Lebanon’s area is ranked 170th in the world (CIA, 2014). It really is smaller compared to the size of Connecticut, one of many smallest states in in the us. Moreover, Lebanon is among the few democratic countries in the Middle East region. Regarding Social Media Management services , Lebanon is really a free market economy and has a very long tradition of laissez-faire economics. Along with its coastal location on the Eastern Mediterranean coast, Lebanon is recognized as the central ‘window’ of the Middle East to Europe, North Africa, and the rest of the world. For this reason, its economy has gone through some very prosperous times and was even once called the ‘Paris’ of the center East before the nation’s 15 year-long bloody civil war which ended in 1990.
Also, although Lebanon is tiny, additionally it is probably the most diverse nations on earth. Christians, Muslims, Druze, along with other minority sects are spread all over the small nation and even Lebanon’s political system is based on sectarian power sharing.
However, this diversity had played a pivotal role in the country’s problems. This diversity was a necessary condition of the country’s sectarian civil war and currently plays a significant role in its political paralysis, although other factors (mainly foreign) are at fault as well. There is currently no acting President and the country’s rival political parties keep bickering and preventing instead of facilitating the country’s development.
Furthermore, Lebanon’s proximity to Israel has made it a foreign policy/proxy battleground for foreign nations, each using Lebanon for its own selfish ends.
The sad political realities of the country have significantly hurt the country’s economy. Also, since Lebanon is really a service-based economy, this specific sector has taken the biggest hit.
Tourism plays a significant role in the country’s economy. In line with the Lebanese Ministry of Economy & Trade (MOET), “Tourism is definitely one of Lebanon’s leading economic sectors” (Economic Research Unit, 2010).
Furthermore, The World Travel & Tourism Council estimated that the travel & tourism sector in Lebanon contributed over $4 billion dollars in 2013 (World Travel & Tourism Council, 2014).
The travel & tourism sector made up about 10% of the economy in 2012 but that share dropped to 9% in 2013 (ibid, p. 14). This is because of the political situation in the united kingdom as well as various other factors. Moreover, the amount of tourist arrivals in the united kingdom kept decreasing from 2011 to 2013.
Since the tourism industry has been somewhat floundering in the past few years, the room for error becomes very small for businesses in this industry. The political & economic situations are squeezing tourist-related (TR) businesses in Lebanon. Therefore these businesses are forced to accomplish more to create up for increasing losses (or decreasing profits) and with fewer resources. There is no telling once the political & economic situation in Lebanon will improve especially because the civil war in neighboring Syria shows no signs of abating.
There are many ways that Lebanese TR businesses can adapt during these times such as implementing downsizing policies and cutting back on marketing & advertising budgets. When economic recessions and a down economy affect businesses, the first things to get eliminated are often marketing budgets. But especially since TR businesses should do more marketing to make up for lost businesses, it isn’t really a good idea.
One solution to this problem is to make the most of Social Media Marketing strategies since they cost little to no resources, perfect for the current economic situation in Lebanon. Social media allows TR businesses to overcome obstacles of limited budgets and decreased business.
Problem Statement
During the past couple of years, the positive effect of social media marketing on business has been extremely high (Kaplan et al., 2010; Stelzner, 2010; Treem & Leonardi, 2012, p. 143; Baker & Green, 2014).
Moreover, Facebook and Twitter fans of a specific brand are more likely to recommend and purchase from these brands than non-fans (Cruz & Mendelsohn, 2011). But, we won’t need to make sure of social media’s effect on business through research studies. For social media users, such as over 30% of the planet, this fact is known. An increasing number of businesses are inserting Social media tools into their marketing strategies and, in some cases, have even become an integral part of their overall business strategy.
Naturally, you might expect that Lebanese businesses would quickly adopt SOCIAL MEDIA as a key role in their overall marketing strategies but this is not the case. With regards to the Middle East and especially Lebanon, the spot is far behind the West in social media usage. Not only that, when it comes to businesses involved in the tourism industry, there is much room for growth. Little investment in technology is keeping tourist businesses away from maximizing marketing opportunities distributed by social media.
The Lebanese tourism industry is not taking advantage of social media tactics even though the advantages of doing so are apparent. This presents a great problem especially because the economy is going by way of a very rough time.
Moreover, Lebanese TR businesses and businesses in Lebanon in general are not adopting social media marketing tools because they should. This presents an enormous problem in the waste of resources together with significant missed opportunities as a more substantial target audience could be reached via social media enabling businesses that adopt social media marketing tools gain a better potential for success and prosperity