Social Media Marketing Practices and the Sustenance of Small Businesses in Oshogbo Metropolitan Area, Osun State, Nigeria

The paper sets out to evaluate the effects that social media marketing (SMM) can have on the success and eventual sustainability of the small businesses sampled. Other specific objectives were to assess the level at which businesses adopt the usage of social media and identify the most prominent of all available social media platforms that the companies utilise. The quantitative survey method was employed to collect data from 200 employees of small-sized businesses in Oshogbo, Osun State, Nigeria. The collected data was analysed using both descriptive (percentages, mean, standard deviation etc.) and inferential (ANOVA and regression analysis) statistics with the assistance of SPSS v22. With regards to the take up of social media for marketing purposes, almost all the questionnaire items indicated a high level of SMM adoption for the businesses, to the extent that it was actively used, resources were allocated, contents were frequently posted, metrics were tracked, and they reportedly had dedicated teams to engage with the social media platforms. In terms of the types of Social Media (SM) platforms, the businesses have prominence for marketing; Instagram recorded the highest, and in descending order, followed by YouTube, Facebook, Twitter, TikTok, WhatsApp, and LinkedIn. The results on the effects of SMM on the sustainability of the businesses indicated a strong correlation between the two variables. Firstly, the model was well fitted to the data, significant at F, 28.075; p ≤ .01; and Adjusted R2 = .611, implying that the predictor variable explained 61.1% of the variance in the dependent variable, even after the model was adjusted for errors. When some of the items representing the Independent Variables were disaggregated, the following constructs were very important in explaining the businesses' success with SMM adoption in descending order of importance: allocation of resources, tracking of social media metrics, having a team dedicated to monitoring the platforms, and making social media a priority for their businesses. The remaining factors were insignificant. The study concluded that Social Media Marketing (SMM) significantly impact the sustenance of small businesses if adequately managed and resourced, and for 21st-century businesses, digital marketing and online presence afford the businesses the opportunity to interact with the consumers of their products and services for future lasting engagement and potential benefits that could eventually impact the bottom line positively.