Tarlac Msme

Review of Integrative Business and Economics Research, Vol.
9, Supplementary Issue 2 128
Social Network Marketing of Micro, Small and

Medium Enterprises in the Province of Tarlac
Winston F. Abalos
College of Business and Accountancy, Tarlac State University,
Tarlac City Philippines
ABSTRACT
The study aimed to determine the profile of Micro, Small, and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs);
the participation of owners and consumers in social networking site (SNS); its role in
representation, customer engagement, and lead conversion; and the challenges encountered by
owners in using SNS. A self-made questionnaire was administered to 268 randomly selected
MSME owners and 405 consumers. Results showed that the MSME owners in Tarlac sold
items like shirts and bags with an initial investment of P10, 001-P 50, 000, with most
respondents operating for 6 months to less than two years. Both consumers and owners prefer
Facebook as their SNS as they have been using it for one to three years. Significantly, both
show agreement with security concerns posed by the use of SNS. The consumers reported that
they mainly visit sites to inquire prices and to shop online while the owners used it to improve
marketing. The owners reported that they agree on its benefits on improving social media
representation, customer engagement and lead conversion. Despite these benefits, the MSME
identified problems in their use of SNS mostly, the amount of time needed in managing the
pages and the risk of inappropriate behavior such as harassment.
Keywords: Social Networking Sites, MSME, Marketing
1. INTRODUCTION
The rapid development of technology through the years has brought major changes and
advancement in the society. One of these great advancements includes the development of the
internet or the World Wide Web. With the connectivity brought by the internet, the world
became a global community bound by the instantaneous connections with different places in
the world. This caused better inclusion and diversity among people and cultures in the world.
Moreover, the most striking effect of globalization fueled by the internet is the development of
marketing for different businesses around the world. The emergence of a wider social platform
enabled the improvement of business marketing without the need for costly set-up costs and
transaction costs. With its intrusion into the business sphere, it is expected to become a
powerful tool for any businesses to increase their marketing capacity by reaching a potentially
large number of customers.
The rise of various social networking sites or SNS has achieved greater exposure and
influence among buyers or consumers. Social networking sites are websites intended for
uploading and downloading content meant for socialization or mingling with online or virtual
friends (http://www.bbc.co.uk/webwise/guides/about-social-networking). Among the
countless examples of SNS, Forbes cites Facebook as the most commonly used social
networking site used by Americans followed by Youtube, Snapchat, Twitter, and Instragram
(Murnane 2018). In comparison, Filipinos commonly use Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and
Copyright  2020 GMP Press and Printing

Review of Integrative Business and Economics Research, Vol. 9, Supplementary Issue 2 129
Snapchat as means to socialize with people all over the world (Camus, 2018). One of the
benefits of these sites is the online membership that came indefinitely for the users who wish
to be members of their chosen community. Along with the option of free membership, a bigger
and wider social platform grants the users’ connection and exposure to the whole world, an
advantage that common businesses capitalized on in the current market (Bodnar and Cohen
2011). Compared with traditional marketing that includes newspaper ads, radio broadcasts, and
television, the rise of various social networking sites has enabled wider, personalized, and
relatively cheaper marketing cost for Micro, Small, and Medium Enterprises or MSMEs.
2. REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE

There are many reasons that points out why a web-based life is considered an effective
marketing tool. These main reasons revolve around improving representation, customer
engagement, and lead conversion for the businesses that use social networking sites.
Representation refers to the branding and image of the business that is being promoted (Bodnar
and Cohen, 2011). In terms of this particular factor, social media marketing can be effective as
social media forwards better business representation as it showcases the business brand where
it offers another marketing channel, like business websites and email marketing, to name a few.
These develop brand awareness and relationship building among customers. Moreover, SNS
increases digital exposure. The utilization of different social network accounts boosts social
media presence to different potential consumers. Compared with the traditional marketing that
rely on expensive flyers, billboards, or TV ads, the reach given by different social networking
sites is much wider than the aforementioned marketing strategies.
Another important factor in marketing is customer engagement; a business process
commonly used to describe the interaction between business owners and consumers, which
also includes word of mouth and other forms of feedback that owners gain from their
consumers. With the connectivity brought by the internet, the business owners can develop a
loyal community for its consumers. Nowadays, customers want to be part of a business that is
proactive in building different online communities. That is fundamental to the long-haul
accomplishment of a business. The bridged gap between the distance of each customer to one
another and the business owners create better reception and communication regarding the
products. By being part of an online community that provides immediate and comprehensive
feedback, business owners can now build trust and loyalty among their consumers, thus
increasing the business’ patronage and earnings. Moreover, social media stands as a great
source of information and enables its customers and businesses to communicate freely and
increases the business brand’s trustworthiness. Lead conversion happens when an
advertisement generates increased attention and inquiries from the customers regarding a
posted product. Social media can expand sales and audiences because businesses can directly
interact with its customers and their specific queries, which can in turn, boost the sales and
expand the business customer base. Social networking allows the business owners to advertise
their products not only to their target audiences, but also for consumers that may be convinced
or interested once they see the offered products or services.
With social media’s impact on representation, customer engagement, and lead
conversion, it is necessary to picture the current statistics related to technology usage in order.
Presently, there are 1.28 billion active users on Facebook alone, not so surprising as it is the
world's most common interpersonal interaction site to date. Twitter, Instagram, YouTube and

various other social media sites have hundreds of millions of active users as well (Chedda,
2014). Out of this data, the Philippines is reported to be the leader in social media usage with
internet users counting to as many as 67 million in Facebook and 10 million in Instagram which
is owned by Facebook with statistics of 63% out of the total 105.7 million population of the
country (Camus, 2018). This will be a striking feature of a business environment that would be
able not only to thrive on the social media marketing but also to expand its reach overseas
potentially. The Filipino citizen’s inclination towards using the said social networking sites is
a beneficial instance for businesses who has started or planned to start their online marketing
strategies.
Hence, the availability of the social media gave an opportunity to MSMEs or micro,
small, and medium enterprises. As an overview, MSMEs, or micro, small and medium-sized
enterprises, are considered as the backbone of the Philippine economy. As of the 2016
summary of the Department of Trade and Industry, MSMEs occupy 99.57% (911, 768) of the
915,726 business establishments in the Philippines that are registered in the Department of
Trade and Industry (DTI). Specifically, the percentage is broken down into 89.63% (820,795)
microenterprises, 9.50% (86,955) small enterprises, and 0.44% (4,018) medium enterprises.
Only 0.43% (3,958) is made up of large enterprises. These MSMEs include restaurants,
canteen, groceries, stores, clinics, schools or products centers, market vendors, repair shops,
internet café, and much more. Earning the majority of the country’s profit, MSME uses social
media marketing to expand business opportunities and engagement with customers and clients.
Individually, they earn 3,000,000 pesos, almost, annually. Since the MSME group occupies
99.6% of the economy, it contributes 95-98% to the Philippines Gross National Product (GNP).
In line with the locale reports, a recent survey from the Department of Trade and
Industry of the MSMEs in the Province of Tarlac stated that there is a total of 6170 MSMEs
registered as of 2017. The data summarized states that January had 1286, February had 701,
March had 545, April had 435, May had 576, June had 467, July had 482, August had 501,
September had 364, October had 341, November had 262, December had 210. Of these, the
month of January with 1286 registrants record the highest number of registrations.
As 2018 unfolds, more and more small business units will take hold of social media to
market their products and services. Social media marketing will save time and money for the
meeting of the minds between customers, and businessmen as it will not require physical
interaction.
The continuous growth of MSMEs in the Philippines is a necessary event in the
economy as it forwards progress for the country as a whole. The increasing number of business
in the Philippines is projected to greatly add to the revenue of many Filipinos in the coming
years. This growth can be further catalyzed by the developments of technology, especially the
presence of social networking sites which increase representation of the business, customer
engagement, and lead conversion of advertisements—all of which are necessary to establishing
a stable and successful business. The use of social media, marketing a brand to raise its
popularity, word-of-mouth, sales, and social support from consumers, will be some of the best
focal points to create a research study. Hence, the researcher will investigate the role of social
network marketing in small and medium-sized enterprises.
OBJECTIVES OF THE STUDY

With the said effects of various social networking sites and tools to MSMEs, the
researcher aimed to identify the social network marketing usage by MSMEs in the Province of
Tarlac, a city undergoing substantial business developments. This study aimed to identify the
different information on MSMEs, social media, and consumers in order to present a clear
picture of the MSME owners and their use of social media marketing, particularly:
1. to identify the business profile of MSMEs in terms of merchandise, initial
investment, and years in operation,
2. to determine the consumer and the MSMEs’ participation in social network sites such
as:
2.1. social network sites used;
2.2. log in on social network sites;
2.3. length of use in social network sites;
2.4. security and privacy concerns; and
2.5. purpose of using social networking sites.
3. to evaluate the role of social network sites to MSMEs in terms of:
3.1 representation,
3.2 customer engagement/networking; and
3.3 lead conversion.
4. to categorize challenges encountered by owners of MSMEs using social networking
sites.
Consequently, the researcher proposed an action plan that may be used by the MSME
owners to improve their social media marketing. The results of this study would be of value to
the MSME owners to increase their awareness of the issues and strategies that they may use to
flourish their business. Moreover, this may also benefit local government units in planning
strategies to help small firms and business progress.
3. METHODS
This study utilized a descriptive cross-sectional survey using a structured questionnaire
developed by the researcher with the help of three experts in language and business
management. In this study, the researcher investigated on the role of social network marketing
and on how it is being utilized in the day to day operations among MSME’s on clothing and
apparel stores in the Province of Tarlac. In the same way, the researcher also aimed to
determine the role of social media marketing on the day to day life of consumers of the said
businesses.
3.1 Respondents
The study utilized MSMEs as primary respondents. The sample frame provided by
Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) Tarlac included 886 MSMEs that focused on clothing

and apparel as of December 2017. These entities are the primary unit of analysis to be
represented by the either the owner or manager. The second set of respondents were consumers
of this MSME’s on clothing and apparel that uses social networking marketing to further
understand the its role on the said entities
3.2 Sampling Design
Out of 886 of these MSME’s in the DTI’s list, 268 of them were chosen as
representative through a convenience sampling while the researcher also performed a
convenience sampling on 405 respondents from the consumer side. The required numbers to
be sampled are based on the following formula for infinite and finite population:
Z 2 ( p )(1 − p )
SS =
where, e2
SS=sample size for infinite population

Z=z value (e.g. 1.96 for 95% confidence interval)
P=percentage of population
e=margin of error; and
SS
NewSS =
SS − 1
(1 + )
Pop
where,
NewSS=sample size for finite population
Pop= population size
For a more efficient way in gathering the most optimum data from the owners using
social networking sites on their marketing, the researcher distributed the 268 questionnaires to
the entire Province of Tarlac using convenience sampling method due to non-participative
population since not all of them utilizes social networking sites as a marketing tool.
On the other hand, 405 consumer-respondents were conveniently taken with no specific
location since the researcher deemed that distance is no longer a consideration as along as
internet is available.
3.3 Instrumentation and Data Gathering
The questionnaire used for this study was made by the researcher since there is no
available instrument that can be adopted that is suited for the collection of the needed data. To
further create valid queries, the researcher sought the help of experts in language and business

and marketing. The items placed in the instrument were also based on the review of related
literature and previous studies especially those of Lofjiks (2017) which gave the bases for fields
related to the measurement of the role of MSMEs using social network sites in terms of
representation, customer engagement and lead conversion. Other significant concepts from
other studies include those of Palma, Arthelo (2016), Carma et al. (2017), Assimakopoulos
(2017) and Sajjad Husain et al. (2016) were also integrated.
The questionnaire for the owner-respondents is primarily divided into four major
sections as follows: (1) Business profile; (2) MSME’s Participation in Social Networking Sites;
(3) Role of Social networking sites in MSME’s which was subdivided into 3 parts which are
representation, customer engagement and lead conversion; (4) Problem encountered. Part 1, 2
and 4 were in checklist form and part 3 included a 5-point Likert Scale as follows (1) Strongly
disagree, (2) Disagree, (3) Neither agree or disagree, (4) Agree, and (5) Strongly agree.
The questionnaire for the customer-respondents on the other hand contained only two
sections which were (1) Consumer Profile and (2) Consumer Participation in Social
Networking Sites. In order to achieve the required number of respondents for both owners and
consumers, direct distribution using printed copies to locations of MSME’s and potential
consumers was implemented. Online distribution through emails and social networking sites
was also utilized to speed up the data collection.
3.4 Validation of the Instrument

The instruments used in this study underwent content validity. Experts coming from
several areas looked into this aspect to obtain the best insight to determine its validity. These
included a professional marketing specialist, an owner-practitioner and an academician. The
instruments were considered valid with some suggestions which were considered and
integrated for further improvisation of the instrument.
A pilot study was also conducted on both questionnaires to further check its
understandability and acceptability on prospective respondents. 30 respondents each on both
MSME owners’ and customers’ feedback were considered for the appropriateness of each item
in the questionnaire to be included and its ability to measure the desired information.
Reliability of the questionnaire was also utilized to determine internal consistency on
its items containing Likert scales using Cronbach Alpha which resulted to a 0.837 reliability
index. Note that a reliability coefficient of .70 or higher is considered “acceptable” in most
social science research situations.
3.5 Statistical Treatment

For the analysis on the quantitative aspect of the study, the data was analyzed using the
following statistical tools:
1. Frequency and percentage were utilized on the parts of checklists and multiple
response part of the data collected which is mainly on the respondents’ and business
profile and consumer and SMSE’s participation and utilization of social networking
sites.

2. Mean scores were determined for representation, customer engagement and lead
conversion, and a grand mean was also determined to indicate the overall response on
a particular aspect in the use of social networking site. The computed means were
converted to verbal descriptions using the following Limits of index:
Table 1
Limits of Index and Value
Limits of Index Equivalent Value Verbal Description
4.50-5.00 5 Strongly Agree
3.50-4.49 4 Agree
2.50-3.49 3 Neutral
1.50-2.49 2 Disagree
1.00-1.49 1 Strongly Disagree
All of these were processed using the software using SPSS (Statistical Package for
Social Sciences) for the assurance that all calculations are true and correct.
4. RESULTS AND DISCUSSION

4.1 Business Profile of Micro, Small, and Medium Enterprises
4.1.1. Type of Merchandise
Among all of the products included in this data gathered, shirts and tops are the
most frequently bought items, implying that it has the greatest demand compared to the
rest. Its mean frequency is relatively higher compared to the rest of the other 10
observations. As shown in Table 2, polo shirts, bags, and pants come close with 57%,
55%, 52% frequency respectively. This particular result shows that the top results
concentrate on basic clothing more than the accessories.

Table 2
Type of Products in MSME Clothing Stores in the Province of Tarlac
Products Frequency Percent

Bags 228 85%
Footwear 150 56%
Jeans 148 55%
Office Uniforms 142 53%
Sports Uniforms 140 52%
Pants 124 46%
Polo Shirts 113 42%
School Uniforms 51 19%
Shirts and Tops 37 14%
Shorts 36 13%
Others: 3 1%
4.1.2. Amount of Initial Investment of MSMEs in the Province of Tarlac

Majority (45%) of MSME owners started on an initial investment of P10,001-
P50,000. Under this category of initial investment, it can be concluded that the MSMEs
in Tarlac belong under the Micro enterprises as determined by the Department of Trade
and Industry in their guidelines.
Table 3
Initial Investment of MSME owners in the Province of Tarlac
Initial Investment Frequency Percent

P 1000- P10,000 49 18.23%
P10,001-P50,000 131 48.8%
P50,001-P150,000 70 26.1%
P150,001-P400,000 16 5.9%
P400,000-P500,00 2 0.7%
Total 268 100%
The results as summarized in Table 3 above imply that small business owners
always start with a small initial investment, which may seem to be a very common
practice, given that most likely, these small business owners’ capitals are small savings
or maybe even small bank loans (Dua, 2017). The Department of Trade and Industry
further supports this in their government report by claiming that MSMEs do not have
access to venture capital funds. Furthermore, Mendoza (2015) cites that MSMEs thrive
on the problem of starting with a modest capital as compared with big multinational
companies. This particular practice is evident in the presence of sari-sari or retail stores

in the country where the owners would start with a minimum budget of P10,000 and
then would start to develop through the years.
Taking these numbers into account, the researcher can conclude that the
respondents from the MSME clothing establishments lean towards the middle ground
of having an initial investment that could start from P50,000 up to P100, 001.
4.1.3. Years of Operation

The length of operation of the selected MSMEs was also taken into
consideration as this would be necessary in establishing the credibility and the quality
of each enterprise. As Palma (2017) mentioned, the length of the MSME business
owners would be a necessary variable in determining the strength and progress of the
advertising that they put forward.
Table 4
Years in Operation of MSMEs
Years in Operation Frequency Percent

Less than 6 Months 49 18%
6 Months to less than 1 year 59 22%
1 year and 1 day to less than 2 years 83 31%
2 years and 1 day to less than 3 years 50 19%
3 years above 27 10%
Total 268 100%
Data in Table 4 shows that among all of the businesses considered within this
study, most of them (31%) have been operating for around 1 to less than 2 years, and 6
months to less than year (22%) of operation, with which only 22% that have been
operating for more less than 6 months or half a year. This might imply that there has been
a drastic increase of operational small business in the province at a particular point in
time a year or two ago.
Majority of MSME owners under this study operate their business at a span of
1 to less than 2 years (31%) while others have been operating for 6 months to less than
year (23%) of operation, with which only 12% that have been operating for more less
than 6 months or half a year (12%).
4.2 Consumers and the MSMEs’ participation in social network sites
4.2.1. Social Networking Site Used

Table 5 shows the three major social networking sites commonly used by
Filipinos. As seen in the table below, Facebook is one of the highly preferred and used
social media networks for the consumers as it gained 100% of responses. Similarly,
98% of the MSME owners chose Facebook in the provided checklist. Instagram is the
second option for both the consumers and owners as it garnered 34% and 55%
respectively in the provided checklist. Finally, Twitter is the least used SNS for them.

Table 5
Commonly Used Social Networking Sites by MSME Owners and Consumers
SOCIAL MEDIA NETWORK OWNERS OF MSMES CONSUMERS
Frequency Percent Frequency Percent
FACEBOOK 268 100% 394 97%
INSTAGRAM 57 21% 109 27%
TWITTER 9 3% 209 52%
Others 0 0% 14 3%
4.2.2 Log-in on SNS

This reveals the average amount of time that the MSME owners spend within
their login on a daily basis. This will be then compared with the amount of time that the
consumers spend on social networking sites within a day. The duration of time spent
online is a determining factor in this particular study because time spent online is
necessary in conducting digital transactions and advertisements.
Table 6
Log-in on SNS for MSME Owners and Consumers
Duration of Log Within the Day OWNERS OF MSMES CONSUMERS

Frequency Percent Frequency Percent
Always 68 25% 170 42%
Most of the time 159 59% 103 25%
Sometimes 30 11% 92 23%
Seldom 11 5% 6 2%
Logged at least once within the week 0 0% 34 8%
TOTAL 268 100% 405 100%
In terms of the time spent per log-in for the MSME owners, it is revealed that
75% of them spend most of the time in visiting their social network page or accounts.
In relation with the owners, the consumers spend more time than the owners as 61% of
them said that they always log-in on their SNS on an average day. This goes to show
that consumers spend more time that the MSME owners. This is consistent with We
Are Social’s Digital 2018 report which states that that Filipinos spent an average of 3
hours and 57 minutes daily on social media sites, particularly on Facebook.
Consequently, understanding these specific statistics can be used as tool to help
businesses create effective techniques in communicating with their consumers
(Whitings & Williams 2013).
4.2.3. Length of Use in Social Networking Sites
Ople (2017) states that posting business and sales on social media accounts
requires time and knowledgeable effort. In relation with the time that the consumers
and MSME owners spend in each visit daily, the third question aimed to gauge the
length of time that the respondents have been using their social networking accounts.

Table 7
MSME Owners and Consumers’ Length of Use in Social Networking Sites
Length of Use in Social Networking OWNERS OF MSMES CONSUMERS

Sites Frequency Percent Frequency Percent
Less than 1 month 3 1.1% 23 6%
1 month to less than 6 months 40 14.9% 9 2%
6months to less than 1 year 65 24.3% 16 4%
1 year and 1 day to less than 2 years 38 14.2% 34 8%
2 years and 1 day to less than 3 years 41 15.3% 28 7%
3 years and above 81 30.2% 295 73%
Total 268 100% 405 100%
As shown from the summary of data in Table 7, the MSME owners responded
that 34% of them have been using SNS for three years and more, while consumers
reported that 83% of them have been members in various social networking sites for
three years and more. Collectively, 53% of MSME owners are exposed to the usage of
social media networks for around one year to more than 3 years compared to the
accumulated percent of consumers (95%) who have experiences for around one year to
more than 3 years.
Significantly, the results suggest that most of the MSME owners have less
exposure in social media sites, whereas a lot of consumers have spent more time using
social media sites. The results generated by these two sets of data shows a small
difference on the concentration of frequencies when it comes to the experience and
length of time spent using social media.
4.2.4. Security and Privacy Concerns of Respondents
Philippine E-Commerce (2017) states that there are certain hindrances that
prevent users of social networking sites from negotiating and transacting their business
online. One of the main reasons that they have cited is still the prevalent cases of
hacking, identity theft, and phishing.
These particular instances endanger the security of the individual. Once privacy
is violated, users tend to withdraw from future online transactions. Table 8 shows the
concerns and perceptions of both the consumers and the MSME owners about their
personal privacy and business security.

Table 8
Security and Privacy Concerns of MSME Owners and Consumers
STATEMENTS MSME Owners Consumers

Mean Description Mean Description
I am very much concerned with 4.45 Strongly Agree 4.38 Strongly Agree
account hacking and
impersonation in social
networking sites
I feel that I would be very 4.25 Strongly Agree 3.62 Agree
vulnerable from stalking and
harassment on my social network
account
There are social network users 3.93 Agree 3.65 Agree
who always blackmail other users
to compel them to turn over
passwords
There are other social network 3.70 Agree 3.99 Agree
users who just copy and repost
my advertisements for their own
benefits.
Sub Mean 4.08 Agree 3.91 Agree
Both MSME owners and consumers share the same concern of the violation of
social media privacy such as hacking and impersonation, stalking, harassment,
blackmailing, and plagiarism. In terms of their perceived level of concern for their
security, the consumers averaged a 3.91 mean which signifies that they strongly agree on
the threats posed by their online activities. On the other hand, the MSME owners scored
a 4.08 mean which signifies that they agree that they have certain privacy concerns for
their interactions online.
4.2.5. Purpose of Social Media Engagement
This aimed to gather the consumers and sellers’ own purpose in using the said social
media accounts. The result for both was compared in order to align the interests and
purposes and consumers to see where they are similar and in terms of motivation in using
social media.

Table 9
Purpose of MSME Owners in Using Social Networking Sites
Purpose of MSME Owners in Using SNS Frequency Ranking

Increase brand awareness & loyalty 224 1
Connect with Your Target Audience. 175 2
It improves networking opportunities with customers and 158 3
other businesses.
To participate on your business customer service. 145 4.5
Opportunity to conduct market research about your business. 145 4.5
To inform news to customers about what’s new about your 120 6
business.
Keep an eye on the competition. 116 7
To promote new gimmicks or deals according to the season of 114 8
the year.
Monitor conversations that are relevant to your brand. 113 9
To stay on top of industry news. 111 10
Others e.g. increase likers/followers, respond to inquiries 7 11
Total (n) = 1,428
Table 9 illustrates the main purpose of engagement that the MSME owners feel
as priority over other motivations. According to the results, the top three respectively
are; 1) to increase brand awareness and loyalty, 2) to connect with the target audience.
and, 3) to improve networking opportunities with customers and other businesses.
Based from these top 3 results, it can be inferred that the MSME owners maximize the
use of social media in increasing their target audience through more aggressive
advertisements, strengthened customer service with their convenient connection with
their target audience. One MSME owner who sell trendy shirts said: “it is easier post
photos and share them on Facebook (mas madaling mag-post ng pictures sa Facebook
at mabilis ma-share)” while another one who sells dresses, pants and cosmetics
expressed the same saying: “I can quickly reply and provide price points for my
customers (yu’ng mga nag-iinquire mabilis ako nakakapagreply, nabibigay ko ‘rin mga
price points para sa kanila)” lastly, a boutique owner said: “many customers visit our
shops because they get updated with or new stocks (marami’ng customers ang nakakita
sa mga new stocks kaya dumadalaw sila sa shop)”.
These responses gave a general impression that the MSME owners see social
networking sites as a tool for them to increase their connection and advertising towards
their customers. This finding is consistent with a recent study conducted by Fernandez
and Uy (2019) that Filipino online business owners and sentiments from the buyers
points out that videos, music, and keywords that relates to emotion or inspiring stories
commonly makes online ads and products popular. Simply said, the MSME owners see
the social networking sites as opportunities to create new connections among their
audience and to strengthen patronage and loyalty among their long-standing customers.
Significantly, the existence of social media and internet-based connections allow the
owners and consumers to contribute to online discussions, reviews, conversations in

communities and groups in the Philippines (Camara, Lim, Natanuan, and Pascual
2017).
Table 10
Purpose of MSME Consumers in Using Social Networking Sites
Purpose of MSME Consumers in Using SNS Frequency Ranking

Shop online. 358 1
Visit many sellers for price canvassing. 259 2
Review other buyers’ comments about clothes / apparels 256 3
quality.
Place an order. 229 4
For online offers and discounts on clothes / apparels and 223 5
other services.
Inquire for the availability of the products and pricing. 219 6
Ask for clothes / apparels information. 213 7
Refer some of my friends to the trusted social network 189 8
seller/s.
Exchange views about the clothes / apparels and their seller 177 9
services.
Meet new social network buyers and get some referrals from 157 10
them.
Others e.g. socialize, add friends, share posts 19 11
Total (n) = 2,239
For Table 10, the consumers’ purpose in using the social media listed the top 3 as 1)
Shop online 2) visit many sellers for price canvassing, and 3) place an order. These top
three responses speak for the tasks that motivates the consumers in using social media.
Ultimately, the shoppers or consumers of the products chose “shopping online” as their
priority aside from socialization. This could mean that majority of the consumers come to
the social platforms with the goal of buying a product.
In addition to that, it can also be noted that the second top purpose is to visit many
sellers for price canvassing and the third one is to place an order, leans forward to the
purpose of observing and researching about the product that the consumers wanted to buy
or to order from different stores.
Whiting and Williams in a 2013 study cites the major purpose of the social media
users in visiting the site with mainly 88% of the respondents saying that they use it for
social purposes and for entertainment such as online games, music. With social media,
browsing for the best find in the market today is as easy as watching a commercial on TV.,
only this time, it’s at the fingertips of the consumers.
The main purpose of the consumers in using social media platforms is the
convenience it offers, which entails that the social media engagement of the respondents
is to shop online. This view consumers’ engagement to social media as a necessary
observation because it is a good way to find out and even set the latest trends in the market,
which can be taken advantage of by the MSME owners to boost their sales.

4.3. Role of MSMEs in Social Network Sites

This is to determine the utilization and the perceived level of benefits that the MSME
owners reap from the use of social networking sites in digital marketing. The data was divided
into three namely 1) Representation, 2) Customer Engagement, and 3) Lead Conversion. Each
part was composed of statements that the respondents need to rate in a five-point scale with
Strongly Disagree as the lowest and the Strongly Agree as the highest.
4.3.1. Social Media Representation
The MSME owners scored an overall mean of 4.11 which signifies that they
agree with the questions that asked whether they feel that social networking sites
improved their representation in terms of saving money, increasing target audience,
improving site professionalism, and editing of ads. Overall, the owners agreed on all
the statements except for the maximized advertising which gained a response saying
that they strongly agree with SNS’ benefits on the efficiency of using social
networking sites in terms of cost.
Table 11
Representation of MSME in Social Media Marketing
REPRESENTATION Mean Description
1. I can save more money in advertising by using 4.46 Strongly Agree

social network rather than traditional way.
2. I can easily reach larger amount of social media 4.13 Agree
users by easily increasing my target market.
3. My business looks professional by just marketing 3.92 Agree
my products on my different social network
accounts
4. It takes a few clicks to post my business. 4.17 Agree
5. I can edit any time my posted ads and also post 3.86 Agree
new ads for my business.
Sub Mean 4.11 Agree
4.3.2. Customer Engagement/Networking

Businesses use social networking sites in many ways to monitor
conversations about their product, provide feedback, customer service, promotions,
and build followers among others (Business.com, 2010).

Table 12
Customer Engagement of MSMEs using Social Media
CUSTOMER ENGAGEMENT / NETWORKING Mean Description

1. My clients can easily contact me anytime they 4.41 Strongly Agree
want and can easily get customer’s feedback
about my business
2. I can easily target the right group of people for 4.12 Agree
my business by the increase of inquiries of my
posted my ads.
3. I can easily give additional information to those 4.20 Strongly Agree
who need more details and easily answer
inquiries.
4. My number of friends and followers can 3.99 Agree
increase immediately when they like my ads.
5. I can easily build trust on my brand faster by 4.10 Agree
seeing consumers who likes my business.
Sub Mean 4.16 Agree
Table 12 shows that the MSME owners generally agree with the statements
that characterize the benefits of social networking sites in engaging with
consumers. With a mean of 4.16, the MSME owners generally agreed on the
benefits brought by social media in terms of customer engagement/networking
such as increasing response rate or contact, targeting the right group of people,
providing comprehensive answers to inquiries, and building trust between
consumers and owners.
As seen in Table 12, most responses are given to customer connection and
communication. Generally, the MSME owners show positive feedback with the
benefits of social media in establishing connections among their customers. In a
recent study by Parminder et. al (2015), the results suggest that press releases in
websites including social networking sites not only increase the publicity of the
firm and the brand, but it also increases online presence in third party websites
which in turn provides for better communication between consumer and the seller.
This shows that social media marketing with the convenience brought wireless
connection yield connections that are beneficial for both the consumers and the
sellers. Since customers are the most important aspect of any business big or small,
customer feedback and well-established communication between the MSME
Owners and customers is a must.
4.3.3 Lead Conversion

Consumers in this particular study are all prospects, they are potential buyers
that may make decisions that will affect the revenue of the enterprise. Lead
conversion is the process of turning a lead into an opportunity/deal, as the process

would aim to convert prospects into customers (Bodnar & Cohen, 2011). This
determined the perceived level of conversion experienced by the owners of
MSMEs in Tarlac.
Table 13
Lead Conversion of MSMEs using Social Media
LEAD CONVERSION Mean Description
1. My customers are willing to order to me directly. 4.44 Strongly Agree
2. I get more sales from social media than other 4.12 Agree
traditional ads
3. I earn better profit when I started to use social 3.69 Agree
media.
4. I got more visitors in my physical store after 3.65 Agree
using my different social network sites.
5. More and more customers are referring me to 3.80 Agree
their friends.
Sub Mean 3.94 Agree
Table 13 shows that in terms of lead conversion, the MSME owners generally
agreed with a mean of 3.94, that the use of social networking sites improved their
rate of lead conversion in terms of increasing the number of orders, earning more
profit, gaining more visitors and referrals for their business.
In terms of profit, the owners of MSMEs agree that they earned more profit
once they started using social media probably because the transactions became more
convenient and the consumers increased in number as brought about by social media.
As a one shop owner put it, “We have observed that even people from Angeles City
likes our posts and pictures (nakikita naming kahit mga taga-Angeles naglike ng
posts and pictures namin.)” Because of their increased social media and online
presence, the respondents generally agreed to the fourth and fifth statements saying
that their accounts made the number of visitors in their physical stores and customer
referral increase overtime.
Table 14
Role of MSMEs in Social Network Sites
ROLE SUB MEAN DESCRIPTION

1. Representation 4.11 Strongly Agree
2. Customer 4.16 Strongly Agree
Engagement/Networking
3. Lead Conversion 3.94 Agree
Grand Mean 4.07 Strongly Agree

Table 14 above shows the summary of the role of MSMEs is in social

networking sites. This role is gauged through three factors namely: 1) representation,
2) customer engagement/networking, and 3) lead conversion. The three factors’
averaged mean shows that the owners strongly agreed that they have enhanced
representation and customer engagement or networking in their use of SNS. On the
other hand, the MSME owners agreed that they have increased lead conversion with
their use of social media. Overall, the MSME owners deemed that they strongly agree
that they have improved role in terms of representation, customer engagement, and lead
conversion through their use of social networking sites.
4.4. Problems Encountered by MSME Owners
There are challenges and hindrances that are encountered by business owners in every
venture. In this part of the study, the researcher opted to contextualize these problems to the
challenges that owners encounter in managing their social media accounts in marketing their
products.
Table 15
Problems Encountered by MSME Owners in Social Media Marketing
PROBLEMS ENCOUNTERED Frequency Ranking

Too much time required to maintain the page / ads. 220 1
Risk of inappropriate behaviour on social networking site, 141 2
including bullying and harassment.
It takes a lot of work to maintain my different accounts. 118 3
Not having a humanistic relationship with your audience. 101 4
Not actively managing social network presence, thus there are 70 5
no real benefits.
Lack of expertise to use social networking sites. 55 6
Plans to use social media/networking sites in the future. 52 7
My customers are not familiar with social networking sites. 50 8
Not aware of social networking sites. 44 9
I don’t think marketing on social networking sites work. 30 10
Social media/networking is not effective for the type of 34 11
business I run.
The ranking of the problems commonly encountered by the MSME owners in Tarlac
are shown in Table 15. The top three in the list are: 1) Too much time required to maintain
page/ads, 2) Risk of unwanted or inappropriate behavior in the social networking site, including
bullying and harassment, and 3) It takes a lot of work to maintain my different accounts.
Primarily, the most commonly encountered problems by the MSME Owners on the use of
social media networks is the demand for time of maintaining the businesses’ homepage for
various updates on the advertisement and product availability.
In support of that, the third common problem states that it takes a lot of work to maintain
the site, meaning, aside from time, they also find it much of a problem the idea of maintaining
different accounts as high costing, time-wise and energy-wise. MSME owners generally
express their common problem saying: “We need to check our phones and desktops in order

to reply to our customers quickly (kailangan palaging i-check yung phone namin or desktop
para maka-sagot kami agad sa inquiries)”, another added: “Customers do not usually reply
when we do not reply immediately to their inquiries (kapag hindi kami nakasagot agad, hindi
na commonly nagrereply yung iba),” another interviewee expressed his opinion on the effort
SNS takes saying: “We need to exert more effort in replying, posting, or commenting but it is
worth it once we convince the customers to buy the products (madaming kailangang reply-an,
ipost, or i-comment back, pero worth it naman kasi madami sa kanila bumibili once na makita
nila yun products)”. Despite the fact that using the social media in marketing is free, recent
studies reveal that it requires time and knowledgeable effort (Ople 2017). This goes to show
that despite the benefits that being online grants the business owners, they still need to sacrifice
their time, and in business, time is a valuable asset in itself, and some owners deem it necessary
to sacrifice it in order for their earning to improve.
The second most common problem that the respondents encounter is the risk of having
any negative encounter in the social networking site such as harassments, bullying and others
that may include fraud and phishing. Respondents of the study claims that they have heard of
stories that include cases of bullying and identify fraud, moreover, one respondent summed
this up with his response: “We have already experienced ‘fake accounts’ or ‘joy reservers’ who
ask questions or order but would not visit the shop (naka-experience na kami nung mga fake
accounts na nagtatanong, minsan mga ‘fake buyers’ or ‘joy reservers’ na magtatanong,
magre-reserve pero hindi naman dadating sa shop) ” when asked of harassment, the owner
said that they have observed nothing yet, but are generally wary of these situations because
they have friends who have experienced harassment and bullying in social networking sites.
This goes to show that the respondents feel a certain sense of liability of security in terms of
the social networking sites that they use, but nevertheless engage in the social networking sites.
These particular issues are revealed by a recent study as security breach examples that may
destroy the reputation and the earnings of the business. Moreover, the study suggests different
ways to combat these problems such as excluding and blocking harmful users in website,
balancing freedom of speech and censorship in Facebook (Leitch & Warren, 2009).
4.5. Action Plan to Address the Challenges encountered by MSME owners in Using Social
Networking Sites
The following action plan is conceptualized and written for the respondents of the study
namely the owners of Micro, Small, and Medium Enterprises in Tarlac. The objectives
stemmed from the identified issues and challenges from the fourth part survey. Moreover, the
strategies and activities include the steps in solving these particular issues as suggested by the
different literature in the previous chapters from Chaubey, Husain, & Ghufran’s 2016 study,
Dua (2017), and Camara, Lim, Natanuan, & Pascual (2017).

Table 18
Action Plan to Address the Challenges encountered by MSME owners in Using Social Networking Sites
PROBLEMS OBJECTIVES PROGRAMS / STRATEGIES PERSONS MEASURE

AND ISSUES ACTIVITIES RESPONSIBLE OF
SUCCESS
Too much time 1. To increase Routine Log-ins a. To establish routine and interval logging in Business owner The
required to time and work and Interval and checking of notifications on Facebook. or employees who achievement
maintain the efficiency of the Checking of In order to avoid inefficiency in logging in, manage the page of this plan
page/ads. online page of Notifications the page manager can implement a time can be
the business interval in checking or answering queries. measured
The page manager can log in every two or through the
three hours to check page. lesser, but
productive
use of time
b. If interval logging in cannot be done, then and effort of
the page manager can schedule a definite the page
2. To schedule a
Time- time for responses for example, in the managers in
definite time for
Scheduling afternoon. He or she can post this detail on managing
answering
the page regarding his/her scheduled their social
queries and
response time so interested consumers can networking
interacting with
ask their queries during that time. accounts.
consumers
c. In order to save time and effort, the page

manager should answer each query with

3. To provide direct and complete details for the

complete and consumer’s satisfaction.
informative
answers
It takes a lot of 1. To link all a. To manage multiple pages, the page Business owner The
work to accounts for manager should install mobile applications or page manager achievement
maintain my easier for easier and convenient checking. of this plan
different management can be
accounts. measured
b. In order to save work, the page manager through the
can integrate all the applications and link lesser, but
them with each other through a uniform productive
email address, page name, and page contact use of time
number. and effort of
the page
managers in
managing
c. Providing links that can direct the
their social
consumers to the main social networking
networking
account should also be posted so as the
accounts.
potential buyers will not be confused with
what site they will visit or message.
Risk of 1. to secure Securing private a. Maintain minimal and necessary

inappropriate online information by information in the page by revealing only
behaviour on transactions with keeping it basic information such as name of the store,
social customers its location, the active contact number or

networking private in online public number of the store. It is important

site, including accounts that the page manager should not reveal any
bullying and personal information that people can use to
harassment. blackmail or harass the seller of the page.
b. Curate posts in order to maintain

professionalism and to edit out any personal
information about the owner of the store or
any revealing personal information that the
page manager unintentionally gave.
c. Keep track of dummy accounts and avoid

transactions with unreliable-looking
consumers through seeking out the accounts
and quickly investigating on the veracity of
account through pictures uploaded and
online interactions.
d. Avoid bogus buyers and block rude users

from the website page.
Not having a 1. To foster Personalized The business owner or page manager can Business owners, The success
humanistic better connection advertisement establish personalized interaction for each page managers, of this plan
relationship customer through getting the wants and and the can be

with your with the online and interaction needs of the customers according to their consumers/users assessed by
audience. customers through online questions. of SNS the business
owner or the
page manager
If personalized advertisement does not work, him/herself.
the business owner should aim to make ads This can be
2. To increase that invite the customers to visit their assessed once
measures to physical shop where they can interact the page
invite or entice personally. manager feels
the customers to that he is at
visit the physical ease with
shop online
interactions
and their
customers in
the physical
shop gave
positive
feedback.

5. CONCLUSION
Owners of Micro, Small, and Medium Enterprises in Tarlac City generally agreed that
social network marketing has greatly helped the development of their business. Although
challenges and problems such as privacy concerns, and time and resource management
problems brought by the use of these various social networking sites, the MSME owners still
acknowledge the benefits that the innovation has brought and is continuously working on
improving their overall performance.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
I would love to take this opportunity to say thank you to the efforts and the aid of the
dissertation committee chair Dr. Renato Mercado and members, Dr. Elizabeth Amurao, Dr.
Marvie Sagun, Dr. Elvira Mercado and Dr. Wilmark Ramos, who kept on pushing me to the
right path and providing constructive criticisms for the development of my dissertation. To my
adviser Dr. Jay Pabustan, thank you for your guidance and to Dr. Susan Ramirez, Dr. Jhonel
Panlilio and Dr. Mel Medrano for the provision during my dissertation defense.
To the TSU Community and my CBA Family, thank you for always being my second
home. To the researchers, students, experts, business owners and professionals, for their
knowledge and significant inputs that aided the completion of this study. I am also grateful for
the friends and relatives who served as a strong support system who filled me with constant
encouragement whenever I felt like giving up. Last but not the least, to my family: my wife
Karen and son Apollo, Mama Nina and Papa Semy, Daddy Boy and Mommy Jenet, Uncle
Rene and Auntie Nining, Ate Donna, Ate Kim and Kuya Edwin, Nikko and Les, Patcha and
John, Kenn and Joy, Aika, Chase, Zoey, Cascas, Koleen, Lolo Asiong, Lola Bita and Lola Bor
thank you for being the pillar of my support, inspiration and love.

Appendix A
The Survey Questionnaire and

(Available from the author on request)
Appendix B
Letter of Request for DTI’s List of MSME Owners Clothing and Apparel
(Available from the author on request)
Appendix C
Cronbach’s Alpha and Reliability Statistics
Survey Questionnaire
[DataSet4]
Scale: ALL VARIABLES

Case Processing Summary
N %
Cases Valid 30 100.0
Excludeda 0 .0
Total 30 100.0
a. Listwise deletion based on all variables in the
procedure.
Reliability Statistics
Cronbach's Alpha N of Items
.837 15
Item-Total Statistics
Cronbach's
Scale Mean if Scale Variance if Corrected Item- Alpha if Item
Item Deleted Item Deleted Total Correlation Deleted
VAR00001 56.5000 32.328 .164 .841
VAR00002 57.0000 28.621 .581 .820
VAR00003 57.2333 28.599 .592 .820
VAR00004 57.1000 28.783 .565 .822
VAR00005 57.3000 30.217 .370 .833
VAR00006 56.6667 29.540 .576 .823
VAR00007 57.0000 29.448 .426 .830
VAR00008 56.9333 30.271 .364 .833
VAR00009 57.3333 28.644 .578 .821
VAR00010 57.1667 28.489 .482 .827
VAR00011 56.5333 31.154 .321 .835
VAR00012 57.3000 29.528 .428 .830
VAR00013 57.3333 27.126 .692 .812
VAR00014 57.5667 29.151 .446 .829
VAR00015 57.3667 30.309 .306 .838

REFERENCES
BOOKS
[1] Bodnar, K. & Cohen, J. (2011). The B2B Social Media Book: Become a Marketing
Superstar by Generating Leads with Blogging, LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook, Email, and
More. John Wiley and Sons, USA
[2] Cudjoe, D. (2014). Consumer-To-Consumer (C2C) Electronic Commerce: The Recent
Picture. International Journal of Networks and Communications p-ISSN: 2168-4936 e-
ISSN: 2168-4944 2014; 4(2): 29-32. doi:10.5923/j.ijnc.20140402.01:
[3] Ku, M. (2016). Introducing Marketplace: Buy and Sell With Your Local Community.
Retrieved from https://newsroom.fb.com/news/2016/10/introducing-marketplace-buy-and-
sell-with-your-local-community/
[4] Muntinga, D. G., Moorman, M., & Smit, E. G. (2011). Introducing COBRA: Exploring
motivations for brand-related social media use. International Journal of Advertising, 30(1),
13-46. DOI:10.2501/IJA-30-1-013-046
[5] Vollmer, C. & Precourt, G. (2008). Always On: Advertising, Marketing, and Media in an
Era of Consumer Control. McGraw Hill. New York. McGraw Hill Publishing House.
JOURNALS/PERIODICALS/ MANUALS/PUBLISHED MATERIALS

[1] Assimakopoulos, C. (2017). Effective social media marketing strategy: Facebook as an
opportunity for universities. International Journal of Retail & Distribution Management.
Retrieved from https://www.emeraldinsight.com/doi/pdfplus/10.1108/IJRDM-11-2016-
0211. https://doi.org/10.1108/IJRDM-11-2016-0211
[2] Banham, R. (2000). "The B-to-B Virtual Bazaar." Journal of Accountancy 190(1): p26.
[3] Barger V., and Labrecque L. (2013). An Integrated Marketing Communications
Perspective on Social Media Metrics. International Journal of Integrated Marketing
Communications, Spring 2013. SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=2280132
[4] Basri, W. (2016). Social Media Impact on Small and Medium Enterprise: Case Review of
Businesses in the Arab World. Arts and Social Sciences Journal. 07. 10.4172/2151-
6200.1000236.
[5] Blanchard, O. (2009). The Crisis: Basic Mechanisms, and Appropriate Policies.
International Monetary Fund. [Online Journal]. Retrieved from
https://www.imf.org/external/pubs/ft/wp/2009/wp0980.pdf
[6] Blurton, C. (1999). New Directions of ICT-Use in Education. UNESCO’s World
Communication and Information Report. Retrieved from
http://www.unesco.org/education/lwf/dl/edict.pdf
[7] Buted, D., Gillespie, N., Conti, J., Delgado, B., Marasigan R.M., Rubico, S., & Felicen, S.
(2014). Effects of Social Media in the Tourism Industry of Batangas Province. Asia Pacific
Journal of Multidisciplinary Research. Retrieved from
https://ejournals.ph/article.php?id=5787
[8] Camara, M., Lim, R., Natanuan, I., Pascual, J., (2017). Analyzing the Facebook Content
Orientation and User Engagement of Chosen Social Enterprises in the Philippines.
Retrieved from http://cbrd.dlsu.edu.ph/wp-content/uploads/2018/01/DLSU-CBRD-
Working-Paper-Series-2017-05-Facebook-Content.pdf
[9] Chaubey, D., Husain, S., & Ghufran, A. (2016). Social Media Marketing and Customers
Retention: A study on selected retail store in Lucknow. Social Media Marketing and
Customers Retention: A study on selected retail store in Lucknow. Vol 3. 62-74.
Retrieved from

https://www.researchgate.net/publication/304015392_Social_Media_Marketing_and_Cu
stomers_Retention_A_study_on_selected_retail_store_in_Lucknow
[10] Cheong, Y., Gregorio, F. D., & Kim, K. (2010). The power of reach and frequency in the
age of digital advertising [Abstract]. Journal of Advertising Research, 403-415. doi:
10.2501/S002184991009155
[11] Chheda, S. (2014). Impact Of Social Media Marketing On Performance Of Micro And
Small Businesses. Retrieved from http://www.dypatil.edu/schools/management/wp-
content/uploads/2015/05/IMPACT-OF-SOCIAL-MEDIA-MARKETING-ON-
PERFORMANCE-OF-MICRO-AND-SMALL-BUSINESSES-Shilpa-Chheda.pdf
[12] Dilhan O, Karakadilar I.S. (2014) Exploring the role of social media for SMEs: as a new
marketing strategy tool for the firm performance perspective. Procedia-Social and
Behavioral Sciences 150: 511- 520.
[13] Dua, H.S. (2017). Power Of Social Media: A win-win marketing strategy for SMEs. The
Economic Times. Retrieved from https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/small-biz/sme-
sector/power-of-social-media-a-win-win-marketing-strategy-for-
smes/articleshow/60231774.cms
[14] Eder, LB., and Darter M. (1998). "Physicians in Cyberspace." Communications of the
ACM 41 (3): p52-55.
[15] Emerick, T. (1996). "Media and Marketing Strategies for the Internet." In Interactive
Marketing. Eds. Edward Forrest and Richard Mizerski. NTC BusinessBooks, AMA: p197-
214.
[16] Falcioni, JG. (1999). "The Business-to-Business Internet." Mechanical Enginnering –
CIME 121 (6): p4.
[17] Fernandez R. and Uy, Chin. (2019). Keywords on Online Video-ads Marketing Campaign:
A Sentiment Analysis. Review of Integrative Business and Economics Research, Vol. 9,
Supplementary Issue 1. P. 99-110. ISSN: 2304-1013
[18] Friel, D. (1999). "Electronic Commerce on the Web: Digital Drivers for 1999." Business
Economics 34 (1): p67-69.
[19] Goldsmith, E. & Mcgregor, S. (2008). E-commerce: Consumer protection issues and
implications for research and education. Journal of Consumer Studies & Home Economics.
24. 124 - 127. 10.1046/j.1365-2737.2000.00150.x.
[20] Gregorio, J. (2017). “State of Digital Marketing in the Philippines. Digital Marketing
Philippines. Retrieved from https://digitalmarketingphilippines.com/the-state-of-digital-
marketing-in-the-philippines/
[21] Harris, L. (2012). "Motives of dysfunctional customer behavior: an empirical study".
Journal of Services Marketing , Vol. 26 Issue: 4
[22] Hashim, K., Nawar, A.F. (2017). Engaging with Customer Using Social Media Platform:
A Case Study of Malaysia Hotels. Science Direct. Retrieved from
https://linkinghub.elsevier.com/retrieve/pii/S1877050917328910.
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.procs.2017.12.123
[23] Hollander E., (2012). Escitalopram in the treatment of impulsive-compulsive Internet
usage disorder: an open-label trial followed by a double-blind discontinuation phase.
Journal of Clinical Psychiatry. 2008 Mar;69(3 ):452–6. [PubMed]
[24] Kamarul, F. & Nawar, A. (2017). Engaging with Customer Using Social Media Platform:
A Case Study of Malaysia Hotels. Elseview B.V. Retrieved from
[25] Leitch, S. &Warren M. (2009). Security Issues Challenging Facebook. Australian
Information Security Management Conference. Retrieved from
https://ro.ecu.edu.au/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1017&context=ism.
DOI:10.4225/75/57b4188730df5

[26] Lipsman, A., Mudd, G., Rich, M., & Bruich, S. (2012). The Power of “Like”: How Brands
Reach Fans Through Social-Media Marketing. Journal of Advertising Research. Retrieved
from http://www.journalofadvertisingresearch.com/content/52/1/40
[27] Mangold G.., Faulds, D. J. (2009). Social media: The new hybrid element of the promotion
mix. Kelley School of Business, Indiana University. Science Direct. Retrieved from
http://isiarticles.com/bundles/Article/pre/pdf/190.pdf
[28] Mendoza, R. (2015). Financial Performance of Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises
(MSMES) In The Philippines. International Journal of Business and Finance Research.
Vol. 9, No. 4, 2015, pp. 67-80. Retrieved
https://poseidon01.ssrn.com/delivery.php?ID=4380940710861190670040130840951021
23024020030032038022077085102018094016090110108009120036123104050034053
09909102400809811010510904000203305406607006808411400212710002703505100
90260970920990921270300861100151040720690860121121020870181021241240140
98087&EXT=pdf
[29] Meske, C. & Stieglitz, S. (2013). Adoption and Use of Social Media in Small and Medium-
Sized Enterprises. PRET 2013. LNBIP. 151. 10.1007/978-3-642-38774-6_5.
[30] Naidoo, T. (2011). The effectiveness of advertising through the social media in Gauteng.
Potchefstroom Campus of the North-West University. Retrieved from
ADVERTISING%20THROUGH%20SOCIAL%20MEDIA.pdf
[31] Palma, A. (2016). Effectiveness of Facebook as a free marketing tool. Davao Central
College. Retrieved from http://umindanao.edu.ph/journal/wp-
content/uploads/2017/01/Effectiveness-of-Facebook-as-a-free-marketing-tool-2.pdf
[32] Palmer, JW., and Griffith DA. (1998). "An Emerging Model of WebSite Design for
Marketing." Communications of the ACM 41 (3): p45-51.
[33] Palumbo, F, and Herbig P. (1998). "International Marketing Tool: The Internet." Industrial
Management and Data Systems 98 (6): p.253-261
[34] Parminder F., Kumar G., Patil M., (2015) Int. Journal of Engineering Research and
Application ISSN : 2248-9622, Vol. 5, Issue 2, ( Part -5) February 2015, pp.116-124
[35] Parveen, F. (2012). Impact of social media usage on organizations. [Electronic Version].
Pacific Asia Conference on Information Systems. Retrieved on February 6, 2017 from
http://www.pacis-net.org/file/2012/PACIS2012-128.pdf
[36] Samuel B.S., Sarprasatha J (2016) Entrepreneurship in social-media services in Oman: a
socio-economic scanning of the sultanate. Asian Social Science 12: 138-148.
[37] Schultz, J and Peltier, J. (2013) "Social media's slippery slope: challenges, opportunities
and future research directions", Journal of Research in Interactive Marketing, Vol. 7 Issue:
2, pp.86-99, https://doi.org/10.1108/JRIM-12-2012-0054
[38] Senn, JA. (1996). "Capitalizing on Electronic Commerce: The Role of the Internet in
Electronic Markets." Information Systems Management (Summer): p15-24.
[39] Strater K., Lipford H.R. (2008). Strategies and struggles with privacy in an online social
networking community. ACM Digital Library. Retrieved from
https://dl.acm.org/citation.cfm?id=1531530
[40] Weinberg, B. & Pehlivan, E. (2011). Social spending: Managing the social media mix.
EconPapers. Retrieved from
https://econpapers.repec.org/article/eeebushor/v_3a54_3ay_3a2011_3ai_3a3_3ap_3a275
-282.htm
[41] Whiting, A,. & Williams, D. (2013). Why people use social media: A uses and
gratifications approach. Qualitative Market Research: An International Journal. 16(4),
362-369. Retrieved
fromhttp://www.academia.edu/6714786/Why_people_use_social_media_a_uses_and_gr
atifications_approach

ONLINE RESOURCES
[1] “2016 MSME Statistics.” Retrieved ohttps://www.dti.gov.ph/businesses/msmes/msme-
resources/msme-statistics
[2] “Business to Consumer-B2C”. (2017). Investopedia. Retrieved from
https://www.investopedia.com/terms/b/btoc.asp
[3] “DTI INTENSIFIES SUPPORT FOR MSME EXPORTERS”. (n.d.). Department of Trade
and Industry Philippines. Retrieved from https://www.dti.gov.ph/media/latest-
news/11748-dti-intensifies-support-for-msme-exporters
[4] “Philippines – Ecommerce.” Export.gov. Retrieved on July 13, 2018 at
https://www.export.gov/article?id=Philippines-ecommerce
[5] “R.A. 9501: Magna Carta for Micro, Small, and Medium Enterprises”.PhilExport.ph.
Retrieved from www.philexport.ph/barterfli-philexport
fileportlet/download/export_laws/ RA9501_Magna
Carta_for_Micro_Small_and_Medium_Enterprises
[6] “Social Media Marketing”. (n.d.) Search Engine Optimizations Inc. Retrieved from
https://www.seop.com/social-media-marketing/
[7] Adobo Magazine. (2017). “Jollibee Causes National Heartbreak In Latest
#KwentongJollibee Valentine Series” Casal, http://adobomagazine.com/philippine-
news/jollibee-causes-national-heartbreak-latest kwentongjollibee-valentine-series
[8] Amen, A. F. (2018). ASEAN BAC Official Website. Retrieved
http://www.aseanmentors.org/ on 17 August 2018.
[9] Anderson, H. (2012). Impact of Social Media Marketing to Businesses. Retrieved from
https://www.coursehero.com/file/21300459/CHapter2/
[10] Arline, K. (2015). What is C2B?. Business News Daily. Retrieved from
https://www.businessnewsdaily.com/5001-what-is-c2b.html
[11] Camus, M. (2018). PH is world leader in social media usage. Philippine Daily Inquirer.
Published 02.16.2018. Retrieved from https://business.inquirer.net/246015/ph-world-
leader-social-media-usage#ixzz5Sb94Jsej
[12] Carter, B. (2017). 3 Simple Steps To Build A Social Media Marketing Sales Funnel. The
Brian Carter Group. Retrieved from https://briancartergroup.com/social-media-strategy/3-
simple-steps-to-build-a-social-media-marketing-sales-funnel/
[13] Craig, W. (2015). Business Diversification: The Risk And The Reward. Forbes Online
Magazine. Retrieved from
https://www.forbes.com/sites/williamcraig/2015/04/24/business-diversification-the-risk-
and-the-reward/#410d541a7d09
[14] Department of Trade & Industry. (2016, January 29). DTI launches PH e-commerce
roadmap 2016-2020. DTI online. Retrieved at https://www.dti.gov.ph/ecommerce/84-
main-content/eco-news/9464-dti launches-ph-e-commerce-roadmap-2016-2020.
[15] Department of Trade & Industry. (2018, August 17). Manila call to action for ASEAN
MSMEs: 7Ms toMSME development. DTI online. Retrieved at
https://www.dti.gov.ph/ecommerce/1058-main content/asean-msme-development-
summit
[16] Department of Trade and Industry. (2018, August 16). DTI urges MSMEs to venture in E-
commerce. DTI online. Retrieved at
http://www.easybib.com/reference/guide/apa/newspaper.
[17] Desreumaux, G. (2014). The Complete History of Instagram. WERSM. Retrieved from
https://wersm.com/the-complete-history-of-instagram/

[18] Dumlao-Abadilla, D. (2018, February 12). PLDT, Go Negosyo to empower MSMEs in e

commerce. PDI Online. Retrieved at http://business.inquirer.net/245860/pldt-go-
negosyo-empower-msmes-e-commerce#ixzz5OSTaNFWp on 17 August 2018.
[19] Facebook Newsroom. (2017). Retrieved from
https://www.google.com.ph/amp/s/newsroom.fb.com/news/2017/11/messenger-for-
small-businesses-making-business-personal-again/amp/
[20] Go, B. (2012). Online Business Performance Of SMEs. Retrieved from
https://www.coursehero.com/file/21300459/CHapter2/
[21] Gottfried, J., & Shearer E. (2016). News Use Across Social Media Platforms 2016. Pew
Research Center; Journalism & Media. Retrieved from
http://www.journalism.org/2016/05/26/news-use-across-social-media-platforms-2016/
[22] John, A. (2013). The Manila Times. “Barriers hinder growth of MSMEs.” Retrieved on
July 13, 2018 http://www.manilatimes.net/barriers-hinder-growth-of-smes-pids/420/
[23] Murnane, K. (2018). Which Social Media Platform Is The Most Popular In The US?.
Forbes Online Magazine. Retrieved from
https://www.forbes.com/sites/kevinmurnane/2018/03/03/which-social-media-platform-is-
the-most-popular-in-the-us/#3e2be1221e4e
[24] Ople, C. (2017). What Filipino SMEs and Start-ups Should Know About Digital
Marketing. Unlocked.Ph. Retrieved by https://www.unlocked.ph/what-filipino-smes-and-
start-ups-should-know-about-digital-marketing/
[25] Statista. (2018). Philippine e-commerce. Retrieved at
https://www.statista.com/outlook/243/123/ecommerce/philippines on 17 August 2018.
[26] Statista. (2018). The Statistics Portal. “Retail e-commerce sales worldwide from 2014 to
2021 (in billion U.S. dollars). Retrieved on July 13, 2018 at
https://www.statista.com/statistics/379046/worldwide-retail-e-commerce-sales/
[27] The Manila Times (2018). “Financial access lack hampers MSME growth.” Retrieved on
July 13, 2018 at http://www.manilatimes.net/financial-access-lack-hampers msme-
growth/386732/ Retrieved on July 12, 2018 at http://business.inquirer.net/246015/ph-
world-leader social-media-usage.
[28] Yam, S. (2016). 3 Must-Know Facebook Ads For Lead Generation. TangyLab. Retrieved
from https://www.tangylab.com/3-must-know-facebook-ads-for-lead-generation/
[29] http://elgrandefashionhouse.atwebpages.com/Chapter%202.html
[30] http://shodhganga.inflibnet.ac.in/bitstream/10603/13702/10/10_chapter%202.pdf
[31] http://www.academia.edu/27474384/Chapter_2_Review_of_Related_Literature_and_Stu
dies
[32] http://www.bbc.co.uk/webwise/guides/about-social-networking
[33] http://www.diva-portal.org/smash/get/diva2:1080778/FULLTEXT01.pdf
[34] http://www.enterprisesurveys.org
[35] https://psa.gov.ph/tags/2016-updating-list-establishments-ule
[36] https://www.scribd.com/doc/234721072/Chapter-2-Review-Related-Studies
[37] https://www.smb-gr.com/2012-smb-social-business-study/

Tarlac Msme

Uploaded by

Copyright:

Available Formats

Tarlac Msme

Uploaded by

Document Information

Original Title

Copyright

Available Formats

Share this document

Share or Embed Document

Sharing Options

Did you find this document useful?

Is this content inappropriate?

Copyright:

Available Formats

Tarlac Msme

Uploaded by

Copyright:

Available Formats

Review of Integrative Business and Economics Research, Vol.

9, Supplementary Issue 2 128

Social Network Marketing of Micro, Small and

Keywords: Social Networking Sites, MSME, Marketing

Copyright  2020 GMP Press and Printing

2. REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE

Copyright  2020 GMP Press and Printing

Copyright  2020 GMP Press and Printing

Copyright  2020 GMP Press and Printing

SS=sample size for infinite population

Copyright  2020 GMP Press and Printing

3.4 Validation of the Instrument

3.5 Statistical Treatment

Copyright  2020 GMP Press and Printing

Limits of Index Equivalent Value Verbal Description

4.50-5.00 5 Strongly Agree

1.00-1.49 1 Strongly Disagree

4. RESULTS AND DISCUSSION

Copyright  2020 GMP Press and Printing

Products Frequency Percent

4.1.2. Amount of Initial Investment of MSMEs in the Province of Tarlac

Initial Investment Frequency Percent

Copyright  2020 GMP Press and Printing

4.1.3. Years of Operation

Years in Operation Frequency Percent

4.2 Consumers and the MSMEs’ participation in social network sites

4.2.1. Social Networking Site Used

Copyright  2020 GMP Press and Printing

4.2.2 Log-in on SNS

Duration of Log Within the Day OWNERS OF MSMES CONSUMERS

Copyright  2020 GMP Press and Printing

Length of Use in Social Networking OWNERS OF MSMES CONSUMERS

Copyright  2020 GMP Press and Printing

STATEMENTS MSME Owners Consumers

4.2.5. Purpose of Social Media Engagement

Copyright  2020 GMP Press and Printing

Purpose of MSME Owners in Using Social Networking Sites

Purpose of MSME Owners in Using SNS Frequency Ranking

Copyright  2020 GMP Press and Printing

Purpose of MSME Consumers in Using SNS Frequency Ranking

Copyright  2020 GMP Press and Printing

4.3. Role of MSMEs in Social Network Sites

REPRESENTATION Mean Description

1. I can save more money in advertising by using 4.46 Strongly Agree

4.3.2. Customer Engagement/Networking

Copyright  2020 GMP Press and Printing

CUSTOMER ENGAGEMENT / NETWORKING Mean Description

4.3.3 Lead Conversion

Copyright  2020 GMP Press and Printing

LEAD CONVERSION Mean Description

1. My customers are willing to order to me directly. 4.44 Strongly Agree

ROLE SUB MEAN DESCRIPTION

Copyright  2020 GMP Press and Printing

Table 14 above shows the summary of the role of MSMEs is in social

PROBLEMS ENCOUNTERED Frequency Ranking

Copyright  2020 GMP Press and Printing

Copyright  2020 GMP Press and Printing

PROBLEMS OBJECTIVES PROGRAMS / STRATEGIES PERSONS MEASURE

c. In order to save time and effort, the page