THE ROLE OF FACEBOOL ON MARKETING STRATEGY DEVELOPMENT: THE CASE OF COMMERCIAL BANKS OF ETHIOPIA

Abstract

This study aims to examine the assessments of social media users on marketing strategy. It discusses the challenge and opportunity of social media in building customer relationship, target market and marketing mixes such as product, price, promotion and place and the research apply descriptive study in quantitative research approach based on primary data. Questionnaires are prepared both for online users and as postal (hard copy). The online questionnaire are distributed and collected from Ethiopian Facebook users by Google drive form software. Statistical tests are used for analysis and it is automatically analyzed by this software. The software is free and accessible from PC and mobile phones. The software has a feature where a researcher provides questionnaires to participants which automatically synched to the researcher’s email account, this enables the researcher get the result as soon as the next respondent hits send on final answer. The study finds that most Ethiopian social media users agree: social media have an impact (positive or negative) in building a relationship with customers; Social media (Facebook) can be used for market segmentation; Social media are suitable for promotion, brand building and to get feedbacks, So that business companies can use social media for building a relationship, for market research, selling activities, promotion activities etc. However, a careful planning and execution is necessary. Any mistake can be spread for millions of customers in a minimum of time and with almost zero cost.