EFFECTS OF SOCIAL MEDIA MARKETING STRATEGIES ON CUSTOMER LOYALTY
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EFFECTS OF SOCIAL MEDIA MARKETING STRATEGIES ON CUSTOMER LOYALTY
Chapter one
INTRODUCTION
1.1 Background for the Study
Global technology has advanced rapidly over the previous decade, causing significant changes in the way people live. Challenges that previously hampered efficiency and communication speed have been significantly reduced as a result of technological advancements, resulting in the development of new platforms or methods for connecting audiences globally (Hasnain, Nasreen, & Ijaz, 2015).
One of these platforms is the use of social networks online, which has allowed people to communicate via a variety of platforms on the internet, including email, Twitter, and Facebook.
This has considerably facilitated social connections without the necessity for actual meetings (Picard & Robert, 2011). In Africa, the development of social media has been beneficial to various businesses because it provides them with a platform to generate widespread brand awareness without wasting excessive marketing costs.
Similarly, in Nigeria, the use of social media has become an integrated component of the marketing activities of commercial organisations, particularly Micro, Small, and Medium Enterprises, as the number of online consumers has grown. However, this has piqued people’s interest in using social media for marketing.
Social media plays an increasingly important role in many aspects of life. It assists users at numerous stages of life, including business, marketing, politics, and education (Hennig-Thurau, 2010).
From a business standpoint, organisations and buyers can interact and communicate directly with one another via social media, allowing them to locate whatever things and services they are looking for (Parson, 2013).
Customers are increasingly adopting innovation, particularly social media, as an effective tool in their online shopping experience. This procedure can be described as an electronic process in which a client or customer manages agents and addresses the demands of their buyers.
According to Pookulangara and Koesler (2011), in their study of social media showcasing, social media enables twenty-five percent (25%) of all consumers to post links to product and service information on their retail sites to keep other users or consumers informed about the purchasing process.
Similarly, Miller (2010) stated in his review of internet marketing that social marketing has had a substantial impact on customers’ online purchasing decisions. In his assessment, he discovered that approximately 70% of users or consumers use social media to obtain useful information about a product or service
49% of them have made the decision to purchase a specific item, and 60% of consumers prefer to share their product information with another user online via social media platforms.
Furthermore, the rate of online users or consumers is increasing in other countries such as China, Japan, India, and Australia by approximately 87%, 85% (North Asia and Europe), 83% (North America), 81% (South and Latin America), and 53% (Africa and Pakistan) (Solorzano, 2011).
Over the last two years, product reviews and referrals posted across various social media platforms about items have enabled over 875 million buyers to increase the rate of other online users or customers by 40% (Hutton & Fosdick, 2018).
As a result of the large number of linked users on social media platforms, they have been able to provide an ideal environment for promotional activities (Sarapaivanich & Patterson 2015).
However, this has contributed to the expansion of brand coverage (Kelton, 2014). However, in today’s business world, a high level of brand recognition among users or consumers is insufficient to ensure an organization’s profitability and, ultimately, sustainability. Furthermore, it is critical that their consumer loyalty is high.
Customer loyalty indicates a tendency to purchase a specific brand; however, buyers feel that a brand provides fun features, pictures, or a high standard of quality at an affordable price (Saeed, Ahmed, & Musa, 2013). The customer’s belief and faith serve as the foundation for new buying behaviours.
Customers can initially purchase a brand for trial purposes; but, if they are satisfied with the brand’s product or service, they will continue to purchase products from that brand (Oladepo & Ambibola, 2015). Today, consumer loyalty has become increasingly important to an organization’s survival in the economic sector.
According to Claveria (2018), client loyalty is critical to increasing profitability because it is less expensive to keep consumers than to acquire new ones. Furthermore, Moisescu (2014) believes that customer loyalty is critical to MSMEs’ marketing efforts because loyal consumers aid with referral and word-of-mouth marketing.
As a result, delighting a customer entails not only retaining the current but also acquiring new consumers. Furthermore, Brain and Co (2018) found that customer loyalty increases corporate profitability by up to 40%.
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