CREATORS AND THE NEW UAE REGULATIONS
H+ K’s Kirsty O’Connor on what the laws will mean for PR.
Acentral part of any marketing campaign now is influencer – or creator – engagement. The UAE’s National Media Council recently revealed plans for regulating these social media creators, which involve a licence to operate in the UAE if they are paid for promoting goods, brands or services. So what will this mean for the marketing industry?
Although this has been widely discussed for some time, there is still uncertainty around what it means for our work. Currently, creators should have a business address and licence to work in the UAE. However, this has not been enforced until now and many work without one as the regulation is unclear and hard to track. We have been waiting on this directive for some time, as our counterparts across Europe and the US already clearly label content they have been paid to post with #ad, #sponsored or the paid partnership functionality.
But is paying influencers worth it? Influencers can and do provide creative input to brands, by producing strong content in support of their product or service. Whether you receive a better output as a brand is unclear. Some say a post from a creator with a large following is just as valuable as post from a Hollywood movie star. But many seek this ‘insta’ fame and build an unauthentic following. Purchasing of followers and likes to give brands quantitative figures on why they should work with influencers lures brands into a false sense of reach and engagement. With Instagram and Snapchat especially we cannot see their follower demographic without asking for it – so how do we really know what we are paying for?
More emphasis on measurement is the answer. Accurate evaluation is something that should be given as much attention as the strategy and tactics of any campaign. If we are working with influencers, how are we measuring the results? Over the last year, we have built our own propriety tool at H+K. It is called Sherlock+ and can tell you if an influencer is authentic and relevant to your brand or market. Creators are ranked by their influence in a sector, which is calculated by an impact score that considers quantitative measures such as reach and engagement, but also quality and variety of content as well as timeliness of posting. Sherlock+ can track an individual’s page performance and where a following or engagements have been purchased. These measures allow us to work with creators who will truly add value. Our recent Gold MEPRA award for Best Use of Influencers is a prime example of this, where we worked with influencers from across the region to show the lifestyle of a Porsche owner, and selected and evaluated creators using the Sherlock+ tool.
Our creators at #MyPorscheDXB were not paid, but what does the new regulation mean for brands that do pay? You will need to start asking from June to see licences. If you do not pay creators to post, then nothing yet. Low-value gifting for reviews or posts is not included in this ruling, but may be something that needs to be considered later down the line and communicated transparently with appropriate tags such as #gift, #createdwith or #collaboration.
Although we can predict this, until there are set rules and regulations in place, nothing will change. We may see influencer agencies and platforms coming out strong to sign up more influencers who are fearful or misinformed. Influencers who are true to the industry will seek out trade licences now and share with brands.
The creator space here is also international – we see many influencers working across MENA due to the connected nature of these countries and citizens. Influencers may choose to work with brands outside the UAE to be paid for collaborations. Looking at Saudi Arabia, for example, we can see rumours of a similar regulation coming but there is no directive in place to monitor paid promotion yet. Saudi Arabia as a market is highly digitised, so influencers can and will continue to be paid in markets where no licence is required.
In the long run, this new ruling will help clean up the sector with credible, authentic and impactful influencers becoming more and more visible. This will give rise to more powerful brand collaborations and enhanced creativity, which can only be a good thing.