Abstract:
The use of social media marketing nowadays is becoming very popular worldwide and it has
changed the relationship between customers and business and this effect will gradually
continue to evolve in Ethiopia as new media infuses the culture and society. The purpose of this
research was to investigate the role of social media marketing for building brand awareness in
Ethiopia. This study is descriptive in nature whose primary objective is to provide insight into
a new marketing phenomenon while investigating one or more variables. A quantitative
method is used. It has been possible to withdraw necessary primary and secondary data by
distributing questionnaire and by referring related literatures respectively. A questionnaire
was distributed to collect the required information and gather data to attain best possible
outcome of the research’s effort. The size of the population for this study is unknown as social
media networking sites are dynamic and complex and they are impossible to count given that
the number of members increases on a daily basis. Therefore, the researcher gathered data
from 350 respondents. The finding of the study indicates that most consumers pay attention to
advertisements recommended and shared by friends and contacts on social media
networks rather than the direct information provided or advertisement campaign made by
companies. Therefore, this research suggested that local companies should use social media
network to present their brands with enormous reach, endless communication possibilities and
with a very limited promotion cost and grab, the possible opportunities of exploiting the brand
building potential through the richest and fastest communication form available. However,
Social Media as a form of marketing will present a completely new phase challenges.
Therefore, companies need to develop their marketing strategy with special care in order to
minimize the risk and challenges of online branding.
