An exploratory investigation of social media adoption by small businesses

Social media has become an online platform for businesses to market products/services and to manage customer relationships. While more and more small businesses have jumped on the bandwagon of social media in recent years, we found that only a limited number of published articles are currently available regarding the decision‐making factors for social media adoption by small businesses. To understand why and how small businesses (i.e., small non‐manufacturing enterprises) in the U.S. adopt social media, and for which business purposes, we conducted a case study using an approach that combined literature review, interviews, and cross‐checking social media sites. In particular, we interviewed 27 small businesses as our cases in a mid‐size U.S. city in terms of their social media adoption for business purposes. This study revealed some novel insights and developed a decision support model composed of factors critical to successful social media adoption by small businesses.