CHAPTER ONE

INTRODUCTION

BACKGROUND TO STUDY

Creating a brand is essential for any business establishment because a brand is the image of the
business. It is equally important to make the brand known and accepted because products and
services that maintain a high level of brand awareness are likely to generate more sales. Also,
consumers confronted with choices are simply more likely to buy a known brand than an
unfamiliar one. This is why brand awareness, as a market tool, is very important.

C, Kopp defines brand awareness as a

“Marketing term that describes the degree of consumer recognition of a

product by its name. Creating brand awareness is a key step in promoting
a new product or reviving an older brand. Ideally, awareness of the brand
may include the qualities that distinguish the product from its
competition.”

The above definition identifies that brand awareness is necessary to promote a new product or an
older brand and it is ideal to focus on unique qualities to distinguish a product from its
competition.

There are various media channels to promote and draw awareness to a brand. These channels can
be grouped into traditional and online media. Traditional media includes television, radio, print
(newspapers, flyers, brochures etc), and outdoor (billboards, events, trade shows, road shows
etc). Online media include social media, blogs, websites, email marketing, short message
services (SMS) etc.

Furthermore, small scale enterprise which is central to this research work need to be defined and
discerned. We may then describe a small scale enterprise or a small business as one considered
to have a limited number of employees and a limited flow of finances and materials. As a result
of the limited flow of finance, small businesses may not be buoyant enough to patronize
expensive media channels to create awareness and promote their brands. It is for this reason that
small businesses utilize social media to advertise their product and boost their brand. Social
media is relatively inexpensive and easily accessible. This research work therefore sets to
examine the impact of social media on the brand awareness of small scale enterprises.

However to understand how this works, we need to fathom what social media is all about.

M. Rouse describes Social media as ‘the collective of online communications channels dedicated
to community-based input, interaction, content-sharing and collaboration’. It can be established
from this definition that social media are online channels for the purpose of communication,
interaction, content-sharing and networking which is community based.

Also, M. Hudson explains that

“Social media refers to websites and applications that are designed to

allow people to share content quickly, efficiently, and in real-time. Many
people define social media as apps on their Smartphone or tablet, but the
truth is, this communication tool started with computers. This
misconception stems from the fact that most social media users access
their tools via apps.”

From the assertion above, websites and applications dedicated to forums, micro-blogging, social
networking, social bookmarking, social curation, and wikis are among the different types of social media.
Also while many people are of the misconception that social media started from smartphones and tablets
because of the how easy we access social media through this gadgets, but social media initially started
with desktop computers.

Over the years social media has grown to be the most accepted interaction platform in the world
which is as a result of its powerful outreach. In an interview with William C. Taylor, C.E.O of
Amazon.com, Jeff Bezos, comments that ‘if you make customers unhappy in the physical world,
they might each tell 6 friends. If you make customers unhappy on the Internet, they can each tell
6,000 friends.’ This portrays how effective and vigorous social media can be. Founder of
mashable.com, P. Cashmore explains that ‘we’re living at a time when attention is the new
currency. Those who insert themselves into as many channels as possible look set to capture the
most value’.

Prominent examples of social media platforms are as below:

·         Facebook is a popular free social networking website that allows registered users to create
profiles, upload photos and videos, send messages and keep in touch with friends, family and
colleagues.

·         Twitter is a free micro-blogging service that allows registered members to broadcast short
posts called tweets.

·         Google+ (pronounced Google plus) was Google's social networking project, designed to
replicate the way people interact offline more closely than is the case in other social networking
services.

·         Instagram is a free, online photo-sharing application and social network platform

·         LinkedIn is a social networking site designed specifically for the business community.

·         Reddit is a social news website and forum where stories are socially curated and promoted
by site members.

·         Pinterest is a social curation website for sharing and categorizing images found online.

Moreover, Social media is becoming an integral part of life online as social websites and applications
proliferate. Most traditional online media platforms include social components, such as comment fields
for users. In business, social media is used to market products, promote brands, connect to current
customers, and foster new business ideas. Hudson also admits that,

“The ability to share photos, opinions, events, etc in real-time has transformed
the way we live and, also, the way we do business. Retailers who use social
media as an integral part of their marketing strategy usually see measurable
results. But the key to successful social media is to not treat it as an extra
appendage but to treat it with the same care, respect, and attention you do all of
your marketing efforts.”
This affirms the fact that social media can be as effective as any other social marketing tool because it
allows the exchange of information through interaction among a global outreach of potential customers.
 
 K. Chatterjee expresses that

 “The explosive growth of social media in the last few years has been well
documented, and for many, a life without Twitter and Facebook is inconceivable.
It’s hard to believe that social media as we know it has only been around for
little longer than a decade and it has already fundamentally changed the ways
people communicate and interact with each other. This is not only true for
conversations with friends and family, but also, increasingly, for companies
looking to discover the value that social media can add to their marketing
operations.”

In the assertion above, Chatterjee pinpoints that there has been a massive increase in the use of social
media and this has influenced the way humans interact with one another, as well as companies using it as
a marketing tool.
This discourse will be limiting social media to Twitter alone; therefore it will examine the impact of
twitter on the brand awareness of small business or enterprise.

To understand the impact of Twitter on brand awareness on small scale enterprises, we need to
know what Twitter is and how it works. Twitter is an online news and social networking site,
where people communicate in short messages called tweets. Tweeting is posting short messages
for anyone who follows you on Twitter, with the hope that your messages are useful and
interesting to someone in your audience. Another description of Twitter and tweeting might be
micro-blogging. Some people use Twitter to discover interesting people and companies online,
opting to follow their tweets.

In addition to its relative novelty, Twitter's big appeal is how scan-friendly it is: You can track
hundreds of interesting Twitter users and read their content with a glance. This is ideal for our
modern attention-deficit world.
Twitter employs a purposeful message size restriction to keep things scan-friendly: every micro-
blog tweet entry is limited to 280 characters or less. This size cap promotes the focused and
clever use of language, which makes tweets easy to scan, and challenging to write. This size
restriction made Twitter a popular social tool.

Twitter is easy to use as either broadcaster or receiver. You join with a free account and Twitter
name. Then you send broadcasts (tweets) daily, hourly, or as frequently as you like. Go to the
What's Happening box, type 280 or fewer characters, and click Tweet. People who follow you,
and potentially others who don’t will see your tweet.

Every small business should have a Twitter account that is updated at least twice a day, and this
is especially true for startups trying to build brand awareness amongst a unique customer base.
Chatterjee also comments that,

“For many businesses, using social media to market their brand has been
a challenge. In recent years, the public has not only grown savvy to
established marketing techniques employed by companies, but has also
almost become immune to these tactics. Ads, leaflets, direct mail and
email just don’t have the same impact as they used to have. With this
awareness increasing amongst target audiences, companies have to come
up with new ways to make an impression and differentiate themselves from
the competition.”  

From the excerpt above, we can discern that the antique approaches that businesses apply on
social media platforms (Ads, leaflets, direct mail etc.) to market their brand have become
ineffective. This has steered new social media and networking platforms to devise more efficient
ways for businesses to promote their brand and boost sales lead. This project therefore sets out to
examine the impact, both positively and negatively, of social media on the brand awareness of
small business enterprises.

 
STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM

The social media has come to stay and this is owing to the massive acceptance by the global
village. It is a very effective tool for the creation of brand awareness. Not many know the impact
of social media on brands advertised on these platforms neither do they know how to utilize
social media (Twitter) to generate brand awareness. It is for this cause that the research work is
set out to examine the impact of social media on the brand awareness of small scale enterprise, as
well as, highlighting the ways in which social media (Twitter) can be used to create and generate
awareness for brands.

PURPOSE OF THE STUDY

The purposes of this study are;

1.      To examine the impact of Twitter on the brand awareness of small scale enterprises.

2.      To highlight the ways in which Twitter can be employed to create and generate brand
awareness.

3.      To realize the most effective way to generate brand awareness on Twitter.

RESEARCH QUESTIONS

1.      What is the positive and negative impact of Twitter on the brand awareness of small scale
businesses?

2.      What ways can brand awareness be created and generated on Twitter?

3.      What is the most effective way to generate and brand awareness on twitter?

   
SIGNIFICANCE OF THE STUDY

 This study will extensively criticize the impact of Twitter on the awareness of brands, which
will give other researchers and potential brand owners the succinct knowledge of how it works
on Twitter when it comes to generating recognition and popularity. This study will also guide
them on the choice to make when utilizing Twitter as a marketing tool.

SCOPE OF THE STUDY

This study will be centered on the use of Twitter to achieve brand recognition in the Twitter
community in Nigeria.

 
 REFERENCES

William, C.T. (1996, October 31). Who’s Writing the Book on Web Business? Retrieved from
https://www.fastcompany.com/27309/whos-writing-book-web-business

Hudson, M. (2019, May 9). What Is Social Media? Retrieved from

https://www.thebalancesmb.com/what-is-social-media-2890301

Rouse, M. (2019, February 1). IT Channel Sales and Marketing Strategy for the Digital Era.
Retrieved from https://whatis.techtarget.com/definition/social-media

Chatterjee, K. (2014, June 19). How Can Social Media be used as a Marketing Tool? Retrieved
from https://www.b2bmarketing.net/en-gb/resources/blog/how-can-social-media-be-used-
marketing-tool

Jager, T. (2019). How to Measure Brand wareness: 4 key steps. Retrieved from
https://business.twitter.com/en/blog/How-to-measure-brand-awareness.html
 CHAPTER TWO

LITERATURE REVIEW

CONCEPTUAL FRAMEWORK

Social media has become increasingly popular because of the combination of both technological
developments and social change. However, there are manifest differences in the ways people use
social media as well as in the level of their competence. Differences in the skills to master
technology and in the use of social media may result in new types of digital inequality. In order
to overcome these inequalities, an extensive body of initiatives must deal with enhancing
people’s level of social media literacy.

Unfortunately, due to difficulties in adequately measuring media literacy, the effectiveness of

these efforts has not yet been fully determined. Hence, the main objective of our research is
measuring social media literacy. In order to do so we first need to be able to accurately define
social media literacy and understand how it can be conceptualized. Based on an extensive
literature review, this paper presents a conceptual framework for social media literacy and
discusses its main building blocks.

The proposed conceptual model posits that an accurate understanding of social media literacy
requires more insight into people’s access to social media applications, knowledge, skills, self-
efficacy, attitudes and actual media use.

 
THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK

The Theory of Social Media Interaction was formulated to explain how stable social media
interactions legitimize particular thoughts and practices regarding issues such as health and
illness, and help to transform individuals through effective transfer of knowledge through social
media. The key concepts of the theory are defined accordingly;

Personal Health Agenda: Nurses set up social media sites so that clients can gain access to
information, assess themselves, join programs and seek referrals from experts. Personal Health
agenda settings are based on identified client needs that influence health-related actions. The
utilization of social media for these purposes amplifies and highlights the personal health agenda
and related issues.

Social media Transaction: This is defined as the utilization of social media in response to
personal health agendas set by clients, guided by the following norm principles. Norms are
human behaviors that are shaped by shared rules. For instance, the concept of reciprocity is
applied where there is a commitment to return a favor done by others, and the concept of
commitment is applied since there are expectations that users will respond to standards and
obligations.

Social Exchange: individuals interact in a way that interaction translates behaviors as either
health seeking or health motivating.

Personal/Social Integration: This is the process where the agenda or information has been
accepted and filtered into an individual’s behavior.

 
Active Interaction: is defined as dynamic exchanges of mutual or reciprocal influence to
persuade individuals to meet their health goals and be better informed about the percolated ideas
or schema within the network.

Assumptions: are concepts, or connect concepts, and represent values, beliefs or goals. When
assumptions are challenged they become propositions according to Meleis (2004).

The theory of Social Media Interaction has four underlying assumptions:

 Social Media is a means of accessing and gaining information.

 Social media creates a virtual community where interaction occurs.
 Different groups may have diverse cultural practices regarding the acquisition and
dissemination of information.
 People who engage in interaction are rationally seeking to maximize their health.

Proposition: these are statements that describe relationships among events, situations or actions
(Meleis, 2004).

The theory of Social Media Interaction has four fundamental propositions:

 Interaction changes over a period of time.

 Social media promotes wellness.
 Successful interaction leads to active participation.
 Social media proliferates information quickly.

Conceptual Model: is defined as a set of concepts and statements that integrate the concepts into
a meaningful configuration (Fawcett, 1994).
CONCLUSION

Social media has both intensive and extensive influences on individuals and groups. This paper
presented the key concepts of the theory of Social Media Interaction that conceptualizes how
health interaction can be influential in social media. The theoretical framework can help people
understand the role of social media in disseminating health information and influence personal
health agendas and behaviors.

 
REFERENCES

Fawcett, J. (1994) Analysis and evaluation of conceptual models of nursing, Philadelphia, PA:
F.A. Davis

Meleis, A. (2007) Theoretical nursing: Development and progress (4th Edition) Philadelphia,
PA: Lippincott

Powell, J.A., Darvell, M., Gray, J.A. (2003). The doctor, the patient and the world-wide web:
how the Internet is changing healthcare. Journal of the Royal Society of Medicine,96(2): 74–76.

Social Networking Fact Sheet. (2015). Pew Research Center: Internet, Science & Technology
Website. Retrieved November 13, 2015 from http://www.pewinternet.org/fact-sheet/social-
media/

 
 CHAPTER THREE

RESEARCH METHODOLOGY 

This chapter focuses on choosing appropriate methods for the selection of study sample,
designing of research instruments for data collection, and way of testing research hypothesis
early postulated for the study. It is for this that the survey research method will be employed for
this study. Here, the data is collected from the use of sampling techniques without the intention
of research or controlling the variables.

According to Tejumaiye (2017), “Survey research method scientifically sampled and interview
people to analyze and report what they have said.” He stressed that survey research approach
requires careful planning and execution of plan. Also, that the increasing uses of survey research
methods has created changes in the way surveys are conducted and reported. In modern day
survey research methodology, there are four major activities involved; Sampling of subjects,
interviewing subjects, processing and analyzing information from subject and reporting
information. Therefore, this research project will be interviewing a number of small business
owners that utilize Twitter as a platform to advertise their brands, and also various Twitter users
who come across these brand awareness on twitter will be given questionnaires to fill to assess
the effectiveness of the social media platform.

POPULATION OF STUDY

The population for this study consists of a few small scale enterprise owners who use twitter as a
medium of advertising their brands and products for potential customers, and a heterogenous
group of frequent Twitter users in Lagos.

Most users of Twitter are concentrated in the urban centers, and it is assumed that the utilization
of the platform is a matter of choice since other platforms in the social media are in attention. A
number of 10 small business owners who use twitter as a brand awareness platform will be
selected for interview, and 100 frequent twitter users will be given questionnaires to fill.
SAMPLE METHOD

The sampling method to be used is the stratified random sampling. This is applied to a
heterogeneous population which is made up of different kinds of subgroup where the population
is grouped into sub-definite characteristics. These groups are called strata from which the sample
is chosen by applying random sampling technique on each stratum. In this case, the variable
interest here is users of Twitter. Stratified sampling ensures that a sample is drawn from a
homogenous subset of the population (Tejumaiye, 2017).

DATA COLLECTION INSTRUMENT

Kerlinger (1973) classified the methods of data collection in survey research as types of surveys
like (i) personal interview; (ii) mail questionnaire; (iii) panel; (iv) telephone; and (v)
observations. Among these, personal interview and mail questionnaire are considered to be the
most popular methods among the investigators. Tejumaiye states that “researchers can use any
one of these approaches or combinations of choice” and in this context, both interview and
questionnaire administration will be employed in collecting data for the purpose of this research.
The choice of the instrument will be influenced by relatively higher response which is always
associated with this method. The questions will be framed with simplicity, conciseness, and
coherence to minimize cadence of ambiguity and misinterpretation. This in essence is formulated
to agree or disagree with the assertion under consideration. Likewise, the interview questions
will be simple, direct and concise.

DATA COLLECTION PROCEDURE

The researcher would personally administer the questionnaire with the help of two assistants who
will be properly guided on the expected approaches to handling respondents. The exercise is
expected to last for a period of one day. The questionnaire would be filled immediately to avoid
collision among respondents; collection would equally be made immediately to ascertain a return
of the entire questionnaire and verify self response by respondent to avoid people helping them
respond to the question. Also, telephone, mail and personal interview will be used to get
information from the various small scale enterprise owners.

DATA ANALYSES PROCEDURE

Data generated from the field of study and the secondary data would require descriptive and
inferential statistics to summarize and describe the data collected. Univariate analysis will also
be used to which will be focusing on a single variable at a time. Analysis and interpretation will
be based on the given response to the questions in the questionnaire.

LIMITATION OF STUDY

This study will be limited to the small business owners that utilize Twitter as an advertising
platform within Lagos. Also, the various frequent Twitter users shall be within Lagos.

BUDGET AND TIME SCHEDULE

This project work will inquire a cost of fifty thousand naira which covers the cost for printing,
data, mobility, airtime for phone interviews, and final binding of the finished work. This project
work is expected to last a month for the collection, analyzing and reporting of data.
REFERENCES

Tejumaiye, J. A. (2017). Mass Communication Research: An Introduction. Sceptre Prints

Limited, Ibadan.

Brennen, B. S. (2017). Qualitative research methods for media studies. New York, NY:
Routledge.

Wimmer, R. D., & Dominick, J. R. (2014). Mass media research: An introduction (10th ed.).
Boston, MA: Wadsworth.

McClosky, H. (1969), Political Inquiry : The Native and Uses of Survey Research. Macmillan,
New York.

Rao M. Satyanarayana and Yadagiri R. (1984), Processing of Data, Research Methods in Social
Science, Sterling Publishers, New Delhi.