Use of Social Media Marketing in Laundry and Dry-Cleaning Small Businesses in the Ekurhuleni Metropolitan area

This study aims to explore the use of social media and its perceived impact and value as part of the overall marketing effort of small independent, owner-operated laundry and dry- cleaning firms in the Ekurhuleni Metropolitan area, in South Africa. Although numerous South African small businesses are starting to adopt social media marketing channels as part of their firms' marketing efforts, the use of social media in the laundry and dry-cleaning sector has not been investigated in South Africa. Laundries and dry cleaners do not typically engender a sense of social interaction or community and, therefore, the value of social media is questioned. An in-depth literature review was conducted on the adoption of social media by owners/managers of laundry and dry-cleaning firms in their marketing endeavours, both traditional and non-traditional. Thereafter, guided by the literature, data was collected from these owners/managers of independent operated laundries and dry cleaners in the metropolitan area mentioned above. A qualitative approach was followed to satisfy the research objectives of this study. Thematic content analysis was used to analyse the results of the study. The results indicate that social media is indeed used by firms in this sector and is perceived to be a helpful marketing tool in the marketing activities of local laundry and dry-cleaning firms.