Examining social media marketing strategies: a qualitative case study of SMMEs In Cape Town

Kondlo, Nandipha

Examining social media marketing strategies: a qualitative case study of SMMEs In Cape Town

Thesis / Dissertation

2026

Publisher

University of Cape Town

Department

Marketing

Faculty

Faculty of Commerce

Abstract

Social media has assumed a central role in the contemporary digital environment, reshaping how businesses attract, engage, and retain customers. Despite this growing prominence, limited empirical work has examined how Small, Medium, and Micro Enterprises (SMMEs) in South(ern) Africa strategically employ social media to develop sustainable and cost-efficient marketing approaches. Although existing studies acknowledge the widespread adoption of social media by small businesses, there remains insufficient guidance on how SMMEs can translate such usage into coherent marketing strategies. This gap highlights the need for a deeper understanding of how entrepreneurial marketers integrate social media into their marketing decision-making. This study addresses this gap by investigating the social media marketing practices of SMMEs, with the purpose of developing a social media marketing strategies framework tailored specifically for this sector. The study was informed by a constructivist paradigm and adopted a qualitative case study design, which enabled an in-depth examination of the phenomenon. A purposive sample of 10 entrepreneurial marketers from Khayelitsha in Cape Town was selected to generate rich, contextually grounded insights. The findings demonstrate that SMMEs utilise social media through resource planning, scheduled posting, enhancing business visibility, direct marketing, and branding. Facebook, WhatsApp and Instagram emerged as the dominant platforms. The analysis further revealed four primary social media applications among SMMEs: promotion and selling, connection and collaboration, social monitoring, and customer relationship management. The study contributes to the entrepreneurial marketing literature by providing empirical evidence that SMMEs' use of social media is more purposeful, structured, and resource-aware than previously suggested. The development of the SMME Social Media Marketing Strategies Framework offers a practical tool to support owner-managers in designing and implementing social media marketing activities that enhance customer engagement while optimising marketing resources.