Understanding Small Businesses’ Social Media Marketing Training Needs in New Zealand

Abstract

Although small business needs for education and training have been vastly studied, research on trainings associated with social media marketing has been limited. This study explores social media marketing training needs in the context of small and medium enterprises [SME] in New Zealand. The research is conducted within a framework of qualitative exploratory methodology and employs a focus-group as a method of data collection. The study shows that SMEs recognise the need for social media marketing trainings, specifically for email marketing, video content creation and marketing automation, as they are perceived as the most in-demand skills for effective marketing management. Through the lenses of the Service-Dominant Logic and Service Innovation frameworks the research highlights the importance of networking and ongoing support after trainings as value-adding opportunities for training providers. The research has theoretical and practical significance. Firstly, research findings contribute to the existing research on SME’s training needs, and secondly, encourage training providers to design services that are relevant to SMEs’ training needs.