Revista de Artes e Ciências Sociais

Social Media Impact on Small and Medium Enterprise: Case Review of Businesses in the Arab World

Abstract

Wael Basri

The present paper briefly provides a literature based review of how the social media affects small and mediumsized enterprises in the Arab world. As established by previous research, advances in the social media are enabling social and cultural changes, helping congregate regional markets for higher sales, advancing ideology of and modernizing contemporary businesses, transforming traditional business approaches, molding unique markets for marketing, and initiating consumer-focused communication/marketing. Similarly, the impact of social media across the Middle East is significantly evident, progressive, and unique in the geographical region. Numerous scholars and researchers have already established that social media usage by small and middle-sized businesses is gaining prominence in the Arab region. The present paper sought to establish how the social media is influencing the small and medium-sized businesses in the region, in general, as established by recent empirical research and theoretical scholarship. According to the review, there is unique relationship between the social media and the Arab world, in social, political, religious or cultural and economic spheres. This relationship has enabled the social media to uniquely impact on the Arabian market in such areas as offering (a) a marketing platform for the Information Age, (b) an avenue and forum for increased sales, (c) an innovative edge for SMEs to reduce expenditure/cost and increase profitability, and (d) a benchmark of direct client communication of modern PR. In sales and marketing, social media is now employed to attract new clientele, and increase sales within the current market base. Further, in marketing and public relations, social media has enabled and maintained direct and personalized business-to-client communication in ways previously impossible and absent.