The Role of Social Media in Entrepreneurial Development: The Nigerian Perspective

Abstract

The study examined the role of social media in entrepreneurial development in Nigeria, specifically, how the use of social media enhances customer retention, brand awareness and customer loyalty. Based on the criteria set out to select these entrepreneurs in Lagos state, the study adopted a stratified and convenience sampling technique to select one hundred and fifty-three entrepreneurs, and the analysis was carried out using linear regression. The result revealed that social media has a significant positive relationship with customer retention, brand awareness, and customer loyalty, and findings revealed that social media has proven to be an essential tool to engage customers and create brand awareness which eventually leads to customer retention and loyalty for an organization. Hence, the study recommended that entrepreneurs need to invest heavily on information and communication technology to boost operational efficiency, improve quality of product and services interface with customers, and create room to consistently solve customer problems swiftly.