Research Proposal
Impacts of social media marketing on
small restaurant businesses in Vietnam
Table of Contents
1. Purpose of the Project
1.1.
Purpose of the study
The proposed study is to explore the influence of social media marketing on smallsized
restaurants in Vietnam. The employment of social media for marketing has constantly grown.
Social media sites can be used for various tasks of marketing and communication such as
marketing communication, PR, and customer engagement. Specifically, social media helps
companies grow by increasing the traffic of the site, generating more leads for companies to
work on and more importantly, boosting sales (Das, 2020). Besides, communities on social
media channels facilitate wordofmouth marketing through consumers’ reviews and
experiences of certain products and services, which is a big marketing trend for 2020 (Allen,
2020).
In terms of restaurant businesses, social media is a powerful tool for food and restaurant
brands advertising their products and services. Furthermore, during the current Covid19
climate, dining rooms have been closed for the majority of 2020, restaurants must focus on
takeout or delivery services and especially, stick to a marketing approach that is safe and
cheap. Social media is argued to be one of the cheapest and most accessible ways to engage
with customers during this unprecedented time (Smith, 2020). In Vietnam, food and
beverages selling on social media sites have recently become a trend. It is convenient for
Vietnamese people to find any product merely by browsing Facebook or Instagram pages.
This fact has encouraged the researcher to bring forth the topic. The study examines the
negative and positive impacts of social media marketing on restaurant businesses in Vietnam
via a thorough research. The style of research is basic research, which is driven by the
researcher’s curiosity. In particular, the study applies exploratory research in order to
investigate a problem by assessing the influence of social media marketing on restaurants in
Vietnam from business owners’ point of view.
Aims and objectives
1.2.
The study aims to investigate the negative and positive impacts of social media marketing on
smallsized restaurants in Vietnam. The following objectives will facilitate the achievement of
the aim. The first objective is to identify the tasks of marketing and sales that the smallsized
restaurants use social media platforms for. The second objective is to assess the benefits of
social media marketing for those restaurants. The third objective is to analyse the negative
sides of using social media platforms to connect with customers.
The study will answer three research questions:
Question 1: What are the arguments for smallsized restaurants in Vietnam using social media
for marketing?
Question 2: How do smallsized restaurant businesses in Vietnam benefit from social media
marketing?
Question 3: What are the drawbacks of social media marketing for smallsized restaurants in
Vietnam?
2. Literature review
For the past few years, some researchers have studied about how social media marketing
contributes to enhancing brand equity, sales and consumer brand loyalty as well as challenges
of incorporating social media marketing in restaurant businesses. These existing studies
would be of great significance for the proposed study. This Section will review three recent
works that are the most relevant to the topic.
Firstly, Timilsina (2027) studied the influence of social media on business activities of
restaurants based in Oulu, Finland. The research was conducted via a mixed qualitative and
quantitative method. A questionnaire with both Likert and openended questions were used to
interview restaurant entrepreneurs or communication managers in Oulu region. The result
from the work shows that social media tools like Facebook and Instagram mainly used by the
restaurants. Importantly, marketing through these sites not only is affordable and easy to
access but also increases the flow of customers, and boosts sales. This research suggests a
means of collecting information from business owners’ perspective, which is FacetoFace
interviews. Besides, the prospective survey questions to be sent to restaurant owners or
communication responsible in Vietnam can be referenced from the interview questionnaire in
this study. The proposed study also assesses the influence of social media marketing on
restaurants from entrepreneurs’ point of view; hence, the work by Timilsina (2017) will be a
good reference.
It is undeniable that every marketing tool poses challenges and negative influences on users.
The same happens in social media marketing. LepkowskaWhite (2017) conducted a research
to explore the challenges of social media in small restaurants. The study employed qualitative
research through interviewing 20 small restaurants in Northeastern United States. The similar
aspect of this research and the proposed study is that both articles concentrate on smallsized
restaurants, notwithstanding the location. Besides, the interview questions from the work can
be beneficial to the further research, exemplifying which content can be covered in the survey
questionnaire sent to restaurant entrepreneurs in Vietnam.
Although the proposed study focuses on entrepreneurs’ point of view, it is essential to
understand the topic from consumers’ viewpoints. Patel (2019) evaluated the effectiveness of
social media marketing in building customer loyalty through a case of the Indian cuisine
restaurants in Nairobi, Kenya. The study employed descriptive research design. A structured
questionnaire was sent to guests at nine popular Indian cuisine restaurants in Nairobi at the
end of their meals. The data, after that, was analysed by SPSS. Findings from the study
indicate that social media is an effective tool to create brand awareness and facilitate the
interaction among restaurants and guests. Besides, social media environment builds strong
bonds between brands and customers. These results were derived from the answers shared by
guests. Yet, the opinions from restaurants may be different or similar. Hence, it would be
interesting to survey restaurants’ opinions.
3. Proposed methodology
3.1.
Types of data
The aim of the study is to explore the impacts of social media marketing on smallsized
restaurants in Vietnam. The study considers the business owners’ perspective as an indicator
of the influence of social media marketing. In the proposed research, the author will merely
collect primary data.
3.2.
Data collection method
The study employs mixed methods where both qualitative and quantitative data will be
collected. To be more specific, the restaurant survey data will include both Likert and open
ended questions, pertaining quantitative and qualitative methods respectively. A mixed
methods study is argued to have numerous advantages such as reflecting participants’
viewpoints and gathering rich, comprehensive data (Wisdom and Creswell 2013). Mixed
methods, hence, is believed to enrich the findings and give participants to raise their voice
from their experiences.
3.3.
Data analysis method
To analyse data collected, Excel will be used. First of all, Excel helps to summarise
participants’ personal information and their answers from the questionnaire. Thanks to Excel,
survey question results are illustrated in percentages, charts by the number of respondents to
each question. The researcher is also more familiar with Excel, which will facilitate the
analysis and generalisation of findings. For qualitative data collected in the survey, content
analysis will be used. Particularly, the texts relevant to the research question will be selected
to analysed and categorised.
4. Sources of data
4.1.
Sampling
The population of the study is smallsized restaurants in Vietnam. The randomly chosen
sample will be a group of restaurant entrepreneurs taken from this large population. To be
more specific, the sample representing small sized restaurants in Vietnam will be food
entrepreneurs that are the researcher’s acquaintances, friends and the ones introduced or
recommended. These owners are from every part of Vietnam, namely, North, South and
Middle. The reason for this random selection is that restaurant businesses from different parts
of Vietnam may have divergent views on social media marketing; and out of curiosity, the
researcher desires to seek the truth and draw a more objective conclusion.
4.2.
Primary data
Depending on the external factors, the questionnaire will be either online or offline. For
instance, in case of social distancing due to COVID99, an online questionnaire as a Google
form can be sent out to entrepreneurs’ email addresses or Facebook or WhatsApp, while
offline survey can be conducted by visiting restaurants.
4.3.
Content of questionnaire
When it comes to content of the questionnaire, such dimensions as background information,
social media marketing strategy, benefits and shortcomings of social media regarding brand
awareness, flow of customers, sales, and customer engagement will be involved. Respondents
will be asked to indicate the opinions on each statement via Likert scale. Each Section will
also comprise openended questions. A draft questionnaire can be seen in the Appendix. The
studies listed in the literature review will be of great value to this survey research.
5. Expected schedule Gant chart
It is predicted to take 3 weeks, from August 24 to September 13 for the proposal stage to be
completed. This stage include preparation, presentation of research proposal and obtainment
of ethics form approval. The research stage including literature review, data collection and
data analysis is likely to last for two and a half months. Data can be collected from September
14 to October 15 and then analysed from October 15 to the end of October. In case analysis
proceeds quicker than expected, report writing can start earlier and finish at the end of
November. During the period of September 14 – November 30, literature review can be
written and reviewed simultaneously. November and December is expected to be spent on
completing the research and submitting the final version.
References
Allen, R.,2020. Social media marketing trends 2020. [online] Smart Insights. Available at:
/>marketingtrends2020/
Das, M., 2020. 23 Best Benefits of Social Media for Your Business [2020]. [online]Kiran
R.K.G. Available at
/>LepkowskaWhite, E., 2017. Exploring the challenges of incorporating social media marketing
strategies in the restaurant business. Journal of internet commerce, 16(3), pp.323342.
Patel, A.R., 2019. An Assessment of Social Media Marketing On Consumer Brand Loyalty: A
Case Study of the Indian Cuisine Restaurants in Nairobi (Doctoral dissertation, United States
International UniversityAfrica).
Smith, D., 2020. How to Market Your Restaurant During and After COVID19.
[online]Modern Restaurant Management. Available at:
/>covid19/
Timilsina, M., 2017. Impacts of social media in restaurant businesses: A case study of
restaurants based on Oulu region.
Wisdom, J. and Creswell, J.W., 2013. Mixed methods: integrating quantitative and qualitative
data collection and analysis while studying patientcentered medical home models. Rockville:
Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality.
Appendix
Restaurant survey (draft)
The purpose of this research is to collect primary information in relation to restaurant entrepreneurs'
opinions about the influence of social media marketing. This data will form part of a study involving
impacts of social media marketing on small restaurant businesses in Vietnam. If you would prefer not to
take part in the project, then I thank you for your time and you need not complete the questionnaire. If
you are happy to participate in this project, please can you complete the questionnaire. All information
given will be treated confidentially.
I am very grateful for your assistance.
Introduction
1. Age of your restaurant
1
2
3
4
5
older than 5
2. Number of employees
110
220
more than 20
3. Your target customers
Students 12 18
Students 1925
Ages 25 35
Ages 3550
Older than 50
4. Social media platforms you use for marketing
Please indicate your reasons on 'other' box if appropriate
Facebook
Instagram
Zalo
Viber
Other:
5. How often you post on social media
Never
Every few months
Every few weeks
Weekly
Daily
6. Which parts of Vietnam are you from
North
South
Middle
Impacts of social media
Read each statement carefully and indicate whether you strongly disagree (1), disagree (2), are neutral ( 3), agree(4)
and strongly agree(5).
7. Your sales have improved significantly since you started to use social media
8. More customers know about my restaurant
9. The customer flow has increased
10. Social media marketing is cheap
11. It is easy for you to advertise your business on social media platforms
12. You have access to paid advertising services on social media
13. You feel a stronger bond with your customers via social media
14. More customers have contacted you via social media tools
15. Customers have had negative feedback about your restaurant on social
media communities
16. It is easy for negative things about your restaurant go viral on social media
17. Social media marketing is time-consuming
18. How has feedback social media marketing affected you and your business?
Your answer
19. Other thoughts on social media marketing
Your answer