Chapter 1

THE PROBLEM

Background of the Study

Social media itself is a catch-all term for sites that may provide radically

different social actions. For instance, Twitter is a social site designed to let

people share short messages or “updates” with others. Facebook, in contrast is a

full-blown social networking site that allows for sharing updates, photos, joining

events and a variety of other activities.

Social media has become a platform that is easily accessible to anyone

with internet access. Increased communication for organizations fosters brand

awareness and often, improved customer service. Additionally, social media

serves as a relatively inexpensive platform for organizations to implement

marketing campaigns.

Social media often feeds into the discovery of new content such as news

stories, and “discovery” is a search activity. Many people also perform searches

at social media sites to find social media content. Social connections may also

impact the relevancy of some search results, either within a social media network

or at a ‘mainstream’ search engine (http://searchengineland.com/guide/what-is-

social-media-marketing).

Perhaps the greatest value of social media marketing is the ability to foster

and engage with a community of other people. That engagement is at the heart
of social media. Hence, one has the opportunity to interact with customers from

all over the world—including those who are right down the street—on a huge

scale. If a current or prospective customer has something to say to the

entrepreneur, he has now the ability to respond immediately.

In addition to responsive communication, brands and businesses can

begin to build relationships with their customers beyond those that happen during

normal transactions. These relationships are what keep customers coming back,

increasing both loyalty and retention.

By providing a great place of engagement for the community and helping

build valuable, authentic resources for an entrepreneur’s brand's niche, he is also

building up authority for the brand within the same industry. Customers

increasingly trust what the entrepreneurs say and may even ask for resources

that can help them solve their own challenges (http://moz.com/beginners-guide-

to-social-media/value).

Social media marketing programs usually center on efforts to create

content that attracts attention and encourages readers to share it with their social

networks. A corporate message spreads from user to user and presumably

resonates because it appears to come from a trusted, third-party source, as

opposed to the brand or company itself. Hence, this form of marketing is driven

by word-of-mouth, meaning it results in earned media rather than paid media.

Statement of the Problem

 The study aimed to determine the perception of entrepreneurs on social

media as a tool for business promotion during the fiscal year 2014-2015.

The specific problems were answered:

1. What is the profile of the respondents in terms of:

a. Age;

b. Sex;

c. Civil Status;

d. Highest educational attainment;

e. Type of business;

f. Number of years in the business;

g. Number of employees;

h. Nature of business;

i. Monthly income out of the business;

j. Employment status; and,

k. Number of years using social media as tool for business?

2. What are social media marketing tools used?

3. What is the level of effectiveness of social media marketing as a

promotional tool along:

a. Income generation

b. Generation of awareness

c. Sustainability of the product

d. Consistency of the product

 4. What are the problems encountered by the respondents in their use of

social media marketing tools?

5. Is there a significant relationship between the level of effectiveness of

social media marketing as a promotional tool and their profile variables?

6. What program can be proposed?

Scope and Delimitations of the Study

The main purpose of this study is to determine the perception of

entrepreneurs on the social media as tool for business promotion. The

respondents of the study were 30 people engaged in business companies who

made use of social media to promote business and who have been engaged in

the business for two years and more. This was conducted during the fiscal year

2014-2015.

The analysis was taken from the responses to the various items of the

questionnaire and from the focused group discussion responses.

Significance of the Study

The findings of this study provided research based information which

would be useful to the following:

Business entrepreneurs. They would be gaining from the results of this

study since this would present feedback from experienced entrepreneurs and

consumers. This can be their basis for improving or establishing their own

business online.
 Consumers. With feedback from both sectors of entrepreneurs and

consumers, they would be guided on their choices for engaging in online

marketing or buying online.

Definition of Terms

The following terms are operationally and lexically defined to give meaning

to the present study.

Social media marketing. It is the process of gaining website traffic or

attention through social media sites (http://mashable.com/category/social-media-

marketing/).