Abstract

In light of the increased adaptation of social media by consumers and businesses, guided by an evolving dynamic set of technologies and as the exponential growth derived by the development of new technologies promises even more reliance on social media as a marketing function. This paper, by focusing on the main reasons behind the wide acceptance of social media by consumers and businesses, examines the power of web-enabled marketing, which has made the marketplace more open and transparent than ever before. It also considers the opportunities that this situation creates. Several constructs of consumers’ perceived benefits were found to be enabled through the use of social media, mainly through the concept of value co-creation which enables empowerment, power, influence, input, ownership, engagement, accessibility, communication, connectivity and interaction. From a business perspective, several benefits were found to be enabled through the use of social media are co-creation, empowerment, power, connectivity, communication, enhanced innovation and knowledge management and data capture maximisation. Finally, the findings of this research suggest that the main reason for the adoption of social media amongst businesses and consumers is its user-friendly nature.

Download

Share

COinS