Abstract

     Taking the digital marketing activities carried out by female-led microenterprises as its jumping-off point, this paper aims to accomplish two main goals: firstly, to analyze the effects of social media marketing (SMM) actions on social performance (SP) and, secondly, to determine whether the qualities of female microentrepreneurs have an impact on the SMM-SP relationship. Entrepreneurship affords many female a solid work-life balance. With scarce financial resources, they often turn to creative social media strategies to secure financial sustainability beyond the short term, as well as to enhance their medium- and long-term social performance. Our regression and moderation analysis of a sample of 127 microenterprises, the data for which was collected by online surveys administered to female microentrepreneurs, reveals SMM actions’ direct effect on social performance. Our findings also show that female microentrepreneurs’ human capital directly influences SP and moderates the effects of marketing strategies on SP. The paper ends by presenting relevant conclusions for both academics and marketing practitioners.

Introduction

     The 18.5 % drop in GDP during the second quarter of 2020 foregrounded entrepreneurship as an appealing alternative for people to improve their personal economy. Data provided by the Global Entrepreneurship Monitor (GEM) for 2020 underscore three key traits of this activity in Spain:

(۱) The entrepreneurship rate in Spain was lower than in the rest of Europe. Whereas 10 % of citizens in the world’s most developed countries and 7.7 % of those in the EU-28 were involved in an entrepreneurial initiative, this figure stood at 6.4 % for Spain.

(۲) Entrepreneurship has a high self-employment component. In Spain, the self-employment rate among entrepreneurs was 19 %, slightly higher than the EU-28 average of 17 %.

(۳) Female entrepreneurship in Spain is growing steadily. While for the 2009–۲۰۱۰ period, the female TEA (Total early-stage Entrepreneurial Activity) was 3 %, during the 2019–۲۰۲۰ period it reached 6 %. Currently in Spain, eight women start businesses for every 10 men, thus exceeding the European average, where only six women are counted for every ten male entrepreneurs.

     Although these figures seem to suggest a narrowing gender gap, an entirely different picture comes into focus when we apply a socioeconomic perspective. Most notably, there is a severe gap in the proportion of consolidated businesses led by men (60 %) versus those led by women (40 %). That being said, men and women seem to be on equal footing when it comes to people hoping to create a business in the next three years (50.9 % of which are men and 49.1 %, women). The numbers even turn in women’s favor with respect to business abandonment, where men account for 52.6 % of such cases.

Conclusions

     The results obtained through our data analysis show that, among digital marketing strategies, those carried out on social media influence the performance of microenterprises, especially their social performance. In the current context, 2.0 technologies guarantee interactivity and quality between companies and consumers. Despite the multiple options available to companies to establish and consolidate relationships, social media appear to be the most efficient from a marketing standpoint, as people have integrated technology into their daily lives.

     The social use of such media has expanded and the number of people seeking emotional and hedonic benefits on them is increasing. People today turn to social media to stay in touch with friends and family, to partake in leisure activities or to give free rein to their creativity. For some, social media have even become a way to discover and engage in new experiences, a boundaryless place where they are free to be themselves. Social media offer users speed, convenience and, above all, security and anonymity, all qualities that encourage participation. Moreover, they greatly extend the reach of messages and content, thereby facilitating immediate and global dissemination. In short, it is easy to understand the reason for their success and why companies, aware of this, have sought to carry out SMM actions as a way to establish relationships with their customers.