The Impact of Social Media Platforms on Small and Medium Scale Enterprises in Bayelsa State, Nigeria

Prince Christopher Achor PhD; Seperegha Godsgift M Ouseibai PhD

doi:10.56201/ijebm.vol.11.no10.2025.pg219.232

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The Impact of Social Media Platforms on Small and Medium Scale Enterprises in Bayelsa State, Nigeria

Prince Christopher Achor PhD, Seperegha Godsgift M Ouseibai PhD

Abstract

Social media platforms have catalyzed the operations and development trajectory of Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) in Nigeria with its platforms such as Facebook, Instagram, X (formerly Twitter), and LinkedIn. SMEs can reach vast customers beyond geographical boundaries, enabling interaction and feedback that enhance customer relationships and retention. This paper therefore undertook a study on the impact of social media platforms on SMEs in Bayelsa State Nigeria. This qualitative paper, which is quantitative in approach espouses a two- stage sampling procedure for data collection and analysis. The Business men and women in the Eight LGAs of the state were intentional designated, from which a random sample of 400 entrepreneurs were chosen for this research. A questionnaire (IMSMSMEBS) was used as the research instrument. Among the 400 hard and soft copies of the questionnaire distributed, 300 of them were retrieved and was used for the analyses. Using the descriptive and mean statistics. The study establish that social media platforms have a significant influence on small and medium scale enterprises in Bayelsa State. And the most utilized platform were Facebook and Whatsapp, basically for advertisement. The major challenges confronting SMEs were high cost of data, Lack of digital skill and poor internet. Some of the recommendations made by the study therefore were; the data cost should be put in check and brought to reasonable levels by the government, the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) should compel network providers to improve on their network strength and connectivity. Also business men on their own should improve on their digital literacy to utilize the vast value chain in the air space (social media).

Keywords

Social Media PlatformsSMEs GrowthBayelsa State.

References

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The Impact of Social Media Platforms on Small and Medium Scale Enterprises in Bayelsa State, Nigeria

Abstract

Keywords

References

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