Dimensions of social media marketing capabilities and their contribution to business performance of firms in Thailand

Abstract

PurposeThis paper aims to explore the contribution of social media marketing capability on business performance of firms in Thailand. The conceptualization of social media marketing capability was developed using five aspects of the spanning capabilities of Day’s strategic framework.Design/methodology/approachQuestionnaire data were collected from business entrepreneurs in Thailand who attended seminar and training courses (N =364). Partial least squares structural equation modeling was used to analyze data.FindingsAmong five aspects of social media marketing capability, social media product development capabilities and social media marketing implementation capability were positively and significantly related to customer relationship performance and financial performance; social media marketing communication capability had a significantly positive relationship only with customer relationship performance, whereas social media planning capability was found to have a significantly positive relationship only with financial performance. However, the analysis did not find the significant relationship between social media pricing capability and the two aspects of firm performance.Research limitations/implicationsFirst, the results were obtained using cross-sectional data collection. Second, the data were collected using convenience sampling. Third, the performance variables used in the analysis are perceptual measures. Finally, the study was only conducted in Thailand context and did not lend itself to any general applicability.Practical implicationsThis research suggests that it is important for Thai companies that rely on social media to develop marketing capabilities and learn how to incorporate social media into their marketing activities.Originality/valueThis study built a conceptual foundation of social media marketing capabilities based on Days strategic framework which provided a complete and comprehensive view about social media applications that can be integrated into different areas of marketing activities.