The growing usage of social media is changing the businesses’ method re-sponding to consumer’s needs and wants and increasing the chances for firms to market their products and services in a customized and personal way. Nev-ertheless, there are still needed answers concerning to what extent social media platforms as marketing tools are being employed by companies and their effect on brand awareness in mobile service providing industry in Egypt. The purpose of this study is to investigate the impact of social media marketing activities on Facebook on brand awareness keeping into consideration the moderating effect of demographics, namely; age and gender. The research showed that social media marketing firms use mainly about six dimensions as an instrument for their marketing activities: Online Communities, Interaction, Sharing of Content, Accessibility, and credibility. Also, this research is testing the demographics moderation role in the relationship between social media marketing activities on Facebook and consumer based brand awareness. Moreover, practical importance of this research is described in the fact that managers may use the results to improve their marketing activities related to social networks specially their Facebook fan pages to have better brand awareness of their brands. Besides, firms may start to integrate social media marketing into their marketing strategies, improving communication and interaction with their customers and increase their brand awareness circle. A sample of the study totaled 402 customers; the researcher tested the hypothesis using the correlation analysis, regression analysis using SPSS and structure equation model using AMOS. This research provides an evidence of the relationship between social media marketing activities on Facebook and brand awareness of mobile service providers in Egypt.
Cite this paper
ElAydi, H. O. (2018). The Effect of Social Media Marketing on Brand Awareness through Facebook: An Individual-Based Perspective of Mobile Services Sector in Egypt. Open Access Library Journal, 5, e4977. doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.4236/oalib.1104977.
Mihalcea, A.D. and Savulescu, R.M. (2013) Social Networking Sites: Guidelines for Creating New Business Opportunities through Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn. Management Dynamics in the Knowledge Economy, 1, 39-54.
Bruhn, M., Schoenmueller, V. and Sch？fer, D.B. (2012) Are Social Media Replacing Traditional Media in Terms of Brand Equity Creation? Management Research Review, 35, 770-790. https://doi.org/10.1108/01409171211255948
Mangold, W.G. and Faulds, D.J. (2009) Social Media: The New Hybrid Element of the Promotion Mix. Business Horizons, 52, 357-365. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.bushor.2009.03.002
Milewicz, C. and Saxby, C. (2013) Leaders’ Social Media Usage Intentions for in-Bound Customer Communications. Management Research Review, 36, 849-867. https://doi.org/10.1108/MRR-03-2012-0049
As’ad, H.A.I.R. and Al Hadid, A.Y. (2014) The Impact of Social Media Marketing on Brand Equity: An Empirical Study on Mobile Service Providers in Jordan. Review of Integrative Business and Economics Research, 3, 315.
Heidemann, J., Klier, M. and Probst, F. (2012) Online Social Networks: A Survey of a Global Phenomenon. Computer Networks, 56, 3866-3878. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.comnet.2012.08.009
Ministry of Communication and Information Technology (MCIT) (2018) Summary Report of Communication and Information Technology Indicators in Egypt 2014; 2015; 2017. http://www.mcit.gov.eg/Indicators/indicators.aspx
Kim, A.J. and Ko, E. (2010) Impacts of Luxury Fashion Brand’s Social Media Marketing on Customer Relationship and Purchase Intention. Journal of Global Fashion Marketing, 1, 164-171. https://doi.org/10.1080/20932685.2010.10593068
Marzouk, W.G. (2016) Usage and Effectiveness of Social Media Marketing in Egypt: An Organization Perspective. Jordan Journal of Business Administration, 12, 209-238. https://doi.org/10.12816/0030062
Dubai School of Government (2013) Transforming Education in the Arab World: Breaking Barriers in the Age of Social Learning. http://www.ArabSocialMediaReport.com
Karamian, H., Nadoushan, M.A. and Nadoushan, A.A. (2015) Do Social Media Marketing Activities Increase Brand Equity. International Journal of Economy, Management and Social Sciences, 4, 362-365.
Kaplan, A.M. and Haenlein, M. (2010) Users of the World, Unite! The Challenges and Opportunities of Social Media. Business Horizons, 53, 59-68. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.bushor.2009.09.003
Laroche, M., Habibi, M.R. and Richard, M.O. (2013) To Be or Not to Be in Social Media: How Brand Loyalty Is Affected by Social Media? International Journal of Information Management, 33, 76-82. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijinfomgt.2012.07.003
Yazdanparast, A., Joseph, M. and Muniz, F. (2016) Consumer Based Brand Equity in the 21st Century: An Examination of the Role of Social Media Marketing. Young Consumers, 17, 243-255. https://doi.org/10.1108/YC-03-2016-00590
Ismail, A.R. (2017) The Influence of Perceived Social Media Marketing Activities on Brand Loyalty: The Mediation Effect of Brand and Value Consciousness. Asia Pacific Journal of Marketing and Logistics, 29, 129-144. https://doi.org/10.1108/APJML-10-2015-0154
