The Impact of Social Media on the Business Performance of Small and Medium Enterprises in Minnesota

Background of the Problem

In the contemporary world, an increase in technology is on the peak, similarly an active use of social media in businesses. Social media is a platform that helps people convey and consume information by sharing it. The use of these platforms has enabled increased interaction, increasing customer awareness and accessibility of information related to business. Based on this fact, small and medium business enterprises (SMEs) have been greatly impacted (Wardati & Mahendrawathi, 2019). However, embracing or adopting this new technology has not been uniform in small businesses, which has created unfair competition. Thus, there is a need to ensure uniform adoption in social media and thus support the entrepreneurs of the small businesses and ensure a fair competition environment, thus ensuring high performance.

Problem Statement

Cheng and Shiu (2019) highlight that social media is a tool used in marketing. This tool is useful in making customers make a purchasing decisions. According to the study from the two scholars, they clarified that social media would be effective in marketing only if businesses and consumers appreciate the full presence in social media. It is also essential to ensure complete information concerning the targeted customers. Based on this study, small businesses are advised to use specific social media that target the exact market for efficiency, which will help boost small businesses to competitive businesses.

Businesses have embraced the use of social media to target their potential customers. From this context, we can highlight that the general business problem is understanding the potential of using social media on small and medium enterprises. According to research based on the effectiveness of social media, in large business has always revealed this as a great strategy that has achieved success (Hakimi, 2018). The specific business is that some small businesses have limited information concerning the effectiveness of social media in creating brand awareness and convincing customers to purchase their products.

Purpose Statement

This study aims to examine the use of social media platforms by the entrepreneurs and owners of small and medium businesses in Minnesota. Using qualitative research methods, we will collect information concerning SMEs to examine how social tools have boosted performance (Li et al., 2020). These are methods used in carrying out the research. They include research design, population, and sampling techniques. This qualitative research can be done using a descriptive research design. The purpose is to identify and explain the variables to describe the relationship between social media and small business growth (Yin, 2018). The respondents for this research can be categorized into two groups, the first group being the business owners. The second group is the customers or the consumers of the products from the small businesses. The population will include small and medium businesses in Minnesota. A sampling design is a plan that indicates the criteria for selecting these businesses. Minnesota, which is the target geographic location, is a state among the fifty states of America.  More importantly, the intended change is to create awareness among the customers

Nature of the Study

In order to succeed in this research, we will use qualitative research methods and case study research design. The choice of the qualitative research method is to allow the researcher to get a more significant interpretation of data in research, thus offering more accurate information. Additionally, the study has a target population, or the customers, which will be useful in explaining the research problem. This is contrary to quantitative research methods do not have the same issues as qualitative research methods. When study responses do not match the researcher's expectations, qualitative data can explain items or characteristics that quantitative methods cannot. Again, qualitative data will allow speculation on the areas to focus on and the study to be carried out. It also permits the researcher's intuition to provide useful information. Finally, qualitative research will be more adaptable (Rahman, 2016). Because no useful information will be gathered, it will be possible to change questions, settings, or other variables to enhance replies. Because of their flexibility, qualitative research will allow the researchers to obtain a wide range of data for this study. As a result, the research will be thorough enough to provide useful information about the topic at hand.

Furthermore, qualitative research is required for this project because a case study can be included. Because of their positivistic nature, qualitative researchers choose case studies. A case study is an in-depth assessment of a current event and its context in the actual world. Case studies can be created based on the type of research, and since this study employs qualitative research methodologies, the usage of a case study is particularly relevant (Rahman, 2016). A case study, once again, will aid in gaining a thorough grasp of the issue. A case study will help comprehend the amount of social media usage in Minnesota by presenting a real-life example in the study on the effects of social media on small companies. A case study will lead to a deeper understanding of the subject at hand because it uses a small number of incidents.

Research Question

What is the impact of social media on the business performance of small and medium businesses in Minnesota?

Interview Questions

Interviews are questions directed to the group of participants seeking to get questions to the research question(s). The main research question should be broken down is straightforward questions that would easily be answerable y the respondent. Some tangible questions based on this research include:

1. What social media channels result in customer satisfaction and improves business operation?
2. How has social media influenced business performance?

Significance of the Study

This is the importance of carrying out this study. If the study were not relevant, it would be seen as a waste of resources. Therefore, the significance of this study is to examine how digital platforms such as Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter, might be helpful in the performance of the small businesses in their competition for customers.

Conceptual Framework

These are models that highlight the connection between social media and business performance.

Figure 1: Conceptual research model

Operational Definitions

Social Media: This is an internet-based application that allows people to exchange information about particular information (Camil, 2017).

Social Media Marketing: This is a form of digitalized market aided by social media as a communication tool (Jacobson et al., 2020).

Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs): this entails Micro, Small, and Medium Enterprises, characterized by a small number of employees, between 1-99, with small startup capital and a little annual turnover (Camil, 2017).

Limitations

Limitations associated with qualitative research include

1. Time-consuming processes in the collection of data, especially by the use of interviews.
2. This research cannot be verified for accuracy, and in most cases, they are not statistically representative (Almeida et al., 2017).

Delimitations

Advantages of qualitative research include:

1. Ability to understand the attitude of the target population, such as customers on products.
2. This research is also flexible to change in setting or variables to improve responses.
3. Explains variables that numbers alone cannot reveal (Rahman, 2016).

Review of Professional and Academic Literature

The literature review is a pertinent search of materials that have already addressed issues related to the problem under study. This is done by a review of professional and academic literature materials that addressed the impacts of social media on small business performance. Primarily, this review will focus on social media marketing, creation of awareness, purchasing power, taking a keen to follow up on the commonly used social media platforms such as Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter.

Role of Researcher

The role of the researcher in this prospect is to administer interviews to collects answers to the research questions.

Data Collection Instruments

In qualitative research, data collection tools include interview questions and questionnaires.

Ethical Research

These are the set ethical implications that govern the research process; these considerations need to be keenly followed to avoid violating the set research guidelines. They are directed towards the protection of the respondents; some of these considerations include informed consent and confidentiality of information (Haines, 2017).

 

References

Almeida, F., Faria, D., &Queiros, A.(2017). The Strengths and Limitations of Qualitative and Quantitative Research Methods. Innovation and Entrepreneurship. European Journal of Education Studies, (3)9), 369-383.

Cheng, C. C., & Shiu, E. C. (2019). How to enhance SMEs customer involvement using social media: The role of Social CRM. International Small Business Journal, 37(1), 22-42.

Camil, A. J. (2017). The Effectiveness of Social Media Marketing In Small Business Performance: A Case Study of Central Business District Nairobi (Doctoral dissertation, United States International University-Africa).

Haines, D. (2017). Ethical considerations in qualitative case study research recruiting participants with profound intellectual disabilities. Research Ethics, 13(3-4), 219-232.

Jacobson, J., Gruzd, A., & Hernandez-Garcia, A. (2020). Social media marketing: Who is watching the watchers?  The Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, 53, 1-12.

Li, X., He, X., & Zhang, Y. (2020). The impact of social media on the business performance of small firms in China. Information Technology for Development, 26(2), 346-368.

Rahman, M. S. (2016).  Advantages and disadvantages of qualitative and quantitative approaches in language "Testing and assessment" research: A literature review. Journal of Education and Learning, 6(1), 102

Wardati, N.K., &Mahendrawathi, E. R. (2019). The impact of social media usage on the sales process and medium enterprises (SMEs): A systematic literature review Procedia Computer Science, 161, 976-983.

Yin, K. R.(2018). The Case Study Research and Applications: Design and Methods. ( 6^th Ed)SAGE Publications.

Hakimi, C. (2018). Measuring the Effectiveness of Social Media Marketing on Promoting Event Sales.