The Impact of Social Media Usage on the Sales Process in Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs): A Systematic Literature Review [Summary]

Abstract

The dramatic growth of the internet has led to the emergence of two important phenomena: social media and online search engines. In business context, social media is a new communication channel between the companies including SMEs and customers, which allows them to interact directly. This study aims to conduct an analysis of the impact of social media usage on the sales process in SMEs. The method used in this study is Systematic Literature Review (SLR). The method is carried out by reviewing several journals that discuss about related research topics. The results of this study identified similar impacts of social media use in SMEs across different countries. The use of social media depends on the type of industry and the type of social media used in accordance with SMEs business objectives. The impact obtained is mostly related to customers, stakeholders, business partners and competitors. However, the impact produced in this study is still general. Therefore, further research needs to be done to gain more insights on the drivers of social media use in SMEs and their impact on the performance of SMEs.