Abstract

In today’s fast-paced world, social media marketing is crucial for businesses. However, many Saudi Arabian organizations need more skills and resources to use this strategy effectively. This article outlines organizations’ top issues when adopting social media marketing and provides valuable insights into how to overcome them. After conducting an extensive literature review and consulting with experts from various sectors, 19 critical issues hindering social media marketing adoption in Saudi Arabian organizations were identified. The study employed the DEMATEL approach to analyze these issues and determine their impact level and cause-effect relationships. The study found that customer support, platform trust, secure data sharing, and perceived value significantly impact a business’s social media marketing success. By addressing challenges like customer support, platform trust, and perceived value, businesses can enhance their social media marketing success and promote themselves globally by attracting and retaining customers through their social media presence. The insights gained from this research offer valuable guidance for Saudi Arabian organizations looking to refine their social media marketing strategies. To overcome the challenges hindering the adoption of social media marketing, businesses must address the “cause” and “effect” category issues. By adopting a formal and pragmatic approach, Saudi Arabian organizations can achieve sustainable growth and promote themselves to a global audience.

Introduction

Social media platforms offer businesses a unique opportunity to expand their reach, increase their visibility, and establish a strong brand presence in the global market [[1], [2], [3]]. Social media networking platforms have developed as an instrumental tool for businesses and marketers to acknowledge customers’ needs and offer viable resolutions to their marketing challenges [[4], [5], [6]]. Even though this platform has become ubiquitous in people’s lives and has emerged as a critical tool for businesses, the term “Social Media Marketing” still appears to have limited awareness among the business community [7,8]. Social Media Marketing (SMM) is a commercial marketing activity that leverages social media to positively influence consumers’ purchasing decisions [9]. With people increasingly using social media to trade and share information about products and services, businesses must integrate social media into their marketing strategies to engage customers and build long-term relationships [10,11]. This has made social media a primary platform for businesses to engage with customers and promote their products and services [4,5]. However, the effectiveness of SMM campaigns depends on several enablers or critical success factors (CSF) that facilitate their success. Enablers, or CSFs, are defined as factors that create favorable conditions for a particular phenomenon [4]. These enablers, or CSFs, are critical to the success of SMM campaigns, and identifying them is crucial for businesses seeking to leverage social media for improved marketing strategies [12]. In the contemporary business environment, social media has emerged as a vital component of communication and marketing strategies for companies operating nationally and internationally, enabling virtual engagement between users and allowing for real-time social interactions between consumers and businesses [10,11,13].

Businesses can leverage their global connectivity and reach to connect with diverse stakeholders, promote their offerings, facilitate social engagement, and achieve growth [3,14]. However, companies recognize the potential of social media as a tool for building and maintaining solid customer relationships [2,6,7]. Customers can quickly acquire vast information about products, services, brands, and their interaction to learn more about products and brands. The increase in social media community identity would enhance the brand commitment of the customer [[15], [16], [17]]. However, customers face different challenges in making purchase decisions due to the vast amount of information available and seeking proper guidance, and social media has assisted them [18]. There is still limited awareness of SMM enablers among the business community, regardless of the growing importance of this phenomenon [7,19]. Several studies have attempted to identify the key enablers of SMM, including the use of customer engagement metrics [20,21], social media analytics [4], and social media strategy [5] using diverse methodologies. However, limited studies on SMM enablers employing the DEMATEL approach have been conducted in the Middle East, particularly in Saudi Arabia. The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia is undergoing rapid digital transformation, and it becomes vital to study the critical success factors or enablers of SMM among Saudi Arabian organizations. SMM has become a significant part of these businesses’ modern marketing strategies to reach target customers and build long-term relationships [22]. However, SMM practices are not adequately adopted as a marketing tool among companies in the kingdom, and hence, how does social media impact businesses and consumers, and what are the barriers to SMM seeking further investigation [[23], [24], [25]].

Conclusion

Social media has emerged as a crucial marketing tool for businesses worldwide, enabling them to connect with their target audience and adapt to the ever-changing business landscape. However, identifying the enablers of SMM adoption is crucial to ensure sustainable business development. This study investigates the critical issues hindering SMM adoption in Saudi Arabian organizations. To accomplish this goal, the study conducted an extensive literature review and consulted experts from various sectors, including retail, education, pharma, and transportation, to identify 19 key issues that impede the adoption of SMM in Saudi Arabian organizations. The study then analyzed these issues using the DEMATEL approach to determine their impact level and cause-effect relationships. The study’s findings highlighted several critical causal issues that significantly affect the adoption of social media marketing in Saudi Arabian organizations. For instance, issues related to customer support and trust on the platform were instrumental in determining a business’s social media marketing success. Similarly, safe data sharing and perceived value significantly impact a business’s social media presence. This study contributes significantly to social media marketing by shedding light on the critical issues hindering its compelling adoption in Saudi Arabian companies. What sets this research apart from existing studies is its distinctive focus on identifying the barriers and challenges organizations face when harnessing the absolute prospect of social media for marketing purposes. While many previous studies have investigated the enabling aspects of social media marketing, this study brings a different approach by pinpointing 19 critical issues that serve as roadblocks to successfully implementing social media marketing strategies. Unlike studies that underline the positive consequence of social media on business performance or empowerment, this study delves deep into the challenges companies encounter when incorporating social media marketing into their overall business strategies. Furthermore, this study embraces the DEMATEL approach to investigate these issues, furnishing a robust framework for understanding their impact levels and cause-effect relationships. This analytical technique adds depth and accuracy to the findings, making them favorably actionable for businesses seeking to enhance their social media marketing strategies. This research presents a novel outlook by underscoring organizations’ barriers and challenges in adopting social media marketing strategies. By pinpointing these barriers, businesses and marketers can accumulate valuable insights into overcoming them, eventually directing to more successful and compelling social media marketing campaigns. This body of research provides a comprehensive understanding of SMM from various perspectives, highlighting its potential to foster customer interactions and engagement.