Social media has certainly inherited the comfort and independence of digital media, it is today one medium that marketers are forced to adopt. But are the companies in Middle East doing enough to get the rabbit out of the hat?
According to a report published in AMEinfo, a significant number of Middle East companies believe social media is not being used effectively, or is missing its potential as per gcc news UAE.
Almost half of the 15,758 people surveyed by Bayt.com, from 12 countries in the Mena region, were in agreement about ineffective usage, while 43% feel their social media strategy was positive, even 'excellent'.
The study, titled "Corporate Usage of Social Media in the Middle East", found uncovered that Middle East experiential marketing news are worried about the potential for social media to damage their reputation. With eight in 10 of those polled citing that as a primary concern, the results indicate that education and policymaking are essential for a winning formula.
Aside from such risks, other top challenges were difficulty to monetise online presence (11.3%), pitching the correct tone of their content (11.3%) and keeping up with processing feedback (10.5%). Other challenges include measuring ROI, and dealing with frequent technology updates through latest news in advertising.
Facebook was the most commonly employed platform providing latest advertising news, with 65.5% reportedly setting up a Page, followed by Google+ (10.7%) and LinkedIn (9.7%). Twitter scored a stunningly low 3.4%, despite being a strong brand with ubiquitous references in the media.
Middle East news says, Most of the companies‘ think that Social media content is important, but it‘s a strong liability to handle.
In terms of desired features of a social media page or profile, 17.8% of respondents agreed 'fun and interesting' content was key, more than providing customer service (14.9%), answering comments and queries (13.2%) and being updated frequently (11.7%). Almost a third of respondents are managing to update their social media presences at least once a day.
The report further revealed that Middle East media is mainly perceived as a channel to boost brand exposure, while allowing user interaction, feedback and even offering other perks such as recruitment but there is certainly much more to be done and could be done.
Social media sophistication, like all forms of communication, will evolve as enterprises gain experience and channels establish more refined performance indicators. Trial and improvement will continue to be commonplace as six in 10 predict even a 'dramatic increase' in corporate social media within the next year. Data & report sourced from AMEinfo.
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