Dr. Tomlinson earned an MS in Instructional Design Technology in hopes of keeping up with the blistering pace of technology, teaching and learning. Dr. Sky completed her dissertation study to obtain a PhD. in Education Technology and Human Sciences with a specialization in Learning, Instruction, & Innovation. She has been known to call herself as an "analog dog". And says, “It's hard to teach an old dog new tricks, so if I can do it, anyone can!”
Dr. Sky can teach anyone from age 4 to 94. She is the winner of 2022 Livestream Teacher of the year on Hallo English, teaching English as a second language to learners from all over the world. She is a high-impact tutor for K-12 students in Science and English Language Arts. Her learners are building confidence while learning life skills.
Dr. Sky's company is SkylockSolutions LLC, and has offered services in course and web design, digital content, social media campaigns, blog content, and digital video; Expanding services to offer live Internet television production. Dr. Sky’s knowledge and work in education technology has allowed her to mentor entrepreneurs struggling with new methods and means for marketing their products and services.
Dr. Sky's PhD in Education Technology and Human Sciences has prepared her to be an effective leader and change agent who can address the nation’s most pressing challenges in the fields of business, technology, and education.
This is a social media series presentation to report the findings of my study to help understand how entrepreneurs learn to use social media marketing. I will be adding to this series as I present the outcome in various formats and locations. For the publicly reported outcome of my study I am creating a series of blogposts where you may follow reports on the outcomes.
My audience consists of small business owners and their employees who are facing challenges in knowing how to launch and maintain successful social media campaigns.
Goals
This series will help accomplish the goals of getting current information to stakeholders who may benefit most, while creating an awareness about the need for more training opportunities for small business owners and their employees (Lee, 2017).
Conclusion
This work to promote the outcomes of my study will serve to support broader goals for social media marketing to stakeholders in the domains of education, technology, and business. These goals will allow for more widespread dissemination of this innovation, while revealing useful strategies that small business owners and their employees have shared in the course of this research to help others who might be struggling to create effective digital marketing campaigns.
References
Lee, K. (2017). How to create a social media marketing strategy from scratch.
Results
The purpose of this qualitative study was to understand what types of instruction
small business owners and their employees needed in order to learn skills to launch and
maintain social media marketing campaigns, focusing on their instructional experiences
in learning how to launch and maintain social media marketing campaigns as well as their
instructional needs. The following chapter contains information about the setting at the
time the study took place, demographic data, data collection methodology, data analysis
process, and evidence of trustworthiness clarified, following by the results of the study.
Setting
The setting for this qualitative study was focused on small businesses located in
Arkansas, which is reported as having one of the poorest economies in America (U.S.
Census Bureau, 2021). The data collection process began in a rural county, but the scope
needed to be broadened due to a lack of willing participants to take part in the study to
include small businesses located in cities of Arkansas. Participant contact information
was found via the local Chamber of Commerce website directory, and they were initially
contacted by phone. Upon consent, the interviews took place on a recorded phone call,
which were transcribed and coded following each interview.
Demographics
A majority of the interviewees reported having conducted hundreds of social
media campaigns for their company. The number of employees ranged from 1 to 500, and
they reported being in business from 2 years to 102 years. All the participants had a high
school education, most had attended college, and one reported graduate work obtaining a Master’s degree.
Data Analysis
Thematic analysis was used to analyze the data in this basic qualitative study
codes (see Clarke & Braun, 2014). Prior to data collection open coding methods were
applied to predefine a potential set of codes that were assigned in the qualitative data
analysis process. Open coding is what makes it possible to explore ideas, break them
apart, and find meaning in the raw data (Clarke & Braun, 2014). These codes were small
business, DOI, and instructional needs. In the next step of the process the open codes
were expanded to allow for theory-driven axial coding. Additionally inductive coding in
the data analysis phase was essential to locate themes and patterns that were revealed
during the process of synthesizing the data. These inductive codes were instruction,
learning, and DOI. Descriptive coding involved reading the transcript documents, then
color-coding phrases and identifying codes to help visualize patterns in the findings,
which emerged into the themes identified in the analysis phase. Each transcript was read,
reviewed, and coded according to the open codes. The coding process is outlined in
Figure 1 to demonstrate what occurred during each phase of analysis.
Figure 1. The Coding Process
Results
Based on the data collected several themes emerged from the codes. The first
theme verified was social media marketing used by all the participants to promote their
business. The second theme dealt with identifying instruction that helped to understand
what types of strategies might be considered a best practice. The third theme represented
how they learned to use social media to market their business. The fourth theme detected
was dissemination of an innovation, which allowed for a better understanding of what
was needed to learn and adopt digital marketing techniques. The themes came out of the
codes and reflected the research questions that were intended to help learn about the
experiences and needs of small business owners and their employees who were
attempting learning to use social media to market their products and services.
Research Question 1: What Were Small Business Owners and Their Employees’
Instructional Experiences in Learning How to Launch and Maintain Social Media
Marketing Campaigns?
Theme 1: Social Media Marketing for Small Business
The theme of social media marketing for small business helped answer the
research question that asked what were the experiences of small business owners and
their employees learning social media marketing, which helped identify ways to
understand what plans and strategies were employed when using social media to market
their business. From the data collected the consensus established reiterated what P3
noted, “Social media, it’s a powerful tool.” P10 added, “Social media has helped us reach
a lot of younger demographics like college age students and just younger people that are
moving to town…it’s where everyone is at nowadays.” This outcome appeared to be in
alignment with the common notion in the literature about the proven effectiveness of
social media marketing for small business success (Sanwariprasad et al., 2020).
Theme 2: Learning Social Media Marketing
Learning social media marketing emerged as a theme that identified answers to
the research question that asked what experiences small business owners and their
employees had when learning to use social media marketing techniques. Experiences
reported included: P2 exclaimed, “Been flying by the seat of my pants”. P4 explained
how they learned social media marketing was, “Just by doing it. Trial and error”. From
the learning aspect, there seemed to be a lot of self-learning involved in the process of
digital marketing success. Supporting statements included: P9, “I’ve taken the initiative
to go out and learn from the different platforms that offer training; I’ve had classes in
college; My previous career offered a lot of training and tutelage more self-learning than
anything.” P8, “I’ve made a lot of mistakes, I’ve learned a lot.” P6, “I really work within
my limitations. If it gets beyond me, I shut it down.” And, P3 reasoned, “There’s
obviously a formula somewhere”. These findings helped to answer the research questions
by supporting what scholar-practitioners posited about the need for more instruction in
digital marketing strategies (Bhimani et al., 2018; Ishak et al., 2018; Jumin et al., 2017;
Sharma & Singla, 2017; Thakur & Hale, 2017).
Theme 3: Instruction for Social Media Marketing
The theme of instruction for social media marketing helped answer the research
question to understand the experiences small business owners and their employees had
learning social media marketing. This data was disclosed by participants who in
answering questions about their experiences in learning social media marketing, offered
strategies that were successful for their business. The data helped identify what kind of
instructional resources the participants were able to access that were intended for learners
of social media marketing. The theme of instruction also helped identify challenges small
business owners and their employees faced when learning to use social media marketing.
P10 had earned a degree and imparted,
“Part of my education was very heavily based on PR (public relations). I did take
classes on social media theory, but even the classes that I was taking I wouldn’t
say necessarily prepared me for the job. For someone who was educated formally
about these kinds of things, I’ll still say that a large part of it (social media
marketing) is going to come from experience.”
P11 shared, “There are tools out there for a price for professionals that give you a
knowledge-base on social media marketing,” following up with the statement, “I have
been able to learn from some resources on Instagram and social media, you know,
marketers themselves, who do this on a professional level independently and coach.”
There is a need for more instructional opportunities for small business owners and their
employees learning to use social media to market their products and services (Morah and
Omojola (2018). Direct input received that described instructional challenges for learning
how to launch and maintain social media marketing campaigns revealed this notion from
P5:
I just wish that there was more training out there…maybe just through chambers,
through local colleges that could help small business entrepreneurs with current
trends and social media, so that we could be ahead of some of these trends instead
of falling behind and just catching on to it a little bit later in the game.
The need for tech savvy approaches and making connections online to market in the
digital age was a theme that came out of the code and aligned with the literature that
claimed they were deemed vital for business survival (Nummela et al., 2016).
Theme 4: Dissemination of Innovation
The dissemination of an innovation theme answered the research question that
asked what experiences small business owners and their employees were having when
attempting to learn social media marketing. P9 divulged, “My employers have just been
so gracious to allow me to be flexible and just play with it, and learn as I go.” and P6 said
jovially, “if I can find a 7-year-old to walk me through getting something uploaded, I’m
in luck.” The theme of dissemination of innovation revealed strategies small business
owners and their employees used when learning social media marketing.
Participants disclosed strategies for use and recommendations they might have
suggested for what helped them adopt social media marketing techniques. P5 underscored
this need when adding, “We would probably be a lot more successful if we did
strategize.” The data derived from this theme helped address benefits they experienced
when learning social media marketing. Participants disclosed how they had benefitted by
early adoption and practicing perseverance when learning the innovation of social media
marketing.
This theme represented the ability to readily and successfully adopt a new
innovation like social media marketing for small business, which involved having the
right attitude, training, resources, and familiarity with the tools to accomplish the
intended outcome (Szymkowiak & Garczarek-Bąk, 2019). There was no shortage of
approaches, techniques, and strategies being used to accomplish the task; strategies
uncovered in this study were numerous and varied. Some recommendations from P11
included:
Keep it simple, good pictures, honesty, straight shooting; I think it comes back
down to knowing your audience and knowing the purpose of each platform;
Branding, it’s about creating that image and that brand, otherwise you’re walking
around in the dark; you have to know what your target is and then know what
your goal is.
While some suggested mimicking successful campaigns of similar businesses, others
were concerned that their success was being copied by their competitors and P12 advised,
It’s more fluid and it’s less likely to be duplicated because the plan is already so
far ahead it’s almost a sneak attack or catches competitors off-guard. And finally,
…another struggle for small businesses in general is that it’s going to be the big
corporate companies that set the standard.
Social media marketing has been proven a worthy innovation for small business success
and has served to fill gaps in social, demographic, economic, and geographic areas that
had been proven to have significant impacts on the success or failure of small business
desiring to compete in the global economy (Huang et al., 2017; Mukherjee &
Hollenbaugh, 2019). A final rationale from P10 to take into consideration was: “You’re
always going to learn a lot more on the job and from experience than you are just reading
a textbook and writing papers and taking tests.”
Research Question 2: What Were Small Business Owners and Their Employees’
Instructional Needs in Learning How to Launch and Maintain Social Media
Marketing Campaigns?
Theme 1: Social Media Marketing for Small Business
The social media marketing theme emerged as a critical means to how users were
able to identify social media platforms and understand specific requirements for each
particular outlet. This significant element emerged from the research question to help
understand instructional needs of small business owners and their employees learning
how to launch and maintain social media marketing campaigns. P5 affirmed, “We
definitely see an increase in sales whenever we do stay on top of our social media
marketing.” The social media marketing theme was derived from the data and helped
address the research question to understand needs of small business owners and their
employees learning social media marketing, which uncovered having a clear goal and
knowing what was required to reach intended social media audiences in ways they were
accustomed to being approached. P8 reiterated, “It’s being educated about what your
primary goal is.”
Theme 2: Learning Social Media Marketing
Learning was a theme that emerged from the data and contributed to the research
question that asked what the instructional needs of small business owners and their
employees were when learning social media marketing. P6 complained of not being able
to learn how to use social media, because they did not know where to locate learning
resources that they were certain had to be available somewhere, while P10 shared
educational opportunities they had experienced in learning to use social media marketing
techniques. This theme revealed learning needs that were crucial to getting the
information required to be successful in digital marketing and spoke to the research
question to help define needs of entrepreneurs and their employees learning social media
marketing techniques. As was found to be evident in prior research, novices to social
media marketing may be unsure about how to use social media (Henry, 2019). Most of
the participants reported being self-taught. Some of the answers regarding how they
received instruction included statements like these from P6, “Zero. I’ve not had anybody
teach me that; Been flying by the seat of my pants; Just by doing it.” P5 added, “Trial and
Error; It’s all on the fly” P9 echoed, “Spontaneous; We’re just rolling with it.”
Theme 3: Instruction for Social Media Marketing
Instruction was a theme uncovered by participant input when defining challenges
small business owners and their employees faced when learning social media marketing
and how they went about locating answers they were looking for. The requirement for
instruction spoke directly to the research question to help identify instructional needs of
entrepreneurs and their employees learning social media marketing by revealing
strategies created to meet the needs of those learning how to launch and maintain social
media marketing campaigns. Participants shared how they confronted challenges and
oftentimes turned their needs into opportunities, such as when the COVID pandemic
made it necessary for many of them to change the way they did business. P5 said they
were, “constantly having to figure out what is going to interest the followers to
engage…honestly we don’t have a lot of strategies” and “I just wish that there was more
training out there.” and P5 added, “…it has helped us become more technologically in
tune with our customers.”
Theme 4: Dissemination of Innovation
Dissemination of an innovation emerged as an answer to the research question
that asked what instructional needs small business owners and their employees had when
learning social media marketing. The need for instructional opportunities underscored
their pleas for more resources and training in the domain of social media marketing for
entrepreneurs and their employees to be able to fully adopt social media marketing. P6
reflected, “I think it was just an age gap thing where I didn’t get fluent in computer
technology.” This theme was evident when participants described challenges they were
confronted with as they learned social media marketing techniques, to disclose what
strategies they found to be successful, to offer recommendations they might share with
others who might be struggling, and offer any benefits they could identify when adopting
social media to keep up with current trends in digital marketing. P9 offered, “We just do
our own research and just go off our own experience.
The data collected answered the research questions about instructional
experiences and the needs of users by allowing for the identification of key themes,
which included learning and instruction of a new innovation. Common themes that
emerged were social media platforms, people, and dissemination of an innovation.
Challenges involved locating sources for instruction, which pointed directly to the
research question querying whether there was actually need for instruction. Subcategories
that emerged were frustration, digital strategy, people/target audience, goal,
and business survival, which all aligned with the research questions to identify
experiences and needs in learning digital marketing. Some of the data reflected
challenges in finding content, staying ahead of the competition, and in achieving
consensus by stakeholders in their marketing plan implementation, which underscored
the experiences that uncovered the need for more available instruction. Ultimately, the
need created the means to find ways to learn in order to survive.
Key findings helped to confirm the need for small business owners and their employees to face challenges they were confronted with in finding instructional resources that would help them adopt an innovation that could potentially make or break their digital marketing efforts, while greatly impacting their overall success.
Evidence uncovered in this study showed the importance of strategies to help understand the experiences that small business owners and their employees were having when they were attempting to learn social media marketing.
Based on the data collected the following themes emerged from the codes. The first theme verified was social media marketing used by all of the participants to promote their business. The second theme represented how they learned to use social media to market their business. The third theme was to identify instruction that helped to understand what types of strategies might be considered a best practice. And, the fourth theme detected was dissemination of aninnovation, which allowed for a better understanding of what was needed to learn and adopt digital marketing techniques. The themes came out of the codes and reflected the research questions that were intended to help learn about the experiences and needs of those who were attempting learning to use social media to market their products and services.
Deep reflection on the information revealed some basic needs of small business owners and their employees who took on the challenge placed before them in a new media frontier, to build skills and confidence, continuing to reach for new knowledge so that their marketing strategy would ultimately succeed and their business find success.
The old adage that necessity is the mother of invention applies to the interpretation of the findings presented here. It was evident in the data collection stage that the need to learn social media marketing techniques provided a certain level of intrinsic motivation for individuals to find the means for instructional experiences in order for their company to survive and find success in the ever-changing global economy. The advent of the Internet and digital marketing possibilities prompted them to stretch old marketing mix methods to new lengths.
Research outcomes have shown that early adoption of innovations often converged with the need for knowledge. The purpose of this basic qualitative study was focused on a need for understanding what types of instruction small business owners and their employees required to fill a gap in learning necessary skills to launch and maintain social media marketing campaigns.
The conceptual framework was based on the dissemination of an innovation by using the overarching Unified Theory of Acceptance and Use of Technology (UTAUT) model, which originated from social cognitive theory, the technology acceptance model, and innovation diffusion theory.
Research questions explored the needs and experiences of entrepreneurs learning how to launch and maintain social media campaigns.
Data was collected in open-ended interviews with 12-18 small business owners or their employees on a recorded phone line.
Data analysis showed instructional experiences and challenges small business owners and their employees had in learning social media marketing.
Experiences they described helped define learner needs, while challenges aligned with strategies which could potentially be transformed into instructional methodology.
Education at a local level can have a profound impact on the ability for citizens to overcome poverty by increasing income for struggling small businesses in Arkansas, which has implications for positive social change.
Understanding Instructional Needs of Entrepreneurs Learning Social Media Marketing
by
Kathryn Ann Tomlinson
MS, Walden University, 2014
BA, University of Texas at Arlington, 1984
Proposal Submitted in Partial Fulfillment
of the Requirements for the Degree of
Doctor of Philosophy
Education Technology
Walden University
January 2022
Abstract
This research focused on understanding what kind of instruction small business owners and their employee’s need to help them learn social media marketing strategies. There was a gap in the literature between how small business owners and their employee’s receive instruction that translated to skills needed to launch and maintain social media marketing campaigns. Conceptual framework for this study helped to understand the dissemination of an innovation by using the Unified Theory of Acceptance and Use of Technology (UTAUT) model, originating from social cognitive theory, the technology acceptance model, innovation diffusion theory, and other sentinel models. Research questions derived from the current literature identified instructional gaps that existed by exploring the needs and experiences of entrepreneurs learning how to launch and maintain social media campaigns. In this qualitative study a phenomenological approach employing open-ended interviews to collect data was used, with follow up interviews for member checking to increase the credibility of outcomes.
Small business growth can sustain a community by developing socioeconomic opportunities, which enhances the lives of citizens by increasing income potential and improving living conditions. Instruction and education can have a profound impact on the ability to overcome poverty by increasing income for struggling individuals and building communities. Further research is warranted to more clearly define what kind of digital divide exists. The findings clarified a need for learning strategies and supported the notion that the gap is related to information and access to knowledge-building resources to effectively launch and maintain successful social media campaigns.
Understanding Instructional Needs of Entrepreneurs Learning Social Media Marketing
Pick, Sarkar and Rosales (2019) performed a socioeconomic study on technological levels for 164 counties in the United States and found disparities in social media usage between various demographic populations for counties including cities, towns, and rural areas. It was widely believed that using the Internet to engage in social media networking was expanding (Buratti, Parola, & Satta, 2018). The importance of including technology innovation in business strategy underscored the need for training to remain current and competitive (Ilona, Melmusi, & Pratiwi, 2019). The use of this technological innovation to fill social, economic, demographic and geographic gaps, had become a point of interest to scholar practitioners and policymakers in various disciplines (Huang, Yang, & Lee, 2017; Mukherjee & Hollenbaugh, 2019). Current studies focused on benefits to professional users indicated instruction to be a key factor (Huggins & Cunningham, 2019; Park, Sung, & Im, 2017). Literature has been added to uncover the needs of small business owners and their employee’s experiencing a new digital divide in learning social media marketing techniques and provide instructional guidelines for digital marketing strategies (Huggins, & Cunningham, 2019).
Al-khinji, Chen, and Eldabi (2019) attempted to define social media marketing and instructional needs they said were due to lack of resources, such as funding, time constraints, potentially negative perceptions, and they noted other barriers in technology adoption. When researching knowledge acquisition, Jumin, Ijab, and Zaman (2017) were able to assist B40 social entrepreneurs reach their customers more effectively by using high end metrics such as social media analytics; intended to support skill, networked knowledge, and social entrepreneurship. It was important to note, B40 entrepreneurs showed more motivation to implement and use social media tools in less developed geographical locations of the country. Sharma and Singla (2017) underscored the relevance of this research noting content for social media marketing was a new domain calling for further research and efforts to more clearly define what kind of digital divide actually existed. Their study clarified a need for learning strategies and supported the notion that the real digital divide is related to information and access to knowledge-building resources to effectively launch and maintain successful social media campaigns.
Huang et al. (2017) revealed similar trends, finding small and medium enterprises may have had difficulty competing with major businesses if they did not provide a unique value to customers. Their research supported the premise that entrepreneurs were facing a different set of challenges to compete. They insisted the domain called for an analysis of learning requirements in digital marketing strategy and clarified a need for more innovative, and perhaps collaborative, methods of learning to ensure further development of digital marketing knowledge. Park et al. (2017) supported the premise that digital marketing practices were vital for small business survival. They clarified this need by exposing a gap in knowledge of use, skill level, and access to instruction for small business owners and their employee’s attempting to create successful social media campaigns. Richmond, Rader, and Lanier (2017) offered similar evidence of a new digital divide as the reason more knowledge was needed by small business owners and their employee’s. They portended that finding out how to access training and resources to obtain information and knowledge needed to skillfully execute a social media campaign was determining where future research was deemed essential.
In addition, Morah and Omojola (2018) performed a study on how the use of social media platforms supported growth in small and medium scale enterprises (SME’s) using the diffusion of innovations and technology acceptance models, and descriptive survey research. Their outcomes showed significance in the development of entrepreneurship and increased visibility, while many business owners seemed to be oblivious to their value or needed more instruction to master digital marketing skills. And finally to clarify the question of access, Etlinger (2017) revealed not only a degree of bandwidth or access issues, but took a deeper look at the knowledge entrepreneurs had in digital marketing strategy, including their ability to read analytics. This supported the need for more information and training resources that may help entrepreneurs who endeavored to compete in the global economy.
Small business owners and their employees who needed to know digital marketing techniques to compete in the business world may have lacked the skills necessary to implement such techniques; impeding the launching and maintaining of social media campaigns, thus hindering them from reaching potential customers (Bhimani, Mention, & Barlatier, 2018; Ishak et al., 2018; Jumin et al., 2017; Sharma, & Singla, 2017; Thakur, & Hale, 2017). Fortin and Chen (2017) examined existing models for marketing instruction they deemed were unsustainable due to new marketing processes in the information age that small business owners and their employee’s failed to adopt quickly. Gaur and Anshu (2018) portended the value of social media was opportunistic for businesses and proclaimed further research was crucial to address instructional challenges in social media campaign marketing for entrepreneurs and their employees.
The problem was that there was an increased need for understanding what types of instruction small business owners and their employees needed in order to learn necessary skills to launch and maintain social media marketing campaigns. There was a gap in the literature between how small business owners and their employees received instruction that translated to skills needed to launch and maintain social media marketing campaigns. This need was underscored by Richmond et al. (2017) who claimed small business owners experienced a new digital divide that pointed to a lack of skills in online marketing strategies, and called for needed instruction rather than the lack of access to the Internet.
Purpose
The purpose of this qualitative study was to understand what types of instruction small business owners and their employees needed in order to learn skills to launch and maintain social media marketing campaigns. Kapoor, Tamilmani, Rana, Patil, Dwivedi, and Nerur (2018) reviewed evidences and outlined notable advances when they highlighted the evolution of social media research, where evidence found developing markets had their own set of issues, which underscored the need for instruction when attempting social media marketing. This instructional gap was supported by Ilavarasan, Kar, and Gupta (2018) who found emerging markets faced different challenges, that pointed to a need for more instruction when learning to conduct social media campaigns.
The purpose of this qualitative study was to understand what types of instruction small business owners and their employees needed in order to learn skills required to launch and maintain social media marketing campaigns.
What were small business owners and their employees’ instructional experiences in learning how to launch and maintain social media marketing campaigns?
What were small business owners and their employees’ instructional needs in learning how to launch and maintain social media marketing campaigns?
The purpose of this qualitative study was to understand what types of instruction small business owners and their employees needed in order to learn skills required to launch and maintain social media marketing campaigns. This research required a conceptual framework which involved understanding the dissemination of a new innovation by identifying the instructional needs of small business owners and their employees learning how to conduct social media marketing campaigns. Taiwo and Downe (2013) provided validity, which supported innovation adoption in the Unified Theory of Acceptance and Use of Technology (UTAUT) model, which was derived from previous seminal research such as; Social Cognitive Theory, Technology Acceptance Model, Innovation Diffusion Theory, and others. Additionally, the Technology Acceptance Model (TAM) was employed in this study to align new developments with future needs to improve instruction for the technological innovation of digital marketing. This researcher explored innovative approaches to instruction that converged with the need to help define better ways to teach how to leverage social networks and networked knowledge complimented by technology tools (Goldie, 2016).
A basic qualitative approach was used to investigate the instructional needs of small business owners and their employees learning how to launch and maintain social media marketing campaigns. Qualitative research was rooted in the methodology of seeking how people understand and interpret the world around them (Ravitch & Carl, 2016). Semi-structured interviews were conducted via Zoom technology application or phone with participants who owned a small business in Arkansas to understand what types of instruction small business owners and their employees needed in order to learn skills to launch and maintain social media marketing campaigns. Each interview was recorded, transcribed, and coded to decipher patterns and themes that emerged to understand what types of instruction small business owners and their employees required in order to learn necessary skills to launch and maintain social media marketing campaigns. According to Merriam (2009) basic qualitative studies were used to understand how people interpreted experiences, constructed their worlds, and the meaning behind their experiences. This approach was used to gain an understanding of the instructional needs of small business owners and their employees who were learning how to conduct social media marketing campaigns.
Social. Defined by Al-khinji et al. (2019) as being “devoted to, pertaining to or characterized by the friendly relationship or companionship” (Kietzmann, Hermkens, McCarthy, & Silvestre, 2011; Mangold & Faulds, 2009).
Media. Referred to mediums used to reach large audiences, such as radio, television, print (Kietzmann et al., 2011; Reuben, 2008).
Social Media. Defined as Internet-based technological applications focused on promotion of creative artifacts and the re-use of updated user-generated content that was exchanged in the process of making new connections between the content and the users who created it (Xu & Zhang, 2013).
Social Media. Re-defined by Kapoor et al. (2018) as being “made up of various user-driven platforms that facilitate diffusion of compelling content, dialogue creation, and communication to a broader audience (p. 537).”
User Generated Content. Shared on social media networks, content was “created by the people and for the people, and provides an environment that is conducive for interactions and networking to occur at different levels…for instance, personal, professional, business, marketing, political, and societal” (Kapoor et al., 2018, p. 537).
Social Media Networks. Considered to be a phenomenon for global markets with over two-thirds of the world population of Internet users visiting social networking or blogging sites, and accounting for a majority of time spent on the Internet with a minimum of 60% active social media users (Nielsen, 2016).
Social Media Marketing. The delivery of information for marketing via social media platforms, significantly recognized as one of the best methods to promote products and services (Hilal, 2018). Kim and Ko (2012) described the purpose of social media marketing as communication used to market, resulted in desired brand equity and a positive impact on purchasing decisions.
Social Media Strategy. A defined marketing plan for business that stated specific objectives procedures, target audience, and metrics to measure the outcome of social media campaigns (Ng, Wang, & Yu, 2013).
Digital Divide. Considered to be digital inequality for rural, as opposed to urban users of technology in the United States of America (Kruger & Gilroy, 2013).
Innovation. A term used to describe the way something is done, or an idea which is considered new by individuals or society (Lundblad, 2003). Pichlak (2016) said it is making or adopting new things, such as products, ideas, programs, services, technology, policies, new systems of administration, or structure.
Small Business.According to local, state, and national governments, as well as within the industry, had a definition that was continuing to evolve (Abitbol & Rook, 2020), however the Small Business Administration limited small businesses as having less than 500 employees, and microenterprises as having 10 employees or less with limited access to funding (Anastasia, 2015).
Web 4.0.Considered to be symbiotic interaction created between humans and machines that allowed for improved interface and performance (Aghaei, Nematbakhsh, & Farsani, 2012).
Small business owners and their employees demonstrated the need for instruction was a meaningful assumption for this study because, it was not certain how they learned or to what level they had accessed knowledge (Pechenkina & Aeschliman, 2017). There had been a critical assumption that consumers were passively receiving information via marketing and advertisements, however with the advent of Web 4.0, that paradigm shifted to consumers becoming active participants seeking out new information about products and services when making purchasing decisions (Hassan, 2018).
Another reason these assumptions were necessary in the context of this study was due to social media becoming a mainstream communication channel which has disrupted traditional media outlets (Muresan & Sinuraya, 2018). Lastly, it was assumed that social media had emerged as a dominant form of communication and digital means of marketing products and services, while 67% of users on the Internet actively engaged in social media, there were few who were knowledgeable about how digital marketing actually affected their brand, or how social media relationships supported marketing efforts, with positive word of mouth advertising (Mangold & Faulds, 2009; Mousazadeh, Eva, & Akbarzadeh, 2018).
The problem called for a need to understand what different aspects of instruction small business owners and their employees required in order to learn necessary skills to launch and maintain social media marketing campaigns. The focus of this study provided evidence of economic sustainability achieved by small business owners and their employees by acquiring the needed skills to be successful in social media marketing. The boundaries identified in this study were a specifically targeted population of businesses in Arkansas; a tourist-destination and rural region of the United States, zooming in on small businesses in the state. Business owners that did not use social media marketing were not included. Instructional needs were identified and an investigation of digital marketing strategies evaluated, without crossing into more narrowly-defined disciplines where analytics and the ability to translate their meaning were represented.
Theoretical alignment was limited to understanding the adoption and utilization of an innovation to achieve a defined objective. Conceptual framework that related best to the area investigated consisted of social media marketing for small businesses, instructional needs, experiences, perceptions, and the rate of adoption of an innovation; without measuring skill level or ability to read analytical data. Prior research indicated a gap in academic studies that recommend best practices for selecting and using analytical tools (Hamid, 2020). As for potential transferability, it might have been warranted to look into what others had learned in urban regions where they offered more networking in the way of meet-ups and small business incubators to present the latest in digital marketing tactics to support the growth of small businesses (Morah & Omojola, 2018). The results of this study were intended to inform future research to help identify instructional needs of entrepreneurs learning social media marketing.
The methodology used for this qualitative study involved open-ended interviews with 12-18 small business owners and their employees by phone and audio recording software. Interviews were scheduled with small business owners and operators actively engaged in social media campaigns during the period of time the study took place. Primary sources for information and original data was derived first hand from interviews with participants, while secondary sources including pertinent data was culled from research articles, reports and conference proceedings that were published in peer reviewed journals, on governmental and formal survey websites (Kumar, 2019). There were limitations involved in the small number of participants available to perform this research, because the scope of the study was initially focused on a rural area with a limited number of business owners and employees meeting the criteria of managing social media marketing for their business. In-depth data probing and exhaustive analysis were critical (Johnson & Christensen, 2019). Dependability in finding what knowledge was gained was accomplished by exploring how small business owners and their employees used social media to market their companies, what innovative uses they may have discovered that created successful social marketing campaigns to reach customers, and how learning technique may have been improved upon to support small business marketing education.
Limitations pointed to an instructional need that existed without knowing how small business owners and their employees learned, in order to identify how to develop better training opportunities. In lieu of gathering large amounts of data from a big dataset, this type of inquiry was intended to provide in-depth feedback to allow for an exhaustive means to analyze data, therefore producing a clearer picture of learning perceptions and experiences (Johnson & Christensen, 2019). Since the business owners and employees were the only source of data, there could have been limitations in having other sources of information, such as artifacts calling for content analysis, that allowed for additional perceptions and realities to be considered.
Personal bias was apparent in my background as a social media educator and consultant. It was imperative for me to keep personal opinions out of the research, allowing for each interview participant to divulge experiences and perceptions they had to report for this study. I had to practice professional distancing from the participants who were involved in the study. Equally important to note was the potential for bias on the part of the business owners due to their personal position in the community, company or industry bias, or preconceived bias about the subject matter, research being performed, or the researcher conducting the study.
Park et al. (2017) suggested business owner’s opinions and attitudes affected the overall diffusion of innovative digital marketing strategies. Being concerned about how to best instruct digital marketing strategy to help small business owners and their employees reach potential customers effectively had been proven to be crucial for business sustainability and had contributed to a healthy local economy (Bhimani et al., 2018). Small business owners and their employees needed to be taught current ways to learn, and use this innovation effectively to launch and maintain successful social media campaigns (Fortin & Chen, 2017). Practical application for this research was to further the development of professional practice for small business owners and their employees and involved having a clearer picture of what types of instruction they needed to learn social media marketing.
In summary, the background presented above provided research related to the discipline of instruction in social media for small businesses and described what future research was warranted. To reiterate; the problem was an increased need for understanding what types of instruction small business owners and their employees required in order to learn skills to launch and maintain social media marketing campaigns. The purpose of this qualitative study was to understand what types of instruction small business owners and their employees need in order to learn skills to launch and maintain social media marketing campaigns. The research questions were intended to help understand the instructional needs and experiences of small business owners and their employees learning how to launch and maintain social media marketing campaigns.
In the conceptual framework section, we reviewed factors and variables to be considered, defining categories by size of business, education level, instructional resources and concepts that determined failure or success for small business owners competing in a global economy. The nature of this study was qualitative in an effort to gain better understanding of the instructional needs of small business owners and their employees learning how to conduct social media marketing campaigns. In this chapter we defined the constructs to be explored, exposed assumptions about the need for instruction, queried about how small business owners and their employees learn social media, and lastly explored perceptions about the importance of digital marketing for small businesses.
This introductory chapter also defined the scope of the study, which is focused on instructional needs of small business owners and their employees learning how to launch and maintain social media marketing campaigns. Additionally, the location of the study, population, skills needed for digital marketing, and size of businesses that were actively implementing social media campaigns were reviewed. Limits of theoretical underpinning, as well as conceptual framework categories and concepts were noted. The transferability of the intended research as to whether it may generalize to larger urban environments with similar need for instruction to inform future studies, was also considered. Limitations in the chosen methodology, and potential bias of the researcher as well as participants were disclosed. Dependability of outcomes, and the need to ensure reliability of the findings were discussed. Then, I reviewed the significance of the outcomes, pointing to a need for instruction as the identified gap in research, which was intended to help educators know how to offer new ways for students to learn, and provide practical solutions for future practice.
In the following exhaustive literature review I was able to synthesize studies with regard to the related constructs and methodology chosen, in alignment with the scope of my study. A myriad of researchers in the domain of education, technology, and business were highlighted; and strengths and weaknesses of their approaches to this issue were explored. The phenomena under investigation was reviewed in an effort to describe what was currently known, what may be controversial, and what still needed further research. In the literature review I reviewed other studies related to my research questions to support the rationale for the approach selected for this study.
Instruction for small business was in need of upgrades due to marketing practices in the digital age involving new social media tools and resources (Kapoor et al., 2018). There were questions about what area of discipline would be appropriate to address instructional needs of entrepreneurs (Ilavarasan et al., 2018). There were no shortages of topics to learn within a huge variety of narrowly-defined subject matter, where agencies had specialized in target segments within the discipline of digital marketing (Al-khinji et al., 2019). Educators were currently faced with the issue of re-defining how to teach marketing strategies, while attempting to remaining current in digital marketing trends that were always changing (Huggins & Cunningham, 2019). While some social media instruction had been added to curriculum, educators agreed more knowledge was warranted. Additionally, education innovation researchers (Jordan & Lande, 2016; Rogers, 1995; Siemens, 2008) reminded that it is vital to ask questions about how instruction produces different results when applying technology.
The problem was an increased need for understanding what types of instruction small business owners and their employees required in order to learn the skills to launch and maintain social media marketing campaigns (Fortin & Chen, 2017; Gaur & Anshu, 2018; Richmond et al., 2017). The purpose of this qualitative study was to understand what types of instruction small business owners and their employees needed in order to learn skills to launch and maintain social media marketing campaigns. It was important to acknowledge evidence for a new digital divide that did not involve a lack in access for small business owners and their employees, but instead was based on the level of knowledge in the use of digital technology to market products and services (Richmond et al., 2017). Current literature presented in this review provided evidence that was relevant to small business owners and their employees taking on various challenges in accessing instruction for learning social media strategies to market their products and services (Bhimani et al., 2018; Ishak et al., 2018; Jumin et al., 2017; Sharma & Singla, 2017; Thakur & Hale, 2017). Scholars and practitioners had previously examined what methods existed for knowledge acquisition, documenting experiences and perceptions of entrepreneurs to ascertain what instructional needs were not being met (Fortin & Chen, 2017; Gaur & Anshu, 2018; Richmond et al., 2017).
The introduction of this chapter included a brief explanation of the literature search strategy used for this research; listing databases, search engines, and key word combinations of terms searched for the study. The next section of this chapter examined the source of theory along with appropriate assumptions related to the use of theoretical underpinning, including an analysis that was literature and research-based in how the theory had been utilized similarly in previous studies. Then a rationale for the choice in theory was provided, including an explanation of why the chosen theory related to the research questions and built upon assumptions of existing theory. The conceptual framework section attempted to define the concept of social media marketing for small business and synthesized primary sources shared by re-known theorists and philosophers whose work currently stood as evidence to explain and to advance research. Important aspects which existed in the framework were reviewed, with a description of previous uses of the constructs in other studies that called for more questions to be answered and directly applied to this study.
Next, the literature review section involved a discussion of study outcomes focused on concepts related to the subject matter and methods that supported the scope of this study; including an examination of approaches used by previous researchers, distinguished differences in similar outcomes and findings, then deconstructed the strengths and weaknesses of strategies and approaches, which served to justify rationale for the selection of concepts explored in this study. Followed up by a review of what was known from studies immersed in the phenomena, comparing and contrasting agreements and disagreements in the tradition of scholarly investigation. The literature review section clarified what was lacking in the current body of knowledge and synthesized the information into evidence that supported why the research questions were valid, and the chosen approach warranted. Finally, the summary concluded what was known and what was yet to be discovered in relation to the concepts associated with this topic. The summary described how this study fills the identified gap in research, which was intended to further knowledge in the domain of social media marketing education.
Resources that defined the scope of the literature review were accessed via web-based libraries and databases including: Academic Search Complete, Business Source Complete, EBSCO Discovery Service, ERIC (Education Research Information Center), Walden University Library, Google Scholar, ProQuest, and Sage Publications. Keywords used included: Social networking, small business, digital marketing instruction, networked knowledge, connected learning, small business and entrepreneurship, small business marketing instruction, social media marketing, social media marketing training, technology acceptance model. Ninety-three articles were selected for this literature review.
This search was completed as comprehensively as possible, including all resources related to instruction for social media marketing. Topics crossing boundaries in disciplines of education, information communication technology, and business were taken into consideration when search criteria was applied. Buratti et al. (2018) found twenty-six papers had been published in the last ten years, and thirteen more publications had been reviewed more recently by Kapoor et al. (2018). These scholars warned some research may have been limited due to the need to investigate social media concepts using studies regarded as sentinel models and theories, such as the Technology Acceptance Model (TAM) and Unified Theory of Acceptance in the Use of Technology (UTAUT), which were still considered to be in early stages of development.
This study explored innovative approaches to learning that converged with the need for knowledge, and attempted to help define new approaches in learning how to use social networks and networked knowledge complimented by technology tools (Cydis, 2015; Siemens, 2008). This epistemology helped narrow the separate paradigm of knowing knowledge (level) versus perceiving how knowledge was gained as was defined by our conceptual worldview; and defined the scope where networked knowledge appeared to be vital for digital literacy and survival. Justifying this belief to find whether this epistemology was true or not, depended on input from the users of the technology and resources that were current. Ontological factors and variables such as size of business, education level of owner or delegated employee, as well as marketing budget created categories and their relationships to concepts; determining failure or success in social media campaigns, which had been found to be increasingly important to small business owners and their employees who desired to compete successfully in a global economy.
The phenomena explored were instructional needs of small business owners and their employees who were learning how to launch and maintain social media marketing campaigns. This concept was defined by supporting evidence which showed a new digital divide, which indicated a lack of access to instructional opportunities (Richmond et al., 2017). This study verified benefits of using this conceptual framework, by monitoring the trends of academia and attempted to understand the concept of social media marketing for small business owners and their employees, which confirmed a need for instruction in digital marketing practices. Shang and Ghriga (2018) distinguished between social media and the three traditional media, contrasting criteria that included; social media allowed for interaction on the part of both receiver and deliverer of information, while making information available to a larger number of people simultaneously. They contended both businesses and their customers were directly connected; and, social media platforms were free networks to join, making social media channels cost effective for marketing, as well as a means of communication.
The existence of a new digital divide underscored a need for the use of new tools and means by which business owners communicated with their customers due to the shift in resources that were available with the advent of social media marketing. According to Bala and Verma (2018), it was critical for entrepreneurs to learn social media strategies that aligned with their business plan to achieve their goals. It was evident that they had to be willing to adopt this new innovation in order to learn how to launch and maintain successful social media campaigns. Foundational research theories for this conceptual framework consisted of UTAUT, Technology Acceptance Model TAM, and Connectivism. El-Masri and Tarhini (2017) extended the Unified Theory of Acceptance and Use of Technology (Taiwo & Downe, 2013), which was extracted by a team of researchers led by Venkatesh (Venkatesh, Morris, Davis & Davis, 2003) from earlier models that included theories that supported the conceptual framework of this study, namely: Social Cognitive Theory (SCT); Technology Acceptance Model (TAM), Innovation of Diffusion Theory (IDT). El-Masri and Tarhini (2017) indicated factors that related to business and the adoption rate of e-learning systems, and suggested that the study of acceptance in technological innovation use, could help uncover factors that impacted adoption rate, thus reducing costs for business owners.
The Technology Acceptance Model (TAM) was also in alignment with this study, because it could help describe how users adopted innovations, applying two factors that impact attitudes toward technology acceptance; perceptions of how useful the technology was and how the technology was being used. This framework directly supported why user behavior was a key factor in regards to how they were using technologies to facilitate, influence, and perhaps predict customer intention (Khadim, Hanan, Arhad, & Saleem, 2018). And, Connectivism offered a theoretical foundation from the perspective where teaching and learning may have been supported by technology to be better utilized, understood, and managed; when development and evaluation were applied. It was considered impossible to use one theory to explain any phenomenon involved with technology and networked learning. That is why it was vital to recognize the importance of instruction, as well as how teaching was approached, in networked learning environments online (Goldie, 2016; Siemens, 2008).
Logical and factual research revealed an instructional gap reported as a new digital divide, which was believed to be an accurate assumption (Pick, et al., 2019). Speculation that a digital divide for small business owners and their employees existed in rural regions could have been considered opinion, unless there were thorough investigations which distinguished this notion as a justified belief in the domains of education, technology, and business. Evidence-based findings by peer-reviewed researchers confirmed the validity and accuracy of results reported, and provided direction for future studies that were scholastically supported.
Themes that emerged in the literature included the need for instruction for small business owners and their employees learning social media marketing and the adoption rate of an innovation; layers uncovered in the documents involved a concept referred to as the new digital divide(Bala & Verma, 2018; Pick et al., 2019; Richmond et al., 2017), as well as social media marketing, experiences, perceptions, and needs of entrepreneurs facing this challenge; while subtopics considered were competition, sustainability, and global economy. Rowley and Keegan (2019) performed a critical assessment of literature in the domain of social media marketing, offered an agenda for future research, information to support best practices, and initiated further discussion using a systematic literature review approach.
Statistics showed 92% of businesses were marketing their products and services on the Internet and believed social media marketing was crucial to their success, while 80% believed social media marketing increased website visits; therefore a worthy investment for companies using digital marketing (Khadim et al., 2018). Facebook had been recognized as the leader in social media marketing worldwide (Patra, 2020; Sukrat & Papasratorn, 2018). Statista (2019) reported Facebook alone had 2.5 billion monthly users, with fifty million active users on business pages, and the Facebook advertising platform reported three million business users. Often it was true that small business users of social media are not aware of the increase in platforms globally, hence not realizing opportunities available to increase the visibility of their brand on a scale that was never achievable before the advent of digital marketing and the Internet (Vijay & Srivastava, 2019). Mukherjee and Hollenbaugh (2019) reported a gap between modern business practices and current curriculum to cover the issues and challenges faced by entrepreneurs when social media marketing.
This was a systematic literature review of studies related to instructional needs in social media marketing for small business owners and their employees, to understand perceptions and innovation adoption experiences. Constructs in alignment with the research questions of this study were social media marketing, instructional needs of small business owners and their employees learning digital marketing, and small business owner experiences. Methodology chosen for this study involved open-ended interviews of 12-18 small business owners and their employees by Zoom technology application or phone. These methods proved to be consistent with the scope of this study, by boundaries clearly identified as instructional needs of small business owners and their employees learning to use social media marketing, limiting measurements of success, skill, or ability to evaluate analytical data, hence the outcome of their efforts.
Williams and Hausman (2017) developed risk categorization, using a social media risk register, to assist organizations in learning how to assess risks and associated consequences of using social media to market their brands. Comparable to this study, these researchers used an interpretive approach and qualitative research design, and offered suggestions for policies in response to needs of small business owners and their employees. They employed coding to analyze outcomes and understand needs for risk management policies when strategizing digital marketing campaigns (Williams & Hausman, 2017).
Various strengths and weaknesses emerged and a better understanding in how scholar practitioners approached the problem; acknowledging how the adoption of social media marketing for small business had disrupted communication channels that had been relied upon by individuals, businesses, universities and governments for decades. Using these tools correctly was strongly agreed to lead to success in marketing products and services, and brand recognition (Ariff et al., 2018; Hilal, 2018; Muresan & Sinuraya, 2018). However a weakness exposed proved lack of knowledge in proper implementation, leading to incorrect use and reputation damage (Williams & Hausman, 2017). Identified strengths in the approach of social media studies related to small business adoption and involved a gap in instructional opportunities intended to boost brand exposure and additional avenues for promotion of products and services, while exposing weaknesses related to incorrect employment of social media marketing initiatives, which could damage the image of business who chose to embrace the technology by attempting digital marketing practices (Williams & Hausman, 2017).
Another weakness exposed by the research indicated a lack in learning opportunities for social media education according to a study in the domain of communication, where Mukherjee and Hollenbaugh (2019) reported that curriculums generally approached studies from relationship levels in society, rather than from a perspective of the financial impact of businesses, hence noting the practice being different than what is found in the classroom. They developed a pedagogical tool intended to engage learners, with a summary of potential effects of social media marketing on small business (Mukherjee & Hollenbaugh, 2019), and deemed factors which motivated users and practical implementation are reasonable topics for future studies. However, a gap existed for instruction without knowing how users currently learned, which would have allowed educators measures to identify and develop better training opportunities. A final weakness demonstrated in the research pointed to more diffusion of innovation studies needed, indicating slow adoption of technology due to perceptions which were negative regarding how useful social media could be for marketing purposes, as well as lack of time, money, and labor to ensure proper training took place to fill the gap of unfamiliarity with the new technology (Al-khinji et al., 2019).
The rationale for choosing the concepts of social media marketing, small business owner experiences and instructional needs, was based on other studies focused on the sustainability of small business, furthering the need for developing digital marketing training opportunities. In an empirical study, Patra (2020) found social media had a direct impact on business revenue and that affect was increasing, which was a compelling trend that supported this premise. Additionally, a study referred to as The Social Media Magnet (Huggins & Cunningham, 2019) reported shifting paradigms calling for inbound marketing education programs for professors to consider when teaching digital marketing strategy, to help them keep up with technology trends in education. Their contribution was a pedagogy for online delivery, updated regularly, offering new theory within a practicum for teaching college students strategies for digital marketing, including website development, tools and resources for social media, and email campaigns. This curriculum was recommended for academics who may not be current in digital literacy by utilizing recommended tools to develop skills holistically, from strategic and tactical perspectives (Huggins & Cunningham, 2019). An instructional gap existed without educators knowing how entrepreneurs currently learned; to identify and develop better training opportunities.
A review of studies related to key phenomena involving instructional needs and perceptions of small business owners and their employees when learning social media marketing exposed gaps in research providing instructional best practices for small business owners and their employees learning social media marketing tactics. There was much written on the positive impact of social media marketing for businesses in the digital age, however research was limited in current studies regarding how business owners learned digital marketing strategies, for further development of best practices in teaching and implementing social media marketing. There were numerous studies investigating the adoption of innovations and technology use, showing the adoption rate of social media marketing for small business survival had continued to increase (Ariff et al., 2018). For example, Ilona et al. (2019) performed a qualitative study to address a gap in knowledge to support social media adoption by small and medium enterprises (SME) in Indonesia. They utilized the Technology Organization Environment (TOE) model to show adoption of social media was determined by the context of technology, such as advantages, how compatible, complex and ability to trial and observe outcomes. They found users were more likely to adopt an innovation if they were open to the concept (Ilona et al., 2019). In addition, Mukherjee and Hollenbaugh (2019) performed the only study of its kind to learn the effects in how social media was being used for business, using fictitious case studies as examples, filling a gap for research to follow, and providing a pedagogy that business communication instructors could utilize to teach the future workforce of socially connected practitioners.
Studies related to the research questions of this work fell short in addressing instructional needs and experiences of small business owners and their employees learning to use social media. Reasons for chosen concepts stemmed from instructional needs and perceptions of small business owners and their employees, as were addressed in the research questions of this study. The approach of this study was meant to help fill gaps in the literature supporting instruction for small business owners and their employees learning to use social media marketing (Bhimani et al., 2018; Ishak et al., 2018; Jumin et al., 2017). Some studies focused on instruction of social media marketing in colleges, universities, and small business incubators; however, many were dated (Barton, 2019; Case & King, 2011; Cydis, 2015; McHaney, Warkentin, Sachs, Pope, & Ormond, 2015).
The number of global citizens who used the Internet had exceeded 4.54 billion, with 3.80 billion using social media platforms, spending close to 7 hours a day online (Datareportal, 2020). However, there were not many educational institutions reported that attempted to fill the gap in knowledge of digital marketing for small business owners and their employees (Huggins & Cunningham, 2019). From the perspective of potential students, the domain of digital marketing called for more skill in technology applications, which pushed the development of social media marketing principles to be addressed in practicum environments that allowed for collaborative learning (Malik, 2017). Future marketing managers needed learning experiences that were effective at creating knowledge for best practices in social media marketing; utilizing analytical data to evaluate outcomes, which was reported as a huge domain for future research in business and industry (Dammert & Nansamba, 2019). Malik (2017) identified instructional needs for digital marketing to include social media marketing knowledge as an effective means for positioning advertising campaigns on digital platforms, as well as ease in monitoring and tracking success.
Local Economy to Global Marketplace: Competition and Sustainability
Depending on the industry, the Small Business Administration defined small business as having 500 employees or less and limited access to funding (Anastasia, 2015). The sustainability of small businesses was important because they were the catalysts of local economies and represented 28 million (99.7%) of the companies in the United States, with 49.2% of employed individuals in the entire country (Small Business Administration, 2020) who could have benefitted greatly by utilizing social media for marketing. Henry (2019) found many small business owners and their employees struggled to compete in microenterprise with the innovative social media rich environment used for marketing in the digital age.
Studies continually reported the disruption of traditional communication channels, which created new means for disseminating information by social media marketing and building personal relationships with consumers who were also using the free platforms to connect, seek knowledge, and communicate (Lee, 2018). It was not clear how participants expected to gain knowledge and principles; other than in a connected environment of trusting individuals, business rivals, and other reputable companies, which assisted them in networked knowledge construction while exercising social media implementation (Henry, 2019). There was confirming evidence in user attempts to make sense of social media, in an effort to learn how to utilize its features, which had been believed to help achieve business goals. Additionally, Henry (2019) found entrepreneurs leveraged their knowledge of social media marketing and economic challenges, by defining markets they targeted to remain competitive.
How Entrepreneurs Learned to Use Social Media Marketing Techniques
The outcome of this study helped understand instructional needs and experiences of small business owners and their employees learning to use social media marketing; explored challenges and identified needs for digital marketing knowledge, and documented the experiences of small business owners and their employees launching and maintaining social media campaigns. Morah and Omojola (2018) used the Diffusion of Innovations and Technology Acceptance Models to provide descriptive research about small and medium enterprises in Nigeria, and found a great number of entrepreneurs were not aware of strategies employed to use social media to stimulate economic growth for their business. Huggins and Cunningham (2019) developed a pedagogy to teach digital marketing strategies, producing tech-savvy graduates to fill positions in firms that called for inbound marketing professionals. Small business owners and their employees had been reported to understand the challenge, however were uncertain about how to use social media and technology resources to boost their economic standing (Henry, 2019). There was uncertainty in how small business owners and their employees learned to use social media marketing, thus appropriate training methodology and potential avenues for instruction were also in question.
Training Methodology Based on How Entrepreneurs Learned
In alignment with practice, how small business owners and their employees learned to use social media marketing was not clearly understood. Mukherjee and Hollenbaugh (2019) presented a pedagogical tool designed to increase engagement for learners, and revealed how theory and practice were concepts that were not always in alignment in real world situations; however their studies showed social media marketing could have made a difference in business success. Huggins and Cunningham (2019) designed pedagogy to engage learners in methods for online delivery with systematic and timely updates, they added innovative theory and online interventions and taught students digital marketing tactics used in launching live campaigns. These methods of instruction were designed to help better understand how to improve training opportunities and learner experience.
Innovative technology had been a boon to small businesses that lacked traditional resources. Utilizing the infrastructure of free social media networking sites, provided unlimited opportunities to reach out to customers without a strain on financial budgets. Muresan and Sinuraya (2018) had proven the reliability and consistency of this notion with their outcomes that suggested the new digital divide is real, but pointed to the lack of access in training opportunities. They showed how important digital skills were for using the Internet to promote products and services, which have proven to be more beneficial than employing traditional media outlets and marketing mixes. They found the Internet to be a more effective way to target audiences and define demographics on many levels (Muresan & Sinuraya, 2018).
Perceptions
Social media marketing had been proven to have a significant impact on business success and scholars agreed that it was an important tool for small businesses to be able to listen, learn, and engage with their customers like never before, however Szymkowiak and Garczarek-Bąk (2019) deemed business owners to be skeptical in their use of innovative social marketing tools and resources. Al-khinji et al. (2019) also proposed the innovation to be unattractive to new users who might have been slower to adopt new technologies due to negative attitudes, which created barriers due to potential lack of resources, training, and basic unfamiliarity in use.
Adoption of an Innovation
There were no shortages of studies in the effectiveness of using social media for marketing purposes (Sanwariprasad, Prakash, & Quddus, 2020). Mukherjee and Hollenbaugh (2019) performed a pedagogical study on the sustainability of small businesses by using case studies that were fictional examples of typical scenarios of social media use. Nummela, Saarenketo, and Loane (2016) claimed small businesses often enjoyed flexibility and were more agile in their ability to navigate social networks, due to having fewer employees and stronger social connections that translated to highly innovative uses for new digital marketing channels. Business Process Management (BPM) studied the design of processes and activity sequencing, while innovation dissemination helped to understand processes as they unfolded, while keeping current with technological changes and the organization of systems (Mendling, Pentland, & Recker, 2020). Szymkowiak and Garczarek-Bąk (2019) found digital literacy was essential in overcoming resistance to any new technology, and that it was still unclear how online media use led to positive or negative long term effects when different ways of processing information versus time spent on social media were used.
The major themes found in the literature involved understanding small business owner needs for instruction in the domain of social media marketing, with clarification of perceptions and rate of adoption. Layers revealed in the research indicated a new digital divide in learning online marketing strategies, identified instructional needs, and uncovered how they learned by understanding their experiences. Subtopics identified included local and global economy, competition, sustainability, and future directions for digital marketing instructional opportunities. Related to instructional needs of small business owners and their employees learning to use social media marketing to promote their products and services, there were many studies that supported the need for digital literacy to produce effective outcomes. There was a gap in knowledge about how small business owners learned social media marketing techniques, which pointed to a need for instructional assessment and implementation of new methods for learning to use innovative marketing tools. Burattiet al. (2018) offered supporting evidence, and proclaimed that keeping up with the competition and pressure to adopt technological innovations has become more prevalent for business sustainability, hence causing business owners to reconsider their approach to management, communication, stakeholder interests, and how they deliver value.
The gap in literature this study filled in an effort to further knowledge and understanding in the domains of education, business, and technology was to understand the experiences and identify the needs of small business owners and their employees learning to use social media to launch and maintain successful marketing campaigns. Sukrat and Papasratorn (2018) contended future research was warranted to expand populations and generalize their business model to other environments and define maturity levels in social commerce. Pick et al. (2019) found rural users were behind urbanites by 10 percent, and pointed to social and economic influences and discrepancies in technology use for counties in the U.S. Their study was not able to provide statistics regarding social media adoption, but showed there were clearly different patterns in social media use in metropolitan regions in contrast to rural regions of the country.
In summary, it was believed traditional methods for advertising via print, radio, and television are in need of review due to new markets that have opened up with digital tools and communication channels (Subramanian, 2018). Bhimani et al. (2018) confirmed social media as a catalyst for innovation, and revealed behavior and perspectives about resources was the theoretical lens most commonly used in research. Finally, Hamid (2020) insisted that businesses needed a systematic way to adopt social media marketing as an advantageous means for marketing and communication, and called for the development of a framework for adoption, noting key performance measures for organizations who attempted to use social media marketing.
The purpose of this qualitative study was to understand what types of instruction small business owners and their employees need in order to learn skills to launch and maintain social media marketing campaigns. This chapter described the research design and rationale for the study, with a review of my role as the researcher. In the methodology section, there was information regarding participant selection and instrumentation used in this study, taking into consideration how content validity was established and how the research questions were addressed. Following that procedures for recruitment, participation, and data collection were explained. This section concludes with full disclosure on issues of trustworthiness acknowledged in conducting this research.
The research questions to be answered were derived from the current literature that identified instructional gaps that exist for business owners and their employees learning how to use social media to market products and services.
What are small business owners and their employees’ instructional experiences in learning how to launch and maintain social media marketing campaigns?
What are small business owners and their employees’ instructional needs in learning how to launch and maintain social media marketing campaigns?
Central concepts to this study involved social media marketing for small business owners and their employees, and emphasized the phenomenon of how they learn, to improve instruction in digital marketing for entrepreneurs. In performing this qualitative study we have attempted to understand experiences, needs, and perceptions of small business owners and their employees learning to use social media marketing, in an effort to fill a gap for more research to clarify the dissemination of an innovation that is designed to support the local and global economy (Szymkowiak & Garczarek-Bąk, 2019). Current literature supported the need for a systematic approach to instruction, and called for a framework to understand the adoption rate of social media marketing, to know how small business owners and their employees learned; which provided the rationale for this tradition and served stakeholders in a positive way (Hamid, 2020). My knowledge and experience in education technology and digital marketing strategy assisted to create an effective interpretation of the perceptions participants expressed, to help understand how they learned and what experiences they had in launching and maintaining social media campaigns.
As an observer in this study my role as the researcher required eligible participants had no personal relationship with me; defined as contact with the participants outside of the research. A professional relationship may have existed, particularly when the invitation to be involved in the interview process was extended by myself in the role of a researcher. That alone could have triggered a power over participant relationship, due to a potential need to please the requester with information that could be skewed or exaggerate the benefits or challenges in their experience of implementation. Descriptive bracketing was implemented to allow me as the researcher to keep personal assumptions and opinions to myself, to be unencumbered to look objectively at what was externally supposed in the study, and to ascertain the essential meaning reported about the phenomenon experienced by participants (Gearing, 2004). To curb the potentiality of bias, very little communication between the participants and the researcher had taken place, outside basic information regarding the study and the process for their participation; stressing the importance of honest and exact information offered by them in their answers.
Ethical issues taken into consideration involved the approach taken to invite participants to be interviewed in the study, how much contact and communication were allowed to take place without causing affinity or judgement on the part of the participant when answering questions in the interview. The plan to address this issue was to have an invitation in the form of a flyer disseminated via mail or electronic messaging to allow for transparency of the researcher. Once invitations were accepted, formal written communication followed, with very little personal contact and verbal communication as possible. I was considered an outside researcher interested in helping the local economy by providing feedback and evaluation for the betterment of the community. Equally important to note, was that I owned property in this state, and had my own interests and preferences in doing business and meeting needs. These interests and agendas remained confidential, with little to no knowledge on the part of the respondents as to my personal background and geographic origin. The participants were only made aware of my professional background in social media marketing, education, and instruction.
Methodology of this research involved a system of methods used for studying focal points, such as small business, social media and digital marketing; and concepts include experiences, perceptions, and rate of adoption. The scope for this work involved social media marketing for small businesses, training and instruction needs, perceptions, adoption of an innovation, and skill level. It was unknown how much small business owners and their employees actually valued social media; this study was bound by the experience and knowledge of participants, however did not pursue inquiry of their use and interpretation of analytics.
The methodology used for this study involved open-ended interviews with 12-18 small business owners and their employees by Zoom technology application or phone. The approach for this study involved creating qualitative research and emphasized social media marketing for small business to understand the experiences and reveal instructional needs of entrepreneurs. I utilized qualitative research design with open-ended interviews as a means for collecting data, to investigate strategies used to market products and services with social media tools. The interviews generally did not exceed 1 hour, depending on how much information each individual was willing to divulge. Prepared questions about their experiences were provided, which allowed each respondent to describe perceptions, approaches, and outcomes of what they currently knew about digital marketing strategies. The conversation audio was recorded to ensure no data was lost, and to be able to refer back to transcriptions to verify results reported in the final outcomes and conclusion of this study.
Participants involved in this study were comprised of small business owners and their employees located in Arkansas who had been using social media strategies to market their products and services prior to and during the course of this study. The criteria for selecting applicants required they:
Owned or was an employee of a small business located in Arkansas
Offered products and services locally, and/or globally
Had experience conducting social media campaigns
Nonprobability sampling was in alignment with this research, due to the nature and purpose of this qualitative study, which was to understand what types of instruction small business owners and their employees needed in order to learn skills to launch and maintain social media marketing campaigns. Purposeful sampling selection was employed due to the small-sized population (Elfenbein & Schwarze, 2020). Purposeful sampling was also a useful method, to answer questions the researcher had in mind for a purpose, which was in alignment with the research questions to help understand small business owner experiences and perceptions about social media marketing strategies. Should there have been too little of a sampling yield, convenience sampling was applicable, due to potential participants being situated in a near proximity to the researcher collecting the data (Clarke & Braun, 2020).
There were a limited number of entrepreneurs doing business in Arkansas, especially in the rural regions, which limited the scope of the study by narrowing down constructs to fit a finite number of small business owners and their employees actively launching and maintaining social media marketing campaigns while this study was being conducted. The method for ensuring criteria was being met, involved reviewing criteria within the letter of consent to participate in the study. The criteria was small businesses owned and operated by individuals who were living and doing business in Arkansas at the time of the study. The definition of small business according to the Small Business Administration (2020), depended on the industry, and had a maximum of 250 employees or maximum of 1,500 employees and a maximum of $750,000 to $38.5 million in annual income.
Justification for the small sample size was found in the availability of participants and placed emphasis on quality data analysis and resources that were available, such as time and number of small businesses that qualified (Farrugia, 2019). It was important to qualify participants at the onset of the research (Lester, Cho, & Lochmiller, 2020). Business owners were considered to have met the criteria outlined in the invitation and supported by the Small Business Administration definition (2020). Since there were no local networking organizations willing to partner with my study, I researched and systematically reached out directly to small business owners. A qualified participant met the eligibility requirement if they owned or were a delegated employee of a small business located in Arkansas; and had conducted social media marketing campaigns for their company.
The number of participants required was targeted at 12-18 small businesses, due to the size of the state and total number of businesses that potentially existed. Procedures to identify participants involved an assessment of small businesses listed on the local Chamber of Commerce websites, followed by visiting potential business websites verifying the use of social media to market their business. This initial assessment created a qualifying list of potential business owners, whereby several consented to being interviewed. The businesses on the qualifying list were sent an invitation to join the research to be interviewed about their social media marketing experiences. They were further recruited by a follow up request and consent form.
To confirm a relationship between the sample size and saturation, snowball sampling was utilized in a final effort to get valid responses from as many owners as possible to gather data from a large enough population for saturation to take place (Clarke & Braun, 2020). Particularly when snowball sampling, it was important to be sure credible referrals matched the criteria required to be eligible and helped to qualify each participant and bound the case study (Yin, 2017). It was important to qualify participants that were required to meet specific criteria used to define their status as a small business owner who actively implemented social media campaigns at the time the study was conducted.
The instrument used to collect data for this research was recorded interview protocol, using open ended questions to receive input during about a 60 minute long meeting via Zoom technology application or phone. Other instruments included: the researcher, an invitation to participate in the study, a consent form, interview questions, and a thank you letter. The source of information was derived from interviews with small business owners and delegated employees who had experience in launching and maintaining social media campaigns to marketing their products and services.
To evaluate the experiences and instructional needs of small business owners and their employees learning to use social media marketing it was sufficient to ask them to disclose what they knew, to learn directly from their experiences and attitudes about what form of instruction might have helped them overcome challenges associated with digital marketing education. Qualitative research was designed to draw out deep perceptions and rich data, after which a complete analysis takes place with coded interpretations that tend to be far more accurate than a general survey of variables and concepts (Gill, 2020). This approach was best for focusing on the experiences and needs of my participants, and gave them a chance to describe the phenomena in a study that was bounded. A better understanding of the perceptions small business owners and their employees’ experience when implementing social media campaigns was derived by phenomenological interpretation, focused on the attitudes and opinions of a few respondents, verses vague feedback from a large group of individuals (Elfenbein & Schwarze, 2020). Followed by member checking to provide transferability and to be able to generalizable outcomes to similar settings where entrepreneurs and their employees were struggling with accessing instruction for using tools and resources available on social media networks.
An invitation was created for potential respondents by myself for recruitment purposes. The invitation was created by the researcher to outline the goal for the study to be accomplished, and provided a disclaimer stating the study was to be objective as possible, and that the researcher was to remain transparent throughout the process. This invitation also provided a brief explanation of what the research study was about, and what role they would play by offering information about their experiences in learning how to conduct social media campaigns. As interested persons responded to the invitation, they received more detailed instructions about the interview process and were given choices for preferred interface for their personal interview, including the time, date, location, and expected duration of the interview. It was re-emphasized that interview audio would be recorded.
For all meetings I recommended a private, comfortable, and secure environment and began by reassuring them that confidentiality was to be adhered to at all times, explaining that their identity would remain confidential throughout the process of their involvement, followed by a review of security measures that were strictly followed. The informed consent form contained a review of study criteria, along with a confirmation of their commitment, date, time, and instructions to access their interview. It also provided contact information for myself and the Research Participant Advocate at my university should they have needed to address any issues or concerns.
The interviews contained open ended questions and were structured to take no more than 1 hour, depending on how much information participants were willing to provide. I implemented 12 interviews for this case study, using purposeful sampling at the onset, moving to convenience sampling to achieve the number projected, and following up with snowball sampling to locate more participants as needed to ensure saturation (Clarke & Braun, 2020).
The first research question asked about small business owner experiences in learning how to launch and maintain social media marketing campaigns. This interview was conducted using open-ended questions to help participants recall and share needs they had been confronted with, including how they dealt with issues and met challenges during the process of learning social media marketing strategies. The data was collected from interviews with participants, by myself, the author of the research study.
One main interview with each participant, of no more than 60 minutes in length took place in the study. The interviews were recorded via audio recording software for transcription purposes during the analysis phase of the study. These measures took place with security and safety protocol in mind at all times when handling the data.
The second research question identified instructional needs in how they learned to launch and maintain social media marketing campaigns. The data was collected from semi-structured interviews with participants, by myself, the author of the research study. One main interview of no more than 60 minutes in length took place in the study. Finally, the information was recorded via audio recording software and a backup recording was made for redundancy; with security and safety protocol in mind at all times when handling the data. Should there had been too few participants to achieve saturation, the number of respondents might have had to be reduced to fit the finite number of businesses located in this region of the country.
For debriefing, participants were released from the study after a final exit section on the script during the interview process. This process took place at the end of the interview scheduled with each participant by formal member checking, giving ample time to provide any information that might have been necessary and help the participant understand how they will receive information about the outcome of the study, as well as answer any questions they may have had about their participation in the study. Each exit interview concluded with the final assurance of security measures taken and the observance of confidentiality of all the information they provided for this study. Then, I personally wished them success for their business and in using social media marketing in the future to promote their products and services via the Internet. Follow up procedures implemented thereafter involved sending thank you gift cards and/or contacting the participant formally to provide additional information, such as clarification to give answers to previous questions they may have had about their participation, questions about the purpose of the study, or outcomes that may affect them. A condensed final draft and outcomes of the study was made available to all participants, and the general public, through educational institution communication channels, local business networking organization publications, as well as local news outlets electronically or in print.
Data collection instruments are essential tools used to address the research questions in a study (Hollin et al., 2020). Interview protocol was employed in this study, with complete confidentiality and full disclosure to increase the credibility of the findings. To maintain the integrity of the data, accuracy was achieved by using audio recording software for transcribing the interview contents, which allowed for the ability to member check the outcomes reported, and provided a backup of each recording for redundancy. Software was used for recording and coding the interview content. Discrepancies were noted, addressed, and documented to account for potential misinformation being reported in the study.
A period of six months was used to allow enough time for interviews and follow up interviews to take place. A brief period before and after each interview was allotted for introductions and logistical acknowledgments, taking special care to make certain the respondents were comfortable and able to function well in the interview setting. I reviewed interview protocol and announced when the interview and audio recording began. The interviews were structured with an introduction to explain the purpose of the study, reviewing previous knowledge or background information that might have helped to provide context to the research goals, with a review of research questions. Closing each interview with an invitation for the participant to ask any questions they might have had about the study, offering them a copy of the findings when complete. Finally, thanking them for their participation and following up with a written acknowledgement of appreciation. In addition, it was important to organize a section for notetaking, where I recorded personal observations I might have had as the researcher, as well as insights or additional knowledge that might be pertinent; such as tones, feelings, physical observations, ideas, impressions, expressions, or non-verbal cues. This tool was used for reflection and was utilized to document any personal judgements; consciously using bracketing to reduce bias.
Case numbers for participants and an alphanumeric system to ensure the confidentiality of small business owners and their employees participating were employed. I locked the data in my cell phone and on my computer, which required password authentication; I am the only person to have access to these credentials. Hard copies were stored in a locked cabinet that only the researcher could access, and paper files will be destroyed after seven years, by shredding and disposing of them properly.
As researcher of the study, I qualified as a primary data collection instrument (Mays & Pope, 2020), because my background in social media education and marketing were used to guide in the process of identifying how knowledge is constructed by small business owners and their employees learning to use social media as a marketing tool. It was equally vital to use other instruments to access a bulk of the data by conducting semi-structured interviews until information gathered became redundant and saturation was achieved. Organizing the data, coding, identifying themes that were common to the study, then interpreting and processing that data to disclose results was conducted with focused attention to detail. Key themes were identified first, then common themes, patterns, and layers were documented.
Coding the information allowed for themes to emerge and patterns to be identified, which added to the credibility of outcomes (Cope, 2020). It was vital to gather data in chucks, to use descriptive coding and merge subcategories, to achieve a deep understanding of the information derived from the interview process. There was a requirement to seriously reflect on the data analyzed and allow for the most accurate interpretation as possible. A matrix was created to organize data, note observations, and present findings. Discrepancies were noted and mitigated with rigor to align information derived from qualified evidence and outcomes were determined by the most credible sources of data.
This section outlined the ways trustworthiness was addressed to support the credibility of this qualitative research study, concluded with my approach for the ethical treatment and observation of the rights of participants throughout the process. Transparency in the role of the researcher was vital to achieve fairness and accuracy in outcomes (Alt, 2019).
Verifying internal credibility and validity of the findings was established by member checking, saturation, and bracketing on the part of the researcher to achieve exactness in intended meanings of themes represented in the outcome (Richard, 2020). It was crucial to invite participants to share additional information and to ask questions, to gain their approval to use what had been acquired from the interview process. Saturation occurred once the interviews began to duplicate answers and were in agreement with the findings represented. The researcher practiced bracketing by allowing the participants to review and offer suggestions based on their perspective, being cautious to remain objective, carefully facilitating the process. Peer review also determined support or denial in the credibility of the findings.
To sustain the transferability of outcomes and external validity, it was necessary to have feedback to provide thick descriptions during the interview process, which were solicited upon completion of each interview as warranted. This was a form of member checking used to verify whether the findings were consistent with the intended meaning of the information collected (Carlson, 2010). Should participants have displayed bias in changing information in the member checking phase, that was noted in an effort to curb skewing of results in response to personal agendas. Again, the researcher provided a consent form for participants who agreed to be interviewed to articulate the critical need for honesty; and, a reminder that they could stop participation of their own free will or withdraw from the study at any time.
To establish dependability and reliability of information and outcomes it was necessary to document everything to be accurate in reporting data without any errors or misrepresentations. I iteratively asked the questions and reviewed the answers to ascertain whether the answers were consistent was one strategy to check for accuracy. Using personal narratives from several interviews at different times allowed for a variety of perspectives, while also setting standards and scope to compare data gathered. As the researcher, I was constantly expecting challenges for dependability analysis (Morozov, Vock, Ding, Voss, & Janschek, 2019) due to complex components, and more importantly for this research, behavioral objectives, which explained operational modes and differing perspectives.
Strategies to establish confirmability involved the elimination of any researcher bias, by using only information garnished in the context of the study by member checking to document any deviation from accurate interpretation of information derived from interviews to determine whether the outcomes were in agreement to understand how they learned social media marketing. Reflexivity required a mutual understanding between the researcher and participants, consciously observing and paying particular attention to any preconceived notions or bias that may have existed in an effort to remain objective throughout the process (Whitaker & Atkinson, 2019). Overall, transparency was strictly observed in the process of gathering data.
For integrity in gathering the data, ethical procedures were utilized to gain access to participants and gather data for this research effort. The Walden University Institutional Review Board (IRB) documents verified permissions and approvals that were required to conduct this study. These documents reflected the intention of the researcher to adhere to strict guidelines about the treatment of human participants during the recruitment and data collection process (Head, 2020). Concerns and how they will be addressed were outlined in these documents, including refusal or early withdrawal from the study, or any other incident that could have potentially occurred during contact with participants. Treatment of participants who chose to withdraw was the same as those who remained active, with all due respect and integrity. Data was stored digitally on my computer hard drive and cell phone with password authentication necessary to obtain access. Research files were saved for seven years, after which digital copies will be deleted from the hard drive of my computer and phone; while paper copies stored in a locked file cabinet and after seven years shredded and disposed of properly.
Treatment of data, issues, and archival concerns were addressed according to the steps taken to monitor confidentiality and security measures (Corti, Van den Eynden, Bishop, & Woollard, 2019). The subjects remained confidential throughout the entire process and protections taken to ensure the data remained secure, which involved data storage protocol that was widely accepted by using secure password authentication to access data, that only the researcher could use. After member checking was used to verify the accuracy of the data, it was then organized and disseminated by the researcher as required.
To ensure there is was no conflict of interest, it was necessary for me to remain as transparent as possible throughout the process (Head, 2020). It was critical to protect and store all of the information to ensure the confidentiality and security of data was not compromised in any way (Corti et al., 2019). Power issues that could have arisen involved my position as a business owner owning property in the same state as the participants, while implementing this research project. Professional distancing was encouraged to create a barrier for little to no personal information to be shared with the participants of the study. There was incentive to participate in the study to encourage interested persons in being a part of the project, without requiring anything in return after their participation in the interviews.
This study was initiated to understand the experiences of small business owners and their employees learning to use social media marketing to identify instructional needs that may have existed. These elements adequately covered the nature and scope of this study, which rendered quality data to be collected and achieve effective qualitative outcomes (Johnson, Adkins, & Chauvin, 2020). There were numerous studies that supported entrepreneurs and their employees using social media to market their products and services, however a limited body of knowledge existed for determining how they learned digital marketing practices, what challenges they faced, and what instructional needs were not being met. It was essential to know how they learned, to develop guidelines to succeed in launching and maintaining social media campaigns for small business. In summary, alignment between the research questions, phenomena under investigation and approach to this research was presented, and my role as the researcher with intended transparency in collecting and analyzing data was reported. Finally, the process for selecting participants was reviewed and issues of trustworthiness were examined. The results of this research will be explored in the next chapter.
The purpose of this qualitative study was to understand what types of instruction small business owners and their employees needed in order to learn skills to launch and maintain social media marketing campaigns. The research questions were as follows:
What were small business owners and their employees’ instructional experiences in learning how to launch and maintain social media marketing campaigns?
What were small business owners and their employees’ instructional needs in learning how to launch and maintain social media marketing campaigns?
The following chapter contains results of the study including information regarding the setting at the time the study took place, demographic data was discussed, data collection methodology, as well as any variations in data collection from the plan were described, unusual circumstances were divulged, then an analysis of the data was presented, all evidence of trustworthiness clarified, and finally the results were reported.
Setting
The setting for this qualitative study was focused on small businesses located in Arkansas, which had repeatedly ranked as one of the poorest economies in the United States. The researcher began data collection in Newton County, which continued to rank in the top 100 poorest counties in the U.S. Census. A need for broadening the scope occurred due to lack of willing participants to take part in the study. Hence, there was a necessity to broaden the scope of the study to include small businesses located in cities. Respondent contact information was found via the local Chamber of Commerce website directory, and they were initially contacted by phone. Upon consent, the interviews took place on a recorded phone call, which were transcribed and coded following each interview.
The COVID global pandemic had a great role to play in almost all of the respondents’ experience in learning to use social media marketing in the past year the study took place. Each participant reported challenges, which some utilized as opportunities. Input regarding the effects of the pandemic on their business spanned from “no, not at all….I was closed for about a month when it first happened” to “we were considered essential”. There were reports of “slowing down”, because of the uncertainty of what was going to happen. Extreme challenges and opportunities reported were wide ranging from, “The pandemic nearly caused me to go bankrupt.”, to “We had a total change of business when the pandemic hit. At first it was curbside and local delivery only. We had to build an online ordering platform”. Evidence of the forced need to adopt technological innovations to survive the pandemic was represented.
A majority of the interviewees reported having conducted hundreds of social media campaigns for their company. The number of employees ranged from 1 to 500, and they reported being in business from 2 years to 102 years. All of the respondents had a high school education, most had attended college and one reported graduate work obtaining a Master’s Degree. A majority of the participants were female, and their ages ranged from 20 to 66 years-old, with the mean average being 38 years-old.
Data collection involved requesting approval from the IRB at my university to make sure that the methods used to collect data were in alignment with best practices and ethical. After the initial approval from the IRB to collect data, I sent an invitation flyer electronically to businesses listed on the local Chamber of Commerce website. The flyer was distributed via each business Facebook page on Instant Messenger. After virtually no replies from any of the invitations, I inquired with one of the businesses and found out they had not received a message from me. I followed up with another business I had reached out to and realized the invitations I had sent were being blocked by Facebook as spam. At that point, there needed to be a change in the method for contacting participants. This required a request for a clarification in procedures to the IRB for review. This also involved expanding the scope of the study to include other counties and larger cities, due to lack of enough willing participants in the rural areas, to make sure there would be a large enough sample population to complete data collection. After IRB approval, a call out campaign followed and I was able to gain consent from enough participants to complete the process. Once consent forms were received via email an interview was scheduled with each respondent.
Data was collected from 12 recorded interviews with participating business owners or their designated employees. Each interview was conducted via telephone call, and each participant was aware they were being recorded. The interviews lasted less than one hour and were recorded via a software application installed on the researcher’s cell phone. In a rural areas of Arkansas, there were two respondents. After very little response from rural areas, the scope was broadened to include cities in Arkansas. This greatly increased the potential population, allowing for the rest of the interviews needed to saturate and for the data to be confirmed. Snowball sampling was instrumental in finding participants willing to be interviewed. The final number of interviews was 12. The interviews were recorded, transcribed, and coded by the researcher. Notes were taken during the interviews, which were referred to during the analysis and interpretation of the results to double-check for correct comprehension and make note of discrepancies, pointing out potential errors uncovered in the final data. With repetitive reading, key themes emerged, patterns and layers were revealed, and sub-categories merged to help make sense of the data collected. [HP3]
Variations from the initial plan in the data collection phase included the need to begin with direct calls to contact potential interviewees instead of sending a flyer electronically. The scope was broadened to include businesses in the entire state. An email request to the IRB was made to ask for permission to implement the follow up method of contact and to clarify the scope of the study. The entire data collection phase took longer than intended due to the inability to secure interview participants via social media platforms. No back up was made on the researcher’s laptop, because the recording/transcription software provided backups. It was necessary to add “and their employees” to all mention of “small business owners”, because oftentimes an employee was delegated to do social media marketing for the business. And, no follow up interviews were necessary, since member checking and the exit interview process occurred at the end of each interview.
An unexpected an unusual circumstance encountered in the data collection phase was the lack of response from participants invited to join the study. Initially, the plan was to send invitations in the form of a flyer to the business social media page. After a length of time and no response, I began to follow up as approved in my plan with businesses and learned they were not receiving the invitations via social media platform, which were apparently being blocked as spam. I modified the recruitment procedures to verify contact may be made via email or phone call. After proper approval from the IRB to continue data collection and making required adjustments, a call-out campaign was initiated to secure participants. When they expressed interest, an email consent form was delivered to receive approval from each participant and an interview was scheduled.
At the onset of the data analysis process manual coding was employed. Narrative analysis was used to hear common words that described experiences that helped understand the input received which had an effect on the overall outcome of the study. Key themes began to emerge during coding of the transcripts, such as “instruction, learning, and innovation”. Thematic analysis was employed by studying the word clouds and being able to understand the concepts with limited sentence structure. Utilizing word clouds helped analyze and decipher common themes as they began to repeat and became clearer, such as “people, platforms, and the process of adopting a new innovation”. It was common to see hierarchical frames emerge to help organize the codes. Conceptual development was focused on themes, and then these concepts grew to represent broader categories including, “self-taught, business survival, and economy”.
Prior to data collection I had applied deductive coding methods to predefine a potential set of codes that might be assigned in the qualitative data analysis process. Original codes created were, “small business, diffusion of an innovation, and technology acceptance”. After data collection, inductive coding was essential, due to themes and patterns that were revealed during the process of analyzing the data. Over-arching themes that emerged were, “instruction, innovation, social media, small business, challenges, strategy, COVID”. Layers that were relevant to the study included “challenges”, which led to “instructional needs” and “business”, which indicated a “strategy” was needed. Descriptive coding involved reading the transcripts and color-coding phrases to identify themes and visualize patterns in the findings. Merging subcategories and reflecting on the outcome, revealed challenges that created a need for instruction, which manifested in the form of strategies created to achieve successful marketing campaigns.
Toward the end of the data collection process, the recording software performed an upgrade and began using AI (artificial intelligence) to transcribe the recordings. Hence, the transcriptions for the last two interviews may have been considered discrepant cases because they were noticeably different in the way they were presented, and often translated. It was obvious to a reader that some sentences did not make sense as they were transcribed with incorrect grammar and punctuation. For instance, “I did that for ten years actually end up without any formal. Education often the social media director for a large…” These issues were factored into the analysis, making necessary adjustments by reviewing the audio recording to verify what was being said in the written version of the interview, and to correct any grammar or punctuation errors until a clear understanding of the information that matched the audio recording was verified.
The two cases that potentially contained discrepancies in the transcription recordings were carefully monitored to make sure the transcriptions reflected the meaning behind the audio recorded answers. Major issues were identified and corrections were made to improve the validity of the findings. Another interesting outcome from these discrepant cases worth noting, was that the last two interviewees were from businesses located within the largest city in the study. These two interviews contained information that involved more digital strategies, which were outside of the scope of this study; reporting successful outcomes using analytics for enterprises in their metropolitan area. These interviews also reflected self-education and how early adoption of a new innovation potentially equates to success.
Connelly (2016) reiterated the need for rigorous methods of research to support confidence in the data, straight-forward interpretation of the findings, and overall methods that are employed in qualitative research must show evidence of trustworthiness. It is critical that quality research studies include clearly written procedures and that a protocol is set, in order to deem the research as worthy for consideration to be read by scholars and practitioners. The following constitutes the steps taken in this research study to make sure the data collection, interpretation of the findings and reporting methods were trustworthy.
Strategies used to establish credibility in the implementation of this study involved member checking, saturation, and bracketing on the part of the researcher. This was the initial plan, and was virtually how the research unfolded. After each question and at the end of the interviews, participants were asked to check for any errors and encouraged to ask questions. There was significant evidence of saturation in the answers as the study continued to build momentum. The use of bracketing on the part of the researcher was apparent in keeping the conversations on course, limiting small talk or deviation from the interview script. An interview script was used to make sure that the same format and questions were used in each interview for uniformity. There were instances where more probing was required to obtain thick descriptions and obtain more detailed answers from respondents.
The implementation of transferability was consistent with the original idea of sustaining external validity. According to Findley, Kikuta, and Denly (2021) external validity provides correlation between a study sample size and addresses the potential to apply the outcomes to similar settings with broader target populations. My research mirrored this comparison by filling a need to widen the scope to include metropolitan areas. The answers derived from the interviewees in larger cities were similar to their rural counterparts, which allowed for saturation to be detected in the answers. Additionally, there was a conscious effort put forth to create a safe environment for respondents to offer thick descriptions, using member checking to make sure the researcher was understanding the answers correctly, by repeating the main point in the answers back to the participants to verify the outcomes.
Consistent strategies used in implementation to establish dependability and reliability of the outcomes were maintained by following protocol to document everything for accurate reporting. Visualizing the outcomes to test for dependability was evident in the spreadsheets generated in the coding phase of data analysis to avoid discrepancies that would appear more frequent and be detected (Kabir, 2017). Iteratively asking questions and reviewing answers to check for accuracy, while allowing for a variety of perspectives due to complex components, was critical when meeting challenges for dependability analysis in the data collection phase.
Strategies to establish and maintain confirmability in the findings were followed as planned by eliminating bias and member checking for any deviation from accuracy in the interpretation of the information received. Applying reflexivity and consciously observing potential bias in an effort to remain objective and transparency were strictly observed in the process of gathering data. Gearing (2004) recommends bracketing to minimize bias and confirm objectivity, which was applied by member checking, reflecting on the data collected, and making notes to document any potential bias.
In an effort to understand what types of instruction small business owners and their employees needed to learn skills to launch and maintain social media campaigns, I asked a series of questions to learn about the instructional experiences and instructional needs they could report in detail. To achieve thick descriptions, respondents were further probed to share any challenges, strategies, recommendations, and benefits in using social media to market their business. The answers to these categorical questions were noted and organized in a color-coded spreadsheet to detect themes and patterns effectively, and to report the findings accurately. Those categories were addressed as follows:
A common notion was, “It’s constantly changing”. Other challenges mentioned were limitations due to size of the company, creating content, design, having a clear goal, knowing your target demographic, and no experience. One participant noted, “I couldn’t find anything online that was helpful; there’s no instructions”. Another pleaded, “I’m very technology-challenged; it shuts me down emotionally so that I just won’t touch it”.
Digital marketing strategies reported were consistency and frequency of posts, graphics and web links, emphatically “pictures matter”, paid advertising such as boosted posts, giveaways, having a plan, knowing what to advertise/post, identifying your target audience, being concise, hashtags, tagging people, referrals, post often, a lot of shares, short stories, videos, keeping current, livestreams, creating that image or brand.
One interviewee stressed the importance of asking, “ What’s your target audience? What’s your primary goal for social media marketing?”. Another cautioned against posting in too many different geographical locations when using Facebook Marketplace. Another interviewee shared, “So, I found on different platforms that you’re going to get different responses” and “On different social media platforms you are going to find different demographic (audiences)”.
Respondents agreed, “We definitely see an increase in sales whenever we stay on top of our social media”, “We get the most bang for our buck”, “Attract more attention”, “Get more business”, and “Social media; it’s a pretty powerful tool.”
Key themes included learning and instruction of a new innovation. Common themes were social media and self-taught. Challenges involved locating sources for instruction. Sub-categories that emerged were frustration, digital strategy, people/target audience, goal, and business survival. Some had challenges in finding content, staying ahead of the competition, and in achieving consensus by stakeholders in their marketing plan implementation. Ultimately, the need created the means to find ways to learn in order to survive.
Table 2
How need creates diffusion of an innovation
Success More DOI
Strategies
Social Media
Instruction
Learning
DOI
DOI
DOI
Challenges
DOI
DOI
DOI
Less DOI Failure
Note. From Parvin & Beruvides (2021) “technological innovations are diffusing faster now than in the past” p. 22.
The consensus established was, “social media it’s pretty powerful tool”. Interviewees mostly agreed, “We definitely see an increase in sales whenever we do stay on top of our social media marketing”; “Social media has helped us reach a lot of younger demographics like college age students and just younger people that are moving to town”; and “it’s where everyone is at nowadays”.
Most of the participants reported being “self-taught”. Some of the answers regarding how they received instruction included, “Zero. I’ve not had anybody teach me that”; “Been flying by the seat of my pants”; “Just by doing it, Trial and Error”; “It’s all on the fly”; “Spontaneous”; “We’re just rolling with it”. As far as the learning aspect, there seemed to be a lot of self-learning. Statements supporting this notion included, “I’ve taken the initiative to go out and learn from the different platforms that offer training”, and “I’ve had classes in college”, “My previous career offered a lot of training and tutelage more self-learning than anything”, “I’ve made a lot of mistakes, I’ve learned a lot”, “I really work within my limitations. If it gets beyond me, I shut it down”, and “there’s obviously a formula somewhere”.
The most direct input about instructional challenges for learning a new innovation was, “Honestly, I just wish that there was more training out there. Maybe just through chambers, through local colleges that could help small business entrepreneurs with current trends and social media, so that we could be ahead of some of these trends instead of falling behind and just catching on to it a little bit later in the game”.
Strategies were numerous and varied. Some recommendations included, “Keep it simple, good pictures, honesty, straight shooting”; “I think it comes back down to knowing your audience and knowing the purpose of each platform”; “Branding, it’s about creating that image and that brand, otherwise you’re walking around in the dark”; and “you have to know what your target is and then know what your goal is”. While some suggested mimicking successful campaigns of similar businesses, others were concerned that their success was being copied by their competitors and advised, “it’s more fluid and it’s less likely to be duplicated because the plan is already so far ahead it’s almost a sneak attack or catches competitors off-guard”. Finally, “another struggle for small businesses in general is that it’s going to be the big corporate companies that set the standard” and “You’re always going to learn a lot more on the job and from experience than you are just reading a textbook and writing papers and taking tests”.
The findings from the research questions uncovered instructional experiences and challenges small business owners and their employees had in learning social media marketing. Experiences they described helped to define learner needs, while challenges aligned with strategies which could potentially be transformed into instructional methodology for diffusion of this new innovation. Finally, in Chapter 5 we will discuss conclusions and make recommendations based on the findings of this study.
The purpose of this qualitative study was to understand what types of instruction small business owners and their employees needed in order to learn skills to launch and maintain social media marketing campaigns. The nature of this study was a basic qualitative approach, which involved semi-structured interviews conducted via recorded phone software with participants who owned and operated small businesses in Arkansas. Each interview was recorded, transcribed, and coded to uncover themes that emerged to understand what types of instruction small business owners and their employees needed to learn in order to gain the necessary skills to launch and maintain social media marketing campaigns. This approach is meant to further research to identify the gap in knowledge about how to use new digital marketing tools and resources (Ilavarasan, Kar, & Gupta, 2018).
Key findings helped me to confirm the need for small business owners and their employees to face challenges they were confronted with in learning and finding instructional resources that would help them adopt an innovation that could potentially make or break their digital marketing efforts, while greatly impacting their overall success. Evidence I uncovered in this study showed the importance of strategies to help understand the experiences that small business owners and their employees were having when they were attempting to learn social media marketing. Deep reflection on the information I gathered revealed some basic needs of small business owners and their employees who took on the challenge placed before them in a new media frontier, to build skills and confidence, continuing to reach for new knowledge so that their marketing strategy would ultimately succeed and their business find success. The old adage that ‘necessity is the mother of invention’ applies to the interpretation of the findings presented here. It was evident in the data collection stage that the need to learn social media marketing techniques provided a certain level of intrinsic motivation to find the means for instructional experiences in order for their company to survive in the ever-changing global economy. The advent of the Internet and digital marketing possibilities caused them to stretch old marketing mix methods to new lengths.
The findings confirmed what was known in the body of literature about successful strategies, experience, and practice (Bala & Verma, 2018; Pick et al., 2019; Richmond et al., 2017). The missing piece was instruction, which is reiterated in the conceptual framework that refers to a “new digital divide” reported in previous studies and can be confirmed to also exist in the outcome of this study (Richmond et. al, 2017). Small business owners and their employees face challenges and have needs for current instructional resources to develop strategies and meet the demands for digital marketing to succeed, benefit, and contribute to the local and global economy.
The following is a description of the ways my findings could extend knowledge in the discipline by performing a comparative study of what has been reported in peer-reviewed literature, which I covered in Chapter 2 of this study.
Learning
The findings in my study correlate with previous studies, highlighting the need for microenterprise owners and employees to compete smartly in the digital age (Henry, 2019). Confirming evidence existed in the documentation of experiences and efforts taken by small business owners and their employees to learn social media marketing; defining goals and target markets in order to remain competitive. Szymkowiak and Garczarek-Bąk (2019) and Al-khinji et al. (2019) warned the adoption of an innovation as being particularly challenging for those who already had negative attitudes or barriers in training, resources, and/or familiarity of digital marketing strategies. All of these factors needed to be taken into consideration during data analysis of this study.
Instruction
Mukherjee and Hollenbaugh (2019) were thinking ahead even if it was premature, and recommended pedagogy to help learners who experienced different outcomes in different settings. Huggins and Cunningham (2019) also recommended pedagogical interventions, which revealed concepts and theories that may differ in real world applications, but allowed for practice in using these tools and resources to gain much-needed social media marketing skills. Muresan and Sinuraya (2018) underscored how reliable and consistent social media campaigns were, for the most part, out of reach for practitioners who had no access to training in digital marketing.
Innovation
Diffusion of Innovation Theory and Technology Acceptance Model used by Morah and Omojola (2018) set the stage for future descriptive research to find out how entrepreneurs and their employees were discovering strategies to stimulate economic growth. Nummela, Saarenketo, and Loane (2016) also agreed that the need to be tech savvy in digital marketing existed in small to medium enterprises, because utilizing the power of their connections was easily translated over to creativity in how they used these new marketing channels. The outcomes of my findings were in alignment with this premise by acknowledging the corporate model versus small business strategies, and how some people literally grew into using social media in their career from personal experiences they gained by leveraging connectivity early in life.
Conceptual Framework Analysis
In an attempt to analyze and interpret the findings I used a conceptual framework that explored how innovative approaches to learning converged with the need for knowledge, to glean new approaches in learning social media marketing in a context of networked knowledge enhanced by technology tools and resources (Cydis, 2015; Siemens, 2008). Conceptual framework for this study consisted of foundational theories including UTAUT (Unified Theory of Acceptance and Utilization of Technology), TAM (Technology Acceptance Model), and Connectivism (El-Masri & Tarhini, 2017; Taiwo & Downe, 2013; Venkatesh, Morris, Davis & Davis, 2003). The UTAUT framework stemmed from earlier models such as SCT (Social Cognitive Theory), TAM (Technology Acceptance Model), IDT (Innovation Diffusion Theory) and other current education technology theoretical underpinning. The results of this study confirmed factors related to the adoption of a new innovation, which were crucial to small business owners and their employees who were learning digital marketing. The concepts explored supported evidence of a “new digital divide”, which pointed to a lack of instructional opportunities (Richmond et al, 2017). During this study I consistently monitored trends in academia to find out how small business owners and their employees learned social media marketing techniques. My premise confirmed a need to have more opportunities for instruction to close the gap of knowledge and knowing digital trends in marketing.
The phenomena to be understood was how small business owners and their employees were learning to market their products and services on social media platforms and identifying what instructional needs surfaced in the interviews. Ontological factors included variables like the business size, geographical location, the level of education of the practitioner; with categories emerging such as marketing, while budgeting underscored the need for knowledge for those who wanted to compete and find success in the ever challenging and growing global economy. Utilizing this epistemology I was able to narrow down what type of knowledge was achieved versus how that knowledge was gained; adding the conceptual perspective of respondents to help define the scope in finding where networked knowledge became a key factor in promoting digital literacy, which equated to survival or failure for small businesses in Arkansas.
Limitations of the Study
Limitations involved the small number of participants willing to consent to being interviewed. Initially the scope was focused on the poorest county in Arkansas, and widened to include larger cities and eventually the entire state. As described in Chapter 1, there was a limited number of potential participants, which proved to be the case. It was necessary to request this change in procedures to the IRB for approval before continuing data collection. Unbeknownst to the researcher, the initial plan for contact was flawed. Apparently, the social media platform blocked all invitation messages, so a request for a change to the IRB specifically in the method of contact had to be clarified. There had been a plan to do follow up interviews for member checking, which was revised due to difficulty in getting an initial interview scheduled. The request for change to the IRB clarified that contact would be made by electronic message or phone.
There was certain dependability in finding what knowledge was needed once interviews began to be confirmed and scheduled. The questions were answered directly and clearly, and member checking was performed during the interview and again at the end to make sure the researcher had understood the answers correctly and to answer any questions during the interview process. Major limitations addressed in the study involved understanding what kinds of instructional needs were described, how they learned implementation and developed their own strategies, and how better training opportunities might be available to generalize the outcomes to other settings. This qualitative type of inquiry allowed for depth and breadth in the information gathered by respondents, which made it possible to achieve saturation when the answers began to be repetitive, such as having clear goals for a marketing plan and defining a target audience (Johnson & Christensen, 2019).
And finally when dealing with potential bias in the data, it was essential to limit small talk and guide all communication within the perimeters of the scope of the study. A considerable limitation could be found in the initial contact and investigating why there were no replies to the first set of invitations. It required going to great lengths to make contact that did not breach the IRB approved method of contact. Any perceived bias on the part of the researcher or the interviewees was acknowledged and noted in the data collection phase.
Recommendations
Further research needed in this field was most apparent in the desire to know more about what type of instructional needs small business owners and their employees had when attempting to learn social media marketing. These needs were grounded in the strengths and limitations of the results of this study due to thick descriptions offered by the participants, as well as grounded in theory that had been a reliable foundation of innovation dissemination for educators faced with the challenges of guiding learners immersed in technology. I could relate to the need of small business owners and their employees troubleshooting when attempting to use social media platforms and identifying a target demographic. The strengths of my study included rich data that was derived from the interviews and in the way the themes and patterns became obvious in the data analysis phase. The limitations of my study were directly related to the variables of social media and learning to use digital marketing tactics. All of my electronic invitations to participate in the study being blocked by the social media platform was totally unforeseen. However, the need to broaden the scope of the study was rationale discussed in the limitations disclosed in Chapter 2.
The literature to date supported more emphasis be placed on digital literacy to create more outcomes that were deemed effective to marketers. This research was focused on identifying a gap in knowledge of small business owners and their employees learning social media marketing techniques, which directly related to a need for instructional resources to learn strategies for successful digital marketing campaigns. It has been widely believed that social media marketing is essential and early adoption becoming more significant for businesses to be competitive in the global marketplace (Buratti et al., 2018). The very essence of business marketing was changing the way managers approached organization, planning, communication, upholding the interests of their stakeholders, and the way value was delivered. This study is potentially filling a gap in literature by furthering knowledge in areas of education, business, and technology which aligned well to help understand challenges experienced by small business owners and their employees who were attempting to launch and maintain successful social media campaigns.
In conclusion, the traditional marketing mix for businesses had vastly changed, therefore new techniques and best practices when using digital resources were recommended (Subramanian, 2018). The literature reiterated how the Internet and advent of social media were catalysts for the dissemination of this business marketing revolution (Bhimani et. al, 2018). It was widely believed that there should be a system to navigate adoption and implementation of digital marketing within a framework used to guide and measure performance for business social media marketing campaigns.
Due to the small number of participants having a negative effect on the transferability of this study (Farrugia, 2019), the implications of the outcome could have been a catalyst for the potential to explore other metropolitan areas where greater numbers of entrepreneurs were currently using methods that can be verified to work. It would be important to look at how they were participating in learning, and how innovations were accepted as a new way of marketing by digital means; upgrading the print and broadcast analog model of the past.
My research supported positive social change, because small business growth had been known to sustain communities by developing socioeconomic opportunities, which enhanced the lives of citizens by increasing income potential and improving living conditions, while transferring the adoption of this innovation to other communities. Instruction and education could have a profound impact on the ability to overcome poverty by increased income for struggling individuals and building communities, which represents significant implications for positive social change.
Conclusion
In this study the unit of analysis was the experience of small business owners and their employees, which included need, rate of adoption, and level of skill. To learn how small business owners were learning social media marketing strategies, data collection was performed using personal interviews with business owners and their employees as a source for data. Interviews were scheduled with entrepreneurs who were actively engaged in social media campaigns during the period of time the study takes place.
This methodology required analysis of the data collected, by looking at marketing strategies used to determine their understanding of digital marketing, as well as whether small business owners were using, or were interested in using, the vast array of digital tools available to administrators of business pages on social media platforms. Yang (2018) noted, “incorporating multimedia information in the coding process is another interesting avenue for future research” (p.59). Observation of multimedia and content analysis could be utilized in future studies, developing a specific plan to analyze the data derived from case studies focused on small businesses that employ social media marketing.
Future studies could also benefit by analyzing what others have learned. Urban regions tend to offer more networking in the way of meet-ups and small business incubators to give entrepreneurs business tactics and models, as well as providing a support group of ambitious small business owners learning how to grow and maintain their enterprises. It may be necessary to explore a setting where they currently used methods that work, looking at how they were participating in learning and how innovations were accepted as a new way of marketing by digital means, versus the print and broadcast analog model.
More research is needed to uncover and further identify problems encountered and potential solutions to issues faced by small business owners needing help in marketing their products and services using new digital strategies. It was important to find out what knowledge was gained by learning how small business owners used social media to market their companies, what innovative uses they may have discovered that created successful social marketing campaigns to reach customers, and how learning technique may have been improved upon to support small business marketing education. Ultimately, the need created the means to find innovative ways to learn in order to survive.
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You are invited to take part in a research study about understanding instructional needs of entrepreneurs and their employees learning social media marketing.
This research is focused on understanding what kind of instruction small business owners and their employee’s need to help them learn social media marketing strategies. The problem is that there is an increased need for understanding what types of instruction small business owners and their employee’s require in order to learn necessary skills to launch and maintain social media marketing campaigns. The goal of this study is to offer ways to improve instruction and education, which can have a profound impact on the ability to overcome poverty by increasing income for struggling individuals and building communities.
Inclusion criteria calls for small business owners and their employee’s located in Arkansas and have been using social media strategies to market their products and services prior to and during the course of this study, and:
Be 18 years old or older
Own or work for a small business located in Arkansas
Offer products and services locally, and/or globally
Have experience conducting social media campaigns
This form is part of a process called “informed consent” to allow you to understand this study before deciding whether to take part. You will have 1 week to opt-in or to decline this offer with no pressure to coerce your decision one way or another.
This study is being conducted by a researcher named Kathryn Tomlinson, who is a a doctoral student at Walden University.
To ensure impartiality, the researcher will be proactively managing any potential conflicts of interest, particularly when the researcher may be known to the participants in some professional role as a researcher, by encouraging professional distancing to create a barrier for little to no personal information to be shared with the participants of the study. To maintain a separation of roles the researcher may be verified as a credible source for this study due to a professional background in education and digital marketing for small business.
Background Information:
The purpose of this study is to understand what types of instruction small business owners and their employee’s need in order to learn skills to launch and maintain social media marketing campaigns.
Procedures:
If you agree to be in this study, you will be asked to:
Participate in an initial, audio-recorded interview with the researcher via Zoom technology application or phone, which will be about 60 minutes.
Participate in a follow up interview that will be about 60 minutes.
You will be asked to share your experiences in learning social media marketing.
Here are some sample questions:
Explain your instructional experiences in learning how to launch and maintain social media marketing campaigns?
Explain your instructional needs in learning how to launch and maintain social media marketing campaigns?
Voluntary Nature of the Study:
This study is voluntary. You are free to accept or turn down the invitation. No one participating will treat you differently if you decide not to be in the study. If you decide to be in the study now, you can still change your mind later. You may stop at any time. Only audio of the interviews will be recorded via Zoom and/or phone software.
Risks and Benefits of Being in the Study:
Being in this type of study involves some risk of the minor discomforts that can be encountered in daily life, such as volunteering your time to be interviewed, being on time to scheduled meetings, answering interview questions as thoroughly and honestly as you can, with audio being recorded during the interview. Minor risks may include tension or nervousness in operating the technology and the audio being recorded live on Zoom conferencing or phone software. There may be additional stress when relating the challenges and issues you were confronted with when learning to use social media to market your business. These risks will be minimized by clear instruction and guidance, as well as any trouble-shooting help that may be required. There will also be a warm introduction to the interview process, and explanation of the relevance and significance of your participation in the study. Being in this study would not pose risk to your safety or wellbeing.
There may be no direct benefits to participants, however the benefits of being a part of this study may impact other small business owners and their employee’s struggling to use social media to market their business. Your participation might also serve a wider good by assisting the local economy and quality of life by sharing your experiences to allow for opportunities to improve educational resources available to other small business owners and their employee’s in Arkansas.
The results of the study will not limit the confidentiality of participant contribution to the study. The only limits to confidentiality that would necessitate the researcher’s duty to report, would require revealing criminal activity or child/elder abuse that would deem the researcher a mandated reporter. In this case, a formal report to the local authorities would be filed.
The results of the study will not limit the confidentiality of your contribution to the study. It is the researcher’s duty to report the outcomes publicly and transparently, via a copy of the complete study, as well as a condensed version of the study which will be made available to participants via email by personal inquiry, and to local and Internet media outlets.
Payment:
To offer appreciation for participation a thank you gift in the form of a $10 Walmart gift card, will be sent to the address provided by U.S. mail within 1-2 days after the last interview has been conducted.
Privacy:
Reports coming out of this study will not share the identities of individual participants. Details that might identify participants will not be shared in the outcome of the study.
The researcher will not use your personal information or data for any purpose outside of this research project. Data will be kept secure by using case numbers for participants and an alphanumeric system to safeguard the confidentiality of those who are participating. The researcher will lock the data on their computer, which will use encryption and require password authentication. The researcher will be the only person to have access to these credentials. Hard copies will be stored in a locked cabinet that only the researcher can access and paper files will be destroyed after seven years, by shredding and disposing of them properly. Data will be kept for a period of at least 5 years, as required by the university.
Contacts and Questions:
You may ask any questions you have now. Or if you have questions later, you may contact the researcher via email: kathryn.tomlinson@waldenu.edu
If you want to talk privately about your rights as a participant, you can call the Research Participant Advocate at my university at 612-312-1210 or email irb@mail.waldenu.edu
Walden University’s approval number for this study is 11-25-20-0386534
and it expires on November 24, 2021.
Please print or save this consent form for your records.
Obtaining Your Consent
If you feel you understand the study well enough to make a decision about it, please indicate your consent by replying to this email with the words, “I consent.”
Estimated amount of social media marketing campaigns conducted
Research Questions:
What are your (small business owners and their employee’s) instructional experiences in learning how to launch and maintain social media marketing campaigns?
What are your (small business owners and their employee’s) instructional needs in learning how to launch and maintain social media marketing campaigns?
Sub-Questions:
How do you apply digital marketing strategies using social media platforms?
How does your company’s marketing plan involve social media marketing specifically?
Describe any challenges you may have experienced in promoting your business utilizing social media marketing strategies.
How do you approach challenges you have been confronted with when launching and maintaining social media marketing campaigns for your business?
Have you found any strategies that work well, versus practices you do not recommend?
How does your company benefit by social media marketing campaigns?
Is there anything you would like to add that we have not covered completely that relates to this study about implementing social media marketing?
Pick, Sarkar and Rosales (2019) performed a socioeconomic study on technological levels for 164 counties in the United States and found disparities in social media usage between various demographic populations for counties including cities, towns, and rural areas. It is widely believed that using the Internet to engage in social media networking is expanding (Buratti, Parola, & Satta, 2018). The importance of including technology innovation in business strategy underscores the need for training to remain current and competitive (Ilona, Melmusi, & Pratiwi, 2019). The use of this technological innovation to fill social, economic, demographic and geographic gaps, has become a point of interest to scholar practitioners and policymakers in various disciplines (Huang, Yang, & Lee, 2017; Mukherjee & Hollenbaugh, 2019). Current studies focused on benefits to professional users indicated instruction to be a key factor (Huggins & Cunningham, 2019; Park, Sung, & Im, 2017). Literature is being added to uncover the needs of small business owners experiencing a new digital divide in learning social media marketing techniques and to provide instructional guidelines for digital marketing strategies (Huggins, & Cunningham, 2019).
Al-khinji, Chen, and Eldabi (2019) attempted to define social media marketing and instructional needs they say were due to lack of resources, such as funding, time constraints, potentially negative perceptions, and noted other barriers in technology adoption. When researching knowledge acquisition, Jumin, Ijab, and Zaman (2017) were able to assist B40 social entrepreneurs reach their customers more effectively by using high end metrics such as social media analytics; intended to support skill, networked knowledge, and social entrepreneurship. It is important to note, B40 entrepreneurs showed more motivation to implement and use social media tools in less developed geographical locations of the country.
Sharma and Singla (2017) underscored the relevance of this research noting content for social media marketing is a new domain calling for further research and efforts to more clearly define what kind of digital divide actually exists. Their study clarified a need for learning strategies and supported the notion that the real digital divide is related to information and access to knowledge-building resources to effectively launch and maintain successful social media campaigns.
Huang et al. (2017) revealed similar trends, finding small and medium enterprises may have difficulty competing with major businesses if not providing unique value to customers. Their research supports the premise that entrepreneurs are facing a different set of challenges to compete. They insisted the domain calls for an analysis of learning requirements in digital marketing strategy and clarified the need for more innovative, and perhaps collaborative, methods of learning to ensure further development of digital marketing knowledge.
Park et al. (2017) supported the premise that digital marketing practices were vital for small business survival. They clarified this need by exposing a gap in knowledge of use, skill level, and access to instruction for small business owners attempting to create successful social media campaigns. Richmond, Rader, and Lanier (2017) offered similar evidence of a new digital divide as the reason more knowledge was needed by small business owners. They portended that finding out how to access training and resources to obtain information and knowledge needed to skillfully execute a social media campaign was determining where future research was deemed essential.
In addition, Morah and Omojola (2018) performed a study on how the use of social media platforms support growth in small and medium scale enterprises (SME’s) using the diffusion of innovations and technology acceptance models, and descriptive survey research. They claimed their outcomes showed significance in the development of entrepreneurship and increased visibility, while many business owners seemed to be oblivious to their value or needed more instruction to master digital marketing skills. And finally to clarify the question of access, Etlinger (2017) revealed not only a degree of bandwidth or access issues, but took a deeper look at the knowledge entrepreneurs have in digital marketing strategy, including their ability to read analytics. This supports the need for more information and training resources that may help entrepreneurs endeavoring to compete in the global economy.
Problem Statement
Small business owners who need to know digital marketing techniques to compete in today’s business world may lack the skills necessary to implement such techniques; impeding the launching and maintaining of social media campaigns, thus hindering them from reaching potential customers (Bhimani, Mention, & Barlatier, 2018; Ishak et al., 2018; Jumin et al., 2017; Sharma, & Singla, 2017; Thakur, & Hale, 2017). Fortin and Chen (2017) examined existing models for marketing instruction they deem are unsustainable due to new marketing processes in the information age that small business owners may not have adopted, yet. Gaur and Anshu (2018) contend the value of social media as opportunistic for businesses and proclaimed further research is crucial to address instructional challenges in social media campaign marketing for entrepreneurs.
The problem is that there is an increased need for understanding what types of instruction small business owners require in order to learn necessary skills to launch and maintain social media marketing campaigns. There is a gap in the literature between how small business owners receive instruction that translates to skills needed to launch and maintain social media marketing campaigns. This need is underscored by Richmond et al. (2017) who claimed rural small business owners experience a new digital divide pointing to a lack of skills in online marketing strategies, and calling for needed instruction rather than lacking access to the Internet.
Purpose
The purpose of this qualitative study is to understand what types of instruction small business owners need in order to learn skills required to launch and maintain social media marketing campaigns. Kapoor et al. (2018) reviewed evidences and outlined notable advances when highlighting the evolution of social media research, where evidence found developing markets have their own set of issues, which underscored the need for specific instruction when attempting social media marketing. This instructional gap is supported by Ilavarasan, Kar, and Gupta (2018) who found emerging markets face different challenges, that point to a need for more instruction when learning to conduct social media campaigns.
Research Questions
The purpose of this qualitative study is to explore the instructional needs of small business owners who are learning how to launch and maintain social media marketing campaigns.
What are small business owners’ instructional needs in learning how to launch and maintain social media marketing campaigns?
What are small business owners’ instructional experiences in learning how to launch and maintain social media marketing campaigns?
Conceptual Framework
The purpose of this qualitative study is to understand the instructional needs of small business owners who are learning how to launch and maintain social media marketing campaigns. This research requires a conceptual framework which involves understanding the dissemination of a new innovation by identifying instructional needs of small business owners learning how to conduct social media marketing campaigns. Taiwo and Downe (2013) provided validity, which supported innovation adoption in the Unified Theory of Acceptance and Use of Technology (UTAUT) model, which has been derived from previous seminal research such as; Social Cognitive Theory, Technology Acceptance Model, Innovation Diffusion Theory, and others. Additionally, the Technology Acceptance Model (TAM) will be employed in this study to align new developments with future needs to improve instruction for the technological innovation of digital marketing. This research will explore innovative approaches to instruction that converge with the need to help define better ways to teach how to leverage social networks and networked knowledge complimented by technology tools (Goldie, 2016).
Nature of Study
A basic qualitative approach will be used to investigate the instructional needs of small business owners who are learning how to launch and maintain social media marketing campaigns. Qualitative research is rooted in the methodology of seeking how people understand and interpret the world around them (Ravitch & Carl, 2016). According to Merriam (2009) basic qualitative studies are used to understand how people interpret experiences, construct their worlds, and the meaning behind their experiences. This basic qualitative approach will be used to gain an understanding of the instructional needs of small business owners who are learning how to conduct social media marketing campaigns.
Definitions
Social: is defined by Al-khinji et al. (2019) as being “devoted to, pertaining to or characterized by the friendly relationship or companionship” (Kietzmann, Hermkens, McCarthy, & Silvestre, 2011; Mangold & Faulds, 2009).
Media: refers to mediums used to reach large audiences, such as radio, television, print (Kietzmann et al., 2011; Reuben, 2008).
Social Media: was defined as Internet-based technological applications focused on promotion of creative artifacts and the re-use of updated user-generated content that is exchanged in the process of making new connections between the content and the users who have created it (Xu & Zhang, 2013).
Social Media: was re-defined by Kapoor et al. (2018) as being “made up of various user-driven platforms that facilitate diffusion of compelling content, dialogue creation, and communication to a broader audience (p. 537).” Auxier (2012) added social media as a larger theme was not easy to define, due to the number of platforms that targeted a diversity of people and purposes.
User Generated Content: shared on social media networks is content “created by the people and for the people, and provides an environment that is conducive for interactions and networking to occur at different levels…for instance, personal, professional, business, marketing, political, and societal” (Kapoor et al., 2018, p. 537).
Social Media Networks: are considered to be a phenomenon for global markets with over two-thirds of the world population of Internet users visiting social networking or blogging sites, and accounting for a majority of time spent on the Internet with a minimum of 60% active social media users (Nielsen, 2016).
Social Media Marketing: is the delivery of information for marketing via social media platforms, significantly recognized as one of the best methods to promote products and services (Hilal, 2018). Kim and Ko (2012) described the purpose of social media marketing as communication used to market resulting in desired brand equity and a positive impact on purchasing decisions.
Social Media Strategy: is a defined marketing plan for business that states specific objectives procedures, target audience, and metrics to measure the outcome of social media campaigns (Ng, Wang, & Yu, 2013).
Digital Divide: is considered to be digital inequality for rural, as opposed to urban users of technology in the United States of America (Kruger & Gilroy, 2013).
Innovation: is a term used to describe the way something is done, or an idea which is considered new by individuals or society (Lundblad, 2003). Pichlak (2016) said it is making or adopting new things, such as products, ideas, programs, services, technology, policies, new systems of administration, or structure.
Small Business: according to local, state, and national governments, as well as within the industry, has a definition that is continuing to evolve (Abitbol & Rook, 2020), however the Small Business Administration limits small businesses as having less than 500 employees, and microenterprises as having 10 employees or less with limited access to funding (Anastasia, 2015).
Assumptions
Small business owners have demonstrated the need for instruction is a meaningful assumption for this study because, it is not certain how they learn or to what level they have accessed knowledge (Pechenkina & Aeschliman, 2017). There has been a critical assumption that consumers are passively receiving information via marketing and advertisements, however with the advent of Web 4.0, that paradigm has shifted to consumers becoming active participants seeking out new information about products and services when making purchasing decisions (Hassan, 2018).
Another reason these assumptions are necessary in the context of this study is due to social media becoming a mainstream communication channel which has disrupted traditional media outlets (Muresan & Sinuraya, 2018). Auxier (2012) confirmed evidence that not many have knowledge about what kind of affect social media marketing has on brands or how relationships made on social platforms influence values in a positive, or negative way.
Lastly, it is assumed that social media has emerged as a dominant form of communication and digital means of marketing products and services, while only 67% of users on the Internet actively engage in social media, and there are few who are knowledgeable about how digital marketing actually affects their brand, or how social media relationships support marketing efforts, with positive word of mouth advertising (Mangold & Faulds, 2009; Mousazadeh, Eva, & Akbarzadeh, 2018).
Scope and Delimitations
The problem calls for a need to understand what different aspects of instruction small business owners require in order to learn necessary skills to launch and maintain social media marketing campaigns. The focus of this study will provide evidence of economic sustainability achieved by small business owners acquiring the needed skills to be successful in social media marketing. The boundaries identified in this study are a specifically targeted population in Newton County, Arkansas, a tourist-destination, and rural region of the United States, zooming in on small businesses with less than five employees. Businesses with more than five employees were not included, nor were businesses that did not use social media marketing. Instructional needs will be identified and an investigation of digital marketing strategies evaluated, without crossing into more narrowly-defined disciplines where analytics and the ability to translate their meaning are represented.
Theoretical alignment is limited to understanding the adoption and utilization of an innovation to achieve a defined objective, and conceptual framework that relates best to the area investigated consist of social media marketing for small businesses, instructional needs, experiences, perceptions, and the rate of adoption of an innovation; without measuring skill level or ability to read analytical data. Prior research indicated a gap in academic studies that recommend best practices for selecting and using analytical tools (Hamid, 2020). As for potential transferability, it might be warranted to look into what others have learned in urban regions where they offer more networking in the way of meet-ups and small business incubators to present the latest in digital marketing tactics to support the growth of small businesses (Morah & Omojola, 2018). The results of this study may inform future research to help identify instructional needs of entrepreneurs learning social media marketing.
Limitations
The methodology used for this study involves open-ended interviews with 12-18 small business owners by phone call, or Skype/Zoom. Interviews will be scheduled with entrepreneurs actively engaged in social media campaigns during the period of time the study takes place. Primary sources for information and original data will be derived first hand from interviews with participants, while secondary sources including pertinent data will be culled from research articles, reports and conference proceedings that were published in peer reviewed journals, on governmental and formal survey websites. There are limitations involved in the small number of participants available to perform this research, because the scope of the study is focused on a rural area with a limited number of entrepreneurs who fit the criteria of managing social media marketing for their business.
Due to the small number of participants having a negative effect on the transferability of this study, this outcome could direct the potential to explore an urban setting where greater numbers of entrepreneurs are currently using methods that work; looking at how they are participating in learning, and how innovations are accepted as a new way of marketing by digital means, versus print and broadcast analog model of the past. Dependability in finding what knowledge is gained will be accomplished by learning how small business owners use social media to market their companies, what innovative uses they may have discovered that create successful social marketing campaigns to reach customers, and how learning technique may be improved upon to support small business marketing education.
Limitations point to an instructional need that exists without knowing how they currently learn, in order to identify how to develop better training opportunities. In lieu of gathering large amounts of data from a big dataset, this type of inquiry is intended to provide in-depth feedback to allow for an exhaustive means to analyze data, therefore producing a clearer picture of learning perceptions and their experiences. Triangulation will serve to make the findings reliable by checking the answers via multiple sources and comparing outcomes; using follow up interviews as necessary. Since the business owners are the only source of data, there could be limitations in having other sources of information, such as artifacts calling for content analysis, to allow for additional perceptions and realities to be considered.
Personal bias is apparent in my background as a social media educator and consultant. It is imperative for me to keep personal opinions out of the research, allowing for each interview participant to divulge experiences and perceptions they have to report for this study. I have to practice professional distancing from the participants who are involved in the study. Equally important to note is the potential for bias on the part of the business owners due to their personal position in the community, company or industry bias, or preconceived bias about the subject matter, research being performed, or the researcher conducting the study.
Significance
Park et al. (2017) suggested business owner’s opinions and attitudes affect the overall diffusion of innovative digital marketing strategies. Being concerned about how to best instruct digital marketing strategy to help small business owners reach potential customers effectively has been proven to be crucial for business sustainability and has contributed to a healthy local economy (Bhimani et al., 2018).
Small business owners need to be taught current ways to learn, and use this innovation effectively to launch and maintain successful social media campaigns (Fortin & Chen, 2017). Practical application for this research is to further the development of professional practice for small business owners and involves having a clearer picture of what types of instruction they need to learn social media marketing.
Summary and Transition
In summary, the background presented above provides research related to the discipline of instruction in social media for small businesses and describes what future research is warranted. To reiterate; the problem is an increased need for understanding what types of instruction small business owners require in order to learn necessary skills to launch and maintain social media marketing campaigns. The purpose of this qualitative study is to understand what types of instruction small business owners need in order to learn the skills to launch and maintain social media marketing campaigns. The research questions are intended to help understand the instructional needs and experiences of small business owners learning how to launch and maintain social media marketing campaigns.
In the conceptual framework section, we reviewed factors and variables to be considered, defining categories by size of business, education level, instructional resources and concepts that determine failure or success for small business owners competing in a global economy. The nature of this study is qualitative in an effort to gain better understanding of the instructional needs of small business owners learning how to conduct social media marketing campaigns. In this chapter we have defined the constructs to be explored, exposed assumptions about the need for instruction, queried about how small business owners learn social media, and lastly explored perceptions about the importance of digital marketing for small businesses.
This introductory chapter also defined the scope of the study, which is focused on instructional needs of small business owners learning how to launch and maintain social media marketing campaigns. Additionally, the location of the study, population, skills needed for digital marketing, and size of businesses that are actively involved in social media campaigns were reviewed. Limits of theoretical underpinning, as well as conceptual framework categories and concepts were noted. The transferability of the intended research as to whether it may generalize to larger urban environments with similar need for instruction to inform future studies, was also considered. Limitations in the chosen methodology, and potential bias of the researcher as well as participants were disclosed. Dependability of outcomes, and the need for triangulation to ensure reliability of the findings was discussed. Then, we reviewed the significance of the outcomes, pointing to a need for instruction as the identified gap in research, which is intended to help educators know how to offer new ways for students to learn, and provide practical solutions for future practice.
The following exhaustive literature review will synthesize studies with regard to the related constructs and methodology chosen, in alignment with the scope of the study. A myriad of researchers in the domain of education, technology, and business are highlighted; and strengths and weaknesses of their approaches to this issue are explored. The phenomena under investigation will be reviewed in an effort to describe what is currently known, what may be controversial, and what still needs further research. The following literature review will look at other studies related to our research questions to support the rationale for the approach selected for this study.
Chapter 2: Literature Review
Introduction
Instruction for small business is in need of upgrades due to marketing practices in the digital age involving new social media tools and resources (Kapoor et al., 2018). There are questions about what area of discipline would be appropriate to address would best alignment instructional needs of entrepreneurs (Ilavarasan et al., 2018). There are no shortages of topics to learn within a huge variety of narrowly-defined subject matter, where agencies have specialized in target segments within the discipline of digital marketing (Al-khinji et al., 2019). Educators are currently faced with the issue of re-defining how to teach marketing strategies, while attempting to remaining current in digital marketing trends that are always changing (Huggins & Cunningham, 2019). While some social media instruction had been added to curriculum, educators agreed more knowledge is warranted. Education innovation researchers (Jordan & Lande, 2016; Rogers, 1995; Siemens, 2008) reminded that it is vital to ask questions about how instruction produces different results when applying technology.
The problem is that there is an increased need for understanding what types of instruction small business owners require in order to learn the skills to launch and maintain social media marketing campaigns (Fortin & Chen, 2017; Gaur & Anshu, 2018; Richmond et al., 2017). The purpose of this study is to understand what types of instruction small business owners need in order to learn skills to launch and maintain social media marketing campaigns. It is important to acknowledge evidence for a new digital divide that does not involve a lack in access for small business owners, but instead is based on the level of knowledge in the use of digital technology to market products and services (Richmond et al., 2017).
Current literature presented in this review provided confirming evidence that is relevant to small business owners taking on various challenges in accessing instruction for learning social media strategies to market their products and services (Bhimani et al., 2018; Ishak et al., 2018; Jumin et al., 2017; Sharma & Singla, 2017; Thakur & Hale, 2017). Scholars and practitioners have previously examined what methods exist for knowledge acquisition, documenting experiences and perceptions of entrepreneurs to ascertain what instructional needs were not being met (Fortin & Chen, 2017; Gaur & Anshu, 2018; Richmond et al., 2017).
The introduction of this chapter includes a brief explanation of the literature search strategy used for this research; listing databases, search engines, and key word combinations of terms searched for the study. The next section of this chapter will examine the source of theory along with appropriate assumptions related to the use of theoretical underpinning, including an analysis that is literature and research-based in how the theory has been utilized similarly in previous studies. Then a rationale for the choice in theory is provided, including an explanation of why the chosen theory relates to the research questions and builds upon assumptions of existing theory.
The conceptual framework section attempts to define the concept of social media marketing for small business and synthesize primary sources shared by re-known theorists and philosophers whose work currently stands as evidence to explain and to advance research. Important aspects which exist in the framework are reviewed, with a description of previous uses of the constructs in other studies that call for more questions to be answered and directly applies to this study.
Next, the literature review section involves a discussion of study outcomes focusing on concepts related to the subject matter and methods that support the scope of this study; including an examination of approaches used by previous researchers, distinguishing differences in similar outcomes and findings, then deconstructing the strengths and weaknesses of strategies and approaches, which serve to justify rationale for the selection of concepts explored in this study. Followed up by a review of what is known from studies immersed in the phenomena, comparing and contrasting agreements and disagreements in the tradition of scholarly investigation. The literature review section clarifies what is lacking in the current body of knowledge and synthesizes the information into evidence to support why the research questions are valid, and the chosen approach warranted. Finally, the summary concludes what is known and what is yet to be discovered in relation to the concepts associated with this topic. The summary describes how this study fills the identified gap in research, which is intended to further knowledge in the domain of social media marketing education.
Literature Search Strategy
Resources that define the scope of the literature review were accessed via web-based libraries and databases including: Academic Search Complete, Business Source Complete, EBSCO Discovery Service, ERIC (Education Research Information Center), Walden University Library, Google Scholar, ProQuest, and Sage Publications. Keywords used included: Social networking, small business, digital marketing instruction, networked knowledge, connected learning, small business and entrepreneurship, small business marketing instruction, social media marketing, social media marketing training, technology acceptance model. Eighty-nine articles have been selected for this literature review.
This search was completed as comprehensively as possible, including all resources related to instruction for social media marketing. Topics crossing boundaries in disciplines of education, information communication technology, and business were taken into consideration when applying search criteria. Buratti et al. (2018) found twenty-six papers had been published in the last ten years, and thirteen more publications had been reviewed more recently by Kapoor et al. (2018). These scholars warned some research may be limited due to the need to investigate social media concepts using studies regarded as sentinel models and theories, such as the Technology Acceptance Model (TAM) and Unified Theory of Acceptance in the Use of Technology (UTAUT), which are still considered to be in early stages of development.
Conceptual Framework
This study will explore innovative approaches to learning that converge with the need for knowledge, and attempt to help define new approaches in learning how to use social networks and networked knowledge complimented by technology tools (Cydis, 2015; Siemens, 2008). This epistemology helps narrow the separate paradigm of knowing knowledge (level) versus perceiving how knowledge is gained as defined by our conceptual worldview; and defines the scope where networked knowledge appears to become vital for digital literacy and survival.
Justifying this belief to find whether this epistemology is true or not, depends on input from the users of the technology and resources that are current. Ontological factors and variables such as size of business, education level of owner, as well as marketing budget create categories and their relationships to concepts; determining failure or success in social media campaigns, which have been found to be increasingly important to small business owners who desire to compete successfully in a global economy.
The phenomena being explored are instructional needs of small business owners who are learning how to launch and maintain social media marketing campaigns. This concept is defined by supporting evidence which shows a new digital divide indicating a lack of access to instructional opportunities (Richmond et al., 2017). This study will verify the benefits of using this conceptual framework, by monitoring the trends of academia attempting to understand the concept of social media marketing for small business owners, to confirm a need for instruction in digital marketing practices.
Shang and Ghriga (2018) distinguished between social media and the three traditional media, contrasting criteria that included; social media allows for interaction on the part of both receiver and deliverer of information, while making information available to a larger number of people simultaneously. They contend both businesses and their customers are directly connected; and, social media platforms are free networks to join, making social media channels cost effective for marketing, as well as communication.
The existence of a new digital divide underscores a need for the use of new tools and means by which business owners communicate with their customers due to the shift in resources available with the advent of social media marketing. According to Bala and Verma (2018), it is critical for entrepreneurs to learn social media strategies that align with their business plan to achieve their goals. It is evident that they must be willing to adopt this new innovation in order to learn how to launch and maintain successful social media campaigns.
Foundational research theories for this conceptual framework consist of UTAUT, Technology Acceptance Model TAM, and Connectivism. El-Masri and Tarhini (2017) extended the Unified Theory of Acceptance and Use of Technology (Taiwo & Downe, 2013), which was extracted by a team of researchers led by Venkatesh (Venkatesh, Morris, Davis, & Davis, 2003) from earlier models that included theories supporting the conceptual framework of this study, namely: Social Cognitive Theory (SCT); Technology Acceptance Model (TAM), Innovation of Diffusion Theory (IDT). El-Masri and Tarhini (2017) indicated factors that relate to business and the adoption rate of e-learning systems, and suggested that the study of acceptance in technological innovation use, can help uncover factors that impact adoption rate, thus reducing costs for business owners.
The Technology Acceptance Model (TAM) is in alignment with this study, because it can help describe how users adopt innovations, applying two factors that impact attitudes toward technology acceptance; perceptions of how useful the technology is and how the technology is being used. This framework directly supports why user behavior is a key factor in regards to how they are using technologies to facilitate, influence, and perhaps predict customer intention (Khadim, Hanan, Arhad, & Saleem, 2018).
Connectivism offers a theoretical foundation from a perspective where teaching and learning may be supported by technology to be better utilized, understood, and managed; when development and evaluation are applied. It is considered impossible to use one theory to explain any phenomenon involved with technology and networked learning. That is why it is vital to recognize the importance of instruction, as well as how teaching is approached, in networked learning environments online (Goldie, 2016; Siemens, 2008).
Logical and factual research has revealed an instructional gap reported as a new digital divide, which is believed to be an accurate assumption (Pick, et al., 2019). Speculation that a digital divide for small business owners exists in rural regions could be considered opinion, unless there are thorough investigations which distinguish this notion as a justified belief in the domains of education, technology, and business. Evidence-based findings by peer-reviewed researchers will confirm the validity of accurate results reported, and provide direction for future studies that are scholastically supported.
Current Literature Review
Themes that emerged in the literature include the need for instruction for small business owners learning social media marketing and the adoption rate of an innovation; layers uncovered in the documents involve a concept referred to as the new digital divide (Bala & Verma, 2018; Pick et al., 2019; Richmond et al., 2017), as well as social media marketing, experiences, perceptions, and needs of entrepreneurs facing this challenge; while subtopics considered were competition, sustainability, and global economy. Rowley and Keegan (2019) performed a critical assessment of literature in the domain of social media marketing, offering an agenda for future research, information to support best practices, and initiated further discussion using a systematic literature review approach.
Statistics showed 92% of businesses were marketing their products and services on the Internet and believed social media marketing was crucial to their success, while 80% believed social media marketing increased website visits; therefore a worthy investment for companies using digital marketing (Khadim et al., 2018). Facebook has been recognized as the leader in social media marketing worldwide (Patra, 2020; Sukrat & Papasratorn, 2018). Statista (2019) reported Facebook alone had 2.5 billion monthly users, with fifty million active users on business pages, and the Facebook advertising platform reported three million business users. Often it is true that users of social media are not aware of the increase in platforms globally, hence not realizing opportunities available to increase the visibility of their brand on a scale that was never achievable before the advent of digital marketing and the Internet (Vijay & Srivastava, 2019). Mukherjee and Hollenbaugh (2019) reported a gap between modern business practices and current curriculum to cover the issues and challenges faced by entrepreneurs when social media marketing.
This is a systematic literature review of studies related to instructional needs in social media marketing for small business owners, to understand perceptions and innovation adoption experiences. Constructs in alignment with the research questions of this study are social media marketing, instructional needs of small business owners learning digital marketing, and small business owner experiences. Methodology chosen for this study involves open-ended interviews of 12-18 small business owners by phone call or Skype/Zoom. These methods prove to be consistent with the scope of this study, by boundaries clearly identified as instructional needs of small business owners learning to use social media marketing, limiting measurements of success, skill, or ability to evaluate analytical data, hence the outcome of their efforts.
In chapter 1 we noted the number of research efforts reported, where 26 of 31 studies had been reviewed in the past ten years (Buratti et al., 2018), denoting early stages in the development of a social media marketing knowledge-base; reporting over 50 percent of the manuscripts were quantitative with 16 studies, qualitative research ranked second with 5 papers, and conceptual last with 5 manuscripts. Surprisingly, Only one literature review was found, which verified a gap in research to systemize evidence-based findings in the field of social media marketing for business.
Williams and Hausman (2017) developed risk categorization, using a social media risk register, to assist organizations in learning how to assess risks and associated consequences of using social media to market their brands. Comparable to this study, these researchers used an interpretive approach and qualitative research design, to offer suggestions for policies in response to needs of small business owners. They employed coding to analyze outcomes and understand needs for risk management policies when strategizing digital marketing campaigns (Williams & Hausman, 2017).
Scholar practitioners have approached the problem by acknowledging how the adoption of social media marketing for small business has disrupted communication channels that have been relied upon by individuals, businesses, universities and governments for decades. Using these tools correctly was agreed to lead to success in marketing products and services, and brand recognition (Ariff et al., 2018; Hilal, 2018; Muresan & Sinuraya, 2018). However a weakness exposed proved lack of knowledge in proper implementation, leading to incorrect use and reputation damage (Williams & Hausman, 2017). Strengths in the approach of social media studies related to small business adoption involved a gap in instructional opportunities intended to boost brand exposure and additional avenues for promotion of products and services, while exposing weaknesses related to incorrect employment of social media marketing initiatives, which could damage the image of business who chose to embrace the technology by attempting digital marketing practices (Williams & Hausman, 2017).
Another weakness exposed by the research indicated a lack in learning opportunities for social media education according to a study in the domain of communication, where Mukherjee and Hollenbaugh (2019) reported that curriculums generally approached studies from relationship levels in society, rather than from a perspective of the financial impact of businesses, hence noting the practice being different than what is found in the classroom. They developed a pedagogical tool intended to engage learners, with a summary of potential effects of social media marketing on small business (Mukherjee & Hollenbaugh, 2019), and deemed factors which motivated users and practical implementation are reasonable topics for future studies.
A gap exists for instruction without knowing how users currently learn, which would allow educators measures to identify and develop better training opportunities. Another weakness demonstrated in the research points to more diffusion of innovation studies needed, indicating slow adoption of technology due to perceptions which are negative regarding how useful social media can be for marketing purposes, as well as lack of time, money, and labor to ensure proper training takes place to fill the gap of unfamiliarity with the new technology (Al-khinji et al., 2019).
The rationale for choosing the concepts of social media marketing, small business owner experiences and instructional needs, is based on other studies focused on the sustainability of small business, and furthering the need for developing digital marketing training opportunities. In an empirical study, Patra (2020) found social media had a direct impact on business revenue and that affect was increasing, which was a compelling trend that supported this premise.
A study referred to as The Social Media Magnet (Huggins & Cunningham, 2019) reported shifting paradigms calling for inbound marketing education programs for professors to consider when teaching digital marketing strategy, to help them keep up with the blistering pace of technology trends in education. Their contribution was a pedagogy for online delivery, updated regularly, offering new theory within a practicum for teaching college students strategies for digital marketing, including website development, tools and resources for social media, and email campaigns. This curriculum was recommended for academics who may not be current in digital literacy by utilizing recommended tools to develop skills holistically, from strategic and tactical perspectives (Huggins & Cunningham, 2019). An instructional gap exists without educators knowing how entrepreneurs currently learn; to identify and develop better training opportunities.
A review of studies related to key phenomena involving instructional needs and perceptions of small business owners when learning social media marketing told us there were gaps in research providing instructional best practices for small business owners learning social media marketing tactics. There is much written on the positive impact of social media marketing for businesses in the digital age, however research is limited in current studies regarding how business owners learn digital marketing strategies, for further development of best practices in teaching and implementing social media marketing.
There are numerous studies investigating the adoption of innovations and technology use, showing the adoption rate of social media marketing for small business survival has continued to increase (Ariff et al., 2018). Ilona et al. (2019) performed a qualitative study to address a gap in knowledge to support social media adoption by small and medium enterprises (SME) in Indonesia. They utilized the Technology Organization Environment (TOE) model to show adoption of social media was determined by the context of technology, such as advantages, how compatible, complex and ability to trial and observe outcomes. They found users were more likely to adopt an innovation if they were open to the concept (Ilona et al., 2019). Mukherjee and Hollenbaugh (2019) performed the only study of its kind to learn the effects in how social media was being used for business, filling a gap for research to follow, using fictitious case studies as examples, and providing a pedagogy that business communication instructors could utilize to teach the future workforce of socially connected practitioners.
Studies related to the research questions of this work fall short in addressing instructional needs and experiences of small business owners learning to use social media. Reasons for chosen concepts stem from instructional needs and perceptions of small business owners, as addressed in the research questions of this study. The approach of this study is meant to help fill gaps in the literature supporting instruction for small business owners learning to use social media marketing (Bhimani et al., 2018; Ishak et al., 2018; Jumin et al., 2017). Some studies focused on instruction of social media marketing in colleges, universities, and small business incubators; however, many were dated (Barton, 2019; Case & King, 2011; Cydis, 2015; McHaney, Warkentin, Sachs, Pope, & Ormond, 2015).
Understanding Instructional Needs
The number of global citizens who use the Internet has exceeded 4.54 billion, with 3.80 billion using social media platforms, spending close to 7 hours a day online (Datareportal, 2020). However, there are not many educational institutions reported to fill the gap in knowledge of digital marketing for small business owners (Huggins & Cunningham, 2019).
From the perspective of potential students, the domain of digital marketing calls for more skill in technology applications, which drives the development of social media marketing principles to be addressed in practicum environments that allow for collaborative learning (Malik, 2017). Future marketing managers need learning experiences that are effective at creating knowledge for best practices in social media marketing; utilizing analytical data to evaluate outcomes, which was reported as a huge domain for future research in business and industry (Dammert & Nansamba, 2019). Malik (2017) identified instructional needs for digital marketing to include social media marketing knowledge as an effective means for positioning advertising campaigns on digital platforms, as well as ease in monitoring and tracking success.
…………………….. Local Economy to Global Marketplace: competition & sustainability
Depending on the industry, the Small Business Administration defines small business as having 500 employees or less and limited access to funding (Anastasia, 2015). The sustainability of small businesses is important because they are the catalysts of local economies and represent 28 million (99.7%) of the companies in the United States, with 49.2% of employed individuals in the entire country (Small Business Administration, 2020) who could benefit greatly by utilizing social media for marketing.
Henry (2019) found many small business owners struggle to compete in microenterprise with the innovative social media rich environment used for marketing in the digital age. Studies continually report the disruption of traditional communication channels, creating new means for disseminating information by social media marketing, and building personal relationships with consumers who are also using the free platforms to connect, seek knowledge, and communicate (Lee, 2018). It is not clear how participants seek to gain knowledge and principles; other than in a connected environment of trusting individuals, business rivals, and other reputable companies, which assisted them in networked knowledge construction in exercising social media implementation (Henry, 2019). This is confirming evidence in user attempts to make sense of social media, in an effort to learn how to utilize its features, which has been believed to help achieve business goals. Additionally, Henry (2019) found entrepreneurs leveraged their knowledge of social media marketing and economic challenges, by defining markets they must target to remain competitive.
…………………………………………………………………………………………………… How They Learn
The outcome of this study will help understand instructional needs and experiences of small business owners learning to use social media marketing; exploring challenges and identifying needs for digital marketing knowledge, while documenting the experiences of small business owners launching and maintaining social media campaigns. Morah and Omojola (2018) used the Diffusion of Innovations and Technology Acceptance Models to provide descriptive research about small and medium enterprises in Nigeria, and found a great number of entrepreneurs were not aware of strategies employed to use social media to stimulate economic growth for their business. Huggins and Cunningham (2019) developed a pedagogy to teach digital marketing strategies, producing tech-savvy graduates to fill positions in firms calling for inbound marketing professionals. Small business owners have been reported to understand the challenge, however are uncertain about how to use social media and technology resources to boost their economic standing (Henry, 2019).
……………………………………………………… Training methodology based on how they learn
Mukherjee and Hollenbaugh (2019) presented a pedagogical tool designed to increase engagement for learners, revealing how theory and practice are concepts that are not always in alignment in real world situations; however their studies showed social media marketing could make a difference in business success. Huggins and Cunningham (2019) designed pedagogy to engage learners in methods for online delivery with systematic and timely updates, adding innovative theory and online interventions to teach students digital marketing tactics used in launching live campaigns.
Understanding Instructional Experiences
……………………………………………………………………………………………………….. Digital Divide
Innovative technology has been a boon to small businesses that lack traditional resources. Utilizing the infrastructure of free social media networking sites, provides unlimited opportunities to reach out to customers without a strain on financial budgets. Muresan and Sinuraya (2018) have proven the reliability and consistency of this notion with their outcomes that suggest the new digital divide is real, but pointed to the lack of access to training opportunities. They showed how important digital skills are for using the Internet to promote products and services, which have proven to be more beneficial than employing traditional media outlets and marketing mixes. They found the Internet to be a more effective way to target audiences and define demographics on many levels (Muresan & Sinuraya, 2018).
Social media marketing has been proven to have a significant impact on business success and scholars agree that it is an important tool for small businesses to be able to listen, learn, and engage with their customers like never before, however Szymkowiak and Garczarek-Bąk (2019) deemed business owners to be more skeptical in their use of innovative social marketing tools and resources. Al-khinji et al. (2019) also proposed the innovation to be unattractive to new users who might have been slower to adopt new technologies due to negative attitudes, which created barriers due to potential lack of resources, training, and basic unfamiliarity in use.
…………………………………………………………………………………….. Adoption of an innovation
There are no shortages of studies in the effectiveness of using social media for marketing purposes (Sanwariprasad, Prakash, & Quddus, 2020). Mukherjee and Hollenbaugh (2019) performed a pedagogical study on the sustainability of small businesses by using case studies that were fictional examples of typical scenarios of social media use. Nummela, Saarenketo, and Loane (2016) claimed small businesses tend to enjoy flexibility and are more agile in their ability to navigate social networks, due to having fewer employees and stronger social connections that translate to highly innovative uses for new digital marketing channels. Business Process Management (BPM) studies how the design of processes and activity sequencing, while innovation dissemination helps to understand processes as they unfold, while keeping up with technological changes and the organization of systems (Mendling, Pentland, & Recker, 2020). Szymkowiak and Garczarek-Bąk (2019) found digital literacy was essential in overcoming resistance to any new technology, and that it is still unclear how online media use leads to positive or negative long term effects when considering different ways of processing information versus time spent on social media.
Summary and Conclusion
The major themes found in the literature involve understanding small business owner needs for instruction in the domain of social media marketing, with clarification of perceptions and rate of adoption. Layers revealed in the research indicate a new digital divide in learning online marketing strategies, identifying instructional needs, and uncovering how they learn by understanding their experiences. Subtopics identified include local and global economy, competition, sustainability, and future directions for digital marketing instructional opportunities.
Related to instructional needs of small business owners learning to use social media marketing to promote their products and services, there are many studies that supported the need for digital literacy for effective outcomes, however there was a gap in knowledge about how small business owners learned social media marketing techniques, which points to a great need for instructional assessment and implementation of new methods for learning to use innovative marketing tools. Buratti et al. (2018) offered supporting evidence, proclaiming that keeping up with the competition and pressure to adopt technological innovations has become more prevalent for business sustainability, hence causing business owners to reconsider their approach to management, communication, stakeholder interests, and how they deliver value.
The gap in literature this study hopes to help fill in an effort to further knowledge and understanding in the domains of education, business, and technology is to understand the experiences and identify the needs of small business owners learning to use social media to launch and maintain successful marketing campaigns. Sukrat and Papasratorn (2018) contend future research is warranted to expand populations and potentially generalize their business model to other environments in helping to define maturity levels in social commerce. Pick et al. (2019) found rural users are behind urbanites by 10 percent, pointing to social and economic influences and discrepancies in technology use for counties in the U.S. Their study was not able to provide statistics regarding social media adoption, but showed there are clearly different patterns in social media use in metropolitan regions in contrast to rural regions of the country.
Additionally, it is believed that traditional methods for advertising via print, radio, and television are in need of review due to new markets that have opened up with digital tools and communication channels (Subramanian, 2018). Bhimani et al. (2018) confirmed social media is a catalyst for innovation, and revealed behavior and perspectives about resources was the theoretical lens most commonly used in research. Finally, Hamid (2020) insisted that businesses need a systematic way to adopt social media marketing as an advantageous means for marketing and communication, calling for the development of a framework for adoption, and noting key performance measures for organizations attempting to use social media marketing.
Chapter 3: Research Method
Introduction
The purpose of this qualitative study is to understand what types of instruction small business owners need in order to learn skills to launch and maintain social media marketing campaigns. In this chapter I will describe the research design and rationale for this study, with a review of my role as the researcher. In the methodology section, there will be information regarding participant selection and instrumentation used in this study, taking into consideration content validity established and how the research questions were addressed. Following that procedures for recruitment, participation, and data collection are explained. This section concludes with full disclosure on issues of trustworthiness acknowledged in conducting this research.
Research Design and Rationale
The research questions to be answered were derived from the current literature that identified instructional gaps that exist for business owners learning how to use social media to market products and services.
What are small business owners’ instructional needs in learning how to launch and maintain social media marketing campaigns?
What are small business owners’ instructional experiences in learning how to launch and maintain social media marketing campaigns?
Central concepts to this study involve social media marketing for small business owners, with an emphasis on the phenomenon of how they learn, to improve instruction in digital marketing for entrepreneurs. In performing this study we will understand perceptions, experiences, and needs of small business owners learning to use social media marketing, in an effort to fill a gap for more research to clarify the dissemination of an innovation that is designed to support the local and global economy (Szymkowiak & Garczarek-Bąk, 2019). Current literature supports the need for a systematic approach to instruction, and calls for a framework to understand the adoption rate of social media marketing, to know how they learn; which provides the rationale for this tradition and serve stakeholders in a positive way (Hamid, 2020).
The phenomenological approach used in this study is aligned to help understand the experiences of small business owners to interpret the phenomena in a traditional research setting (Vagle, 2018). My knowledge and experience in education technology and digital marketing strategy will help create an effective interpretation of the perceptions participants express, to help understand how they learn and what experiences they have had in launching and maintaining social media campaigns.
Role of the Researcher
As an observer in this study my role as the researcher requires eligible participants have no personal relationship with them; defined as contact with the participants outside of the research. A professional relationship may exist, particularly when the invitation to be involved in the interview process is extended by myself in the role of a researcher. That alone could trigger a power over participant relationship, due to a potential need to please the requester with information that could be skewed or exaggerate the benefits or challenges in their experience of implementation. Descriptive bracketing will be implemented to allow me as the researcher to keep personal assumptions and opinions to myself, to be unencumbered to look objectively at what is externally supposed in the study, and to ascertain the essential meaning reported about the phenomenon experienced by participants (Gearing, 2004). To curb the potentiality of bias, very little communication between the participants and the researcher will take place, outside basic information regarding the study and the process for their participation; stressing the importance of honest and exact information offered by them in their answers.
Ethical issues taken into consideration involve the approach taken to invite participants to be interviewed in the study, how much contact and communication are allowed to take place without causing affinity or judgement on the part of the participant when answering questions in the interview. The plan to address this issue is to have a third party organization provide contact information for potential participants. A formal letter of invitation will be disseminated by the service organization that represents the small business owners; namely the local Chamber of Commerce, in hopes that this research will be given credibility by the recommendation of a professional organization they are currently a member in, to reassure that a verifiable source will be asking them to offer information about their operations with good intentions to provide knowledge to the community. Once invitations are accepted, formal written communication will follow, with very little personal contact and verbal communication as possible. Since I do not belong to the organization and am not involved in activities sponsored by this group, I will be considered an outside researcher interested in helping the local economy by providing feedback and evaluation for the betterment of the community. Equally important to note, is that I am a resident of the county, with my own interests and preferences in doing business and meeting daily needs. These interests and agendas will remain confidential, with little to no knowledge on the part of the respondents as to my personal background and geographic origin. The participants will only be made aware of my professional background in social media marketing, education, and instruction.
Methodology
Methodology of this research involves a system of methods used for studying focal points, such as small business, social media and digital marketing; and concepts include experiences, perceptions, and rate of adoption. The scope for this work involves social media marketing for small businesses, training and instruction needs, perceptions, adoption of an innovation, and skill level. It is unknown how much small business owners actually value social media; this study is bound by experience and knowledge of participants, however does not pursue inquiry of their use and interpretation of analytics.
The methodology used for this study involves open-ended interviews with 12-18 small business owners by phone call, or Skype/Zoom. The methodology for this study involves creating qualitative phenomenological research (Vagle, 2018), with an emphasis on social media marketing for small businesses to understand the experiences and reveal instructional needs of entrepreneurs. I will be utilizing a qualitative approach with open-ended interviews as a means for collecting data, to investigate strategies used to market products and services with social media tools. The interviews will last between 30 minutes to 1 hour, depending on how much information each individual is willing to divulge. Prepared questions about their experiences will be provided, allowing for each respondent to describe perceptions, approaches, and outcomes of what they currently know about digital marketing strategies. The conversations will be recorded to ensure no data is lost, and to be able to refer back to transcriptions to verify results reported in the final outcomes and conclusion of this study.
Participants involved in this study are comprised of small business owners who are located in Newton County, Arkansas and have been using social media strategies to market their products and services prior to and during the course of this study.
Nonprobability sampling is in alignment with this research, due to the nature and purpose of this study to understand experiences of small business owners learning to use social media marketing. Purposeful sampling selection will be employed due to the small-sized population (Elfenbein & Schwarze, 2020). Purposeful sampling is also a useful method, to answer questions the researcher has in mind for a purpose, which is in alignment with the research questions to help understand small business owner experiences and perceptions about social media marketing strategies. Should there be too little of a sampling yield, convenience sampling is applicable, due to potential participants being situated in a near proximity to the researcher collecting the data (Clarke & Braun, 2020).
There are a limited number of entrepreneurs doing business in Newton County, Arkansas which limits the scope of this study by narrowing down constructs to fit a finite number of small business owners actively launching and maintaining social media marketing campaigns, while this study is being conducted. The method for ensuring criteria is being met, will be to inquire within the local Chamber of Commerce and request a list of active marketing small businesses who comply. The criteria is small businesses owned and operated by individuals who are living and doing business in Newton County at the time of the study. The definition of small business according to the Small Business Administration (2020), depending on the industry, has a maximum of 250 employees or maximum of 1,500 employees and a maximum of $750,000 to $38.5 million in annual income. Justification for the small sample size lies in the availability of participants, places an emphasis on quality data analysis potential, and resources that are available, such as time and number of small businesses that qualify (Farrugia, 2019).
It is important to qualify participants at the onset of the research (Lester, Cho, & Lochmiller, 2020). Business owners will be considered to have met the criteria, if the Chamber of Commerce deems them as appropriately aligned with the small business category according to their definition, and fits the criteria outlined by the Small Business Administration (2020). A qualified participant meets the eligibility requirement if owning a small business located in Newton County Arkansas, and has conducted social media marketing campaigns for their business. The Chamber of Commerce observed definition will serve as a support for the following criteria:
Owner of a small business located in Newton County, Arkansas
Possessing at least 2 years of experience doing business in Newton County
Employing 1 to 5 individuals, which may include oneself
$100, 000 or less in business assets at the time the study was conducted
Offering products and services locally, and globally
Experience conducting social media campaigns
The number of participants required has been targeted at 12-18 small business owners, due to the size of the county and total number of businesses that potentially exist. That number will be verified by the Chamber of Commerce to ensure this goal is realistic in relation to the number of active members they have that are implementing social media marketing campaigns at the time of this study.
The procedures to identify participants will involve an initial assessment of the Chamber of Commerce membership roster, verifying the number of small businesses according to the criteria, to determine potential to reach 12-18 small business owners who would consent to being interviewed about their social media marketing strategies. The businesses on the qualifying list will be sent an invitation to join the research and be interviewed about their social media marketing experiences. They will further be recruited by a follow up request and consent form.
To confirm a relationship between the sample size and saturation, snowball sampling will be utilized in a final effort to get valid responses from as many owners as possible to gather data from a large enough population for saturation to take place (Clarke & Braun, 2020). Particularly when snowball sampling, making sure credible referrals match the criteria required to be eligible will help qualify each participant and bound the case study (Yin, 2017). It is important to qualify participants that are required to meet specific criteria used to define their status as a small business owner actively implementing social media campaigns at the time the study is conducted.
The instrument used to collect data for this research is recorded interview protocol, using open ended questions to receive input during an approximately 30 minute long meeting via phone call or Skype/Zoom. Other instruments include: the researcher, an invitation to participate in the study, a consent form, interview questions, and a thank you letter. The source of information will be derived from interviews with small business owners who have had experience in launching and maintaining social media campaigns to marketing their products and services.
To evaluate the experiences and instructional needs of small business owners learning to use social media marketing it is sufficient to ask them to disclose what they know, and learn directly from their experiences and attitudes about what form of instruction might help them overcome challenges associated with digital marketing education. Qualitative research is designed to draw out deep perceptions and rich data, after which a complete analysis takes place with coded interpretations that are far more accurate than a general survey of variables and concepts (Gill, 2020). This approach is best for focusing on the experiences and needs of participants, giving them a chance to describe the phenomena in a study that is bounded. A better understanding of the perceptions small business owners experience when implementing social media campaigns can be derived by phenomenological interpretation, focused on the attitudes and opinions of a few respondents, verses vague feedback from a large group of individuals (Elfenbein & Schwarze, 2020). Followed by member checking to provide transferability and generalizable outcomes to similar settings where entrepreneurs are struggling with accessing instruction for using tools and resources available on social media networks.
…………………………….. Procedures for Recruitment, Participation, and Data Collection
An invitation will be created for potential respondents by myself for recruitment purposes. For transparency, a representative at the local Chamber of Commerce will be asked to reach out in a communication channel normally employed, such as a newsletter, or social media post. The invitation will outline the goal for the study to be accomplished, a disclaimer stating the study is to be objective as possible, and that the researcher will remain transparent throughout the process. This invitation will also provide a brief explanation of what the research study is about and what role they would play by offering information about their experiences in learning how to conduct social media campaigns.
As interested persons respond to the invitation, they will receive more detailed instructions about the interview process and be given choices for preferred interface for their personal interview, including the time, date, location, and expected duration of the interview. They will have a choice between a meeting by phone, or Skype/Zoom technology application.
For all meetings I will provide a private, comfortable, and secure environment and begin by reassuring them that confidentiality will be adhered to at all times, explaining that they will remain anonymous throughout the process of their involvement, followed by a review of security measures that will be strictly followed. They will then receive an informed consent form that will contain a review of study criteria, along with a confirmation of their commitment, date, time, and location of their interview. I will also provide contact information for myself, the dissertation chair, and the head of the IRB should they need to address any issues or concerns.
The interviews will contain open ended questions and will be structured to take approximately 30 minutes, depending on how much information participants are willing to provide. I intend to implement 12 to 18 interviews for this case study, using purposeful sampling at the onset, moving to convenience sampling to achieve the number projected, and using snowball sampling to locate more participants if needed to ensure saturation (Clarke & Braun, 2020).
The first research question asked will identify instructional needs in how they learned to launch and maintain social media marketing campaigns. This interview will be conducted using open-ended questions to help participants recall and share needs they have been confronted with, including how they have dealt with issues and met challenges during the process of learning social media marketing strategies. The data will be collected from interviews with participants, by myself, the author of the research study.
One main interview with each participant, of approximately 30 minutes in length will take place at the onset of the study. At least one follow up interview will be necessary to member check and qualify the data derived from the initial interview. The interviews will be recorded via audio recording software installed on my smart phone for transcription purposes during the analysis phase of the study, and a backup recording will be made with my laptop for redundancy. These measures will take place with security and safety protocol in mind at all times when handling the data.
The second research question asks about small business owner experiences in learning how to launch and maintain social media marketing campaigns. The data will be collected from semi-structured interviews with participants, by myself, the author of the research study. One main interview of approximately 30 minutes in length will take place at the onset of the study. And, one follow up interview will be necessary to member check and qualify the data derived from the initial interview. Finally, the information will be recorded via audio recording software installed on a smart phone and a backup recording will be made with my laptop for redundancy; with security and safety protocol in mind at all times when handling the data. Should there be too few participants to achieve saturation at this point the number of respondents might have to be reduced to fit the finite number of businesses located in this rural region of the country.
For debriefing, participants will be released from the study after a final exit interview process. This process will take place during the second interview scheduled with each participant by formal member checking, giving ample time to provide any information that might be necessary and to help the participant understand how they will receive information about the outcome of the study, as well as answer any questions they may have about their participation in the study. Each exit interview will conclude with a final assurance of security measures taken and the observance of confidentiality of all the information they will have provided for this study. At this time, I will personally wish them success for their business and in using social media marketing in the future to promote their products and services via the Internet.
Follow up procedures that may be implemented thereafter would involve contacting the participant formally to provide additional information, such as clarification to give answers to previous questions they may have had about their participation, questions about the purpose of the study, or outcomes that may affect them.
………………………………………………………………………………………………… Data Analysis Plan
Data collection instruments are essential tools used to address the research questions in a study (Hollin et al., 2020). Interview protocol will be employed in this study, with follow up interviews used for member checking to increase the credibility of the findings. To maintain the integrity of the data, accuracy will be achieved by using audio recording software for transcribing the interview contents, which allows for the ability to member check the outcomes reported, and a backup of each recording for redundancy. Software will be used for recording and coding the interview content, and participants will be invited to give feedback after data has been coded to be verified as an accurate interpretation of the findings. Any discrepancies will be noted and addressed, or documented to account for potential misinformation being reported in the study.
A period of four weeks will be used to allow enough time for interviews and follow up interviews to take place. A fifteen minute period before and after each interview will be allotted for introductions and logistical acknowledgments, taking special care to see that the respondents are comfortable and able to function well in the interview setting. I will review interview protocol and announce when the interview and audio recording will begin. The interviews will be structured with an introduction to explain the purpose of the study, review previous knowledge or background information that might help provide context to the research goals, and a review of research questions, closing with an invitation for the participant to ask any questions they might have about the study, and offering a copy of the findings when complete, thanking them for their participation and following up with a written acknowledgement of appreciation. It will be important to organize a section for notetaking to record any personal observations I might have as the researcher, insights or additional knowledge that might be pertinent; such as tones, feelings, physical observations, ideas, impressions, expressions, or non-verbal cues. This tool will be used for reflection by the researcher and utilized to document any personal judgements; consciously using bracketing to reduce bias.
Case numbers for participants and an alphanumeric system to safeguard the confidentiality of small business owners participating will be employed. I will lock the data in my cell phone and computer, which require password authentication; I will be the only person to have access to these credentials. Hard copies will be stored in a locked cabinet that only the researcher can access and paper files will be destroyed after seven years, by shredding and disposing of them properly.
As researcher of the study, I qualify as a primary data collection instrument (Mays & Pope, 2020), because my background in social media education and marketing may be of use to guide in the process of identifying how knowledge is constructed by small business owners learning to use social media as a marketing tool. It is equally vital to use other instruments to access a bulk of the data by conducting semi-structured interviews, and employing member checking to test reliability of the findings to be certain they match the intentions of respondents; until information gathered becomes redundant and saturation is achieved. Organizing the data, coding, identifying themes that are common to the study, interpreting and processing that data to disclose results will be conducted with focused attention to detail. Key themes will be identified first, then common themes, patterns, and layers will be documented.
Coding the information allows for themes to emerge and patterns to be identified, which adds to the credibility of outcomes (Cope, 2020). It will be vital to gather data in chucks, to use descriptive coding and merge subcategories, to be able to have a deep understanding of the information derived from the interview process. There is a requirement to seriously reflect on the data analyzed to allow for the most accurate interpretation as possible. A matrix will be created to organize data, note observations, and present findings. Discrepancies will be noted and mitigated with rigor to align information derived from qualified evidence and outcomes to be determined by the most credible sources of data.
Issues of Trustworthiness
This section will outline the ways trustworthiness is addressed to support the credibility of this qualitative research study, concluding with my approach for the ethical treatment and observation of the rights of participants throughout the process. Transparency in the role of the researcher is vital to achieve fairness and accuracy in outcomes (Alt, 2019).
Credibility
Verifying internal credibility and validity of the findings will be established by member checking, saturation, and bracketing on the part of the researcher to achieve exactness in intended meanings of themes represented in the outcome (Richard, 2020). Peer review will also determine support or denial in the credibility of the findings.
Transferability
To sustain the transferability of outcomes and external validity, it is necessary to have feedback to provide thick descriptions during the interview process, which may be solicited in additional interviews as warranted. This is a form of member checking used to verify whether the findings are consistent with the intended meaning of the information collected. Should participants display bias in changing information in the member checking phase, that will be noted in an effort to curb skewing of results in response to personal agendas. Again, the researcher will provide a consent form for participants who agree to be interviewed to articulate the critical need for honesty; and, a reminder that they can stop participation of their own free will or withdraw from the study at any time.
Dependability
To establish dependability and reliability of information and outcomes it is necessary to document everything to be accurate in reporting data without any errors or misrepresentations. Iteratively asking the questions to ascertain whether the answers are consistent is one strategy to check for accuracy. Using personal narratives from several interviews at different times allows for a variety of perspectives, while also setting standards and scope to compare data gathered. Triangulation is a way to ensure validity by using different methods to gather data on the same topic (Lemon & Hayes, 2020).
Confirmability
Strategies to establish confirmability involve the elimination of any researcher bias, by using only information garnished in the context of the study and member checking to triangulate data; documenting any deviation from accurate interpretation of information derived from interviews. Reflexivity will require a mutual understanding between the researcher and participants, consciously observing and paying particular attention to any preconceived notions or bias that may exist in an effort to remain objective throughout the process (Whitaker & Atkinson, 2019).
Ethical Procedures
For integrity in gathering the data, ethical procedures will be utilized to gain access to participants and gather data for this research effort. The Walden University Institutional Review Board (IRB) documents verify permissions and approvals that are required to conduct this study. These documents reflect the intention of the researcher to adhere to strict guidelines about the treatment of human participants during the recruitment and data collection process. Concerns and how they will be addressed are outlined in these documents, including refusal or early withdrawal from the study, or any other incident that could potentially occur during contact with participants. Treatment of participants who choose to withdraw will be the same as those who remain active, with all due respect and integrity. Data is to be stored digitally on my computer hard drive and cell phone with password authentication necessary to obtain access. Research files will be saved for seven years, after which digital copies will be deleted from the hard drive of my computer and phone; while paper copies will be stored in a locked file cabinet and after seven years shredded and disposed of properly.
Treatment of data, issues, and archival concerns are addressed according to the steps taken to monitor confidentiality and security measures. The subjects are to remain anonymous throughout the entire process and protections taken to ensure the data remains confidential, which involves data storage protocol that is widely accepted by using secure password authentication to access data, that only the researcher can use. When the information has been triangulated and member checking is used to verify the accuracy of the data, it will then be organized and disseminated by the researcher as required.
Other ethical issues to consider include my position as a scholar practitioner making contact with the local Chamber of Commerce to ask for access to their database of members. To ensure there is no conflict of interest, it will be necessary for me to remain as transparent as possible throughout the process. It will be critical to protect and store all the data supplied by the organization to ensure the confidentiality and security of data is not compromised in any way. Power issues that could arise involve my position as a business owner living in the same county as the participants, while implementing this research project. Professional distancing will be encouraged to create a barrier for little to no personal information to be shared with the participants of the study. There may be incentive to participate in the study to encourage interested persons in being a part of the project, without requiring anything in return, after their participation in the interviews.
Summary
This study was initiated to understand the experiences of small business owners learning to use social media marketing to identify instructional needs that may exist. These elements adequately cover the nature and scope of this study, which will render quality data to be collected to achieve effective qualitative outcomes (Johnson, Adkins, & Chauvin, 2020). There are numerous studies that support entrepreneurs using social media to market their products and services, however a limited body of knowledge currently exists for determining how they learn digital marketing practices, what challenges they face, and what instructional needs are not being met. It is essential to know how they currently learn, to develop guidelines to succeed in launching and maintaining social media campaigns for small business. In summary, alignment between the research questions, phenomena under investigation and approach to this research has been presented, and my role as the researcher with intended transparency in collecting and analyzing data was reported. Finally, the process for selecting participants was reviewed and issues of trustworthiness were examined. The results of this research will be explored in the next chapter.
Oh my…this is going so fast. Looking good for the actual study to take place this fall. Yay! Progress, at last 🙂 feeling humbled.
Chapter 1: Introduction to the Study
Background
Pick, Sarkar and Rosales (2019) performed a socioeconomic study on technological levels for 164 counties in the United States and found disparities in social media usage between various demographic and socioeconomical populations for counties in cities, towns, and rural areas. It is widely believed that using the Internet to engage in social media networking is expanding (Buratti, Parola, Satta, 2018). The importance of including technology innovation in business strategy underscores the need for training to remain current and competitive (Ilona, Melmusi, & Pratiwi, 2019). The use of this technological innovation to fill social, economic, demographic and geographic gaps, has become a point of interest to scholar-practitioners and policymakers in various disciplines (Mukherjee & Hollenbaugh, 2019; Huang, Yang, & Lee, 2017). Current studies focused on benefits to professional users indicate instruction to be a key factor (Huggins & Cunningham, 2019; Park, Sung, & Im, 2017). Literature is being added to uncover the needs of small business owners experiencing a new digital divide and to provide instructional guidelines for social media marketing strategies (Huggins, & Cunningham, 2019).
Al-khinji, Chen, and Eldabi (2019) attempted to define social media marketing and uncovered instructional needs they say were due to lack of resources, such as funding, time constraints, potentially negative perceptions, and noted other barriers in technology adoption. When researching knowledge acquisition, Jumin, Ijab,and Zaman (2017) were able to assist B40 social entrepreneurs reach their customers more effectively by using high end metrics such as social media analytics; intended to support skill, networked knowledge and social entrepreneurship. Surprisingly, B40 entrepreneurs showed more motivation to implement and use social media tools in less developed geographical locations of their country.
Sharma and Singla (2017) underscored the relevance of this research noting content for social media marketing is a new domain calling for further research and efforts to more clearly define what kind of digital divide actually exists. Their study clarified a need for learning strategies and supported the notion that the real digital divide is related to information and access to knowledge-building resources to effectively launch and maintain successful social media campaigns.
Huang, Yang, and Lee (2017) revealed similar trends, finding small and medium enterprises may have difficulty competing with major businesses if not providing unique value to customers. Their research supports the premise that entrepreneurs are facing a different set of challenges to compete. They insisted the domain calls for an analysis of learning requirements in digital marketing strategy and clarified the need for innovative, and perhaps collaborative, methods of learning to ensure further development of digital marketing knowledge.
Park, Sung, and Im (2017) supported the premise that digital marketing practices were vital for small business survival. They clarified this need by exposing a gap in knowledge of use, skill level and access to instruction for small business owners attempting to create successful social media campaigns. Richmond, Rader, and Lanier (2017) offered similar evidence of a new digital divide as the reason more knowledge was needed by small business owners. They portended that finding out how to access training and resources to obtain information and knowledge needed to skillfully execute a social media campaign was determining where future research was deemed essential.
In addition, Morah and Omojola (2018) performed a study on how the use of social media platforms support growth in small and medium scale enterprises (SME’s) using the diffusion of innovations and technology acceptance models, and descriptive survey research. They claimed their outcomes showed significance in the development of entrepreneurship and increased visibility, while many business owners seemed to be oblivious to their value or needed more instruction to master digital marketing skills. And finally, to clarify the question of access, Etlinger (2017) revealed not only a degree of bandwidth or access issues, but took a deeper look at the knowledge entrepreneurs have in digital marketing strategy, including their ability to read analytics. This supports the need for more information and training resources that may help entrepreneurs endeavoring to compete in the global economy.
Problem Statement
Small business owners who need to know digital marketing techniques to compete in today’s business world may lack the skills necessary to implement such techniques; impeding the launching and maintaining of social media campaigns, thus hindering them from reaching potential customers (Ishak, Nordin, Ghazali, Ungku, Abidin, & Bakar, 2018; Bhimani, Mention, & Barlatier, 2018; Jumin et al., 2017; Sharma, & Singla, 2017; Thakur, & Hale, 2017). Fortin and Chen (2017) examined existing models for marketing instruction they deem are unsustainable due to new marketing processes in the information age that small business owners may not have adopted, yet. Gaur and Anshu (2018) contend the value of social media as opportunistic for businesses and proclaimed further research is crucial to address instructional challenges in social media campaign marketing for entrepreneurs.
The problem is that there is an increased need for understanding what types of instruction small business owners require in order to learn necessary skills to launch and maintain social media marketing campaigns. There is a gap in the literature between how small business owners receive instruction that translates to skills needed to launch and maintain social media marketing campaigns. This need is underscored by Richmond et al. (2017) who claim rural small business owners experience a new digital divide pointing to a lack of skills in online marketing strategies, and calling for needed instruction rather than lacking access to the Internet.
Purpose
The purpose of this qualitative study is to understand what types of instruction small business owners need in order to learn the skills to launch and maintain social media marketing campaigns. Kapoor, Tamilmani, Rana, Patil, Dwivedi, and Nerur (2018) reviewed evidences and outlined notable advances when highlighting the evolution of social media research, where evidence found developing markets have their own set of issues, which underscored the need for specific instruction when attempting social media marketing. This instructional gap is supported by Ilavarasan, Kar, and Gupta (2018) who found emerging markets face different challenges, that point to a need for more instruction when learning to conduct social media campaigns.
Research Questions
The purpose of this qualitative study is to explore the instructional needs of small business owners who are learning how to launch and maintain social media marketing campaigns.
What are small business owners’ instructional needs in learning how to launch and maintain social media marketing campaigns?
What are small business owners’ instructional experiences in learning how to launch and maintain social media marketing campaigns?
Conceptual Framework
The purpose of this qualitative study is to understand the instructional needs of small business owners who are learning how to launch and maintain social media marketing campaigns. This research requires a conceptual framework which involves understanding the dissemination of a new innovation by identifying instructional needs of small business owners learning how to conduct social media marketing campaigns. Taiwo and Downe (2013) provided validity, which supported innovation adoption in the Unified Theory of Acceptance and Use of Technology (UTAUT) model, which has been derived from previous seminal research such as; Social Cognitive Theory, Technology Acceptance Model, Model of PC Utilization, and Innovation Diffusion Theory. Additionally, the Technology Acceptance Model (TAM) will be employed in this study to align new developments with future needs and improve instruction for the technological innovation of digital marketing. This research will explore innovative approaches to instruction that converge with the need to help define better ways to teach how to leverage social networks and networked knowledge complimented by technology tools (Goldie, 2016).
Nature of Study
A basic qualitative approach will be used to investigate the instructional needs of small business owners who are learning how to launch and maintain social media marketing campaigns. Qualitative research is rooted in the methodology of seeking how people understand and interpret the world around them (Ravitch & Carl, 2016). According to Merriam (2009), basic qualitative studies are used to understand how people interpret experiences, construct their worlds, and the meaning behind their experiences. This basic qualitative approach will be used in this study to gain an understanding of the instructional needs of small business owners who are learning how to conduct social media marketing campaigns.
Definitions
Social: is defined by Al-khinji, Chen, and Eldabi (2019) as being “devoted to, pertaining to or characterized by the friendly relationship or companionship” (Kietzmann et al., 2011; Mangold & Faulds, 2009).
Media: refers to mediums used to reach large audiences, such as radio, television, print (Kietzmann et al., 2011; Reuben, 2008).
Social Media: is defined as Internet-based technological applications focused on promotion of creative artifacts and the re-use of updated user-generated content that is exchanged in the process of making new connections between the content and the users who have created it (Xu & Zhang, 2013).
User Generated Content: shared on social media networks is content “created by the people and for the people, and provides an environment that is conducive for interactions and networking to occur at different levels…for instance, personal, professional, business, marketing, political, and societal” (Kapoor et al., 2018, p. 537).
Social Media: was re-defined by Kapoor et al. (2018) as being “made up of various user-driven platforms that facilitate diffusion of compelling content, dialogue creation, and communication to a broader audience (p. 537).”
Social Media Networks: are considered to be a phenomenon for global consumers with over two-thirds of the world population of Internet users visiting social networking or blogging sites, and accounting for 10% of all of the time spent on the Internet (Nielsen, 2009). Auxier (2012) added social media as a larger theme was not easy to define, due to the number of platforms that targeted a diversity of people and purposes.
Social Media Marketing: is the delivery of information for marketing via social media platforms, significantly recognized as one of the best methods to promote products and services (Hilal, 2018). Kim and Ko (2012) described the purpose of social media marketing as communication used to market resulting in desired brand equity and a positive impact on purchasing decisions.
Social Media Strategy: is a defined marketing plan for business that states specific objectives procedures, target audience, and metrics to measure the outcome of social media campaigns (Ng & Wang, 2013).
Digital Divide: is considered to be digital inequality for rural, as opposed to urban users of technology in the United States of America (Kruger & Gilroy, 2013).
Innovation: is a term used to describe the way something is done, or an idea which is considered new by individuals or society (Rogers, 2003). Pichlak (2016) said it is making or adopting new things, such as products, ideas, programs, services, technology, policies, new systems of administration, or structure.
Assumptions
Small business owners have demonstrated the need for instruction is a meaningful assumption for this study because, it is not certain how they learn or to what level they have accessed knowledge (Pechenkina & Aeschliman, 2017). There has been a critical assumption that consumers are passively receiving information via marketing and advertisements, however with the advent of Web 4.0, that paradigm has shifted to consumers becoming active participants seeking out new information about products and services when making purchasing decisions (Hassan, 2018).
Another reason these assumptions are necessary in the context of this study is due to social media becoming a mainstream communication channel which has disrupted traditional media outlets (Mureasan & Sinuraya, 2018). Pew Research Center (2012) confirmed evidence that not many have knowledge about what kind of affect social media marketing has on brands or how relationships made on social platforms influence values in a positive, or negative way.
Lastly, it is assumed that social media has emerged as a dominant form of communication and digital means of marketing products and services, while only 67% of users on the Internet actively engage in social media, and there are few who are knowledgeable about how digital marketing actually affect their brand, or how social media relationships support marketing efforts, with positive word of mouth advertising (Mangold & Faulds, 2009; Mousazadeh, Eva, & Akbarzadeh, 2018).
Scope and Delimitations
The problem calls for a need to understand what different aspects of instruction small business owners require in order to learn necessary skills to launch and maintain social media marketing campaigns. The focus of the study will provide evidence of economic sustainability achieved by small business owners acquiring the needed skills to be successful in social media marketing. The boundaries identified in this study are a specifically targeted population in Newton County, Arkansas, a tourist-destination, and rural region of the United States, zooming in on small businesses with less than five employees. Businesses with more than five employees were not included, nor were businesses that did not use social media marketing. Instructional needs will be identified and an investigation of digital marketing strategies evaluated, without crossing into more narrowly-defined disciplines where analytics and the ability to translate their meaning are represented.
Theoretical alignment is limited to understanding the adoption and utilization of an innovation to achieve a defined objective, and conceptual framework that relates best to the area investigated consist of social media marketing for small businesses, instructional needs, experiences, perceptions, and the rate of adoption of an innovation; without measuring skill level or ability to read analytical data. Prior research indicated a gap in academic studies that recommend best practices for selecting and using analytical tools (Hamid, 2020). As for potential transferability, it might be warranted to look into what others have learned in urban regions where they tend to offer more networking in the way of meet-ups and small business incubators to present the latest in digital marketing tactics to support the growth of small businesses (Morah & Omojola, 2018). The results of this study may inform future research to help identify instructional needs of entrepreneurs learning social media marketing.
Limitations
The methodology used for this study involves open-ended interviews with 12-18 small business owners in person, by phone call, or Skype/Zoom. Interviews will be scheduled with entrepreneurs actively engaged in social media campaigns during the period of time the study takes place. Primary sources for information and original data will be derived first hand from interviews with participants, while secondary sources including pertinent data will be culled from research articles, reports and conference proceedings that were published in peer reviewed journals, on governmental and formal survey websites. There are limitations involved in the small number of participants available to perform this research, because the scope of the study is focused on a rural area with a limited number of entrepreneurs who fit the criteria of managing social media marketing for their business.
Due to the small number of participants having a negative effect on the transferability of this study, this outcome could direct the potential to explore an urban setting where greater numbers of entrepreneurs are currently using methods that work; looking at how they are participating in learning, and how innovations are accepted as a new way of marketing by digital means, versus print and broadcast analog model of the past. Dependability in finding what knowledge is gained will be accomplished by learning how small business owners use social media to market their companies, what innovative uses they may have discovered that create successful social marketing campaigns to reach customers, and how learning technique may be improved upon to support small business marketing education.
Limitations point to an instructional need that exists without knowing how they currently learn, in order to identify how to develop better training opportunities. In lieu of gathering large amounts of data from a big dataset, this type of inquiry is intended to provide in-depth feedback to allow for an exhaustive means to analyze data, therefore produce a clearer picture of learning perceptions and their experiences. Triangulation will serve to make the findings reliable by checking the answers via multiple sources and comparing outcomes; using follow up interviews as necessary. Since the business owners are the only source of data, there could be limitations in having other sources of information, such as artifacts calling for content analysis, to allow for additional perceptions and realities to be considered.
Personal bias is apparent in my background as a social media educator and consultant. It is imperative for me to keep personal opinions out of the research, allowing for each interview participant to divulge experiences and perceptions they have to report for this study. I have to practice professional distancing from the participants who are involved in the study. Equally important to note is the potential for bias on the part of the business owners due to their personal position in the community, company or industry bias, or potential bias about the subject matter, research being performed, or the researcher conducting the study.
Significance
Park et al. (2017) suggested business owner’s opinions and attitudes affect the overall diffusion of innovative digital marketing strategies. Being concerned about how to best instruct digital marketing strategy to help small business owners reach potential customers effectively has been proven to be crucial for business sustainability and has contributed to a healthy local economy (Bhimani et al., 2018).
Small business owners need to be taught current ways to learn, and use this innovation effectively to launch and maintain successful social media campaigns (Fortin & Chen, 2017). Practical application for this research is to further the development of professional practice for small business owners and involves having a clearer picture of what types of instruction they need to learn social media marketing.
Summary and Transition
In summary, the background presented above provides research related to the discipline of instruction in social media for small businesses and describes what future research is warranted. To reiterate; the problem is an increased need for understanding what types of instruction small business owners require in order to learn necessary skills to launch and maintain social media marketing campaigns. The purpose of this qualitative study is to understand what types of instruction small business owners need in order to learn the skills to launch and maintain social media marketing campaigns. The research questions are intended to help understand the instructional needs and experiences of small business owners learning how to launch and maintain social media marketing campaigns.
In the conceptual framework section, we reviewed factors and variables to be considered, defining categories by size of business, education level, instructional resources and concepts that determine failure or success for small business owners competing in a global economy. The nature of this study is qualitative in an effort to gain better understanding of the instructional needs of small business owners learning how to conduct social media marketing campaigns. In this chapter we have defined the constructs to be explored, exposed assumptions about the need for instruction, queried about how small business owners learn social media, and lastly explored perceptions about the importance of digital marketing for small businesses.
This introductory chapter also defined the scope of the study, which is focused on instructional needs of small business owners learning how to launch and maintain social media marketing campaigns. Additionally, the location of the study, population, skills needed for digital marketing, and size of businesses that are actively involved in social media campaigns were reviewed. Limits of theoretical underpinning, as well as conceptual framework concepts and categories were noted. The transferability of the intended research as to whether it may generalize to larger urban environments with similar need for instruction to inform future studies, was also considered. Limitations in the chosen methodology, and potential bias of the researcher as well as participants were disclosed. Dependability of outcomes, and the need for triangulation to ensure reliability of the findings was discussed. Then, we reviewed the significance of the outcomes, pointing to a need for instruction as the identified gap in research, which is intended to help educators know how to offer new ways for students to learn, and provide practical solutions for future practice.
The following exhaustive literature review will synthesize studies with regard to the related constructs and methodology chosen, in alignment with the scope of the study. A myriad of researchers in the domain of education, technology, and business are highlighted; and strengths and weaknesses of their approaches to this issue are explored. The phenomena under investigation will be reviewed in an effort to describe what is currently known, what may be controversial, and what still needs further research. The following literature review will look at other studies related to our research questions to support the rationale for the approach selected for this study.
Chapter 2: Literature Review
Introduction
Instruction for small business is in need of upgrades due to marketing practices in the digital age involving new social media tools and resources (Kapoor et al., 2018). There are questions about what area of discipline would be best suited to address instructional needs of entrepreneurs (Ilavarasan, Kar, & Gupta, 2018). There are no shortages of topics to learn within a huge variety of narrowly-defined subject matter, where agencies have specialized in target segments within the discipline of digital marketing (Al-khinji, Chen, & Eldabi, 2019). Educators are currently faced with the issue of re-defining how to teach marketing strategies, while attempting to remaining current in digital marketing trends that are always changing (Huggins & Cunningham, 2019). While some social media instruction had been added to curriculum, educators agreed more knowledge is warranted. Education innovation researchers (Jordan, 2018; Rogers, 2010; Siemens, 2008) reminded that it is vital to ask questions about how instruction produces different results when applying technology.
The problem is that there is an increased need for understanding what types of instruction small business owners require in order to learn the skills to launch and maintain social media marketing campaigns (Richmond et al., 2017; Fortin & Chen, 2017; Gaur & Anshu, 2018). The purpose of this study is to understand what types of instruction small business owners need in order to learn the skills to launch and maintain social media marketing campaigns. It is important to acknowledge confirming evidence for a new digital divide that does not involve a lack in access for small business owners, but instead is based on the level of knowledge in the use of digital technology to market products and services (Richmond et al., 2017).
Current literature presented in this review provided evidence that is relevant to small business owners taking on the various challenges in accessing instruction for learning social media strategies to market their products and services (Ishak et al., 2018; Bhimani, Mention, & Barlatier, 2018; Jumin et al., 2017; Sharma, & Singla, 2017; Thakur, & Hale, 2017). Scholars and practitioners have previously examined what methods exist for knowledge acquisition, documenting experiences and perceptions of entrepreneurs to ascertain what instructional needs were not being met (Richmond et al., 2017; Fortin & Chen, 2017; Gaur & Anshu, 2018).
The introduction of this chapter includes a brief explanation of the literature search strategy used for this research; listing databases, search engines, and key word combinations of terms searched for the study. The next section of this chapter will examine the source of theory along with appropriate assumptions related to the use of theoretical underpinning, including an analysis that is literature and research-based in how the theory has been utilized similarly in previous studies. Then a rationale for the choice in theory is provided, including an explanation of why the chosen theory relates to the research questions and builds upon assumptions of existing theory.
The conceptual framework section attempts to define the concept of social media marketing for small business and synthesize primary sources shared by re-known theorists and philosophers whose work currently stands as evidence to explain and to advance research. Important aspects which exist in the framework are reviewed, with a description of previous uses of the constructs in studies that call for more questions to be answered and directly applies to this study.
Next, the literature review section involves a discussion of study outcomes focusing on concepts related to the subject matter and methods that support the scope of this study; including an examination of approaches used by previous researchers, distinguishing differences in similar outcomes and findings, then deconstructing the strengths and weaknesses of strategies and approaches, which serve to justify rationale for the selection of concepts explored in this study. Followed up by a review of what is known from studies immersed in the phenomena, comparing and contrasting agreements and disagreements in the tradition of scholarly investigation. The literature review section clarifies what is lacking in the current body of knowledge and synthesizes the information into evidence to support why the research questions are valid, and the chosen approach warranted. Finally, the summary concludes what is known and what is yet to be discovered in relation to the concepts associated with this topic. The summary describes how this study fills the identified gap in research, which is intended to further knowledge in the domain of social media marketing education.
Literature Search Strategy
Resources that define the scope of the literature review were accessed via web-based libraries and databases including: Academic Search Complete, Business Source Complete, EBSCO Discovery Service, ERIC (Education Research Information Center), Walden University Library, Google Scholar, ProQuest, and Sage Publications. Keywords used included: Social networking, small business, digital marketing instruction, networked knowledge, connected learning, small business and entrepreneurship, small business marketing instruction, social media marketing, social media marketing training, technology acceptance model. Approximately seventy articles have been selected for this literature review.
This search was completed as comprehensively as possible, including all resources related to instruction for social media marketing. Topics crossing boundaries in disciplines of education, information communication technology, and business were taken into consideration when applying search criteria. Buratti et al. (2018) found twenty-six papers had been published since 2014 and thirteen more publications had been reviewed more recently by Kapoor, et al. (2018). These scholars warned some research may be limited due to the need to study social media concepts using studies regarded as sentinel models and theories, such as the Technology Acceptance Model (TAM) and Unified Theory of Acceptance in the Use of Technology (UTAUT), which are still considered to be in early stages of development.
Conceptual Framework
This study will explore innovative approaches to learning that converge with the need for knowledge, and attempt to help define new approaches in learning how to use social networks and networked knowledge complimented by technology tools (Cydis, 2015; Siemens, 2008). This epistemology helps narrow the separate paradigm of knowing knowledge (level) versus perceiving how knowledge is gained as defined by our conceptual worldview; and defines the scope where networked knowledge appears to become vital for digital literacy and survival.
Justifying this belief to find whether this epistemology is true or not, depends on input from the users of the technology and resources that are current. Ontological factors and variables such as size of business, education level of owner, as well as marketing budget create categories and their relationships to concepts; determining failure or success in social media campaigns, which have been found to be increasingly important to small business owners who desire to compete successfully in a global economy.
The phenomena being explored are instructional needs of small business owners who are learning how to launch and maintain social media marketing campaigns. This concept is defined by supporting evidence which shows a new digital divide indicating a lack of access to instructional opportunities (Richmond et al., 2017). This study will verify the benefits of using this conceptual framework, by monitoring the trends of academia attempting to understand the concept of social media marketing for small business owners, to confirm a need for instruction in digital marketing practices.
Shang and Ghriga (2018) distinguished between social media and the three traditional media, contrasting criteria that included; social media allows for interaction on the part of both receiver and deliverer of information, while making information available to a larger number of people simultaneously. They contend both businesses and their customers are directly connected; and, social media platforms are free networks to join, making social media marketing cost effective for marketing, as well as communication.
The existence of a new digital divide underscores a need for the use of new tools and means by which business owners communicate with their customers due to the shift in resources available with the advent of social media marketing. According to Bala and Verma (2018), it is critical for entrepreneurs to learn social media strategies that align with their business plan to achieve their goals. It is evident that they must be willing to adopt this new innovation in order to learn how to launch and maintain successful social media campaigns.
Foundational research theories for this conceptual framework consist of UTAU2, Technology Acceptance Model TAM, and Connectivism. El-Masri and Tarhini (2017) extended the Unified Theory of Acceptance and Use of Technology (Taiwo & Downe, 2013), which was extracted by a team of researchers led by Venkatesh (2003) from earlier models that included theories supporting the conceptual framework of this study, namely: Social Cognitive Theory (SCT); Technology Acceptance Model (TAM), Innovation of Diffusion Theory (IDT). El-Masri and Tarhini (2007) indicated factors that relate to business and the adoption rate of e-learning systems, and suggested that the study of acceptance in technological innovation use, can help uncover factors that impact adoption rate, thus reducing costs for business owners.
The Technology Acceptance Model (TAM) is in alignment with this study, because it can help describe how users adopt innovations, applying two factors that impact attitudes toward technology acceptance; perceptions of how useful the technology is and how the technology is being used. This framework directly supports why user behavior is a key factor in regards to how they are using technologies to facilitate, influence, and perhaps predict customer intention (Khadim, Hanan, Arhad, & Saleem, 2018).
Connectivism offers a theoretical foundation from a perspective where teaching and learning may be supported by technology to be better utilized, understood, and managed; when development and evaluation are applied. It is considered impossible to use one theory to explain any phenomenon involved with technology and networked learning. That is why it is vital to recognize the importance of instruction, as well as how teaching is approached, in networked learning environments online (Goldie, 2016; Siemens, 2008).
Logical and factual research has revealed an instructional gap reported as a new digital divide, which is widely believed to be an accurate assumption (Pick, et al., 2019). Speculation that a digital divide for small business owners exists in rural regions could be considered opinion, unless there are thorough investigations which distinguish this notion as a justified belief in the domains of education, technology, and business. Evidence-based findings by peer-reviewed researchers confirm the validity of accurate results reported, and provided a direction for future studies that are scholastically supported.
Current Literature Review
Themes that emerged in the literature include the need for instruction for small business owners learning social media marketing and the adoption rate of an innovation; layers uncovered in the documents involve a concept referred to as the new digital divide (Bala & Verma, 2018; Richmond et al., 2017; Pick et al., 2019), as well as social media marketing, experiences, perceptions, and needs of entrepreneurs facing this challenge; while subtopics considered were competition, sustainability, and global economy. Rowley and Keegan (2019) performed a critical assessment of literature in the domain of social media marketing, offering an agenda for future research, information to support best practices, and initiated discussion using a systematic literature review approach.
Statistics showed 92% of businesses were marketing their products and services on the Internet and believed social media marketing was crucial to their success, while 80% believed social media marketing increased website visits; therefore a worthy investment for companies using digital marketing (Khadim, Hanan, Arshad, & Saleem, 2018). Facebook has been recognized as the leader in social media marketing worldwide (Patra, 2020; Sukrat & Papasratorn, 2018). Statista (2017) reported Facebook alone had 1.97 billion monthly users, with fifty million active users on business pages, and the Facebook advertising platform reported two million business users. Often it is true that users of social media are not aware of the increase of platforms globally, hence not realizing opportunities available to increase the visibility of their brand on a scale that was never achievable before the advent of digital marketing and the Internet (Vijay & Srivastava, 2019). Mukherjee and Hollenbaugh (2019) reported a gap between modern business practices and current curriculum to cover the issues and challenges faced by entrepreneurs and social media marketing.
This is a systematic literature review of studies related to instructional needs in social media marketing for small business owners, to understand perceptions and innovation adoption experiences. Constructs in alignment with the research questions of this study are social media marketing, instructional needs of small business owners learning digital marketing, and small business owner experiences. Methodology chosen for this study involves open-ended interviews of 12-18 small business owners by phone call or Skype/Zoom. These methods prove to be consistent with the scope of this study, by boundaries clearly identified as instructional needs of small business owners learning to use social media marketing, limiting measurements of success, skill, or ability to evaluate analytical data, hence the outcome of their efforts.
In chapter 1 we noted the number of research efforts reported, where 26 of 31 studies had been reviewed prior to 2014, denoting early stages in the development of a social media marketing knowledge-base; reporting over 50 percent of the manuscripts were quantitative with 16 studies, qualitative research ranked second with 5 papers, and conceptual last with 5 manuscripts (Buratti, Parola, & Satta, 2018). Only one literature review was found, which verified a gap in research to systemize evidence-based findings in the field of social media marketing for business.
Williams and Hausman (2017) developed risk categorization, using a social media risk register, to assist organizations in learning how to assess risks and associated consequences of using social media to market their brands. Comparable to this study, these researchers used an interpretive approach and qualitative research design, to offer suggestions for policies in response to needs of small business owners. They employed coding to analyze outcomes and understand needs for risk management policies when strategizing digital marketing campaigns (Williams & Hausman, 2017).
Scholar practitioners have approached the problem by acknowledging how the adoption of social media marketing for small business has disrupted communication channels that have been relied upon by individuals, businesses, universities and governments for decades. Using these tools correctly was agreed to lead to success in marketing products and services, and brand recognition (Hilal, 2018; Muresan & Sinuraya, 2018; Ariff et al., 2018). However a weakness exposed proved lack of knowledge in proper implementation, leading to incorrect use and reputation damage (Williams & Hausman, 2017). Strengths in the approach of social media studies related to small business adoption involved a gap in instructional opportunities intended to boost brand exposure and additional avenues for promotion of products and services, while exposing weaknesses related to incorrect employment of social media marketing initiatives, which could damage the image of business who chose to embrace technology by attempting digital marketing practices (Williams & Hausman, 2017).
Another strength exposed by the research indicated a lack in learning opportunities for social media education according to a study in the domain of communication, where Mukherjee and Hollenbaugh (2019), reported that curriculums generally approached studies from relationship levels in society, rather than from a perspective of the financial impact of businesses, hence noting the practice being different than what is found in the classroom. They developed a pedagogical tool intended to engage learners, with a summary of potential effects of social media marketing on small business (Mukherjee & Hollenbaugh, 2019), and deemed factors which motivated users and practical implementation are reasonable topics for future studies.
A gap exists for instructional need without knowing how users currently learn, which would allow educators an opportunity to identify ways to develop better training opportunities. Another weakness demonstrated in the research points to more diffusion of innovation studies needed, indicating slow adoption of technology due to perceptions which are negative regarding how useful social media can be for marketing purposes, as well as lack of time, money, and labor to ensure proper training takes place to fill the gap of unfamiliarity with the new technology (Al-khinji, Chen, & Eldabi, 2019).
The rationale for choosing the concepts of social media marketing, small business owner experiences and instructional needs, is based on other studies focused on the sustainability of small business, and furthering the need for developing digital marketing training opportunities. In an empirical study, Patra (2020) found social media had a direct impact on business revenue and that affect was increasing, which is a compelling trend which supported this premise.
A study referred to as The Social Media Magnet (Huggins & Cunningham, 2019) reported shifting paradigms calling for inbound marketing education programs for professors to consider when teaching digital marketing strategy, to help them keep up with the blistering pace of technology trends in education. Their contribution was a pedagogy for online delivery, updated regularly, offering new theory within a practicum for teaching college students strategies for digital marketing, including website development, tools and resources for social media and email campaigns. This curriculum was recommended for academics who may not be current in digital literacy by utilizing recommended tools to develop skills holistically, from strategic and tactical perspectives (Huggins & Cunningham, 2019). An instructional gap exists without educators knowing how entrepreneurs currently learn; to identify and develop better training opportunities.
A review of the studies related to key phenomena involving instructional needs and perceptions of small business owners when learning social media marketing tell us there are gaps in research providing instructional best practices for small business owners learning social media marketing. There is much written on the positive impact of social media marketing for businesses in the digital age, however research is limited in current studies regarding how business owners learn digital marketing strategies, for further development of best practices in teaching and implementing social media marketing.
There are numerous studies investigating the adoption of innovations and technology use, showing the adoption rate of social media marketing for small business survival is continuing to increase (Ariff, 2018). Ilona, Melmusi, and Pratiwi (2019) performed a qualitative study to address the gap in knowledge to support social media adoption by small and medium enterprises (SME) in Indonesia. They utilized the Technology Organization Environment (TOE) model to show adoption of social media was determined by the context of technology, such as advantages, how compatible, complex and ability to trial and observe outcomes. They found users were more likely to adopt an innovation if they were open to the concept (Ilona, Melmusi, & Pratiwi, 2019). Mukherjee and Hollenbaugh (2019) performed the only study of its kind to learn the effects in how social media was being used for business, filling a gap for examples to follow, using fictitious case studies as examples, and providing a pedagogy that business communication instructors could utilize to teach the future workforce of socially connected practitioners.
Studies related to the research questions of this work fall short in addressing instructional needs and experiences of small business owners learning to use social media. Reasons for chosen concepts stem from instructional needs and perceptions of small business owners, as addressed in the research questions of this study. The approach of this study is meant to help fill gaps in the literature supporting instruction for small business owners learning to use social media marketing (Bhimani, Mention, & Barlatier, 2018; Ishak et al., 2018; Jumin et al., 2017). Some studies focused on instruction of social media marketing in colleges, universities, and small business incubators; however, many are outdated (Barton, 2019; McHaney et al., 2015; Case & King, 2011; Cydis, 2015).
Understanding Instructional Needs
The current target demographic for businesses are digital natives, more commonly referred to as millennials, who spend two hours and one minute a day engaging on social media platforms according to the Global Digital Report (2018). However, there are not many educational institutions reported to fill the gap in knowledge of digital marketing for small business owners (Huggins & Cunningham, 2019).
From the perspective of potential students, the domain of digital marketing calls for more skill in technology applications, which drives the development of social media marketing principles to be addressed in practicum environments that allow for collaborative learning (Malik, 2017). Future marketing managers need learning experiences that are effective at creating knowledge for best practices in social media marketing; utilizing analytical data to evaluate outcomes, which was reported as a huge domain for future research in business and industry (Dammert & Nansamba, 2019). Malik (2017) identified instructional needs for digital marketing to include social media marketing knowledge as an effective means for positioning advertising campaigns on digital platforms, as well as ease in monitoring and tracking success.
. Local Economy to Global Marketplace: competition & sustainability
The Small Business Administration (2018) says small business is defined as having less than $7.5 million for a majority of non-manufacturing companies annual receipts and manufacturing businesses with less than 500 individuals employed. The sustainability of small businesses is important because they are the catalysts of local economies and represent 28 million (99.7%) of the companies in the United States, with 49.2% of employed individuals in the entire country (Small Business Administration, 2018), who could benefit greatly by utilizing social media for marketing.
Henry (2019) found many small business owners struggle to compete in microenterprise with the innovative social media rich environment used for marketing in the digital age. Studies continually report the disruption of traditional communication channels, creating new means for disseminating information by social media marketing, and building personal relationships with consumers who are also using the free platforms to connect, seek knowledge, and communicate (Lee, 2018). It is not clear how participants seek to gain knowledge and principles; other than in a connected environment of trusting individuals, business rivals, and other reputable companies, which assisted them in networked knowledge construction in exercising social media awareness (Henry, 2019). This is confirming evidence of users attempts to make sense of social media, in an effort to learn how to utilize its features, which has been beleived to help achieve business goals. Additionally, Henry (2019) found entrepreneurs leveraged their knowledge of social media marketing and economic challenges, while defining markets they must target to remain competitive.
…………………………………………………………………………………………………… How They Learn
The outcome of this study hopes to understand the instructional needs and experiences of small business owners learning to use social media marketing; exploring challenges to identify needs for digital marketing knowledge, while documenting the experiences of small business owners launching and maintaining social media campaigns. Morah and Omojola (2018) used the Diffusion of Innovations and Technology Acceptance Models to provide descriptive research about small and medium enterprises in Nigeria, and found a great number of entrepreneurs were not aware of strategies employed to use social media to stimulate economic growth for their business. Huggins and Cunningham (2019) developed a pedagogy to teach digital marketing strategies, producing tech-savvy graduates to fill positions in firms calling for inbound marketing professionals. Small business owners have been reported to understand the challenge, however are uncertain about how to use social media and technology resources to boost their economic standing (Henry, 2019).
……………………………………………………… Training methodology based on how they learn
Mukherjee and Hollenbaugh (2019) presented a pedagogical tool designed to increase engagement for learners, revealing how theory and practice are concepts that are not always in alignment in real world situations; however their studies showed social media marketing could make a difference in business success. Huggins and Cunningham (2019) designed pedagogy to engage learners in methods for online delivery with systematic and timely updates, adding innovative theory and online interventions to teach students digital marketing tactics, launching live campaigns.
Understanding Instructional Experiences
……………………………………………………………………………………………………….. Digital Divide
Innovative technology has been a boon to small businesses that lacked traditional resources. Utilizing the infrastructure of free social media networking sites, provides unlimited opportunities to reach out to customers without a strain on financial budgets. Muresan and Sinuraya (2018) have proven the reliability and consistency of this notion with their outcomes that suggest the new digital divide is real, but pointed to the lack of access to training opportunities. They showed how important digital skills are for using the Internet to promote products and services, which have proven to be more beneficial than employing traditional media outlets and marketing mixes. They found the Internet to be a more effective way to target audiences and define demographics on many levels (Muresan and Sinuraya, 2018).
Social media marketing has been proven to have a significant impact on business success and scholars agree that it is an important tool for small businesses to be able to listen, learn, and engage with their customers like never before, however Szymkowiak and Garczarek-Bąk (2019) deemed business owners to be more skeptical in their use of innovative social marketing tools and resources. Al-khinji, Chen, and Eldabi (2019) also proposed the innovation to be unattractive to new users who might have been slower to adopt new technologies due to negative attitudes, which created barriers due to potential lack of resources, training, and simply unfamiliarity in use.
…………………………………………………………………………………….. Adoption of an innovation
There are no shortages of studies in the effectiveness of using social media for marketing purposes (Sanwariprasad, Prakash, & Quddus, 2020). Mukherjee and Hollenbaugh (2019) performed a pedagogical study on the sustainability of small businesses by using case studies that were fictional examples of typical scenarios of social media use. Nummela and Saarenketo (2016) claimed small businesses tend to enjoy flexibility and are more agile in their ability to navigate social networks, due to having fewer employees and stronger social connections that translate to highly innovative uses for new digital marketing channels. Szymkowiak and Garczarek-Bąk (2019) found digital literacy was essential in overcoming resistance to any new technology, and that it is still unclear how online media use leads to positive or negative long term effects when considering different ways of processing information versus time spent on social media.
Summary and Conclusion
The major themes found in the literature involve understanding small business owner needs for instruction in the domain of social media marketing, with clarification of perceptions and rate of adoption. Layers revealed in the research indicate a new digital divide in learning online marketing strategies, identifying instructional needs, and uncovering how they learn by understanding experiences. Subtopics identified include local and global economy, competition, sustainability, and future directions for digital marketing instructional opportunities.
Related to instructional needs of small business owners learning to use social media marketing to promote their products and services, there are many studies that supported the need for digital literacy for effective outcomes, however there was a gap in knowledge about how small business owners learned social media marketing techniques, which points to a great need for instructional assessment and implementation of new methods for learning to use innovative marketing tools. Buratti et al. (2018) offered supporting evidence, proclaiming that keeping up with the competition and pressure to adopt technological innovations has become more prevalent for business sustainability, hence causing business owners to reconsider their approach to management, communication, stakeholder interests, and how they deliver value.
The gap in literature this study hopes to help fill in an effort to further knowledge and understanding in the domains of education, business, and technology is to understand the experiences and identify the needs of small business owners learning to use social media to launch and maintain successful marketing campaigns. Sukrat and Papasratorn (2018) contend future research is warranted to expand populations and potentially generalize their business model to other environments in helping to define maturity levels in social commerce. Pick et al. (2019) found rural users are behind urbanites by 10 percent, pointing to social and economic influences and discrepancies in technology use for counties in the U.S. Their study was not able to provide statistics regarding social media adoption, but showed there are clearly different patterns in social media use in metropolitan regions in contrast to rural regions of the country.
Additionally, it is believed that traditional methods for advertising via print, radio, and television are in need of review due to markets that have opened up with digital tools and communication channels (Subramanian, 2018). Bhimani et al. (2018) confirmed social media is a catalyst for innovation, and revealed behavior and perspectives about resources was the theoretical lens most commonly used in research. And finally, Hamid (2020) insisted that businesses need a systematic way to adopt social media marketing as an advantageous means for marketing and communication, calling for the development of a framework for adoption, and noting key performance measures for organizations attempting to use social media marketing.
Chapter 3: Research Method
Chapter 3
Introduction
The purpose of this qualitative study is to understand what types of instruction small business owners need in order to learn the skills to launch and maintain social media marketing campaigns. In this chapter I will describe the research design and rationale for this study, with a review of my role as the researcher. In the methodology section, there will be information regarding participant selection and instrumentation used in this study, taking into consideration content validity established and how the research questions were addressed. Following that procedures for recruitment, participation and data collection are explained. This section concludes with full disclosure on issues of trustworthiness acknowledged in conducting this research.
Research Design and Rationale
The research questions to be answered were derived from the current literature that identified instructional gaps that exist for businesses owners learning how to use social media to market products and services.
What are small business owners’ instructional needs in learning how to launch and maintain social media marketing campaigns?
What are small business owners’ instructional experiences in learning how to launch and maintain social media marketing campaigns?
Central concepts to this study involve social media marketing for small business owners, with an emphasis on the phenomenon of how they learn, to improve instruction in digital marketing for entrepreneurs. In performing this study we hope to understand perceptions and experiences of small business owners learning to use social media marketing, in an effort to fill a gap for more research to clarify the dissemination of an innovation that could prove to support the local and global economy (Szymkowiak & Garczarek-Bąk, 2019). Current literature supports the need for a systematic approach to instruction, and calls for a framework to understand the adoption rate of social media marketing, to know how they learn; which provides rationale for this tradition and serves stakeholders in a positive way (Hamid, 2020). The phenomenological approach used in this study is aligned to help understand the experiences of small business owners to interpret the phenomena in a traditional research method (Vagle, 2018). My knowledge and experience in education technology and digital marketing strategy will help create an effective interpretation of the perceptions participants express, to help understand how they learn and what experiences they have had in launching and maintaining social media campaigns.
Role of the Researcher
As an observer in this study my role as the researcher requires eligible participants have no personal relationship, defined as contact with the participants outside of the research. A professional relationship may exist, particularly when the invitation to be involved in the interview process is extended by myself in the role of a researcher. That alone could trigger a power over participant relationship, due to a potential need to please the requester with information that could be skewed or exaggerate the benefits or challenges in their experience of implementation. Descriptive bracketing will be implemented to allow me as the researcher to keep personal assumptions and opinions to myself, to be unencumbered to look objectively at what is externally supposed in the study, and to ascertain the essential meaning reported about the phenomenon experienced by participants (Gearing, 2004). To curb the potentiality of bias, very little communication between the participants and the researcher will take place, outside basic information regarding the study and the process for their participation; stressing the importance of honest and exact information offered by them in their answers.
Ethical issues taken into consideration involve the approach taken to invite participants to be interviewed in the study, how much contact and communication are allowed to take place without causing affinity or judgement on the part of the participant when answering questions in the interview. The plan to address this issue is to have a third party organization provide contact information for potential participants. A formal letter of invitation will be disseminated by the service organization that represents the small business owners; namely the local Chamber of Commerce, in hopes that the research will be given credibility by the recommendation of a professional organization they are currently a member in, to reassure that a verifiable source will be asking them to offer information about their operations with good intentions to provide knowledge to the community. Once invitations are accepted, formal written communication will follow, with very little personal contact and verbal communication as possible. Since I do not belong to the organization and am not involved in activities sponsored by this group, I will be considered an outside researcher interested in helping the local economy by providing feedback and evaluation for the betterment of their community. Equally important to note, is that I am a resident of the community, with my own interests and preferences in doing business and meeting daily needs. These interests and agendas will remain confidential, with little to no knowledge on the part of the respondents as to my personal background and geographic origin. The participants will only be made aware of my professional background in social media marketing, education, and instruction.
Methodology
Methodology of this research involves a system of methods used for studying focal points, such as small business, social media and digital marketing; and concepts include experiences, perceptions, rate of adoption. The scope for this work involves social media marketing for small businesses, training and instruction needs, perceptions, adoption of an innovation, and skill level. It is unknown how much small business owners actually value social media; this study is bound by experience and knowledge of participants, however does not pursue inquiry of the use and interpretation of analytic data.
The methodology used for this study involves open-ended interviews with 12-18 small business owners by phone call, or Skype/Zoom. The methodology for this study involves creating qualitative phenomenological research (Vagle, 2018), with an emphasis on social media marketing for small businesses to understand the experiences and potentially reveal instructional needs of entrepreneurs. Utilizing a qualitative approach with open-ended interviews as a means for collecting data, to investigate strategies used to market products and services with social media tools. The interviews will last between 30 minutes to 1 hour, depending on how much information each individual is willing to divulge. Prepared questions about their experiences will be provided, allowing for each respondent to describe perceptions, approaches, and outcomes of what they currently know about digital marketing strategies. The conversations will be recorded to ensure no data is lost, and to be able to refer back to transcriptions to verify results reported in the final outcomes and conclusion of this study.
Participants involved in this study are comprised of small business owners who are located in Newton County, Arkansas and have been learning to use social media to market their products and services prior to and during the course of this study.
Nonprobability sampling is in alignment with this research, due to the nature and purpose of this study to understand experiences of small business owners learning to use social media marketing. Purposeful sampling selection will be employed due to the small-sized population (Elfenbein & Schwarze, 2020). Purposeful sampling is also a useful method, to answer questions the researcher has in mind for a purpose, which is in alignment with the research questions to help understand small business owner experiences and perceptions about social media marketing strategies. Should there be too little of a sampling yield, convenience sampling is applicable, due to potential participants being situated in a near proximity to the researcher collecting the data (Clarke & Braun, 2020).
There are a limited number of entrepreneurs doing business in Newton County, Arkansas which limits the scope of this study by narrowing down constructs to the fit the number of small business owners actively launching and maintaining social media marketing campaigns, while the study is being conducted. The method for ensuring criteria is being met, will be to inquire within the local Chamber of Commerce and request a list of active marketing small businesses who comply. The criteria is small businesses owned and operated by individuals who are living and doing business in Newton County at the time of the study. The definition of small business according to the Small Business Administration (2018) is companies that have less than $7.5 million annual gross receipts and less than 500 individuals employed. Justification for the small sample size lies in the availability of participants, places an emphasis on quality data analysis potential, and resources that are available, such as time and number of small businesses that qualify (Farrugia, 2019).
It is important to qualify participants at the onset of the research (Lester, Cho, & Lochmiller, 2020). Business owners will be considered to have met the criteria, if the Chamber of Commerce deems them as appropriately aligned with the small business category according to their definition, and fits the criteria outlined by the Small Business Administration (2018). A qualified participant meets the eligibility requirement if owning a small business located in Newton County Arkansas, and has conducted social media marketing campaigns for their business. The Chamber of Commerce observed definition will be a guideline for the criteria:
Owner of a small business located in Newton County, Arkansas
Possessing at least 2 years of experience doing business in Newton County
Employing 1 to 5 individuals, which may include oneself
$100, 000 or less in business assets at the time the study was conducted
Offering products and services locally, and globally
Experience conducting social media campaigns
The number of participants required has been targeted at 12-18 small business owners, due to the size of the county and total number of businesses that potentially exist. That number will be verified by the Chamber of Commerce to ensure this goal is realistic in relation to the number of active members they have that are implementing social media marketing campaigns.
The procedures to identify participants will involve an initial assessment of the Chamber of Commerce membership roster, verifying the number of small businesses according to their criteria for small business, to determine potential to reach 12-18 small business owners who would consent to being interviewed about their social media marketing strategies. The businesses on the qualifying list will be sent an invitation to join the research and be interviewed about their social media marketing experiences. They will further be recruited by a follow up request and consent form.
To confirm a relationship between the sample size and saturation, snowball sampling will be utilized in a final effort to get valid responses from as many owners as possible to gather data from a large enough population for saturation to take place (Clarke & Braun, 2020). Particularly when snowball sampling, making sure credible referrals match the criteria required to be eligible will help qualify each participant and bound the case study (Yin, 2017). It is important to qualify participants that are required to meet specific criteria used to define their status as a small business owner actively implementing social media campaigns at the time the study is conducted.
The instrument used to collect data for this research is recorded interview protocol, using open ended questions to receive input during an approximately 30 minute long meeting via phone call or Skype/Zoom. Other instruments include: an invitation to participate in the study, a consent form, interview questions, and a thank you letter. The source of information will be derived from interviews with small business owners who have had experience in launching and maintaining social media campaigns to marketing their products and services.
To evaluate the experiences and instructional needs of small business owners learning to use social media marketing it is sufficient to ask them to disclose what they know, and learn directly from their experiences and attitudes about what form of instruction might help them overcome challenges associated with digital marketing education. Qualitative research is designed to draw out deep perceptions and rich data, then a complete analysis takes place with coded interpretations that are far more accurate than a general survey of variables and concepts (Gill, 2020). This approach is best for focusing on the experiences and needs of participants, giving them a chance to describe the phenomena in a study that is bounded. A better understanding of the perceptions small business owners experience when implementing social media campaigns can be derived by phenomenological interpretation, focused on the attitudes and opinions of a few respondents, verses vague feedback from a large group of individuals (Elfenbein & Schwarze, 2020). Followed by member checking to provide transferability and generalizable outcomes to similar settings where entrepreneurs are struggling with accessing instruction for using tools and resources available on social media networks.
…………………………….. Procedures for Recruitment, Participation, and Data Collection
An invitation will be created for potential respondents by myself for recruitment purposes. For transparency, a representative at the local Chamber of Commerce will be asked to reach out in a communication channel normally employed, such as a newsletter, or social media post. The invitation will outline the goal for the study to be accomplished, a disclaimer stating the study is to be objective as possible, and that the researcher will remain transparent throughout the process. This invitation will also provide a brief explanation of what the research study is about and what role they would play by offering information about their experiences and perceptions in learning how to conduct social media campaigns.
As interested persons respond to the invitation, they will receive more detailed instructions about the interview process and be given choices for preferred interface for their personal interview, including the time, date, location, and expected duration of the interview. They will have a choice between a meeting by phone, or Skype/Zoom technology application.
For all meetings I will provide a private, comfortable, and secure environment and begin by reassuring them that confidentiality will be adhered to at all times, explaining that they will remain anonymous throughout the process of their involvement, followed by a review of security measures that will be strictly followed. They will then receive an informed consent form that will contain a review of study criteria, along with a confirmation of their commitment, date, time, and location of their interview. I will also provide contact information for myself, the dissertation chair, and the head of the IRB should they need to address any issues or concerns.
The interviews will contain open ended questions and will be structured to take no longer than approximately 30 minutes, depending on how much information participants are willing to divulge. I intend to implement 12 to 18 interviews for this case study, using purposeful sampling at the onset, moving to convenience sampling to achieve the number projected, and using snowball sampling to locate more participants if needed to ensure saturation (Clarke & Braun, 2020).
The first research question asked will identify instructional needs in how they learned to launch and maintain social media marketing campaigns. This interview will be conducted using open-ended questions to help participants recall and share needs they have been confronted with, including how they have dealt with issues and met challenges during the process of learning social media marketing strategies. The data will be collected from interviews with participants, by myself, the author of the research study.
One main interview with each participant, of approximately 30 minutes in length will take place at the onset of the study. At least one follow up interview may be necessary to member check and qualify the data derived from the initial interview. The interviews will be recorded via audio recording software installed on my smart phone for transcription purposes during the analysis phase of the study, and a backup recording will be made with my laptop for redundancy. These measures will take place with security and safety protocol in mind at all times when handling the data.
The second research question asks about small business owner experiences in learning how to launch and maintain social media marketing campaigns. And, the data will be collected from semi-structured interviews with participants, by myself, the author of the research study. One main interview of approximately 30 minutes in length will take place at the onset of the study. And, one follow up interview may be necessary to member check and qualify the data derived from the initial interview. Finally, the information will be recorded via audio recording software installed on a smart phone and a backup recording will be made with my laptop for redundancy; with security and safety protocol in mind at all times when handling the data. Should there be too few participants to achieve saturation at this point the number of respondents might have to be reduced to fit the finite number of businesses located in this rural region of the country.
As for debriefing, participants will be released from the study after a final exit interview. This will be done during the second interview scheduled with each participant by formal member checking, giving ample time to provide any information that might be necessary and to help the participant understand how they will receive information about the outcome of the study, as well as answer any questions they may have about their participation in the study. Each exit interview will conclude with a final assurance of security measures taken and the observance of confidentiality of all the information they will have provided for this study. I will personally wish them success for their business and in using social media marketing in the future to promote their products and services via the Internet.
Follow up procedures that may be implemented thereafter would involve contacting the participant formally to provide additional information, such as clarification to give answers to previous questions they may have had about their participation, questions about the purpose of the study, or outcomes that may affect them.
………………………………………………………………………………………………… Data Analysis Plan
Data collection instruments are essential tools used to address the research questions in a study (Hollin, Craig, Coast, Beusterien, Vass, DiSantostefano, & Peay, 2020). Interview protocol will be employed in this study, with follow up interviews used for member checking to increase the credibility of the findings. To maintain the integrity of the data, accuracy will be achieved by using audio recording software for transcribing the interview contents, which allows for the ability to member check the outcomes reported, with backup recordings for redundancy. Software will be used for recording and coding the interview content, and participants will be invited to give feedback after data has been coded to be verified as an accurate interpretation of the findings. Any discrepancies will be noted and addressed, or documented to account for potential misinformation being reported in the study.
A period of four weeks will be used to allow enough time for interviews and follow up interviews. A fifteen minute period before and after each interview will be allotted for introductions and logistical acknowledgments, taking special care to see that the respondents are comfortable and able to function well in the interview setting. I will review interview protocol and announce when the interview and audio recording will begin. The interviews will be structured with an introduction to explain the purpose of the study, review previous knowledge or background information that might help provide context to the research goals, and a review of research questions, closing with an invitation for the participant to ask any questions they might have about the study, and offering a copy of the findings when complete, thanking them for their participation and following up with a written acknowledgement of appreciation. It will be important to organize a section for notetaking to record any personal observations I might have as the researcher, insights or additional knowledge that might be pertinent; such as tones, feelings, physical observations, ideas or impressions, expressions, or non-verbal cues. This tool will be used for reflection by the researcher and utilized to document any personal judgements; consciously using bracketing to reduce bias.
Case numbers for participants and an alphanumeric system to safeguard the confidentiality of small business owners participating will be employed. I will lock the personal raw data in my cell phone and computer, which require password authentication; I will be the only person to have access to these credentials. Hard copies will be stored in a locked cabinet that only the researcher can access and paper files will be destroyed after seven years by shredding and disposing of them properly.
As researcher of the study, I qualify as a primary data collection instrument (Mays & Pope, 2020), because my background in social media education and marketing may be of use to guide in the process of identifying how knowledge is constructed by small business owners learning how to use social media as a marketing tool. It is equally vital to use other instruments to access a bulk of the data by conducting semi-structured interviews, and employing member checking to test reliability of the findings to be certain they match the intentions of respondents; until information gathered becomes redundant and saturation is achieved. Organizing the data, coding, identifying themes that are common to the study, interpreting and processing that data to disclose results will be conducted with focused attention to detail. Key themes will be identified first, then common themes, patterns, and layers will be documented.
Coding the information allows for themes to emerge and patterns to be identified, which adds to the credibility of outcomes (Cope, 2020). It will be vital to gather data in chucks, to use descriptive coding and merge subcategories, to be able to have a deep understanding of the information derived from the interview process. There is a requirement to seriously reflect on the data analyzed to allow for the most accurate interpretation as possible. A matrix will be created to organize data, note observations, and present findings. Discrepancies will be noted and mitigated with rigor to align information derived from qualified evidence and outcomes to be determined by the most credible sources of data.
Issues of Trustworthiness
This section will outline the ways trustworthiness is addressed to support the credibility of this qualitative research, concluding with my approach for the ethical treatment and observation of the rights of participants throughout the process. Transparency in the role of the researcher is vital to achieve fairness and accuracy in outcomes (Alt, 2019).
Credibility
Verifying internal credibility and validity of the findings will be established by member checking, saturation, and bracketing on the part of the researcher to achieve exactness in intended meanings of themes represented in the outcome (Richard, 2020). Peer review will also determine support or denial in the credibility of the findings.
To sustain the transferability of outcomes and external validity, it is necessary to have feedback to provide thick descriptions during the interview process, which may be solicited in additional interviews as warranted. This is a form of member checking used to verify whether the findings are consistent with the intended meaning of information collected. Should participants display bias in changing information in the member checking phase, that will be noted in an effort to curb skewing of results in response to personal agendas. Again, the researcher will provide a consent form for participants who agree to be interviewed to articulate the critical need for honesty; and, a reminder that they can stop participation of their own free will or withdraw from the study at any time.
To establish dependability and reliability of information and outcomes it is necessary to document everything to be accurate in reporting data without any errors or misrepresentations. Iteratively asking the questions to ascertain whether the answers are consistent is one strategy to check for accuracy. Using personal narratives from several interviews at different times allowed for a variety of perspectives, while also setting standards and scope to compare data gathered. Triangulation is a way to ensure validity by using different methods to gather data on the same topic (Lemon & Hayes, 2020).
Strategies to establish confirmability involve the elimination of any researcher bias, by using only information garnished in the context of the study and member checking to triangulate data; documenting any deviation from accurate interpretation of information derived from interviews. Reflexivity will require a mutual understanding between the researcher and participants, consciously observing and paying particular attention to any preconceived notions or bias that may exist in an effort to remain objective throughout the process (Whitaker & Atkinson, 2019).
For integrity in gathering the data, ethical procedures will be utilized to gain access to participants and gather data for this research effort. The Walden University Institutional Review Board (IRB) documents verify permissions and approvals that were required to conduct this study. These documents reflect the intention of the researcher to adhere to strict guidelines about the treatment of human participants during the recruitment and data collection process. Concerns and how they will be addressed are outlined in these documents, including refusal or early withdrawal from the study, or any other incident that could potentially occur during contact with participants. Treatment of participants who choose to withdraw will be the same as those who remain active, with all due respect and integrity. Data is to be stored digitally on my computer hard drive and cell phone with password authentication necessary to obtain access. Research files will saved for seven years, after which the digital copy will be deleted from the hard drive of my computer and phone; while paper copies will be stored in a locked file cabinet and after seven years shredded and disposed of properly.
Treatment of data, issues, and archival concerns are addressed according to steps taken to monitor confidentiality and security measures. The subjects are to remain anonymous throughout the entire process and protections taken to ensure the data remains confidential include data storage protocol that is widely accepted by using secure password authentication to access data, that only the researcher can use. When the information has been triangulated and member checking is used to verify the accuracy of the data, it will be disseminated by the researcher as required.
Other ethical issues to consider include my position as a scholar practitioner making contact with the local Chamber of Commerce to ask for access to their database of members. To ensure there is no conflict of interest, it will be necessary for me to remain as transparent as possible throughout the process. It will be critical to organize and store all the data supplied by the organization to ensure the confidentiality and security of data is not compromised in any way. Power issues that could arise involve my position as a business owner in the same county as the participants, while implementing this research project. Professional distancing will be encouraged to create a barrier for no personal information to be shared with the participants of the study. There may be incentive to participate in the study to encourage interested persons in being a part of the project, without requiring anything in return, after their participation in the interviews.
Summary
This study was initiated to understand the experiences of small business owners learning to use social media marketing to identify instructional needs that may exist. These elements adequately cover the nature and scope of this study, which will render quality data to be collected to achieve effective qualitative outcomes (Johnson, Adkins, & Chauvin, 2020). There are numerous studies that support entrepreneurs using social media to market their products and services, however a limited body of knowledge exists for determining how they learn digital marketing practices, what challenges they face, and what instructional needs are not being met. It is essential to know how they currently learn, to develop guidelines to succeed in launching and maintaining social media campaigns for small business. In summary, alignment between the research questions, phenomena under investigation and approach to this research has been presented, and my role as the researcher with intended transparency in collecting and analyzing data was reported. Finally, the process for selecting participants was reviewed and issues of trustworthiness were examined. The results of this research will be explored in the next chapter.
Understanding Instructional Needs of Entrepreneurs Learning Social Media Marketing
Chapter 1: Introduction to the Study
Pick, Sarkar and Rosales (2019) performed a socioeconomic study on technological levels for 164 counties in the United States and found disparities in social media usage between various demographic and socioeconomical populations for counties in cities, towns, and rural areas. It is widely believed that using the Internet to engage in social media networking is expanding (Buratti, Parola, Satta, 2018). The importance of including technology innovation in business strategy underscores the need for training to remain current and competitive (Ilona, Melmusi, & Pratiwi, 2019). The use of this technological innovation to fill social, economic, demographic and geographic gaps, has become a point of interest to scholar-practitioners and policymakers in various disciplines (Mukherjee & Hollenbaugh, 2019; Huang, Yang, & Lee, 2017). Current studies focused on benefits to professional users indicate instruction to be a key factor (Huggins & Cunningham, 2019; Park, Sung, & Im, 2017). Literature is being added to uncover the needs of small business owners experiencing a new digital divide and to provide instructional guidelines for social media marketing strategies (Huggins, & Cunningham, 2019).
Al-khinji, Chen, and Eldabi (2019) attempted to define social media marketing and uncovered instructional needs they say were due to lack of resources, such as funding, time constraints, potentially negative perceptions, and noted other barriers in technology adoption. When researching knowledge acquisition, Jumin, Ijab,and Zaman (2017) were able to assist B40 social entrepreneurs reach their customers more effectively by using high end metrics such as social media analytics; intended to support skill, networked knowledge and social entrepreneurship. Surprisingly, B40 entrepreneurs showed more motivation to implement and use social media tools in less developed geographical locations of their country.
Sharma and Singla (2017) underscored the relevance of this research noting content for social media marketing is a new domain calling for further research and efforts to more clearly define what kind of digital divide actually exists. Their study clarified a need for learning strategies and supported the notion that the real digital divide is related to information and access to knowledge-building resources to effectively launch and maintain successful social media campaigns.
Huang, Yang, and Lee (2017) revealed similar trends, finding small and medium enterprises may have difficulty competing with major businesses if not providing unique value to customers. Their research supports the premise that entrepreneurs are facing a different set of challenges to compete. They insisted the domain calls for an analysis of learning requirements in digital marketing strategy and clarified the need for innovative, and perhaps collaborative, methods of learning to ensure further development of digital marketing knowledge.
Park, Sung, and Im (2017) supported the premise that digital marketing practices were vital for small business survival. They clarified this need by exposing a gap in knowledge of use, skill level and access to instruction for small business owners attempting to create successful social media campaigns. Richmond, Rader, and Lanier (2017) offered similar evidence of a new digital divide as the reason more knowledge was needed by small business owners. They portended that finding out how to access training and resources to obtain information and knowledge needed to skillfully execute a social media campaign was determining where future research was deemed essential.
In addition, Morah and Omojola (2018) performed a study on how the use of social media platforms support growth in small and medium scale enterprises (SME’s) using the diffusion of innovations and technology acceptance models, and descriptive survey research. They claimed their outcomes showed significance in the development of entrepreneurship and increased visibility, while many business owners seemed to be oblivious to their value or needed more instruction to master digital marketing skills. And finally, to clarify the question of access, Etlinger (2017) revealed not only a degree of bandwidth or access issues, but took a deeper look at the knowledge entrepreneurs have in digital marketing strategy, including their ability to read analytics. This supports the need for more information and training resources that may help entrepreneurs endeavoring to compete in the global economy.
Problem Statement
Small business owners who need to know digital marketing techniques to compete in today’s business world may lack the skills necessary to implement such techniques; impeding the launching and maintaining of social media campaigns, thus hindering them from reaching potential customers (Ishak, Nordin, Ghazali, Ungku, Abidin, & Bakar, 2018; Bhimani, Mention, & Barlatier, 2018; Jumin et al., 2017; Sharma, & Singla, 2017; Thakur, & Hale, 2017). Fortin and Chen (2017) examined existing models for marketing instruction they deem are unsustainable due to new marketing processes in the information age that small business owners may not have adopted, yet. Gaur and Anshu (2018) contend the value of social media as opportunistic for businesses and proclaimed further research is crucial to address instructional challenges in social media campaign marketing for entrepreneurs.
The problem is that there is an increased need for understanding what types of instruction small business owners require in order to learn necessary skills to launch and maintain social media marketing campaigns. There is a gap in the literature between how small business owners receive instruction that translates to skills needed to launch and maintain social media marketing campaigns. This need is underscored by Richmond et al. (2017) who claim rural small business owners experience a new digital divide pointing to a lack of skills in online marketing strategies, and calling for needed instruction rather than lacking access to the Internet.
Purpose
The purpose of this qualitative study is to understand what types of instruction small business owners need in order to learn the skills to launch and maintain social media marketing campaigns. Kapoor, Tamilmani, Rana, Patil, Dwivedi, and Nerur (2018) reviewed evidences and outlined notable advances when highlighting the evolution of social media research, where evidence found developing markets have their own set of issues, which underscored the need for specific instruction when attempting social media marketing. This instructional gap is supported by Ilavarasan, Kar, and Gupta (2018) who found emerging markets face different challenges, that point to a need for more instruction when learning to conduct social media campaigns.
Research Questions
The purpose of this qualitative study is to explore the instructional needs of small business owners who are learning how to launch and maintain social media marketing campaigns.
What are small business owners’ instructional needs in learning how to launch and maintain social media marketing campaigns?
What are small business owners’ instructional experiences in learning how to launch and maintain social media marketing campaigns?
Conceptual Framework
The purpose of this qualitative study is to understand the instructional needs of small business owners who are learning how to launch and maintain social media marketing campaigns. This research requires a conceptual framework which involves understanding the dissemination of a new innovation by identifying instructional needs of small business owners learning how to conduct social media marketing campaigns. Taiwo and Downe (2013) provided validity, which supported innovation adoption in the Unified Theory of Acceptance and Use of Technology (UTAUT) model, which has been derived from previous seminal research such as; Social Cognitive Theory, Technology Acceptance Model, Model of PC Utilization, and Innovation Diffusion Theory. Additionally, the Technology Acceptance Model (TAM) will be employed in this study to align new developments with future needs and improve instruction for the technological innovation of digital marketing. This research will explore innovative approaches to instruction that converge with the need to help define better ways to teach how to leverage social networks and networked knowledge complimented by technology tools (Goldie, 2016).
Nature of Study
A basic qualitative approach will be used to investigate the instructional needs of small business owners who are learning how to launch and maintain social media marketing campaigns. Qualitative research is rooted in the methodology of seeking how people understand and interpret the world around them (Ravitch & Carl, 2016). According to Merriam (2009), basic qualitative studies are used to understand how people interpret experiences, construct their worlds, and the meaning behind their experiences. This basic qualitative approach will be used in this study to gain an understanding of the instructional needs of small business owners who are learning how to conduct social media marketing campaigns.
Definitions
Social: is defined by Al-khinji, Chen, and Eldabi (2019) as being “devoted to, pertaining to or characterized by the friendly relationship or companionship” (Kietzmann et al., 2011; Mangold & Faulds, 2009).
Media: refers to mediums used to reach large audiences, such as radio, television, print (Kietzmann et al., 2011; Reuben, 2008).
Social Media: is defined as Internet-based technological applications focused on promotion of creative artifacts and the re-use of updated user-generated content that is exchanged in the process of making new connections between the content and the users who have created it (Xu & Zhang, 2013).
User Generated Content: shared on social media networks is content “created by the people and for the people, and provides an environment that is conducive for interactions and networking to occur at different levels…for instance, personal, professional, business, marketing, political, and societal” (Kapoor et al., 2018, p. 537).
Social Media: was re-defined by Kapoor et al. (2018) as being “made up of various user-driven platforms that facilitate diffusion of compelling content, dialogue creation, and communication to a broader audience (p. 537).”
Social Media Networks: are considered to be a phenomenon for global consumers with over two-thirds of the world population of Internet users visiting social networking or blogging sites, and accounting for 10% of all of the time spent on the Internet (Nielsen, 2009). Auxier (2012) added social media as a larger theme was not easy to define, due to the number of platforms that targeted a diversity of people and purposes.
Social Media Marketing: is the delivery of information for marketing via social media platforms, significantly recognized as one of the best methods to promote products and services (Hilal, 2018). Kim and Ko (2012) described the purpose of social media marketing as communication used to market resulting in desired brand equity and a positive impact on purchasing decisions.
Social Media Strategy: is a defined marketing plan for business that states specific objectives procedures, target audience, and metrics to measure the outcome of social media campaigns (Ng & Wang, 2013).
Digital Divide: is considered to be digital inequality for rural, as opposed to urban users of technology in the United States of America (Kruger & Gilroy, 2013).
Innovation: is a term used to describe the way something is done, or an idea which is considered new by individuals or society (Rogers, 2003). Pichlak (2016) said it is making or adopting new things, such as products, ideas, programs, services, technology, policies, new systems of administration, or structure.
Assumptions
Small business owners have demonstrated the need for instruction is a meaningful assumption for this study because, it is not certain how they learn or to what level they have accessed knowledge (Pechenkina & Aeschliman, 2017). There has been a critical assumption that consumers are passively receiving information via marketing and advertisements, however with the advent of Web 4.0, that paradigm has shifted to consumers becoming active participants seeking out new information about products and services when making purchasing decisions (Hassan, 2018).
Another reason these assumptions are necessary in the context of this study is due to social media becoming a mainstream communication channel which has disrupted traditional media outlets (Mureasan & Sinuraya, 2018). Pew Research Center (2012) confirmed evidence that not many have knowledge about what kind of affect social media marketing has on brands or how relationships made on social platforms influence values in a positive, or negative way.
Lastly, it is assumed that social media has emerged as a dominant form of communication and digital means of marketing products and services, while only 67% of users on the Internet actively engage in social media, and there are few who are knowledgeable about how digital marketing actually affect their brand, or how social media relationships support marketing efforts, with positive word of mouth advertising (Mangold & Faulds, 2009; Mousazadeh, Eva, & Akbarzadeh, 2018).
Scope and Delimitations
The problem calls for a need to understand what different aspects of instruction small business owners require in order to learn necessary skills to launch and maintain social media marketing campaigns. The focus of the study will provide evidence of economic sustainability achieved by small business owners acquiring the needed skills to be successful in social media marketing. The boundaries identified in this study are a specifically targeted population in Newton County, Arkansas, a tourist-destination, and rural region of the United States, zooming in on small businesses with less than five employees. Businesses with more than five employees were not included, nor were businesses that did not use social media marketing. Instructional needs will be identified and an investigation of digital marketing strategies evaluated, without crossing into more narrowly-defined disciplines where analytics and the ability to translate their meaning are represented.
Theoretical alignment is limited to understanding the adoption and utilization of an innovation to achieve a defined objective, and conceptual framework that relates best to the area investigated consist of social media marketing for small businesses, instructional needs, experiences, perceptions, and the rate of adoption of an innovation; without measuring skill level or ability to read analytical data. Prior research indicated a gap in academic studies that recommend best practices for selecting and using analytical tools (Hamid, 2020). As for potential transferability, it might be warranted to look into what others have learned in urban regions where they tend to offer more networking in the way of meet-ups and small business incubators to present the latest in digital marketing tactics to support the growth of small businesses (Morah & Omojola, 2018). The results of this study may inform future research to help identify instructional needs of entrepreneurs learning social media marketing.
Limitations
The methodology used for this study involves open-ended interviews with 12-18 small business owners in person, by phone call, or Skype/Zoom. Interviews will be scheduled with entrepreneurs actively engaged in social media campaigns during the period of time the study takes place. Primary sources for information and original data will be derived first hand from interviews with participants, while secondary sources including pertinent data will be culled from research articles, reports and conference proceedings that were published in peer reviewed journals, on governmental and formal survey websites. There are limitations involved in the small number of participants available to perform this research, because the scope of the study is focused on a rural area with a limited number of entrepreneurs who fit the criteria of managing social media marketing for their business.
Due to the small number of participants having a negative effect on the transferability of this study, this outcome could direct the potential to explore an urban setting where greater numbers of entrepreneurs are currently using methods that work; looking at how they are participating in learning, and how innovations are accepted as a new way of marketing by digital means, versus print and broadcast analog model of the past. Dependability in finding what knowledge is gained will be accomplished by learning how small business owners use social media to market their companies, what innovative uses they may have discovered that create successful social marketing campaigns to reach customers, and how learning technique may be improved upon to support small business marketing education.
Limitations point to an instructional need that exists without knowing how they currently learn, in order to identify how to develop better training opportunities. In lieu of gathering large amounts of data from a big dataset, this type of inquiry is intended to provide in-depth feedback to allow for an exhaustive means to analyze data, therefore produce a clearer picture of learning perceptions and their experiences. Triangulation will serve to make the findings reliable by checking the answers via multiple sources and comparing outcomes; using follow up interviews as necessary. Since the business owners are the only source of data, there could be limitations in having other sources of information, such as artifacts calling for content analysis, to allow for additional perceptions and realities to be considered.
Personal bias is apparent in my background as a social media educator and consultant. It is imperative for me to keep personal opinions out of the research, allowing for each interview participant to divulge experiences and perceptions they have to report for this study. I have to practice professional distancing from the participants who are involved in the study. Equally important to note is the potential for bias on the part of the business owners due to their personal position in the community, company or industry bias, or potential bias about the subject matter, research being performed, or the researcher conducting the study.
Significance
Park et al. (2017) suggested business owner’s opinions and attitudes affect the overall diffusion of innovative digital marketing strategies. Being concerned about how to best instruct digital marketing strategy to help small business owners reach potential customers effectively has been proven to be crucial for business sustainability and has contributed to a healthy local economy (Bhimani et al., 2018).
Small business owners need to be taught current ways to learn, and use this innovation effectively to launch and maintain successful social media campaigns (Fortin & Chen, 2017). Practical application for this research is to further the development of professional practice for small business owners and involves having a clearer picture of what types of instruction they need to learn social media marketing.
Summary and Transition
In summary, the background presented above provides research related to the discipline of instruction in social media for small businesses and describes what future research is warranted. To reiterate; the problem is an increased need for understanding what types of instruction small business owners require in order to learn necessary skills to launch and maintain social media marketing campaigns. The purpose of this qualitative study is to understand what types of instruction small business owners need in order to learn the skills to launch and maintain social media marketing campaigns. The research questions are intended to help understand the instructional needs and experiences of small business owners learning how to launch and maintain social media marketing campaigns.
In the conceptual framework section, we reviewed factors and variables to be considered, defining categories by size of business, education level, instructional resources and concepts that determine failure or success for small business owners competing in a global economy. The nature of this study is qualitative in an effort to gain better understanding of the instructional needs of small business owners learning how to conduct social media marketing campaigns. In this chapter we have defined the constructs to be explored, exposed assumptions about the need for instruction, queried about how small business owners learn social media, and lastly explored perceptions about the importance of digital marketing for small businesses.
This introductory chapter also defined the scope of the study, which is focused on instructional needs of small business owners learning how to launch and maintain social media marketing campaigns. Additionally, the location of the study, population, skills needed for digital marketing, and size of businesses that are actively involved in social media campaigns were reviewed. Limits of theoretical underpinning, as well as conceptual framework concepts and categories were noted. The transferability of the intended research as to whether it may generalize to larger urban environments with similar need for instruction to inform future studies, was also considered. Limitations in the chosen methodology, and potential bias of the researcher as well as participants were disclosed. Dependability of outcomes, and the need for triangulation to ensure reliability of the findings was discussed. Then, we reviewed the significance of the outcomes, pointing to a need for instruction as the identified gap in research, which is intended to help educators know how to offer new ways for students to learn, and provide practical solutions for future practice.
The following exhaustive literature review will synthesize studies with regard to the related constructs and methodology chosen, in alignment with the scope of the study. A myriad of researchers in the domain of education, technology, and business are highlighted; and strengths and weaknesses of their approaches to this issue are explored. The phenomena under investigation will be reviewed in an effort to describe what is currently known, what may be controversial, and what still needs further research. The following literature review will look at other studies related to our research questions to support the rationale for the approach selected for this study.
Chapter 2: Literature Review
Introduction
Instruction for small business is in need of upgrades due to marketing practices in the digital age involving new social media tools and resources (Kapoor et al., 2018). There are questions about what area of discipline would best alignment with the instructional needs of entrepreneurs (Ilavarasan, Kar, & Gupta, 2018). There are no shortages of topics to learn within a huge variety of narrowly-defined subject matter, where agencies have specialized in target segments within the discipline of digital marketing (Al-khinji, Chen, & Eldabi, 2019). Educators are currently faced with the issue of re-defining how to teach marketing strategies, while attempting to remaining current in digital marketing trends that are always changing (Huggins & Cunningham, 2019). While some social media instruction had been added to curriculum, educators agreed more knowledge is warranted. Education innovation researchers (Jordan, 2018; Rogers, 2010; Siemens, 2008) reminded that it is vital to ask questions about how instruction produces different results when applying technology.
The problem is that there is an increased need for understanding what types of instruction small business owners require in order to learn the skills to launch and maintain social media marketing campaigns (Richmond et al., 2017; Fortin & Chen, 2017; Gaur & Anshu, 2018). The purpose of this study is to understand what types of instruction small business owners need in order to learn the skills to launch and maintain social media marketing campaigns. It is important to acknowledge confirming evidence for a new digital divide that does not involve a lack in access for small business owners, but instead is based on the level of knowledge in the use of digital technology to market products and services (Richmond et al., 2017).
Current literature presented in this review provided confirming evidence that is relevant to small business owners taking on the various challenges in accessing instruction for learning social media strategies to market their products and services (Ishak et al., 2018; Bhimani, Mention, & Barlatier, 2018; Jumin et al., 2017; Sharma, & Singla, 2017; Thakur, & Hale, 2017). Scholars and practitioners have previously examined what methods exist for knowledge acquisition, documenting experiences and perceptions of entrepreneurs to ascertain what instructional needs were not being met (Richmond et al., 2017; Fortin & Chen, 2017; Gaur & Anshu, 2018).
The introduction of this chapter includes a brief explanation of the literature search strategy used for this research; listing databases, search engines, and key word combinations of terms searched for the study. The next section of this chapter will examine the source of theory along with appropriate assumptions related to the use of theoretical underpinning, including an analysis that is literature and research-based in how the theory has been utilized similarly in previous studies. Then a rationale for the choice in theory is provided, including an explanation of why the chosen theory relates to the research questions and builds upon assumptions of existing theory.
The conceptual framework section attempts to define the concept of social media marketing for small business and synthesize primary sources shared by re-known theorists and philosophers whose work currently stands as evidence to explain and to advance research. Important aspects which exist in the framework are reviewed, with a description of previous uses of the constructs in studies that call for more questions to be answered and directly applies to this study.
Next, the literature review section involves a discussion of study outcomes focusing on concepts related to the subject matter and methods that support the scope of this study; including an examination of approaches used by previous researchers, distinguishing differences in similar outcomes and findings, then deconstructing the strengths and weaknesses of strategies and approaches, which serve to justify rationale for the selection of concepts explored in this study. Followed up by a review of what is known from studies immersed in the phenomena, comparing and contrasting agreements and disagreements in the tradition of scholarly investigation. The literature review section clarifies what is lacking in the current body of knowledge and synthesizes the information into evidence to support why the research questions are valid, and the chosen approach warranted. Finally, the summary concludes what is known and what is yet to be discovered in relation to the concepts associated with this topic. The summary describes how this study fills the identified gap in research, which is intended to further knowledge in the domain of social media marketing education.
Literature Search Strategy
Resources that define the scope of the literature review were accessed via web-based libraries and databases including: Academic Search Complete, Business Source Complete, EBSCO Discovery Service, ERIC (Education Research Information Center), Walden University Library, Google Scholar, ProQuest, and Sage Publications. Keywords used included: Social networking, small business, digital marketing instruction, networked knowledge, connected learning, small business and entrepreneurship, small business marketing instruction, social media marketing, social media marketing training, technology acceptance model. Approximately seventy articles have been selected for this literature review.
This search was completed as comprehensively as possible, including all resources related to instruction for social media marketing. Topics crossing boundaries in disciplines of education, information communication technology, and business were taken into consideration when applying search criteria. Buratti et al. (2018) found twenty-six papers had been published since 2014 and thirteen more publications had been reviewed more recently by Kapoor, et al. (2018). These scholars warned some research may be limited due to the need to study social media concepts using studies regarded as sentinel models and theories, such as the Technology Acceptance Model (TAM) and Unified Theory of Acceptance in the Use of Technology (UTAUT), which are still considered to be in early stages of development.
Conceptual Framework
This study will explore innovative approaches to learning that converge with the need for knowledge, and attempt to help define new approaches in learning how to use social networks and networked knowledge complimented by technology tools (Cydis, 2015; Siemens, 2008). This epistemology helps narrow the separate paradigm of knowing knowledge (level) versus perceiving how knowledge is gained as defined by our conceptual worldview; and defines the scope where networked knowledge appears to become vital for digital literacy and survival.
Justifying this belief to find whether this epistemology is true or not, depends on input from the users of the technology and resources that are current. Ontological factors and variables such as size of business, education level of owner, as well as marketing budget create categories and their relationships to concepts; determining failure or success in social media campaigns, which have been found to be increasingly important to small business owners who desire to compete successfully in a global economy.
The phenomena being explored are instructional needs of small business owners who are learning how to launch and maintain social media marketing campaigns. This concept is defined by supporting evidence which shows a new digital divide indicating a lack of access to instructional opportunities (Richmond et al., 2017). This study will verify the benefits of using this conceptual framework, by monitoring the trends of academia attempting to understand the concept of social media marketing for small business owners, to confirm a need for instruction in digital marketing practices.
Shang and Ghriga (2018) distinguished between social media and the three traditional media, contrasting criteria that included; social media allows for interaction on the part of both receiver and deliverer of information, while making information available to a larger number of people simultaneously. They contend both businesses and their customers are directly connected; and, social media platforms are free networks to join, making social media marketing cost effective for marketing, as well as communication.
The existence of a new digital divide underscores a need for the use of new tools and means by which business owners communicate with their customers due to the shift in resources available with the advent of social media marketing. According to Bala and Verma (2018), it is critical for entrepreneurs to learn social media strategies that align with their business plan to achieve their goals. It is evident that they must be willing to adopt this new innovation in order to learn how to launch and maintain successful social media campaigns.
Foundational research theories for this conceptual framework consist of UTAU2, Technology Acceptance Model TAM, and Connectivism. El-Masri and Tarhini (2017) extended the Unified Theory of Acceptance and Use of Technology (Taiwo & Downe, 2013), which was extracted by a team of researchers led by Venkatesh (2003) from earlier models that included theories supporting the conceptual framework of this study, namely: Social Cognitive Theory (SCT); Technology Acceptance Model (TAM), Innovation of Diffusion Theory (IDT). El-Masri and Tarhini (2007) indicated factors that relate to business and the adoption rate of e-learning systems, and suggested that the study of acceptance in technological innovation use, can help uncover factors that impact adoption rate, thus reducing costs for business owners.
The Technology Acceptance Model (TAM) is in alignment with this study, because it can help describe how users adopt innovations, applying two factors that impact attitudes toward technology acceptance; perceptions of how useful the technology is and how the technology is being used. This framework directly supports why user behavior is a key factor in regards to how they are using technologies to facilitate, influence, and perhaps predict customer intention (Khadim, Hanan, Arhad, & Saleem, 2018).
Connectivism offers a theoretical foundation from a perspective where teaching and learning may be supported by technology to be better utilized, understood, and managed; when development and evaluation are applied. It is considered impossible to use one theory to explain any phenomenon involved with technology and networked learning. That is why it is vital to recognize the importance of instruction, as well as how teaching is approached, in networked learning environments online (Goldie, 2016; Siemens, 2008).
Logical and factual research has revealed an instructional gap reported as a new digital divide, which is widely believed to be an accurate assumption (Pick, et al., 2019). Speculation that a digital divide for small business owners exists in rural regions could be considered opinion, unless there are thorough investigations which distinguish this notion as a justified belief in the domains of education, technology, and business. Evidence-based findings by peer-reviewed researchers confirm the validity of accurate results reported, and provided a direction for future studies that are scholastically supported.
Current Literature Review
Themes that emerged in the literature include the need for instruction for small business owners learning social media marketing and the adoption rate of an innovation; layers uncovered in the documents involve a concept referred to as the new digital divide (Bala & Verma, 2018; Richmond et al., 2017; Pick et al., 2019), as well as social media marketing, experiences, perceptions, and needs of entrepreneurs facing this challenge; while subtopics considered were competition, sustainability, and global economy. Rowley and Keegan (2019) performed a critical assessment of literature in the domain of social media marketing, offering an agenda for future research, information to support best practices, and initiated discussion using a systematic literature review approach.
Statistics showed 92% of businesses were marketing their products and services on the Internet and believed social media marketing was crucial to their success, while 80% believed social media marketing increased website visits; therefore a worthy investment for companies using digital marketing (Khadim, Hanan, Arshad, & Saleem, 2018). Facebook has been recognized as the leader in social media marketing worldwide (Patra, 2020; Sukrat & Papasratorn, 2018). Statista (2017) reported Facebook alone had 1.97 billion monthly users, with fifty million active users on business pages, and the Facebook advertising platform reported two million business users. Often it is true that users of social media are not aware of the increase of platforms globally, hence not realizing opportunities available to increase the visibility of their brand on a scale that was never achievable before the advent of digital marketing and the Internet (Vijay & Srivastava, 2019). Mukherjee and Hollenbaugh (2019) reported a gap between modern business practices and current curriculum to cover the issues and challenges faced by entrepreneurs and social media marketing.
This is a systematic literature review of studies related to instructional needs in social media marketing for small business owners, to understand perceptions and innovation adoption experiences. Constructs in alignment with the research questions of this study are social media marketing, instructional needs of small business owners learning digital marketing, and small business owner experiences. Methodology chosen for this study involves open-ended interviews of 12-18 small business owners in person, phone call, or Skype/Zoom. These methods prove to be consistent with the scope of this study, by boundaries clearly identified as instructional needs of small business owners learning to use social media marketing, limiting measurements of success, skill, or ability to evaluate analytical data, hence the outcome of their efforts.
In chapter 1 we noted the number of research efforts reported, where 26 of 31 studies had been reviewed prior to 2014, denoting early stages in the development of a social media marketing knowledge-base; reporting over 50 percent of the manuscripts were quantitative with 16 studies, qualitative research ranked second with 5 papers, and conceptual last with 5 manuscripts (Buratti, Parola, & Satta, 2018). Surprisingly, only one literature review was found, which verified a gap in research to systemize evidence-based findings in the field of social media marketing for business.
Williams and Hausman (2017) developed risk categorization, using a social media risk register, to assist organizations in learning how to assess risks and associated consequences of using social media to market their brands. Comparable to this study, these researchers used an interpretive approach and qualitative research design, to offer suggestions for policies in response to needs of small business owners. They employed coding to analyze outcomes and understand needs for risk management policies when strategizing digital marketing campaigns (Williams & Hausman, 2017).
Scholar practitioners have approached the problem by acknowledging how the adoption of social media marketing for small business has disrupted communication channels that have been relied upon by individuals, businesses, universities and governments for decades. Using these tools correctly was agreed to lead to success in marketing products and services, and brand recognition (Hilal, 2018; Muresan & Sinuraya, 2018; Ariff et al., 2018). However a weakness exposed proved lack of knowledge in proper implementation, leading to incorrect use and reputation damage (Williams & Hausman, 2017). Strengths in the approach of social media studies related to small business adoption involved a gap in instructional opportunities intended to boost brand exposure and additional avenues for promotion of products and services, while exposing weaknesses related to incorrect employment of social media marketing initiatives, which could damage the image of business who chose to embrace technology by attempting digital marketing practices (Williams & Hausman, 2017).
Another strength exposed by the research indicated a lack in learning opportunities for social media education according to a study in the domain of communication, where Mukherjee and Hollenbaugh (2019), reported that curriculums generally approached studies from relationship levels in society, rather than from a perspective of the financial impact of businesses, hence noting the practice being different than what is found in the classroom. They developed a pedagogical tool intended to engage learners, with a summary of potential effects of social media marketing on small business (Mukherjee & Hollenbaugh, 2019), and deemed factors which motivated users and practical implementation are reasonable topics for future studies.
A gap exists for instructional need without knowing how users currently learn, which would allow educators an opportunity to identify ways to develop better training opportunities. Another weakness demonstrated in the research points to more diffusion of innovation studies needed, indicating slow adoption of technology due to perceptions which are negative regarding how useful social media can be for marketing purposes, as well as lack of time, money, and labor to ensure proper training takes place to fill the gap of unfamiliarity with the new technology (Al-khinji, Chen, & Eldabi, 2019).
The rationale for choosing the concepts of social media marketing, small business owner experiences and instructional needs, is based on other studies focused on the sustainability of small business, and furthering the need for developing digital marketing training opportunities. In an empirical study, Patra (2020) found social media had a direct impact on business revenue and that affect was increasing, which is a compelling trend which supported this premise.
A study referred to as The Social Media Magnet (Huggins & Cunningham, 2019) reported shifting paradigms calling for inbound marketing education programs for professors to consider when teaching digital marketing strategy, to help them keep up with the blistering pace of technology trends in education. Their contribution was a pedagogy for online delivery, updated regularly, offering new theory within a practicum for teaching college students strategies for digital marketing, including website development, tools and resources for social media and email campaigns. This curriculum was recommended for academics who may not be current in digital literacy by utilizing recommended tools to develop skills holistically, from strategic and tactical perspectives (Huggins & Cunningham, 2019). An instructional gap exists without educators knowing how entrepreneurs currently learn; to identify and develop better training opportunities.
A review of the studies related to key phenomena involving instructional needs and perceptions of small business owners when learning social media marketing tell us there are gaps in research providing instructional best practices for small business owners learning social media marketing. There is much written on the positive impact of social media marketing for businesses in the digital age, however research is limited in current studies regarding how business owners learn digital marketing strategies, for further development of best practices in teaching and implementing social media marketing.
There are numerous studies investigating the adoption of innovations and technology use, showing the adoption rate of social media marketing for small business survival is continuing to increase (Ariff, 2018). Ilona, Melmusi, and Pratiwi (2019) performed a qualitative study to address the gap in knowledge to support social media adoption by small and medium enterprises (SME) in Indonesia. They utilized the Technology Organization Environment (TOE) model to show adoption of social media was determined by the context of technology, such as advantages, how compatible, complex and ability to trial and observe outcomes. They found users were more likely to adopt an innovation if they were open to the concept (Ilona, Melmusi, & Pratiwi, 2019). Mukherjee and Hollenbaugh (2019) performed the only study of its kind to learn the effects in how social media was being used for business, filling a gap for examples to follow, using fictitious case studies as examples, and providing a pedagogy that business communication instructors could utilize to teach the future workforce of socially connected practitioners.
Studies related to the research questions of this work fall short in addressing instructional needs and experiences of small business owners learning to use social media. Reasons for chosen concepts stem from instructional needs and perceptions of small business owners, as addressed in the research questions of this study. The approach of this study is meant to help fill gaps in the literature supporting instruction for small business owners learning to use social media marketing (Bhimani, Mention, & Barlatier, 2018; Ishak et al., 2018; Jumin et al., 2017). Some studies focused on instruction of social media marketing in colleges, universities, and small business incubators; however, many are outdated (Barton, 2019; McHaney et al., 2015; Case & King, 2011; Cydis, 2015).
Understanding Instructional Needs
The current target demographic for businesses are digital natives, more commonly referred to as millennials, who spend two hours and one minute a day engaging on social media platforms according to the Global Digital Report (2018). However, there are not many educational institutions reported to fill the gap in knowledge of digital marketing for small business owners (Huggins & Cunningham, 2019).
From the perspective of potential students, the domain of digital marketing calls for more skill in technology applications, which drives the development of social media marketing principles to be addressed in practicum environments that allow for collaborative learning (Malik, 2017). Future marketing managers need learning experiences that are effective at creating knowledge for best practices in social media marketing; utilizing analytical data to evaluate outcomes, which was reported as a huge domain for future research in business and industry (Dammert & Nansamba, 2019). Malik (2017) identified instructional needs for digital marketing to include social media marketing knowledge as an effective means for positioning advertising campaigns on digital platforms, as well as ease in monitoring and tracking success.
…………………….. Local Economy to Global Marketplace: competition & sustainability
The Small Business Administration (2018) says small business is defined as having less than $7.5 million for a majority of non-manufacturing companies annual receipts and manufacturing businesses with less than 500 individuals employed. The sustainability of small businesses is important because they are the catalysts of local economies and represent 28 million (99.7%) of the companies in the United States, with 49.2% of employed individuals in the entire country (Small Business Administration, 2018), who could benefit greatly by utilizing social media for marketing.
Henry (2019) found many small business owners struggle to compete in microenterprise with the innovative social media rich environment used for marketing in the digital age. Studies continually report the disruption of traditional communication channels, creating new means for disseminating information by social media marketing, and building personal relationships with consumers who are also using the free platforms to connect, seek knowledge, and communicate (Lee, 2018). It is not clear how participants seek to gain knowledge and principles; other than in a connected environment of trusting individuals, business rivals, and other reputable companies, which assisted them in networked knowledge construction in exercising social media awareness (Henry, 2019). This is confirming evidence of users attempts to make sense of social media, in an effort to learn how to utilize its features, which has been beleived to help achieve business goals. Additionally, Henry (2019) found entrepreneurs leveraged their knowledge of social media marketing and economic challenges, while defining markets they must target to remain competitive.
…………………………………………………………………………………………………… How They Learn
The outcome of this study hopes to understand the instructional needs and experiences of small business owners learning to use social media marketing; exploring challenges to identify needs for digital marketing knowledge, while documenting the experiences of small business owners launching and maintaining social media campaigns. Morah and Omojola (2018) used the Diffusion of Innovations and Technology Acceptance Models to provide descriptive research about small and medium enterprises in Nigeria, and found a great number of entrepreneurs were not aware of strategies employed to use social media to stimulate economic growth for their business. Huggins and Cunningham (2019) developed a pedagogy to teach digital marketing strategies, producing tech-savvy graduates to fill positions in firms calling for inbound marketing professionals. Small business owners have been reported to understand the challenge, however are uncertain about how to use social media and technology resources to boost their economic standing (Henry, 2019).
……………………………………………………… Training methodology based on how they learn
Mukherjee and Hollenbaugh (2019) presented a pedagogical tool designed to increase engagement for learners, revealing how theory and practice are concepts that are not always in alignment in real world situations; however their studies showed social media marketing could make a difference in business success. Huggins and Cunningham (2019) designed pedagogy to engage learners in methods for online delivery with systematic and timely updates, adding innovative theory and online interventions to teach students digital marketing tactics, launching live campaigns.
Understanding Instructional Experiences
……………………………………………………………………………………………………….. Digital Divide
Innovative technology has been a boon to small businesses that lacked traditional resources. Utilizing the infrastructure of free social media networking sites, provides unlimited opportunities to reach out to customers without a strain on financial budgets. Muresan and Sinuraya (2018) have proven the reliability and consistency of this notion with their outcomes that suggest the new digital divide is real, but pointed to the lack of access to training opportunities. They showed how important digital skills are for using the Internet to promote products and services, which have proven to be more beneficial than employing traditional media outlets and marketing mixes. They found the Internet to be a more effective way to target audiences and define demographics on many levels (Muresan and Sinuraya, 2018).
Social media marketing has been proven to have a significant impact on business success and scholars agree that it is an important tool for small businesses to be able to listen, learn, and engage with their customers like never before, however Szymkowiak and Garczarek-Bąk (2019) deemed business owners to be more skeptical in their use of innovative social marketing tools and resources. Al-khinji, Chen, and Eldabi (2019) also proposed the innovation to be unattractive to new users who might have been slower to adopt new technologies due to negative attitudes, which created barriers due to potential lack of resources, training, and simply unfamiliarity in use.
…………………………………………………………………………………….. Adoption of an innovation
There are no shortages of studies in the effectiveness of using social media for marketing purposes (Sanwariprasad, Prakash, & Quddus, 2020). Mukherjee and Hollenbaugh (2019) performed a pedagogical study on the sustainability of small businesses by using case studies that were fictional examples of typical scenarios of social media use. Nummela and Saarenketo (2016) claimed small businesses tend to enjoy flexibility and are more agile in their ability to navigate social networks, due to having fewer employees and stronger social connections that translate to highly innovative uses for new digital marketing channels. Szymkowiak and Garczarek-Bąk (2019) found digital literacy was essential in overcoming resistance to any new technology, and that it is still unclear how online media use leads to positive or negative long term effects when considering different ways of processing information versus time spent on social media.
Summary and Conclusion
The major themes found in the literature involve understanding small business owner needs for instruction in the domain of social media marketing, with clarification of perceptions and rate of adoption. Layers revealed in the research indicate a new digital divide in learning online marketing strategies, identifying instructional needs, and uncovering how they learn by understanding experiences. Subtopics identified include local and global economy, competition, sustainability, and future directions for digital marketing instructional opportunities.
Related to instructional needs of small business owners learning to use social media marketing to promote their products and services, there are many studies that supported the need for digital literacy for effective outcomes, however there was a gap in knowledge about how small business owners learned social media marketing techniques, which points to a great need for instructional assessment and implementation of new methods for learning to use innovative marketing tools. Buratti et al. (2018) offered supporting evidence, proclaiming that keeping up with the competition and pressure to adopt technological innovations has become more prevalent for business sustainability, hence causing business owners to reconsider their approach to management, communication, stakeholder interests, and how they deliver value.
The gap in literature this study hopes to help fill in an effort to further knowledge and understanding in the domains of education, business, and technology is to understand the experiences and identify the needs of small business owners learning to use social media to launch and maintain successful marketing campaigns. Sukrat and Papasratorn (2018) contend future research is warranted to expand populations and potentially generalize their business model to other environments in helping to define maturity levels in social commerce. Pick et al. (2019) found rural users are behind urbanites by 10 percent, pointing to social and economic influences and discrepancies in technology use for counties in the U.S. Their study was not able to provide statistics regarding social media adoption, but showed there are clearly different patterns in social media use in metropolitan regions in contrast to rural regions of the country.
Additionally, it is believed that traditional methods for advertising via print, radio, and television are in need of review due to markets that have opened up with digital tools and communication channels (Subramanian, 2018). Bhimani et al. (2018) confirmed social media is a catalyst for innovation, and revealed behavior and perspectives about resources was the theoretical lens most commonly used in research. And finally, Hamid (2020) insisted that businesses need a systematic way to adopt social media marketing as an advantageous means for marketing and communication, calling for the development of a framework for adoption, and noting key performance measures for organizations attempting to use social media marketing.
Discuss your research method here. Refer to the appropriate dissertation checklist for guidance on the content of sections in this chapter.
Chapter 3: Research Method
Research Design and Rationale
Role of the Researcher
Methodology
Methodology of this research involves a system of methods used for studying focal points, such as small business, social media and digital marketing; and concepts include experiences, perceptions, rate of adoption. The scope for this work involves social media marketing for small businesses, training and instruction needs, perceptions, adoption of an innovation, and skill level. It is unknown how much small business owners actually value social media; this study is bound by experience and knowledge of participants, however does not pursue inquiry of the use and interpretation of analytic data.
The methodology used for this study involves open-ended interviews with 12-18 small business owners in person, by phone call, or Skype/Zoom. The methodology for this study is qualitative phenomenological research, with a focus on social media marketing for small businesses to understand the experiences and potentially reveal instructional needs of entrepreneurs. Utilizing a qualitative approach with open-ended interviews as a means for collecting data, to investigate strategies they use to market products and services with social media tools. The interviews will last between 30 minutes to 1 hour, depending on how much information each individual will divulge. They will be asked prepared questions about their experiences, allowing for each respondent to describe perceptions, approaches, and outcomes of what they currently know about digital marketing strategies. The conversations will be recorded to ensure no data is lost, and to refer back to transcriptions to verify results reported in the final outcomes and conclusion of this study.
Chapter 5: Discussion, Conclusions, and Recommendations
First Heading
Insert summary, conclusions, and recommendations here. Refer to the appropriate dissertation checklist for guidance on the content of sections in this chapter.
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Understanding Instructional Needs of Entrepreneurs Learning Social Media Marketing
Kathryn “Sky” Tomlinson
PhD in Education, Learning and Innovation Specialization
Problem Statement
Small business owners who need to know digital marketing techniques to compete in today’s business world may lack the skills necessary to implement such techniques; impeding the launching and maintaining of social media campaigns, thus hindering them from reaching potential customers (Ariff et al., 2018; Bhimani, Mention, & Barlatier, 2018; Jumin, Ijab, & Zaman, 2017; Sharma, & Singla, 2017; Thakur, & Hale, 2017). Fortin and Chen (2017) examined existing models for marketing instruction they deem are unsustainable due to new marketing processes in the information age that small business owners may have not yet adopted. Gaur and Anshu (2018) contend the value of social media is opportunistic for businesses and proclaim further research is needed to address instructional challenges in social media campaign marketing for entrepreneurs.
The problem is that there is an increased need for understanding what types of instruction small business owners require in order to learn the skills to launch and maintain social media marketing campaigns. There is a gap in the literature between how small business owners receive instruction that translates to the skills they need to launch and maintain social media marketing campaigns. This need is underscored by Richmond, Rader, and Lanier (2017) who claim rural small business owners experience a new digital divide pointing to a lack of skills in online marketing strategies, pointing to needed instruction rather than lacking access to the Internet.
Purpose
The purpose of this qualitative study is to understand what types of instruction small business owners need in order to learn the skills to launch and maintain social media marketing campaigns. Kapoor et al. (2018) reviewed evidences and outlined notable advances when highlighting the evolution of social media research, where evidence found developing markets have their own set of issues, underscoring the need for specific instruction when attempting social media marketing. This instructional gap is supported by Ilavarasan, Kar, and Gupta (2018) who found emerging markets face a set of different challenges, that point to a need for instruction when learning to conduct social media campaigns. Additionally, Al-khinji, Chen, and Eldabi (2019) revealed challenges in adoption, barriers in perceptions regarding the usefulness of social media, and limited instructional options due to funding and time constraints.
Significance
Park et al. (2017) suggest business owner’s opinions and attitudes affect the overall diffusion of innovative digital marketing strategies. Being concerned about how to best instruct digital marketing strategy to help small business owners reach potential customers effectively has been proven to be crucial for business sustainability and contributes to a healthy local economy (Bhimani et al., 2018). The importance of including technology innovation in business strategy points to training needed to remain current and competitive (Ilona, Melmusi, & Pratiwi, 2019).
Small business owners need to be taught ways to learn and use this innovation effectively to launch and maintain successful social media campaigns (Fortin & Chen, 2017). Practical application for this research is to further the development of professional practice for small business owners and involves having a clearer picture of what types of instruction small business owners need to learn social media marketing.
Background
Resources for this literature review were accessed via web-based libraries and databases including: Academic Search Complete, Business Source Complete, Walden University Library, Google Scholar. Keywords included: Social networking, small business, digital marketing, networked knowledge, connected learning, small business and entrepreneurship, social media marketing, technology acceptance model. Articles relating to social media marketing for small business include:
Researching knowledge acquisition, Jumin et al. (2017) were able to assist B40 social entrepreneurs define their customers more effectively by using high end metrics such as social media analytics using sentiment analysis; intended to support skill, networks and social entrepreneurship. Similarly, these B40 entrepreneurs implemented the use of social media tools in less developed geographical locations of their country.
Sharma and Singla (2017) underscore the relevance of this research echoing how content for social media marketing is a huge domain calling for further research efforts to more clearly define what kind of digital divide actually exists. This study clarifies the need for learning strategies and supports the notion that the real digital divide is related to information and access to knowledge-building resources to effectively launch and maintain successful social media campaigns.
Huang, Yang, and Lee (2017) show similar trends, finding small and medium enterprises may have difficulty competing with major businesses if not providing unique value to customers. This supports the premise that these entrepreneurs are facing a different set of challenges to compete. An analysis of learning requirements in digital marketing strategy also clarifies a need for innovative, and perhaps collaborative, methods of learning and the development of digital marketing knowledge.
Park et al. (2017) findings support the premise that digital marketing practices are vital. They clarify this need by exposing a gap in knowledge of use and skill level and instruction of small business owners to create successful social media campaigns.
Richmond et al. (2017) offer similar evidence of a ‘new digital divide’ as a reason for more knowledge needed by small business owners. Finding out how to access instruction and resources to obtain knowledge and information to skillfully execute a social media campaign is where future research is called for.
Morah and Omojola (2018) performed a study on how the use of social media platforms support growth in small and medium scale enterprises (SME’s) using the Diffusion of Innovations and Technology Acceptance Models and descriptive survey research. They claim that the outcomes show significance in the development of entrepreneurship and increased visibility, while many business owners seem to be oblivious to their value or need instruction to master digital marketing strategy.
To clarify the question of access, Etlinger (2017) revealed not only a degree of bandwidth or access issues, but took a deeper look at the knowledge entrepreneurs have in digital marketing strategy, including the ability to read analytics. This supports the need for more information and training resources to help entrepreneurs endeavoring to compete in a global economy.
A study by Al-khinji, Chen, & Eldabi (2019) defines social media marketing and uncovers instruction needs due to lack of resources, such as funding and time constraints, potential negative perceptions, and other barriers in technology adoption.
Conceptual Framework
The purpose of this qualitative study is to understand the instructional needs of small business owners who are learning how to launch and maintain social media marketing campaigns. This research requires a conceptual framework which involves understanding the dissemination of a new innovation by identifying instructional needs of small business owners learning how to conduct social media marketing campaigns. Taiwo and Downe (2013) provide validity supporting innovation adoption in the Unified Theory of Acceptance and Use of Technology (UTAUT) model, which is derived from previous seminal research such as; Social Cognitive Theory, Technology Acceptance Model, Model of PC Utilization, and Innovation Diffusion Theory. In addition, the Technology Acceptance Model (TAM) will be used to align new developments with future needs to improve instruction for technological innovations. This researcher will explore innovative approaches to instruction that converge with the need to help define better ways to teach how to leverage social networks and networked knowledge complimented by technology tools (Goldie, 2016).
Research Questions
The purpose of this qualitative study is to explore the instructional needs of small business owners who are learning how to launch and maintain social media marketing campaigns.
What are small business owners’ instructional needs in learning how to launch and maintain social media marketing campaigns?
What are small business owners’ instructional experiences in learning how to launch and maintain social media marketing campaigns?
Nature of Study
A basic qualitative approach will be used to investigate the instructional needs of small business owners who are learning how to launch and maintain social media marketing campaigns. Qualitative research is rooted in the methodology of seeking how people understand and interpret the world around them (Ravitch & Carl, 2016). According to Merriam (2009), basic qualitative studies are used to understand how people interpret experiences, construct their worlds, and the meaning behind their experiences. This basic qualitative approach will be used in this study to gain an understanding of the instructional needs of small business owners who are learning how to conduct social media marketing campaigns.
Possible Types and Sources of Data
Open-ended interviews of 12-18 small business owners in person, phone call, or Skype/Zoom.
References
Al-khinji, S., Chen, W., & Eldabi, T. (2019). Effect of Social Media in B2b Marketing: Investigation of Ewom Effect in Oil and Gas Sector in Qatar. KnE Social Sciences,
Ariff, N. Z. Z. M., Kassim, N. A., Shoid, M. S. M., Abdullah, C. Z., Baharuddin, K., Mansor, M. H. M., & Radzi, R. (2018). The Benefits of Using Social Media and the Impact of not filtering the Information. International Journal of Academic Research in Progressive Education and Development, 7(3), 304–313.
Bala, M., & Verma, D. (2018). Critical Review of Digital Marketing. International Journal of Management, IT & Engineering. 8 (10).
Bhimani, H., Mention, A. L., & Barlatier, P. J. (2018). Social media and innovation: A systematic literature review and future research directions. Technological Forecasting and Social Change. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.techfore.2018.10.007
Buratti, N., Parola, F., & Satta, G. (2018). Insights on the adoption of social media marketing in B2B services. The TQM Journal, 30(5), 490-529.
Chuttur M.Y. (2009). “Overview of the Technology Acceptance Model: Origins,
Developments and Future Directions ,” Indiana University, USA . Sprouts: Working Papers on Information Systems, 9(37).
Gaur, L., & Anshu, K. (2018). Harnessing Potentials of Social Media in Transforming Businesses. International Journal of Engineering & Technology, 7(2), 9-1.
Goldie, J. G. S. (2016) Connectivism: a knowledge learning theory for the digital age? Medical Teacher, 38(10), pp. 1064-109.
Huang, H. C., Yang, H. C., & Lee, Y. D. (2017). Global Extension by Online Marketing for SME: Customer-based Brand Equity through Social Media.2(8), 6-15.
Ilavarasan, V., Kar, A., & Gupta, M. P. (2018). Social media and business practices in emerging markets: still unexplored. Journal of Advances in Management Research, 15(2), 110-114.
Jumin, J., Ijab, M. T., & Zaman, H. B. (2017). An Integrated Social Media Trading Platform for B40 Social Media Entrepreneurship. In International Visual Informatics Conference. Springer, Cham.112-119.
Kapoor, K. K., Tamilmani, K., Rana, N. P., Patil, P., Dwivedi, Y. K., & Nerur, S. (2018). Advances in social media research: past, present and future. Information Systems Frontiers, 20(3), 531-558.
Ilona, D., Melmusi, Z., & Pratiwi, H. (2019). Technology context and social media adoption among small and medium enterprises. In Journal of Physics: Conference Series1339 (1).
Merriam, Sharan B.Merriam, Sharan B. (2009) Qualitative research :a guide to design and implementation. San Francisco, Calif. : Jossey-Bass.
Morah, D. N., & Omojola, O. (2018). Social media use and entrepreneurship development in Nigeria: Lagos and Onitsha in focus. International Journal of Advance Study and Research Work, 1(5), 15-26.
Park, J. Y., Sung, C. S., & Im, I. (2017). Does Social Media Use Influence Entrepreneurial Opportunity? A Review of its Moderating Role. Sustainability, 9, (9), 13.
Ravitch, S. M., & Carl, N. M. (2016). Validity: Process, strategies, and considerations. Qualitative research: Bridging the conceptual, theoretical, and methodological, 185-214.
Richmond, W., Rader, S., & Lanier, C. (2017). “The “Digital Divide” for rural small businesses”, Journal of Research in Marketing and Entrepreneurship. Retrieved from https://doi.org/10.1108/JRME-02-2017-0006
Rogers, E. M. (1995). Diffusion of innovations (4th ed.). New York: The Free Press.
Sharma, M. A., & Singla, R. (2017). Impact of Digital Marketing on Public Relations in Emerging Market Scenario. Catalyst, 2(2), 3.
Siemens, G. (2008). Learning and knowing in networks: Changing roles for educators and designers [ITForum discussion post]. Message posted to http://itforum.coe.uga.edu/Paper105/Siemens.pdf
Taiwo, A. A., & Downe, A. G. (2013). The theory of user acceptance and use of technology (UTAUT): A meta-analytic review of empirical findings. Journal of Theoretical & Applied Information Technology, 49(1).
Tewksbury, R. (2009). Qualitative versus Quantitative Methods: Understanding Why Qualitative Methods are Superior for Criminology and Criminal Justice. Journal of Theoretical and Philosophical Criminology, 1(1), 39.
Thakur, R., & Hale, D. (2017). Special Issue Editors Introduction: Impact of Social Media on Business. The Journal of Business Inquiry, 17(1), 1-3.
Digital marketing for rural small business owners conducting social media campaigns.
Problem Statement
From a theoretical perspective, defining the issues involved in launching and maintaining social media campaigns for business could be challenging with many variables and concepts to consider (Ariff, Kassim, Shoid, Abdullah, Baharuddin, Mansor, and Radzi, 2018). If language can make meaning of words different for individuals of different cultural backgrounds, then a single definition for a concept that is meant to be understood cannot represent how much is known on that particular subject (Siemens, 2008). Small business owners need knowledge in new media and digital marketing practices to do business now, thus are reliant on research findings that may offer current best practices. Fortin and Chen (2017) examined traditional models for marketing they deem unsustainable due to new marketing processes in the information age.
Richmond, Rader, and Lanier (2017) confirmed evidence of a new digital divide for rural small business owners, based on knowledge in the use of digital technology and online marketing strategies, rather than lack of access to the internet. The intent of this study is to fill the gap which exists between rural small business owners in Newton County, Arkansas and successful social media campaigns. On the other hand, Etlinger (2017) presented disconfirming evidence, proving how little small business owners actually value social media, while also identifying a gap in knowledge and skill for using and interpreting data. This study intends to explore social networks, the learning curve, and access issues for small business owners. We know that social networks connect people like hubs, who use this medium to build community (Laureate Education, 2014). Going deeper into relevant theoretical underpinning, Siemens (2004) asks “What is the impact of networks and complexity theories on learning?” (p. 3). Defining these networks and grounding their use in theory is the objective of this research. The outcome of this work is intended to help small business owners in Newton County Arkansas, a county that ranks 85 in the top 100 poorest counties in the United States, better understand how technology and networked knowledge play a role in learning digital marketing as they master their own social media campaigns.
Purpose
The purpose and intent of this study is to understand what problems exist relating to the skill level of rural small business owners that may hinder them from creating successful social media campaigns. Kawaljeet Kaur Kapoor & Kuttimani Tamilmani, & Nripendra, Rana & Pushp, Patil & Yogesh, Dwivedi & Sridhar Nerur (2018) reviewed evidences and outline notable advances, as well as the evolution of social media research. This study intends to probe deeper into the needs of the rural small business owner, because “emerging and developing markets offer different challenges while deploying social media for various business functions” (Vigneswara Ilavarasan, Arpan Kar, M.P. Gupta, 2018). This study is intended to help understand current knowledge, with a review of research to date, commencing a qualitative study, which will be used to inform about interest, specific skill level, and challenges of rural small business owners.
Significance
The goal of this study is to provide a deeper understanding of data pertaining to skill level and potential adoption rate in digital marketing for small business owners. In agreement with this notion Park, Sung, and Im (2017) found “the advances of social media in practice remain based on the users’ perceptions and enthusiasm about its implementation” (p.12). Identifying this performance gap makes it apparent that many small businesses owners may not understand digital marketing strategies. The original contribution this study intends to make, is to better understand the level of knowledge and skill rural small business owners have in digital marketing strategies. Being concerned about their customers’ needs and how to reach potential customers effectively is crucial for business sustainability and a good local economy.
This study is intended to build upon findings, and to support “Research that attempts to better understand consumers in the digital age helps to develop better marketing communication solutions” (Fortin & Chen, 2017, p. 469). Practical application to further the development of professional practice for rural small business owners involves having a better understanding of how entrepreneurs use social media. To understand the problem it is critical to define not only access issues, but also in knowing how to clearly understand the trends analytics are able to represent; in monitoring and predicting opportunities. This study is designed to explore effective features accessible to entrepreneurs that may create value when attempting to compete with big business in the digital age.
Background
Articles relating to social media marketing for small rural businesses include:
The Jumin, Ijab, and Zaman (2017) researchers were able to help B40 social entrepreneurs understand their customers better by using high end metrics such as sentiment analysis and social media analytics; serving to boost their social entrepreneurship.
Etlinger (2017) aligns with the question to understand not only the degree of bandwidth or access issues, but in taking a deeper look at the level of knowledge rural entrepreneurs have in digital marketing strategy and analytic skill.
Sharma and Singla (2017) underscored the relevance of this research echoing how content for social media marketing is a huge domain calling for further research efforts to more clearly define what kind of digital divide actually exists.
Huang, Yang, and Lee (2017) note small and medium enterprises may have difficulty competing with major businesses, if not providing unique value to customers.
Park, Sung, and Im (2017) findings prove digital marketing practices are vital, yet noting a gap in knowledge of use and skill level of rural small business owners to create successful social media campaigns.
Richmond, Rader, & Lanier, (2017) offer evidence of a ‘new digital divide’ as a reason for more knowledge and skill needed by small business owners.
Van Tiem, Moseley, and Dessinger (2012) point to factors to consider for products and services to fill customer needs, which in turn helps the local economy.
Framework
One objective of this premise is to know specifically how social networks impact learning theory. Social cognitive theory (Bandura, 1986) and Connectivism (Siemens, 2004) provide basic framework as primary theoretical underpinning. New millennial researchers (Siemens, 2008; Rogers, 2010; Jordan, 2018) agree it is vital to ask questions about how theories have different results when applying technology. This study intends to utilize learning theory needed by small business owners in a struggling economy to keep up with the pace of technology, thus addressing gaps as they are uncovered and modifying conditions for learning. Defining new approaches to learning environments using social networks complimented by technology use, such as social media analytics, are increasingly important to rural small business owners today.
Research Questions
Based on the gap in the level of knowledge small business owners possess about digital marketing strategies identified in the review of current research, a qualitative study will be employed to inform the subject further by asking questions like: a) How do small business owners recognize a need for using social media marketing strategies? b) Do they outsource statisticians to help them monitor analytics to help them measure the success of their digital marketing campaigns? c) Do they ask a volunteer, family-member or friend to monitor their campaigns and hope for the best outcome, because they do not consider digital marketing a big priority to their business? d) Or, do entrepreneurs value digital marketing strategies by attempting to launch and monitor their own social media campaigns? Relevant to this research Siemens (2004) asks, “What is the impact of networks and complexity theories on learning?” (p. 3). It is the goal of this study to answer questions that pertain to social media networks and help understand how technology, language, and networked knowledge play a role in learning for struggling entrepreneurs in Newton County, Arkansas.
Nature of Study
To answer why and how social media marketing skills are important to small business owners, a qualitative approach will be employed to find out whether these rural entrepreneurs value social media marketing for their business; who takes responsibility for their social media campaigns; and, to learn what skill level is recommended for the adoption of this new marketing innovation. Tewksbury (2009) posits, “Qualitative methods provide a depth of understanding of issues that is not possible through the use of quantitative, statistically-based investigations” (p. 39). This methodological approach offers more, and rich, data from alternative viewpoints when examining digital content and environmental factors, while providing an increase in depth of understanding. Pertinent to this premise, Loveleen and Kumari (2018) contend, “social media is considered useful and full of opportunities for business” (p. 11). They proclaim further research is needed to define small business use of social media to address gaps in access, issues in knowledge, challenges in skill level, and the rate of adoption of social media campaign marketing for entrepreneurs. Research has found there are specific factors that influence the success of social media campaigns for small businesses (Buratti, Parola, and Satta, 2018). Furthermore, Thakur and Hale (2017) argue, “attitude and technology apprehension are predictors of technology adoption intention” (p. 2). Utilizing methods of advanced research is intended to derive in-depth answers, and ultimately help find solutions to complex problems small businesses face in marketing their products and services in the digital age.
Possible Types and Sources of Data
Potential data sources used to address questions about rural business social media campaigns will be derived from in-depth interviews with business owners asking open ended questions about access to bandwidth and determining the skill level of entrepreneurs. This study will probe more deeply into the how’s and why’s, and identify who implements social marketing for small business located in Newton County, Arkansas. Personal interviews with business owners as a source for data will allow for the researcher to practice, “immersion in settings to understand the what, how, when and where and how of social structure and action/interaction” ( Tewksbury, 2009, p. 43). Interviews are to be scheduled with entrepreneurs who are actively engaged in social media campaigns during the period of time the study takes place. Primary sources for information and original data are derived first hand from interviews with participants, while secondary sources include data derived from research articles, reports and conference proceedings that are most often published in peer reviewed journals, and governmental websites.
Possible Analytical Strategies
This methodology will require implementation of content analysis in marketing strategies to determine meta-data regarding analytic understanding, as well as whether rurally-based entrepreneurs are using, or interested in using, the vast array of digital tools available to administrators of business pages on social media platforms. Yang (2018) noted, “incorporating multimedia information in the coding process is another interesting avenue for future research” (p.59). Observation of multimedia and content analysis will be utilized in the proposed study. A specific plan to analyze the data derived from this case study recognizes small rural businesses that employ social media marketing will be selected due to their unique position, identified as being located in one of the poorest counties in the United States. It is recommended to approach content analysis with critical and scientific guidelines (Stake,1995; Merriman, 1998), particularly since these entrepreneurs are considered to be a hub in the network of an integrated, or bounded, system, which in this case is digital marketing and small business. In this study the unit of analysis is the experience of each rural small business owner, which include level of skill and rate of adoption. This work will uncover and further identify problems encountered and potential solutions to issues faced by small businesses struggling to market their products and services in one of the poorest counties in the United States.
References
Ariff, N. Z. Z. M., Kassim, N. A., Shoid, M. S. M., Abdullah, C. Z., Baharuddin, K., Mansor, M. H. M., Radzi, R. (2018). The Benefits of Using Social Media and the Impact of not filtering the Information. International Journal of Academic Research in Progressive Education and Development, 7(3), 304–313.
Bandura, A. (2001). Social cognitive theory: An agentic perspective. Annual Review Psychology, 52, 1–26.
Bandura, A. (1986). Social Foundations of Thought and Action: A Social Cognitive
Theory. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall.
Buratti, N., Parola, F., Satta, G. (2018). Insights on the adoption of social media marketing in B2B services. The TQM Journal, 30(5), 490-529.
Gaur, L., Anshu, K. (2018). Harnessing Potentials of Social Media in Transforming Businesses. International Journal of Engineering & Technology, 7(2), 9-13.
Huang, H. C., Yang, H. C., & Lee, Y. D. (2017). Global Extension by Online Marketing for SME: Customer-based Brand Equity through Social Media. 2(8), 6-15.
Jumin, J., Ijab, M. T., & Zaman, H. B. (2017). An Integrated Social Media Trading Platform for B40 Social Media Entrepreneurship. In International Visual Informatics Conference. Springer, Cham.112-119.
Merriam, S. B. (1998). Qualitative research and case study applications in education. (2nd ed.) San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.
Park, J. Y., Sung, C. S., & Im, I. (2017). Does Social Media Use Influence Entrepreneurial Opportunity? A Review of its Moderating Role. Sustainability, 9, (9).
Richmond, W., Rader, S., Lanier, C. (2017). “The “Digital Divide” for rural small businesses”, Journal of Research in Marketing and Entrepreneurship. Retrieved from https://doi.org/10.1108/JRME-02-2017-0006
Sharma, M. A., & Singla, R. (2017). Impact of Digital Marketing on Public Relations in Emerging Market Scenario. Catalyst, 2(2).
Siemens, G. (2008). Learning and knowing in networks: Changing roles for educators and designers [ITForum discussion post]. Message posted to http://itforum.coe.uga.edu/Paper105/Siemens.pdf
Stake, R.E. (1995). The art of case study research. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.
Tewksbury, R. (2009). Qualitative versus Quantitative Methods: Understanding Why Qualitative Methods are Superior for Criminology and Criminal Justice. Journal of Theoretical and Philosophical Criminology, 1(1), 39.
Thakur, R., & Hale, D. (2017). Special Issue Editors Introduction: Impact of Social Media on Business. The Journal of Business Inquiry, 17(1), 1-3.
United States Census Bureau. (2017). 2016 Poverty and Median Household Income
Leadership theory is helpful to meet the challenges of change management plans. Mitchell (2013) speculates, “careful consideration of change theory can simplify the process for change agents and help those affected by change to be more receptive to it” (p. 37). Does this lead you to believe it is more important to bring about social change by focusing on change management approaches in lieu of leadership styles?
After taking the survey this time my results showed I was an ultra-committed change agent, which made more sense because I have been highly involved in a the television and video industry that are highly technology-driven, requiring an ability to readily adopt innovations; followed by curriculum development, diffusion, and roll-out. Social change intended to come about as a result of my PIP, involves better understanding and methods for creating and executing successful digital marketing campaigns for rural small businesses. Most believe the gap or ‘digital divide’ for this demographic refers to the lack in having access to technology. However, this project intends to discover whether there might be a gap in digital literacy that needs attention and intervention to increase knowledge and digital marketing skills of rural small business owners. (Richmond, Rader, & Lanier, 2017)
In the past I have considered myself a transformational leader. It is encouraging to find out this leadership approach is a proven and creative way to impact positive social change. Allen, Smith, & Da Silva’s (2013) study found, “church members’ perception of the pastor’s transformational leadership is positively related to their perceptions of the organization’s psychological climate for change readiness and psychological climate for organizational creativity” (p. 35). This leadership style tends to set the pace and create momentum for innovative change.
That notion may have answered my own inquiry; however, I still wonder if it might be possible for any one of the various leadership approaches to be able to accomplish positive social change efforts better than any of the others? Learning about the situational leadership approach leads me to believe, perhaps modifying leadership approaches to match level of readiness might be more appropriate to context and individual behaviors. “The key to Situational Leadership is learning to accurately determine readiness and then matching the follower’s readiness level with the appropriate leadership style” (Bedford & Gehlert, 2013, p. 58). Thus, Mitchell (2013) may be correct in assuming, “Understanding and using a change theory framework can help managers or other change agents to increase the likelihood of success” (p. 32).
References
Allen, S. L., Smith, J. E., & Da Silva, N. (2013). Leadership style in relation to organizational change and organizational creativity: Perceptions from nonprofit organizational members. Nonprofit Management & Leadership, 24(1), p. 35.
Bedford, C., & Gehlert, K. M. (2013). Situational supervision: Applying situational leadership to clinical supervision. The Clinical Supervisor,32(1), p. 58.
Richmond, W., Rader, S., Lanier, C. (2017). “The “Digital Divide” for rural small businesses”, Journal of Research in Marketing and Entrepreneurship. Retrieved from https://doi.org/10.1108/JRME-02-2017-0006
Mitchell, G. (2013). Selecting the best theory to implement planned change. Nursing Management, 20(1), p. 37.
Data Import/Export 