Social Media from the Perspective of Small and Medium-sized Enterprises

In addition to today's knowledge-based society, social media is an integral part of the daily lives of businesses, which cannot be ignored, by small and medium-sized enterprises, which play an essential role in both society and the economy. The primary purpose of this study is to provide an insight into the use of social media at the enterprise level, from the perspective of small and medium-sized enterprises. In order to achieve this goal, the authors conducted a quantitative questionnaire survey among small and medium-sized enterprises operating in two regions of Hungary. A research model has also been developed to provide a statistical representation of the assumptions made. The results of the research prove that the size of a company is significantly related to the outsourcing of the processes, related to this activity in addition to the company's presence in social media. Outsourcing social media activities is also closely related to the monitoring of competitors and the use of feedback from the target audience. The results prove that the observation of competitors' activity is significantly related to the use of target audience feedback, as well as the use of marketing costs, that can be associated with a presence in social media. Finally, the results support the idea that marketing costs are related to the direction of change, caused by social media, which is also significantly related to the willingness of businesses to expand, as related to the presence of social media.