Influence Of Social Media Marketing On Performance Of Small And Medium Enterprises In Nairobi County, Kenya

Abstract

In the most recent time, popularity of social media has grown tremendously in the last decade and is projected to grow even more in the coming years. Underpinned by marketing equity and Chaffey’s theories, the current study aimed at adducing empirical evidence on the relationship and association between social media marketing as a marketing approach and organizational performance in the context of Small and Medium Enterprises in Nairobi County. The target population of this study would be all the Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) in Nairobi County enlisted by the Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises Authority (MSEA). The study used descriptive survey design, and sampled 255 respondents out of which 204 successfully complete and returned the questionnaires. Data analysis was done using SPSS version 23, using both descriptive and regression analyses. The study determined that social media marketing is common among the SMEs in Nairobi County as shown by the descriptive statistics. The study has also established that social media marketing has significant influence on performance of the SMEs in Nairobi County. The findings of the this current study, therefore, agrees with a few studies, and disagrees others. The study findings also have adduced evidence in support of both marketing equity, and Chaffey’s theories. The study recommends an in-depth study should be done on challenges facing the adoption of social media marketing in other contexts including the government. The study also recommends that the influence of moderating and mediating factors should be examined, especially where lack of consensus among studies has been noted. This is because the differences in findings could be attributed to the influence of the control variables.