Social media as an effective advertising tool in Kenya
Abstract
It is without a doubt that the world is evolving from Traditional Media to New Media. The
growing usage of social media indicates a potentially effective new platform for advertisers.
With this new form of communication, comes a new way of looking at advertising. Traditional
media is typically delivered through campaigns that have a definitive start and stop state. Social
media doesn’t have an end date. It is an ongoing conversation between the advertiser and the
customer.
Over the years, we have seen social media usage grow rapidly in Kenya, and as expected, to keep
up with the times and remain relevant in their various industries, Kenyan companies have
adopted social media as a major component in their marketing mix. This study explored how
Kenyans can use this platform effectively for marketing and communications to achieve
maximum results. Kenyan companies know about social media and understand its importance
but not many know the most effective way of using this medium as an advertising tool. This has
therefore lead to a lot of wastage in terms of revenue and time.
This study sought to provide an analysis of current commercial social media usage by critically
evaluating the most effective ways to utilize these social media platforms as advertising tools
here in Kenya. The study employed both qualitative and quantitative approaches. The
quantitative approach focused on obtaining numerical findings through a survey method. We
performed an online survey of the general public to understand how they receive advertisements
on social media The interview on the other hand, made up the qualitative approach of the study.
This focused on personal accounts, observations, description and individual insights of the
respondents. The research attained this by conducting interviews at different digital creative agencies and full-service agencies. This study employed the combined approach so as to
overcome the limitations of both approaches.
The outcome of this study will revolutionize how companies communicate with the general
public by revealing how their target market behaves on social media. The study revealed the
critically needed knowledge on how to engage with their target market, when to engage with
them and the tone to use with them in order to attain maximum advertising results
Citation
Master of Arts in CommunicationPublisher
University of Nairobi