Social media effectiveness on youth purchasing behaviour of soft drinks in Tanzania: a study of University of Dar es Salaam students

The article assesses social media effectiveness on youth purchasing behaviour of soft drinks in Tanzania. With the help of the AIDA Model and Media Theory, the article focuses on the content, attitude and awareness of social media as they affect youth purchasing behaviour of soft drinks. A structured questionnaire to gather data was distributed to 80 conveniently sampled non PhD University of Dar es Salaam youth students. More so, 3 purposively selected key informants were interviewed for in-depth information. A mixed method approach was used for data analysis, where quantitative analysis was primarily utilised and complemented by in-depth interviews from key informants. Multiple regression analysis aided by SPSS Version 20 was used to analyse the quantitative data. The findings indicate that of the three constructs, youth purchasing behaviour appears to be positively and significantly influenced by two predictor variables namely, content and awareness of social media constructs. A third construct of attitude towards social media had a positive, but insignificant influence on youth purchasing behaviour. The article recommends that soft drinks companies should effectively utilise social media platforms, by adopting effective use of social media content through enhanced clarity and identity of content. Moreover, companies should capitalise on awareness opportunities created through ease of social media use and the level of knowledge of youths as means to recruit new consumers as well as retain existing ones

The Influence of Digital Marketing and Social Media on Product Creativity and Empowerment of Women's Culinary Group of Bojong Kulur Village, Bogor

This study investigated the impact of digital marketing and social media on the creativity of products and the empowerment of culinary groups of women in Bojong Kulur village, Bogor. It also aimed to identify the most important factor in increasing product creativity and culinary group empowerment. A total of 180 respondents were purposefully selected from April to August 2023. Purposive sampling was used to collect questionnaires from producers and consumers. Descriptive statistical analysis using SPSS version 22 was used to analyze the data.The research results showed that digital marketing and social media have a significant impact on creativity empowerment. The study found that the significance value (Sig) of digital marketing strategy (X1) on creativity empowerment (Y) is 0.000, which is less than the significance level of 0.05. This means that there is a statistically significant relationship between digital marketing strategy and creativity empowerment. The study also found that the significance value (Sig) of the effectiveness of using social media (X2) on creativity empowerment (Y) is 0.001, which is also less than the significance level of 0.05. This means that there is a statistically significant relationship between the effectiveness of using social media and creativity empowerment. Based on these findings, the study concluded that digital marketing and social media have a simultaneous effect on creativity empowerment. This means that both digital marketing and social media can independently and jointly influence creativity empowerment

The effectiveness of restaurant advertisement through social media in Dungun, Terengganu: a content analysis / Nurul Hamizah Salleh

There are many ways to advertise restaurant apart from the conventional methods. The use of social networking (social media), electronic media (website) and word of mouths are among the methods used by restaurant operators (Romaniuk et al., 2017). Today, people much prefer to use social media because it is easy and quick. Information which include promotional advertisement can be spread online at the tip of the finger. According to Balar (2012), social media has become marketing tools to promote restaurants. People mostly interested in social interaction and information seeking when using social media. This study was conducted to examine the effectiveness of restaurant advertising through social media in Dungun, Terengganu. A total of five (5) restaurant was selected which have their own official social media platform to promote their restaurant. The Instagram app was their main mode of advertisement to their followers and customers. Using content analysis approach, this study observed and recorded the number of likes that each of the five restaurants obtained throughout a period of eight (8) weeks. Results showed that the use of Instagram did have a positive impact on the restaurant advertising. Steady upward trend of likes obtained by the restaurants showed that it was one of the effective ways of reaching the customers. However, for future research, it is recommended that other perspectives should also be examined to seek the relationship between social media and restaurant sales, growth and customers’ feedback

SOCIAL MEDIA: ENHANCING THE U.S. MILITARY’S COMMUNICATION WITH ITS TARGET AUDIENCE

The purpose of this qualitative research analysis is to highlight the key changes over the last decade that influenced the U.S. Military to redirect its efforts of ignoring social media, to make it one of its major contributing asset to effective communication. I will examine my findings by answering the following questions to prove or deny that social media has enhanced the U.S. Military’s communication with its target audience. The first question is-Why did the U.S. Military change its strategy on using social media to manage communication? I am aiming to find out who or what events influenced this change and how long it took to make these changes. I hope to outline key lessons learned and the benefit of becoming pro-social media. The second question-What are the current procedures, practices and issues with the U.S. Military’s plan for managing social media? I aim to find out if the U.S. Military is effective with its current ability to manage themes and messages by use of social media. Third question is-Learning from a decade of communication through social media, what is the future of the U.S. Military’s social media plan? What have public affairs officers learned from past and current operations to help pave a new path for effective communication in an ever changing social media driven society. During the research process for this study, 20 public affairs officers (PAO) randomly selected from the five branches of U.S. Military service were interviewed to gain insight on the effectiveness of its communication. While this is only a small number and not a representation of the whole U.S. Military, it provided sufficient information to prove the desired hypothesis. While interviewed these 20 PAOs all three research questions were answered regarding the U.S. Military’s effectiveness while communicating, concerns with the current nature of communication and recommendations for the future to make communication even more effective

Social Media Branding Strategies of Universities and Colleges in Ontario, Canada in 2019-2020

Higher education institutions (HEIs) in Ontario, Canada have invested in a social media presence for multiple purposes, such as branding, student engagement, and recruitment. To have a full picture of the social media strategy implemented by HEIs in Ontario, Canada, this study used a mixed-method approach to analyze Facebook posts’ characteristics and content. A total of 1,789 Facebook posts of six selected HEIs from September 2019 to April 2020 were collected for analysis and coding based on five predetermined brand positions: elite, nurturing, campus, outcome, and commodity. The study also calculated the engagement rate for each social media practice to measure its engagement effectiveness. The results show that the HEIs generally followed similar practices such as posting frequency, length, types, and timing. However, the distributions of brand positions and content targeting future students versus current students were varied, although the HEIs employed all five brand positions and targeted the same lists of audiences. Some practices such as evening post for colleges and nurturing content for universities attracted significantly higher engagement. This study provides not only a review of current social media and branding strategy but also recommendations for practice that can generate higher engagement

MINAT MASYARAKAT BERTRANSAKSI MENGGUNAKAN FINANCIAL TECHNOLOGY (FINTECH) DI KOTA TANGERANG

Financial technology is the result of a combination of financial services and technology which ultimately transforms the conventional business model into a moderate one, which initially made payment systems face-to-face and brought a certain amount of cash, now can be done with long-distance transactions and can be done in a matter of just seconds. This study aims to determine the social influence, convenience, usefulness, effectiveness and risk assurance of people's interest in transacting using financial technology (Fintech). The research method used is quantitative research in the form of online surveys through website media, email and social media (Whatsapp). Where the sample was randomly selected as many as 200 respondents consisting of students, lecturers, housewives, public and private employees. The analysis used uses multiple regression analysis. The results of the analysis show that Simultaneously the benefits, convenience, social factors, effectiveness, security guarantees have the influence of interest in using fintech transactions.Keywords: benefit, convenience, social, effectiveness, security guarantees, interest in transacting

Use of Ethnic/Culturally Based Incongruent Cues in Informational versus Transformational Advertising

This study compares the relative effectiveness in the use of culturally incongruent cues in informational and transformational advertising. A case study was done to explore the extent to which ethnic/ culturally incongruent cues are used in advertising in informational and transformational advertising and to compare the effectiveness of these ads between the two advertising forms. The study sought to address two questions: (1) To what extent are ethnic/culturally incongruent cues used in informational or transformational advertising? and (2): Is the use of culturally incongruent cues more effective for informational or transformational ads? A content analysis approach was used to extract social media data from YouTube for this study. The advertisements used to compare the effectiveness of informational and transformational ads were selected from AdWeek’s top 10 most watched YouTube videos of 2013. Nvivo 10 was used to capture the commercial and comments to be analyzed as part of the second research question. The results of this study indicate that culturally incongruent cues can be used to great effect in both informational and transformational advertising. This study also suggests classification criteria for culturally incongruent ads as well as informational and transformational advertising. When analyzing the effectiveness of culturally incongruent ads based on responses in social media, we are limited to metrics embedded in these tools and those that can be developed by analyzing the data collected. This study proposes that for YouTube commercials, the number of likes, dislikes and the valence of viewer comments are the most appropriate measures of advertising effectiveness

Harnessing Innovative Data and Technology to Measure Development Effectiveness

In this study, the authors discuss and show how new kinds of digital data and analytics methods and tools falling under the umbrella term of Big Data, including Artificial Intelligence (AI) systems, can help measure development effectiveness. Selected case studies provide examples of assessments of the effectiveness of ODA-funded policies and programmes. They use different data and techniques. For example, analysis of mobile phone data and satellite images: to estimate poverty and inequality, traffic congestion, social cohesion or machine learning approaches to social media analysis to understand social interactions and networks, and natural language processing to study changes in public awareness. A toolkit contains resources and suggestions on key steps and considerations, including legal and ethical, when designing and implementing projects aimed at measuring development effectiveness through new digital data and tools. The chapter closes by describing the core principles and requirements of a vision of a ‘Human AI’, which would reflect and leverage the key features of current narrow AI systems that are able to identify and reinforce the neurons that help them reach their goals. A Human AI would be a data and machine-enabled human system (such as a society) that would seek to continuously learn and adjust to improve—rather than prove after the facts—the effectiveness of its collective actions, including development programming and public policies

Usage of Twitter by state-owned enterprises to communicate with customers: A case of Transnet South Africa

Social media is proving to be a critical factor for firms moving towards digital marketing strategies. Substantial economic advantage is gained when companies make use of social media platforms such as Twitter to modernise their businesses and start interactive communication with their target market. Social media can have a great impact on the efficiency and performance of state-owned enterprises, which are often plagued by information irregularities that compromise information disclosure and lower the standards of accountability within the state-owned enterprises. Without social media, customers are often unable to evaluate the product and services that the state-owned enterprise is offering before making an offer. An interpretivist research paradigm was adopted and informed this study which applied a mono qualitative research methodology. Sample elements were selected using non-probability purposive and convenience sampling techniques. Data was gathered through a pre-designed interview guide with open-ended questions from the research site. In addition, the case study research design was used in this study. All interview transcriptions were recorded with the aid of a voice recorder and exported to NVivo 11 for cleaning and coding, resulting in emerging themes. Thematic data analysis was performed on the data sets, allowing a detailed discussion of each theme in line with research objectives. The study established that adopting and using social media was the appropriate strategy for firms. Firms, especially state-owned enterprises, reached a larger audience. In addition, the study established that the quality of content uploaded and shared on social media should be of very high quality to project a positive image of the organisation. Appointing dedicated senior personnel to manage the social media strategy enhanced the effectiveness of social media. The study recommended that further research be conducted on other types of social media to allow organisations a wider selection of choices. The study indicated that employees were compelled to use Twitter; thus, a policy shift in the use of social media required managers to put in place Information Communications Technology and Privacy and Security Policies. In order to educate everyone in the organisation, management had to ensure that its policies did not infringe on human rights

Effectiveness, accountability and understanding board characteristics of non-profit organisations in Malaysia / Norliza Omar … [et al.]

Non-profit organisations (NPOs) exist to fulfil the needs of societies that cannot be reached by the government and profit centres. Their ultimate goal is to create social values by solving social problems. In order to fulfil this social mission, it is vital for the NPOs to be effective. NPOs are associated with effective Board of Directors because they are the backbone for organisational success. Of late, there are growing media reports on mismanagement and diversion of NPOs funds. Despite having Board of Directors as trustees in NPOs, mismanagement is still on the rise. Previous findings suggest that NPOs’ board characteristics can be divided into two groups - (1) board characteristics that enhance NPOs’ effectiveness and (2) board characteristics that reduce NPOs’ effectiveness. Hence, this study aims to examine selected board characteristics of Malaysian NPOs. The selected board characteristics are board size, board engagement, board efficiency, board commitment, board with political connection and board professionalism. Using content analysis of NPOs registered under the Companies Commission of Malaysia (CCM), this study finds that, in general, the number of members on the board is seven. Board efficiency and engagement indicate that less than 50% of the members are committed in generating funds for the NPOs. However, results on board commitment indicate that board members are committed in managing their organisations efficiently. In relation to politically affiliated board members and professional affiliation, the results are 44% and 14% respectively. In summary, the findings provide insights on the characteristics of Malaysian NPOs’ board members in. It also provides a basis for future research in examining the influence of board characteristics on effectiveness as well as other areas of concern in NPOs