For the last a few years, many electronic businesses (e-businesses) in Small to Medium-Sized enterprises (SMEs) have been using Social Media Networks (SMN) with their customers and suppliers to share knowledge on product or brand information in an open two way communications. This is because Social Media (SM) platforms are changing the way businesses are operating over the Internet for marketing or selling any products or services from one way (simplex mode) to two way (duplex mode) communication methods in an effective manner.
The aim of this research paper is to investigate the use of Social Media Marketing (SMM) in Jordanian SME retailers. The paper also conducts a comprehensive review of the practices of Social Media Marketing (SMM) in SMEs in order to determine a range of marketing variables that could have an impact on the success of using these marketing practices in terms of brand awareness, financial performance, sales performance, return on investment (ROI), customer relationship management (CRM) and brand loyalty.
The paper proposes a research model as per the comprehensive secondary data (literature review) to develop an understanding of how organisations and firms in SMEs in Jordan exploit various social media platforms in marketing and explore the importance of adoption and the growth of Social Media Marketing.
It is expected that, the initial findings of this paper will help Jordanian SMEs to adopt and explore on how to utilize their contemporary and interactive social media as part of their e-marketing strategies in order to become more connected with their customers and suppliers so that they will be able to increase their efficiency (such as more revenues, reduce costs) and improve effectiveness (such as improving product or service quality).
The initial results of social media marketing model will be further analysed in different ways of engaging social media as marketing tools in marketing communication, promotion, discounts, market research, sales, creating brand loyalty, enhancing brand awareness, increasing sales and financial performance of organisations and increasing ROI and CRM.
Keywords: SMEs, SMN, SMM, Brand awareness, Sales performance, Brand loyalty, Financial performance, ROI, CRM.