Social Media and Small Businesses: A Case Study of Easy Lunchboxes
 |
| Social Media and Small Businesses: A Case Study of Easy Lunchboxes |
Abbasi et al. (2022) designed a conceptual framework to understand and classify the reasons that can help small business to use social media. These reasons can be attractive for Easy Lunchboxes management to expand their business operations using social media as the organisation despite its 13 years of business experience has not achieved the value and customer range that could have been reached earlier. Abbasi et al. (2022) denote four critical factors that organisations need to consider before the adoption of social media marketing.
- Environmental factors
- Organisational factors
- Technology factors
- Competitive industry
Similarly, the third dominant factor that persuades a small business to opt for social media is the increasing presence of technology. Due to relative advantages, organisations tend to use social media technology. The second and the third sub-factors in this category involve the aim of reducing the complexity of business operations and resolving cost issues. The fourth factor is the presence of a competitive industry. These reasons/factors are convincing enough to attract small businesses to opt for social media use for business purposes (Abbasi et al., 2022).
Social Media Characteristics
It will be unjust to say that social media is becoming popular among businesses because of its ease of advertising only. The use of social media is diverse, advantageous and effective. It can effectively help to get market intelligence in less time compared to traditional methods. To visualize the effectiveness of social media it is essential to understand different characteristics of social media to map the scale of its use and significance (Moyo, 2018).Social Interaction
Social media is known because of the ease of social interaction with online users involving customers and business professionals. It is a unique feature of all social media platforms that is a major strength in gaining competitiveness in business operations. A consistent interaction between social media users using clicks is a fast-speed interaction. This type of social media use provides opportunities for business organisations to interact with customers using video options, voice conversation and in-writing communication. It is an intimate approach and customers can inquire about products’ features, prices and read the feedback (Meske & Stieglitz, 2013). It is a well-known fact that in pre-social media times the only interaction with customers was possible using print media but in that case, understanding customers' needs and demands was not possible. Social media use has reduced the obstructions of place and boundaries. The ease of interaction using online chat forums, text messaging, video calling and other features has contributed to the ease of doing business (Appel et al., 2019).Social Collaboration
The concept of social collaboration seems unique because of different reasons. The first is allowing social media users to change the content of the page. However, organisations do not opt for this step instead business organisations allow users to level comments or detailed feedback on company services and products. Another concept of social media collaboration is allowing certain community groups to get involved in discussion using social media pages and organising events that help better understand each other (Doyle et al. 2015). Easy Lunchboxes uses a social collaboration technique on its Facebook page allowing customers to leave reviews and interact with company representatives using Facebook messenger and video communication. This has positively impacted the business in the last couple of years (Easy Lunchboxes Facebook, 2022).Content Sharing
The use of Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest, Twitter and other social media platforms allows Easy Lunchboxes to share content with customers and allow customers vice versa (Easy Lunchboxes Facebook, 2022; Easy Lunchboxes Instagram, 2022). The sharing of content option allows users to spread the content to other users who are on their friends' lists. Thus the company content reaches a maximum number of social media users. Organisations use different types of interesting content involving videos, pictures, reviews and information on new products thus making customers' minds to buy company products. Content sharing thus serves as a social media marketing tool for small business organisations. This is full-scale advertising involving all the details of company products, features, durability, pricing and quality (He et al., 2017; Easy Lunchboxes Pinterest, 2022).Connectedness
The invention and use of social media are based on the concept of connectedness. People interact with each other, share their ideas and beliefs and communicate with ease. Social media as a corporate agent is no different from these uses. It is a primary source to ensure connectedness between customers and sellers (Sashi, 2012). The concept of connectedness in the corporate context serves as an advertising and marketing agent thus allowing all types of businesses to interact with their existing and potential customers (Appel et al., 2019).Social Media Classification to Ensure User Engagement Behaviour
It is evident from the above discussion that Easy Lunchboxes as a business brand is using the right direction to interact with customers who are present on social media platforms. Theoretical underpinning in the first section of the literature review also suggests that there are multiple convincing reasons to advertise and market products using social media channels. However, it is also essential to classify social media platforms to avail not only available business opportunities but to map social media users' behaviour. This process is known as 'User Engagement Behaviour’ (Shahbaznezhad et al., 2021: p. 47). The use of this term is interesting because Vananen (2015) also used a similar type of context for the classification of social media platforms as per social media users' behaviour. Vananen's classification involves the following standards.- Social community
- Social commerce
- Social publishing
- Social entertainment (Vaananen, 2012: p. 17)
Social Publishing is another type of social media that Vaananen (2015) noted and this type of social media involves YouTube and Instagram. Small business organizations make short videos of their products that are called promotion videos and social network surfers watch advertising content. The last category of this classification is social entertainment. These sites are also known as gaming and entertainment content-based sites. Customers who are fond of gaming and entertainment activities can be interacted using such platforms.
The concept of understanding social media users’ behaviour is essential because of different reasons. Shahbaznezhad et al. (2021) pointed out that different factors impact customers purchasing behaviours. These factors can be divided into four categories. These categories include (1) content type, (2) content context (3) active or passive behaviour and (4) control variables. These factors will be discussed in detail in the 'Data Driven Decision-Making' section of this paper to ensure the relevance of the discussion.
Social Media Platforms Contributing to Easy Lunchboxes Competitiveness
The use of social media platforms is an integral part of small, medium and large business organisations. The role of social media as a facilitator to people living in remote areas has made it popular for small businesses that are run by individual operators. It is noted that the convenience of social media platform usage is a dominant factor that attracts businesses and customers. Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, Flicker, and even WhatsApp are popular among business organisations (Abbasi et al., 2022). The available statistics indicate that Facebook users are 2,910 million as per January 2022 statistics. Similarly, users using Instagram, YouTube, and WhatsApp are 1,478 million, 2562 million and 2,000 million respectively (Dixon, 2022). This means the availability of a global market for businesses using social media to do business.Social Media Marketing
The trend of social media use for online marketing is based on the concept known as ‘common feeling’ allowing businesses and customers to know about each other. Social media platforms help to establish a good relationship between sellers and buyers based on trust, innovation, affordability and customization (Ahmad, 2020). Buyers can experience products in a real-time environment as the virtual world provides details of products and services in audio and video formats (Ahmad, 2020). One of the convincing aspects of social media use is voluntary interaction between sellers and buyers that helps customers to know about products and assists companies to understand customers' demands (Kim & Ko, 2012).The primary concern for any small business is the accurate use of social media platforms for marketing purposes. This means a careful analysis and evaluation of the characteristics of social media as per business needs. Social media marketing is also known as a complementary strategic process that is used to convince online users about the standards and quality of products and services (Lorenzo-Romero et al., 2011). Social media marketing is also known as relationship marketing because the selling and purchasing processes take place after a customer interacts with the seller online. The primary role of social media marketing is communication. Effective communication serves as a relationship tool. Organisations develop unique brand qualities and convince customers about the brand. In reality, social media marketing is an emblem of traditional marketing and online marketing to attract and interact with customers to get their feedback and develop their minds. Organisations use not only free advertising options to get their products introduced in the market but opt for paid promotions as well (Coursaris et al. 2015).
Paid Advertising
Social media websites offer paid advertising facility allowing small and large businesses to opt for services by choosing certain criteria. The purpose of a paid promotion or advertising is to target different groups who have unique interests, likings and dislikes of products. Online advertising is non-personal but highlights certain characteristics of business products and services that are important for customers (Payment, 2016). One of the core benefits of paid online social media advertising is not only attracting customers but attracting potential investors as well. Facebook, Instagram, and Pinterest offer paid advertising services for all types of businesses. Businesses opt for profile visit advertising, direct messaging services, webpage visit advertising and reels (30-second videos) (Colliander & Dahlen, 2011).Social Media Marketing Benefits
Marketing trends have changed dramatically with the use of social media platforms. Companies enjoy more opportunities for interaction, creating brand awareness and reaching out to customers without boundaries. Effective communication using social media is one of the strongest benefits that small, medium and large organisations have never dreamt about before the advent of social media. It is a major source to increase business competitiveness. Social media marketing has contributed to several competitive advantages for small businesses, especially those operating from remote areas. Improved response to customers' queries is a unique experience for businesses (Charoensukmongkol & Sasatanun, 2017). Similarly, social media marketing allows healthy competition among business organisations. The identification of customers' interests, branding of products, understanding of affordability issues and communication with customers has improved significantly (Wicks, 2015).A social connection between customers and sellers as Bhagat and Gupta (2014) denote is based on three steps leading to ultimate benefits. The first step is the selection of the social media platform as it generates different types of positive impacts. These impacts include the presence of like-minded community members, business promotion, and increasing brand reputation and feedback. All these aspects as Bhagat and Gupta believe are essential to growing a small business. The mentioned impacts help organisations to identify online promotion tools, bring change in social media marketing strategy, the establishment of positive relationships with customers, change brand awareness strategies and hiring of potential employees.
Wicks (2015) denotes that three unique reasons are contributing to social media use. The first reason is, using social media platforms helps organisations to grow in size as a small business can interact with millions of social media users. (2) Social media helps to boost website traffic and (3) organisations can brand the products.
Brand Awareness
The brand name stands for organisational commercial strengths and generates positive impacts on consumers' minds. The strength of a brand becomes prominent when there is a close relationship between the product and the claims about the product. This is a conscious process that ensures customers that a particular brand product is the name of quality. Social media is a dominant factor in creating a brand image in customers' minds. Creating brand awareness is a strategic approach that wins competitive advantages for businesses (Chinen-Moore, 2020).Easy Lunchboxes has been doing business in the US market for the last 13 years and has created brand awareness among its customers. The organisation uses the slogan “Easy Lunchboxes are often imitated, never duplicated, we have been inspiring healthy, wholesome meals for busy families on the go” (Easy Lunchboxes, 2022).
Brand awareness is not a simple process but it involves consideration of different factors. Gautam and Shrestha (2018) denote that brand awareness requires dedication from business people, rapport building and ensuring linkage with social media users. It is a fact that customers do not know the quality, durability and certain characteristics of a product. Organisations establish a close relationship with customers using effective social media strategies to convince customers about certain qualities of products. The struggle to create confidence results in brand awareness that bring a competitive position for an organisation. Brand awareness as Kumar and Moller (2018) believe convinces customers to stay connected with organisations to buy any new product that is launched in the market. The relationship/rapport calls for commitment from both sides as companies ensure the quality of products and services while customers spread the good fame of products. Company names or logos are of great importance to create brand awareness among customers. Easy Lunchboxes has a food container as the logo with an attractive slogan to inspire customers (Easy Lunchboxes, 2022).
Brand Loyalty
At present, social media users/customers create the brand by spreading its fame. Some researchers call it the brand awareness process while others believe it is brand loyalty. The concept of brand loyalty is based on three principles that include product/service features, availability of products at affordable prices, effective social media marketing strategy and customer after-sale satisfaction (Kato, 2021). The social media statistics of Easy Lunchboxes indicate that its customers are loyal and the reason behind customer loyalty is the availability of durable products with multi designs and affordable prices (Easy Lunchboxes Facebook, 2022).Social Media Strategy as a Practice to Enhance Competitiveness
The popularity of social media channels has attracted small businesses to alter their strategies and follow social media trends for marketing purposes. However, the question is how organisations can ensure the practical use of social media platforms to increase operational competitiveness. A practical strategy represents organisational culture and practices that contribute to attracting customers and ensuring the popularity of the brand name. Before designing a social media marketing strategy, researchers believe that small businesses should ensure the availability of certain characteristics that make a business different from others (Kwayu et al., 2017).The strategic process and competitiveness factors are intervened. In other words, marketing strategies are the primary source to ensure competitive advantages for an organisation. A common concept of drafting a social media strategy as Piskorski (2014) denotes should follow Porter's concept of generic strategy. Ultimately the purpose of every business organisation is to retain a good number of customers; hence, the use of social media marketing strategy should be of practical use rather than tactical use. Researchers believe that the tactical use of social media strategy can only be effective when it is used boost specific features of services or products. Easy Lunchboxes needs to consider these aspects to ensure the successful making of its social media marketing strategy. The long-term existence of competitive advantages from the market as Piskorski (2014) believes requires a risk analysis to counter any negative outcome. Kwayu et al. (2017: p. 441) denote that small business organisations need to consider three aspects when launching a social media strategy. These include consideration of "mindful adoption, community building and absorptive capacity". The first aspect indicates organisational enthusiasm and eagerness for the adoption of social media strategy. Community building refers to interaction with customers on social media platforms and absorptive capacity indicates organisational measures to ensure the “business value from the communities on the social media platforms” (Kwayu et al. (2017: p. 441).
Customer Engagement as an Integral Part of Social Media Strategy
The core concept behind any strategic or marketing initiative is to maximise customer engagement to boost organisational competitiveness. Social media platforms provide chances for direct interaction with online users thus the available material on the website or social media pages should be convincing enough to attract and keep customers loyal (Kato, 2021). The social media strategy of Easy Lunchboxes is visible from the company's marketing approaches. On Facebook, Instagram and Pinterest page the organisation has divided its products into three categories. The first category focuses on professionals who tend to carry their food to their workplace; the second category focuses on children and the third category targets customers who are fond of innovative designs. This strategy is a convincing source of interaction between Easy Lunchboxes and potential customers (Easy Lunchboxes Facebook, 2022; Pinterest, 2022; Easy Lunchboxes Instagram, 2022).Sashi (2012) denotes that customer engagement is the primary focus of social media strategy and it is a cyclical process that should be given due attention. According to Sashi customer engagement process is based on seven principles. For instance, interaction with customers becomes the source of customer satisfaction. A satisfied customer is easy to retain leading to commitment. Such customers advocate company products and engage in marketing initiatives on social media platforms thus leading to a strong connection between the organisation and customers.
The Role of Social Media Intelligence for Effective Decision-Making
Social media platforms such as Facebook, Instagram and Pinterest provide business-to-business (B2B) and business-to-consumer (B2C) related intelligence in the form of analytics. Organisations use this type of intelligence to improve their decision-making process to stay competitive in the market. In the E-commerce context, this intelligence can be classified into augmented reality marketing and retail marketing. The purpose of augmented reality is to ensure the marketing and selling of physical products using social media platforms (Dwivedi et al., 2021).One of the greatest benefits of using social media platforms and their paid services is accessing customer data and other businesses' data. This seems unethical; however, this means that an organisation does not access personal data. Facebook and other online platforms provide analytical data so that an organisation can use this type of intelligence to understand competitors’ business approaches and customers’ liking and disliking. Business intelligence assists an organisation to gain competitive advantages over other business competitors (Tarks, 2018). Easy Lunchboxes is in need to expand its business operations and for this purpose, the availability of social media-generated intelligence is essential to improve decision-making processes. Every business organisation aims to gain a strong financial status and this is possible by understanding market trends, and other business approaches and strategies (Adidam et al., 2012).
Type of Intelligence Easy Lunchboxes Required
Gatsoris (2010) denotes that two types of intelligence are significant for organisations; one is about competitive advantages that include intelligence concerning competitors and products. The other type of intelligence is related to the market that involves understanding market trends and customers' insights.Plessis and Gulwa (2016) denote that competitive insights are related to competitors' intelligence. Social media analytics can help Easy Lunchboxes to understand the strengths and weaknesses of organisations by evaluating competitors' investment scale, strategic change policies, business strengths of competitors and financial resources. It is noted that evaluation of competitors' resources is one of the most difficult tasks and it can only be estimated from competitors' information or annual reports or from the number of customers who buy their products. Social media can only provide the details of traffic, the presence of online users on a particular platform and analytics in the form of graphs and charts for a certain period. Similarly, Easy Lunchboxes need to get product intelligence that can assist the organization to ensure product differentiation, quality and cost comparison (Esteves et al. 2017).
The intelligence concerning customers can either be acquired from several followers, likes and subscribers. Direct interaction with customers can help to understand their brand preferences, factors that ensure customers' loyalty, purchase dynamics and customers' concerns (Dwivedi et al., 2021; & Köseoglu et al., 2020).
However, a question comes into mind if social media platforms are capable to provide such types of information to business companies. Comprehensive research on social media especially Facebook functioning in the business context that Dwivedi et al. (2021) carried out indicates that social media platforms are capable to generate market intelligence for business companies.
Dwivedi et al. (2021) concisely focused on exploring what factors contribute to this whole process and what procedures are involved. The findings suggest that the whole process is divided into four categories. These include differentiation of content type that involves rational, emotional and transactional content, the second category is known as content context that involves the format of the content type such as video, audio, written communication, and pictures. This has direct relevance with an understanding of the third category that is "social media engagement behaviour". This category indicates if social media users are active users or passive users. It is noted that all the categories or types of information are dependent on the fourth category which is known as "Control variables". It is one of the most significant aspects of social media technology as it involves the analysis of "content freshness, company, scheduling, time lag effect, engagement effect and net sentiment" (Dwivedi et al., 2021: p. 16).
Social Media and Product Intelligence
Kim and Ko (2012) denote that social media promotes voluntary interaction among online users and thus becomes a tool for marketing products and services. Social media also offers paid advertising services. Social interaction on social media platforms (Ravangard et al., 2020; Kim & Ko, 2012) helps to understand particular product features as direct interaction allows customers to examine available product variety, quality design, brand name, packaging and other features or characteristics. Refer toAl-Badi (2018) argues that organisations can get surface knowledge from their social media accounts but for in-depth details and statistic-based intelligence they require social media platforms' generated analytics. This is the reason (Dwivedi et al., 2021) that organisations opt for social media analytics to understand market factors to enjoy full-scale competitive advantages.
Customer Relationship Management
Charoensukmongkol and Sasatanun (2017) denote that one of the significant factors to improve business performance and gain a competitive edge over other competitors is the presence of effective customer relationship management (CRM) strategy. In a detailed, investigation both Charoensukmongkol and Sasatanun (2017) evaluated different aspects of social media use that influence customer behaviour resulting in high sales. SMEs and large organisations operating at national or international levels use traditional customer relationship management strategies using social media platforms because social media is a fast technological tool to understand customers' wants, needs, and product characteristics that customers look for.The implementation of a CRM strategy requires not only great consideration of different marketing aspects but the availability of skilled staff and financial resources are some of the preliminary requirements (Heliman et al., 2000). Charoensukmongkol and Sasatanun (2017: p. 26) denote that small business organisations such as Easy Lunchboxes need to consider the following four processes to ensure effective CRM. These processes include "identification, differentiation, interaction, and customization". All these processes are also known as customer intelligence (Al-Badi, 2018). The following section will examine the role of customer intelligence to ensure CRM in the context of Easy Lunchbox's social media presence.
Customer Relationship Management Using Customer Intelligence
The number of social media followers of Easy Lunchboxes is different for different platforms. The available statistics indicate that Easy Lunchboxes has 269,696 Facebook followers, 89.8K Pinterest followers and 79.9K Instagram followers (Easy Lunchboxes Pinterest, 2022; Easy Lunchboxes Instagram, 2022 & Easy Lunchboxes Facebook, 2022). Social media platforms are a convincing source to generate customer intelligence. Al-Badi (2018) denotes that without having intelligence on customers it is not possible to retain customers and to generate customer-oriented intelligence organisations need to focus on the following aspects.- Consumer attention
- Consumer interest
- Consumer desires
- Organisational actions (Al-Badi; 2018)
- Customers' preferences for brands
- Loyalty factors
- Purchase dynamics
- Brand awareness
- Factors contributing to brand consideration
- Product concerns (ISIK & Yasir, 2015)
The use of Social Media for Knowledge Management
There is a lot of discussion among academic circles and business professionals if technology-oriented knowledge management techniques that can be used with the application of social media strategy. The majority of professionals’ responses is positive and in favour of using this process to gain competitive advantages (Abubakar et al., 2017 & Bhatt, 2000). The primary purpose of using the knowledge management process is to improve the decision-making process to ensure effective CRM using social media platforms. Social media platforms according to Dwivedi et al. (2021) assist in generating intelligence. This intelligence according to Becerra-Ernandez and Sabherwal (2006) is used for knowledge management purposes. The process of knowledge management is based on three principles that involve (1) knowledge creation (collection of information from social media), (2) knowledge sharing (consultation with professionals inside the organisation to design online marketing strategies), and (3) knowledge implementation (practical use of online marketing and CRM strategies) to gain competitive advantages.Knowledge management is a major contributory factor behind data-driven decision-making and in a small business context; this can prove a source of gaining competitive superiority in the market (Abubakar et al., 2017). One of the primary reasons behind this claim is based on research that large organisations require a long time and the presence of a comprehensive infrastructure to modify their ICT technology strategies. In comparison, an individual business or a small business can appoint a single person to use social media and market intelligence can be retrieved using paid services. A small business is limited to a small geographical location and it is convenient for an individual to monitor business processes (Abubakar et al., 2017; Bhatt, 2000; Becerra-Ernandez; Charoensukmongkol & Sasatanun 2017; & Sabherwal, 2006).
Durcevic (2019) denotes that data-driven decision-making is a complex but effective process because effective data use ensures the effectiveness of all the strategic processes that an organisation uses to gain a stronger market position. Data-driven decision-making is based on seven crucial steps; however, the primary role is of organisational objectives. With a clear definition of business objectives, Easy Lunchboxes can use social media-generated data/intelligence to improve its existing business strategies. Durcevic's nine points include;
- Data collection
- Data analysis and understanding
- Finding unresolved business questions
- Finding unresolved data statistics
- Revising the analytics
- Presentation of the data for strategic use
- Correlation between data and strategic aim (Durcevic, 2019)
Summary
The advancement of technology and its effectiveness have inspired business organisations to use technology to improve business competitiveness to gain stronger market positions. The presence of social media has inspired business organisations whether doing business at regional, national, or international levels to use social media to gain a competitive edge over rival businesses. One of the primary reasons behind the adoption of social media for business purposes especially in the context of the case study organisation Easy Lunchboxes is its convenient use to interact with online customers. The second most important aspect of using social media is the convenience to use it for online marketing to interact with customers and to ensure market segmentation to understand competitors' business approaches and customers' demands. Social media facilitates businesses with content-sharing approaches, social collaboration, and interaction to determine customer behaviour about organisational products. The presence of Easy Lunchboxes on Facebook, Pinterest, Instagram and website allows the organisation to use these platforms for marketing products. Using paid and unpaid marketing services, there are likely chances for small businesses to grow faster. Social media use is a primary source to create brand awareness among customers and to know the factors contributing to brand loyalty.The use of social media platforms to boost customer engagement by interacting with customers to understand the level of customer satisfaction helps to make customer retention strategies. Social media platforms are unique because of their novel characteristics. One of the characteristics is its use for advocacy and connecting people across the globe. Satisfied customers advocate certain products that they like thus increasing the number of customers for a business organisation.
Understanding customers' wants and needs largely depends on knowing these demands and it is possible by using market intelligence at B2C levels. Social media service providers facilitate organisations with market analytics to understand market trends and evaluate their performance by examining customer intelligence related to product differentiation and customer requirements. The retrieval of this type of intelligence helps business organisations to identify the type of content that attracts customers on social media and improve social media marketing strategies. These initiatives help organisations to improve their decision-making process by managing market-relevant knowledge/intelligence for long-term competitive advantages over other business competitors.
References
Abbasi, G. A., Abdul-Rahim, N. F., WU, H., Iranmanesh, M., & Chee-Keong, B. NG. (2022). Determinants of SME’s social media marketing adoption: Competitive industry as a moderator. SAGE Open. 1-9. https://doi.org/10.1177/2158244021106722Abubakar, A. M., Elrehail, H., Alatailat, M. A., & Elci, A. (2019). Knowledge management, decision-making style and organizational performance. Journal of Innovation & Knowledge, 4(2), 104-114. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jik.2017.07.003.
Adidam, P. T., Banerjee, M., & Shukla, P. (2012). Competitive intelligence and firm’s performance in emerging markets: An exploratory study in India. Journal of Business and Industrial Marketing, 27, 242-254.
Ahmad, N. (2020). Influence of social media on brand awareness: A study on small businesses. [MBA Thesis] University of Gavle.
Al Badi, K. S. (2018). The impact of marketing mix on the competitive advantage of the SME sector in the Al Buraimi Governorate in Oman. Business and Management: SAGE Open Journal, 8(3), https://doi.org/10.1177%2F2158244018800838
Appel, G., Grewal, L., Hadi, R., & Stephen, A. T. (2019). The future of social media marketing. Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, 48, 79-95. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11747-019-00695-1
Becerra-Fernandez, I., & Sabherwal, R. (2006). ICT and knowledge management systems. Encyclopedia of Knowledge Management System. pp. 230-236. https://doi.org/10.4018/978-1-59140-573-3.ch030
Bhagat, A., & Gupta, S. (2014). Growth of small businesses in India through impact of social media. International Journal of Engineering Sciences & Management Research, 1(2), 30-35.
Bhatt, G. D. (2000). Organizing knowledge in the knowledge development cycle. Journal of Knowledge Management, 4(1), 15-26. https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Ganesh-Bhatt/publication/235301794_Organizing_Knowledge_in_the_Knowledge_Development_Cycle/links/02e7e53bf1366b32f9000000/Organizing-Knowledge-in-the-Knowledge-Development-Cycle.pdf.
Charoensukmongkol, P., & Sastanun, P. (2017). Social media use for CRM and business performance satisfaction: The moderating roles of social skills and social media sales intensity. Asia Pacific Management Review, 22(2017), 25-34. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.apmrv.2016.10.005
Chinen-Moore, J. S. (2020). Social media strategies for small businesses. [PhD Thesis Walden University], Walden University Scholar Works. https://scholarworks.waldenu.edu/dissertations/8871/
Colliander, J., & Dahlén, M. (2011). Following the fashionable friend: The power of social media: Weighing publicity effectiveness of blogs versus online magazines. Journal of Advertising Research, 51(1), 313-320. https://doi.org/10.2501/JAR-51-1-313-320
Coursaris, C. K., van Osch, W., & Balogh, B. A. (2015). Informing brand messaging strategies via social media analytics. Emerald Insight Online Information Review,40(1), 6–24. https://doi.org/10.1108/OIR-02-2015-0062
Dixon, S. (2022, November 20). Global social networks ranked by number of users 2022. Statista. https://www.statista.com/statistics/272014/global-social-networks-ranked-by-number-of-users/
Doyle, C., Sammon, D., & Neville, K. (2015). Building an evaluation framework for social media: Enabled collaboration learning environments. Journal of Decision Systems, 24(3), 298-317. https://doi.org/10.1080/12460125.2015.1054694
Durcevic, S. (2019). Why data driven decision making is your path to business success. Available at: https://www.datapine.com/blog/data-driven-decision-making-in-businesses/. (Accessed: April 28, 2021).
Dwivedi, Y. K., Ismagilova, E., Hughes, D. L., Carlson, J., Filieri, R., Jacobson, J., Jain, V., Karjaluoto, H., Kefi, H., Krishen, A. S., Kumar, V., Rahman, M. M., Raman, R., Rauschnabel, P. A., Rowley, J., Salo, J., Tran, G. A., & Wang, Y. (2021). Setting the future of digital and social media marketing research: Perspectives and research propositions. International Journal of Information Management, 59, 102168. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijinfomgt.2020.102168
Easy Lunchboxes Facebook. (2022 November 10). Easy lunch boxes. https://www.facebook.com/EasyLunchboxes/about/
Easy Lunchboxes Instagram. (2022, November 21). Easy Lunchboxes. Instagram. https://www.instagram.com/easylunchboxes/?hl=en
Easy Lunchboxes Pinterest. (2022, November 21). Easy Lunchboxes. Pinterest. https://www.pinterest.com/easylunchboxes/
Easy Lunchboxes. (2022, November 21). The originals. Since 2009. Easy Lunchboxes. https://easylunchboxes.com/
Esteves, S. C., Agarwal, A., Cho, C. L., & Majzoub, A. (2017). A strengths-weaknesses-opportunities-threats (SWOT) analysis on the clinical utility of sperm DNA fragmentation testing in specific male infertility scenarios. Translational Andrology and Urology, 6(4), S734–S760. https://doi.org/10.21037/tau.2017.08.20
Facebook. (2022, November 20). Easy Lunchboxes. Facebook. https://www.facebook.com/EasyLunchboxes/
Gatsoris, L. (2012). Competitive intelligence in Greek furniture retailing: A qualitative approach. EuroMed Journal of Business, 7, 224–242. http://doi.org/10.1108/14502191211265299
Gautam, D.K., & Shrestha, S.K. (2018). Impact of Brand Equity on Purchase Intention of Smart Phones. Asia-Pacific Journal of Business, 9(1), 1-18. https://koreascience.kr/article/JAKO201812965729335.page
He, W., Wang, F. K., Chen, Y., & Zha, S. (2017). An exploratory investigation of social media adoption by small businesses. Information Technology and Management, 18(2), 149-160.
Heliman, C. M., Bowman, D., & Wright, G. P. (2000). The evolution of bran preferences and choice behaviours of consumers new to a market. Journal of Marketing Research, 37(2), 139-155. https://doi.org/10.1509%2Fjmkr.37.2.139.18728
ISIK, A., & Yasar, M. F. (2015). Effects of brand on consumer preferences: A study in Turkmenistan. Eurasian Journal of Business and Economics, 8(16), 139-150.http://doi.org/10.17015/ejbe.2015.016.08
Kato, T. (2021). Brand loyalty explained by concept recall: Recognizing the significance of the brand concept compared to features. Journal of Marketing Analytics, 9, 185-198. https://link.springer.com/article/10.1057/s41270-021-00115-w
Khayer, A., Talukder, M. S., Bao, Y., & Hossain, M. N. (2020). Cloud computing adoption and its impact on SMEs’ performance for cloud supported operations: A dual-stage analytical approach. Technology and Society, 60, 101225. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.techsoc.2019.101225
Kim, A. J., & Ko, E. (2012). Do social media marketing activities enhance customer equity? An empirical study of luxury fashion brand. Journal of Business Research, 65(10), 1480-1486.
Köseoglu, M. A., Altin, M., Chan, E., & Aladag, O. F. (2020). What are the key success factors for strategy formulation and implementation? Perspectives of managers in the hotel industry. International Journal of Hospitality Management, 89, 102574. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijhm.2020.102574
Kumar, A., & Möller, K. (2018). Extending the Boundaries of Corporate Branding: An Exploratory Study of the Influence of Brand Familiarity in Recruitment Practices Through Social Media by B2B Firms. Corporate Reputation Review, 21(3), pp.101-114. https://doi.org/10.1057/s41299-018-0046-7
Kwayu, S., Lal, B., & Abubakre, M. (2017). Enhancing organisational competitiveness via social media-a strategy a practice perspective. Information Systems Frontiers, 20, 439-56. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10796-017-9816-5
Lorenzo-Romero, C., Constantinides, E., & Alarcón-del-Amo, M. D. C. (2011). Consumer adoption of social networking sites: implications for theory and practice. Journal of research in Interactive Marketing, 5(2/3), 170-188. https://doi.org/10.1108/17505931111187794
Meske, C., & Stieglitz, S. (2013). Adoption and use of social media in small and medium size business enterprises. Practice-driven Research on Enterprise Transformation, 15(1), 61-75. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-38774-6_5
Parment, A., Kotler, P. & Armstrong, G. (2016). Principles of Marketing Scandinavian Edition. Harlow, United Kingdom: Pearson Education Limited.
Piskorski, M. J. (2014). A social strategy: How we profit from social media. Princeton: Princeton University Press. https://doi.org/10.1515/9781400850020
Plessis, T., & Gulwa, M. (2016). Developing a competitive intelligence strategy framework supporting the competitive intelligence needs of a financial institution’s decision makers. SA Journal of Information Management 18(2). http://www.sajim.co.za/index.php/SAJIM/article/view/726.
Ravangard, R., Khodadad, A., & Bastani, P. (2020). How marketing mix (7Ps) affect the patients' selection of a hospital: experience of a low-income country. The Journal of the Egyptian Public Health Association, 95(1), 25. http://doi.org/10.1186/s42506-020-00052-z
Sashi, C.M. (2012). Consumer engagement, buyer-seller relationships, and social media. Management Decision, 50(2), 253-272. https://doi.org/10.1108/00251741211203551
Shahbaznezhad, H., Dolan, R., & Rashidirad, M. (2021). The Role of Social Media Content Format and Platform in Users’ Engagement Behavior. Journal of Interactive Marketing, 53(1), 47-65. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.intmar.2020.05.001
Sloan, L. & Quan-Haase, A. (2017). The Sage handbook of social media research methods. Los Angeles, Calif: Sage Reference.
Tarka, P. (2018). The views and perceptions of managers on the role of marketing research in decision making. International Journal of Market Research, 60(1), 67-87. https://doi.org/10.1177%2F1470785317744854.
Vaananen, E.M. (2015). Benefits of social media marketing for small businesses. Thesis. University of Applied Sciences. Kiel, Germany.
Wicks, M. (2012). An introduction to social media for small business. eBook. Blue Beetle Books. https://betterbusinesscontent.com/_ebooks/prince_albert/pdfs/eBook-Social-Media-for-Small-Business.pdf