Abstract:
The remarkable growth in information technology has led businesses to appreciate
the power and potential of online marketing, rather than merely focussing their
promotional activities and goals on production and sales. Social media has proved
to be one of the most effective forms of online marketing, seeing that it allows the
business to respond to customer problems instantaneously, customers are
amenable to marketing messages, and it assist businesses indirectly to find
customers they did not know existed. There is a profound lack of research in the
South African context with regard to identifying the motivating factors for the
general use of social media. The purpose of this research article was two-fold:
firstly to determine a demographic profile of social media users, and secondly to
identify the main motivating factors for the general use of social media amongst
tourists to South Africa. Research was conducted by means of distributing selfadministered
questionnaires at the O.R Tambo International airport, as the main
target group was tourists. The completed questionnaires were used for the
statistical analysis, which included factor analysis. The results indicated six
factors motivating the general use of social media: content sharing, accessing
information, connecting and communicating, personal attainment, ease of
accessibility, and cost. It is imperative for organisations to understand the factors
motivating users to engage in social media, as this will assist organisations to
develop social media marketing strategies that will ensure the effective reach of
their target markets. By understanding the motivating factors and developing
marketing strategies accordingly, the development of sound long-term
relationships between the organisation and the users could be established.
