The usage of social media as a marketing tool in two Southern African countries

Figures & data

Table 1. Respondents’ profiles.

	South Africa (N = 129)	Zimbabwe (N = 134)
Response rate	14%	50%
Demographic information
Grading	41% four-star	54% ungraded
Accommodation type	32% guesthouses	47 hotels
Accommodation size	81% with 30 rooms or fewer	56% with 30 rooms or fewer
Popular websites	70% Facebook, TripAdvisor, LinkedIn	100% Facebook, 60% TripAdvisor
Use social networks?	86% yes	53% yes
Social network usage
Extent of use	52% Facebook	70% TripAdvisor
Years using social networks	46% 1 to 3 years	53% 1 to 3 years
Weekly time spent on social networks	63% 1 to 5 hours	66% 1 to 5 hours
Performance on social media
To attract customers	89% present on profile page	93% show website on profile page
To engage customers	93% answer guest queries	90% answer guest queries
To retain customers	78% have security features	60% have security features
To learn about customers	59% capture guest information	49% capture guest information
To respond to customers	86% provide personalised responses	76% update customer about content change
Usage of other marketing media
Most used	61% email/web marketing	76% brochure
Effectiveness of social networks	78% increase in business exposure	86% effective way to communicate with own markets
Social networks versus other marketing media
Effective	56% compared with print media	41% compared with print media
Contribution of social networks to business performance
More than 10%	46% business exposure	27% improved understanding of the market
Problems with using social networks
Major problem	30% lack commitment to sustain social media efforts	42% lack commitment to sustain social media efforts and have time constraints
Future plans
To adopt social networks	YouTube, blogs and Twitter	YouTube
General plan on social media marketing	Adopt new social networks	Learn how to use social networks for marketing effectively

Table 2. Results of factor analysis of activities performed using social media.

Social media marketing activities	1	2	3	4	5
Phase 1: To attract customers
Present a profile page	0.90
Show website on social network site page	0.72
Promote discounted services on social network sites	0.36
Show videos capturing company’s culinary skills	0.85
Provide company’s telephone numbers on Facebook wall or Twitter page	0.78
Phase 2: To engage customers
Answer guests’ enquiries		0.91
Handle guests’ complaints		0.90
Introduce establishments’ services to guests		0.85
Present a discussion wall on the social network site page		0.36
Offer customers participation in lucky draws		0.36
Phase 3: To retain customers
Offer customers games, contests and forums			0.28
Provide hyperlinks to related sites			0.73
Have security features			0.59
Phase 4: To learn about customers
Capture information about customers and prospects				0.57
Support chat groups				0.43
Perform market research on social networking sites				0.21
Phase 5: To respond to customers
Update customers about content change					0.78
Engage in real-time interaction					0.31
Provide personalised responses					0.85
Total variance explained (%)	89.011
Reliability coefficient	0.832	0.734	0.68	0.73	0.64
Average inter-item correlation	0.46	0.38	0.41	0.36	0.42
Mean value	4.61	3.87	2.99	2.25	3.01

Source: For phases used in the table: Chan & Guillet (2011).

Table 3. Factor analysis and reliability results of the effectiveness of social networks.

Social network effectiveness factors	1	2	3
Factor 1: Financial benefits
Improved sales	0.45
Reduction in marketing expenses	0.53
Factor 2: Market-related benefits
Growth in existing markets		0.56
Communication with own markets		0.78
Growth in new markets		0.58
Increased understanding of the marketplace		0.89
Factor 3: Other business benefits
Increase in business exposure			0.84
Increase in business partnership			0.41
Increased generation of leads			0.56
Increased traffic to the site			0.79
Loyal fans acquired			0.82
Immediate response to customer queries			0.76
Total variance explained (%)	63
Reliability coefficient	0.68	0.81	0.76
Average inter-item correlation	0.32	0.38	0.45
Mean value	2.56	3.01	3.89

Table 4. Chi-square results of social media marketing activities.

Factor	Chi-square	Degrees of freedom	p value (two-sided)
To attract customers	95.502	5	0.000*
To engage customers	15.502	5	0.002*
To retain customers	55.958	5	0.001*
To learn about customers	1.707	5	0.132
To respond to customers	14.989	5	0.013*

Notes: α = 0.05, confidence interval = 95%. The bold values indicate the aspects that were statistically significant.

*Statistically significant difference: p ≤ 0.05.

Table 5. Chi-square results of the effectiveness of social networks.

	Chi-square	Degrees of freedom	p value (two-sided)
Financial benefits	0.610	5	0.212
Market-related benefits	1.632	5	0.106
Other business benefits	65.721	5	0.002*

Notes: α = 0.05, confidence interval = 95%. The bold values indicate the aspects that were statistically significant.

*Statistically significant difference: p ≤ 0.05.

Table 6. Usage and effectiveness of social networks.

Variable	South Africa		Zimbabwe
	Mean	SD	Mean	SD	p value	Effect size (d)
Usage factors
To attract customers	3.456	1.001	3.371	1.043	0.176	0.08
To engage customers	1.751	0.775	1.603	0.966	0.071	0.15
To retain customers	4.351	0.832	4.102	0.861	0.001*	0.41****
To learn about customers	2.312	0.754	2.223	0.891	0.106	0.09
To respond to customers	4.121	0.998	3.891	1.002	0.015*	0.23***
Effectiveness factors
Financial benefits	4.002	0.891	3.626	1.080	0.001*	0.33****
Market-related benefits	3.866	0.716	3.645	0.881	0.021*	0.25***
Other benefits	3.192	1.274	3.003	1.390	0.103	0.14

Notes: SD = standard deviation. The bold values indicate the aspects that were statistically significant. *Statistically significant difference: p ≤ 0.05. Effect sizes: **d = 0.1: trivial effect; ***d = 0.1–0.3: small effect; ****d = 0.3–0.5: moderate effect; *****d > 0.5: large effect.

Chan, NL & Guillet, BD, 2011. Investigation of social media marketing: How does the hotel industry in Hong Kong perform in marketing on social media websites? Journal of Travel & Tourism Marketing 28(4), 345–68. doi: 10.1080/10548408.2011.571571

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