An exploratory investigation of social media adoption by small businesses

Social media has become an online platform for businesses to market products/services and to manage customer relationships. While more and more small businesses have jumped on the bandwagon of social media in recent years, we found that only a limited number of published articles are currently available regarding the decision-making factors for social media adoption by small businesses. To understand why and how small businesses (i.e., small non-manufacturing enterprises) in the U.S. adopt social media, and for which business purposes, we conducted a case study using an approach that combined literature review, interviews, and cross-checking social media sites. In particular, we interviewed 27 small businesses as our cases in a mid-size U.S. city in terms of their social media adoption for business purposes. This study revealed some novel insights and developed a decision support model composed of factors critical to successful social media adoption by small businesses.