Exploring Social Media Marketing Strategies in SMEs Assignment
Introduction
The internet has affected the way we interact socially. Through social media, people can exchange photos and videos and share news stories and participate in online discussions and post their thoughts on blogs (Dewing, 2010). The concept of social media has grown rapidly throughout the years, and businesses have adopted it to communicate and market to their potential customers. Therefore, this study investigates how social media can be used by restaurant based small, medium, and micro enterprises (SMMEs) and entrepreneurs to market and grow their businesses as well as the economy in South Africa. It is based on previous research studies on Social Media Marketing and SMMEs.
Broadband internet became popular in the late 1990s. Websites allowed users to create and upload content began to appear (OECD, 2007). In 1997, the first social network appeared (SixDegrees.com). From 2002 onward, numerous numbers of social network sites launched, such as MySpace and Friendster. According to Boyd and Ellison (2007), by the late 2000s, social media had gained a large popularity and acceptance and the number of users and engagements had increased. For example, in July 2012, Twitter had estimated several 517 million users (Thomas, 2012) and according to CBC News (2012), Facebook announced it had 1 billion users worldwide, in November 2012.
Dollarhide (2021) describes social media as a computer-based technology that advances the sharing of thoughts, ideas, and information through virtual networks.
Several factors have contributed to the rapid growth of social media such as technological factors (improvement of software tools, development of powerful computers and mobile devices), social factors (uptake of social media by younger age groups), and economic factors (growing interest in social media and increasing affordability of computers) (OECD, 2007) Through this, businesses have also taken an interest in social media by using it as an advertising/ marketing platform.
Research problem statement
Social media plays a vital role in the marketing of an enterprise and creating long-term relationships with customers. Previous reports affirm that social media is used in businesses as a marketing strategy that makes businesses easily reachable to potential customers (Neti, 2011). Small enterprises have started utilizing social media as means to market their enterprise but unfortunately, not all small enterprises. Some companies struggle to use social media and have no strategy going into it (Cox, 2012).
Although social media marketing is a well-researched topic, research has revealed that this research is mainly about large organisations that dominate the business environment. The use of social media by small enterprises is extremely low and knowledge on how to implement social media in business is largely lacking (Rambe et al. 2010). Small businesses do not have full knowledge of the tools for today’s technology, Vasquez and Escamila (2014) state. They are not fully innovative and creative to adopt and implement social media marketing. Though Oji et al. (2017) have proven progress, the usage of social media by restaurant based small businesses in the Western Cape is still limited.
Research aim
This research aims to:
Explore the benefits of social media marketing in restaurant based SMMEs in Cape Town Research objectives
Examine the challenges faced by restaurant based SMMEs in Western Cape in implementing social media marketing Identify the various social media platforms available to restaurant based SMMEs in Western Cape Provide recommendations on how restaurant businesses could use social media as a marketing tool Research Questions
i. Primary research question
How can restaurant based SMMEs benefit from using social media as a marketing tool? ii. Sub-research questions
To what extent do SMMEs in Cape Town make use of social media? What are the challenges faced by restaurant based SMMEs in Cape Town in implementing social media marketing? What social media platforms are most effective when marketing a SMME in Cape Town, South Africa?
