ADOPTION OF SOCIAL MEDIA MARKETING AMONG OWNERS OF SMALL AND MEDIUM-SCALE ENTERPRISES FOR BUSINESS SUCCESS IN ANAMBRA STATE, NIGERIA

Abstract

This study ascertained the adoption of social media marketing among owners of small and medium-scale enterprises for business success in Anambra State. One research question guided the study, and two null hypotheses were tested. A descriptive research design was adopted for the study. The population comprised 2,222 registered SME owners from manufacturing, construction, services, and distributive sectors in Anambra State. Three hundred and thirty-eight SME owners were selected using Taro Yamane’s formula, through a multi-stage sampling technique. The instrument for data collection was a 12-item structured questionnaire. The instrument was validated by three experts. To determine the internal consistency of the items, the Cronbach's alpha method was used and yielded a reliability coefficient value of 0.90. Mean and standard deviation were used to answer the research question, while a t-test was used to test the null hypotheses at the 0.05 alpha level. The findings of the study revealed that owners of SMEs highly adopt social media marketing for business success in Anambra State. SMEs and the location of businesses did not significantly influence their mean ratings on the extent of adoption of social media marketing for business success. The study concluded that social media marketing is highly adopted among owners of SMEs for business success in Anambra State. It was recommended, among others, that SME owners should always transact their business using social media marketing because it would improve their business success in the State and would provide many opportunities to create awareness about their goods and services. This will enable them to reach out to a wider market and customers