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

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to report on the suitability of Social Media and its purpose in small-medium sized enterprises (SMEs). The objective is to develop an understanding of an owner-managers use of Social Media; the possible roles these tools can perform in marketing and business pr...

Full description

Bibliographic Details
Main Author: Huson, Oliver
Format: Dissertation (University of Nottingham only)
Language:English
Published: 2011
Online Access:https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/25392/
_version_ 1848792972842237952
author Huson, Oliver
author_facet Huson, Oliver
author_sort Huson, Oliver
building Nottingham Research Data Repository
collection Online Access
description Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to report on the suitability of Social Media and its purpose in small-medium sized enterprises (SMEs). The objective is to develop an understanding of an owner-managers use of Social Media; the possible roles these tools can perform in marketing and business practices and whether or not the tools needs to tailored, changed or adapted to be used in the SME context. Design/Methodology/Approach – An interpretivist approach relied on the use of inductive qualitative methods. In particular semi-structured interviews were conducted with SME owner-managers from the client list of one case study company. Findings – The project offers an understanding of the reality of the roles and uses of Social Media in SMEs. It provides an analysis into the mitigating factors that can affect the success of a Social Media marketing strategy. Finally, it proposes that ultimately it is the target market and the nature of the SME’s business that determines which applications are used and to what extent. Originality/Value – This paper offers a unique theoretical and practical insight into the use of Social Media in marketing practices by SMEs.
first_indexed 2025-11-14T18:52:54Z
format Dissertation (University of Nottingham only)
id nottingham-25392
institution University of Nottingham Malaysia Campus
institution_category Local University
language English
last_indexed 2025-11-14T18:52:54Z
publishDate 2011
recordtype eprints
repository_type Digital Repository
spelling nottingham-253922021-06-11T14:30:37Z https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/25392/ The Use of Social Media by Small-Medium Sized Enterprises. Huson, Oliver Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to report on the suitability of Social Media and its purpose in small-medium sized enterprises (SMEs). The objective is to develop an understanding of an owner-managers use of Social Media; the possible roles these tools can perform in marketing and business practices and whether or not the tools needs to tailored, changed or adapted to be used in the SME context. Design/Methodology/Approach – An interpretivist approach relied on the use of inductive qualitative methods. In particular semi-structured interviews were conducted with SME owner-managers from the client list of one case study company. Findings – The project offers an understanding of the reality of the roles and uses of Social Media in SMEs. It provides an analysis into the mitigating factors that can affect the success of a Social Media marketing strategy. Finally, it proposes that ultimately it is the target market and the nature of the SME’s business that determines which applications are used and to what extent. Originality/Value – This paper offers a unique theoretical and practical insight into the use of Social Media in marketing practices by SMEs. 2011-12-02 Dissertation (University of Nottingham only) NonPeerReviewed application/pdf en https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/25392/2/Dissertation_Final.pdf Huson, Oliver (2011) The Use of Social Media by Small-Medium Sized Enterprises. [Dissertation (University of Nottingham only)] (Unpublished)
spellingShingle Huson, Oliver
The Use of Social Media by Small-Medium Sized Enterprises.
title The Use of Social Media by Small-Medium Sized Enterprises.
title_full The Use of Social Media by Small-Medium Sized Enterprises.
title_fullStr The Use of Social Media by Small-Medium Sized Enterprises.
title_full_unstemmed The Use of Social Media by Small-Medium Sized Enterprises.
title_short The Use of Social Media by Small-Medium Sized Enterprises.
title_sort use of social media by small-medium sized enterprises.
url https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/25392/