This book responds to calls for a systematic approach in understanding the transformations in the social media marketing landscape. To narrow the focus, the book takes a developing economy perspective and presents a comprehensive understanding of social media practices and how these can be integrated in firms’ operational activities to create a competitive advantage.
In emerging markets and developing economies (EMDEs), social media provides a technological solution to the economic challenges faced by governments, firms, and people at the bottom of the economic pyramid. Social media is often considered to be fundamentally changing the business paradigm and is increasingly integrated into the marketing function, and EMDEs seem to be quickly finding out that it offers them a relatively low-cost opportunity to potentially leapfrog the competition in developed markets.
By using social technology to reach users in different market segments in ways that were impossible before, social sites such as Facebook and X (formerly Twitter) create tremendous new growth opportunities for businesses. As businesses embrace social media solutions however, some challenges emerge in the adoption, utilisation, integration, and implementation of social media systems and tools in EMDEs― hence the need to provide pathways to better integrate social media into the marketing activities of emerging market institutions.
This book provides practical guidance on the use of social media in marketing management. It provides contemporary perspectives on social media marketing, and while it is aimed primarily at practitioners, it could also serve as teaching text for undergraduate and postgraduate teaching programmes.
Kofi Osei-Frimpong is a Senior Lecturer in Marketing at the University of Professional Studies, Accra, Ghana. He received his PhD from the University of Strathclyde, Glasgow, UK. Kofi is also a Research Fellow at the Vlerick Business School, Belgium. His research interest includes value co-creation in healthcare service delivery, customer engagement practices, social media use, online live chat and artificial intelligence. He is published in high impact journals such as Journal of Business Research, Information Technology & People, Computers in Human Behavior, Technological Forecasting & Social Change, International Journal of Contemporary Hospitality Management, International Journal of Retail & Distribution Management, Journal of Marketing Theory and Practice, Journal of Service Theory and Practice, Journal of Nonprofit and Public Sector Marketing, and also presented papers at international service research conferences.
Robert Ebo Hinson is a Deputy Vice Chancellor at the University of Kigali. He is also an Extraordinary Professor at the Northwest University Business School and Visiting Professor of Marketing at the Lincoln International Business School. He is also a Professor of Marketing at the University of Ghana and has twenty-three monographs and edited volumes to his name. He was ranked in 2021, the leading marketing scholar in Africa (https://www.adscientificindex.com/scientist.php?id=89518).
Ogechi Adeola is an Associate Professor of Marketing at the Lagos Business School (LBS), Pan-Atlantic University, Nigeria. She commenced her career over two decades ago with Citibank Nigeria, before moving to academia. She holds a doctorate in Business Administration (DBA) from Alliance Manchester Business School, UK (Alliance MBS). She is a 2016 Visiting International Fellow, Open University Business School, UK; a 2017 Paul R. Lawrence Fellow, Chicago; guest lecturer at the University of Ghana Business School; and Associate Dean, University of the People, USA. She is Nigeria’s Country Coordinator of Savings Groups for Africa (SG4Africa); co-investigator of a Research England-funded project documenting women’s entrepreneurial tourism efforts in Sub-Saharan Africa; and founder of Empowering African Women, funded through the 2017 Ignition Award of MBS. She was a 2018/2019 Nigerian project team member of IT for Change (India); and an Alpha team member of the Centre for Global Enterprise (CGE), engaged as virtual consultants for the London Taxi Company, UK in 2015 and Texas Capital Bank, USA, in 2018. She has published academic books in Marketing and also academic papers in top scholarly journals with her co-authored academic publications winning Best Paper Awards at international conferences in the consecutive years of 2016, 2017, 2018 and 2019. She is a Fellow of the Institute of Strategic Management, Nigeria and the National Institute of Marketing of Nigeria. Adeola, the Academic Director of LBS Sales & Marketing Academy.
Henry Boateng holds a PhD in Knowledge Management from the University of Technology, Sydney, Australia. His research experience covers branding, customer knowledge management, electronic business and commerce and internet application in marketing. Henry has published several articles in reputable journals such as International Journal of Contemporary Hospitality Management, Computers in Human Behaviour, International Journal of Public Administration and Journal of Research in Interactive Marketing. Henry is also an ad hoc reviewer for several reputable journals.
John Paul Basewe Kosiba is a lecturer in the Marketing Department at the University of Professional Studies, Accra (UPSA). His research focuses on branding, consumer behaviour, internet communication, and business ethics in sub-Saharan Africa. In the field of academia, he has taught Marketing, Management and Research-based courses. He is published in high impact journals such as Journal of Business Research, International Journal of Contemporary Hospitality Management, Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, International Journal of Retail & Distribution Management, Qualitative Market Research: An International Journal, European Business Review, The Service Industries Journal, Journal of Product & Brand Management among others.
