Social media marketing and customer engagement : a focus on small and medium enterprises (SMEs) in South Africa

Social media platforms are increasingly used by SMEs who have fewer resources and need to rely on social media marketing to engage with their customers. This article investigates the extent to which social media platforms specifically Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter contribute to increased customer engagement. While past studies have concentrated on the adoption of social media in predominantly western contexts, this research is focused on SMEs in a relatively under-researched African market context, South Africa. The research design was a quantitative cross-sectional study relying on primary data collection, where hypotheses were tested using statistical analyses in terms of correlational and regression analyses. Results support the hypotheses where the use of Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter platforms show a significant and positive relationship with increased customer engagement. The findings have management implications where owner-managers should make use of social media by maintaining and growing an extensive network of ties to both collect information and identify resources, as well as to build a reputation and engage with their customers.