Abstract:
Purpose of the study- The core purpose of this study is to find out the factors affecting the
choice of entrepreneurs for preferring social media as tool to market their business rather
than traditional marketing mediums of operating and promoting businesses. These factors
include mass audience reach, high customer involvement, cost effectiveness of social media
and increase in the trend of online shopping in Pakistan since the last decade.
Research method/sampling- Deductive approach was followed. Quantitative data is
collected through questionnaires on a five point Likert scale. Convenience sampling
technique is used. Data of 100 questionnaires was used in the analysis. The data was
analyzed using SPSS. Pearson correlation test is used.
Findings of the research- The findings of this research advocate that the selected four
factors have a significant relationship with entrepreneur’s preference for choosing social
media over traditional mediums for marketing purposes. Marketing through social media is
found to have a strong positive relationship with mass audience reach and cost effectiveness
whereas customer involvement and increase in trend of online shopping have a moderate
relationship.
Practical implications of the research- This research can provide marketers with a detailed
understanding of the factors which are affecting the choice of the nascent entrepreneurs for
preferring social media as a major tool of marketing their businesses. This shift from
traditional media to social media is now a new trend not just preferred by small businesses
trying to set their mark in the market but now large firms are also adopting this medium to
reach out to their customers.
Limitations of the research- This research only targets nascent entrepreneurs who have
started their business using social networking website specially Facebook.
