Palestinian Businesses Utilization Of Social Media Marketing Prepared by: Ayman Qarout
Oct 21, 2014
Palestinian Businesses Utilization Of Social Media Marketing
Prepared by: Ayman Qarout
SOCIAL NETWORKS
•Meet & share•Has purpose•Interact with each other
Video/Photo Sharing
• Share photos & videos• Discover & learn• Interact with other users
OVER SPARK NEW MEDIA
BLOGS
• Personal site• Easy to create & share• Visitors can leave comments
PODCASTS
• On-demand Radio & TV shows• Available 24-hours• Sharable
OVER SPARK NEW MEDIA
SOCIAL MEDIA
Social media networks areprimarily Internet and mobilebased tools for sharing anddiscussing information amonghuman beings. The term mostoften refers to activities thatintegrate technology,telecommunications and socialinteraction, and theconstruction of words, pictures,videos and audio.
SOCIAL MEDIA
Person
Media Producer Media Consumer
has more than 300,000,000 users
1.China2.India3.United States
4.Facebook
5.Indonesia6.Brazil7.Pakistan8.Bangladesh
If Facebook were a country, it would be the world’s 4th largest
Need of the Study
• All major global brands use social media to reach their customers, even small businesses & professionals do
• Facebook: Rank2 … YouTube: Rank 5 … Blogger: Rank 16
• What is Palestinian businesses position in social media?
RESEARCH QUESTIONS
1. How social media marketing is different from the traditional marketing?
2. What is local organizations perception toward social media?
3. What are the social media tools most used by local organizations?
4. Which social media marketing tactics do local organizations use? Are they effective compared to global organizations uses?
5. Do these tactics take advantage of the new media aspects?
SOCIAL MEDIA MARKETING
Social media marketing is a term that describes use of social networks, online communities, blogs, wikis or any other online collaborative media for marketing, sales, public relations and customer service
SOCIAL MEDIACHARACTERESTICS
• Participation and Sharing• User-generated and user-control• Community• Conversation• Openness
FROM PASSIVE TO ACTIVE
• Social media marketing case studies (2)
CASE STUDYSocial Media Marketing Adoption
- Sample: 1068 marketers- 66% will be investing in social media in 2010-Of them, 40% will shift more than 1/5 of their traditional marketing toward social media marketing- 51% are shifting marketing efforts toward more customer engagement
SMM TACTICSDirect Methods
Indirect MethodsSMM TACTICS
Indirect Methods
SMM TACTICS
Share insight and opinion
Talk about company culture and values
Be the one to break the news in your industry
Offer discounts, coupons or special offers to
customers who find you via social media
Highlight employees
Track conversations about your brand for online reputation management
Learn new things, related to your industry or not
Direct traffic to your site
Mention awards you’ve won or accreditations
you’ve earned
Hold contests
See how your competitors are interacting with customers Answ
er common custo
mer questions
Show your human face
Sales
ServiceManufacturingRetailerWholesaler
METHODOLOGY
• Secondary data: books, articles and case studies
• Primary data: structured questionnaires and unstructured interviews
• Sample size: 20 local companies
• Limitations: No cooperation from companies, time limitations, surveyed companies are only in Ramallah
8
7
3
2
ServicesManufacturingRetailersWholesalers
Sales
1st Qtr2nd Qtr3rd Qtr4th Qtr
FINDINGS
I think social media sites are good only for fun and socializing
AgreeDisagree
Sales
1st Qtr2nd Qtr3rd Qtr4th Qtr
FINDINGS
I encourage open conversations with both customers and employees, and encourage customers to participate and talk
about me
EmployeesCustomers
Strongly AgreeAgreeNo OpinionDisagreeStrongly Disagree
Sales
1st Qtr2nd Qtr3rd Qtr4th Qtr
FINDINGS
I prohibit access to social networks in my company domain
AgreeNo OpinionDisagree
Usage
FrequentlyOccasionallyInfrequentlyNever
FINDINGS
Personal usage of social media sites
Usage
FrequentlyOccasionallyInfrequentlyNever
FINDINGS
Does your business have a presence in social media?
20
No9
Yes11
Services7
Manufacturers3
Retailers1
FINDINGS
Social media channels used
Channel
11 Facebook group/fan page
1 YouTube
2 Twitter
0 Blog
0 Podcast
0 Photo sharing
0 Wiki pages
Category 1Category 2
Category 3Category 4
00.5
11.5
22.5
33.5
44.5
5
Series 1
Series 2
Series 3
Series 1Series 2Series 3
FINDINGS
Tactics Used
Direct
Adverti
sing
Gather C
ommunity
Monito
ring
Share
tips
0123456789
10
YesNo
YesNo
CONCLUSION
• Marketers are not up-to-date with what is happening in the industry
• Most of social media marketing efforts are still in early stage and need to be worked out
• There is no true “relationship marketing” in local companies, and most of them care only with directly selling their products
RECOMMENDATIONS
1. Marketers should seek to more engage the customers, make conversations with them
2. Companies should become more open, encouraging both their customers and employees to talk about them
3. Marketers should start taking risks in their marketing campaigns, and be more creative
4. When having a presence in social media, you shouldn't ignore it
5. Make customers fall in with you