Abstract:
The purpose of this study was to examine the effect of social media marketing on
marketing performance of the manufacturing companies in Tanzania. Specifically,
the study aimed to examine the effect of social media strategy, active presence and
customer engagement initiatives on the marketing performance of selected
manufacturing companies in Coastal Region. The study used social penetration
theory. Quantitative research approach and cross sectional research design was
used. A sample of 138 respondents was selected from 29 manufacturing companies
in Coastal Region using simple random sampling technique. A structured
questionnaire was used for collecting primary data. Data were analysed by using
the Statistical Package for Social Science (SPSS) to compute descriptive statistics
and undertake multiple linear regression. The results show that social media
strategy had positive and significant relationship with marketing performance (B =
0.539, p = 0.000). Moreover, the results show that there was positive and significant
relationship between active presence in social media and the marketing
performance of the manufacturing companies (B = 0.620, p=0.001). Furthermore,
the findings show that there was positive and significant relationship between
customer engagement initiatives in social media and marketing performance of the
manufacturing companies (B = 0.919, p = 0.000). The study concludes that social
media strategy, active presence and customer engagement initiatives in social media
have positive effect on the marketing performance of the manufacturing companies.
The study recommends that manufacturing companies should make sure social
media strategy, active presence and customer engagement initiatives become part
of the marketing strategies in order to increase marketing performance.
