This document analyzes Palestinian businesses' use of social media marketing. It begins by defining key social media platforms and their purposes. It then outlines the need for understanding how Palestinian businesses use social media and lists research questions. Key findings include that most local organizations have a limited understanding of social media marketing and focus on direct sales over engagement. Recommendations encourage more open two-way communication through social media to build relationships with customers.

1. Palestinian Businesses Utilization OfSocial Media Marketing Prepared by: Ayman Qarout

3. Has purpose

6. Discover & learn

10. Easy to create & share

13. Available 24-hours

15. SOCIAL MEDIA Social media networks are primarily Internet and mobile based tools for sharing and discussing information among human beings. The term most often refers to activities that integrate technology, telecommunications and social interaction, and the construction of words, pictures, videos and audio.

16. SOCIAL MEDIA Person Media Producer Media Consumer

17. has more than 300,000,000 users China India United States Facebook Indonesia Brazil Pakistan Bangladesh If Facebook were a country, it would be the world’s 4th largest

20. Facebook: Rank2 … YouTube: Rank 5 … Blogger: Rank 16

22. 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

25. User-generated and user-control

26. Community

27. Conversation

31. Indirect Methods SMM TACTICS Indirect Methods

32. SMM TACTICS Offer discounts, coupons or special offers to customers who find you via social media Hold contests Talk about company culture and values Highlight employees Learn new things, related to your industry or not Share insight and opinion Direct traffic to your site Show your human face Mention awards you’ve won or accreditations you’ve earned Answer common customer questions Be the one to break the news in your industry See how your competitors are interacting with customers Track conversations about your brand for online reputation management

34. Primary data: structured questionnaires and unstructured interviews

35. Sample size: 20 local companies

37. FINDINGS I encourage open conversations with both customers and employees, and encourage customers to participate and talk about me

38. FINDINGS I prohibit access to social networks in my company domain

39. FINDINGS Personal usage of social media sites

40. FINDINGS Does your business have a presence in social media?

41. FINDINGS Social media channels used

42. FINDINGS Tactics Used

44. Most of social media marketing efforts are still in early stage and need to be worked out