Perception of Business Owners about the Factors Influencing the Use of social media as a tool of marketing by the Business Community of Bhutan

Abstract

Social media (SM) has gained popularity in today's business environment. consumers themselves are more engaged in this marketing media. This research aims to identify the perception of business owners about factors influencing the use of social media as a marketing tool by the business community of Phuentsholing- the commercial capital of Bhutan. This study used convenience sampling techniques to determine the sample size. A total of 140 responded data was taken to conduct the study and analyzed. The main purpose of this paper is to know the difference in perception of business owners while using social media as their marketing tool. The findings revealed several factors namely social media adoption, literacy, cultural, technological factor, consumer pressure, and cost by the business community. This study found that two factors influence the use of social media as a marketing tool namely technological factors and social media adoption. The primary level business owners have adopted to use social media as their marketing tool as they think that social media is the best way to promote their business whereas, degree level business owners were found to be more technological based as they have extensive technical knowledge as well as have the ability to quickly learn and apply new information technologies.