Management of Social Media as a Marketing Tool in Saudi Arabia - Coursework Example

Management of Social Media as a Marketing Tool in Saudi Arabia (Tomexy) Social media are increasing its influence on human life in many ways over the last few years. When introduced initially, social media like twitter, Facebook, MySpace, YouTube, Skype etc were intended just for relaxation, enjoyment and communication purposes. However, the potentials of social media in other areas of human life were well documented by researchers recently. Business is one area in which social media is playing a vital role now. Currently, organizations are utilizing social media not only for the recruitment of employees, but also for marketing products and services as well. “In the Burson-Marsteller 2010 Social Media Check-Up Report, it was found that between 2007 and 2009, social networking marketing spending increased 165.8% from $884 million to $2.34 billion”(Dickey & Lewis, p.140). Since social media provide a platform or virtual world where people, comprising of all ages and from all parts of the world can assemble, current marketers use it as an advertisement channel also. Countries like China block social media in its territories because of their concerns about the possibility of public agitation which can occur in its territory by the political messages pass through these media. On the other hand, Saudi Arabia is a Muslim country in which Islamic laws were implemented strictly. Even then, they are not mush worried about controlling social media in its territory. According to Deborah Amos (2011), social media revolution is taking place in Saudi Arabia. Ten million Saudis are online, 3 million belong to Facebook, and Twitter feeds are up more than 400 percent. While Saudi Arabia still can control the domestic media, its harder to block out international news, with Arab satellite channels and constant updates on blogs and Twitter feeds (Amos). Management of social media in Saudi Arabia should be done carefully because of the concerns of the Saudi Administration about the political messages passing across different social media, which can create problems against the Islamic administration. The first objective of this research is to identify the potentials of social media as a marketing tool in Saudi Arabia particularly among the women community. The second objective of this research is to explore the potentials of social media in marketing social values in Saudi Arabia. The third objective is to explore the potentials of social media in cutting down the expenses of marketing advertisements and also to reach individual customers. I would like to conduct certain interviews with Saudi people, especially with the Saudi women in order to collect primary data for this research. I would like to conduct an online survey in Saudi Arabia to get more information about the topic. Secondary data will be collected from internet and other published sources. This research is intended to complete within 25 days. The first 15 days will be used for conducting interviews and the surveys. The next 5 days will be used for collecting secondary data from various sources. The last five days will be utilized for data analysis and also for the preparation of the paper. Organizations which try to use social media for marketing should provide more weightage to the women community than male community. Saudi Arabia is a male dominant country in which female community has less freedom compared to male community. In public places, Saudi women are getting less freedom than their male counterparts and therefore most of them spent majority of their time within the boundaries of their home. The entry of social networks opened a new world for them. Saudi women are using social networks more than Saudi men because of the social restrictions mentioned above. In fact social media provides a virtual world of liberty and freedom to them and therefore they use it more frequently than their male counterparts in Saudi Arabia. Not only does Saudi Arabia have the strictest ‘morality laws in the region, the policy of keeping women out of public life extends even to the lingerie departments of retailers where you have the odd situation of only men being able to sell underwear to women — something local groups are actively trying to change through a boycott (Singer). Not only women in Saudi Arabia, but also women all over the world like to purchase their undergarments from female sellers. However, in Saudi Arabia they forced to purchase such things from male sellers because of the social customs or moral laws prevailing in Saudi Arabia which prevent females from doing business or selling ladies items. Saudi women forced to face harassing and teasing from Saudi males while they purchase their undergarments. The opportunity to purchase undergarments from Internet is a blessing for Saudi women. Organization should avoid controversial political and social contents in its advertising messages while formulating marketing ads aimed to target Saudi people. Social media are used extensively by the Saudi public to make political and social changes in the country. The Saudi administration is watching the activities of social media very closely now because of some of the recent incidents. Social media were exploited heavily by the Saudi women recently to make some social changes in the country. The story of a Saudi woman, who has been arrested recently for driving her vehicle, was spread through social networks. “AFP reports that Najla Hariri was released after her husband came to the police station. Before being released, Saudi women arrested for driving have previously had to sign a pledge promising not to drive again” (Saudi Woman Briefly Detained for Driving During Ongoing Campaign, 2011). Saudi administration suffered lot of damages to its reputation because of this incident and currently they are keeping a close eye on the messages spread through social networks. In short, social networks are currently used extensively for making social changes in Saudi Arabia. Product manufacturers or service providers should refrain from such activities in order to get proper support from the Saudi government. The greatest benefit of social media marketing is that it can increase awareness about a company within a short time. With the help of interesting information and graphics, you can encourage people to visit your site. Social media marketing allows businesses to create a loyal clientele that opts for your products/services regularly (Social Media and E-Marketing). “The digital market space in the GCC region has experienced a remarkable growth over the last two years; while marketers have cut their spending on traditional print and outdoor media, expenditure on digital media has grown by more than 500%” (Social media plays major role in marketing: Survey). Saudi Arabian society is highly conservative in its functioning because of the increased influence of religion in the social, educational and political life of the people. Everything will be analyzed against religious point of views, before accepting or rejecting it in Saudi Arabia. So, Saudi people are getting less information about the advancements happening across other parts of the world. Moreover, traditional print or television advertisements which contain sexual or violent contents cannot be exhibited in Saudi Arabia. Under such circumstances, social networks provide an excellent opportunity to marketers to demonstrate their product or service related advertisement messages correctly to Saudi people. Thus Saudi people will be able to know more about the new products, advancements and innovations taking place around them. Marketers can capitalize social networks to educate Saudi people about the new products and services available outside Saudi Arabia. Since Saudi Arabia is one of the richest countries in the world, Saudi people can afford, purchasing of expensive goods from global market. It is not necessary for the Saudi people to travel across different countries to purchase goods which are not available in their mother country. E-commerce or internet business is growing day by day and Saudi people can make use of these new shopping channels effectively for purchasing goods from external market. So, marketers should give more emphasize to marketing management strategies related to internet marketing while they try to utilize Saudi Arabian market using social networks. “In the span of just a few years, communication has evolved from a one-way to two-way discussion on social media platforms”(Shoutlet). One of the major advantages of using social media for marketing purpose is the ability of the social media in enhancing two way communications between the buyers and sellers. No other channels of advertisement or marketing, is able to provide the two communication opportunities between the sellers and buyers. Moreover, using social media, marketers can use individual customers which are impossible in the case of other advertising channels. Modern cellphones or smartphones like iPhone, Samsung Galaxy S2 etc are capable of providing social networking opportunities to its customers. Saudi people are rich enough to purchase these expensive products. In other words, most of the Saudi population has access to social networks because of their ability in purchasing expensive electronic goods such as computers, tablet PC’s, mobile phones, iPads etc. Nowadays, the online interactions between family members, friends, or even people who never saw each other are a fact. People are sharing their experiences with different brands and customer service encounters almost momentarily. Before going out, they ask their online friends or followers about the best restaurant, the best shop, and best offer. Having a good product or a service, or bad ones, their news could be on a link shared somewhere, a tweet that hundreds are re-tweeting, or on a video that can go viral (Social Media Revolution). Social media marketing is the cheapest, yet the most effective marketing option available for marketers. Television Ads or print ads may cause immense financial burden to marketers. On the other hand social media marketing can be conducted without many expenses. Mouth publicity is the most effective advertising for a product. Online world or social media enhances mouth publicity immensely. “Recently, there has been a growing interest in understanding how WOM (Word Of Mouth), particularly online WOM (which is a form of social media), impacts sales, diffusion, and other marketing performance measures”(Stephen & Galak, p.5-6). Current generation seek the advices of their friends before purchasing anything. Social media provide excellent opportunity to people to exchange their views or opinions about the products they used or using. Thus consumers get excellent product reviews and advices from online community while using social networks. Marketers should implement strategies required to make online mouth publicity in favor of their products or services. “Social Media Marketing also helps in making money online. The more you spread knowledge and awareness about the business or product, the more it pulls crowd to the business” (Social Media Marketing Saudi Arabia). The success of social media marketing depends on the ability of the marketers in producing and placing eye catching advertisements in front of the social network users. Taylor et al (2011) have mentioned that “the key to successfully integrating advertising into social-networking services is consumer acceptance (i.e., positive attitudes toward Social networking advertisements)” (Taylor et al, 2011, p.258). Social networks are used by the public mainly for relaxation and enjoyment purpose. If the marketers place boring ads in front of the social network users, they will not receive the intended result. Social media marketing ads should be made in such a way that the people who visit social networks for some other purpose may unknowingly attract towards it and find enough time to know more about the products or services displayed in it. The strategies are temporal, and many organizations will progress from one to another. Companies with clear objectives for using and measuring social technologies in a specific part of the organization should begin as predictive practitioners. They should look for a group marketing, for instance) that wants to become more social in its business (Wilson et al, p.25). Social media marketing is still in its beginning stage. Most of the marketers do not possess much knowledge in how to manage social media as a tool for marketing their products and services. Lot of researches and developments are going on in social media marketing circle at present. Anyway one thing is for sure; traditional marketing management methods may not be feasible enough for social media since the functioning of traditional media and social media are entirely different. Marketers who have the ability to formulate innovative marketing strategies suitable for social media would come out as the winner at the end. To conclude, social media are influencing human life in many ways. Earlier these media were used only for relaxation and enjoyment purposes. The potentials of social media in business management are well recognized at present. Perhaps social media are the cheapest and best marketing channel for product manufacturers and service providers. In Saudi Arabia, because of the peculiar culture, politics and tradition; social media can play a vital role in marketing management. Saudi people, especially the females will be benefitted immensely from social media marketing because of the tightest moral and social laws which prevent them from purchasing the goods they wanted from shopping malls. The option of Internet purchasing is a blessing for them and therefore, marketers should target Saudi females while formulating marketing strategies for Saudi Arabia through social media networks. Works Cited Amos, Deborah. “Social Media Revolution Hits Saudi Arabia’. 2011. Web. 03 September 2011. Dickey Irene.J & Lewis William.F. “The Evolution (Revolution) of Social Media and Social Networking as a Necessary Topic in the Marketing Curriculum: A Case for Integrating Social Media into Marketing Classes”. 2010. Society for Marketing Advances Proceedings, January pp. 140-143. “Saudi Woman Briefly Detained for Driving During Ongoing Campaign”. 2011. Web. 03 September 2011. Social Media and E-Marketing) Singer, Dirk. “Heres a marketing challenge: Womens underwear in Saudi Arabia”. 2009. Web. 03 September 2011. “Social Media Plays Major Role in Marketing: Survey”. 2011. The Saudi Gazette. 28 August 2011. Web. 03 September 2011. “Social Media Marketing Saudi Arabia’. 2011. Web. 03 September 2011. “Social Media and E-Marketing”. 2011. Web. 03 September 2011. “Social Media Revolution”. Web. 03 September 2011. http://www.aneyeonsaudi.org/2011/01/23/social-media-revolution/ Shoutlet Aron Everson “Marketing Through Social Media: Risk Vs. Reward”. 2011. Web. 03 September 2011. Stephen Andrew.T & Galak Jeff. “The Complementary Roles of Traditional and Social Media Publicity in Driving Marketing Performance”. 2010. INSEAD Working Paper, October, pp. 1-40. Taylor David.G, Lewin Jeffrey.E & Strutton David. “Friends, Fans, and Followers: Do Ads Work on Social Networks? How Gender and Age Shape Receptivity”.2011. Journal of Advertising Research, vol. 51, no. 1, March, pp. 258-275. Tomexy. “Diary of a Media Junkie”. 2011. Web. 03 September 2011. Wilson James H, Guinan P.J, Parise Salvatore & Weinberg Bruce.D. “What’s Your Social Media Strategy?” 2011. Harvard Business Review, July-August, pp. 23-25. Read More