BUSINESS CHALLENGES IN IMPLEMENTING SOCIAL MEDIA MARKETING. CASE STUDY - COMPARISON BULGARIA AND KOSOVO

This paper seeks to examine the challenges facing businesses in implementing social media marketing, to show customers' perceptions, attitudes and perspectives on social media marketing and online shopping for both countries. The survey is based on primary data that include the results derived from questionnaires between Bulgaria and Kosovo conducted with clients and businesses, so to achieve the objectives and research questions we used the quantitative method. In total there are 120 customers respondents and there are 74 businesses respondents. Both countries have similarities and differences in terms of the challenges they face: businesses in both countries largely use social media to do marketing; the challenge for businesses in both countries is the lack of qualified staff on social media marketing , which then results in not segmenting the market according to demographics; customers of both countries with high income have a greater tendency to make online shopping than those with lower incomes; but there is a big difference between the two countries in the context of functioning in international markets, also a big difference between the two countries in the realization of online sales. The main limitations in the survey are: the number of samples included in the research and not categorization of products according to function but the treatment of online shopping in general. Based on the research conducted with clients, we conclude that in Bulgaria and Kosovo clients use social media almost equally and the time they spend with social media is similarly distributed between the two countries. However, the tendency to make online purchases is not the same between the two countries, so there is a big difference between them. Customers in Bulgaria have a greater tendency to make online purchases compared to customers in Kosovo.