Background
Aramco is one of the world’s leading oil and gas companies in Saudi Arabia. The company is a major player and is strategically positioned in the global energy industry. It is the largest gas industry in the MENA region and the world’s second-largest company by market cap (Kuznietsova & Saienko, 2022). Aramco has invested heavily in technology to maximize the value of the energy it produces. The company is headquartered in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, with offices in major cities worldwide.
The company considers digital marketing a major driver of sales of its hydrocarbon products. The state-owned company is at the center of the country’s digital transformation vision. Aramco’s average daily oil production per well is estimated at 10.2 million barrels, and it also holds natural gas reserves of approximately 297.6 trillion standard cubic feet (Aramco, 2021).
With these large oil and gas deposits, the company holds about 17 percent of the global petroleum reserves, making oil and gas a vibrant industry in the kingdom. The sector also contributes about 50 percent of the kingdom’s GDP (Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries, 2021). Apart from oil and gas, the kingdom also boasts of large deposits of copper and gold, among other minerals.
Digital Marketing Audit
The company has a strong online presence, just like most companies in consumer-focused industries. The company is present on Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn. The company’s presence on these social sites has enabled it to reach its customers and stakeholders (Dozier, 2021). The company has adopted digital technologies in its operations, including the use of digital tools in data analytics and communication with stakeholders (Wanasinghe et al., 2020).
Regarding digital marketing, the company has invested considerable effort in enhancing its social media and online presence. The company has a corporate website to communicate with the stakeholders. The website communicates information about Aramco’s operations and company social responsibility initiatives. They engage with their audience and update people about their operations through social media pages (Dozier, 2021).
Based on the company’s size and industry, its digital marketing strategy often involves targeted communication, with most messaging directed to company investors, industry professionals, and stakeholders rather than consumer-based marketing campaigns. The company primarily utilizes social media pages to share news, updates, and industry insights. Based on Aramco’s sentiment analysis, which determines the company’s audience’s feelings and attitudes by considering their opinions and emotions. There is a generally positive online perception of the company.
Digital Marketing Strategies
One of the strategies Aramco has embarked on is revamping its digital technologies. Aramco has doubled its investment in digital technologies and is currently focusing on developing and deploying Fourth Industrial Revolution technologies (Birch, 2023). Through this, it aims to support digital innovators and entrepreneurs. According to the company’s chief executive officer, it plans to invest at least $1.9 billion in digital transformation over the next three years to support its efforts (Birch, 2023). This is one of the company’s biggest digital transformation investments.
The money will also be utilized to promote the company through digital marketing and revamp its production technologies. The company plans to use social media platforms and leverage advanced technologies, such as 5G networks, to connect with consumers and stakeholders. The company utilizes social media platforms, including Facebook, X, and LinkedIn, to foster stronger relationships with its customers and stakeholders. The company also utilizes these platforms to market its products and enhance its reputation and image. The company has also used social media platforms to enhance its value, differentiate itself from its competitors, and outpace them in the industry.
Digital Marketing Plan
As part of the plan to ensure digital transformation within the company and the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, the company has engaged companies such as Zoom and Samsung to assist in the process. The company has partnered with Samsung Electronics to help localize 5G technology in the kingdom. The company also signed an MoU with a tech giant to develop 5G-assisted technologies for use in the oil and gas industry in the kingdom (Alanazi et al., 2022).
Collaboration with Samsung is important to the company in digital marketing, as it will help develop secure, fast, and reliable technologies. Apart from the digital transformation, the company also planned to transfer its marketing and sales responsibility to SABIC (Dhahran, 2021). The plan will further enhance the company’s online presence, strengthening its brands and services, and providing a competitive advantage.
With these systems in place, the company must also expand its presence on social networks such as YouTube, Instagram, and TikTok, which are more popular with millennials. The company can also use social media to promote its accounts and encourage use. They can provide customers with fuel coupons by sharing and liking their social media posts, including videos and pictures.
It is also estimated that the company takes about 72 hours to respond to customers on social media; therefore, the company needs to reduce its turnaround time from 72 hours to at least 48 hours (Dozier, 2021). This will benefit both the client and the company, as it will enhance the company’s reputation. The company has not been posting regularly on its social media accounts to boost its digital marketing strategy, and it needs to post daily.
Digital Marketing Management
Measuring the success of any digital marketing strategy is crucial for any company. Companies use various metrics to measure success, gain a deep understanding, and make informed decisions based on campaign analysis. Aramco can use website traffic monitoring metrics to gauge the success of its campaigns. Through website traffic monitoring, the company can identify the source of the traffic.
Through this metric, they can identify whether it is generated by paid ads or referrals. The metric also enables company marketing analysts to analyze website visitor behavior. They can analyze the pages visited and their time on the website (Diamond, 2022). These insights can provide the company with a comprehensive understanding of its overall visibility and appeal to customers and stakeholders.
Apart from website traffic monitoring, marketing managers can also track the campaign’s conversion rate as a key metric for measuring its success. This method is equally important, as it enables marketers to determine the success of their digital marketing campaigns. This metric can determine the number of sign-ups, purchases, downloads, and form submissions resulting from the campaign. After monitoring all these conversions, managers can calculate the conversion rate to determine effectiveness and identify areas that require immediate improvement (Fatta, Patton, & Viglia, 2017).
Additionally, Aramco may consider Return On Investment as a measure of the financial impact of its marketing campaign (Diamond, 2022). This method is essential as it compares the total cost of the digital campaign against the total revenue generated by the campaign. Similarly, it allows the managers to measure the Return on the profitability and effectiveness of the digital marketing campaign.
References
Alanazi, A. M., Almutairi, N. R., Aseery, A. A., Al Buraiky, S. M., Rafie, A. M., & Alrumaih, A. A. (2022, October). Private 5G Practice in Oil and Gas Industry. In Abu Dhabi International Petroleum Exhibition and Conference.
Aramco (2021). About us. LinkedIn.
Birch, K. (2023). How Aramco is advancing Saudi’s digital transformation. BusinessChief.
Dhahran. (2021). Aramco and SABIC announce plans to realign marketing and sales, commercial and supply chain activities to drive efficiency and add customer value. Aramco
Diamond, S. (2022). Digital marketing all-in-one for dummies. John Wiley & Sons.
Dozier, B. (2021). Social media marketing. Saudi Electronic University. Barbra Dozier’s Blog.
Fatta, D., Patton, D., & Viglia, G. (2017) The determinants of conversion rates in SME e-commerce websites. Elsevier, 41, 161–168.
Kuznietsova, N., & Saienko, Y. (2022). Companies trans-nationalization process features in the international oil market. Věda a Perspektivy,11 (18).
Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (2021). Saudi Arabia facts and figures. OPEC.
Wanasinghe, T. R., Wroblewski, L., Petersen, B. K., Gosine, R. G., James, L. A., De Silva, O., Mann., G., & Warrian, P. J. (2020). Digital twin for the oil and gas industry: Overview, research trends, opportunities, and challenges. IEEE access, 8.