THE INFLUENCE OF SOCIAL MEDIA MARKETING STRATEGIES ON SMALL BUSINESSES PERFORMANCE IN DAR ES SALAAM – TANZANIA: A CASE OF ILALA CITY COUNCIL

Abstract

ABSTRACT Social media promotion is a process where by individuals and businesses use digital platforms in online social networks to promote their products or services which enable them to reach and connect with larger targeted audience or market than what traditional advertising methods offers (Gulavan& Kulkarni, 2022). Small businesses have been contributing to reducing unemployment and growth of Gross Domestic Product (GDP). The effectiveness of social media in promoting small businesses has garnered considerable attention worldwide due to the widespread adoption of social media platforms and their potential for business growth.). Limited access to reliable internet infrastructure in rural areas, coupled with low digital literacy levels among business owners, hinders the widespread adoption of social media marketing strategies (Kombo et al., 2021). This study aimed to assess how different social media marketing strategies influence the performance of small businesses in Tanzania, Ilala Municipal Council in Dar es Salaam region. The research design for this study employed a mixed-method approach, combining both qualitative and quantitative data collection methods to comprehensively investigate the effectiveness of social media marketing for small businesses in Ilala Municipal Council, Dar es Salaam. The study involved business respondents from different industries. Before the commencement of the study, research proposal approval was sought from respective review board of our institute. Using SPSS v24.0 all data were strictly collected, entered, cleaned and summarized in tables and figures and results established correlation using regression analysis. However, taking all the other independent variables at zero, then an increase in Attention towards social media usage will lead to a 0.212 (21.2%) increase in unit small businesses performance; a unit increase in Interest towards social media strategies increases businesses performance by 0.167(16.7%); an increase in Desire towards social media strategy usage enhances small businesses performance by 0.206 (20.6%) and an increase in action towards social media marketing strategies usage enhances business performanceby0.458 (45.8%). This infers that all the AIDA model marketing strategies studied do have a positive and significant influence on the marketing performance of small businesses in Dar es salaam - Tanzania.