SMES AND SOCIAL MEDIA OPPORTUNITIES: AN ORGANIZATIONAL OUTLOOK

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Abstract

Social media usage in SMEs and the impact thereof is viewed as an essential part of modern day organisational operations for SMEs to promote their business both domestically and globally. Social media is interactive and consumer-generated media, new media or citizen media, while conventional media is company generated media which flows in one direction. The research design chosen for this research is descriptive research in conjunction with a quantitative approach. The population will include all SMEs in Gauteng. The sample for the study encompassed of 400 SME owners who currently manage the small businesses in the Gauteng area. The respondents all agree that a large audience can be reached via social media, followed by the ability to create product/service awareness. The conducted research recommends that social media can be cost effective if the SMEs make use of their social networks (professional and personal) and use best practises that enable them to get their adverts or posts shared across social networks. The respondents report a sales, product awareness, consumer support and overall productivity increase. There seems to be an effect of age on the percentage increase in sales, product awareness, consumer support and overall productivity. Although the results show that most SMEs have access to internet only 54.8 % of the respondents use social media to promote their businesses. The research established that that the largest proportion of respondents are new to using social media to create awareness for their products.

Keywords: SMEs, Social Media Opportunities, Create Product Awareness, Social Media

How to cite this paper: van Scheers, L. (2016). SMEs and social media opportunities: An organizational outlook. Corporate Ownership & Control, 13(4-4), 640-648. https://doi.org/10.22495/cocv13i4c4p13