Department of informatics
Sense and Respond to the Market through Social Media
A Case Study of Micro Enterprises in UK and their ability to be an Agile Information Organisation
Christina Shayesteh Afshar
Abstract
Social media has become a vital part in many organisations since it has opened up for new ways of communication. Its high scale of users creates a huge source for companies where they can gain information about what products and services that are interesting. The mix between that type of information and the ability to create agile responses to certain situations can help companies develop their business. This paper presents a study of five micro enterprises in UK that are using Facebook and Twitter with different purposes. Their usage of social media shows that some companies can gain a higher value from a social media profile than others depending on their products and services. The micro enterprises can use their Facebook site or Twitter to sense the market either by instigate conversations or observation that leads to a better understanding of what the customers are in need of, and how to respond to those needs.
Keywords: Social media, sense and respond, agile information organisations, micro enterprises.
1. Introduction
The wide variety of social media websites has made it possible for companies to target different people from more than one source, and thereby making themselves visible in the market. Social media has created a shift in how companies think about their relationship with customers (Wamba & Carter, 2012). By using social media, companies can directly reach customers as well as attracting new customers in an effective and efficient way for a low cost (Kaplan & Haenlein, 2010). There are many that have established the fact that social media is useful for all companies regardless of their size (Kaplan & Haenlein, 2010, Qualman, 2010). However, it is often the case that Small and Medium sized Enterprises (SMEs) are limited in their financial and human resources, and sometimes also lack the necessary IT knowledge, which can make new technologies more challenging to assess and implement (Wamba & Carter 2012). This thesis will focus on micro enterprises and they are defined as entities that have less than ten employees and do not have an annual turnover more than 2 million euro (The commission of the European communities, 2003). Micro enterprises are one form of SME’s, other forms are small and medium enterprises.
The need for different definitions of the sizes of SME’s is likely to be caused by the fact that SME’s are the most common category for enterprises to be in, and in UK, 99,9% of all the enterprises in the private sector are SME’s (House of Commons, 2012). The low amount of employees can affect how these companies work with social media, and thereby the benefits they gain from it. Social media is nowadays interwoven in human resources and technology, as well as the whole organisation (Qualman, 2010). Being involved in social media demands time and effort, and in some cases long-term planning (Qualman, 2010). SMEs might have difficulties
providing that amount of time while they are also focusing on their core business. It can be argued that micro enterprises are in the most vulnerable situation because of their size and their shortage of time and knowledge to operate outside their core business.
Customers have the possibility to gather information about companies from many sources, where the information comes both from a company itself and other customers, and they can provide information about how well the products and services from a company has been perceived by the customers (Kaplan & Haenlein, 2010). Since all companies face the reality of staying alive on the market, the signals form the environment can be used to transform an organisation’s business processes (Desouza, 2007). Social media has become a vital part in an organisations work (Qualman, 2010), however Culnan et al (2010) state the fact that the value of using social media does not come from a social media platform itself, instead it is the usage of it that creates the value. Every company needs their customers to help them co- create the content of their social media. With good information, companies can use the signals from the environment to improve their products and services. Agile Information Organisations (AIOs) are organisations that change their business to be able to manage the unpredictable changes that happen around them (Oousterhout et al, 2006). In order to do so, they face constant adjustments and realignment to be able to adapt to the changes in the environment that affects them (Desouza, 2007).
Social media can be a vital tool for AIOs to understand their environment and keep track of changes.
Most of the research available today is mainly about large enterprises and their use of social media. Culnan et al (2010) have studied three Fortune 100 corporations to see how they manage their networks of social media applications in order to provide guidelines for implementation. Zhang et al (2010) did a case study in one fortune 500 company to explore early adoption and use of micro blogging. Previous research about SMEs and social media has been emphasising the fields of marketing and adoption where Bulearca & Bulearca (2010) have studied how Twitter can be used as a marketing tool, and Pentina et al (2012) have used the technology acceptance model (TAM) to study the role of social influences in SME’s that affect their adoption of social networks marketing (SNM). Wamba & Carter (2012) have studied the role of the organisational, managerial, and environmental characteristics in adoption of Twitter in SME’s. Even though micro enterprises are part of SMEs, there is a lack of research specifically about micro enterprises and how they can use social media to become more aware of their environment.
The research question for this paper is how micro enterprises can use social media to sense and respond to their environment, which is the market and thereby their customers. The aim of this study is to explore how micro enterprises work with social media, and how the information provided from social media can help them to become AIOs where they are able to be flexible and conduct quick changes. To explore this the study employed a qualitative study of micro enterprises in United Kingdom (UK) and their usage of two types of social media, social networking sites
(SNSs) and blogs. First, I will describe the organisational structure of an AIO, and then continue with social media and it possibilities, and also the definition of a micro enterprise. This is followed by a case study of micro enterprises and their use of social media in their organisation. I conclude this paper with a discussion of the findings and how well they contribute to existing findings.
2. Related Research
2.1 Agile Information Organisations
There are many researchers who define business agility in their own way, but they all base their view on effective transformation (Desouza, 2007). Rouse (2007) claims that agility can be defined as an organisations ability to continually improve business processes and transform itself. Oosterhout et al (2006) claim that agility is the ability to change businesses and business processes to meet the needs of sudden changes that happens both internally and externally. There are also the terms agile organisation and agile information systems, which separately can indicate different meanings, but Desouza (2007) argues that they can be viewed as the same thing since a system is an organisation because of its organised collection of parts and processes that are connected with its inputs and outputs. Hence, agile organisations are agile information organisation.
Organisations need to have an agile business environment so that they can use information to create agile responses to changing circumstances and imperatives (Galliers, 2007). According to Desouza (2007) an organisation must work in a certain way in order to be agile, they must be able to sense signals in the environment and then process those signals adequately, and thereby they should mobilise their resources and processes in a way that they can take advantage of the opportunities lying ahead. Throughout their work the organisation have to continuously learn and improve their opportunities while it all happens with low cost efforts in quick time cycles. One of the important elements of agility in an organisation is their ability to sense and respond to circumstances very quickly (Roberts & Grover, 2011).
Desouza (2007) states that AIOs also have four components, which are information, knowledge, work and technologies, and these needs to be in focus. AIOs use information to receive and send signals to the environment, and knowledge is used for conducting the work that the organisation requires. Whereas the work stands for the routines that the organisation does in response to information, so that they can provide information, products, and services to the environment. Technologies are involved in the automatisation of work in order to improve work practises. Each of these four components are equally important and it should always be balance between them.
2.2 Sense and respond
Customer needs are changing rapidly and in order for companies to stay alive in the market they must find strategies to respond to the new demands (Haeckel, 1999). It
is beneficial for companies to use a sense-and-respond model that helps them identify changes in customer needs and business challenges when they do happen, and find quick and appropriate responses for them (Haeckel, 1999). A company’s ability to innovate themselves and take competitive action through sense and respond is a critical standpoint for their survival and success (Roberts & Grover, 2011). The sense and respond model presents a framework of how companies respond to unanticipated requests and produce what the customers are asking for (Haeckel, 1999). According to Barlow et al (2005) companies should sense what matters to customers since they are the once who determines the market. Barlow et al (2005) state that it is the demand that shows the value of the products that a company provide, which also means that the value can change over time and that is why the focus must be on what matters to the customers. However, companies must be quick to sense what matters to the customers and respond to it faster than their competitors (Haeckel, 1999). Otherwise, there is a risk that those demands have already been taken care of.
A close relationship with the customers can help to enhance the responses necessary for the changes that occur. However, depending on the size of a company it can be more or less difficult to have an agile organisation that adapts to its environment. It can be argued that micro enterprises, due to their lack of resources, can find it harder to maintain a business that emphasises agility. Social media can be one way for companies to communicate with their customers and understanding their needs (Kaplan & Haenlein, 2010).
2.3 Social media
The definition of social media is based partly on Web 2.o, which has enabled the creation and usage of social media (Kaplan & Haenlein, 2010). The Web 2.0 is considered to be a social phenomenon since it through social media contributes to creating personal relationships between companies and customers (Constantinides et al, 2008). Social media contains of several platforms where users can together share and discuss the content (Kietzmann et al, 2011).
The term social media includes many categories and Kaplan & Haenlein (2010) have structured them in six different categories. The first category is collaborative projects where the end users can work together in a simultaneous way to create the content of the information for a website such as Wikipedia. The second category is blogs which is one type of website where people can write date stamped entries, in text or image and in chronological order, as people do in Twitter. The third category is content communities where users can share legal media content with each other through a personal profile, and an example of that is YouTube. The fourth category is social networking sites where users can connect with other users by creating a personal profile with information, pictures, and videos, which is possible on sites like Facebook. The fifth category is virtual game worlds where users experience a three- dimensional environment where they appear as personalised avatars and interact simultaneously with others from all over the world in games like World of Warcraft.
The sixth category is virtual social worlds that have three-dimensional environment with avatars that the users can create as they wish without following strict rules, an example of that is Second life.
This study has focused on two categories of social media, blogs and social networking sites. In most cases one person manages blogs, and the blog owner and readers have the possibility to comment the entries, which creates the interaction between them (Kaplan & Haenlein (2010). Twitter is a micro blog in the category of blogs, and has today more than 200 million active users that generate more than 340 million tweets every day (Twitter, 2013). Each tweets is limited to 140 characters and can be available for everyone to read, depending on the users privacy settings, through devices such as smartphones, tablets and computers (Twitter, 2013). In a social networking site, the users can invite their friends and interact with them and others by sending messages, and update their friends about things that happen in their life and vice versa (Kaplan & Haenlein (2010). Facebook is a social networking site with one billion monthly active users that shares picture, interact through status updates and posts, and receives updates from people and businesses (Facebook, 2013). Both Facebook and Twitter allow companies to promote themselves and create relationships with their customers. Social media has opened up new ways of communication between companies and customers, but it has also given the customers the possibility to communicate with each other (Mangold & Faulds, 2009).
Customers are a great help in social media since they can specify exactly what they need (Qualman, 2010). The customers have more power today because their opinions are visible for millions of people (Mangold & Faulds, 2009). This means that the customers have a bigger influence on market and thereby the products and services that companies provide (Hanna et al, 2011). According to Mangold & Faulds (2009) customers perceives social media as a much trustworthy source of information when it comes to products and services rather than corporate sponsored information through traditional promotion.
According to Qualman (2010) every company should have social media as part of their IT strategy since parts of their success are dependent on it. Social media has become a significant communication channel between people, customers and companies. Qualman (2010) states that business do not longer have a choice if they want to use social media, it is rather about how well they use it to gather and provide useful information. When companies use a micro blog such as Twitter it is important that they write tweets that are relevant for their target group due to the short amount of characters, otherwise there is a risk that people will perceive the tweets as boring (Kaplan & Haenlein, 2011). When companies use social networking sites, such as Facebook, they can create their own profile and write status updates, share photos and videos, without being limited to a number of characters (Boyd & Ellison, 2008).
All companies, regardless of size, can benefit from using social media (Qualman, 2010). Depending on how companies use social media the outcomes can vary but there is potential for improvement if time and effort is given to understand the customers. By understanding their customers and making them co-producers, a
company can gain competitive advantage (Kaplan & Haenlein, 2011). The use of social media gives companies the possibility to improve their internal operations (Culnan et al, 2010), and among other things help them to improve customer service (Kaplan & Haenlein, 2011). Companies can use micro blogs and social networking sites to gain easy access to information about what their customers have to say (Kaplan & Haenlein, 2011).
There are many researchers who have studied the field of social media with emphasis on certain areas. Case studies have been made on large enterprises such as the study of Culnan et al (2010) who observed three Fortune 100 corporations to see how they manage their networks of social media applications. The research of Culnan et (2010) provided guidelines on how to implement social media to gain full business value based a three elements. Zhang et al (2010) did a case study in one fortune 500 company to explore early adoption and use of micro blogging to give a better understanding of how knowledge workers can use micro blogs in the enterprise.
There are also those who have studied a specific part of an organisation that can use social media as a tool. Tyagi & Tyagi (2012) have in their study linked the foundational components of social media with human resources processes to create a more positive attitude and adaptability to social media tools in the human resource department. Nevertheless, there is also research about how SMEs can work with social media. In the research of Bulearca & Bulearca (2010) they have studied how SME’s can use Twitter as a marketing tool, which is a popular subject among other researchers. Wamba & Carter (2012) have studied the role of the organisational, managerial, and environmental characteristics in order for SMEs to adopt Twitter in their organisation. Pentina et al (2012) have used the technology acceptance model (TAM) to study the role of social influences in SMEs that affect their adoption of SNM. The fields of marketing and adoption seem to be subjects that have been interesting for researcher to examine. There are not many who have specified the exact enterprise size in their research since SMEs involve three enterprise sizes. It is very unlikely that all enterprises, regardless of size, have the same conditions to use of social media successfully. There is a lack of research about how micro enterprises can use social media to adapt to the demands of the market, hence their customers.
3. Methodology
This study applies a qualitative research approach since it aims to provide an in- depth understanding (Mason, 2002) of how micro enterprises use social media to become agile organisations. Qualitative research allows the use of several interconnected interpretive methods to make the subject that has been studied more understandable, and those methods can be chosen at any time during the study (Denzin & Lincoln, 2003). It has been vital for this study to not be locked to a specific method since the outcome of each step has been unknown. In a qualitative research it is possible to deal with each step at a time and also separating them if necessary (Flick, 2009).
The data collection has consisted of two parts, interviews and observation. The micro enterprises that have been selected for interviews are all based in UK and have been chosen through snowball sampling, which is a method that is used for extending a small sample by asking the people in the existing sample for recommendations of others that could be involved in the study (Buttha, 2012). The micro enterprises have also been chosen with the criteria that they must have been active on social networking sites or blogs for at least twelve months. Five micro enterprises were chosen for this study and table 1 shows the social media that they are using.
COMPANY SOCIAL MEDIA
F1 Facebook, Twitter
MH Facebook
SD Facebook, Twitter
SM Facebook, Twitter
YP Facebook, Twitter
Table 1. The micro enterprises and the social media they use.
The purpose of the interviews has been to gain insight into how these micro enterprises work as agile organisations and their ability to sense the market and respond to it. The interviews have been conducted with the owner of the micro enterprise, see table 2. Each of the interviewees has received information before the interviews about their right to terminate the interview at any time, and also to withdraw their participation until the study is published. The interviews have been semi-structured since it was beneficial for the study to have an open dialogue combined with predefined questions (Mason, 2002), see appendix 1. Each interview lasted approximately for an hour and where either conducted through videoconference or at the interviewees office. The interviews have also been recorded and afterwards transcribed.
The interviews have been conducted in two rounds. The first round focused on their current situation with social media, what they use it for and how they use it, and their future aims with it. The second rounds was conducted almost a year later, and it was a following up interview to see how they have worked with the future aims they stated in the first interview. Before the second round of interviews were conducted, an observation of the micro enterprises SNSs was made. The observations were made to understand how the micro enterprises work with their environments and the people within it. The data for the observation was based on the activity on the SNSs during a twelve month period. The information on the SNSs were divided into categories to separate what kind of information the micro enterprise have provided and what others have provided. All of the status updates, photos, and posts have been conducted and separated in the appropriate categories. The information has been collected as data in a table for each micro enterprise, see appendix 2, that divides all the status updates, photos, posts, comments, and likes, made by either the micro enterprises or by the people that have interacted on the social networking site. Each micro enterprise has received the table with data about their SNS before the second
round of interviews. The tables have been used as a basis for the second interviews since they showed they activity in the SNS.
RESPONDENT COMPANY BUSINESS 1st INTERVIEW 2nd INTERVIEW
A F1 Printer May 2012 May 2013
B MH Café May 2012 May 2013
C SD Wedding Magazine May 2012 May 2013
D SM Social Media Consulting May 2012 May 2013
E YP Graphic Design May 2012 May 2013
Table 2. The interviewed companies, their business, and the interview dates.
4. Results
4.1 The micro enterprises and their usage of social media
F1. A printing company with five employees that started up in January 2007 and provides services for both businesses and individuals. F1 prints variety of products and they sometimes also provide artwork for the customers. F1 created a Facebook profile in September 2009 and uses it as well as Twitter for marketing purposes. It is according to F1 a much faster way of sharing information to many people, but considers a phone call to be a better alternative if there is a need for discussion. There are times when F1 uses social media to share other news than just information about products, but they always aim to keep it professional. Twitter is more used than Facebook since it is more convenient due to the small amount of words that is allowed, and the activity on Facebook is not high which is presented in table 3. F1 uses either a smartphone or a computer to write status updates or tweets. Facebook and Twitter are not integrated in the daily work of F1 since they do not use it as a communication channel with their customers. F1 believes that their effort of promoting their products and services on social media does not generate a good outcome in sales. Most of the people use the website to contact F1, which thereby becomes the main communication channel. F1 does not feel the need to do status updates and tweets every day because of its low impact on the business.
Table 3. F1’s activity on Facebook from February 2012 until January 2013, see appendix 2.
MH. A café with three employees that started up in February 2012 and besides the regular opening hours they sometimes organise events that are held in the evenings.
MH created a Facebook profile in February 2012 and uses it as a marketing tool and to be able to interact with customers, with a hidden aim to also create interaction between customers. The interaction between people is very important for MH since it brings life to the Facebook profile. It is in that way MH can gain opinions from more people than before, but that does not exclude the fact that a face-to-face conversation is often much more satisfying. MH do not use Twitter at the moment, but considers Facebook to be a big part of the company since it is a communication channel that provides people with information about what MH are doing, either through status updates or photos. MH has a high activity on their Facebook site, see table 4, and the goal is to maintain that and if possible to increase it. MH tries to do daily updates through a smartphone, tablet or computer but depending on the workload it can be difficult for them to be active on Facebook every day. According to MH the smartphone has made it possible to do quick status updates and upload photos, and thereby putting their company name on peoples mind so that MH is not forgotten.
Table 4. MH’s activity on Facebook from February 2012 until January 2013, see appendix 2.
0 0,5 1 1,5 2 2,5 3 3,5 4 4,5
FEB MAR APR MAY JUN JUL AUG SEP OCT NOV DEC JAN
Status updates by F1 Photos by F1 Posts by P Photos by P
0 10 20 30 40 50 60
Status Updates by MH Photos by MH
Posts by P Photos by P
SD. A wedding magazine with three employees that started up in the summer of 2009. The magazine is published quarterly, both printed and online, and offers information about events and products for weddings. Besides from the magazine, SD has a blog and organises wedding events, either by themselves or with others. SD created a Facebook profile in September 2009 and uses it to promote their business and generate awareness about it, both to customers and suppliers. Twitter is used for the same purpose and the aim is to do status updates and tweets on a regular basis even though it can be difficult some days. Table 5 shows SD’s activity on their Facebook site where it is possible to see that they try to maintain a presence on Facebook every month. SD also uses social media to promote suppliers that they are working with, and the more people who follow them on Facebook and Twitter the more impact does their status updates, photos and tweets have. SD wants people to interact on both Facebook and Twitter, and they try to find ways to encourage that interaction. The status updates, photos and tweets are made either with a smartphone or a computer, SD believes that it is necessary since it helps progress their business.
Table 5. SD’s activity on Facebook from February 2012 until January 2013, see appendix 2.
SM. A social media service company with two employees that started up in March 2011 that provides professional social media training to small and medium sized companies. SM customises the training to the customers business and their needs to teach them how to manage and use social media for either marketing or other purposes. To promote themselves, SM use both Facebook and Twitter as a marketing tool and also to share some personal information. They created a Facebook profile in March 2011 but they use it mainly for marketing purposes compared to Twitter where they also share more short and sometimes personal tweets. The activity on the Facebook site is high but the interaction from people are not as high, see table 6. SM uses Twitter more than Facebook because of its live feed and that people can come across the profile much easier. Their status updates, photos or tweets are either made from their computer or smartphone depending on where they are. Through experience, SM believes that people want to buy from people. When they let some of
0 10 20 30 40 50 60
Status updates by SD Photos by SD Posts by P Photos by P
their personality visible in a few updates there is a bigger chance that people will imagine working with them. SM always makes sure that their business updates and personal updates in social media, in the name of their business, are subtle. SM tries to maintain a constant presence on social media, and when they do not have the time to do live updates they schedule their tweets on Twitters. Their aim is to do daily updates so that they remain in the spotlight.
Table 6. SM’s activity on Facebook from February 2012 until January 2013, see appendix 2.
YP. A graphic design company with one employee that started up in January 2005 and they provide services to both businesses and individuals. YP provides digital artwork for a variety of products and prints them if necessary. YP created a Facebook profile in January 2005 and uses it, and Twitter, mainly as a marketing tool. The status updates, photos and tweets are either made with a smartphone, tablet, or computer depending on the situation. YP does not consider social media to be a vital part of the company since it does not generate sufficient outcome. That is visible in table 7, which shows a low activity on the Facebook site. The majority of people do not use Facebook or Twitter to ask YP questions about the products and services, instead people use the website. YP believes that Facebook and Twitter is a good marketing tool for the company, but it is hard to interact people and make it a communication channel. YP prefers to use Twitter because of its live nature and that is allows more people to get involved in a conversation. Status updates, photos, and tweets are made whenever YP feels the need for it, and it is usually a mix of information about products and services and in some case personal information on a professional level.
0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80
Status updates by SM Photos by SM Posts by P Photos by P
Table 7. YP’s activity on Facebook from February 2012 until January 2013, see appendix 2.
4.2. Values of using social media for micro enterprises
The value of using social media is different between the micro enterprises that have been interviewed. All of them believe it is a useful tool for their business to progress but depending on their products or services some benefit more than others. This is expressed by respondent E as:
“Certain business flourish better on Twitter and Facebook more than others due to certain products or services. For example; a local café would incur more followers than say a plumber because the café is more attractive and something that is used more often than a service that you might use once a year” Respondent E, 1st interview
YP as well as F1 believes that their businesses do not have products and services that attract the masses of social media. Their target groups can be active on social media and read some of their updates, but they do not do business through Twitter and Facebook. Nevertheless, there can be some benefits and one of them is according to YP when customers write positive comments about products they have purchased.
YP believes that it is very good that customers write comments since people will then see the products through the eyes of someone else, and in essences spread the word.
Both YP and F1 have gained a small amount of new customers through Twitter and Facebook. But F1 claims that it is hard to know where are customers come from since they sometimes end up on the website through a link on Facebook or Twitter. SD considers the main value for them to be the awareness of their business that they can generate through social media. SD also believes that the positive comments are beneficial since it promotes them from another angle, which can be very useful in order to gain new customers. MH states that that the value of using Facebook for their business is that they can use it as a communication channel that brings people together who shares the same interests. MH also mentioned the fact that people that do not live in the same area as where MH is located can through the Facebook site keep track of what is happening. SM emphasises the fact that the online market space
0 1 2 3 4 5 6
FEB MAR APR MAY JUN JUL AUG SEP OCT NOV DEC JAN
Status Updates by YP Photos by YP
Posts by P Phots by P
is huge, and people can stumble across a profile that someone else is following and see status updates and tweets that might be interesting to them. Respondent D describes it like this:
“We could not possibly see that amount of people that we speak to just in a regular day on Twitter and Facebook. That is the biggest benefit for us because we could be in our office but we have this world of people that we can contact. It might be a quick tweet or they might start to talk to us more deeply about something in detail, which we then can continue on Skype or email. It is a very quick rote to contact people” Respondent D, 1st interview.
4.3 Sensing the market through social media
The micro enterprises all try to sense the market to be able to develop their business and provide their target customers with what they need. Sensing the market with the help of people is easier if a Facebook site has many people who chose to interact. That is not the case for all of the five micro enterprises, therefore some of them have to find their own ways of sensing the market and find information that can help their business. F1 and YP have both low activity and interaction between people on their Facebook site. Nevertheless, they still try to sense the market by looking at their competitors Facebook sites and see how they work to attract customers. YP does not believe, based on experience and observations, that their target group are interested in interaction through conversations on social media. Therefore, YP tries to find other ways to sense the market. Besides from observing competitors, YP sometimes upload photos of products and services that have been developed for customers.
According to YP it can in some cases give indications about what people like. F1 mainly sense the market by looking at competitors social media profile and see what kind of offers and deals they are giving to people, and how much those offers and deals attract people. MH, on the other hand, claims that their Facebook site is a place where it is possible to gain information about what people think of the business.
Some people upload pictures of the products they have purchased, which is according MH very good since it creates conversations between customers. MH can then see what the customers are interested in and their opinions about it. Through that, MH can gain information about what products will sell and make sure that they are available from time to time. MH has a high activity on their Facebook site, both from MH and people, which makes it an ideal place for asking questions to sense what people want. MH has used the Facebook site to ask people if they are interested in certain events and received good response from it. There are times when people ask for certain products, but that does not give an overall understanding of customer needs if it is not many who asks for the same product. MH believes that asking questions on their Facebook site is a good way to reach many different people.
SD tries to involve people on their social media profiles in order to gather opinions and to understand what people are interested in. SD has carried out polls where people can vote for certain things, such as the cover for a magazine issue, and that
can create further conversation between people. SD’s target group is both people and suppliers, which means that they have more people to take into consideration. But with that amount people social media is an easy way for SD to receive information from many people at once, while it also gives some kind of answer of what most people like. Respondent C describes it like this:
“By generating awareness about us there is a big chance that people who are interested in our type of business will come across us in one way or the other. It is hard work to maintain a presence on social media but it is necessary for our business since it helps us progress. We do have people who are interested in communicating with us through social media and we are using that opportunity to create more targeted products and services” Respondent C, 1st interview.
Since SM works with social media on a daily basis, they encounter new things every now and then that can be interesting for them or their customers. SM does not have a specific approach to sense the market but if they see something useful for their business that has had a good response from people, they will consider it because they are always looking for improvements. It is not very often they can use their customers to sense the market since their customers are the ones in need of knowledge. SM are in that case the always more educated than their customers, which means that SM has to look for new ideas from other sources such as competitors.
4.4 Responding to the market
The response to what the micro enterprises have sensed can vary depending on its context. If it has been difficult for a micro enterprise to sense the market, the response to it will more likely be vague and not as rewarding as it might be for others.
When F1 notice that the competitors have offers and deals that are successful, F1 will make sure that they provide even better offers and deals that is attractive to people.
YP does the same thing since it has already been prove to be successful by someone else. Even though it is not a new and different way of responding to the market, both F1 and YP believes it is a way for them to be visible in the market. Especially for F1, who does not have an overall high activity on Facebook and are thereby responding less to the market on Facebook compared to others. Respondent A consider their situation to be like this:
“Due to the low amount of customers from social media, compared to the ones that find us through Google or other sources, we probably do not put a lot of effort in developing our social media so that it would be one of our established communication channels. We have the knowledge and everything is set up so that we can start using social media on a higher level whenever we want. But at the moment we do not gain much customer response to our updates except from the offers and deals we provide” Respondent A, 2nd interview.
MH’s high activity on Facebook is both based on their own involvement as well as customers and other people. It is easy for MH to receive feedback and requests when so many people are involved. According to MH they are very keen on creating events and offer products that are based on suggestions from customers. Hence, they do try to respond to the ideas or requests that people mention. Some requests are easier to perform while others can take longer due to more planning. Respondent B describes one their ways of responding to the customers:
“I can take a photo of a cake in the morning and upload a photo on Facebook and people will then comment on it. Sometimes they will come in just for that certain cake and eat it, specially is it is a cake that people have been requesting and waiting for. That is an excellent way for me to respond to requests from my customers and for them to show me what they are interested in” Respondent B, 2nd interview.
When SD has carried out competitions or asked questions to people on their Facebook site, they always try to respond to it so that everyone can see it. When people voted for a certain magazine issue, SD promoted the magazine cover on Facebook to make sure that people saw that their opinion matters. The feedback that SD receives from the events they create are also valuable since it affects future events.
It is much easier for SD to attract more people with events that they know are interesting. SM, on the other hand, does not respond to the market as clearly as MH or SD. Their main goal with social media is not to find new ways to perform their work, but according to SM they will respond to requests if they believe it is beneficial for them or their customers.
4.5 Agile information organisations
All of the micro enterprises consider themselves to be flexible organisations than can adapt to the market and change some of their business according to the needs of the customers. However, none of them have in the past changed their work processes because of trends they have come across on social media. Their work processes stay the same while some of the products and services that they offer can change. They all agree that their size of enterprise does matter when it comes to changing, adding or removing products and services. The micro enterprises only have a few employees that need to be informed and communication between those employees is very easy.
Most of them are often in the same place during the days and they can make rapid decisions without the need of meetings, phone conversations, or emails that are time consuming.
5. Discussion and conclusion
By using a methodology that allowed an open dialogue during the interviews it was possible to gain more detailed information about each micro enterprise. The
questions combined with the data gave a good and real picture of how these micro enterprises work with social media. Since there has been little research about this topic there is not much to compare this study with. But this study shows that social media can play a vital role in how micro enterprises run their businesses. Even if they does not change their work processes they still have the possibility to gain information that can improve their products and services. Some micro enterprises might find it easier to establish a communication channel through social media because of their type of business, but it has been shown in this study that there is always something they can do to sense and respond to the market. The micro enterprises consider themselves to be agile information organisations since they possess the abilities that it includes. They can perform rapid changes and respond so circumstances that they are faced with, which is according to all of them based on their size. However, this study shows that there is a connection between having a Facebook page with high activity and the possibility to sense and respond to the market. Those micro enterprises that have an established communication channel tend to gain much more information on their page through comments or questions.
Thereby, it is much easier for those enterprises to receive feedback and change their products and services so that they are attractive for the customers.
Due to the amount of SME’s in UK, it has been necessary for this study to limit the enterprises to the micro size since it provides a better understanding of their conditions regardless of business. The data gathered from the social networking site has in some cases been limited depending on the usage of the micro enterprise. Their social networking site shows some information based on a high usage, which has not been the case for all enterprises in this study. Therefore, some of the micro enterprises have less data than others but in most cases it has been possible to fill those gaps with interviews. All of the micro enterprises use Facebook and that is why there has been more focus on that than Twitter. It has been more beneficial for the study to maintain focus on one social media site and create a deeper understand of how the micro enterprises uses it.
6. Concluding remarks
This study only reveals a small amount of information about how micro enterprises can use social media to sense and respond to the market by being flexible organisations. There is need for more research in order to show how well social media can help micro enterprises to create attractive products and services. This study shows that there are benefits to gain from social media regardless of how high the activity on the SNS is, but the benefits increase when the activity increase. The importance of a high activity on social media has not been established in this study, which is something that may or may not affect the outcome of the usage. It might be the case that social media is useful for all micro enterprises, regardless of business, even though some micro enterprises in this study do not agree with that.
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Appendix 1: Interview Questions
These main questions have been asked during the first round of interviews with all of the micro enterprises. Depending on the answer given by a micro enterprise, further specified questions have been developed during each interview.
- What is your occupation?
- What work does your company do (products and services)?
- For how long have you been doing it?
- Number of employees?
- How many months/years have you used Facebook and Twitter?
- Do you take care of your social media sites yourself or do you outsource it? If you outsource, why?
- What is your purpose with using Facebook and Twitter?
- Do you use Facebook and Twitter for different purposes?
- Do your receive as much output as input from Facebook and Twitter?
- How do you use the information that your customers or other people give you through Facebook and twitter?
- Have you received complaints from customers about your products or
services through Facebook and Twitter? If yes, how have you handled it? Have you changes those products or services?
- Do you use Facebook and Twitter because you have to be present on social media sites, or because you believe it is useful for your business?
- What are the main benefits for you?
- Do you use Facebook and Twitter to interact with customer and potential customers, or do you use to provide information to your followers?
- Do you change your business after the needs of the customers (the needs that customers share on either Facebook or Twitter)?
- Does your work processes allow you to transform your business when the market changes, either due to customer needs or your own needs?
- Would you consider your organisation, even though it is a microenterprise, to be an agile organisation where you can perform rapid changes in your
business processes? If not, why?
- Have you encountered any problems with Facebook or Twitter as a communication channel?
Appendix 2: Tables
ppen d ix 2 : T abl es
e tables show data that has been gathered from each of the micro enterprises Facebook page.
FEBRUARY 2012 – JANUARY 2013 FEBMARAPRMAYJUNJULAUGSEP OCTNOVDECJANpeople liking the pageN/AN/AN/AN/AN/AN/AN/AN/AN/AN/AN/AN/Aople taking about the companyN/AN/AN/AN/AN/AN/AN/AN/AN/AN/AN/AN/A
al amount of photos uploaded by F10 0 0 0 0 0 3 0 0 0 0 0 otos uploaded by F1 of the business and people 0 0 0 0 0 0 2 0 0 0 0 0 otos uploaded by F1 of things not related to the e business 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 otos uploaded by F1 that have been commented0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 otos by F1 that have been liked by P0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 otos by F1 that have been liked and commented 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 otos by F1 that have not received any response P 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0
al amount of status updates by F10 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 4 2 0 atus updates by F1 that promotes the business 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 2 0 atus updates by F1 that asks P questions 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 atus updates by F1 about competitions 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 atus updates by F1 about offers (coupons) 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 3 2 0 atus updates by F1 about other things0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 atus updates by F1 that have been commented on0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Appendix 2: Tables s updates by F1 that have been commented on and thereby received response from F1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 s updates by F1 that have been liked by P0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 1 0 s updates by F1 that have been commentediked by P 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 s updates by F1 that have not received any e from P 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 3 1 0
l amount of photos uploaded by P0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 otos by P that have been commented on by F10 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 otos by P that have been liked by F1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 otos by P that have been liked and commented1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 otos by P that have not received any attention F1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 amount of posts made by P0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 ount of people that made posts0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 sts made by P that have been questions0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 sts made by P that have been statements 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 stion posts by P that have been commented on1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 sts made by P that have been commented by F10 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 sts by P that have been liked by F1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 sts by P that have been commented and liked by0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 sts by P that have not received any attention F1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 ative posts by P0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
The micro enterprise
Appendix 2: Tables
ople = No information
FEBRUARY 2012 – JANUARY 2013 FEBMARAPRMAYJUNJULAUGSEP OCTNOVDECJANpeople liking the page94525727297556488378N/AN/Ale taking about the company981099893125223242269353499N/AN/A
amount of photos uploaded by MH364133223740564029316 13otos uploaded by MH of the business and people 364133223635533726285 12otos uploaded by MH of things not related to the e business 0 0 0 0 1 5 3 3 3 3 1 1 otos uploaded by MH that have been commented1 1 7 2 1 1 4 0 0 0 0 0 otos by MH that have been liked by P15121310111617207 7 3 6 otos by MH that have been liked and commented16210 101719231722223 5 otos by MH that have not received any response P 4 7 130 8 4 123 0 2 0 2 amount of status updates by MH151924131730323041252030s updates by MH that promotes the business 2 9 109 6 19141716181310s updates by MH that asks P questions 0 1 0 0 0 1 1 1 1 2 0 0 s updates by MH about competitions 0 0 0 0 0 2 1 0 0 0 0 1 s updates by MH about offers (coupons) 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 2 3 3 s updates by MH about other things129 144 118 161224211016s updates by MH that have been commented1 1 2 2 0 1 2 1 3 0 0 3 s updates by MH that have been commented and thereby received response from MH 3 5 4 3 3 2 101223129 14s updates by MH that have been liked by P7 5 7 6 5 177 6 118 4 7
Appendix 2: Tables s updates by MH that have been commentediked by P 5 12134 9 8 201826171518s updates by MH that have not received any e from P 2 1 2 1 3 4 3 5 1 0 1 2
amount of photos uploaded by P3 3 1 0 0 5 3 1 1 1 0 0 otos by P that have been commented on by MH0 0 1 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 otos by P that have been liked by MH0 2 0 0 0 2 0 0 0 1 0 0 otos by P that have been liked and commentedH 1 0 0 0 0 2 1 0 1 0 0 0 otos by P that have not received any attention MH 2 1 0 0 0 1 1 1 0 0 0 0 amount of posts made by P191112124 5 101522190 0 ount of people that made posts131112113 4 9 1522180 0 sts made by P that have been questions 3 2 3 2 0 1 2 1 4 7 0 0 sts made by P that have been statements 169 9 104 4 8 1418120 0 stion posts by P that have been commented onH 3 2 3 2 0 1 2 1 4 6 0 0 sts made by P that have been commented by MH2 1 4 2 1 1 2 6 6 8 0 0 sts by P that have been liked by MH1 1 2 6 3 2 3 2 7 8 0 0 sts by P that have been commented and liked by0 0 0 1 1 0 1 6 5 1 0 0 sts by P that have not received any attention MH 127 3 2 0 2 2 1 4 2 0 0 ative posts by P0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
= The micro enterpriseople = No information
Appendix 2: Tables
BRUARY 2012 – JANUARY 2013FEBMARAPRMAYJUNJULAUGSEP OCTNOVDECJANpeople liking the pageN/AN/AN/A959324331N/AN/AN/AN/AN/Ale taking about the companyN/AN/AN/A68140193172N/AN/AN/AN/AN/A
amount of photos uploaded by SD1 3 31107 7 101915289 19otos uploaded by SD of the business and people1 2 313 2 1 2 1 5 2 4 4 otos uploaded by SD of things not related to thee business 0 1 0 7 5 6 8 1810265 15otos uploaded by SD that have been commented0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 otos by SD that have been liked by P0 0 206 4 3 4 6 7 151 7 otos by SD that have been liked and commented 1 3 4 2 3 4 6 128 8 8 11otos by SD that have not received any response P 0 0 7 2 0 0 0 0 0 5 0 1 amount of status updates by S 2637481420132420266 105 s updates by SD that promotes the business 2026398 7 9 1615194 6 5 s updates by SD that asks P questions 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 1 0 s updates by SD about competitions 0 0 1 2 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 s updates by SD about offers (coupons) 0 2 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 s updates by SD about other things 6 9 8 4 123 7 5 7 2 3 0 s updates by SD that have been commented on1 0 1 0 1 0 2 0 1 0 0 0 s updates by SD that have been commented on and thereby received response from SD 0 2 1 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 s updates by SD that have been liked by P132624124 9 1812192 6 2 s updates by SD that have been commentediked by P 3 7 112 1 0 1 1 2 2 0 2 s updates by SD that have not received any 9 4 120 144 3 7 4 2 4 1
Appendix 2: Tables
e from P
amount of photos uploaded by P1 2 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 otos by P that have been commented on by SD0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 otos by P that have been liked by SD0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 otos by P that have been liked and commented D 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 otos by P that have not received any attention SD 1 2 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 amount of posts made by P6 6 8 3 7 3 3 0 0 0 0 0 ount of people that made posts6 6 8 3 7 0 3 0 0 0 0 0 sts made by P that have been questions 1 0 0 0 0 0 2 0 0 0 0 0 sts made by P that have been statements 5 6 8 3 7 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 stion posts by P that have been commented onD 0 0 0 0 0 0 2 0 0 0 0 0 sts made by P that have been commented by SD1 0 1 0 0 0 2 0 0 0 0 0 sts by P that have been liked by SD0 0 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 sts by P that have been commented and liked by0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 sts by P that have not received any attention SD 5 6 6 2 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 ative posts by P0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
The micro enterprise ople = No information
Appendix 2: Tables
FEBRUARY 2012 – JANUARY 2013 FEBMARAPRMAYJUNJULAUGSEP OCTNOVDECJANpeople liking the pageN/A2 1 215 0 2 6 3 N/AN/AN/Aople taking about the companyN/A3 6 341921244322N/AN/AN/A
al amount of photos uploaded by SM0 0 1 0 3 6 5 143 6 2 2 otos uploaded by SM of the business and people 0 0 1 0 1 5 2 141 4 2 0 otos uploaded by SM of things not related to the e business 0 0 0 0 2 1 3 0 2 2 0 2 otos uploaded by SM that have been commented0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 otos by SM that have been liked by P0 0 0 0 0 6 2 112 0 0 2 otos by SM that have been liked and commented0 0 1 0 0 0 0 1 0 2 1 0 otos by SM that have not received any response P 0 0 0 0 0 0 3 2 0 4 0 0 al amount of status updates by SM2 4 6 374062553535507049atus updates by SM that promotes the business 1 4 4 231712211015222520atus updates by SM that asks P questions 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 atus updates by SM about competitions 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 atus updates by SM about offers (coupons)0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 atus updates by SM about other things1 0 2 142348341520284529atus updates by SM that have been commented0 0 0 0 0 0 3 1 2 0 1 0 atus updates by SM that have been commented and thereby received response from SM 0 1 1 2 0 1 3 1 2 1 1 3 atus updates by SM that have been liked by P0 0 1 151111151018201816atus updates by SM that have been commentediked by P 0 1 1 3 1 4 2 3 4 2 2 3 atus updates by SM that have not received any 0 3 4 192847252111284930
Appendix 2: Tables
e from P
amount of photos uploaded by P0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 otos by P that have been commented on by SM0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 otos by P that have been liked by SM0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 otos by P that have been liked and commentedSM 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 otos by P that have not received any attention SM 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 amount of posts made by P0 1 0 0 2 0 2 0 0 0 0 0 ount of people that made posts0 1 0 0 2 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 sts made by P that have been questions0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 sts made by P that have been statements 0 1 0 0 2 0 2 0 0 0 0 0 stion posts by P that have been commented onM 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 sts made by P that have been commented by SM0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 sts by P that have been liked by SM0 1 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 sts by P that have been commented and liked by0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 sts by P that have not received any attention SM 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 ative posts by P0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
e
Appendix 2: Tables
BRUARY 2012 – JANUARY 2013 FEBMARAPRMAYJUNJULAUGSEP OCTNOVDECJANpeople liking the pageN/AN/AN/AN/AN/AN/AN/AN/AN/AN/AN/AN/Ale taking about the companyN/AN/AN/AN/AN/AN/AN/AN/AN/AN/AN/AN/A
amount of photos uploaded by YP 4 3 0 0 0 0 1 2 0 0 0 1 otos uploaded by YP of the business and people4 3 0 0 0 0 1 2 0 0 0 1 otos uploaded by YP of things not related to the e business 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 otos uploaded by YP that have been commented0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 otos by YP that have been liked by P4 1 0 0 0 0 1 2 0 0 0 1 otos by YP that have been liked and commented0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 otos by YP that have not received any response P 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 amount of status updates by YP 1 0 0 0 0 1 3 0 0 0 0 5 s updates by YP that promotes the business 1 0 0 0 0 1 1 0 0 0 0 4 s updates by YP that asks P questions 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 s updates by YP about competitions 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 s updates by YP about offers (coupons) 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 s updates by YP about other things 0 0 0 0 0 0 2 0 0 0 0 0 s updates by YP that have been commented on0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 s updates by YP that have been commented on and thereby received response from YP 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 s updates by YP that have been liked by P1 0 0 0 0 1 2 0 0 0 0 2 s updates by YP that have been commentediked by P 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 s updates by YP that have not received any 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 3
Appendix 2: Tables
e from P
amount of photos uploaded by P0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 otos by P that have been commented on by YP 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 otos by P that have been liked by YP 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 otos by P that have been liked and commentedP 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 otos by P that have not received any attention YP 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 amount of posts made by P0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 ount of people that made posts0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 sts made by P that have been questions 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 sts made by P that have been statements 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 stion posts by P that have been commented onP 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 sts made by P that have been commented by YP 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 sts by P that have been liked by YP 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 sts by P that have been commented and liked by0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 sts by P that have not received any attention YP 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 ative posts by P0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
The micro enterprise ople = No information
