THE EFFECT OF SOCIAL MEDIA AS MARKETING TOOL ON SALES PERFORMANCE OF SMEs IN MALAYSIA

ABSTRACT This study examines the effect of social media marketing on the sales performance of small and medium enterprises (SMEs) in Malaysia. The data were gathered from 308 business owners. The independent variables are brand awareness, engagement, word-of-mouth, content sharing, and conversion, while the dependent variable is sales performance. Cronbach’s alpha was used to assess the reliability of the variables. Correlation and regression analysis were conducted to determine the relationship between the variables. Brand awareness, engagement and word-of-mouth do not affect sales performance, which does not support hypotheses (p > 0.05). On the other hand, content sharing and conversion positively and significantly affect sales performance. The present study has contributed to the existing body of literature by providing insights into the effect of social media marketing on the sales performance of SMEs in Malaysia. This research recommends conducting a subsequent investigation on the obstacles associated with the execution of social media marketing, such as time constraints, limited resources, and lack of expertise