Assessment of Social Media Use for Business Communication Among Small and Medium Enterprises in Aba, Abia State

Small and medium enterprises in Aba, one of Nigeria's most commercially active industrial cities in the South East, have adopted social media platforms with varying degrees of sophistication as business communication tools, yet their usage patterns and effectiveness perceptions have not been systematically documented. This study assessed the use of social media for business communication among SMEs in Aba, Abia State. A cross-sectional survey was conducted among 260 SME owners and managers from the Ariaria International Market and Ngwa Road commercial areas, selected through purposive sampling. A structured questionnaire evaluated social media platforms used, business communication purposes, frequency of updates, and perceived effectiveness for customer acquisition, customer retention, and brand visibility. Results showed that WhatsApp Business was the most widely used platform (84.6 percent), followed by Facebook (72.3 percent) and Instagram (56.5 percent). Customer engagement and order processing were the primary business uses (87.3 percent), followed by product promotion (74.6 percent). Perceived effectiveness was rated as high by 68.8 percent of respondents for customer retention and 61.5 percent for new customer acquisition. Challenges included difficulty managing multiple platforms (53.8 percent), lack of social media training (47.3 percent), and poor internet connectivity (41.2 percent). The study recommends the Abia State SME Development Agency develop a social media business communication training programme specifically tailored to Aba's garments and manufacturing SME cluster.

Keywords: social media, business communication, SMEs, Aba, South East Nigeria