Social Media Strategies for Marketing in Micro-Level Women Entrepreneurship in Sri Lanka

Abstract

Women’s entrepreneurship can be seen as the foundation of economic growth. Women's companies thrive during challenging times because of their inherent adaptability and flexibility. This study intends to investigate the social media tactics used by female business owners that have effectively converted their offline to online marketing-related operations during the Covid pandemic. The study focused on micro-level female business owners who moved their operations online during the crisis and were still operating successfully. The results of 12 semi-structured interviews and two focus group conversations were examined using thematic analysis. The study also provides a conceptual framework for the empirical study that could be used by future researchers with specifically identified key themes such as active presence, virtual engagement, seizing opportunity, and online referral. The study's other important result was that, even though women in Asian countries often encounter unique challenges when conducting business, these Sri Lankan entrepreneurs encountered no such problems with gender stereotypes. For various stakeholders, including new business owners, policymakers, consultants, managers, and marketing specialists, a greater grasp of these effective tactics would be helpful in growing their online firms. And, that there is a theoretical gap on this subject since there are few studies, particularly in Asia.