Chinese entrepreneurs’ experience of social media marketing: perception, strategy and challenge

Purpose This paper aims to explore Chinese entrepreneurs’ perceptions and interpretations of social media marketing (SMM) in their daily business practices. Design/methodology/approach A qualitative approach was adopted to explore the phenomenon. Specifically, 18 in-depth interviews were conducted among Chinese entrepreneurs to obtain their experiences of and perceptions on SMM. Findings Findings revealed that Chinese entrepreneurs have good understandings of SMM. They believe SMM is a necessary way to interact with customers and SMM can provide flexibility and sensitivity which are important for entrepreneurial marketing and are not easy to achieve through traditional marketing activities. When they choose social media applications, they will match the purpose of marketing activity with the characteristics of the social media. They have developed the specific strategies for different social media applications. In the meantime, they are facing some challenges, such as breaking the communication clutter, measuring the results and over depending on social media. Originality/value Findings of the current study extend the uses and gratifications theory to the context of business-oriented media usage. In addition, findings of the study expand previous literature by enriching the theoretical understanding of the concept of entrepreneur and entrepreneurial marketing in new social and cultural contexts. Finally, findings of the current study also supplement previous research on social media advertising by uncovering rich meanings of SMM from business owners’ emic perspective.