My scholarly journey into social media marketing began as there was a growing interest in this field in the popular press in the mid-2000s. In class, I began noticing that students were using tools such as MXit and BlackBerry Messenger (BBM), which not only altered the way they communicated but also how they learned, made decisions, shared information, consumed content, and fostered new relationships. My doctoral research emerged from these observations, and I realised that traditional marketing theories were developed for one-directional (non-interactive) communication, and there was a gap in digital interactive settings. If young South Africans were spending much of their lives in the digital realm, this raised important questions for marketing communication and how organisations should respond to these changes. My doctoral thesis sought to answer these questions by examining each phase of the hierarchy of effects model in terms of online social networks such as Facebook and MXit (Duffett 2016b; Duffett & Wakeham 2016). The results demonstrated that the hierarchy of response model’s attitude stages declined as Generation Y consumers progressed from awareness to purchase, which was in line with traditional attitude-to-advertising theory (Duffett 2015d, 2016b, 2017a, 2017b). My research demonstrated that Generation Y and Generation Z used Instagram, Facebook, TikTok, X (formally known as Twitter), and YouTube not only for entertainment but also to search for product information, compare alternatives, follow trends, and engage directly with brands and influencers (Charles & Duffett 2025; Duffett & Charles 2025; Duffett & Maraule 2024; Duffett & Mxunyelwa 2025). My research challenged the notion that digital channels were secondary to traditional media and revealed that social media was important for how young consumers formed hierarchical attitudinal responses (Duffett 2026). This work provided an early foundation for understanding social media marketing communication among young South African consumers, particularly in terms of how they learned about brands, interacted with information, and formed attitudinal responses to marketing communication.

Empirical research on MXit demonstrated that it was an effective marketing communication channel, because young South African users showed positive cognitive and affective predispositions, although these declined in terms of behavioural attitudes (i.e. purchase intention and purchase), which replicates elements of the purchase funnel theory (Duffett 2015c, 2015f, 2016a, 2016b). Similarly, studies on Facebook mainly examined the response hierarchy framework, finding that younger consumers generally showed positive sentiment towards advertising, but that it declined as they transitioned through the purchase funnel from awareness to purchase (Duffett 2015a, 2015b, 2015e, 2017b). Investigations on YouTube advertising showed that it was effective across the response hierarchy framework stages among South African and Romanian Millennial and/or Generation Z consumers, but on a declining scale as one progressed to purchase (Duffett 2020a, 2020b; Duffett, Edu & Negricea 2019; Duffett et al. 2019, 2020). One study found that organic electronic word of mouth had a positive influence on behavioural attitudes (purchase intention and purchase) among Generation Z consumers (Duffett 2022). A research collaboration with India found that X advertising had a positive influence on the purchase intent and attitudes among Indian Millennials (Ghouse, Duffett & Chaudhary 2022). These findings were generally consistent across different social media platforms, demonstrating that attitudes declined from awareness to purchase.

Postgraduate research on Instagram advertising generally found positive associations between entertainment, informativeness, credibility, and irritation on perceived usefulness and perceived ease of use, which also positively influenced purchase intention of South African Millennials (Sephaka 2025; Sephaka & Duffett 2026). An Instagram influencer study revealed positive associations between attractiveness, credibility, expertise, trust, perceived ease of use, and perceived usefulness, as well as purchase intention among Generation Z in South Africa (Duffett & Mxunyelwa 2025; Mxunyelwa 2025; Mxunyelwa & Duffett 2026). Social media marketing communication research among tourists visiting Cape Town’s top tourist attractions showed positive cognitive, affective and behavioural attitudes (Nzeku & Duffett 2021). Research in the real estate sector showed positive financial, performance, psychological, social and time benefits, as well as overall perceived benefits and purchase intention (Church 2026). My research collaboration with Mandhlazi et al. (2026) indicates that customer brand involvement positively influenced awareness of brand sharing behaviour and customer loyalty because of social media marketing among South African banks. Research on emojis in digital marketing communications (including Instagram, WhatsApp, and TikTok) revealed positive trust, involvement, perceived ease of use, perceived usefulness, customer engagement and purchase intention among Generation Z consumers (Duffett & Maraule 2024; Maraule & Duffett 2025; Maraule, Duffett & Edu 2025).

My research shows that social media offers a number of advantages across different organisational contexts, which differentiate it from traditional marketing methods, including reach, customer relationships, brand building and sales growth (Duffett 2025). Social media marketing provided benefits for South African independent food retailer SMEs, including cost-effectiveness, accessibility, reach, customer relationships, brand building and sales growth (Dos Santos & Duffett 2021). Social media marketing among health-related non-profit organisations supported awareness, fundraising, community connection, branding, donor relationships and organisational goals (Duffett & Thomas 2024; Thomas & Duffett 2025a, 2025b). Social media marketing among non-professional rugby clubs supported brand awareness, relationship-building, recruitment, sponsorship, storytelling and communication (Marthinus, Duffett & Knott 2025a, 2025b).

My research found negative irritation attitudes because of Instagram advertising, negative physical and security and/or privacy risk attitudes in digital marketing, and negative privacy, trust, and ad irritation attitudes in online advertising design (Sephaka 2025; Sephaka & Duffett 2026). Small organisations also face barriers such as costs, negative comments, a lack of resources, limited reach, a lack of education and technical skills, funding constraints, time limitations and capacity challenges (Dos Santos & Duffett 2021; Duffett & Thomas 2024; Marthinus et al. 2025a, 2025b; Thomas & Duffett 2025a, 2025b).

Overall, a decade of social media marketing research highlights the growing strategic importance of social media marketing for organisations, consumers and society, while also showing the need for further research into its opportunities and challenges across platforms and contexts.