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.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:netd.ac.za/oai:union.ndltd.org:nmmu/vital:8601 |
| Date | January 2011 |
| Creators | Ramsunder, Monica |
| Publisher | Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University, Faculty of Business and Economic Sciences |
| Source Sets | South African National ETD Portal |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Thesis, Masters, MBA |
| Format | xi, 117 leaves, pdf |
| Rights | Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University |
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