Social Media Marketing Adoption in Italian SMEs: Barriers in the Adoption of Social Media by Italian Wine SMEs.

Accattoli, Massimiliano (2020) Social Media Marketing Adoption in Italian SMEs: Barriers in the Adoption of Social Media by Italian Wine SMEs. Masters thesis, Griffith College..

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Abstract

The advent of new digital tools of communication is changing the way of doing marketing in almost every business. Social media are the main characters of this marketing evolution. The importance of Social Media Marketing is growing in the strategies and projects of many companies, including the smallest ones. However, not all small and medium-sized enterprises can find ways to approach and introduce these new instruments. In this study it was shown which are the reasons behind the barriers between Social Media Marketing (SMM) and Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) and how they influence this relationship. The study had as main objective to go deeper investigate in the problems between the two worlds, to understand why many SMEs are facing problems to the adoption of the SMM. In order to achieve the objectives, the researcher opted a qualitative study, dictated by the need to understand the social aspects involved. In fact, in support of this study, seven semi-structured interviews were carried out with a small sample of small and medium-sized wine enterprises in the Marche region. This sample is divided into two groups, respectively Social Media user and nonuser, in order to obtain different points of view to be compared. Finally, the data obtained by the interviews were analysed within the literature and interesting findings were discovered. The results show that there are several reasons behind those barriers. These reasons are related to the entrepreneurial mindset of Italian SMEs, the limited resources they have at their disposal and the awareness of these marketing tools (Social Media). However, one reason that links all these issues has been identified: the disinformation. This disinformation, about the use and effectiveness of social media as a marketing tool, leads the entrepreneurs to have a distorted perception of the tools. Therefore, it is believed that the identification of this issue can bring a contribution to the study of this relationship and interesting ideas for further researches. In addition, the analysis and understanding of this disinformation problem could be a great help for SMEs, in order to improve their knowledge and awareness on the SMM world, but also for marketers, to improve their communication and approach to SMEs.

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