Microfinance market and social media marketing

Electronic marketing and especially the rise of social media marketing, has made Microfinance Institutions (MFIs)to have the opportunity to talk to thousands of customers, send out messages, get fast feedback, and experiment with offers at relatively low costs. Social media is perceived by consumers as a more trustworthy source of information regarding products and services than business-sponsored communications transmitted via the traditional elements of the promotion mix. Social media channels help MFIs to communicate and organize themselves together, and allow them to reach out and relay their messages to a larger group of people in order to create awareness and promote brand. The aim of this paper is to investigate at what extent social media platforms are being used by microfinance institution as a communication tool with their clients and to identify how organization engaged in social media efforts are expanding their opportunity in reaching their target market. This study also tries to measure the effectiveness of social media marketing in the development of microfinance sector in Albania. The methodology used includes a structured questionnaire developed to collect the required primary data from MFIs operating in Albania, which were distributed and filled out. The data were analyzed and presented in the respective results and findings.