Using social media as a marketing tool in SMEs: Example of Instagram

Social media platforms that emerged with the development of internet technology have offered users the opportunity to influence individuals or large-scale communities, regardless of their location. Various advantageous aspects such as freely sharing user-created content in text, video and image formats, communicating easily with other users and performing all kinds of shopping transactions without geographical restrictions have contributed to the exponential increase in the usage rates of these platforms day by day. In this context, Instagram, one of the social media components, has strengths such as providing a suitable environment for the promotion of products and services, focusing directly on the target audience through advertisements and creating an environment of interaction with customers. On the other hand, in comparison to traditional media, all dominance in this application is under the control of the enterprise and no intermediary is needed in this regard. All these advantageous aspects make this application stand out as an important marketing tool for SMEs. In this study, the role and importance of the use of Instagram as a marketing tool in SMEs on businesses has been investigated. In addition, the problems faced by businesses engaged in marketing activities on Instagram were determined. In the research, analyses were carried out using semi-structured interview technique, which is one of the qualitative research methods. The universe of the study consists of SMEs active on Instagram in marketing activities operating in Turkey. The sample of the study consists of 20 different SMEs that actively use Instagram operating in Gümüşhane center and its districts.