ABSTRACT

This study was carried out to examine the social media and the promotion of goods and services among university students. In order to actualize the objectives of the study, various literature and theoretical issues were discussed. The instrument used for the purpose of this research was the primary research instrument (questionnaire). The mass of information generated from the questionnaires was summarized in form of table and analyzed using frequency, simple percentage and mean. The researcher administered three hundred and sixty (360) questionnaires to respondents, out of which same number (360) were retrieved for the purpose of presenting and analyzing responses to issues raised in the questionnaires. The hypotheses were tested using the regression analysis statistical tool.

The findings from the analysis revealed among other things that: social media platforms such as Facebook, Twitter and Instragram have a significant effect on promotion of goods and services among university students; perceived quality of brand and product image of mobile network operators were insignificantly related; there is a positive and insignificant relationship between YouTube and promotion of goods and services among university students; and there is a positive and significant relationship between the use of social media and promotion of goods and services among university students.

The study recommends amongst others that; Firms should strive to adopt social media marketing strategy as such has been proven to have an effect on the promotion of their goods and services; firms should consider engaging in Instagram celebrity endorsement strategy as such would endear their product to the followers of these celebrities; and firms should rigorously capitalize on other forms of social media such as Twitter and Facebook as this would increase their social media coverage size thereby enhancing the promotions of their goods and services.