Use of social media from digital marketing tools in small and medium enterprises: The case of Turkey

In the century we live in, the extraordinary rapid progress of internet and technology has brought about radical changes in the functioning of both social life and corporate life. While people's behavior patterns and habits have changed with the effect of technology use, consumer behavior has also changed. In this process, innovative approaches have emerged in marketing strategies and tools. Businesses encounter innovative concepts such as technological new products, services developed for the use of these products, artificial intelligence-based pricing, innovative stock control, distribution and payment methods, and digital marketing compatible with new ways of reaching the target audience and establishing relationships. Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises (SMEs), whose numbers are estimated to reach 213 million in the world by 2020, contribute to economic and social development in terms of employment creation and adaptability when changes occur in environmental factors in the countries in which they operate. With these aspects, it is important for the economies of the countries that SMEs increase their competitiveness and keep up with the developing technological and social scenarios. Therefore, due to technological developments, digitalization is a change that SMEs need to adapt quickly. By understanding the wishes and needs of their customers, digital marketing can contribute to the delivery of products and services at the place, time and conditions they want. Thus, SMEs are expected to provide potential benefits to the performance of businesses such as operating independently of time and place and reducing costs. With this study, it is aimed to investigate the effect of the adaptation of SMEs, whose ratio exceeds 99% in all enterprises in Turkey, to the use of digital marketing tools on firm performance. It is also aimed to investigate the effects of technological, organizational and environmental factors on the adaptation of SMEs to the use of digital marketing tools. With the first questionnaire prepared for this purpose, it has been determined that the most frequently used digital marketing tool by SMEs is social media platforms, with the return obtained from 3358 SMEs. In the second stage of the research, the effect of the adaptation of SMEs to the use of social media, one of the digital marketing tools, on the performance of the company was investigated. The data collected from 3425 SMEs with the online survey method were subjected to regression analysis after being extracted. The findings showed that technological, organizational and environmental factors have a positive and significant effect on the adaptation of SMEs to the use of social media from digital marketing tools. In addition, it has been determined that the adaptation of SMEs to the use of social media, one of the digital marketing tools, has a positive and statistically significant effect on the performance of the companies.