The Impact of Social Media Marketing on the Performance of SMEs: The Case of Retailing Business in Tanzania

The goal of this chapter is to investigate the impact of Social media marketing on the performance of small and medium sized establishments. It adopts an explorative research method and uses online focus group discussions conducted through Instagram, Facebook, and WhatsApp platforms to collect data on Social media application and Small and Medium Sized Enterprises (SMEs) performance for SMEs in Tanzania during the months of March and April, 2018. The findings reveal that businesses engaging in social-media marketing tend to perform well compared to those that do not. The findings for the current study provide a parameter of how SME owners could use social media marketing to enhance the performance of their businesses. The chapter also analyzes the challenges facing these establishments in adapting digital marketing initiatives in Tanzania.

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1. Mzumbe University, Dar Es Salaam Campus College, Dar es Salaam, Tanzania Omary Swallehe

1. Omary Swallehe

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Editors and Affiliations

1. Department of Economics, Pennsylvania State University DuBois, DuBois, PA, USA Evelyn F. Wamboye
2. Department of Economics and Finance, Middle Tennessee State University, Murfeesboro, TN, USA Bichaka Fayissa

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Swallehe, O. (2022). The Impact of Social Media Marketing on the Performance of SMEs: The Case of Retailing Business in Tanzania. In: Wamboye, E.F., Fayissa, B. (eds) The Palgrave Handbook of Africa’s Economic Sectors. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-75556-0_16

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