Link to PowerPointPresentation:
https://www.linkedin.com/in/kathryndrskytomlinsonphd/overlay/1635490110390/single-media-viewer/
Introduction
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.
https://dataimportexport.wordpress.com/
Target Audience
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.