Barriers to Social Media and How SMEs Can Overcome Them

Social media has become an important tool for larger businesses because it offers them many opportunities to reach, attract, influence and retain customers. However, these opportunities, though promising, also bring challenges, especially for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). The purpose of this descriptive study is to research the barriers encountered by SMEs in North America when using social media and how they deal with these barriers. Another purpose of the study is prescriptive and consists of proposing some solutions to alleviate these barriers. In this context, a multiple case studies of twelve SMEs operating in the hospitality and tourism industry was conducted. The findings revealed the existence of severe barriers in SMEs' use of social media such as lack of resources and knowledge. They also indicate that these barriers limit SMEs' marketing efforts and their growth, and that concerted action should be undertaken by governments, policy makers and others stakeholders in order to promote technological adoption by SMEs and help them to use social media in order to foster growth.