Acceptance of Viral Marketing in Social Media by SMEs: A Survey among Malaysian Youth
Abstract
This research was conducted to study the acceptance of SMEs' utilizes of social media in viral marketing by youth, by recognizing several factors of utilise social media viral marketing that may accept by the audience. Youth were chosen as the target respondents because this generation is likely to have social media accounts or spend more time on social media than other generations. Such factors include interactivity, usefulness, target market and work efficiency. These factors are then used as independent variables, where their relationships with the dependent variable— the social media utilization between the high competition of SMEs, are investigated to identify the significance and reliability of these relationships. The four independents were also used to form four hypotheses based on their relationships with social media utilization to viral marketing, which are analyzed and will ultimately determine whether social media viral marketing has significantly influenced youth acceptance to the use of social media to viral marketing by SMEs.
References
Abdullah, N. A. H., Ahmad, A. H., Zainudin, N., & Rus, R. M. (2019). Predicting Financially Distressed Small- and Medium-sized Enterprises in Malaysia. Global Business Review, 20(3), 627–639. https://doi.org/10.1177/0972150919837053
Ahmad, S. Z., Ahmad, N., & Abu Bakar, A. R. (2018). Reflections of entrepreneurs of small and medium-sized enterprises concerning the adoption of social media and its impact on performance outcomes: Evidence from the UAE. Telematics and Informatics, 35(1), 6–17. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tele.2017.09.006
Ainin, S., Parveen, F., Moghavvemi, S., Jaafar, N. I., & Mohd Shuib, N. L. (2015). Factors influencing the use of social media by SMEs and its performance outcomes. Industrial Management & Data Systems, 115(3), 570–588. https://doi.org/10.1108/imds-07-2014-0205
Akhtar, I. (2016). Research Design. In Research in Social Science: Interdisciplinary Perspectives (1st , p. pp17). essay, https://www.researchgate.net/publication/308915548_Research_Design.
Aldahdouh, T. Z., Nokelainen, P., & Korhonen, V. (2020). Technology and Social Media Usage in Higher Education: The Influence of Individual Innovativeness. SAGE Open, 10(1), 2158244019899441. https://doi.org/10.1177/2158244019899441
Alghizzawi, M. (2019). A survey of the role of social media platforms in viral marketing: The influence of eWOM. International Journal of Information Technology and Language Studies. https://doi.org/https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Mahmoud-Alghizzawi/publication/335110016_A_survey_of_the_role_of_social_media_platforms_in_viral_marketing_The_influence_of_eWOM/links/5d5106a74585153e594ea689/A-survey-of-the-role-of-social-media-platforms-in-viral-marketing-The-influence-of-eWOM.pdf
Ananda, A. S., García, Á. H., & Lamberti, L. (2017). SME fashion brands and social media marketing: from strategies to actions. International Journal of Web Based Communities, 13(4), 468. https://doi.org/10.1504/ijwbc.2017.089350
Animalz. (2020, August 12). Viral Marketing: What It Is & How to Make it Work for Your Business. AdEspresso. https://adespresso.com/blog/viral-marketing-examples-tips/.
Anning-Dorson, T. (2016). Interactivity innovations, competitive intensity, customer demand and performance. International Journal of Quality and Service Sciences, 8(4), 536–554. https://doi.org/10.1108/ijqss-11-2015-0075
Caldwell, M. (2018). Viral marketing strategies behind 2018's three top-hashtagged Super Bowl ads. SketchDeck. https://doi.org/https://www.sketchdeck.com/blog/viral-marketing-strategies-behind-2018s-three-top-hashtagged-super-bowl-ads.
Camilleri, M. A. (2019). The smes’ technology acceptance of digital media for stakeholder engagement. Journal of Small Business and Enterprise Development, 26(4), 504–521. https://doi.org/10.1108/jsbed-02-2018-0042
Cheng, C. C. J., & Shiu, E. C. (2018). How to enhance SMEs customer involvement using social media: The role of Social CRM. International Small Business Journal: Researching Entrepreneurship, 37(1), 22–42. https://doi.org/10.1177/0266242618774831
Dutot, V., & Bergeron, F. (2016). From strategic orientation to social media orientation. Journal of Small Business and Enterprise Development, 23(4), 1165–1190. https://doi.org/10.1108/jsbed-11-2015-0160
Dwivedi, Y. K., Ismagilova, E., Hughes, D. L., Carlson, J., Filieri, R., Jacobson, J., Jain, V., Karjaluoto, H., Kefi, H., Krishen, A. S., Kumar, V., Rahman, M. M., Raman, R., Rauschnabel, P. A., Rowley, J., Salo, J., Tran, G. A., & Wang, Y. (2021). Setting the future of digital and social media marketing research: Perspectives and research propositions. International Journal of Information Management, 59, 102168. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijinfomgt.2020.102168
Emilia. (2020, March 10). The History of Social Media—How Facebook, IG, LinkedIn,Twitter evolved. Postfity.Com. https://postfity.com/blog/history-social-media/
Fraile, A. (n.d.). What Is Viral Marketing? Examples and Advantages. Cyberclick. https://www.cyberclick.net/numericalblogen/what-is-viral-marketing-advantages-and-examples.
Gekombe, C., Tumsifu, E., & Jani, D. (2021). Social media use among small and medium enterprises: a case of fashion industry growth. University of Dar Es Salaam Library Journal, 14(2). https://doi.org/https://www.ajol.info/index.php/udslj/article/view/203810
Gibson, N. (2018). An Analysis of the Impact of Social Media Marketing on Individuals’ Attitudes and Perceptions at NOVA Community College. Old Dominion University ODU Digital Commons. https://doi.org/https://digitalcommons.odu.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1588&context=ots_masters_projects
Gomez, R. (2021). 8 ways customers interact and engage with your brand on social. Sprout social. https://doi.org/https://sproutsocial.com/insights/social-media-interaction/
Granata, G., & Scozzese, G. (2018). The Evolution of Viral Marketing to Improve Business Communication. International Business Research, 11(12), 105. https://doi.org/10.5539/ibr.v11n12p105
Hassan, S. H., Mohamed Haniba, N. M., & Ahmad, N. H. (2019). Social customer relationship management (s-CRM) among small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in Malaysia. International Journal of Ethics and Systems, 35(2), 284–302. https://doi.org/10.1108/ijoes-11-2017-0192
Hendrayati, H., & Pamungkas, P. (2020). Viral Marketing and E-Word of Mouth Communication in Social Media Marketing. Proceedings of the 3rd Global Conference On Business, Management, and Entrepreneurship (GCBME 2018). https://doi.org/10.2991/aebmr.k.200131.010
Johan, M. R. M., Syed, M. A. M., & Adnan, H. (2022). Malaysia Small and Medium-Size Enterprises Physique Brand Identity Persuasiveness in Social Media Message Content. Jurnal Pengajian Media Malaysia, 24(1), Article 1. https://doi.org/10.22452/jpmm.vol24no1.2
Kagan, J. (2021, December 7). Viral marketing: What it is, how it works, examples, pros & cons. Investopedia. Retrieved December 21, 2022, from https://www.investopedia.com/terms/v/viral-marketing.asp
Liang, M., Xin, Z., Yan, D. X., & Jianxiang, F. (2020). How to improve employee satisfaction and efficiency through different enterprise social media use. Journal of Enterprise Information Management, 34(3), 922–947. https://doi.org/10.1108/jeim-10-2019-0321
Mayer-Schonberger, V., & Ramge, T. (2018). A Big Choice for Big Tech: Share Data or Suffer the Consequences. Foreign Affairs, 97, 48.
Mayr, S., Mitter, C., Kücher, A., & Duller, C. (2021). Entrepreneur characteristics and differences in reasons for business failure: Evidence from bankrupt Austrian SMEs. Journal of Small Business & Entrepreneurship, 33(5), 539–558. https://doi.org/10.1080/08276331.2020.1786647
McCarthy, A. (2018). Targeting on Social Media: The Why and How. Media Update. https://doi.org/https://www.mediaupdate.co.za/marketing/144209/targeting-on-social-media-the-why-and-how
Melnick, M. J., & Jackson, S. J. (2002). Globalization American-Style and Reference Idol Selection: The Importance of Athlete Celebrity Others among New Zealand Youth. International Review for the Sociology of Sport, 37(3–4), 429–448. https://doi.org/10.1177/1012690202037004027
Michael, G., Nyomora, A. M. S., Mvungi, E. F., & Sangu, E. M. (2021). Seasonal diversity of entomofauna, their impact and management practices in tomato fields in Meru district, Tanzania. African Journal of Food, Agriculture, Nutrition and Development, 21(04), 17952–17971. https://doi.org/10.18697/ajfand.99.19680
Morgan, D. L. (1993). Qualitative content analysis: A guide to paths not taken. Qualitative Health Research, 3(1), 112–121. https://doi.org/10.1177/104973239300300107
Mondschein, A., King, D. A., Hoehne, C., Jiang, Z., & Chester, M. (2020). Using social media to evaluate associations between parking supply and parking sentiment. Transportation Research Interdisciplinary Perspectives, 4, 100085. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.trip.2019.100085
Mundt, M., Ross, K., & Burnett, C. M. (2018). Scaling Social Movements Through Social Media: The Case of Black Lives Matter. Social Media + Society, 4(4), 2056305118807911. https://doi.org/10.1177/2056305118807911
Nawi, N. B., Mamun, A. A., Nasir, N. A., Shokery, N. M., Raston, N. B., & Fazal, S. A. (2017). Acceptance and usage of social media as a platform among student entrepreneurs. Journal of Small Business and Enterprise Development, 24(2), 375–393. https://doi.org/10.1108/jsbed-09-2016-0136
Ortiz-Ospina, E. (2019, September 18). The rise of Social Media. Our World in Data. Retrieved December 21, 2022, from https://ourworldindata.org/rise-of-social-media
Papa, A., Santoro, G., Tirabeni, L., & Monge, F. (2018). Social media as a tool for facilitating knowledge creation and innovation in small and medium enterprises. Baltic Journal of Management, 13(3), 329–344. https://doi.org/10.1108/bjm-04-2017-0125
Pedraza, J. M. (2021). The Micro, Small, and Medium-Sized Enterprises and Its Role in the Economic Development of a Country. Business and Management Research, 10(1), 33. https://doi.org/10.5430/bmr.v10n1p33
Salam, S., & Hoque, A. S. M. M. (2019). The role of social media and effect of relationship marketing on sme performance in bangladesh: multi-group cfa. ASIAN PEOPLE JOURNAL, 2(1). https://doi.org/https://journal.unisza.edu.my/apj/index.php/apj/article/view/98
Saamiee, S. (2020). International marketing and the internet: a research overview and the path forward. International Marketing Review, 37(3), 425–436. https://doi.org/10.1108/imr-03-2018-0120
Serafinelli, E. (2018). Visual Media Marketing. Digital Life on Instagram, 99–124. https://doi.org/10.1108/978-1-78756-495-420181004
Shinde, M., & D. Berger, P. (2020). The Effectiveness of Viral Marketing in American vs. Indian Market Segments. Journal of Marketing Management (JMM), 8(1). https://doi.org/10.15640/jmm.v8n1a1
Syaharizad, A. R. B., & Nor Azrin, M. L. B. (2016). Factors That Influence the Usage of Social Media In Marketing. Journal of Research in Business and Management, 4(2), 01–07. https://doi.org/https://www.questjournals.org/jrbm/papers/vol4-issue2/A420107.pdf
Tajudeen, F. P., Jaafar, N. I., & Ainin, S. (2018). Understanding the impact of social media usage among organisations. Information & Management, 55(3), 308–321. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.im.2017.08.004
Tourani, N. (2022). Thriving in a shifting landscape: Role of social media in support of business strategy. Asia Pacific Management Review, 27(4), 276–281. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.apmrv.2021.11.001
Vilpponen, A., Winter, S., & Sundqvist, S. (2006). Electronic Word-of-Mouth in Online Environments. Journal of Interactive Advertising, 6(2), 8–77. https://doi.org/10.1080/15252019.2006.10722120
Virtanen, H., Björk, P., & Sjöström, E. (2017). Follow for following: marketing of a start-up company on Instagram. Journal of Small Business and Enterprise Development, 24(3), 468–484. https://doi.org/10.1108/jsbed-12-2016-0202
Wong, A. (2023). How social capital builds online brand advocacy in luxury social media brand communities. Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, 70, 103143. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jretconser.2022.103143
LICENSE OF PUBLISHING RIGHTS
I hereby grant to the Journal exclusive publishing and distribution license in the manuscript identified above and any tables, illustrations or other material submitted for publication as part of the manuscript (the “Article”) in print, electronic and all other media (whether now known or later developed), in any form, in all languages, throughout the world, for the full term of copyright, and the right to license others to do the same, effective when the article is accepted for publication. This license includes the right to enforce the rights granted hereunder against third parties. Supplemental Materials With respect to Supplemental Materials that I wish to make accessible through a link in the Article or on a site or through a service of the Journal, the Journal shall be entitled to publish, post, reformat, index, archive, make available and link to such Supplemental Materials on a non-exclusive basis in all forms and media (whether now known or later developed), and permit others to do so. “Supplemental Materials” shall mean additional materials that are not an intrinsic part of the Article, including but not limited to experimental data, e-components, encodings and software, and enhanced graphical, illustrative, video and audio material.
SCHOLARLY COMMUNICATIONS RIGHTS
I understand that I retain the copyright in the Article and that no rights in patents, trademarks or other intellectual property rights are transferred to the Journal. As the author of the article, I understand that I shall have: (i) the same rights to reuse the Article as those allowed to third party users of the Article under the CC-BY-NC-ND license, as well as (ii) the right to use the Article in a subsequent compilation of my works or to extend the Article to book-length form, to include the article in a thesis or dissertation, or otherwise to use or re-use portions or excerpts in other work, for both commercial and non-commercial purposes. Except for such uses, I understand that the license of publishing rights I have granted to the Journal gives the Journal the exclusive right to make or sub-license commercial use.
USER RIGHTS
The publisher will apply the Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 4.0 International License (CC-BY-NC-ND) to the Article where it publishes the Article in the journal on its online platforms on an Open Access basis. For further information, see http://www.elsevier.com/about/open-access/open-access-options. The CC-BY-NC-ND license allows users to copy and distribute the Article, provided this is not done for commercial purposes and further does not permit distribution of the Article if it is changed or edited in any way, and provided the user gives appropriate credit (with a link to the formal publication through the relevant DOI), provides a link to the license, and that the licensor is not represented as endorsing the use made of the work.
The full details of the license are available at https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/.
REVERSION RIGHTS
Articles may sometimes be accepted for publication but later rejected in the publication process, even in some cases after public posting in “Articles in Press” form, in which case all rights will revert to the author (see http://www.elsevier.com/locate/withdrawalpolicy).
REVISIONS AND ADDENDA
I understand that no revisions, additional terms or addenda to this License Agreement can be accepted without the Journal’s express written consent.
I understand that this License Agreement supersedes any previous agreements I have entered into with the Journal in relation to the Article from the date hereof.
COPYRIGHT NOTICE
The publisher shall publish and distribute the Article with the appropriate copyright notice.
AUTHOR REPRESENTATIONS/ETHICS AND DISCLOSURE
I affirm the Author Representations noted below and confirm that I have reviewed and complied with the relevant Instructions to Authors, Ethics in Publishing policy, Declarations of Interest disclosure and information for authors from countries affected by sanctions (Iran, Cuba, Sudan, Burma, Syria, or Crimea). Please note that some journals may require that all co-authors sign and submit Declarations of Interest disclosure forms. I am also aware of the publisher’s policies with respect to retractions and withdrawal.
Author Representations
1. The Article I have submitted to the journal for review is original, has been written by the stated authors and has not been previously published.
2. The Article was not submitted for review to another journal while under review by this journal and will not be submitted to any other journal.
3. The Article and the Supplemental Materials do not infringe any copyright, violate any other intellectual property, privacy or other rights of any person or entity, or contain any libellous or other unlawful matter.
4. I have obtained written permission from copyright owners for any excerpts from copyrighted works that are included and have credited the sources in the Article or the Supplemental Materials.
5. Except as expressly set out in this License Agreement, the Article is not subject to any prior rights or licenses and, if my or any of my coauthors’ institution has a policy that might restrict my ability to grant the rights required by this License Agreement (taking into account the Scholarly communication rights permitted hereunder), a written waiver of that policy has been obtained.
6. If I and/or any of my co-authors reside in Iran, Cuba, Sudan, Burma, Syria, or Crimea, the Article has been prepared in a personal, academic or research capacity and not as an official representative or otherwise on behalf of the relevant government.
7. If I am using any personal details or images of patients, research subjects or other individuals, I have obtained all consents required by applicable law and complied with the publisher’s policies relating to the use of such images or personal information.
8. Any software contained in the Supplemental Materials is free from viruses, contaminants or worms.
9. If the Article or any of the Supplemental Materials were prepared jointly with other authors, I have informed the co-author(s) of the terms of this License Agreement and that I am signing on their behalf as their agent, and I am authorized to do so.
Copyright © UiTM Cawangan Perlis
