors suggest how organizations with different strategic characteristics may manage social media differently. The study provides an understanding for managers of the variety of issues related to the specific aspects of maintaining a firm’s online presence based on a firm’s scope, culture, structure, and governance.     

公益广告是电视媒体承担社会责任的重要表现

电视媒体已经成为社会主要传播渠道,成为当之无愧的第一媒体。因此,电视媒体应当承担社会公民应尽的社会责任和义务。在履行好"内容把关人"的职责,传播先进内容的同时,公益广告是电视媒体承担社会责任的重要表现。中央电视台不仅播出大量公益电视广告,而且积极组织、策划与创意各项公益内容与活动,主动承担媒体的社会责任,有效地推动了中国电视公益广告的成长与发展。     

Attitudes toward Use of Advertising and Various Media Practices by Physicians

Advertising by physicians is a relatively recent phenomenon. The purposes of this study were to determine (a) consumers’ attitudes toward advertising by physicians; (b) whether certain potential consumer demographic variables account for any significant difference in attitudes toward physicians who advertise; and (c) which media consumers feel are appropriate for physicians’ advertising. The intent was to discover information that would be useful to physicians in planning promotional strategies and improving the quality of their advertising. The study seems to confirm the belief of many professionals that advertising and promotion clearly have a place in the future of health care services.     

农户小规模经营与市场服务体系建设

我国农户小规模经营对农户经营成本与收益具有一定的影响,交易费用是小规模农户参与商品化农业经营困难的根源。建议政府和有关社会组织要从提供市场信息服务、培育农产品流通龙头企业和农民合作流通组织、推进农产品流通绿色通道建设、发展储存技术和储存设施、发展农产品期货交易等方面完善市场服务体系,实现小农户与大市场的顺利对接。     

Hospital Marketing and Communications Via Social Media

Social media usage by health care organizations has increased dramatically. Findings from this research show that 95% of the top ranked hospitals use social media. The purpose of this study is to examine whether social media usage varies according to size of hospital and types of services provided. Since social media platforms appeal to different groups of people, this prompts the question of whether certain platforms are more appealing to people who partake in different health services. Findings reveal differences in social media usage depending on the services provided by a hospital.     

构建中小企业营销服务体系的研究

建立中小企业营销服务体系是完善中小企业服务体系的重要举措。目前,我国无论在理论研究或实践探索中,对此尚属一片空白。应借鉴国际上成功经验,从体系的组织构架原则、服务主体的构成、服务内容设计等方面构建我国中小企业营销服务体系,以使我国中小企业在国民经济发展中发挥更大的作用。     

The Influence of B to B Social Media Message Features on Brand Engagement: A Fluency Perspective

Purpose: Social media is increasingly drawing the attention and interest of business-to-business (B to B) organizations. Yet, B to B organizations remain cautious in their social media pursuits, in part based on a stated lack of understanding for best practices. The purpose of the current work is to take initial steps to address this challenge by identifying specific social media message features that influence online users’ engagement with B to B organizations.

Methodology/Approach: This work examines the Twitter feeds of the top 50 social B to B brands (as reported by Brandwatch in 2015) to examine the effects of message features (hashtags, text difficulty, embedded media, and message timing) on user engagement, captured in terms of Twitter likes and retweets.

Findings: We argue that message features that enhance fluency (e.g., images) should enhance engagement. In contrast, those that disrupt fluency (e.g., hasthags) should result in lower levels of engagement. Consistent with these predictions, we find that hashtags and text difficulty correlate to lower levels of engagement whereas embedded media in the form of images and video correlate to higher levels of engagement. Also consistent with the proposed fluency framework, we find that tweets from B to B organizations generate greater engagement on evenings and weekends.

Research Implications: This research applies a fluency lens to identify specific message features that influence online engagement. In doing so, it highlights fluency as a powerful construct for understanding the drivers of B to B social media brand engagement. More generally, this work suggests fluency as a valuable conceptual lens for developing effective B to B social media strategies. This research also speaks to the complexity of B to B social media strategies – organizations must go beyond content and platform decisions, to also consider the specific features of the message.

Practical Implications: Social media is becoming more and more important to B to B organizations and is as yet an underutilized engagement tool. The current work offers initial strategies regarding message features that business practitioners can incorporate into their content development strategies to strengthen engagement. Specifically, efforts should be made to attain high levels of fluency in B to B social media content development.

Originality/Value/Contribution of the Paper: The current work offers initial insights as to the importance of understanding not only how social media topics/content influence engagement, but also the influence of message features (e.g., hashtags, embedded media). In doing so, it highlights fluency as a novel conceptual lens for developing more effective B to B social media strategies. Finally, it draws on actual tweets from leading B to B brands to examine the proposed influence of message features on engagement.     

Understanding Non-Profit and For-Profit Social Marketing on Social Media: The Case of Anti-Texting While Driving

Previous studies suggest that consumers tend to infer more negative motives of for-profit sponsorship on social cause than to non-profits. The current study is aimed at identifying potential effective strategies for for-profit organizations to engage in social marketing efforts. Results showed that participants expressed lower texting while driving intentions when the message was initiated by a non-profit than a for-profit organization. For-profit messages were more likely to elicit desirable persuasive effects if their business offering was congruent with the social cause. Participants' intentions to interact with promotion messages on social media predicted their offline behavioral intentions regarding the promoted behaviors.     

嵌入服务利润链的永康中小民营企业内部营销对策探究

我国民营经济在改革开放后发展迅速,同时也暴露出管理落后等问题,造成员工满意度和忠诚度较低,影响了企业的营销绩效。以永康中小民营企业为例,将内部营销理念导入制造行业,通过问卷调查和深度访谈分析目前永康中小民营企业存在的问题,据此在嵌入服务利润链模型的内部营销理论指导下,借助类似营销技术提出了在永康中小民营企业内实施内部营销活动的策略组合,以期提升员工满意度,最终提升企业营销绩效。     

Exploring the Effect of Store Characteristics and Interpersonal Trust on Purchase Intention in the Context of Online Social Media Marketing

This article explores the effect of store characteristics and interpersonal trust on formation of attitude and intention to purchase from online stores in the context of online social media marketing. Store Brand Knowledge, Store Reputation, Perceived Store Size, and Perceived Store Risk have been considered as antecedents of trust. Based on existing literature, a conceptual model is proposed and empirically tested with a sample (n = 424) of online social media users with the help of partial least square path modeling. This study is among the very few empirical investigations done in the context of trust in online social media marketing and focuses only on consumer-perceived store-controlled factors as antecedents of trust.     

绿色营销、公益营销和社会营销的比较分析

绿色营销、公益营销和社会营销都是对传统营销观念的发展和修正,符合企业发展的基本规律。其中社会营销的内涵最为丰富,是和传统营销观念相对应的一种新的营销观念;绿色营销源于社会营销;公益营销是社会营销观念指导下的营销方式的创新;三种既有密切联系又各有侧重。不同的营销形式,在为企业营销行为提供新的选择的同时,也给企业提出了新的社会要求。一个理性的企业,在营销形式的选择上,应结合企业自身的具体情况,根据企业生产经营的发展阶段和企业所处的内外部特定环境,科学理性的选择有效的营销行为。     

实现中小企业集约型增长的市场环境分析

集约型增长是中小企业可持续发展的必由之路，而中小企业的增长方式主要是受市场环境的影响。根据市场竞争对企业资源配置作用的理论，分析集约增长必需具备的市场环境，即市场竞争的完全性、流杨的信息环境与低信息获取成本、充分的人才流通环境、积极的融资环境。     

Market Mavens in Social Media: Examining Young Chinese Consumers' Viral Marketing Attitude,eWOM Motive,and Behavior

A paper survey of 835 Chinese college students was conducted to examine young Chinese consumers' social media use, market mavenism, viral marketing attitude, and product recommendation behavior. Structural model testing results showed that young Chinese consumers' perceived pleasure, affection outcome expectation, and subjective norm of viral marketing affected their market mavenism while their subjective norm and pleasure influenced their viral marketing attitude. More importantly, young Chinese consumers' frequency of product recommendations on social networking websites was determined by their social media use, viral marketing attitude, and electronic word of mouth motive to help the company and market mavenism.     

Social Marketing and Privately Held Companies: The Impact of Corporate Social Responsibility Activities on Romanian Consumers

The notion of corporate social responsibility has evolved into a fairly complex concept that can influence the very world we live in. Today's society is interested not only in companies' financial results but also in the way they conduct their businesses. Corporations everywhere try to respond to new environmental challenges by actively engaging in the life of the community and by developing relationships based on mutual trust with consumers. This article introduces the corporate social responsibility domain by underlining the importance of this concept to the later development of a company. The article denounces the results of research conducted on Romanian consumers regarding corporate social responsibility campaigns undergone by firms in Romania. Its purpose is to bring insight into Romanian consumers' perceptions of recent social campaigns, reviewing the extent to which these consumers are willing to become involved in society's well-being. The survey conducted here attempts to provide answers to issues that concern the companies' involvement type, their purview, the reasons for participating in society's welfare, as well as the social campaigns' most common action areas. The results gathered show that corporate social responsibility is not only a promotion method, but a method that implies the effective involvement in the life of the community and in its subsequent issues, therefore representing a real means of support for the economic development of the community in question. In conclusion, companies must put their social conscience into use when dealing with their clients and stakeholders, by offering solutions to environmental concerns, resource management, mutual aid, and welfare rising from corporate support.     

The Nature of Managerial Work in Small Growth-Orientated Businesses

In this study we explore the daily managerial behaviour of managers of small growth-orientated businesses and contrast it to previous research of managers in large organisations. We also investigate if one background characteristic, the owner–managers functional experience, is related to daily managerial activity. More specifically, we seek to strengthen the ‘managerial work’ tradition through a replication of Mintzberg’s work (The Nature of Managerial Work, New York: Harper and Row 1973) and an extension of the ‘managerial work’ tradition to another contingency, that of small growth- oriented businesses. The study is based on direct observations of ten CEOs of small growth-orientated businesses. The research provides evidence that organisational size is an important determinant of the nature of managerial work. However, in exploring the variability that may occur in managerial work within a given size context, we failed to establish a relationship between the owner–manager’s functional experiences and daily functional work orientation. The article concludes by speculating why the nature of managerial work in small growth-orientated businesses may provide a template for management in larger (more bureaucratic) organisations.     

浅析饭店服务特点与服务营销观念

随着经济的发展,服务在经济生活中的作用越来越重要。酒店业作为服务业的典型代表,虽然取得了长足的发展,但是也暴露出了传统营销理论与实践脱节的问题。实践的发展要求酒店业重新审视自已面对的市场,深刻理解服务和服务营销的内涵,把握酒店服务营销与其他产品营销的不同之处,根据酒店服务的特点采取相应的服务营销策略,提高顾客的满意度和信任度。     

Investigating the Impact of Firm Size on Small Business Social Responsibility: A Critical Review

The impact of smaller firm size on corporate social responsibility (CSR) is ambiguous. Some contend that small businesses are socially responsible by nature, while others argue that a smaller firm size imposes barriers on small firms that constrain their ability to take responsible action. This paper critically analyses recent theoretical and empirical contributions on the size–social responsibility relationship among small businesses. More specifically, it reviews the impact of firm size on four antecedents of business behaviour: issue characteristics, personal characteristics, organizational characteristics and context characteristics. It concludes that the small business context does impose barriers on social responsibility taking, but that the impact of the smaller firm size on social responsibility should be nuanced depending on a number of conditions. From a critical analysis of these conditions, opportunities for small businesses and their constituents to overcome the constraining barriers are suggested.Jan Lepoutre is a PhD candidate in Applied Economics at Ghent University, Belgium. His dissertation focuses on the competences associated with small business social responsibility.Aimé Heene is a professor at the Faculty of Economics and Business Administration at Ghent University, Belgium. He teaches strategic management for private and for public organizations and currently focuses his research on (competence-based) management in public and social profit organizations.     

A Comparison of Physicians' and Attorneys' Attitudes Toward Advertising

No abstract available for this article.