Social media marketing: The impact of customers’ awareness of product, price, and place on social media promotion—evidence from small and medium Enterprises (SMEs) in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania

Abstract

This article aimed to examine the impact of customers’ awareness of product, price, and place on social media promotion. The Diffusion of Innovation theory was used to guide the study. The participants in the study were selected customers who visited mobile phone shops at Makumbusho bus stand and Kinondoni B bus stand in Dar-es-Salaam, Tanzania. Specifically, the study focused on the impact of customers’ awareness of product, price, and place that was created from the social media platforms on social media promotion, specifically Facebook, WhatsApp, and Instagram platforms, and how data manipulation affects their relationship. A cross-section survey was adopted by a researcher. A closed-ended questionnaire was used to collect data from 85 mobile phone customers, who were randomly and conveniently selected. The regression analysis technique was employed to study the relationship between the studied variables, the customers’ awareness of product, price, and place as explanatory variables, and social media promotion as an outcome variable. The study revealed, there was a significant positive relationship between the customers’ awareness of price and social media promotion; also, the customers’ awareness of place has significant positively impacted social media promotion. However, there was an insignificant positive relationship between the customers’ awareness of the product and social media promotion. Also, the study found that data manipulation, specifically by combining two explanatory variables, directly impacted the studied variables. The study recommended that Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) should focus on the product attributes, value, and distribution when promoting offers such as discounts through social media platforms like Instagram, WhatsApp, and Facebook.