Use of Strategic Social Media Factors Influencing Products awareness: A Case Study of Jumia online Shopping in Nairobi.

Abstract

Social media applications such as Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, and others are currently being used to assist businesses build visibility in the marketplace. This is a strategy that many innovative companies and SMEs are finding effective in addressing business marketing challenges and improving their interaction with customers, thus influencing their behavior. The study was a case study of the influence of social media factors on products awareness by Jumia online shopping in Nairobi among its Facebook and Twitter platform users. The study drew heavily from the marketing and consumer behavior theories that explain consumer behavior to purchase as being influenced by external and internal factors. The specific objectives of this study were: To find out whether cost of social media influences products awareness, to establish whether availability of network influences products awareness, to determine whether business exposure influences products awareness and to find out whether access to social media information influence products awareness. A sample of 70 respondents was selected from the 280 accessible users of the page using non-probability technique and 6 employees. A semi-structured questionnaire was used containing closed ended questions to collect data digitally. The data was analyzed using both descriptive and inferential statistics. It was clear from the research findings that mobile phones are used to access the clients to a great extent (3.6744). Further, the content posted by Jumia is tailor made to meet the local needs of their customers (3.6698). Majority of the respondents were also of the opinion that they are able to interact in social media as many were referred to by their friends (3.6512). The findings also indicated that there is a significant positive effect on products awareness as a result of adopting various strategic social media factors. The study recommends the business to employ social media monitoring tools to manage social media adequately to cater for online consumers. The researcher suggested that further research should focus on online social media business communities especially Facebook groups.