The impact of social media on business in saudi arabia

THE IMPACT OF SOCIAL MEDIA ON BUSINESESS IN SAUDI ARABIA
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Abstract
This research highlights the use of social media on worldwide businesses
and particularly discusses the context of small and medium sized
enterprises in Saudi Arabia. Social media networking sites such as
Facebook twitter Instagram and many more to name are getting
worldwide popularity compared to traditional method such as TV, Radio,
Newspapers and other old Media’s.
Saudi Arabia has adapted fast growing technologies rate in the Middle
East, which allow businesses to utilize social media for advertising and
promoting their business. The concerning aim of this research is to
evaluate how Saudi Arabian large companies use social media for
enhancing their customer interaction. This can be considered as a part of
their marketing strategy. The research further revealed the impact of
social media for Saudi society completely by keeping its aim toward
businesses. Second part of methodology discusses data collection for this
research, which is qualitative approach, done among two chosen
companies Alhokair group company resembling small business and STC a
large business in Saudi Arabia. The findings states that the large
businesses acknowledge the importance of social media and the
networking sites for promotion and they have active involvement in
customer interaction. However, small businesses are still unaware of the
profit that social media will provide them. Businesses face many
challenges in Saudi Arabia such as confidentiality, alterations, defense,
liabilities and lost productivity. Study also revealed that the Hierarchy
pyramid can be useful for small businesses to initiate and develop their
marketing strategies.
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Acknowledgment
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Table of Contents
ABSTRACT................................................................................2
TABLE OF CONTENTS.................................................................3
LIST OF FIGURE......................................................................... 4
LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS............................................................4
CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION.......................................................5
1.1 OVERVIEW OF SOCIAL MEDIA..................................................................5
1.2 1 RESEARCH AIMS, OBJECTIVES..............................................................71.2.1 Aims...........................................................................................7
1.2.2 Objectives..................................................................................7
1.2.3 Research Questions...................................................................7
1.3 RESEARCH CONTRIBUTION.....................................................................7
1.4 OUTLINE OF THE DISSERTATION..............................................................8
CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW...............................................9
1.5 INTRODUCTION.....................................................................................9
1.6 DISCUSSION ON IMPACT OF SOCIAL MEDIA ON BUSINESSES........................101.6.1 Communication........................................................................11
1.6.2 Marketing.................................................................................12
1.6.3 Decision making.......................................................................13
1.6.4 Gain valuable customer insights..............................................14
1.7 THE USE OF SOCIAL MEDIA IN SAUDI ARABIA..........................................14
1.8 CHALLENGES OF SOCIAL MEDIA MARKETING IN SAUDI ARABIA....................17
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1.9 COMPARISON BETWEEN SOCIAL MEDIA BUSINESS AND TRADITIONAL BUSINESS
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1.10 CHAPTER SUMMARY.........................................................................18
CHAPTER3: RESEARCH METHODLOGY......................................19
1.11 INTRODUCTION AND OVERVIEW..........................................................19
1.12 RESEARCH SAMPLE..........................................................................20For this study, it was important to find a sample size comprising only
organizations.......................................................................................20
that use social media. Two organizations were selected; Saudi
Telecom...............................................................................................20
Company (STC) and Alhokair Group company. More details about
these two.............................................................................................20
chosen companies are included in the Findings and Discussion
Chapter................................................................................................20
1.13 OVERVIEW OF INFORMATION NEEDED..................................................21
1.14 RESEARCH DESIGN OVERVIEW...........................................................21
1.15 DATA COLLECTION METHOD..............................................................22
1.16 DATA ANALYSIS AND SYNTHESIS........................................................22
1.17 ETHICAL CONSIDERATIONS.................................................................23
1.18 ISSUES OF TRUSTWORTHINESS...........................................................23
1.19 LIMITATIONS OF THE STUDY...............................................................24
1.20 CHAPTER SUMMARY.........................................................................24
CHAPTER 4: RESEARCH FINDINGS
& DISCUSSION.......................25
1.21 INTRODUCTION................................................................................25
1.22 SECTION 1: A DETAILED ILLUSTRATION OF RESEARCH CASE STUDY..........251.22.1 Saudi Telecom Company (STC)................................................26
1.22.2 Alhokair Group Company.........................................................29
1.23 SECTION 2: ILLUSTRATION OF THE RESEARCH QUESTIONS WITH THEIR
ANSWERS..................................................................................................311.23.1 How do social media support businesses in the KSA to make a
better sale nowadays than in the past when there were no social
media?31
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1.23.2 Why do businesses in the KSA use social media and do they
use it effectively?................................................................................32
1.23.3 What are the challenges of the use of social media by an
organization?.......................................................................................34
1.24 SUMMARY OF THE CHAPTER...............................................................35
LIST OF FIGURE
Figure 4.1: The STC Twitter Page..............................................................31
Figure 4.2: The STC Facebook Page..........................................................32
Figure 4.3:Alhokair Group Facebook page................................................36
List of Abbreviations
Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA)
multi-national corporations(MNC)
small and medium enterprises (SMEs)
Saudi Telecom Company (STC)
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1 Chapter 1: Introduction
1.1 Overview of Social Media
This research focuses on discussing the impact of social media in Kingdom
of Saudi Arabian Businesses. Social media has become an innovative and
effective medium that combines technologies and marketing strategies.
Social media is often used to increase brand awareness and in promotion
of the products. The social media offers the market with the opportunity
to contact with the peers and the customers by personalizing their brand
(Lenhart et al 2015).
Social media tools such as Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter offer an
opportunity for corporate brands to connect with their customers on a
personal level. It is also useful in getting feedback and reviews about
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products. Similarly, online review services help an enterprise whilst at the
same time having the potential to make or break their business (King et
al. 2014). The ability of a company to leverage user review helps in
obtaining knowledge about their customer base and their product or
service perceptions. It consequently helps in building client relationship
and identifying the brand’s value-added offering from the user’s
perspective. The most important platform is the company website to show
case the brand product or service to the world (Brynjolfsson et al. 2013).
Social media marketing reaches to a larger number of customers and
using social media in marketing can bring great success to business.
Presently, the importance of social media is realized as it enhances the
process of connectivity with the customers. Both multi-national
corporations (MNCs) and small and medium enterprises (SMEs) implement
strategies to engage their customers using the online platform, which
helps them in promoting the products and building trust among customers
(Fuchs, C., 2017). Social media offers two other important benefits, which are
cost reduction and revenue generation opportunity. For marketing social
media helps in evaluating the prospects of business by introducing
customer interaction and help in receiving customer feedback. Excluding
this, using social media for marketing helps the business in acquiring
information about the competitors and helps in implementing the business
strategies to expand their business (Goud, 2016).
Using traditional marketing tools for building a brand image is a
time consuming process. using social media, communicating with the
customers is easier. About 47% of the world population are using internet
and among them, the buying through Smartphone has rapidly increased
with the demographic use of internet (Taylor 2017). To be more precise,
this research focuses on the use of social media in Saudi Arabian business
by highlighting the aims and objectives of the research in the following
sections.
1.2 Aims and objectives of the research
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