Social Media Use and its impact on Egyptian MSMEs’ Growth

Abstract

Micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) have benefited significantly from the use of social media (SM) in reaching customers and growing sales in a most efficient way. This study compares Facebook and Instagram as two separate social media platforms and examines to what extent the use of each of these SM platforms affects the growth of MSMEs. It distinguishes financial growth and non-financial growth and uses two theories to conceptualize the relations within the context of social media usage: the Social Exchange Theory (SET) and the Task Technology Fit (TTF) Theory. Results of the quantitative and qualitative analysis based on data of 383 MSMEs show that using social media (SM) has helped MSMEs achieve both financial and non-financial growth. Facebook, more specifically, leads to financial growth (higher sales volume in the short-term), while Instagram leads to more customer engagement and higher brand performance, with the positive and significant moderating effect of the length of social media use.