Guest Editorial: A special section on digital marketing

Abstract

To further enhance theory and practice in the information and communication technologies (ICTs) and digital media research this special issue responds to growth of global e-commerce and digital content and how these impact existing marketing practices. Almost a decade ago, with the growth of global e-commerce, localization of digital content was seen as an effective way to target online consumers worldwide (e.g., Singh & Pereira, 2005; Singh, Bartikowski, Dwivedi, & Williams, 2009); companies needed to identify consumer segments based on nationality and language, and other broad segments, and accordingly localize and culturally customize the digital content. Individuals engage in a variety of activities, including looking for regular news and important event information, engaging with family and friends, evaluating items, facilities, and locations, selling and purchasing goods, and accessing transportation, tourism, and personal financial services. Businesses utilise these technologies and engage in digital and social media marketing efforts to create brand and product awareness, sell their goods, provide services to their consumer, encourage and facilitate consumer engagement with brand community, and enhance their customer relationship management to impact consumer behaviour (Abed, Dwivedi, & Williams, 2015; Alalwan, Rana, Dwivedi, & Algharabat, 2017; Buhalis & Volchek, 2021; Dwivedi, Kapoor, & Chen, 2015; Dwivedi, Rana, & Alryalat, 2017; Dwivedi, Rana, Slade, Singh, & Kizgin, 2020; Dwivedi, Ismagilova, Rana, & Raman, 2021; Dwivedi, Hughes et al., 2021; Harrigan et al., 2021; Ismagilova, Rana, Slade, & Dwivedi, 2020; Ismagilova, Slade, Rana, & Dwivedi, 2020; Kamboj, Sarmah, Gupta, & Dwivedi, 2018; Kang, Lu, Guo, & Li, 2021; Kapoor, Dwivedi, & Piercy, 2016, 2018; Kizgin et al., 2020; Krishen, Dwivedi, Bindu, & Kumar, 2021; Mishra, Shukla, Rana, & Dwivedi, 2020; Parthiban, Qureshi, Bandyopadhyay, & Jaikumar, 2021; Rana et al., 2020; Roy, Gruner, & Pantano, 2021; Shareef, Mukerji, Alryalat, Wright, & Dwivedi, 2018; Shareef, Mukerji, Dwivedi, Rana, & Islam, 2019). This suggest that digital and social media marketing is becoming an integral part of marketing plans of organisations worldwide (e.g. Kapoor et al., 2018; Kizgin, Jamal, Dey, & Rana, 2018). It is observed that identification of customer segments on social media and targeted communication is the key to marketing success today (Alalwan et al., 2017; Kapoor et al., 2018).