Introduction
Technological growth has led to the emergence of social commerce, which is an “evolutionary type of business that is mediated by social media and mobility” (Al Saud & Khan, 2013, p. 59). Today, virtual shop owners use social media like Twitter to market their products in Saudi Arabia. Research has shown that Twitter helps business operators to build the business image, connect with other business operators, and strengthen ties with customers. The number of business operators who use Twitter to market their products and services in Saudi Arabia is growing.
Al Saud and Khan (2013) allege that even though Twitter is mainly popular among online consumers, small, medium and big businesses profit from Twitter’s capacity. The majority of small business operators use Twitter accounts to link with potential customers in Saudi Arabia. Besides, Twitter serves as a virtual store for some business operators. Researchers should conduct further research to determine why, who, and how business operators benefit from Twitter. The study will assist researchers and business owners to appreciate the benefits of Twitter in e-commerce.
Purpose of the Study
The purpose of this study is to find out how Twitter has made it easy for people to establish and manage businesses in Saudi Arabia. In addition, the study will assess how Twitter helps business operators to interact with customers throughout Saudi Arabia. Currently, a majority of entrepreneurs use social media for marketing their products. Hence, this study will evaluate how Twitter has contributed to the growth of small enterprises in Saudi Arabia. The project is intellectually worth doing because it will help scholars to understand what makes entrepreneurs use Twitter. Besides, the study will enable intellectuals to know the usefulness of Twitter in e-commerce and open room for further research.
Thesis Statement
Today, Twitter has enabled small and medium enterprises to market their products and services across Saudi Arabia. Indeed, the number of virtual e-shops continues to increase as entrepreneurs keep on understanding the benefits of Twitter in e-commerce. Twitter has made it easy for entrepreneurs to run their businesses through the establishment of virtual stores. Entrepreneurs do not require having physical stores to keep their products. The research will test a number of questions to understand how Twitter has contributed to the growth of small and medium enterprises. It will seek to determine how entrepreneurs use Twitter to execute business transactions. Additionally, the research will identify the advantages of using Twitter and its effectiveness.
Literature Review
Social commerce is gaining popularity among small and medium enterprises despite it being a moderately new trend. Development of Web 2.0 technologies, online groups, and e-business opportunities has facilitated social commerce. Therefore, the inclusion of social media like Twitter is what distinguishes a social business situation from the average e-commerce situation. Al-Husain and Mirza (2014) allege that the premise of social business is “wide-ranging such that it can include the exchange of opinions, ideas, sentiments or services” (p. 34).
In addition, it can combine offline and online business activities by incorporating a mobile business, e-commerce, and brick-and-motor business. Entrepreneurs use Twitter to rate and review clients. Besides, they use Twitter to create and manage online communities. Twitter has helped entrepreneurs to create a trusted environment where clients can freely share their experiences and give recommendations on what business operators should do to enhance their services (Al-Maghrabi & Dennis, 2011).
According to Askool (2013), business operators have exploited the internet and social media to a level that no one would have fathomed. As a result, development in social media has significantly altered marketing activities. The introduction of social media like Twitter and Facebook has eradicated the conventional buyer/seller relationship. Social media has enabled customers to relate and confer with one another instantaneously. In addition, Twitter has allowed small business operators to create brand awareness. Entrepreneurs send numerous affirmative images of their enterprises on Twitter, therefore creating awareness among potential customers.
Burton and Soboleva (2011) allege that Twitter is a potent marketing tool that helps entrepreneurs to reach innumerable customers and minimize marketing costs. According to Neergard (2005), business operators use Twitter because it helps them to get feedback from customers. They believe that salesmen are dishonest. Hence, entrepreneurs prefer Twitter since they trust that it offers unbiased feedback.
According to Park and Oh (2012), Twitter has over 500 million users. Unlike Facebook and other social media, any person with a Twitter account can access all information shared by other users. Hence, information shared on Twitter reaches many people relative to other social media. In Saudi Arabia, many small business operators use Twitter to market their products and services. Patino, Pitta, and Quinones (2012) argue that Twitter improves the level of “interactivity in communication between businesses and customers” (p. 235). Increased interactivity enables customers to learn more about a business, thus enhancing their likelihood to buy from an enterprise.
Research has shown that a majority of people who own smartphones use Twitter. Consequently, most business operators have realized that Twitter offers an efficient and reliable conduit of reaching their customers. Research has proved that consumers who receive information about particular enterprises through Twitter are likely to visit and buy from the enterprises.
Wang and Zhang (2012) argue that some customers avoid social media because they do not trust web providers. Hence, they fear to share critical information or exchange money through social media. According to Wang and Zhang (2012), it is hard to build trust in social media due to a lack of physical contact. Trust is critical for the success of e-commerce since it eliminates uncertainties. Nevertheless, a majority of entrepreneurs who use Twitter to market their products claim that they do not encounter challenges. They build trust with their customers through constant social interaction. Business operators create web interfaces on their Twitter accounts that enable them to share intimate information with customers, thus building trust. The web interface eliminates suspicion among the customers and makes accept to purchase goods online. Indeed, entrepreneurs have managed to use Twitter to influence the buying behavior of many customers.
Methodology
Explanation
The purpose of this study is to determine how business operators use Twitter to market their products and reach potential customers. Moreover, the study intends to assess the advantages of using Twitter among small and medium enterprises. In addition, the study will evaluate the effectiveness of Twitter in reaching potential customers. The study will rely on quantitative data gathered from small and medium business operators in Saudi Arabia. A total of 250 business operators who own virtual shops will be required to answer numerous questions within a period of four weeks. Questionnaires will be sent to participants through Twitter, and they will be expected to send back their responses through the same channel. Since no one will be available to assist the participants, the questions will be open-ended to enable them to elaborate on their answers.
Research Instrument
The study opted to use questionnaires to gather data from 250 participants. The questionnaires focused on three critical areas. First, they sought to establish the degree of adoption of Twitter by small and medium business operators. Second, participants were required to highlight the benefits of using Twitter to market products. Third, the questionnaires sought to determine the effectiveness of Twitter in running virtual shops. The use of questionnaires was reliable since all questions were open-ended. Besides, researchers ensured that they did not use ambiguous questions that may confuse the participants.
On the other hand, researchers guaranteed the validity of information gathered by ensuring that they only involved business operators who are already using Twitter to sell products. Hence, the participants were expected to answer questions based on experience. The data gathered were calculated and examined through descriptive statistics. Researchers computed mean, frequency counts, and percentages to determine consistency.
Population
Many business operators use virtual shops for marketing their products and services. Hence, researchers had a significant pool of entrepreneurs. A total of 600 entrepreneurs were identified, and 250 participants selected randomly from the pool. Researchers preferred to select the participants randomly to ensure that all were given equal chances to participate in the study. Out of the 250 members, only 112 members participated in the study. The rest did not send back their answers even after accepting to participate in the exercise.
Findings
According to the findings, at least 90% of the participants were female. The findings indicated that more females than males engaged in small and medium enterprises in Saudi Arabia. It might be attributed to the high level of unemployment among women in the country. In age distribution, 44.64% of the respondents aged between 18 and 25 years, while 43.75% aged between 26 and 35 years. The percentages showed that Twitter is popular among youths in Saudi Arabia. Besides, the majority of those who use Twitter for business are educated. At least 73.96% held a bachelor’s degree and above (See Appendix 1).
The majority of participants claimed that they benefited from Twitter in four ways. It helped them to attract more customers and increase their sales volume. In addition, they alleged that Twitter helped them to build a strong relationship with customers. It also helped in business development by selling novel products and services. The four benefits were included in the research questions, and participants requested to state their degree of concurrence with each of them. The majority of the participants said that they firmly concurred with all the benefits. The study required participants to indicate if Twitter was effective in facilitating business activities. Over 40% of the participants claimed that Twitter was efficient in running business activities. Besides, many participants argued that a majority of customers preferred to use Twitter to purchase products.
Discussion and Implications
The findings indicated that the majority of females used Twitter to market their products. They showed that Twitter had become an alternative source of employment for women in Saudi Arabia. However, the study could not confirm if females used Twitter due to a lack of alternative forms of employment. The fact that the majority of business operators who used Twitter to sell products were educated is an indication that Twitter is most popular among the intellectuals in Saudi Arabia. Hence, there is a need to enlighten the uneducated group on the benefits of using Twitter and social media to transact businesses.
The number of small business operators who use Twitter in Saudi Arabia is still small. Many entrepreneurs are yet to understand the benefits of using Twitter to run a business. Hence, there is a need to educate the public on the benefits of using Twitter to manage the business. Besides, more women should be encouraged to participate in social commerce as an alternative source of income.
Conclusion
The research has offered a general idea of how entrepreneurs use Twitter to manage their businesses in Saudi Arabia. The majority of the business operators fall into the digital generation. These are people who are conversant with technology. The study found that business operators use Twitter due to numerous benefits. For instance, it helps entrepreneurs to expand their businesses and reach many customers. In addition, most participants agreed that Twitter is useful in business management. Moreover, some participants alleged that customers have confidence in conducting business transactions through Twitter. However, some customers are reluctant to do business with strangers. Therefore, entrepreneurs create web interfaces on their Twitter accounts that help to build strong relationships with clients.
Recommendations
The study focused on a small number of entrepreneurs. Hence, future research should focus on a large number of participants so as to come up with conclusive findings. In addition, future studies should focus on other scopes of Twitter usage. Moreover, the research should cover other social media platforms. To improve the study, one should incorporate qualitative data. A comparison between qualitative and quantitative data helps researchers to come up with dependable results.
References
Al Saud, A., & Khan, M. (2013). Role of social media in brand development in Saudi Arabia. European Journal of Business and Economics, 8(1), 47-63. Web.
Al-Husain, D., & Mirza, A. (2014). Twitter and the opportunity for small business entrepreneurs in Saudi Arabia. International Arab Journal of e-Technology, 4(1), 32-39. Web.
Al-Maghrabi, T., & Dennis, C. (2011). What drives consumers’ continuance intention to e-shopping?: Conceptual framework and managerial implications in the case of Saudi Arabia. International Journal of Retail & Distribution Management, 39(12), 899-926. Web.
Askool, S. (2013). The use of social media in Arab countries: A case of Saudi Arabia. Web Information Systems and Technologies, 140(1), 201-219. Web.
Burton, S., & Soboleva, A. (2011). Interactive or reactive? Marketing with Twitter. Journal of Consumer Marketing, 28(1), 491-499. Web.
Neergard, H. (2005). Networking activities in technology-based entrepreneurial teams. International Small Business Journal, 23(5), 144-148. Web.
Park, J., & Oh, I. (2012). A case study of social media marketing by travel agency: The salience of social media marketing in tourism industry. International Journal of Tourism Sciences, 12(3), 93-106. Web.
Patino, A., Pitta, D., & Quinones, R. (2012). Social media’s emerging importance in market research. Journal of Consumer Marketing, 29(1), 233-237. Web.
Wang, C., & Zhang, P. (2012). The evolution of social commerce: The people, management, technology, and information dimensions. Communications of the Association for Information Systems, 31(2), 19-33. Web.
Appendix 1
N.B.: The percentages were rounded off, and hence they may not add up to 100%.