The Effect Of Social Media Marketing On Brand Awareness In The Hotel Industry In Kisumu City

Abstract

Social media marketing has become the most preferred method for advertisements in the wake of internet development. Business outlets have realized the use of online platforms to promote their services and products. This study sought to investigate the effect of social media marketing on brand awareness of hotels in Kisumu city. To achieve this, primary data was collected using semi-structured questionnaires. The questionnaires werephysicallyadministeredto the hotel marketing managers and online through hotel mails. The study targeted all the 53 hotels in Kisumu city listed with the Tourism Regulatory Authority. Data was analyzed using descriptive statistics and presented in form of tables and piecharts. The findings indicated that prompt response to customer enquiries in both Facebook and Instagram pages increased brand awareness the most with following values respectively (M=4.21 SD=0.963), (M=4.00 SD=1.155)while interactive activity of twitter platform increased brand awareness in twitter page the most with the following values (M=5.45 SD=6.565).All social media activities were significant with brand awareness as most of hotels using social media platforms had increased customer outreach on social media platforms and received 100% hotel bookings per day in the social media platforms .The reason for adoption of social media platforms in marketing by hotels in Kisumu city is due to the cost which was considered to be cheaper and potential of reaching a wider market and potential customers who use social media platforms. Thiswas a cross-sectional study that provides a snapshot of the study; therefore, the study recommends a longitudinal study that will be able to detect the changes in the behaviors of the hotel brands.