The Use of Social Media by Small-Medium Sized Enterprises.

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to report on the suitability of Social Media and its purpose in small-medium sized enterprises (SMEs). The objective is to develop an understanding of an owner-managers use of Social Media; the possible roles these tools can perform in marketing and business practices and whether or not the tools needs to tailored, changed or adapted to be used in the SME context. Design/Methodology/Approach – An interpretivist approach relied on the use of inductive qualitative methods. In particular semi-structured interviews were conducted with SME owner-managers from the client list of one case study company. Findings – The project offers an understanding of the reality of the roles and uses of Social Media in SMEs. It provides an analysis into the mitigating factors that can affect the success of a Social Media marketing strategy. Finally, it proposes that ultimately it is the target market and the nature of the SME’s business that determines which applications are used and to what extent. Originality/Value – This paper offers a unique theoretical and practical insight into the use of Social Media in marketing practices by SMEs