4. Electronic Theses and Dissertations (ETDs) - Faculties submissions
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Item The use of social media to drive the growth of South African brands(University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, 2023) Reddy, Nishanta; Budree, AdheeshThe proliferation of social media usage has coincided with the expansion of social media marketing efforts. However, the mere escalation in social media activity does not uniformly translate into user interaction or engagement with advertisements disseminated through these platforms. Consequently, it becomes imperative to scrutinize the determinants of engagement and discern how such engagement can impact the development of indigenous South African brands. Existing scholarly literature offers limited insights into the factors underpinning social media brand engagement and the resultant effects on the advancement of local brands within the South African market. This research aims to augment the Customer-Based Brand Equity (CBBE) model with the aim of delineating the catalysts propelling engagement with social media brands and investigating the ramifications of such engagement on the performance metrics of domestic brands. Employing a quantitative methodology, the study leveraged an online survey to solicit responses from 272 South African social media users. The findings underscore that the principal determinants of social media brand engagement encompass entertainment value, brand resonance, informativeness, and social influence. Furthermore, the analysis reveals those interactions with brand advertisements on social media platforms bolster purchase intent, thereby fostering an amelioration in brand performance metrics. This emphasizes the pivotal role played by social media platforms in fostering the growth of local brands in South Africa. Consequently, social media engagement emerges as a pivotal determinant shaping the trajectory of growth and performance for local brands, underscoring the imperative of deploying strategic social media marketing initiatives tailored to the specificities of the South African market landscape.Item Evaluating the marketing effect that COVID-19 has on broker channels in the South African insurance industry(University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, 2021) Nookiah, Preeantha; Wotela, KambidimaThe World Health Organization announced COVID-19 (Coronavirus) as a pandemic early 2020 and this had an impact on people around the world. Governments closed their borders with strict regulations around movements to work, school, travel, and even gyms or any extracurricular activities. Economies around the world struggled with many people losing their jobs. Companies have struggled to move to a digital environment to keep business going. Customers were forced to start purchasing online because of the movement restriction. The way people contacted family and friends were by calling, messaging or on social media platforms. In the South African insurance sector, COVID-19 has also affected the brokers community, due to restrictions brokers could not meet with their clients, other methods had to be used to contact and sign-up clients. Brokers have always played a vital role in the insurance industry in South Africa. The aim of this study was to give an understanding of the marketing effects of COVID- 19 on the broker channels in the insurance industry in South Africa, and to gain insights on a way forward for brokers on marketing and to provide trends or hints of what customers want post COVID-19. An online questionnaire was sent to participants in Johannesburg, South Africa. The data was cleaned, coded, and analysed using Pearson correlation, multiple regression, analysis of variance (ANOVA) and Cronbach alpha for a reliability test on SPSS. The main findings identified were that customers who watch videos on insurance companies on social media were more inclined to read more about that company and would leave their details to be contacted. Customers also are chatting on telephone, email or on digital platforms during COVID-19 and want to continue with these communication methods after COVID-19. There is a strong positive relationship with customers feeling comfortable on online platform and there is a sense of comfort using digital platforms provided they are on a secured part of a company’s website. The limitation was the access to people during this period, consideration had to be given if people were not feeling well, as it was during the second wave of COVID-19. The study guided current behaviour at the time, but it was recommended that future studies provide insights and guide trends on future customer behaviour by increasing the sample size and investigate having a wider audience within South Africa