Social Media Advertising: The Unchartered World of Marketing for Small Businesses David M. Caruth Author

The utilization of social media by consumers has exponentially increased since its inception, and the use of it as a marketing vehicle by businesses has exploded in the recent years. The higher level of efficiency of social media compared to other traditional marketing vehicles has prompted businesses to participate in social media in order to succeed and remain competitive. As an increasing number of medium to larger and enterprise businesses adopt social media into their marketing strategy, is it viable for a small business to follow suite and invest their time into this vehicle? What can we learn from small businesses that have adopted social media marketing and have seen success? Using small businesses, a group that is coined as the cornerstone of the U.S. economy, this book encompasses an exploratory qualitative study which identified the decision making factors and cognitive strategies of small business owners that have adopted and seen success from social media marketing. Current perceptions of small businesses regarding social media marketing suggested that this advertising medium is simply something extra that they can participate in. The value that this marketing tool possesses is unfortunately overlooked by many due to the fear of not knowing. The implications of this book to the fields of management, marketing, and technology in both business and educational sectors alike are numerous.