Abstract

Social media usage and applications are on the upsurge. Marketers must synchronize advertising content, consumer profile and social media applications for impactful advertising. Nevertheless, social media applications proportionally grew in numbers and types giving both marketers and consumers endless options and creating confusion in choice. This study used factor analysis to classify social media into three classifications marketers can use to target consumers during social media marketing campaigns. The study suggested novel practical marketing stratagems for social media marketing practitioners. This study pursued a positivist research philosophy. In particular, an empirical research methodological approach was adopted for this study. The reliability of the scales in the research instrument was tested using the Cronbach alpha coefficient. Systematic random sampling was employed to reach a sample of 355 consumers. A self-administered questionnaire was used to collect data. Structural Equation Modelling (SEM) was used to perform regression analysis in validating the research model. Findings revealed three types of social media exist, formal, informal and entertainment social media. Formal social media being the main social media is influenced by entertainment social media and informal social media. In addition, informal social media platforms are WhatsApp, Twitter Instagram, Facebook, and others. While entertainment social media platforms are YouTube and Snapchat. Future research can focus on social media products for marketing as well as focused social media on age marketing. Future studies can determine the relationships between age versus focused social media usage and product versus focused social media correlations.

Key words: Social media types, formal social media, informal social media and entertainment social media; impactful marketing.