International Journal of Innovative Research and Development

Abstract

The development of social media platforms was targeted at enabling individuals around the world to connect and interact without physical contact through the use of technology devices. Since its introduction, social media has successfully created a whole great population of netizens on different platforms such as Facebook, twitter, and Instagram among others. Recent times have seen a surge in companies across different industry take their advertisements on social media to keep up with the trend: and unlike the past, most social media platforms have an option to create a page instead of the usual personal account. With the commitment-trust theory(CTT), social capital theory (SCT), trust building theory (TBM) and media richness theory (MRT) as theoretical foundations, this paper adopted an empirical method to investigate how social media adverts and online trust has translated into profits for companies across the world. It does this by reviewing theories and documented cases of social media adverts and its results in Ghana. Based on the reviewed best practices and theories of trust and social media, a comprehensive model is developed to guide Ghanaian firms in building trust and advertising online the grow in profits. At the end of the study it is revealed that social media has contributed an essential element to online marketing more than any digital tool has ever offered; hence companies who are able to find novel and effective ways to catch audience attention and instantly convert platform visitors to customers by means of conversation and brand promotion are able to secure a leading market position over competitors. It is also found that Facebook is the leading platform for effective adverts in Ghana followed by Instagram and Twitter respectively. It is therefore concluded that at the centre of an organizational growth and profitability driving social media advert are engagement with stakeholders, branding, and learning.

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