Oral Presentation: Online Survey Because

Oral Presentation: Online Survey

Because we are bombarded with advertising online on a daily basis, it is easy to assume that every company uses the Internet as a marketing tool. However, many small and medium-sized enterprises underuse the Internet and rely upon traditional marketing for a variety of reasons, spanning from the owner's comfort level to a desire to remain local. The degree to which personal factors can affect the decision to advertise online will be explored in this research

The purpose of my study is to explore: What are the perceived benefits of using social networking as a platform for advertising by SMEs? The research study focused upon the Savannah Georgia community, surveying SMEs with 50-100 employees currently doing their marketing in-house. The hypothesis is that marketing through online social media is not perceived as beneficial such enterprises, due to personal factors related to the business owners more than the real efficacy of the medium itself. Later research about the real efficacy of online advertising may be conducted to potentially demonstrate that rather than diverting resources away from the business, online marketing will enhance the business' potential to expand and grow. This research is the first step of a larger project that intends to guide SME's to using their resources more effectively.

A survey format will be used to gain the maximum number of responses in a relatively concentrated period of time. The survey will ask participants about what types of marketing methods they use and their perceptions of efficacy of those methods. The Internet Marketing Index will be used to measure the perceived importance of Internet advertising. Perceived importance of television and print advertising will also be tabulated. Response variables are to include age, profession and personal use of social media to determine the degree to which these variables influence the likelihood of the respondents to deploy social marketing.

Through this research I hope to shed light upon how SME's use Internet advertising in the 'real world' and the degree to which the Internet has really penetrated advertising in local communities for businesses without the resources to expend large amounts of money on online marketing, outside of the immediate local sphere. The degree to which personal variables such as age and personal comfort levels affect the use of Internet advertising will also be determined. Choosing advertising formats can be a subjective, personal experience and the data will shed light upon this question.