Impact of Social Media Memes’ Behavioural Motives on Brand Engagement: The Moderating Role of User Generation
Alanood Almaghlouth, Mahmoud Saleh

ABSTRACT
In Saudi Arabia, social media has become integral to the digital landscape, connecting people, businesses, and communities across borders. Amidst this digital marketing context, an emerging phenomenon showing the widespread use of internet memes raised questions about to what extent they are impactful to the brand. Therefore, this research aims to identify the impact of meme-based brand content on consumer’s brand engagement through the internal behavioural motives it evokes, including perceived pleasure, social gratification, self-congruence, and escapism. It also aims to explore the moderating role of generation type on consumer’s brand engagement. A quantitative approach, including an online survey, collected 321 respondents, was applied. The research applied two statistical analyses, multi-linear regression. Findings showed that there are significant relationships between the four motives resulting from Memes and consumer’s brand engagement. Moreover, the study revealed that the user’s generation plays a moderating role in this relationship because different generations are motivated differently by memes. While the younger Generation showed higher brand engagement driven by memes escapism and social gratification, older generations were motivated by escapism and self-congruence. The research contribution is manifested through the growing body of knowledge on social media marketing, digital consumer behaviours, and the evolving landscape of digital communication. Findings will empower digital marketers, content creators, influencers, and social media managers to create more effective meme-driven campaigns about brands.

Keywords
Memes, Motives, Brand Engagement, Perceived pleasure, Self-Congruence, Social Gratification, Escapism

Role of Digital Marketing Content Strategy on User Experience Toward Cultural Venues in Saudi Arabia
Alanood Almaghlouth, Dr. Soad Almeshal

ABSTRACT
The noticed cultural shift in Saudi Arabia is manifested in the digital platforms on social media networks. Consumers of cultural products encounter these creative institutions online, and digital cultural experience takes a further direction through digital content creation. Thus, this expansion and growing online cultural content lead institutions to apply different digital content strategies and tactics to reach and deliver an effective user experience. Therefore, this research explored the user experience of cultural content and identified the patterns of effective digital marketing content strategy in this field by reviewing recent quantitative analysis and content analysis and proposing the best practices. The study revealed that digital content that is inviting in the form of Call-To-Action, aesthetically appealing, and tells a story in a local tone can significantly influence users’ overall engagement. The research has shed light on Saudi Arabia’s unique cultural context and how digital marketing strategies and content creators should be tailored to resonate with the local audience. The contribution of this research is reflected in providing a rich and comprehensive understanding of the phenomena, equipping managers of cultural venues, digital marketers, content creators, and social media developers in Saudi Arabia to develop user-centric and culturally relevant content strategies that enhance the digital experience overall.

Keywords
Content Marketing Strategy, User Experience, Engagement, Cultural Marketing, Call-To-Action, Storytelling, Aesthetic, Localization.

Exploring the effectiveness of marketing strategies leveraged by visual storytelling and emotions in Indian films
Pravitha Vijaykumar, Mamata Bhandaar

ABSTRACT
The research paper investigates the effectiveness of marketing strategies employed through visual storytelling and emotional appeal in Indian cinema. With the growing influence of digital media and diverse distribution platforms today, Indian filmmakers are leveraging innovative marketing techniques to engage audiences and drive box-office success. Visual storytelling is one aspect of emotionally engaging consumers, the study uses data from two Bollywood movies to identify the components of visual storytelling that should be leveraged for marketing by filmmakers. With qualitative research methods to carry out content, image, and video analysis, this study explores the impact of visual storytelling and emotional resonance on audience perceptions, and behavior, driving the box-office success of selected movies. The research delves into the multifaceted nature of marketing strategies in Indian films, examining the usage of trailers, posters, behind-the-scenes, and other promotional materials to evoke emotional responses to create immersive storytelling experiences. Key themes explored include different components of visual storytelling viz., narrative techniques, usage of audio-visual contents, and multimedia effects applied in shaping audience perceptions and evoking emotional engagement. The study findings offer insights for filmmakers, marketers, and industry stakeholders seeking to optimize their promotional efforts and enhance audience engagement in an increasingly competitive market.

Key words:
visual storytelling, marketing strategy, audience emotional engagement, film marketing, Indian films industry