Why and How Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises Use Social Media

Year 2018, Volume: 1 Issue: 1, 1 - 9, 16.07.2018

Veronika Polat Emel Yarımoğlu

Abstract

Nowadays, social media is very important tool for
businesses’ promotional activities. Social media can provide significant
advantages in time, cost, and communication quality for companies. The aim of
this qualitative research was to understand how and why small and medium-sized
enterprises in Aegean region/Turkey use social media. Within this aim, the
study examined the main promotional activities of small and medium-sized
enterprises which operate in Izmir (as an urban part of Aegean Region) and
Kusadasi (as a rural part of Aegean Region). In order to analyze the different
characteristics of small and medium-sized enterprises in rural and urban parts,
one rural and one urban city were selected. Fifteen companies from Kusadasi and
fifteen companies from Izmir were included to the research to understand how
and why they use social media. Maximum variation sampling technique was used in
selecting companies. Data were collected via
structured interview technique by using face-to-face interviews and telephone
interviews. Employees or owners of the
companies were interviewed in December, 2017. Data were recorded, transcribed,
and analyzed via content analysis. Findings showed that the small and medium-sized
enterprises preferred mostly social media for their promotional activities. The
main reasons to prefer social media were that social media is easy,
fast, convenient, and cheap to advertise. The main activities of the small and medium-sized enterprises in social media were
that sharing the photos of the companies’ products and organizing some
activities to reach targeted customers. 

Keywords

Micro-sized enterprises, small-sized enterprises, medium-sized enterprises, social media, promotion tool

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