EVALUATION OF FACEBOOK AND WHATSAPP AS ADVERTISING PLATFORMS IN MAKURDI METROPOLIS

Currently, a great majority of marketing experts utilize social media as part of their product marketing strategies, and successful businesses utilize social media marketing for services marketing, branding, lead generation, customer retention, and research. This study evaluated Facebook and WhatsApp as advertising platforms in Makurdi Metropolis. The two theories guiding this study are the Media Richness Theory and The Technological Determinism Theory. Survey research design was adopted for this study. Taro Yamane formula was used to get a sample size of 400 from the population of the study. A multi-stage sampling technique was used to distribute questionnaires to participants of the study. Findings revealed that the most effective advertisements on Facebook and WhatsApp are video advertisements 146 (37%) and that targeted advertising 100(25%) is the major way advertisements are done on WhatsApp and Facebook. Additional findings revealed that Facebook is less effective than WhatsApp as an advertising platform. The study concludes that there is a clear trend of increasing adoption of social media as advertising platforms by local businesses, driven by their perceived cost-effectiveness, accessibility, and ability to reach a targeted audience. The study recommends that Entrepreneurs in Makurdi metropolis should be encouraged to explore Facebook Ads and WhatsApp Business features to enhance their reach and engagement with potential customers. Residents of Makurdi metropolis are also encouraged to utilize special offers and promotions on Facebook and WhatsApp to increase the extent of which Facebook and WhatsApp are utilized for promoting businesses.