Effect of Social Media Marketing on Small and Medium Enterprises' Performance in Nigeria

Abstract

This research investigates the impact of social media marketing on performance of SMEs in Aba, Abia State, Nigeria. This study investigates the influence of social media advertising, content marketing, and customer engagement on performance dimensions of SMEs such as sales growth, market reach, and customer retention. The research used a survey research design and data was gathered via questionnaire from a sample of 384 SME owners/managers selected using stratified random sampling. The set of quantitative analysis involved descriptive statistics, correlation analysis, and multiple regression using SPSS version 28. The main findings indicated that social media advertising has a significant influence on sales growth (β = 0.687, p < 0.001), content marketing has an enhanced influence on market reach (β = 0.721, p < 0.001) while customer engagement has a influence on customer retention (β = 0.654, p < 0.001). The study established that social media marketing activities explain 73.2% variance in performance of SMEs. Some limitations highlighted by the study include lacked digital and technological skills and competencies, poor internet connectivity issues, and financing capacity for paid advertising. In conclusion the results suggest that implementing social media marketing effectively directly influences SME performance in an ecosystem characterised by commercial activity. The recommendations suggested include assisting with digital skills training and development, devising social media marketing strategies that examine relationships and integrating platforms together, and use local content to foster authenticity with customers. This current research adds to possible understandings of digitally using social media influenced marketing in Nigeria's emerging economy context and provides empirically grounded understanding of possible growth strategies for SMEs.