EFFECT OF SOCIAL MEDIA STRATEGIES ON COMPETITIVENESS OF INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT FIRMS IN KENYA
Allan Mbugua Munene - Mount Kenya University, Kenya
Dr. Rebeccah Ann Maina - Mount Kenya University, Kenya
ABSTRACT
Investment management firms play a crucial role in the capital raising process for firms. Kenya's investment sector is yet to realize its full potential despite being one of the most competitive in East Africa. The use of social media is slowly catching up though the move has been very gradual. This is evidenced by the presence of a significant number of organizations using Twitter, Facebook, You-tube and other social media networks. However, little is known about the usefulness of social media in distinguishing investment management firms from their rivals. This study therefore sought to establish the effect of social media strategies on competitiveness of investment management firms in Kenya. The study specifically focused on the effect of social media advertisement strategy, social media knowledge sharing strategy, search engine optimization, and social media customer engagement (customer relations) strategy on competitiveness of investment management firms in Kenya. This study was hinged on the social exchange theory and supported by the following theories: social penetration theory, resource based theory, and Technology Acceptance Model. The study used descriptive research design. The target population was 13 homogeneous investment management firms in Kenya. The unit of analysis was 681 respondents including senior, middle and lowlevel management staff. The study selected the respondents using stratified proportionate random sampling technique. The primary research data was collected from the management staff working at Investment management firms using a questionnaire. The quantitative data in this research was analyzed by descriptive statistics using IBM Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS) version 27. Descriptive statistics included mean, frequency, standard deviation and percentages to profile sample characteristics and major patterns emerging from the data. In addition to measures of central tendencies, measures of dispersion and graphical representations were used to tabulate the information. To facilitate this Likert Scale was used to enable easier presentation and interpretation of data. Content analysis was also used in processing of this data and results were presented in prose form. The analyzed data was then interpreted and presented in frequency tables, graphs and pie charts. In addition, the researcher conducted a Pearson’s correlation and a multiple regression analysis so as to determine the relationship between variables. The research established that social media increased PR activity, and provides the most persuasive possible selling message to the right prospects. Moreover, the study found that knowledge shared between supervisors and subordinates. Further, the study found that it was uncertain whether social media: allows instant messages between the customers and the organization, and keeps in touch with the customers. The study further found that it was uncertain whether customer feedback on their social media pages is a major key to discovering and solving their customer problems. The study concluded that social media advertisement strategy had the greatest effect on competitiveness of investment management firms in Kenya, followed by social media customer engagement (customer relations) strategy, then social media knowledge sharing strategy, while search engine optimization strategy had the least effect on competitiveness of investment management firms in Kenya. The study recommends that the firms should increase brand awareness by interacting and knowing their audience on their terms and making engagement easy and attractive, this will drive more sales and revenue. The study also recommends that the investment management firms need management to enhance the use search engine optimization to optimize the websites so as to attract more visitors to their sites reach and cover larger target audience in order to extend their reach to broader geographical areas at lower costs.