EFFECTS OF TYPE AND RATE OF USAGE OF SOCIAL NETWORK MARKETING ON SALES PERFORMANCE OF THE REAL ESTATE IN NAIROBI
Esther Njoki Ndung’u - Masters of Business Administration (Marketing), St. Paul’s University, Kenya
Wanjiku N. Kinyanjui - Department of Business Administration, Faculty of Business Communication and Computer Science Studies, St. Paul’s University, Kenya
Robert Abayo - Department of Business Administration, Faculty of Business Communication and Computer Science Studies, St. Paul’s University, Kenya
ABSTRACT
The general objective of the study was to seek insights into the effects of type and rate of usage of social network marketing on the sales performance of the real estate companies. This study was founded on three main theories including: technology acceptance innovation diffusion theory and the comparative approach theory.This research made use of descriptive statistic while seeking a description of information numerically. The researcher found this method to be useful in reducing the bias at the same time make the data so collected more reliable. The Descriptive method is well thought-out and suitable for this study because it allows a methodical and well organized description which is valid, accurate and reliable. This study targeted all marketers in the various organizations. Kenya Marketers Association (KMA)estimates that each of these companies have at least 2 marketers making a total population of 126 individuals. The study used stratified random sampling to select 50% of the target population to select 63 respondents. Quantitative techniques were used to analyze the data collected from the respondents. The Statistical Package for Social Scientists (SPSS version 20) was used in the analysis of the quantitative data and the results were presented using tables. Frequencies, percentages and standard deviation were used to describe the data descriptive statistics.Correlation and regression analysis was used by the researcher forcorrelation analysis and to determine the relationship between the research variables. The findings in this study, the respondents indicated that social network marketing affect the performance of the company in a great extent. The findings in showed that blogs as expressed by a mean score of 4.49, forums as expressed by a mean score of 4.13 and twitter as expressed by a mean score of 3.75 are greatly employed in the company. The study findings posits that the larger percentage of respondents were in agreement that their firm uses social media to engage their clients at all time. workers regard rate of usage very highly at a mean score of 3.72. Respondents indicated social media marketing has been helpful in creating brand awareness contributing to marketing exposure at a mean score of 3.45. Study participants agreed that profitability in their respective firms have increased with a mean score of 3.64. The results of the study correlation found out that that there existed a strong and significant as well as positive relationship between, sales performance and social network marketing. The study also found an existence of a strong as well as positive correlation between sales performance and rate of usages as the correlation coefficient. Based on the study findings, it is recommended that real estate companies should mix and match various mediums such emails, social media and mobile phones to reach their desired target audience. The study further recommends that the firms should come up with digital marketing strategies such as driving traffic.
