Effect of Social Media Marketing Strategy on the Performance of Women Owned Micro and Small Enterprises in Kasarani Division, Nairobi County, Kenya

Abstract

MSEs in Kenya have a chance to use the uncharted frontier that is the African internet space. They can use social media to grow and expand their businesses to unimaginable heights through reaching the expansive clientele that consists of the over 22 million Kenyans who have access to the Internet. Based on these facts, the study sought to establish the effect of social media marketing strategy on the performance of women micro and small enterprises in Kasarani Division, Nairobi County. The study was guided by the following objectives; to find out the type of social media marketing strategies used by women owned MSEs, the adoption of social media as a marketing strategy on the performance of women owned MSEs and social media marketing challenges facing women owned MSEs in Kasarani Division, Nairobi County. The study employed a descriptive survey design. Convenience and random sampling was used to select a sample population of 110 women owned MSEs from Clay City, Njiru, Mwiki, Ruai and Kasarani wards in Kasarani Sub-county. The study used semi-structured questionnaire to collect primary data from the women owners of each sampled MSE. Descriptive data was collected and then analyzed using Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS). The study found that most MSEs in Kasarani Division use social media and specifically Facebook as a marketing strategy. The study also found that MSE Owners personally engage or hire people to meet current and potential customer on social media to enable them to received new customers on social media. Due to the higher level of education of the women engaging in MSEs, the study found that social media marketing is user friendly and for that reason, majority do not fear that hackers will damage the image of their business when they use social media for marketing their products. However, there was fear that the use of social media for marketing may expose their business to legal suits. On performance the study found that social media marketing has positively resulted to increase in sales revenue, number of customer and the number of employees. The study recommends that MSEs should adopt the various social media marketing practises more in their business to achieve the desired levels of performance. The study also recommends that MSEs should establish their weaknesses and strengths on how to enhance their performance through social media.