The Adoption and use of Social Media by Micro and Small Enterprises

In Europe there is a very high concentration of small enterprises operating not only in local but also in international markets. In the past, these firms have shown a lower propensity to invest in information and communication technologies (ICT), when compared with larger companies. The main reasons were technologies' high prices and small firms' inability to fully understand and exploit the strategic potential of new technologies. Recently several factors have encouraged small firms to adopt digital technologies, mainly web 2.0 tools, like social media. Social media offer plenty of opportunities for small enterprises: they can interact with their stakeholders and can receive opinions/suggestions to improve their products/services. In this paper we analyse the adoption and use of social media by a sample of 48 small firms. The analysis allows to identify some specificity in the way small firms use social media and to assess their ability to exploit technologies' potential. Data has been collected by websites' analysis, a questionnaire survey and interviews with entrepreneurs and/or ICT/Marketing managers. Results show that social media open a wide range of opportunities for small firms, because they are cheap and don't require high-level technological competences. Small firms are starting to realize the importance of virtual channels to achieve business goals and are gradually learning to take advantage from the use of such technologies, although often introduced as an element of curiosity or because they are considered "fashionable". Small enterprises using social media are open to relationships with external stakeholders (customers, suppliers, sponsors, partners) and willing to share business information. This way of doing business represents a breakdown of traditional organization models. Micro and small enterprises, which are usually deep-rooted in their local environment, may take advantage of web 2.0 technologies and e-commerce sections to operate in a global market.