THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN SOCIAL MEDIA USAGE AND CUSTOMER REACH FOR MICRO, SMALL AND MEDIUM-SIZED ENTERPRISES IN ANAMBRA STATE

Abstract

The relationship between social media usage and customer reach for micro, small and medium-sized enterprises in Anambra State was examined in this study. This study made use of a survey research design and the population consisted of 1399 MSMEs from the study area and a sample size of 301 was arrived at using Krejcie and Morgan's formula. The questionnaire used for data collection was validated using face and content validity while the reliability was ascertained using the Cronbach Alpha technique (.873). The data analysis was carried out using both descriptive and inferential statistics and the hypotheses were tested at a 5% level of significance. The findings showed that social media usage has a statistically significant relationship with customer reach (r = .952; p-value = .000 < .05). Based on the findings, it was recommended that the usage of social media should no longer be taken unserious as it is assumed to, or seen as an avenue to only make friends, while away time and have fun, but needs to be taken as a place to meet new customers, close deals and expand the reach of the products and services of MSMEs in Anambra state