The Impact of Social Media Marketing on Consumers’ Brand Awareness in Ethiopia
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Date
2014-06
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Addis Ababa University
Abstract
In this technologically advanced era, it is surprising to see that how international companies
are taking advantage of the internet. Internet has a significant impact on companies
marketing campaigns. Social media platforms such as Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, You
Tube and Google+ have changed the way companies market their products and services.
Social media has become an integral part of their promotion mix and has transformed the
way companies interact with customers. It is a new field of research and a literature review
reveals that not many studies have been undertaken specially in Ethiopian context. There are
few studies which have been carried out without much scientific evidences, which have
concluded that due to emergence of social media, the traditional advertising has diminished.
Nevertheless the use of social media marketing in Ethiopia is at its infant stage. However,
the current situation may not extend for long due to the fast growing usage of social media
platforms, fast growth of internet penetration and the need for companies to participate in
the globalized world in order to be competitive with international companies and to benefit
out of this astounding technology.
The purpose of this research paper has been to look at how social media can create brand
awareness and its use in Ethiopia. This study is of an exploratory and descriptive nature
whose primary objective is to provide insight into a new marketing phenomenon. A
combination of both quantitative and qualitative method was used. It has been possible to
withdraw necessary primary and secondary data by conducting an online survey and expert
interview and also by referring related literatures respectively. A combination of structured
on line survey questionnaire and structured interview is conducted to collect the required
information. Both primary and secondary methods were used to gather data to attain best
possible outcome of the research’s effort. The size of the population for this study is
unknown as social media networking sites are dynamic and complex and they are impossible
to count given that the number of members increases on a daily basis. Therefore, the
researcher used the sample size recommended for unknown population by Corbetta (2003)
which is 385. However, the researcher distributed online questionnaires to 500 respondents
in order to increase the response rate.
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Convenient and snow-ball non-probability sampling method were employed to conduct the
online survey and expert non-probability sampling technique was used to interview experts.
The data collected using the structured online survey questionnaire via a link
https://adobeformscentral.com/?f=x3MvHdh1gSo0flJzC2L9ag was analyzed descriptively
using adobeformescentral.com and the results were presented in different forms of graphical
and tabular representations
The finding of this research paper indicates that most consumers pay attention to
advertisements recommended and shared by friends and contacts on social media networks
rather than the direct information provided or advertisement campaign made by companies.
Recommendation of others which is known as electronic word of mouth is considered as the
most reliable source of information to influence consumers’ perception about products and
services and half of the consumers buy products based on the information they acquire from
social media networks.
On the other hand, companies are using social media marketing specially to reach their
international customers, to create awareness of their brand and to improve their brand image.
Nevertheless, they are facing several challenges which hinder the smooth application of
social media marketing campaign. However, most local companies use other traditional
forms of promotional channels most such as TV and radio advertisements.
The use of social media marketing nowadays is becoming very popular worldwide and it has
changed the relationship between customers and business and this effect will gradually
continue to evolve in Ethiopia as new media infuses the culture and society. Therefore, the
research suggested that local companies should use social media network to present their
brands with enormous reach, endless communication possibilities and with a very limited
promotion cost and grab the possible opportunities of exploiting the brand building potential
through the richest and fastest communication form available. However, Social Media as a
form of marketing will present a whole new phase challenges. Therefore, companies need to
develop their marketing strategy with special care in order to minimize the risk and
challenges of online branding.
Description
Keywords
internet, marketing campaigns, Social media platforms