Influence of Social Media Engagement on Performance of Safaricom Plc Brand

Abstract

The study examined the influence of social media engagements on the performance of the Safaricom PLC brand. Four (4) objectives guided the study: to identify the social media platforms Safaricom PLC has adopted for customer engagement, establish how Safaricom PLC uses social media for customer engagement, determine how Safaricom PLC measures its brand performance, and establish how the social media engagements adopted by Safaricom PLC are affecting the brand’s performance. Diffusion of innovation, social penetration, and balanced scorecard theories underpinned the study as they illustrate how technology spreads through a population and the operational benefits of using technology. The population of the study comprised 168 employees in Safaricom PLC’s social media department. A questionnaire with open and closed-ended questions was used to collect both qualitative and quantitative data, and the response rate was 82%. Descriptive and inferential statistics were obtained using the Statistical Package for the Social Sciences, version 23, and the findings presented in tables and figures. Most (84.6%) of the respondents agreed that Facebook was the most popular platform used by Safaricom PLC for customer engagement, followed by Twitter (78.5%), blogs (76.9%), and YouTube (61.5%). On Safaricom PLC’s use of social media to engage with customers, 66.9% of the respondents agreed that the company uses Facebook to get feedback from the public while regarding Twitter, 86(62.2%) and 51.5% agreed that the company uses it for direct interaction with its customers, and to introduce new products, respectively. The overall conclusion of the study is that social media engagement positively impacts Safaricom PLC brand’s performance. The study recommends the adoption of social media as a marketing, sales, and customer engagement strategy to increase brand performance.