Jared Dobbertin

Adam Padgett
ENGL 1102
March 10, 2014
Annotated Bibliography

Inquiry: What implications does social media pose within the business world?

Proposed thesis: Customer service and product marketing within the economic world will
soon be run more efficiently and effectively through social media and technology.

Xueming Luo, Jie Zhang, Wenjing Duan, (2013) Social Media and Firm Equity Value.
Information Systems Research 24(1):146-163.

This source focuses in on social medias ability to predict firm equity value and
how businesses are investing in social media. First, this source creates a direct connection
to social media and the customer. It discusses how social media captures the wisdom of
the crowd by showing what the people are posting and tweeting about in their everyday
lives. The source continues to prove its relevance by continuing with this idea and
discussing how firms monitor social media in order to gauge customer feedback so they
can then implement changes or new strategies for their product. This source relates to my
topic because it proves that businesses are currently researching and investing in social
media marketing, like Facebook, in order to better hear the voice of the people in
bettering their product. The authors conduct a study on the current research being done
and defend the investments made on social media through empirical data representing a
firms ability to see their economic future.
Agnihotri, Raj, et al. "Bringing "Social" Into Sales: The Impact Of Salespeople's Social
Media Use On Service Behaviors And Value Creation." Journal Of Personal
Selling & Sales Management 32.3 (2012): 333-348. Business Source Complete.
Web. 10 Mar. 2014.
Comment [AP1]: Okay, this is an interesting
thesis (and inquiry), but I wonder if this is too
axiomatic? Who would argue with this? I think
youd be hard pressed to find a business owner
who would say that they dont use or rely on
social media.
Comment [AP2]: This makes me wonder
who you envision your audience being.

This source provides insight within the mind of a salesperson and how he/she is
taught to handle his/her social media use. This article describes the basic fundamentals of
sales and how businesses adopted new variations of these when social media became a
large part of their customers lives. The common salesperson was once taught that in
order to make a sale, they had to create a connection with that individual. Then, if
persuasive enough, they would in turn receive some type of buyer loyalty from that
customer. A company then reconfigured these basic principles in 2003 in order to
enhance their marketing capabilities within the world of social media. This article
describes how one of the leading software companies at the time, named SAP, were
advised to embrace a digital body language that emphasized trust building through
blogs and other content-creation exercises. This source helps build background
knowledge of how salespeople reacted with this new style of marketing, as well as
creating the argument that social media marketing is more effective.
James "Mick" Andzulis, Nikolaos G. Panagopoulos and Adam Rapp. The Journal of
Personal Selling and Sales Management , Vol. 32, No. 3, Special Issue:
Perspectives on Personal Selling and Social Media (Summer 2012) , pp. 305-316.

This article defines social media within the business world and discusses current
marketing strategies. Virtual feedback allows for a product to be reviewed and referred
solely based off customer experience without a sales rep ever having a say in the review.
The article suggests that the implications of this may have permanently changed the
method by which customers prefer to learn about what a firm offers. This source is an
excellent review of the sales process from the standpoint of the customer. Most articles
Ive stumbled upon have focused more on the business aspect rather than the
psychological. This article helps educate on what the actual customer is thinking when on
Comment [AP3]: I assume you are largely
paraphrasing here, but this is really interesting
insight here.
Comment [AP4]: Defines it as what?
Comment [AP5]: This is really interesting
too, but I would like to know your specific
thoughts on the content and the ideas this
source discussees.
social media and helps portray the effectiveness of marketing campaigns. This article also
discusses subliminal marketing strategies and the reasoning behind them; furthering the
argument that social media has allowed for more effective product placement.
Rodriguez, Michael, Robert M. Peterson, and Vijaykumar Krishnan. "Social Media's
Influence On Business-To-Business Sales Performance." Journal Of Personal
Selling & Sales Management 32.3 (2012): 365-378. Business Source Complete.
Web. 10 Mar. 2014.

This is another article describing the problems surrounding a salesperson before
the social media initiative and how the new sales generation functions. This article
provides insight on actual education and language taught to sales reps, as well as how
they are taught to use social media to understand their customers. The article suggests,
[salespeople] must capture detailed information on potential clients in order to gain a
better understanding of their needs, discover key buying influences, and understand their
buying process. This gives insight in the mind of a sales rep and what he looks for when
researching prospects on social media. Currently, businesses use small demographic
regions to represent their target audience and then key in on specific products that those
individuals use in their everyday experiences. After this, they learn how those products
are received by the region and see how to best market their product. This article creates
the idea that salespeople today care more about the actual marketing being done since
they no longer have the ability to just demonstrate the product how they want it; so they
have to now focus more on the customer in order to make a sale. This again creates the
argument that social media has allowed for a more customer-friendly age in which sales
reps are required to put forth the extra effort and backup their claims.
Journal of Public Affairs Education , Vol. 18, No. 3 (SUMMER 2012) , pp. 467-492.
This article relates to my thesis in the sense that it shows government initiative
Comment [AP6]: Okay, Im wondering how
this is a) acquired via social media and b) how
much different this is than sales without social
media.
Comment [AP7]: This is really interesting,
but I think I need more clarity on what you
mean here.
Comment [AP8]: Ok, but it sounds like
social media is putting more distance between
the salesperson and the product so that social
media becomes takes more of the
responsibility of selling an item than an actual
person. Maybe Im miss reading this.
Comment [AP9]: Youre missing the article
name here.
taken to better educate students on proper social media and technology use. The article
discusses President Barack Obamas social media campaign and the manner in which he
choose to market himself to the country. Next, the article discusses the effectiveness of
this campaign and the ideas behind having a presidential candidate so open within social
media. Then, the article continues to discuss current steps taken by the government to
further technology education within middle schools and grade schools. The current stand
that our government is taking is that education should be taught through technology, with
the sole idea that technology is here to stay and soon our everyday lives will be run
through technology. To a point, this statement is already true; but, this will soon include
the economic world. This article aids my argument by showing how current education is
being based on technological advances and suggests that the future will only be more
technology friendly.
Jared,
It looks like youve done some fine research here. The articles youve found seem
credible and on point with your thesis and inquiry. I was especially interested in the last
source; there seems to be room for really interesting conversation. I am, though, left
wondering what exactly youll be arguing. Your thesis seem a little axiomatic as it is
now; its like arguing that the sky in sometimes blue. What really the point? I guess try to
think of an audience that might need convincing. Youll need to find conflict somewhere
so that you can engage in that conversation (which is why I like that last sourcelots of
potential there). Good work here. looking forward to reading the research paper.
Comment [AP10]: Im trying to get the
connection between Obamas campaign and
education. Can you make this connection
clearer?