Technology and the boom of the internet have encouraged people to connect with each other, share information and build relationships (Stelzner, 2009; 2010) and the social web has presented a new form of communication through social media which allow people to interact and converse with each other (Evans, 2010). This presents marketers with the opportunity to affect consumers purchase decisions through online marketing and social media. This social engagement by consumers has significant impact on marketing activities as marketers need to be aware of the factors affecting consumer’s purchase decision (Evans, 2010). Continental Tyre South Africa (CTSA), a local tyre manufacturer, is embarking on a social media marketing strategy. No other local tyre manufacturer has a presence on social media platforms. As a result CTSA would have first mover advantage. The main objective of the research that follows is to establish if South African tyre purchasers are supportive of social media as an online research tool to learn more about tyre brands. The significance of this research study is that marketing communications has taken on a different dimension with the growth of online market places and the natural step for CTSA is to engage in social media marketing. The literature review revealed that many modern consumers sought peer advice over social networks thus social media has promoted consumer-to-consumer communication and has made it possible for consumers and brands to interact with each other (Mangold and Faulds, 2009). It was concluded that whilst social media marketing presents marketers with a more cost effective form of marketing, further research regarding South African’s online purchasing activities would be required to assess if the time, money and resources required to manage social media marketing for CTSA would be beneficial to the organisation. As a result a qualitative empirical study was conducted by means of a questionnaire. The research elements were broken down into three segments; the internet and social media, consumer-brand engagement and online iv recommendations. The research revealed that social media marketing is an appropriate strategy for CTSA. The main findings further revealed that CTSA would need to engage in an aggressive traditional marketing campaign in order to drive consumers to engage in the social media campaigns. Strategies must include dedicated social media fan pages, online banners, and online advertisements. Based on the research analysis it is recommended that that most appropriate social media platforms for CTSA to launch social media marketing activities are Facebook and Twitter.

Submitted in fulfilment of the requirements for the Degree of Master of Technology: Marketing, Durban University of Technology, 2014. / Consumer behaviour towards marketing communication has a cultural undertone. The forces of globalisation have made it imperative for marketing practitioners to further integrate culturally sensitive variations in marketing strategies. While cultural values are changing due to global trends, culturally sensitive consumer behaviour has attracted more complexities due to media learning. Therefore, the journey to creating a sustainable competitive advantage in a multicultural market such as South Africa entails the realisation of the growing individualistic tendencies of consumers’ cultural dispositions toward marketing communication. The study aimed at investigating the influence of cultural diversity on the perceptions of Africans and Indians in Durban toward marketing communication. The study investigated respondents’ cultural values in terms of the individualism-collectivism (IC) constructs based on marketing communication-specific cultural values (MCSCV). A quantitative study was conducted to attain the objectives of the study, with the use of a self-administrated questionnaire. African and Indian respondents were recruited using judgmental sampling at the main shopping malls in Umlazi and Chatsworth, respectively. The sample selection was based on the representation of respondents’ population in Durban. The study covered a sample size of 283 Africans and 92 Indians. The SPSS software was used to analyse data. The findings of the study reveal that both races showed more individualistic rather than collectivistic tendencies toward marketing communication. The choice of media of Africans and Indians is significantly influenced by their racial identities. Overall, the findings suggest that it is erroneous to direct stereotypic marketing strategies at culturally homogeneous/diverse groups. The study recommends that a thorough study of prevailing cultural cues in ethnic segments should precede the development of marketing communication strategies.

Thesis (MA)--Stellenbosch University, 2003. / ENGLISH ABSTRACT: Geodemographics has been used extensively as a decision-support tool in both the business sector and the market survey environment in the United States, the United Kingdom and numerous other countries. This has however not been the case in South Africa, partly because of the expense involved in capturing current and complete customer information. As an alternative to capturing all the required customer information, geodemographics has frequently made use of government census data to supplement the organisation-specific data. However, even the census data has its shortcomings. This research has explored a method for building an organisation-specific database using a combination of government census data and organisation-specific data. The organisation-specific data was captured using a questionnaire that was targeted to a specific group of people. The information obtained from the questionnaire and which overlapped with specific census data variables was then used to update the relevant census variables. Cluster analysis was subsequently conducted on the census data in order to identify enumerator areas within the Western Province that had demographic and economic characteristics similar to those of the surveyed areas. Once the appropriate enumerator areas had been identified, the organisation-specific information from the survey was extrapolated to these new areas outside of the surveyed areas. The methodology used in this research provides a process that allows organisations to build a unique geodatabase by making use of the good qualities of both the census data and user-specific data. The resulting geodatabase is one that contains current and pertinent information while also providing complete spatial coverage. / AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Geodemografie word op groot skaal gebruik as n hulpmiddel vir die ondersteuning van besluitneming in die sakesektor en die markopname-omgewing in die Verenigde State, die Verenigde Koninkryk en talle ander lande. Dit is egter nie in Suid-Afrika die geval nie, deels as gevolg van die onkoste verbonde aan vaslegging van die jongste en volledige kliente-inligting. As n altematief vir die vaslegging van al die vereiste kliente-inligting maak geodemografie dikwels gebruik van sensusdata om data eie aan n organisasie aan te vul. Selfs sensusdata het egter tekortkominge. Hierdie navorsing het n metode ondersoek vir die opbou van n databasis eie aan n organisasie deur gebruik te maak van n kombinasie van sensusdata en data eie aan n organisasie. Die data eie aan ri organisasie is vasgele deur gebruik te maak van ri vraelys vir n spesifieke teikengroep. Die inligting wat uit die vraelys verkry is en wat met die spesifieke sensusdataveranderlikes ooreengestem het, is toe gebruik om die relevante sensusveranderlikes by te werk. Skakelingsanalise is daama op die sensusdata uitgevoer ten einde opnemerareas in die Westelike Provinsie te identifiseer wat soortgelyke demografiese en ekonomiese kenmerke gehad het as die areas waarin die vraelysopname gemaak is. Nadat die geskikte opnemerareas gei'dentifiseer is, is die inligting eie aan die organisasie uit die opname geekstrapoleer na hierdie nuwe areas buite die areas waar die opname gemaak is. Die metodologie wat in hierdie navorsing gebruik is, verskaf n metodologie wat organisasies in staat stel om n unieke geodatabasis op te bou deur gebruik te maak van die goeie eienskappe van beide die sensusdata en die data eie aan die gebruiker. Die geodatabasis wat hieruit voortspruit, is een wat die jongste en verbandhoudende inligting bevat en volledige ruimtelike dekking bied.

This paper focuses on methods for financial institutions to perform precise customer level analysis to anticipate customers' evolving financial needs and maximize the lifetime value of each customer relationship. The paper proposes software packages that analyze customer relationship management from a financial perspective.