THE USE OF DIGITAL MARKETING TOOLS AND PRACTICES OF MULTINATIONAL CORPORATIONS TO THE SME’S OF THE MIDDLE-EAST

Abstract

The landscape of marketing has undergone rapid change in the last ten years and the technological advances that have led to this change keeps innovating and developing. People are now actively engaged in digital worlds and networks, mainly social media that gives them a digital extension of their life in an online world. A company having access to various social networks can take remedial actions to prevent a smear attack, solve customer issues and most importantly market any product they wish to use digital marketing methods. This study focuses on the digital marketing and the use of various marketing methods by companies engaged in doing business in Middle-east especially in Saudi-Arabia. This will be done by benchmarking 2 Multinational Corporations, namely, McDonald’s and Souq.com which is an e-commerce website that has operations in more than 7 GCC countries. Social Media, community and psychological theories have been explored to support the issue and find solutions to issues that are faced by multinational corporations, especially in engaging with existing members and gaining new followers, customer or members. The aim of this study is to provide an insight on how digital marketing tools and methods can create new customers and followers for Small and Medium sized enterprises in the Middle East. This study conducted in qualitative and uses secondary sources and journal articles and its tools. The main findings include the relationship between digital marketing and data and how digital marketing can help when campaigns are strategically thought and implemented with right techniques.