Social Media Marketing Strategies Used by Small Retail Businesses

Word-of-mouth communication.
Word-of-mouth communication impacted 
consumer behavior (Berger, 2014). Word-of-mouth advertising was effective in getting 
messages to target audiences (Levy & Gvili, 2015). Facebook word-of-mouth 
communication enhanced brand equity, brand image, and consumer-buying behavior 
(Dehghani & Tumer, 2015). Pauwels, Aksehirli, and Lackman (2016) posited that word-

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of-mouth advertising was more effective than paid marketing. Satisfied customers were 
likely to share positive word-of-mouth content with other customers (Barreto, 2014).
Consumers discussed products, spread word-of-mouth content, made recommendations, 
and mentioned products, services, and brands (Berger, 2014). Men and Tsai (2015) 
discovered that communicating and engaging on social media sites led to beneficial 
relationships between businesses and other interested parties. Customers relied on word-
of-mouth communication because customer reviews were independent of manufacturer or 
marketer influence, which was significant because there was no control of the shared 
content (Sloan, Bodey, & Gyrd-Jones, 2015).
Electronic word-of-mouth communication.
Electronic word-of-mouth 
communication (eWOM) is the person-to-person communication spread over social 
media or the Internet (Leung et al., 2015). Social media platforms allowed consumers to 
interact with one another, which generated eWOM and promoted awareness for 
businesses, products, or services (Kwok & Yu, 2013). Consumers shared positive 
experiences with new products or services with family and friends, which might lead to 
the adoption of innovations and increased sales (Kawakami et al., 2013). Business 
leaders might be able to leverage eWOM by communicating effectively with their target 
audience and guiding consumer discussions according to the company’s mission and 
marketing goals
.
Zhou and Wang (2014) posited that eWOM communication via social 
media, such as in online tourism communities and tourism review websites, promoted 
cities as tourism destinations. Consumers who had positive social media experiences 

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influenced the opinions of the social media page, the hotel brand, booking intention, and 
intention to share experiences via eWOM (Leung et al., 2015).