Use of social media marketing in SMEs: driving factors and impacts

Abstract

This study is aimed at exploring the factors that encourage the use of social media marketing in Café & Resto sector, as well as to find out its benefits. Using a descriptive exploratory research approach, an online survey was conducted at Café & Resto sector in Malang City Indonesia. The samples were selected using convenience sampling technique, the respondents were asked to fill out a Google Form which was sent to their social media addresses. A total of 300 cafes and restaurants have been contacted through their social media accounts, which corresponded to 106 respondents. The results showed that the main factors considered by Café & Resto companies in choosing social media marketing were to introduce products to consumers, as the majority of consumers were social media users, to increase the popularity of businesses, and to share information with consumers. Additional factors are the encouragement of competitors who also use social media, and low cost. The main benefits obtained from the use of social media marketing are increased communication with customers, brand awareness and brand image, new customer acquisition, savings in promotional costs, increased sales, and ability to manage dissatisfaction (customer service and feedback). This study has limitations, the number of respondents involved is limited, further research is needed with a wider sample. In addition, further research can be developed by testing the effectiveness of using each social media channel, because each social media channel has different user characteristics and goals.

Keywords

• social media marketing
• customer communication
• brand awareness