Turkish students’ perceived relevance of Facebook as a marketing tool

Published date08 May 2017
Date08 May 2017
Pages125-144
DOIhttps://doi.org/10.1108/JICES-08-2016-0027
AuthorStephen L. Baglione,Talha Harcar,John Spillan
Subject MatterInformation & knowledge management,Information management & governance,Information & communications technology
Turkish studentsperceived
relevance of Facebook as a
marketing tool
Stephen L. Baglione
Saint Leo University, Saint Leo, Florida, USA
Talha Harcar
Pennsylvania State University at Beaver, Beaver, Pennsylvania, USA, and
John Spillan
Department of Management, Marketing and International Business,
School of Business, University of North Carolina at Pembroke,
Pembroke, North Carolina, USA
Abstract
Purpose The purpose of this paper is toexplore Turkish studentsperceived relevance of Facebook, the
value of Facebookadvertisements and the ethics of Facebooktargeting users with advertisements.
Design/methodology/approach Latent class cluster analysis is estimated to determine whether
segmentsexist and whether covariates differ among segments.
Findings Segments differ on Facebook relevanceand advertisement targeting ethics and usefulness and
the covariates gender, hours spent on Facebook during the week and personality. The segment that nds
Facebook most relevantand uses it the most disapproves of Facebookstargeted advertisements. Facebook is
an organization that relies heavily on advertising dollars for survival. This fact should be emphasized;
otherwise,Facebook may not be able to sustain itself.
Originality/value The paper providesan understanding of Facebook from a marketing perspective for a
countryat the crossroads of Europe and Asia.
Keywords Facebook, Developing countries, Advertising, Communication channels,
Latent class cluster analysis
Paper type Research paper
Introduction
Social medias meteoric growth shows no sign of abating. These virtual communities have
been essential for many as a way to interact and stay connected. Within social media sites,
users create a public or semi-public prole, connect with others and interact with their
connections (Pikas and Sorrentino, 2014). Also, users will visit sites their friends are on
(Palmer and Koenig-Lewis,2009). These social networks have an important place among the
tools that are used both as digital information infrastructures in which personal and/or
institutional ideas, messages and news are produced, shared and consumed as an interface
to access new information. As a widely used information and access tool, social media
allows different cultures to interact. Social network sites are used by highly heterogeneous
people with different ages, educationslevels, genders, social status, languages and cultures
(Akyildiz and Argan, 2012).
Perceived
relevance of
Facebook
125
Journalof Information,
Communicationand Ethics in
Society
Vol.15 No. 2, 2017
pp. 125-144
© Emerald Publishing Limited
1477-996X
DOI 10.1108/JICES-08-2016-0027
The current issue and full text archive of this journal is available on Emerald Insight at:
www.emeraldinsight.com/1477-996X.htm
Advertisers bear the nancial cost for social media sites. A survey by Nielsen (2013)
showed that the majority of advertisers have separate budgets for social media, and these
budgets are increasing partly because budgets are being shifted from traditional media to
social media. Global social mediaadvertising revenue is expected to more than double from
2012 to 2017 to US$11bn (Stambor, 2013). Marketers recognize the benets of directly
engaging consumers with commoninterests and goals through social media (Hsu, 2012). A
study among teenagersindicates that advertising on social media sites is acceptablebecause
the sites are free (Kelly et al., 2010).
Consumers are generating word-of-mouth advertising and viral marketing on social
media (Mikalef et al., 2013; Zarella,2010). Social media users can converse with one another
similar to word-of-mouth, but now they can converse with millions. Social media is both
integrated marketing communication, coordinated content, timing and frequency and
magnied word-of-mouth (Mangold and Faulds, 2009). Marketers can expand relationships
by mapping social connections and continuing to make contact with those relationships
(Boyd and Ellison, 2007).
Facebook has become the largest social media site (Ebizma, 2015) with over 1.01 billion
daily active users and 1.55 billion monthly active users. In total, 83.5 per cent of daily users
are outside the USA and Canada (Facebook, 2015). Facebook is a virtual community where
users create proles, share informationand interact with contacts. It is an attractive tool for
marketers because it has many communicationoptions. Facebook ads can target audiences
geographically, demographically and psychologically. It can also focus on a brands best
customers (Facebook, 2015). According to Facebook, when ads are placed in the stream of
information that people view on Facebook, they are more likely to see the ads and take
action. Facebook offers many tools for measuring the effect of advertising that can assist
marketers in determining the type, content and demographic focus of the ad. With this
background in mind,the research questions to be answered in this paper areas follows:
RQ1. Do respondents believethat Facebook is personally relevant?
RQ2. Do respondents see the value of Facebookadvertisements?
RQ3. Do respondents believe it is ethical for Facebook to target them with
advertisements?
RQ4. Can segments be constructed among Facebook users based on the perceived
relevance of Facebook, the value of Facebook advertisements and the ethics of
Facebook targetingusers with advertisements?
RQ5. Do these segments differ on Facebook usage rate, gender, the inuence of
reference groups and personality?
We intend to present analysesand discussion that responds to these research questions.
This paper is organized as follows. First, thereis a focus on the advertising/promotional
utility of Facebook and whether specic segmentsof Facebook users exist. We next review
the literature on Facebook and develop theory followed by social media and specically
Facebook usage in Turkey. Segments will be distinguished by their personal relevance to
the site; effect of Facebook ads and the practice of targeting users with ads; gender; hours
spent on the site; the inuence of reference groups; and personality. Next, the discussion
expands the understanding of advertising and marketing communication channels by
studying users in Turkey.
This study was conducted using a research methodology that surveyed students who
are, in fact, the primary users of Facebook. Finally, the authors present conclusions, future
JICES
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