National College of Ireland MSc Entrepreneurship

The Impact of Traditional and Modern Marketing Strategies on the Success of SMEs: An Analysis of Northwest Europe and Sub Saharan African Businesses

by Edozie Kelvin Obed

Submitted to the National College of Ireland, August 2020

ABSTRACT

The world is in a digital trend; innovation and the internet have made the business world a

more competitive environment for businesses of all sizes. Leaders of these businesses are

now devising novel techniques to incorporate in their business design and product

development, as well as marketing strategies intending to improve brand awareness. Due to

these challenging factors, competing in this intense market has become difficult for many

small-medium enterprises (SMEs). Since the emergence of social media, SMEs now have

the opportunity to harness its features by using its platform for business promotion, brand

development and awareness, mass orientation, product support, data collection for insights

and a lot more. Social media platforms like Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, etc have become a

key component in promotion and marketing activities incorporated into customer acquisition

strategies.

New concepts such as co-creation, collaboration, virtual communities, sharing, ideation and

a lot more due to the use of these platforms have opened new ways of doing business for

SMEs. To better understand the impact of social media and startups being able to survey its

first five years, this study was conducted. This study was aimed to understand how SMEs in

Sub-saharan African and Northwest of European regions use social media as part of their

marketing strategies, and how it has contributed to its growth. With the aid of statistics, this

study will evidence the significance of social media usage in SMEs in the investigated

regions. The results of this study show that social media can provide long term support for

the growth of SMEs. SMEs and Entrepreneurs can, therefore, capitalize on the available

features of social media for their business promotion with little or no financial impact.

E.K OBED 2020 2

DECLARATION

I, Edozie Kelvin Obed, declare that this thesis and dissertation project is original and free

from all forms of plagiarism. I confirm that all content in this project derived from external

sources has been cited and credit for existing work has been given to the appropriate

sources. Finally, this dissertation has been formulated in accordance with the requirements

and guidelines of the National College of Ireland.

SIGNED:

_____________________________________________________________________

DATE: AUGUST 19TH 2020

_______________________________________________________________________

E.K OBED 2020 3

SUBMISSION PAGE

Submission of Thesis and Dissertation

Norma Smurfit Library, National College of Ireland

Research Students Declaration Form

(Thesis/Author Declaration Form)

Name: EDOZIE KELVIN OBED

Student Number: X19112459

Degree for which thesis is submitted: MASTERS IN SCIENCE, ENTREPRENEURSHIP

Title of Thesis: The Impact of Traditional and Modern Marketing Strategies on the Success

of SMEs: An Analysis of North West Europe and Sub Saharan African Businesses

Submission Date: 19 AUGUST 2020

Material submitted for award

A. I declare that this work submitted has been composed by myself. ✓

B. I declare that all verbatim extracts contained in the thesis have been distinguished by

quotation marks and the sources of information specifically acknowledged. ✓

C. I agree to my thesis being deposited in the NCI Library online

open access repository NORMA. ✓

D. Either *I declare that no material contained in the thesis has been

used in any other submission for an academic award. Or

* I declare that the following material contained in the thesis form part of a

submission for the award of

______________________________________________________________

(State the award and the awarding body and list the material below) ✓

E.K OBED 2020 4

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

I would like to use this opportunity to express my most sincere appreciation to all of those

who offered their support and invested their time in assisting me with the completion of this

dissertation. Specifically, I would like to thank my thesis supervisor, Dr. Mira Dobutowitsch,

for providing guidance with this dissertation. I want to recognize my MSc. program faculty

and colleagues, as they have challenged me and helped to expand my outlook and

perspective as it relates to global business and entrepreneurship.

I would also like to appreciate my close friends and family who have supported me

throughout this program. As an international student, many of my greatest supporters are

overseas. However, their continuous encouragement has been critical to my success. Lastly,

I want to appreciate and acknowledge each and every small business owner, employee, and

other individuals who participated in this study. Their contributions have been the absolute

cornerstone of this dissertation.

E.K OBED 2020 5

TABLE OF CONTENTS

ABSTRACT 2 DECLARATION 3 SUBMISSION PAGE 4 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS 5

CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION 8 1.1 Introduction 8 1.2 Significance of a Social Media Presence for Small Businesses 9

CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW 11 2.1 Social Media: Strategies Used By SME For Idea Generation 12

2.1.1 Relationship Between Co-creation and social Media in SME 13 2.1.2 Co-Creation: Lead User Phenomenon 14 2.1.3 Co-Creation: Ideation Contest 15 2.1.4 Co-Creation: Toolkits for Customer Co-design 16

2.2 Marketing With Use Of Social Media 16 2.2.1 Social Media For Differentiation From Competitors 16 2.2.2 Business-To- Business (B2B) Marketing in SMEs 17 2.2.3 Social Media Impact on Sales 19 2.2.4 Social Media, Impact on Brand Awareness 19

2.3 Identifying Consumer Trends 21 2.3.1 Leveraging Social Media for Virtual Community Creation, And Understanding Consumer Motives To Join One 21 2.3.2 Product Support 22

2.4 Measuring The Impact Social Media In Firm 23 2.4.1 Social Media Application For Business Intelligence 23 2.4.2 Measuring Return on Investment (ROI) In Adoption of Social Media By SME 24

CHAPTER 3: RESEARCH QUESTIONS 27 3.1 Problem Statement 27 3.2 Purpose Statement 27 3.3 Research Questions 27

CHAPTER 4: RESEARCH METHODOLOGY 29 4.1 Introduction 29 4.2 Research Participants 29

4.2.1 Inclusion Criteria 30 4.2.2 Exclusion Criteria 30 4.2.3 Sampling Method 30

4.3 Research Design 31

E.K OBED 2020 6

4.3.1 Research Approach 31 4.3.2 Research Philosophy 32 4.3.3 Research Survey Procedure & Quantitative Data Analysis 32

4.4 Materials 33 4.5 Research Ethics 34

4.5.1 Data Integrity and Originality 34 4.5.2 Informed Consent 34 4.5.3 Right to Withdraw 35 4.5.4 Information Protection and Confidentiality 35

CHAPTER FIVE: RESULTS AND FINDINGS 36 5.1 Descriptive Analysis 36

5.1.1 Demographics: Gender and Age 36 5.1.2 Business Ownership, Operation & Location 37 5.1.3 Professional Experience 39

5.2 Further Findings Based On Survey Questions 40 5.2.1 Understanding The Growth & Use of Social Media in SMEs 40

CHAPTER SIX: DISCUSSION 44 6.1 Impact of SMEs in Sub-Saharan Africa & Northwest Europe 44 6.2 Adoption of Social Media by SMEs 44 6.3 Social Impact on Brand Awareness 45 6.4 Differentiation | Content Distribution | Return on Investment 46 6.5 Increased Sales 48 6.6 Product Development 48

CHAPTER 7: CONCLUSION 50 7.1 Study Limitations and Recommendations for Future Studies 50

7.1.1 Limitations 50 7.1.2 Recommendation For Future Studies 50

7.2 Conclusion 51 7.2.1 Overall Conclusion 51 7.2.1 Implementation Recommendations for SMEs 52

REFERENCE 55

APPENDICES 64 Appendix I: Survey Questions 64 Appendix II: Participant Consent Form 67

E.K OBED 2020 7

CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION

1.1 Introduction Many countries in Sub-Saharan Africa have experienced growth in the economy during

the last decades. Growth appears to be higher in Sub-Saharan regions than in the

Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) areas, in the past years.

While 10 percent to 20 percent growth reflected in the gross domestic product (GDP) of

Euro-area and US respectively, research shows that Sub-Saharan African had doubled

these percentages in the same given periods (Sveinung, Leo and Chris, 2010). In the current

climate, the role of entrepreneurship plays a significant role in the economic growth and

sustainability of developed regions. Based on a report by Iyigun (2015), statistics shows that

small businesses make up the majority of firms in the western hemisphere. For example,

according to Turner & Endres (2017), small business owners are responsible for 99.9% of

employment firms in the United States. As an urban location/centre, sometimes called

entrepreneurial hotbeds, continue to increase, the presence of small businesses are also

likely to increase (Hans and Koster, 2018). This may cause rates of success for these

businesses to have greater impacts on local economies.

As mentioned above, small businesses are significant contributors in the western

regions merely based on their overwhelming presence. Sub-saharan Africa, small

businesses and Startups play a uniquely important role. According to Chux Gervase (2017),

Sub-saharan is currently experiencing a surge in youth unemployment rates, which could

imply that more sub-Saharan youths are turning to entrepreneurship. Iwu also notes that the

sub-Saharan African region has displayed “relatively impressive total early-stage

entrepreneurial activity, however, southern African regions lack in this area (2017).

According to a report published on the MENON Business Economics by (Sveinung,

Leo and Chris, 2010), shows that there has been a strong shift in growth and persistent

improvement in sub-Saharan countries and its economy due to growth of SMEs, this is as a

result of increased private and public investments put towards fuelling businesses

environment by support to SME activities. Due to these improvements and rise in the size of

SMEs, India and China have gradually become important investors and trading patterns to

businesses present in these given countries. This report also shows that investment made

E.K OBED 2020 8

by the US in SMEs located in the Sub-Saharan region of Africa, for the last 10 years

showed a great return on investment. The report also identified that SMEs play a part in the

substantial growth of Sub-Saharan economics, by playing a pivotal role in the development

of industrial environment and restructuring, satisfying local demands by the provision of

various services, providing input and service support to larger firms which contribute to

specialization. Due to these activities, SMEs have become the fuel running the engine of

long term sustainability and growth in the Sub-Saharan region.

In Sub-Saharan Africa, a significant amount of initial funds for SMEs come from

personal savings of the operators, some formal financial institutions and some other informal

sources, among others which include; corruption, complex entry regulation etc. these posing

as obstacles to the growth of SMEs (Emmaneul, 2015). Consequently, in these

Sub-Saharan countries, a large number of SMEs are not formal enterprises and don't

participate in the formal economy, thereby having access to finance, public sector services

and market opportunities are severely hampered.

Regardless of region, many startup businesses lack longevity and have a short

lifecycle. Based on a startup post-mortem analysis, Erin Griiffith (2014) lists several reasons

why startups fail. Amongst these reasons is a lack of cash flow, ignoring customers, poor

marketing, and being outcompeted. Eric T. Wagner (2013), an entrepreneur and Forbes

contributor, also identifies explanations for the failure rate. Wagner notes these reasons as

the following: lack of deep dialogue with customers; lack of unique value proposition; unclear

and uncompelling communication of market differentiation; failure to accurately market fit

and become profitable; and dysfunctional leadership. These factors mentioned play a vital

role in terms of competition and customer relationships in the business environment, and

therefore must be put into consideration during strategic decision making.

With the high rise of internet usage and the use of social media, it is important to

examine the relationship between the use of social media marketing strategies utilized by

small-medium enterprises and its impact on their business success in the first five years of

operation. This will be measured by positive cash flows, the return of investment (ROI) and

how the outcome of their strategies and how it has impacted revenue growth.

1.2 Significance of a Social Media Presence for Small

Businesses Several studies, such as that conducted by Roberts and Webb (2016), conclude that

social media indeed helps small businesses improve their reputation and increase revenue.

E.K OBED 2020 9

Likewise, Basri and Siam describe social media marketing as the fastest way for businesses

to reach potential customers as the platform has replaced traditional word-of-mouth

marketing (2017). In addition to being a marketing tool used to directly promote available

products and services to consumers, a social media presence acts as a means for small

businesses to collect feedback from customers, track traffic and analytical data from their

online platforms, and actively produce and distribute content to engage existing and potential

customers (Basri & Siam, 2017).

E.K OBED 2020 10

CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW

In the world today, the internet has become a necessary everyday tool for business

functionality(Sonia & Leslie, 2014). Businesses are adopting different online means to

communicate with their stakeholders, customers and business partners, for example, banner

advertising, pushing ads, search advertising and corporate websites. According to

Reiss-Davis (2013), the adoption of internet tools, such as social media, for business

purposes has been on a constant rise, this indicates that there has been a drift from

traditional ways of marketing to digital marketing. In his report, he stated that nearly all

business decision-makers utilize the features of social media in their work-related activities.

According to a report by Forrester, 75 percent of adults in the United States use

social media regularly (Greg, Ngan & Srivatsa, 2015). Social media platforms provide

opportunities that can be leveraged by organizations that utilize its interactive features of

digital networks for smooth communications with their stakeholders and customers

(Cheung-Lee, 2012). It has become an integral part of the technology age and era of

information. The amount of people using social media for their daily activities has been on a

steady incline. This platform has created an avenue for companies to redefine

business-marketing strategies and create an avenue to accelerate sales and brand

awareness. The use of social media has redefined the customer perspective of an

organization and has shown a redirection on how organizations disseminate messages to

their target groups.

Small-medium enterprises (SMEs) and entrepreneurs are using social media as

cost-effective marketing means to bring their businesses to viability, visibility and to remain

sustainable in this current competitive era (Sonia & Leslie, 2014). A problem faced by SMEs

and entrepreneurs globally is the lack of resources for promoting their businesses, the use of

traditional media buys are usually expensive, involving buying of several TV spots and

paying for the development of commercial materials. Furthermore, gathering resources to

fund marketing strategies can be problematic for companies, which may be a contributing

factor to the increase in the use of social media by SMEs. This platform offers a

cost-effective alternative for marketing.

A 2016 study by Webb and Roberts identifies multiple benefits of social media for

small businesses which include but are not limited to business partnership growth, reduction

of marketing expenses, increased sales and elevated brand loyalty. Their study notes that

E.K OBED 2020 11

the definition of a small business is privately or publicly owned companies with less than 500

employees and with sales/assets/net profit totalling below USD 7.5 million annually (Webb &

Roberts, 2016). For the proposed study which will be discussed in great detail further in this

paper, it is also important to define what a Startup business is. Garidis and Rossman define

Startups as temporary organizations that are designed to discover scalable business

models, which lack existing networks and resources (2019).

The introduction of computers in 1981 created a connection of novel people to the

digital world. In subsequent years, 16 million people started via the internet and started

utilizing the web for digital connections (Denholm, 2015). In the mid-1990s, online

companies like eBay and Amazon emerged, ushering in a new trend of product sales via the

use of the internet. From December 1999 to June 2017, the number of internet users

increased from 284 million to about 3.9 billion this is more than a 15 fold increase.

Use of short message system ( SMS ) which was developed by Friedhelm Hillberand

and Bernard Ghillebert in 1984 (Denholm, 2015), was the only source of communication and

marketing used by people of the business world before 21st-century development and

introduction of social media platforms such as Facebook which was launched in 2004,

Twitter and Youtube which were launched 2005 / 2006. Years after this era, since the

introduction of these social platforms, communication and exchange of information has been

easier and faster. This communication creates opportunities for individuals and as well as

businesses to find the right group targets for their products by the use of campaigns and use

of profile information such as age, interest, location and communities to harvest and classify

data for business insights (Serhat, 2017).

In conclusion, the emergence of social media in recent years has played a major role

in the creation of opportunities and as an advertising platform for the promotion of brand

awareness, educating the population on products of businesses and also serving as a

cheaper way of reaching out to customers (customer service). Platforms such as Facebook,

Instagram and Twitter have become strategic marketing tools utilized by many businesses

and also have proven to boon the marketing activities of Startups with limited budgets (Wael

& Mohammed, 2017).

2.1 Social Media: Strategies Used By SME For Idea

Generation

E.K OBED 2020 12

2.1.1 Relationship Between Co-creation and social Media in SME

It is important to note that the success of marketing on social media is listening

instead of talking. This means SMEs or businesses engaging on social media should use it

as a means of interacting with users and collecting feedback. Also, programs that require

data collection, brainstorming, and social networks like Facebook, Twitter has become an

online focus group for Startups. Although word of mouth is described as the best marketing

alternative for SMEs and Startups, this becomes efficient with the use of social media (Wael

& Mohammed, 2017 ).

Co-creation with customers defines an active creation and social collaboration

process between parties (the company/producers and customers), facilitated by the

company and geared towards the development of new services or products (Piller, Vossen &

Ihl, 2012; Piller, 2004; Prahalad & Ramaswamy, 2004). This indicates that businesses are

shifting from manufacturer focused business model to customer focused (customer -

centric) business model (Von-Hippel, 2015). This similar paradigm shift (customer-active

business model) has been noticed in communication and information technological systems

that is, from typical broadcast to social media adoption (Kietzmann et al. 2011). Co-creation

process aided by the adoption of social media by small, large and medium has proven to

improve internal operations, the new collaboration between customers, suppliers and

business partners. The outcomes of co-creation can include things like generation of new

ideas, ideas on how to solve technical problems for complex manufacturing questions or

even solutions to difficulties found in the delivery chain of a firm. Like seen in the case of

Unilever, through its open innovation platform which was launched in 2010, presented

challenging problems to the public, asking for input in production matters which included; oil

oxidation technology, intelligent packaging of products, cooling and freezing systems and

other areas (Fournier, 2020).

When organizations bring stakeholders into their innovation process, co-creation has

been the center of focus, especially for successful companies. Due to the ever-changing

situations and trends in the market today, one of the biggest challenges that businesses face

is the ability to stay relevant and competitive. To stay ahead in the competitive curve, the

company has centred on collaborative innovation by sharing skills, resources and expertise

between them and their customers. This has proven to increase the relationship between

customers and suppliers because the supplier’s process of product development is centred

around the needs of customers (The Telegraph, 2018). In a recent report released by Hitachi

Europe, 58 percent of businesses conducted co-creation programmes as a means of their

innovative strategies. Beyond this, 51 percent which is more than half of the respondents

E.K OBED 2020 13

claimed that co-creation improved their financial performance, 54 percent said it helped

improve their social impact, 61 percent claimed that co-creation played a major role in the

success of new products and services, while 57 percent said it helped in organizational

transformation and innovative approach. This survey was conducted to determine the

importance of co-creative adoption in an organization. (Hitachi Europe, 2016).

2.1.2 Co-Creation: Lead User Phenomenon

Social media adoption by SME may also play a role in lead user phenomenon which

is a strategy found in the co-creation environment. Lead users can be said to be advanced

users, pioneers or inventors who deal with specific problems in the market which appear to

have not yet to be solved. This concept of Lead user is denoted as a method of accessing

the need and solution information in the phase of concept generation of an innovative

project. Due to informal gains and easier feedback from others, this will enhance

collaboration among autonomous lead users, like the use of Youtube videos to demonstrate

the application of prototypes, lead users can improve and minimize errors during the process

of building a product. Also, adoption of social media in SME, lead users can utilize their

resources to achieve more innovative outcomes by finding like-minded users who may have

complementary information that is required to solve a particular innovative problem (Piller,

Vossen & Ihl, 2012). Unlike before where firms had to spend time and funds for research like

“investigative journalism”, businesses now easily search and find lead users with desired

characteristics with the aid of professional social media networks like LinkedIn or Blogs and

therefore reduce the cost of production (Churchill et al., 2009).

Research has proven that many commercially important products, processes or

services are initial ideas of innovative users (lead users) rather than ideas of manufacturers.

This is because, due to the fast-paced market, Lead users develop specific needs ahead of

the general market participants, therefore, giving businesses a glance of the future demand

curve of the market (von Hippel 1988, 2005 and Piller, Vossen & Ihl, 2012). Examples of

these characteristics can be seen in the case of mountain bikes which were developed by

dissatisfied cyclists that were unhappy with the existing bike offered in the market and wasn't

suitable for mountains and forest. With no sign of such development in the market, they

experimented with materials they could get such as; tyres, suspensions and frame until the

birth of the present-day mountain bike (Hengsberger, 2018). Also, the utilization of social

media can affect a business negatively, as lead users can easily take on marketing and

distribution, and becoming more entrepreneurial by skipping co-creation activities with

E.K OBED 2020 14

certain companies and some cases, lower the market entry barrier by selling their ideas to a

professional firm ( Piller et al., 2012; Harhoff et al., 2003 and Lettl/Gemunden, 2005).

2.1.3 Co-Creation: Ideation Contest

Adoption of social media has also aided firms in ideation contests which is also a

method of co-creation but this is geared towards idea generation and not for technical

solutions. The purpose of this approach is mainly to generate ideas and novel approaches

towards solving a defined problem (Piller & Walcher 2006; Ebner et al. 2009; Bullinger et al.

2010; Piller et al., 2012). To obtain innovation-related information, businesses that use social

media typically post content aimed towards a given customer demographic. This sometimes

includes requests for feedback about solutions about certain tasks, normally in a given

period. This is normally accompanied by a reward for the best idea generated by a

participant. This act of rewarding the user is important in the early stages of the innovation

process because through the availability of new products within a given short time,

customers are unlikely to directly benefit from their contributions. This method achieved by

the utilization of social media has acted as an explicit competitive strategy to foster

customers’ innovation and also encourage and better customer interaction with a company

which then favours brand awareness and loyalty (Piller et al., 2012).

As seen, over 120,000 participants around the world voluntarily signed up to be

members of Boeing’s World Design Team and contributed design ideas towards the new

787 Dreamliner airplane (www.newairplane.com ) (Hanekop & Wittke, 2011). This strategy

can increase business-customer relationship and firms benefit hugely from these, because

customers motivated by monetary rewards or involvement in the actual development of the

idea, they become more creative and give their comments on the ideas of other customers

and as well as their ideas (Fuchs & Schreier, 2011), this is process is normally best achieved

by social media usage.

Social media can also be beneficial for the relationship between customers and

companies since motivation by customers can be fostered by the recognition of the firm

(Piller et al., 2012). Lastly, utilization of social media like Facebook groups geared towards a

specific event can have effects on customers, adding positive value to SME in terms of

higher product demand (Fuchs et al., 2010) and increase in customers' attachment to the

company’s brand (Fuchs & Schreier, 2011).

E.K OBED 2020 15

2.1.4 Co-Creation: Toolkits for Customer Co-design

The adoption of social media by SME aids in toolkits for customer co-design, which is

a method in the co-creative process. The primary goal of toolkits for customer co-design is

entered on accessing useful information in a more effective manner, which has proven to be

more efficient than traditional means of idea generation. This co-creative approach method

is also aimed at stimulating interactions between large numbers of customers, and most

times with less involvement of lead users (Piller et al.,2012). This enables customers to

transform their recurring needs into concrete solutions and depending on the underlying

solution space, toolkits can be of (1) user innovation and (2) user co-creation and

customization (Franke & Schreier, 2002). Toolkits for user innovation, here product design

parameters are boundless. Users combine manufacturer’s standard modules and their

concepts to create a possible product for themselves while toolkit for user co-creation and

customization are used for the individualization of products rather than the development of

new goods and services. This has its limits as the creation can be held in check by

predefined building blocks of the product (Piller et 2012).

While toolkits are widely implemented in the commercial market, they are relatively

expensive to develop and most times customers’ interaction with toolkits is traditionally

related to social-exchange and never with monetary relationships. Participating in the

co-design process may be considered by individuals engaged in the task, as a process that

is highly creative and problem-solving (Franke/Piller 2004; Ihl et al. 2006; Franke/Schreier

2010; Merle et al. 2010). Customer co-design can be enhanced by the introduction of social

media and also the elimination of barriers is likely to occur. Social media can be used as a

medium to share user’s designs among peers and to generate immediate feedback. Finally,

networking on social media can allow peers integration into the actual co-design process,

provision of guidance, instant feedback and reduction of high-cost investment by the

company in the process of supporting customers in co-design toolkits (Piller et al., 2012).

2.2 Marketing With Use Of Social Media

2.2.1 Social Media For Differentiation From Competitors

Differentiation is often a strategy that businesses adopt intending to distinguish their

products and services, from other products in that category, offered by competitors in that

industry. This differentiation is defined by the development of this product and services, its

E.K OBED 2020 16

unique value to customers, features, quality, or customer service (Fung, 2014). When a firm

pursues differentiation, it attempts to become exclusively unique in the industry, investigating

and adding values to the products or services rendered to the public.

Identifying patterns and developing a social media strategy to achieve a competitive

sustainable advantage in the market, could be considered one of the most crucial activities

for SMEs. This strategy would help SMEs penetrate the market, interact with consumers,

enabling consumers to be able to differentiate the business from other businesses in the

industry (Fung, 2014). Social media is not only helping SMEs reach their customers, but it

also helps to link the business to other businesses, leading to expansion and better profile in

a given geographic community or region (Spors, 2008). Social media usage can also help

SMEs in strategic positioning in the minds of the customers because they will seem more

approachable, beating up the interactive confidence of potential customers. Social media

can help SMEs achieve competitive advantage by providing better customer value while

focusing on price concepts (Fungs, 2014). Through the activities of SMEs on social media,

new customers can find interest in the company brand just because they love the content

updates of the firm.

2.2.2 Business-To- Business (B2B) Marketing in SMEs

Result marketing is a different approach from traditional marketing in the sense that it

is more relational rather than a transactional engagement. The traditional method of

marketing focuses on making more sales but SMEs and other bigger firms have

incorporated the new method which is focused on ways to create a better overall brand

experience which is aimed at attracting more customers and retaining existing ones (Khan,

Jan & Adnan, 2019). Rather than focus on gaining market share relationships by striving for

repurchase and encouraging cross-selling of products which are often the aim of traditional

marketing, the main focus is the creation of lasting bonds with customers that creates

mutual values to the company (Gummerus et. al, 2017). This shift to personal approach of

marketing has been driven by the increased demands of customers and users of the internet

to want to know more about the brand they are attracted to, their offers and firmness of

whether the brand cares for them or not. This can be referred to as “Relationship Values'',

which is a customer’s judgement regarding the increased utility of all tangible and intangible

benefits they get during relating with a service provider (Khan, Jan & Adnan, 2019).

Results of many research studies have shown that relationship marketing is relatively

crucial in the B2B market (Ustuner & Godes, 2006 and Bjorkman & Kock, 1995). The

E.K OBED 2020 17

majority of this research emphasizes the importance of this relationship especially for SMEs

(e.g. McCarthy, Pitt, Campell, van der Merwe, & Salehi-Sangeri, 2007 and Pitt, van der

Merwe, Berthon, Salehi-Sangari, & Caruana, 2006). Using the social network theory, Copp

& Ivy (2001) analyzed the positive impact of social networks on small tourism businesses

when he concluded that it helped them in the competition with larger corporations. Using this

same social network theory, McCarthy et al. (2007) and Pitt et al. (2006) exposed various

entrepreneurial opportunities in the biotechnical sector with the aid of business networks.

Understanding the importance of the relationship market is important as it helps cultivate

deeper and meaningful relationships with customers to ensure brand loyalty and long-term

satisfaction (Forsey, 2019).

With the use of the internet and social media, B2B organizations can leverage the

benefits of associated networking in an online environment. This, of course, can be achieved

when members of these networks exchange information, provide solutions from different

locations and increase the chance of building relationships with different business partners

(Greg, Ngan, & Srivatsa, 2015; Brennan & Croft, 2012 and Lea, Wu, Maguluru, & Nichols,

2006 ). There is a major shift in communications in B2B markets due to organizational

customers’ gain of product or market information from varieties of media sources like

websites, online word of mouth and search engine; this has caused the need for companies

to focus learning and facilitation of consumer communication consumption (Greg, Ngan, &

Srivatsa, 2015).

According to Michaelidou et al. (2011), B2B firms still hold with loose hands the need

to leverage social media for business purposes; this is because of the challenging nature of

new technology and nuances of effective measures. Tuten & Solomon (2013) suggested a

wide range of how SMEs can solve this problem using social media and also gave options

such as; development of new product ideas, brand promotion, driving store traffic, converting

consumers and management of customer relationships.

Greg, Ngan, & Srivatsa (2015) revealed that developing effective marketing content

and constant updates on social media helped B2B small businesses get higher ranking to

their websites, thereby boosting referrals from consumers and firms alike. This brings about

positive growth in market shares and an increase in revenue. The result of this study implies

that quality content is key when it comes to increasing diffusion and effectiveness of social

media usage in SMEs.

E.K OBED 2020 18

2.2.3 Social Media Impact on Sales

There is no sure-fire way of creating strong sales at business, so many strategies are

utilized by businesses to grow their customer base and in turn, generate sales. Generating

sales depends on so many factors such as the kind of business, the location and the

industry. Porter’s Five Forces which is a simple but powerful tool for understanding the

competitiveness of a business environment or industry and factors that can impede

profitability, entrepreneurs of SMEs, startups can strategically adjust their business

paradigm accordingly (Michaux, Cadiat & Probert, 2015).

It is important for SMEs and startups to choose their strategy specific to the nature of

their business, to save cost while increasing sales and market share. Many SMEs opt for

social media platforms to increase revenue and sales. Appropriate social media marketing,

well-established brand awareness programs using social media legitimizes a brand and

generates sales. SMEs can write content linked to their product sales with the help of

promotional advertisements, geared towards their targeted audience. Social media networks

are composed of diverse audiences with multiple interests, diverse cultures and

demography, enabling SMEs and startups to easily pass their message to their desired

segment (Wael & Mohammed, 2017).

2.2.4 Social Media, Impact on Brand Awareness

Due to the fast and ever-changing trend in the modern market and swift change in

customers’ purchasing habits, businesses are devising novel concepts, marketing strategies,

and business development adoption intending to enhance brand awareness among their

targeted population.

Businesses around the world have utilized social networks as tools for their business

to company operations: Not only has this been popular among big companies, but SMEs

and startups have utilized this medium to economize their marketing and sales budgets.

According to Apenteng and Doe (2014), 80 percent of small businesses are investing on

social media to create a presence for their company, this result derived from a survey

conducted on LinkedIn. And according to the Forbes list, 50 CEOs which amounted to 84%

(42) said their buying decisions are dependent on social media platforms like Facebook,

Twitter. Adjusting to these statistics, entrepreneurs of SMEs and startups have for long

strategically aligned their social media usage with their company culture and portraying the

values of their products and services (Wael & Mohammed, 2017 ). As of the year 2008,

there has been a doubled increment in the number of small businesses using social media,

E.K OBED 2020 19

as their leaders forge to create an identity, awareness for their brand (Sonia & Leslie, 2014).

According to research by MerchantCircle, the conclusion of this research showed that small

businesses use platforms such as; Facebook (70.3%), Bing (33.2%), Myspace (19.2%),

Twitter (39.8%) and LinkedIn (58.2%) to promote their business.

One of the reasons why SMEs utilize social media platforms is to create awareness

for their brands, introduce their brand to potential customers, and later create content that

will steer up engagement between the customers and the company. This can be a strategic

method of knowing the customers better and gathering data on their needs, which would act

vital in the course of brand or products/services development (Wael & Mohammed, 2017). A

brand tends to attract large social networks if it contends, spreads and eventually goes viral.

In research conducted by Schawbel (2016), 75 percent of American buyers depend on social

media when it comes to gathering information about a particular product before making a

purchase. Another research by Fuchs (2017) showed that nearly one-third of customers

when asked how they discovered a particular brand, product or service, cited social media

networks as a source. The conclusion of both pieces of research depicted that social media

was responsible for the attraction of a new database of customers for nearly three-fourths of

SMEs and Startups. Concerning these pieces of research, a company website can only

suggest but when a business invests and builds up social media presence, this will establish

that their brand is active. Social media signals have grown to become an important set in

search engine optimization, there is no doubt that the strategy of approach to social media

determines a make or takedown of a brand.

Social media is a low-cost option for an SME to grow awareness of their product and

services in the market (Kiron et al., 2013), serves as the easiest platform for connecting a

larger network of audience. According to Hetz et al. (2015), social media promotes social

capital, which is described as a network of relationships among people. Social media is

generally classified as important to all businesses because it eases communication between

firms and customers; however, it is more important to SMEs because they lack the

resources to invest in their brand awareness program (Barnes et al., 2012 and Levy et al.,

2003). It is, therefore, becoming important for SMEs to highlight their brands using these

social media platforms.

In conclusion, Business cannot succeed unless customers know the products and

services of that business, this is a common fact within the business world and especially

among entrepreneurs, for this, they may have to spend heavily on advertising investment.

This has led to failure in appropriate accountability in terms of capacity and funds put

towards brand promotion, which eventually leads to failure of the business (Wael &

E.K OBED 2020 20

Mohammed, 2017 and Chan, 2016 ). The cheap and best option for startups and SME when

it comes to limited budgets is word-of-mouth (Dugan, 2016) but due to the rise of the

internet, word-of-mouth has gained a significant position through the use of social media and

startups, SMEs can within seconds reach millions of customers. This has proven to be an

optional marketing and efficient strategy employed by most businesses. (Wael &

Mohammed, 2017).

2.3 Identifying Consumer Trends

2.3.1 Leveraging Social Media for Virtual Community Creation, And

Understanding Consumer Motives To Join One

Virtual communities are a form of a social community of people with similar ideas,

feelings and interests, these communities are normally formed over the internet or other

collaborative networks. The term was possibly invented by Howard Rheingold, who created

“The Well”, which is one of the first major internet communities. In his book, he defined

virtual communities as social aggregations that are enough people on the internet, carry on

long public discussions with sufficient human feeling, forming a web of personal relationships

in cyberspace (Rouse, 2006 and Rheingold, 1993).

Businesses have the misconception of assuming that they need to create virtual

communities just for leveraging access to customers and data generated. A key element that

assists in the consolidation and creation of virtual communities is to understand the reasons

why potential participants would join in the virtual communities (Goldsmith-Horowitz, 2006).

In the act of understanding the reasons, it is worth taking notes that consumers react

differently to marketing contents in digital and social contexts (Piskorski, 2011). This is

motivated by the need to understand why SMEs need to understand the reasons why a user

would explore a virtual community that was supported by de Valck et al. (2009). They

suggested three key elements be researched; investigating the reasons why users will join

and contribute to online communities, nature of brand communities and how this will affect

consumer behaviour and lastly, how they can use online interactions between consumers to

generate leads for marketing strategy.

Virtual communities, another strategy used in social media, can be leveraged for

advertising and building brand loyalty. Using social media, SMEs can create a virtual

community and use it as a medium for marketing. However, marketing in virtual

E.K OBED 2020 21

communities still seems experimental, as different communities require different kinds of

approaches. Spaulding (2010) identified categories of virtual communities and how SMEs

should handle them. In interest-oriented communities, loyalty can be built when SMEs listen

to the community and post contents that are vivid, useful and reasonably objective. He also

identified another category, which he suggested could be used as a marketing and support

tool. Interest-oriented support community, customers here are likely to be recurring if their

experience was enjoyable. He went further to suggest that SMEs need to show efforts to

every comment either by post, real-world action or both and also respond earnestly to

negative comments or criticism.

By identifying the reasons for joining a social media network such as Facebook,

SMEs can key to those factors that act as a trigger and use those triggers as a solid base

upon which their virtual communities will be built on (Eva et al., 2016). Davis et al. (2014)

identified core drivers why consumers join social media communities; emotional, functional,

relational, social and self-oriented. He went further to explain to each driver, emotional

motivation to interact with a brand can be of the need for easing personal problems, feeling

recognized and satisfaction of curiosity. The social motivation he related to as needed to

socialize with other peers, members and community. Functional motivation relates to the

need for information, access to answers, reach of special offers and evaluation of services.

Relational motives as the need to interact with a brand and establish a connecting personal

relation with the company and lastly, self-oriented refers to the need for self-branding and

self-realization. Understanding these identified factors, SMEs take advantage of establishing

a low cost but efficient virtual community on social media, featuring a specific value for its

targeted population.

2.3.2 Product Support

As early stated, SMEs can with the aid of social media set up virtual communities,

leverage its activities for marketing and interaction with consumers, adding value while

saving cost in maintenance. Virtual communities can add value to businesses from many

angles, one of these is product support. Product support is a range of services provided by a

vendor to its customers; this service may differ depending on products. Examples may

include planning assistance, installation, user training, troubleshooting, maintenance,

upgrade etc. (Lele & Karmarkar, 2014); these services can cost SMEs money and time.

Involving a community in product support can help reduce cost, save time, speed and

loyalty benefits. In a community new users of a company product can self-support

E.K OBED 2020 22

themselves from the archive materials provided by customers, this relieves the business of

some burden of providing traditional support to new users. This can also act as a medium for

customers to connect with other customers who have experienced the same problems and

likely receive some sympathy (Spaulding, 2010). An example of this can be seen in

(https://stackoverflow.com), a community for programmers, with how-to-do archives of

real-world programming problems. Instead of having a chat with vendors of programming

language, this site is the first to go option for all computer programmers.

It is also important to note the implications of involving the community in product

support. Users are likely to express negative feelings towards a company and its product if

the company is unable to provide a specialist who is capable of solving their problems, this

will put the company on the verge of losing that consumer and many potential consumers.

This can normally rise when product support communities are unable to take care of

themselves; they turn to depend on the company entirely. Secondly, for the success of

involving communities in product support, the consumer base should be made up of people

with references and skills. These consumer bases need to be comfortable seeking answers

with the use of the internet, if the reverse is the case, consumers will turn to direct contact

with the company causing loss of value for the investment made on the community

(Spaulding, 2010).

2.4 Measuring The Impact Social Media In Firm

2.4.1 Social Media Application For Business Intelligence

Entrepreneurs of SMEs are beginning to understand the efficiency of social media

and striving to utilize its full potential, to realize their goals. The introduction of different social

media is on the rise and daily, attracts billions of users of all age groups. Due to the

increased usage of mobile phones, social media has been a large housing source of data for

entrepreneurs of SMEs and startups, According to statistics, at least 3.5 billion people out of

7.7 billion in the world are active internet users, this number makes up to one-in-three users

of social media in the world and more than two-thirds of all internet users. The drastic and

vast adoption and development of new technologies are changing the daily patterns seen in

the business world, from the access of information from across the globe to finding business

partners, all facilitated by the use of social media (Ortiz-Ospina, 2019).

E.K OBED 2020 23

In the business world, Business Intelligence is a housing power of the subject social

media analytics with a focus on the methods and technologies that can be leveraged in

transformation or cleaning up unstructured data harvested from social media to meaningful

information for business use. While Business Intelligence (BI) involves the various

techniques incorporated in the process of data analysis (Balan & Rege, 2017; Cebotarean et

al., 2017; and Stieglitz et al., 2014).

Data analytics provides critical support in the decision making of every business.

Understanding of data can generate insights, helping organizations save increased values

while saving cost, this can be achieved by the application of social media analytics geared

towards the user sentiment of a company and its products/services (Balan & Rege, 2017 &

Fischer et al., 2011). With the use of business intelligence tools, SMEs can predict the future

outcomes of its product or services based on historical data. As stated by Huff (2015)

business intelligence allows companies to save time by investing their resources towards

more profitable opportunities. With the help of these tools, SMEs can harvest data, study

and focus on the market segment of customers who have the most interaction with their

products and also monitor their pattern of interaction and interest, to get into these

interactions and attract other customers.

Examples on how SMEs use business intelligence (BI) tools to harvest data on social

media can be seen in research conducted by Balan & Rege (2017), authors using IBM

Watson Analytics observed the pattern of social media usage on Twitter posts that are

related to small businesses. This research was conducted using “hashtag small business",

and with the use of BI tools (IBM Watson Analytics), information containing authors, age,

location, time were collected and analyzed. Balan & Rege after analyzing data collected

concluded that small businesses are turning to social media as part of their marketing tools.

2.4.2 Measuring Return on Investment (ROI) In Adoption of Social Media

By SME

Many studies have been conducted which relate to the main purpose of this research

proposal. Although the relevant research and academic publications that have been

reviewed do not provide direct and explicit answers to the posed research questions, they

provide important insight and offer perspectives that can be applied to the current research

design method. social media might offer a high ROI because the initial investment is lower

than traditional marketing strategies. Before trying to identify how this measure can be

attained, one must understand the term “Return On Investment”.

E.K OBED 2020 24

Returns on investment (ROI), commonly used by businesses to determine or

evaluate the value of an investment made, or compare the efficiency of various investments.

Incorporation of this tool is important as businesses can use it as a tool of rudiment to gauge

the profitability of an investment and strategically decide if an action to withdraw or commit is

needed. Often denoted and calculated by benefit divided by cost (ROI = Benefit / Cost), this

is relatively easy thereby making its application easy to use and interpret (IP, Gober and

Rostykus, 2016). Leveraging on this tool, businesses can easily identify which investment

has a high net positive ROI and will determine if it's worthwhile and also forecast

opportunities with higher ROI. Also, businesses place timestamps such as time, months and

years on site of consideration during investment, as this element poses to be a limiting factor

associated with ROI when left unconsidered (Chen, 2020).

Most SME(s) and entrepreneurs often try to utilize the use of ROI in their businesses

by looking at the proven capacity of social media in terms of content distribution - which they

measure by looking at the audience reached, the geographic coverage of their content and

the different channels it took, lead generation, customer acquisition and brand popularity,

communication with the community and a lot more. Though these factors may be considered

when looking at ROI in social media, several attempts have been made to ascertain the

return on investment on social media platforms, some of the results show that only a few

startups can exploit the benefits of social media to its full capacity (Wael & Mohammed,

2017).

A study by Alhaimer (2019) explored the relationship between small-medium

enterprises (SMEs) that adopted social media and return on investments (ROI). This study

was able to shed light on a key issue that exists when analyzing social media and objective

impact. This issue is that due to the qualitative nature of the bulk of data associated with

social media, the impact on which social media has on monetary returns / ROI is not

possible to calculate (Alhaimer, 2019). The conclusion drawn by the author was that due to a

lack of measurement standards when it comes to social media, no link exists between social

media exposure and profits. Though measuring ROI in social media usage has no specified

parameters, Alhaimer suggested a model to effectively measure the ROI of social media

which involved three phases; planning impact, implementing tools based on defined goals

and expected outcomes, and evaluating short and long term benefits.

The author also suggests that social media has effectively transformed how SMEs

operate, therefore, the planning and execution related to social media investments should be

considered a priority for organizations (Alhaimer, 2019). Overall, based on a review of the

literature, a consensus can be made that in general, startup businesses are in great

E.K OBED 2020 25

jeopardy of opening and closing their doors within its first few years of operations (Endres &

Turner, 2017) and those small businesses are greatly impacted by a social media presence

(Webb & Roberts, 2016).

E.K OBED 2020 26

CHAPTER 3: RESEARCH QUESTIONS

3.1 Problem Statement

The reason this paper aims to examine the relationship between small business

Startups specifically in their first five years of operation is that current statistics show that by

the five-year point in the life of a small business, fifty percent of these new small businesses

fail (Endres & Turner, 2017). Based on a Startup post-mortem analysis, Erin Griiffith (2014)

lists several reasons why startups fail. Amongst these reasons is a lack of cash flow,

ignoring customers, poor marketing, and being outcompeted. Eric T. Wagner, an

entrepreneur and Forbes contributor, also identifies explanations for the failure rate (2013).

Wagner notes these reasons as the following: lack of deep dialogue with customers; lack of

unique value proposition; unclear and uncompelling communication of market differentiation;

failure to accurately market fit and become profitable; and dysfunctional leadership.

Additionally, there is insufficient empirical information available, which studies how a social

media presence impacts small businesses in African regions.

3.2 Purpose Statement

The studies discussed in this paper lack a focus on the two key factors mentioned

above concurrently, that being region specification and differentiation, and the five-year

operational timeline. Through the review of academic studies, this paper also will aim to

discover the true correlations between the success of small business startups and the use of

social media for strategic marketing. The findings of this study may be used by small

business startups to develop sustainability strategies that align with their region of operation

and the unique demographics of their target consumers.

3.3 Research Questions

E.K OBED 2020 27

The research proposed will draw upon the findings of the study below that is to be

conducted to answer the following research questions (RQ):

RQi: Is there a relationship between Startup businesses that fail within five years of

operation and their social media presence?

RQii: Are traditional methods of marketing more effective than social media marketing?

RQiii: Are marketing methods comparable across regions?

E.K OBED 2020 28

CHAPTER 4: RESEARCH METHODOLOGY

4.1 Introduction

The purpose of this section is to thoroughly discuss the research methods which

were used in this study. A variety of carefully selected methods have been chosen to

investigate the proposed research problems with the specific purpose of providing a reliable

body of research. This methodology will dive into the research design, discuss philosophy,

procedures, and ethics utilized in this study. It will also provide an overview of the research

participants selected for this study as well as the rationale for the selection. Furthermore,

data analysis methods will be discussed to explain why the selected approaches fit this

research design. Study limitations and anticipated issues will be highlighted, as well as its

impact or lack thereof on the overall results.

4.2 Research Participants

This study focuses on the success and/or failure of small businesses in its early

years, the effectiveness of marketing strategies and cross-regional comparisons,

participants. The non-probabilistic sampling approach known as convenience sampling was

used in this study. According to a 2016 An Bras Dematol study, convenience sampling is a

sampling approach whereby participants are randomly selected according to their

accessibility (Martinez-Mesa, 2016). Unlike studies emphasized in the An Bras Dematol

publication, this research is dissimilar to a clinical trial that uses comparable treatment and

control groups. Rather, this study is meant to analyze the behaviours of business

professionals and their effects.

A non-random selection of participants was obtained based on the considerations of

inclusion and exclusion criteria identified by the author. These criteria will be discussed in

greater detail further in this chapter. In addition to the metric of age and professional

designation, other core characteristics for the identification of participant selection were

identified and used when participants were chosen for this study. In summary, the key

E.K OBED 2020 29

variables included in this study were; geographic location, active engagement of social

media marketing, professional designation, and experience.

4.2.1 Inclusion Criteria

When selecting participants for this study, certain characteristics of prospective

subjects were identified (Yale University, 2020). This set of inclusion criteria is mandatory for

participants to meet to be selected for this study. They fall into the five categories of key

variables discussed above. (1) Participants must have businesses or work for businesses

located in Northern European nations or Sub-saharan African nations; (2) must be adults

between the ages of 18 and 65; (3) must have active professional positions either as small

business executives or small businesses owners; (4) and they must have a firm

understanding of their businesses precious and current marketing strategies.

4.2.2 Exclusion Criteria

Although certain potential selections may meet the characteristics included in the

inclusion criteria, when participants are deemed to have characteristics that render them to

interfere with the results of the study or to increase the risk of unfavourable outcomes, the

selection is avoided. These are known as the exclusion criteria for study participants. When

it is believed that potential selections are likely to be lost to follow-up, don't fulfil data

collection agreements, may not provide accurate data, or present with biases that may

influence the results of the study, they are excluded from the study (Patino & Ferreira, 2018).

The exclusion criteria applied to this study are (1) refusal to provide informed consent; (2)

express a lack of time that limits their ability to complete questionnaires; (3) individuals who

do not currently work for or own a small business; (4) has an obvious bias against specific

marketing techniques.

4.2.3 Sampling Method

The method of selection of participant samples is strategic but relatively

non-complex. Participants in this study were strategically selected to provide validity to the

research findings and to directly support the investigation of the research questions. The

survey was distributed to potential participants via email, public online professional forums,

and social media outlets with a specific target of individuals who are likely to meet the

study’s criterion. The initial plan of seeking participants was to distribute the surveys to

marketing professionals at selected SMEs in Ireland, UK, Ghana and Nigeria, both in person

and electronically. This proved to be difficult due to the sudden and unprecedented nature of

E.K OBED 2020 30

the global pandemic. The method of widespread survey distribution with highlighted inclusion

and exclusion criteria at its forefront was selected as the most effective method of obtaining

feedback. For this reason, it is difficult to measure the response rate percentage achieved.

The aim was to achieve a response rate of at least 100 participants within a 6-week

timeframe. A total of 104 responses were collected and analyzed for this study.

4.3 Research Design

4.3.1 Research Approach

This research design aims to minimize bias, reflect theoretical expectations, is

feasible, lacks redundancy and focuses on the settings of the study (Akhtar, 2016). This

design is the blueprint and glue of the research. Akhtar also outlines the phases of the

research designing process as framing, planning, collecting, analyzing and preparing a

report. Coincidently, this closely aligns with the research onion platform (Saunders et al,

2009), seen in Figure 1. This section will focus on the four following key areas; philosophy,

research procedure, data analysis, research materials, and ethics.

E.K OBED 2020 31

Figure 1.1 The research onion. (Source: Saunders et al, 2009)

4.3.2 Research Philosophy

When looking at research to answer specific questions such as those posed in this

study, the philosophical underpinnings can easily be either disregarded or undermined. It is

important to know that philosophy is a very important aspect of the research methodology

and design. This system of beliefs and assumptions surrounding the development of

knowledge underpins the methodological choice by prompting a reflective process

(Saunders et al, 2009).

The specific philosophy that has been selected and believed to best suit this study is

the philosophy of critical realism. The philosophy of critical realism, originated by Roy

Bhaskar in the late 20th century, strives to be aware of ways that socio-cultural experiences

may influence research and seeks to minimize biases (Saunders et al, 2009). Given that this

research examines the relationships and comparisons or contrasts of small businesses in

two distinct socio-economic cultural backgrounds, the critical realism philosophy fits well with

this study. Therefore, the methodological framework will be built on a foundation of

understanding the data by examining assumptions and data analyses through the lenses of

causal structure, actual observed and unobserved data, and empirical data collected in this

process.

4.3.3 Research Survey Procedure & Quantitative Data Analysis

A mono-method quantitative approach has been elected as the methodological

choice. This research is conducted using the single data collection method of a survey. In

contrast to a qualitative data analysis approach, the quantitative approach aims to describe,

explain and predict, studies isolated causal effects, aims to understand a single objective

reality, and utilizes a top-down approach that tests the hypothesis against the data (Apuke,

2017). Survey research is a type of quantitative research that uses scientific sampling

through a questionnaire that measures specific characteristics and aims to provide

information to answer the research questions. The web survey design afforded advantages

such as a lower cost through a reduction of materials, higher response rates, greater sample

size, reduced time for survey implementation, and an extended reach to global populations.

It is important to also outline the potential limitations of this form of data collection.

According to (Clement, 2020), 86.5% of households have internet access at home while only

17.8% of African households do. When comparing the northern European nation of Ireland

E.K OBED 2020 32

to the Subsaharan African nation of Nigeria, the median percentage of households with

internet access at home in 2016 is 82.16% and 8.48% respectively (The World Bank, 2020).

Therefore, although the growth rate of household internet id Nigeria is nearly triple that of

Ireland, the disparities between the two regions are significant. As it relates to the

methodological approach, however, this did not impact the response rate.

Since a quantitative research approach is used in this study, methods for measuring

the stability, representative and equivalence reliability have been implemented to ensure that

data and results are credible, reliable and confirmable (Symeou & Lamprianou, 2008). The

methods which were attempted to be used were test-retest reliability and internal

consistency reliability. Because of the relatively small sample size, these methods were

implemented with minimal effort. These methods did not fit well into this study due to the

anonymous nature of the participant selection. In theory, it would have been ideal to adopt

these, however, when an initial retest was attempted, only half of the participants submitted

responses. Of the retested participants, validity was not possible to be determined.

4.4 Materials

An anonymous, self-administered electronic survey (see appendix 1) has been used

as the main data collection material in this study. This supports the selected research

design, method and philosophical approach. This survey consists of 46 questions and is

completed by participants in under twenty minutes on average. It was designed by first

identifying key indicators related to the success/failure of SMEs, business marketing

strategies, geographic and other relevant demographic information, and professional roles

and/ or designation. Once these indicators were identified, existing literature was used as a

foundation to develop specific questions to pose to participants. The final steps of the survey

design were to eliminate questions that would not provide relevant information as it relates to

the aim of the research questions and to eliminate any questions which threatened the

integrity of survey anonymity. The survey was then tested by a small group of individuals;

ten volunteers who would be excluded from the final survey. The purpose of this was to

gauge the survey completion time, test participant comprehension, test the result analysis

methods, and identify minor issues such as question repetition and grammar.

All data from this study were stored using a secured and encrypted web cloud

storage platform. This platform was effective for securely storing data per privacy and

E.K OBED 2020 33

confidentiality agreements, as well as providing effective and efficient access to information

for analysis purposes (Owens, 2002).

4.5 Research Ethics

When conducting research, ethics plays an important role. There are many purposes

of ethics. Some of these are to protect the participants, assure trust, minimize harm, and

promote the integrity of the research. This study adopts the deontological ethical approaches

which suggest that the evaluation of moral behaviour considerations supersede the ends

produced by the actions and behaviours of individuals (Israel & hays, 2006). Four key areas

of ethical considerations will be discussed in these sections. These are data integrity and

originality; informed consent; right to withdraw, and information protection and confidentiality.

4.5.1 Data Integrity and Originality

In the academic world, plagiarism is viewed as one of the greatest ethical violations

(Jameson, 1993). The duplication of data is a breach of moral values, a disregard of the

efforts of researchers and content creators, as well as a great disservice to the validity of the

study at hand. For this reason, all content obtained from external sources used to support

this study are referenced and cited most appropriately, following guidelines of the American

Psychological Association (American Psychological Association, 2020) style of source

documentation.

4.5.2 Informed Consent

According to Dunn and Jeste (2001), the importance of informed consent cannot be

overemphasized. As it stands, there is no guaranteed method of measuring the

understanding of research participants. However, an approach for ensuring that participants

are provided with the relevant information to understand the purpose of research, appreciate

potential consequences and recognize their rights are used in this research. This approach

involves three components; full information, voluntary participation and capacity in decision

making (Dunn & Jeste, 2001). Participants contributed to this study by electronically

completing the research study survey. Clear and detailed instructions were provided to

participants, including the purpose of the study, confidentiality statements, and an

E.K OBED 2020 34

acknowledgement of consent. Participants were informed that by completing and submitting

the survey, consent to use their survey results would be given.

4.5.3 Right to Withdraw

In addition to ensuring that informed consent was given by all participants in this

study, honouring the right of participants to withdraw from the study is emphasized. The right

to withdraw without penalty is one of the key components of ethics in the research of human

participants (Schaefer & Wertheimer, 2011). Because this is a right, there is nothing stopping

participants from refraining from such. Therefore, this study aims to seek self-motivated

participants and maintain transparent communication at all levels to encourage participation.

This was done by including a withdrawal statement in the survey instructions. Participants

were informed that they may abort their survey at any time before submission. Due to the

nature of the data collection method and the anonymity of participants, withdrawal post

submission was not a feasible option in this study.

4.5.4 Information Protection and Confidentiality

Per ethical practice standards, clear and transparent communication of the data

collection and storage process was provided to participants. In addition to the consent form

which is required by all participants, the survey cover page further highlights this information.

Specifically, participants are informed that all data was encrypted and stored on a

password-protected private cloud with singular access by the researcher. To best support

the anonymity of participants, this study was designed using a single interaction approach

using a web survey (Sage Publications, 2018).

E.K OBED 2020 35

CHAPTER FIVE: RESULTS AND FINDINGS

5.1 Descriptive Analysis

5.1.1 Demographics: Gender and Age

The key statistics of the sample data collected from the online survey conducted as

shown in (Figure 2.1) demonstrates that a total of 104 participants partook in the survey,

statistics showed that 49.5% were male (n=51), 37.9% were females (n=39), while 13.5%

were not stated (n=14). The age range of participants was distributed from 20 to above 65,

with age 25 - 34 (35.6%) being the largest age category that participated in the survey.

Figure 2.1: Results Gender and Age distribution to the questions

Based on the selection criteria, the age brackets 25 - 65 will be used for analysis, this

is because this age falls within the college graduates and working-class age group as

demonstrated by research conducted by Nonpartisan Education (2016). Though there is no

set age for retirements as this differs based on contracts and forms of employment, the

general mandatory age for retires is 65 in both investigated regions; Sub-saharan Africa and

NorthWest Europe (Citizensinformation.ie, 2019 & Williams 2019).

E.K OBED 2020 36

5.1.2 Business Ownership, Operation & Location

The key statistics of the sample data collected from the online survey conducted as

shown in (Figure 2.2) demonstrated that 79 respondents claimed they were working

professionals while 24% claimed to own a business. These working professionals of 4% (n=

5) worked in a business with operation years less than 1 year, 17.5% (n=18) worked in a

business with operation years between 1-2 years, 29.1% (n=30) worked in a business with

operation years between 3-5 years and 49.5% (n=51) worked in a business with operation

years above 5 years. Generally, this data classified these businesses into, 3.9% (n=4) were

outside investigated regions, 47.1% (n=48) were Northwest Europe and 49.0% (n=50) were

located in Sub-Saharan Africa.

Figure 2.2: Business ownership, geographic location of business and years of operation

E.K OBED 2020 37

The geographic and years of business distribution of respondents as shown in

(Figure 2.2), showed strict participation of individuals from both studied regions. This at the

same time emphasizes the participation of professionals working for firms that fall under the

category of SMEs and also entrepreneurs (OECD, 2005 & Eurostat, 2018). The researcher

found the descriptive statistics resulting from general data collected from the survey, is

deemed usable for concluding the use and impact of social media in Northwest Europe and

Sub-Saharan Africa.

The geographic and years of business distribution of respondents as shown in

(Figure 2.2), showed strict participation of individuals from both studied regions. This at the

same time emphasizes the participation of professionals working for firms that fall under the

category of SMEs and also entrepreneurs (OECD, 2005 & Eurostat, 2018). The researcher

found the descriptive statistics resulting from general data collected from the survey, is

deemed usable for concluding the use and impact of social media in Northwest Europe and

Sub-Saharan Africa.

Figure 2.3: Size of SMEs in Sub-Saharan Africa and Northwest Europe

According to business classification by (OECD, 2005 & Eurostat, 2018), this data

presented in (Figure 2.4) shows that respondents all owned or worked in businesses that fall

under the classification of SME. It can be seen that SMEs in these investigated regions have

employees of above twenty, with only 26 participants working in a firm with less than 10

employees.

E.K OBED 2020 38

5.1.3 Professional Experience

Table 1: Classification of non-business owner by position in company

Category Participants None Business Owner

Professional Position Category

Senior Executive / Management 24

Non Executive / Management 56

Total 79

By Geographic Location Participants / Career Field

Sub-Saharan Africa 16 / Marketing

Northwest Europe 18 / Marketing

45 / Not Related

Total 79

Table 1 shows further analysis of respondents who are professionals and working for

a company. From the data collected from the survey, 24 participants occupied senior

executives, while 56 were non-executive. This means that 24 participants occupied a

position, which involved the management of day-to-day tasks of their companies while 56 of

the participants occupied positions that aided the daily running of tasks of their organization.

Based on the selection criteria, the researcher categorized these participants based on their

field of work. As shown, 16 of these participants worked in the marketing department of a

company located in Sub-Saharan Africa, 18 participants in the marketing department of a

company located in the NorthWest region of Europe while 45 of these individuals worked in

other departments of companies located in both regions.

E.K OBED 2020 39

Table 2: Classification of participants based on desired criteria.

Categories Participants

Business Owners 24

Marketing Professionals 34

Total 58

To satisfy the purpose of the survey conducted, the researcher from a total number

of participants as shown in (Figure 2.1), 58 participants were selected. This selection was

done based on geographic location, professional category and career. As shown in (Figure

2.2), 24 of the participants owned a business and located within the investigated regions

while 34 of participants which are composed of executives and non-executives worked in the

marketing department of their company and located in both regions of investigation, this

making up a total of 58 participants that met the selection criteria.

5.2 Further Findings Based On Survey Questions

5.2.1 Understanding The Growth & Use of Social Media in SMEs Survey Question: What social media platform(s) are mostly used in SMEs? The result of the survey showed that SMEs used social media platforms such as Twitter,

LinkedIn, Instagram and Facebook taking a higher percentage of general values generated

from the response, for the promotion of their businesses. These social platforms are

providing means for SMEs in Sub-Saharan Africa / Northwest Europe to build faster

connections, relationships with potential and target groups. To better present, these results,

look at Table 3 above. It is therefore important for SMEs to showcase their brands on these

platforms and secure a strategic position in the online world.

E.K OBED 2020 40

Table 3: Most used social media platform by SMEs in Sub-Saharan Africa & NorthWest

Europe

Number of Participants Social Media Platform

92 % of respondents Facebook

67% of respondents Twitter

64 of respondents LinkedIn

59% of respondents Company Website

55% of respondents Instagram

41% of respondents Whatsapp

28% of respondents Youtube

Survey Question: How much cost and time do you invest on your social media?

As discussed in the literature review, SMEs are a remedy for SMEs with low budgets

as operating one can involve the use of little or no money. This section as shown in (Figure

2.5) shows that SMEs in both regions of investigation invest little of their budget on social

media but rather, they invested on time. This suggests that the use of social media does not

require significant monetary investments, but rather time investment. 45% of the

respondents posted more than one time on social media per day (often), 27% of

respondents posited five times per week (sometimes) with some participants posting one to

three times per week (rarely). Concerning how much budget was spent on social media, it

can be concluded that a large number of participants invested less than 20% of the entire

company budget on social media.

E.K OBED 2020 41

Figure 2.4: How SMEs in Sub-Saharan Africa & Northwest Europe invest into their social

media platform.

Survey Question: How has social media contributed to brand awareness?

A relatively high percentage of the respondents agreed to the fact that social media

aided in brand awareness. In the literature review section, the importance of online presence

and how it influences brands of SMEs was largely discussed, based on the collected data,

insights have been gained on how the use of social media has positively affected SMEs in

the Sub-Saharan region of Africa and the Northwest of Europe. This question was asked by

researchers to understand how online presence influences SMEs and as well as their

customers. From the data presented in (Figure 2.5), it can be collected that social media not

only helped in brand awareness, it also helped SMEs reach customers outside their

geographic regions, without the need to travel to these regions to make their brands known.

E.K OBED 2020 42

Figure 2.5: How social media has influenced brand in SMEs located in Sub-Saharan Africa

& NorthWest Europe

E.K OBED 2020 43

CHAPTER SIX: DISCUSSION

This research aimed to investigate the relationship between social media marketing

strategies used by SME and the success of startups within the first five years of operation.

The present study was conducted to understand how SMEs in both areas of study use social

media and the impact it has made or contributed towards the success of the business. This

discussion will be based on some key questions asked in the conducted survey, as this will

help understand the impact of social media usage based on years of operation.

6.1 Impact of SMEs in Sub-Saharan Africa & Northwest Europe

A report from the study conducted shows that there is an increase of SMEs in

Sub-Saharan Africa and Northwest Europe. Employees ranging from age 25 - 50,

demonstrates that SMEs are huge contributors to the economic growth of both studied

regions. SMEs are the powerhouse of every economy because they create more jobs for

and employment opportunities for professionals. This job creation plays an important part in

the contribution to the economic growth of both Sub-Saharan Africa and the Northwest part

of Europe, this supports the report conducted by (Sveinung, Le A, Chris, 2010). Due to the

growth seen in both regions, these SMEs play as a restructuring of industry and the supplier

of local needs and also aids in supporting larger firms by providing specialized needs (Chux

Gervase (2017).

This conclusion regarding the growth of SME in both regions was gathered from the

result (shown in Figure 2.3) of the question “What is the size of your company (Number of

employees)?“. SMEs can be referred to as the backbone of the European Economy and can

be characterized as having less than 250 persons employed with an annual turnover of up to

50 Million or balance sheet of 43 Million Euro, though this number may differ by countries

and region. (OECD, 2005 & Eurostat, 2018).

6.2 Adoption of Social Media by SMEs

E.K OBED 2020 44

Since the current era is an age of information, and businesses are battling for a

competitive advantage over its competitors, the number of small businesses using social

media is on a constant rise by the year. Most entrepreneurs including business leaders

understand the need for incorporating social media into its competitive strategies as it

provides opportunities for engaging current and potential customers, and to accelerate sales,

awareness, ease of communication with customers and also for educating masses on use of

the product (Sonia & Leslie, 2014). The report generated from this study showed an increase

in the use of social media platforms for marketing, customer service and data mining

purposes among others in the SME sector in both studied regions. A large portion of

participants started using social media within a few years of starting their business. Despite

difficulties to determine which social media platform is best to meet organizational

objectives, this study showed that the majority of businesses positioned themselves in the

online world either through their corporate website or through social media platforms. For

these SMEs, social media has brought many opportunities for them as well as their customer

base, by the use of specialized campaigns they could target customers of a specific profile

and interest (Serhat, 2017).

The result shown in Table 3, showed that SMEs used social media platforms such as

Twitter, LinkedIn, Instagram and Facebook taking a higher percentage of general values

generated from the response, for the promotion of their businesses. These social platforms

are providing means for SMEs in Sub-Saharan Africa / Northwest Europe to build faster

connections, relationships with potential and target groups. These results were obtained

from the questions “How long has your company or business been in operation & How long

has your company been using social media for its business activities?”. It is therefore

important for SMEs to showcase their brands on these platforms and secure a strategic

position in the online world.

6.3 Social Impact on Brand Awareness

One of the important reasons behind the use of social media platforms by SMEs is to

help contribute towards brand awareness. Social media platforms have provided SMEs with

an excellent medium for the introduction of their brand to potential customers, as these

platforms give opportunities for content sharing between customers and friends, also

communication between company and customers. According to the results obtained from the

study as shown in Figure 2.5 and also seen in research conducted by Shawbel (2014), it

E.K OBED 2020 45

can be deduced that social media was responsible for attracting new customers in nearly all

of the SMEs.

Research conducted by Forbes (2016), indicated that nearly two-thirds of customers

who searched for a local business went ahead in contacting those who had their information

available on social media. Further research by Wael & Mohammed (2017) suggested that a

company website only indicates that a is in existence but customers believe in the

activeness of the brand only if it has a social media presence. Report from this study (shown

in Figure 2.4) shows that a relatively high percentage of respondents that meant the

selection criteria posted contents often on social media, this suggests that SMEs in both

investigated regions understands the need for constant updates on social media, a strategy

to keep the customers engaged. Fuchs (2017), though one-third of customers cite social

media as the means of discovery of most products, brands or services, it can also be bad for

SMEs who are dormant as they can lose new customers who are getting to know the brand.

Questions relating to brand awareness, geographic location of customers before and

after the introduction of social media, were repeatedly asked across several sections during

this study. This was to better understand how many times SMEs in both regions use social

media per week for business activities and to also compare and contrast the result. Results

showed that relatively 46% of selected samples posted often on social media platforms

(often more than once a day), showed more positive results in terms of location of their

customers before and after the introduction of social media. This can be a determining factor

that SMEs should consider before setting a strategy for their social media activities.

6.4 Differentiation | Content Distribution | Return on Investment

Developing and identifying a social media strategy to achieve a competitive and

sustainable advantage over competitors pose to be an important part of the strategic

activities of SMEs in the following investigated regions. With the rapid growth of social media

usage by businesses, reports show that SMEs in Sub-saharan and Northwest regions

understand the need to devise a paradigm with a good strategy in place for their social

media activities. In the current digital world, social media plays a role in helping SMEs better

understand their customers' needs and from insights drawn, incorporate and improve the

quality of their products or services (Shilpa & Janhavi, 2017). The studies conducted by

Forbes (2016) show that social media platforms are an effective form of digital marketing

strategy utilized by not only SMEs but also large firms, for customer acquisition and

E.K OBED 2020 46

retention. This study revealed (see Figure 2.3) that social media plays a role in attracting

new customers and also can be used as a differentiation strategy against competition and

also brand differentiation.

Research reports by Fuchs (2017) revealed that more than 50 percent spend most of

their time online browsing through content and 30 percent of their time on social media

platforms reading shareable content. Results from this study show that a large percentage of

the selected population indicated that social media was the main source of content

distribution. This is to indicate that SMEs in both investigated regions understand the trend

and prefer social media content marketing as a strategic means to increase their customer

base and customer engagement. This study also exposed the potential communication niche

available on social media platforms to SMEs, for reach to potential consumers through

loosely related business activity. These findings also indicate that SMEs take content

marketing as an alternative strategy targeted at meeting consumers' needs through

communication, not based on its core business activities. So, therefore, SMEs need to be

able to create captivating content that will be unique and motivate others to share the

contents and thus advertise their brand in the course.

Although social media has proven to produce positive impacts on how businesses

are seen, brand popularity, content distribution, lead generation, community interaction and

customer acquisition, the study shows that relatively few of the selected samples in the

investigated region invested 20% of its budget towards social media. SMEs have lower

budgets and lesser influence and this can put a dent on the full utilization of social media

features in their business, however, only a few SMEs can fully utilize the full capacity

embedded in social media.

Several attempts to measure the ROI on the use of social media platforms for

business activities and generation of revenue, 46% of which are marketers failed to pinpoint

how social media aided in revenue generation in their businesses. 13% of the entire study

was able to measure how social media contributed to the revenue of their business. These

SMEs were quantitatively selected and it was found that social media activities were directly

linked with their target sales (Wael & Mohammed, 2017), this study, however, showed that

76.4% of selected samples indicated that social media contributed to revenue generation in

their irrespective SMEs and this was measured using analytical tools provided by the social

media platforms. These SMEs were associated with web analytics tools such Sprout Social,

Awario, Tapinfluence, Buzzsumo, Snaplytics, Curalate, Keyhole, Shortstack, Shieldapp and

Google Analytics having 78.7% of the entire population.

E.K OBED 2020 47

6.5 Increased Sales

One of the reasons SMEs opt for social media platforms is to boost sales and

generate revenue. Good understanding of social media marketing strategies and

well-positioned brands, brand awareness directly influences the performance of a brand and

automatically helps in sales increase (Wael & Mohammed, 2017). The report from the

survey conducted shows that the advent of social media usage in SMEs of investigated

regions has increased the businesses interpersonally connection between customer 2

customers and company 2 customers, and potentially increasing spread of information

relating to product or service beyond the targeted group and across the geographical

location of the business, therefore causing increased visibility, sustainability and viability.

Although creativity is needed when creating online promotional content for a product

or service, this content should be able to captivate customers and steer purchases. Social

media is composed of individuals of different ethnicity, interest, culture and demographics,

enabling marketers to have ranges of groups to select from. A report from the study shows

that social media possess the ability to target specific audiences with ease, these results

were derived from the survey statement question “Social media aided in the ease of reach to

target group” (Appendix I). This question was asked to understand how marketers find group

targeting on social media. Data showed that about 76.1% of the selected sample indicated

that market segmentation was relatively easy and effective on social media.

The use of social media has made it relatively easy for SMEs to sell their products

and services. These SMEs have online shops on Instagram, Facebook which are linked to

the corporate websites. Also, these social media platforms provide an alternative to SMEs

for the display of their products especially for those who have no E-commerce website.

Because of constant growth in the use of social media for sales of products, many big

retailers like Amazon allow Facebook, Twitter to align their company sites with Amazon cart.

Not only that, but other social media platforms like Youtube also allow SMEs to integrate

their Youtube account into their corporate websites with the use of API (Wael & Mohammed,

2017).

6.6 Product Development

Involving consumers in the course of product development plays an important role in

the phases of product development. This is because products developed with consumers

E.K OBED 2020 48

directly involved helps businesses understand the needs of consumers and design products

that will meet these needs. This process is known as Prosumerism (Spaulding, 2010).

Reports from this study showed that social media key strategy utilized by SMEs in the

course of product development, with 50.5% of participants confirming that the use of social

media was used to connect with customers for ideas regarding their products and services.

Involving consumers in product development not only helps with gaining insights on

consumer’s needs, but it's also helped SMEs save costs by avoiding trial by error process.

SMEs in both studied regions showed a large interest in the use of online communities which

are used for gathering customer’s thoughts on their current products or services but also

used as a form of competitive strategy. They created communities to engage their customers

and keep them actively involved in business activities. This business strategy can be related

to an “interest-oriented community”. According to (Porter & Donthu, 2008) Interest-oriented

communities are consumers who are members of who want to be an insider of their

company of interest. Businesses post their product ideas and ask feedback from their

consumers. Understanding and use of this strategy by SMEs in both studied regions are

crucial as it is a key contributor to the successful release of new products and services.

In addition, production of designs that meet consumer’s needs drives customers

interaction with a brand, strengthens business to customer relationship with increased

mutual benefits, promotes brand loyalty and awareness and also contributes to marketing as

customers tend to share a product of interest to family and friends who can be potential

customers (Spaulding, 2010).

E.K OBED 2020 49

CHAPTER 7: CONCLUSION

7.1 Study Limitations and Recommendations for Future Studies

7.1.1 Limitations

During this study, key limitations were identified. Based on these limitations,

some recommendations for future studies have been defined. These limitations and

recommendations are as follows;

One: This study was significantly limited by the fact that participants in this

research consisted of a mix of managers, executives, and employees that did not

necessarily have direct involvement in marketing strategy

development/implementation. This limits the quality of information obtained as many

participants have to be excluded as they did not provide reliable information about

the impact of marketing strategies.

Two: This study also utilized a singular data collection method; survey. By

having this form of investigation as the sole method, data analysis became difficult as

the survey questions posed to participants were limited in their responses.

Furthermore, the survey data collection method proved that understanding and

interpretation of questions was proven to be a concern, thus leading to unconscious

responses.

7.1.2 Recommendation For Future Studies

For future research, the investigation should involve both SMEs and

customers of SMEs. This is important to compare and contrast how customers

interact with these SMEs. Also, it is advised that while conducting online surveys for

further studies, integers or single strings should be used because it will help with the

application of statistical methods.

This study focused closely on marketing strategy, however, did not place

enough emphasis on studying the relationship between strategy and success and

E.K OBED 2020 50

failure of startup companies in their infancy. It is recommended that in future studies,

greater emphasis is placed on examining factors that relate to business lifecycles

and factors that contribute to the length of the said lifecycle.

Multiple methods of data collection should be used to extract more

information from participants. These additional methods should include a broader

investigation of factors that relate more closely to the research questions and

proposition statements.

7.2 Conclusion

7.2.1 Overall Conclusion

SMEs in the early stage of development, must understand its markets and

have a goal. To achieve these goals, one must understand the need for planning and

the values of strategy. Preparing a detailed strategy and constant updates on the

strategy to fit current trends help the SMEs to focus on business activities which

involve providing products and services. The fight for minds of customers which is

termed “competitive advantage” as indicated by Porter (2004), several strategies

have emerged in the world, all developed to establish brands in the mind of

customers.

This study was performed to examine the relationship between social media

marketing strategies used by small business start-ups and the success of startup

businesses in the first five years of operations. Specifically, this study aims to answer

the following questions:

RQi: Is there a relationship between start-up businesses that fail within five

years of operation and their social media presence?

RQii: Are traditional methods of marketing more effective than social media

marketing?

RQiii: Are marketing methods comparable across regions?

Based on these research questions, four proposition statements were developed.

The proposition statements were developed and used as a platform for the

investigations of this research. These statements are as follows:

E.K OBED 2020 51

1. Successful active businesses in the Northern European region utilize social

media marketing strategies.

2. Traditional marketing strategies are more prevalent in the business practices

of successful businesses in the Sub-Saharan African region.

3. Social media marketing strategies are generally more effective than traditional

marketing strategies.

4. A positive correlation exists between start-up businesses that primarily use

social media marketing and start-up businesses that succeed beyond 5 years

of operation.

It can be concluded through the detailed analysis of the results of this study,

that marketing strategies with a great focus on social media are effective in both

studied regions. The majority of SMEs across regions use a plethora of social media

platforms to promote their brands, increase brand awareness, and build or

strengthen relationships with their patients. This study also birthed some less

conclusive results. The relationships between SMEs' use of social media marketing

and ROI, brand differentiation and competitive advantages/ disadvantages, and the

impact of social media marketing strategies concerning frequency and intensity of the

marketing approach is less conclusive.

While there are stark differences between the cultures and business customs

and practices between the two regions studied, the effects of marketing approaches

on business growth and sustainability remain universal. This study was not

conducted in a way that effectively investigated the relationship between marketing

approaches and business success in the early years. However, the findings of this

study can be used as a guide for SMEs both within their initial 5 years of operation

and those operating for longer.

7.2.2 Implementation Recommendations for SMEs

It is recommended that businesses adopt some form of social media marketing

strategy and use this as their primary marketing approach. Furthermore, the early

adoption of social media marketing may serve some form of benefit to businesses.

E.K OBED 2020 52

As discussed in an earlier chapter, many SMEs that use this form of marketing

approach, nearly half of these businesses do not have clear strategies for assessing

their effectiveness. Therefore, another implementation recommendation is for

businesses to invest in data analytics, analysis, and strategic development plans

whenever investments are made into social media marketing. The reason being that

in general, identifying the direct effects of social media marketing on ROI is difficult.

Developing a direct plan to investigate these effects will aid SMEs in improving their

marketing strategies to become more effective and positively contribute to its

longevity.

E.K OBED 2020 53

REFERENCE

Apenteng, S. A., Doe, N. P. (2014), “Social Media & Business Growth: Why

Small/Medium-Scale Enterprises in the Developing World Should take an

Advantage of it”, Journal of Business and Management, Vol. 16 No. 5, pp. 76-80.

Apuke, O. (2017). Quantitative Research Methods: A Synopsis Approach. Arabian Journal of

Business and Management Review (Kuwait Chapter).. 6. 40-47. 10.12816/0040336.

Anurag. (2020). What is Tableau, its uses and applications. Retrieved fom

https://www.newgenapps.com/blog/what-is-tableau-its-uses-and-applications/[Access

ed on August 2020]

American Psychological Association. (2020). Style and grammar guidelines. APA Style.

Retrieved from https://apastyle.apa.org/style-grammar-guidelines[Accessed on

August 2020]

Akhtar, I. (2016). Research Design. Research in Social Science: Interdisciplinary

Perspectives.

Balan, S., & Rege, J. (2017). Mining for Social Media: Usage Patterns of Small Businesses.

Business Systems Research Journal, 8(1), 43-50. doi:10.1515/bsrj-2017-0004

Barnes, D., Clear, F., Dyerson, R., Harindranath, G., Harris, L., Rae, A. (2012), “Web 2.0

and micro-businesses: an exploratory investigation”, Journal of Small Business

and Enterprise Development, Vol. 19 No. 4, pp. 687-711.

Bullinger, A.C./Neyer, A.K./Rass, M./Moeslein, K.M. (2010): Community-Based Innovation

Contests: Where Competition Meets Cooperation, in: Creativity and Innovation

Management, Vol.19, No. 3, S. 290-303.

Buettner, R. (2016), “Getting a Job via Career-oriented Social Networking Sites: The

Weakness of Ties”, 49th Hawaii International Conference on System Sciences

(HICSS-49), January 5-8, 2016, Kauai, Hawaii.

Brock, T. (2008). Social Networking for Business Profit. Agency Sales Magazine, 38(8), 44.

Brennan, R. & Croft, R. (2012). The use of social media in B2B marketing and branding: An

exploratory study. Journal of Customer Behaviour, 11(2), 101-115.

Bjorkman, I. & Kock, S. (1995). Social relationships and business networks: The case of

western companies in China. International Business Review, 4(4), 519-535.

E.K OBED 2020 54

Chan, Nathan (2016) 15 Tips to Grow a Social-Media Audience for Your Startup Social

Media : Founder Magazine Retrieved on (Retrieved July 02, 2020)

Cheung, C. M. K.–Lee, M. K. O. (2012). What drives consumers to

spread electronic word of mouth in online consumer-opinion

platforms. 4## 53(1), 218–225.

Citizensinformation.ie. (2019). Retirement Age. Retrieved from

https://www.citizensinformation.ie/en/employment/retirement/older_people_and_work

ing/retirement_age_in_ireland.html [Accessed on August 2020]

Christian Fuchs (2017). Social Media: A Critical Introduction. 2nd Edition. SAGE. Vincent

Mosco, Queen's University, Ontario.

Churchill, J./von Hippel, E./Sonnack, M. (2009): Lead User Project Handbook. A practical

guide for lead user project teams, http://web.mit.edu/evhippel/www/tutorials.htm,

Zugriff: 14.12.2011.

Cebotarean, E., Titu, M. (2017), “Business Intelligence”, Journal of Knowledge

Management, Economics and Information Technology, pp. 1-12.

Chen, J. (2020). Return on Investment (ROI). Retrieved from

https://www.investopedia.com/terms/r/returnoninvestment.asp [Accessed July 2020]

Clement, J. (2020). Percentage of households with internet access worldwide in 2019, by

region. Retrieved from

https://www.statista.com/statistics/249830/households-with-internet-access-worldwid

e-by-region/[Accessed August 2020]

Copp, C.B. & Ivy, R.I. (2001). Networking trends of small tourism businesses in post-socialist

Slovakia. Journal of Small Business Management, 39(4), 345-353.

Davis, R.–Piven, I.–Breazeale, M. (2014). Conceptualizing the brand

in the social media community: The five sources model. 7(+! 21(4), 468–481.

de Valck, K., van Bruggen, G. H., Wierenga, B. (2009). Virtual communities: A marketing

perspective. 4## 47(3),185–203.

Denholm, N. (2015). Why Isn't The Inventor Of SMS Better Known? Retrieved from

https://techcrunch.com/2015/07/22/why-isnt-the-inventor-of-sms-better-known/?gucc

ounter=1[Accessed July, 2020]

Dugan, Lauren (2016). 4 Social Media Marketing Strategies for Startups Simply Measured

Blog. Retrieved

E.K OBED 2020 55

From:https://www.socialmediatoday.com/news/8-top-social-media-experts-weigh-in-o

n-real-time-marketing/452970/ [Accessed July, 2020].

Dunn, L.B., Jeste, D. V. (2001). Enhancing Informed Consent for Research and Treatment.

American College of Neuropsychopharmacology Volume 24 - Number 6.

Ebner, W./Leimeister, J.M./Krcmar, H. (2009): Community Engineering for Innovations – The

Ideas Competition as a method to nurture a Virtual Community for Innovations, in:

R&D Management, Vol. 39, No. 4, S. 342-356.

Emmanuel, O. (2015). Enhancing Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) in Africa through

Service Oriented Software Engineering (SOSE). International Conference on African

Development Issues (CU-ICADI) 2015: Information and Communication Technology

Track

Eurostat (2016). Your key to European statistics.Retrieved from:

https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/web/structural-business-statistics/structural-business-st

atistics/sme [Accessed on August 2020]

Eva, M.J., Tamas, C., & Mirko, G. (2016). Small Businesses and Their Social Media

Audiences - What Inspires Consumers to Like A Page of A Small Catering

Establishment. JEL codes: M37, M31

Franke, N./Schreier, M. (2010): Why customers value self-designed products: The

importance of

process effort and enjoyment, in: Journal of Product Innovation Management, Vol.

27, No. 4, S. 1020-1031.

Franke, N./Piller, F.T. (2004): Toolkits for user innovation and design: An exploration of user

interaction and value creation, in: Journal of Product Innovation Management, Vol.

21, No. 6, S. 401-415.

Fournier, A. (2020). 10 Awesome Co-Creation Examples (#7 will blow your mind). Retrieved

from https://www.braineet.com/blog/co-creation-examples/[Accessed July, 2020]

Franke, N./Schreier, M. (2002): Entrepreneurial opportunities with toolkits for user innovation

and

design, in: International Journal on Media Management, Vol. 4, No. 4, S. 225-234.

Fischer, E., Reuber, A. R. (2011). Social interaction via new social media: (How)

can interactions on Twitter affect effectual thinking and behavior?”, Journal of

Business Venturing, Vol. 26 No. 1, pp. 1-18.

E.K OBED 2020 56

Forsey, C. (2019). The Ultimate Guide to Relationship Marketing. Retrieved from

https://blog.hubspot.com/marketing/relationship-marketing [Accessed June, 2020]

Forbes, (2016) How Social Media Is A Blessing For Startup Businesses, Digital Marketing for

Career & Business Growth.

Fuchs, C./Schreier, M./Prandelli, E. (2010): The Psychological Effects of Empowerment

Strategies on Consumers’ Product Demand, in: Journal of Marketing, Vol. 74, No. 1,

S. 65-79.

Fung, H. P. (2014). The Relationships Among Porter Five Forces, Generic Strategies, Ansoff

Growth Strategies & Strategy Methods in an IT Industry A Conceptual Paper. SSRN

Electronic Journal. doi:10.2139/ssrn.2540078

Fuchs, C./Schreier, M. (2011): Customer Empowerment in New Product Development, in:

Journal

of Product Innovation Management, Vol. 28, No. 1, S. 17-32.

Greg, B., Ngan, N., C., & Srivatsa, S. (2015). Social Media Practices Among Small

Business-to-Business Enterprises. Small Business Institute® Journal Small

Business Institute® 2015, Vol. 11, No. 1, 37 - 48

Goundar, S. (2012). Chapter 3 - Research Methodology and Research Method.

Gummerus, J., von Koskull, C., & Kowalkowski, C. (2017). Guest editorial: relationship

marketing –

past, present and future. Journal of Services Marketing, 31(1), 1–5.

Hanekop, H., & Wittke, V. (2011). New Forms of Collaborative Innovation and Production on

the Internet. Universitätsverlag Göttingen.

Heller Baird, C., & Parasnis, G. (2011). From social media to social customer relationship

management. Strategy & Leadership, 39(5), 30-37

Hetz, P. R., Dawson, C. L., Cullen, T. A. (2015), “Social Media Use and the Fear of

Missing out While Studying Abroad”, Journal of Research on Technology in

Education, Vol. 47 No. 4, pp. 259-272.

Hengsberger, A. (2018). What distinguishes LEAD User from customers? Retrieved July

from

https://www.lead-innovation.com/english-blog/what-distinguishes-lead-user-from-cust

omers[Accessed July, 2020]

E.K OBED 2020 57

Hitachi Europe. (2016). Co-creating The Future. Retrieved from:

https://www.hitachi.eu/sites/default/files/fields/document/sib/whitepapers/cocreatingth

efuture-web-updated_17_oct.pdf [Accessed August, 2020]

Harhoff, D./Henkel, J./von Hippel, E. (2003): Profiting from voluntary information spillovers:

Howusers benefit by freely revealing their innovations, in: Research policy, Vol. 32,

No. 10, S. 1753-1769.

Huff, A. (2015), “TMW Systems shows fleets how to make time with business

intelligence”, Commercial Carrier Journal, Vol. 172 No. 10, pp. 41-42.

Ihl, C./Müller, M./Piller, F./Reichwald, R. (2006): Kundenzufriedenheit bei Mass

Customization:Eine empirische Untersuchung zur Bedeutung des

Co-Design-Prozess aus Kundensicht, in:Die Unternehmung, Vol. 59, No. 3, S.

165-184.

Israel, M., & Hay, I. (2006). Research ethics for social scientists. London, : SAGE

Publications, Ltd DOI: 10.4135/9781849209779

Jameson, D. A. (1993). The Ethics of Plagiarism: How Genre Affects Writers’ Use of Source

Materials. The Bulletin of the Association for Business Communication, 56(2), 18–28.

https://doi.org/10.1177/108056999305600204

Kietzmann, J.H./Hermkens, K./McCarthy, I.P./Silvestre, B.S. (2011): Social media? Get

serious! Understanding the functional building blocks of social media, in: Business

Horizons, Vol. 54, No. 3, S. 241-251.

Kiron, D., Ferguson, R. B., Prentice, P. K. (2013), “From Value to Vision:

Reimagining the Possible with Data Analytics”, MIT Sloan Management Review:

Spring Research Report, pp. 1-19.

Khan, W., Jan, F. A., Iqbal, K., & Adnan, A. (2019). The impact of perceived service fairness

on customer citizenship behaviors: The mediating role of relationship marketing.

Abasyn University Journal of Social Sciences, 12(2), 368–378.

https://doi.org/10.34091/AJSS.12.2.13

Lettl, C./Gemünden, H.G. (2005): The entrepreneurial role of innovative users, in: Journal of

Business & Industrial Marketing, Vol. 20, No. 7, S. 339-346.

Lele, M., & Karmarkar, U. (2014). Good Product Support Is Smart Marketing. Retrieved from

https://hbr.org/1983/11/good-product-support-is-smart-marketing [Accessed June,

2020]

E.K OBED 2020 58

Learnpython.org Pandas Basics (2019). Learn Python - Free Interactive Python Tutorial.

Retrieved from https://www.learnpython.org/en/Pandas_Basics [Accessed on August

2020]

Levy, M., Powell, P. (2003), “Exploring SME Internet adoption: towards a

transporter model”, Electronic Markets, Vol. 13 No. 2, pp. 173-181.

Lea, B.R., Wu, W.B., Maguluru, N. & Nichols, M. (2006). Enhancing business networks using

social network based virtual communities. Industrial Management & Data Systems,

106(1), 121-138.

Lipsman, A., Mudd, G., Rich, M., & Bruich, S. (2012). The Power of “Like”: How brands

reach (and Influence) Fans through Social-Media Marketing. Journal of Advertising

research, 40-52

Martínez-Mesa, J., González-Chica, D. A., Duquia, R. P., Bonamigo, R. R., & Bastos, J. L.

(2016). Sampling: how to select participants in my research study?. Anais brasileiros

de dermatologia, 91(3), 326–330. https://doi.org/10.1590/abd1806-4841.20165254

McCrea, B. (2012). How Social Media Saved My Sociology. (Cover Story). Black Enterprise,

42(8), 74-79

McCarthy, I. P., Pitt, L., Campell, C., van der Merwe, R., & Salehi-Sangeri, E. (2007).

Exploiting the business opportunities in biotech connections: The power of social

networks. Journal of Commercial Biotechnology, 13, 245-257.

Merle, A./Chandon, J.-L./Roux, E./Alizon, F. (2010): Perceived Value of the

Mass-Customized

Product and Mass Customization Experience for Individual Consumers, in: Production and

Operations Management, Vol. 19, S. 503–514.

Michaux, S., Cadiat, A., & Probert, C. (2015). Porter's Five Forces. Namur: 50Minutes.com.

Michaelidou, N., Siamagka, N.T., & Christodoulides, G. (2011). Usage, barriers and

measurement of social media marketing: An exploratory investigation of small and

medium B2B brands. Industrial Marketing Management, 40, 1153-1159.

Nonpartisan Education (2016). Typical graduation age, by level of higher education.

Retrieved from:

https://www.nonpartisaneducation.org/Review/Resources/Int__lHigherEd_AppendixA

.pdf [Accessed August, 2020]

Ortiz-Ospina, E. (2019). The rise of social media. Retrieved June from:

https://ourworldindata.org/rise-of-social-media [Accessed June, 2020]

Owens, L.K. (2002). Introduction to survey research design. SRL Fall 2002 Seminar Series

E.K OBED 2020 59

Ip, W., Gober, J., & Rostykus, W. (2016). Ergonomics Return on Investment. Professional

Safety, 61(4), 48–52.

Iyigun, N. O. (2015). What could Entrepreneurship do for Sustainable Development? A

Corporate Social Responsibility-Based Approach. Procedia - Social and Behavioral

Sciences, 195, 1226-1231. doi:10.1016/j.sbspro.2015.06.253

Patino, C. M., & Ferreira, J. C. (2018). Inclusion and exclusion criteria in research studies:

definitions and why they matter. Jornal brasileiro de pneumologia : publicacao oficial

da Sociedade Brasileira de Pneumologia e Tisilogia, 44(2),

84.https://doi.org/10.1590/s1806- 37562018000000088

Piller, F., Vossen, A., & Ihl, C. (2012). From Social Media to Social Product Development:

The Impact of Social Media on Co-Creation of Innovation. Die Unternehmung, 66(1),

7-27. doi:10.5771/0042-059x-2012-1-7

Piller, F.T. (2004): Innovation and Value Co-Creation. Habilitationsschrift an der Fakultät für

Wirtschaftswissenschaften der Technischen Universität München.

Piller, F.T., Walcher, D. (2006): Toolkits for idea competitions: A novel method to integrate

users in new product development, in: R&D Management, Vol. 36, No. 3, S. 307-318.

Pitt, L., van der Merwe, R., Berthon, P., Salehi-Sangari, E. & Caruana, A. (2006). Global

alliance networks: A comparison of biotech SMEs in Sweden and Australia. Industrial

Marketing Management, 35, 600-610.

Piskorski, M. J. 2011. Social Strategies That Work. Harvard Business Review 89(11),

116–122.

Prahalad, C.K./Ramaswamy, V. (2004): The Future of Competition: Co-Creating Unique

Value with Customers, Boston.

Porter, M. E. (2004). Competitive strategy: Techniques for analyzing industries and

competitors. New York: Free Press.

Reiss-Davis, Z. (2013, July 17). In Business, Everyone Uses Social Media for Work; The

Question is How. Forrester Blogs. Retrieved from

http://blogs.forrester.com/zachary_reiss_davis/13-07-17-in_business_everybody_use

s_social_media_for_work_the_question_is_how.

Rouse, M. (2006). What is a virtual community? - Definition from WhatIs.com. Retrieved

from https://whatis.techtarget.com/definition/virtual-community [Accessed June,

2020]

Rheingold, H. The virtual community: homesteading on the electronic frontier.

Harper Perennial Publishers, New York (NY), 1993.

E.K OBED 2020 60

SAGE Publications. (2018). Protecting privacy and confidentiality

Saunders, Mark & Lewis, P. & Thornhill, A.. (2009). Understanding research philosophies

and approaches. Research Methods for Business Students. 4. 106-135

Schawbel, Dan,Larry (2014) Weber: Why Social Media Is Important For Startups.

Entrepreneurs MAY 21, 2014.

Schaefer, G. & Wertheimer, Alan. (2010). The Right to Withdraw from Research. Kennedy

Institute of Ethics journal. 20. 329-52.

Serhat, K. (2017). The Place Of Digital Marketing On Turkish Small Business. Journal of

International Trade, Logistics and Law, Vol. 3, Num. 2, 2017, 36-43

Stieglitz, S., Dang-Xuan, L., Bruns, A., Neuberger, C. (2014), „Social media

analytics: An interdisciplinary approach and its implications for information

systems“, Business & Information Systems Engineering, Vol. 6 No. 2, pp. 89-96.

Shilpa B., & Janhavi R. (2017). Mining for Social Media: Usage Patterns of Small

Businesses. Business System Research |Vol. 8 No. 1 | 2017

Sonia, T., & Leslie, T. (2014). Putting A Face On Small Business: Visibility, Viability, And

Sustainability. The Impact Of Social Media On Small Business Marketing. Academy

of Marketing Studies Journal, Volume 18, Number 1, 2014

Spors, K. (2008). Enterprise: Networking Together; Firms joins forces on Social Networks to

raise Profiles. Wall Street Journal, B.5.

Spaulding, T.J. (2010) How can virtual communities create value for business? Electronic

Commerce Research and Applications, 9(1): 38-49. Published by Elsevier (ISSN:

1567-4223). The version of record is available from:

http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.elerap.2009.07.004

Sveinung, F., Leo, A., G., Chris, G. (2010). Identifying SME roles and obstacles to SME

growth in Sub-Saharan Africa. MENON Business Economics Essendrops gate 3,

0303 Oslo, Tlf: 97 17 04 66, http://www.menon.no

Symeou, L. Lamprianou, I. (2008). Approaches of research and methodology.

The Telegraph. (2018). Could your company benefit from 'co-creation'? . Retrieved from

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/business/social-innovation/benefits-of-co-creation/

[Accessed June, 2020]

E.K OBED 2020 61

The World Bank. TCdata360: Households w/ Internet access 2012 - 2016. Retrieved from

https://tcdata360.worldbank.org/indicators/entrp.household.inet?country=NGA&indica

tor=3429&countries=IRL&viz=line_chart&years=2012,2016 [Accessed August, 2020]

Tuten, T. L. & Solomon M.R. (2013). Social Media Marketing (1st ed.). New Jersey: Prentice

Hall. Üstüner, T. & Godes, D. (2006). Better sales networks. Harvard Business

Review, 84(7/8), 102-112.

Üstüner, T. & Godes, D. (2006). Better sales networks. Harvard Business Review, 84(7/8),

102-112.

von Hippel, E. (2005): Democratizing Innovation, Cambridge.

von Hippel, E. (1988): The sources of innovation, New York.

Wael, Sh., B., & Mohammed, R., A., S. (2017) Maximizing the Social Media Potential for

Small Businesses and Startups: A Conceptual Study. International Journal of

Economic Perspectives, 2017, Volume 11, Issue 2, 341-346.

Williams, K. (2018). Nigeria - age discrimination. Retrieved from

http://www.agediscrimination.info/international-age-discrimination/nigeria[Accessed

on August 2020]

Yale University. (2020). Protocol Design - Inclusion and Exclusion Criteria. Department of

Human Subjects Protection

E.K OBED 2020 62

APPENDICES

Appendix I: Survey Questions SECTION A:

PART I: Background Information

1. Gender (Male / Female / Other / Prefer not to say)

2. Age (20-24 / 25 - 34 / 35 - 44/ 45 - 54 / 56 - 65 / Above 65)

3. Do you own your business ? (Yes / No) 4. If answered No to previous question, enter job title 5. How long has your business been using social media marketing?

(Less than 6 months / 1 - 2yrs / 3 - 5yrs / over 5 yrs) 6. What is the geographic location of your company?

(Europe / Sub-saharan Africa | None of the above; Please specify) 7. Have you had any experience in buying products for your business through the internet?

(Yes / No) 8. How often do you use the internet for business purposes?

(Never, Rarely: 1-3x/week, Sometimes: 5x/week, Often: more than 1x/day)

PART II: Brand

1. What is the size of your company (Number of employees) ? (Less than 10 / 11 - 50 / 51 - 100 / 101 - 250 / More )

2. How long has the company been in existence? (Less than 1 year / 1 - 2 years / 3 - 5 years / over 5 years)

3. What category does the business fall under? (E-commerce / Non-profit / Services …)

4. What is your brand’s overall purpose? (Sell products, Provide services, Other)

5. If you answered "Other" in the previous question, please explain here: …

PART III: Customers

1. What is the age demographic of your ideal customers? (18-24 / 25 - 34 / 35 - 44/ 45 - 54 / Others)

2. What is the age of the company’s target social media audience? (18-24 / 25 - 34 / 35 - 44/ 45 - 54 / Others)

3. What is the age bracket of people interacting with the company through social media? ( Under 19 / 20-24 / 25 - 34 / 35 - 44/ 45 - 54 / 55 - 64 / 65 - 74 / Others / Don’t Know)

E.K OBED 2020 63

4. What is the income of your target client? (0-50K, 50-100K, 100-150K, Above 150K)

5. Do the overall demographics of your ideal customers align with new customers obtained through social media marketing? (Yes / No)

6. Social media aided in ease of reach to target group 7. Which social channels do your target customers use?

(Please select all that apply - Facebook, Twitter, Linkedin, Instagram, Youtube, Company Website, Amazon, Other)

8. If you answered "Other" in the previous question, please explain here: … 9. Where are the majority of your customers located geographically prior to introducing SMM?

(Local - within the city /Local - within the country / Global - Out of country or overseas) 10. Where is the geographic location of your ideal customers?

(Local - within the city /Local - within the country / Global - Out of country or overseas)

PART IV: Social Media Presence / Content

1. What forms of traditional marketing are you currently utilizing? (Please check all that apply - Email, Standard Mail, Telemarketing, Print, TV and Radio, Word of Mouth, Trade Show, Other)

2. If you answered "Other" in the previous question, please explain here: … 3. What social media platform(s) does the company use?

(Please select all that apply - Facebook, Twitter, Linkedin, Instagram, Youtube, Company Website, Amazon, Other)

4. If you answered "Other" in the previous question, please explain here 5. How frequently are you currently posting on your social media platforms?

(Never, Rarely: 1-3x/week, Sometimes: 5x/week, Often: more than 1x/day) 6. Which analytical tools do you use to measure social media success

PART VI: Impact

1. What percentage of your marketing budget do you invest in SMM? (Less than 5 percent, 6 - 10 percent, 11 - 20 percent, greater than 20 percent)

2. Has the investment in SMM been ‘worth it’? (Yes / No / Undecided)

SECTION B: Please indicate the extent to which you agree with the statements below. (Scale: Strongly agree / Agree / Neither agree nor disagree / Disagree / Strongly disagree)

1. Social media helped to increase brand awareness 2. Social media aided to increase revenue and sales 3. Social media helped to increase traffic to our corporate website 4. Social media aided to initiate the promotion of the company 5. Social media enabled my firm or business to build more contacts and business partners 6. Social media has positively influenced customers’ behaviour 7. Social media channels have been part of your customer service operation 8. Traditional marketing has been effective than social media marketing in my company or our firm

E.K OBED 2020 64

9. Social media strategies are developed by the company in conjunction with of ideas provided directly from customers

10. Social media has helped to expand our geographical reach 11. Social media has contributed to the company’s financial standing 12. Social media helped us connect with our customers 13. Social media helped increase our search engine ranking 14. Social media is part of the competitive strategy in my company 15. Social media improves customer loyalty to our brand 16. Social media has damaged our brand image

E.K OBED 2020 65

Appendix II: Participant Consent Form General Information My name is Edozie Kelvin Obed and this survey is part of a piece of research for my dissertation as part of the requirements for my QQI level 9 Master’s thesis program at National College of Ireland. The purpose of this research study is to examine the relationship between social media marketing strategies used by Small and medium-sized enterprises and the success of startup businesses in the first five years of operations.

The survey will ask you about the use of social media marketing in your business or company and should take you no longer than 20 minutes.

Please be aware that as a participant of this research, your identity will be kept confidential, your name or place of work won't be required. Each question is optional, so you should not feel obliged to reveal any information that you may want to keep confidential.

All data collected will be encrypted and stored on a password protected private cloud and will alone be accessed by the research (Edozie Kelvin Obed).

If you have any further questions, please feel free to contact me x19112459@student.ncirl.ie or my research supervisor: mira.dobutowitsch@ncirl.ie.

Please note this study has obtained ethical approval from the National College of Ireland Social Ethics Research Committee.

Consent Form I agree to participate in the research study titled: The Effects of a Social Media Presence on Small Business Start-ups in the Developed West and African Regions. Check the statement accordingly - please note all statements is required (options: YES / NO)

1. I confirm that I am 18 years or above, and I am participating voluntarily 2. I understand that I will not directly benefit from participating in this research study 3. I understand that my data will not be shared with a third party 4. I understand that information provided will not be rephrased and my response will be classified and treated

appropriately. 5. I understand that signed consent forms, original questionnaires will be stored in a private cloud accessible only to

the researcher for a period of 2 years. 6. I understand that my consent to participate can be withdrawn up until the point when I submit the online survey. 7. I understand that a copy of the final research work can be requested by me. 8. I understand that I can withdraw my consent to participate up until two weeks after the interview.

I would like to extend my appreciation to you for taking out time to participate in this research work.

Your signature acknowledges that you have read the above information and willingly signed this consent form.

Signature of research participant

---------------------------------------- Date ----------------------------------

I believe the participant is giving consent to participate in this research

Name of researcher

----------------------------------------

Signature of researcher

---------------------------------------- Date ----------------------------------

E.K OBED 2020 66