Social Media, Consumer Behavior and Marketing Strategy: Implications of “Halal” on Islamic Marketing Operations

Abstract

The paper broadly examines the role of social media in Islamic marketing strategy development within the context of the reported shift towards more relationship-oriented approaches to marketing. Social media platforms have emerged as key communication tools in relationship marketing in part because of their ability to facilitate on-going two-way communication between an organization and a mass audience, whilst maintaining the push-messaging capabilities of traditional marketing. There is therefore growing academic interest in exploring the factors that influence the adoption and use of social media for business development purposes. There is a similarly growing interest in the field of Islamic marketing, due in part to its sheer size, as well as the relatively significant influence that Islam exerts on the consumption behaviors of Muslims and on the operations of business managers. The goal of the paper, then, is to describe the role that social media platforms play as brand communication tools in an Islamic marketing context. We begin the paper with a brief exposition of the concept of Islamic marketing, highlighting some of the factors influencing academic developments in the field. Next, we discuss the main ways in which the use of social media by marketers and consumers alike influence Muslim consumer behavior. Finally, we conclude the paper by examining the effectiveness of the evolving role of social media platforms as tools with which marketing managers can influence the purchase behavior of Muslim customers.

Understanding the role of social networking platforms in addressing the challenges of Islamic banks

“…Conventional and Islamic banking systems are differentiated on the basis of Riba and risk-sharing practices. In Islamic banking, profit is varying, and risk may be shared among lenders, borrowers and banks (Samad, 2004;Fadahunsi and Kargwell, 2015). However, profit is certain, and risk is only shared with borrowers in conventional banking systems (Al-Ajmi et al, 2009;Ali and Naeem, 2019;Samad, 2004).…”

“…According to Roumieh and Garg (2014), UGC has increasingly received attention among researchers, policy makers, top management and Islamic banking organizations. Fadahunsi and Kargwell (2015) argued that Islamic social marketing operations are purely based on "Halal" concept, which means marketers cannot advertise inappropriate products and service features, promotion, labeling and exaggeration using social media tools. For example, brick and click business model, following company Daraz.pk, introduced "Black Friday" sales in Pakistan, but it initially failed because Friday is one of most important holyday for Muslims, so the word black is not acceptable with holy Friday in Muslim countries.…”

“…The majority of Muslim respondents wanted to buy Islamic bank products, but they had a lack of awareness about the features of products and services in Australia (Rammal and Zurbruegg, 2016). Previous studies highlighted that the level of education, the level of awareness about products and services, the number of service reviews, the level of informational technology use, the level of purchasing power and the level of spending on advertisement are different between Islamic countries and non-Islamic countries (Roumieh and Garg, 2014;Fadahunsi and Kargwell, 2015;Ozuem and Lancaster, 2012;Wilson, 2012). For instance, only 52 per cent of Muslims have a lower level of awareness about Islamic banking products in South Africa (Cheteni, 2014), 65 per cent respondents reveal their interest in Islamic banks, but they do not have complete details about the Islamic bank products and services in Sri Lanka (Nimsith et al, 2016) and 50 per cent of respondents have no information about the efforts of the State Bank of Pakistan for enhancing the level of awareness for Islamic banking products in Pakistan (Shaikh et al, 2017).…”

“…UGC refers to those contents that are published by users using different social online platforms (Akar and Topçu, 2011): "Online platforms and technologies include social media, social computing, Web 2.0, collective action tools, social Web, read/write Web, consumer-generated media, virtual communities, computer-mediated communication, online communities, and socio-technical systems" (Imran et al, 2019;Akar and Topçu, 2011;Aslam, Muqadas, Imran and Saboor, 2018;. It has become necessary for the banking sector to make a policy framework in order to create and distribute UGC because these contents can bring purchase intention, creative expression, business growth, innovation and profitability (Roumieh andGarg, 2014, Fadahunsi andKargwell, 2015;Ozuem and Lancaster, 2012;Wilson, 2012). Despite the growth, size, complexity and importance of the role of Islamic banks, few attempts have been undertaken to explore how UGC on social media is helpful to enhance brand engagement of customers (Roumieh and Garg, 2014;Fadahunsi and Kargwell, 2015;Ozuem and Lancaster, 2012;Wilson, 2012).…”

The Customer Awareness and Intention of Syariah Bank:The Role of Marketing Communications

“…The results of this study are in line with research conducted by [27] which shows that marketing communications such as direct marketing, seminars, and carnivals conducted by Islamic financial institutions affect the understanding of Islamic financial institutions. In social media, consumers who initially participate passively in marketing become active creators and influencers, transfer the power of the brand directly to consumers because of two-way communication [29]. The research conducted also shows that brand awareness partially mediates the purchase intention of Syariah bank customers.…”