Does culture matter in the effectiveness of social media marketing Strategy? An investigation of face book brand pages in Pakistan.

Abstract

The purpose of this paper is to introduce social media channels in the marketing mix as traditional marketing channels are steadily losing their importance. Social media is an exceptional way of changing the dynamics of interaction between consumers and brands s it greatly contributes to developing relationships among the two. One specific way of steering relationships between consumers and brands is through brand fan pages on social networking sites such as Face book. Customers can become followers of a particular brand fan page with a simple click which leads to subsequent engagement via likes, comments and shares of brand posts. These brand posts include different types of content which elicits different responses accordingly. The thesis focuses on different drivers that determine the popularity of the brand post in terms of likes, comments and shares. The literature compiled in this thesis reviews previous work done on the impact cultural differences tend to have on social media marketing strategies. The research also focuses on consumer brand engagement in terms of loyalty and commitment to the brand. The data from fifteen different Face book pages was analyzed with about 100 to 200 posts from their pages. The research data was taken from Face book brand pages of Pakistan only. A qualitative approach was used to analyze the data. Using thematic analysis, seven different themes were developed to explain the drivers behind consumer engagement with the brand. Propositions were developed but the findings of the research did not support all the propositions made. Recommendations were made as to how the research could be enhanced for future work.