INFLUENCE OF DIGITAL MARKETING COMPETENCIES ON ENTREPRENEURIAL PERFORMANCE OF WOMEN ENTREPRENEURS IN SOUTHEAST NIGERIA

Abstract

The main purpose of this study was to investigate the digital marketing competencies on entrepreneurial performance of women entrepreneurs in southeast Nigeria. Specifically, the study seeks to ascertain the influence of social media marketing, search engine optimization (SEO), content marketing, and email marketing, competencies on entrepreneurial performance of women entrepreneurs in Southeast Nigeria. Based on a survey research design, data was collected from a cross-section of 265 women entrepreneurs across the five southeast states. Five hypotheses were stated and tested using structural equation modelling via AMOS v. 23. The result showed that social media marketing, email marketing, search engine marketing, and digital advertising competencies have a positive and significant effect on entrepreneurial performance of women entrepreneurs in Southeast Nigeria. It was therefore recommended that women entrepreneurs should deliberately integrate platforms such as Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp into their business strategies. Beyond casual posting, entrepreneurs should adopt advanced practices such as paid advertising, analytics, and customer engagement campaigns to maximize impact. They should also adopt email automation tools to send personalized messages, promotional offers, and newsletters to customers; and be encouraged to learn basic SEO techniques, such as optimizing websites for keywords, and to explore affordable pay-per-click campaigns. Social media, email, search engines, and advertising competencies significantly contribute to performance, reflecting the increasing centrality of digital tools in entrepreneurial ecosystems.