RESTAURANT SOCIAL MEDIA MARKETING PRACTICES IN KATSINA METROPOLIS, KATSINA STATE, NIGERIA: DILEMMA AND WAY FORWARD

A Comparative Case Study of Facebook and Twitter

Rosemarie Khayiya and Usman Lawal A. Mani

Department of Hospitality and Tourism Management, Kenyatta University, Nairobi, Kenya

Department of Home and Hospitality Management, Hassan Usman Katsina Polytechnic, Katsina, Nigeria.

Email: rkhayiya@gmail.com, usman.lawalmani@gmail.com

ABSTRACT

The purpose of this study is to identify restaurant social media marketing practices by comparing the challenges and benefits of Facebook and twitter as platforms of social media in marketing of hospitality products and services. After reviewing relevant literature, multiple-case study design was used, and qualitative data was obtained from the respondents using structured interviews. Purposive sampling was adopted for sampling both the restaurants and the respondents. The data collected from the respondents was arranged and analysed based on restaurant and questions asked. The study revealed that casual and quick service categories of restaurants pay significant attention to Facebook, while full service and take-out service categories have multiple with Facebook and Twitter as their priority. The study suggests that qualitative and quantitative approaches should be used to include other hospitality sectors for more varied information regarding the effective use of the social media marketing.

Keywords: Challenges, Facebook, Marketing, Prospects. Restaurants, Social media, Twitter,