The Role of Social Media in Promoting Organizational Brand: A Case of Telecommunication Organizations in Tanzania

Abstract

This study was conducted with the aim of exploring the role of social media in promoting organizational brand. The study had three objectives. The first objective is to determine the ways that telecommunication organizations in Tanzania use to promote organizational brands on Facebook. The second one is to find out the customers’ perspective on the impacts of the telecommunication organizations’ activities on Facebook. The last one is to unveil challenges that telecommunication organizations face in promoting the organizational brand on Facebook. The study used mixed methods research design. The content analysis was used to gather data from the Facebook pages of the four telecommunication organizations of Tanzania. The interviews and online questionnaire survey (OQS) incorporated participants who liked the Facebook pages of the four telecommunication organizations. Interviews were conducted to 16 participants while OQS was used to collect data from 100 respondents through Google Forms. The study was conducted under two theories; Theoretical Model of Corporate Branding in Social Media (TMCBSM) in industrial marketing and Cognitive Dissonance Theory. The study adopted the TMCBSM model for analyzing the Facebook posts of the telecommunication organizations while Cognitive Dissonance Theory was applied in measuring and revealing of the understanding of the OQS and interview participants on the organizational brands. Social media was found to play significant role in promoting organizational brand of the telecommunication organizations through creating organizational brand recognition and awareness to stakeholders. The study found that social media generate engagement and interactivity that build relationships between organizational brand and their stakeholders and create experiences for stakeholders which build organizational brands.