ArabAd

UAE Social Market

- BY: PAUL HITTI SOCIAL MEDIA DIRECTOR STRATEGIES INTERNATIO­NAL DUBAI

The “All Digital” is ruling social communicat­ions, marketing, advertisin­g and all aspects of the nervous system of the UAE life. This revolution happened as part of a shift of the economy of this country to the technology drive.

The demographi­cs of the UAE, one of the richest cosmopolit­an melting pot in the world are behind this revolution, due to the enormous flow of business exchange between countries represente­d within the expatriate population who is representi­ng all dynamic aspects of the economies of their home countries.

This is where contracts are signed and goods are exchanged.

The tools of this activity are all digital. These population­s connectivi­ty represents 95% of internet penetratio­n in the UAE.

With over nine million population, the UAE has a penetratio­n rate of 68% of active Social Media users and 61% of active “mobile” Social Media users.

According to the Global Informatio­n Technology Report 2015 by the World Economic forum, the UAE comes second highest after Singapore in usage of Informatio­n technology, and its impact

November 2016 on the life of its population­s. The key conclusion is that these population­s are highly active on the social networks to communicat­e with the government, between businesses, and between individual­s.

Social Media with Facebook, Instagram and Whatsapp has become the ultimate sphere where brands meet their competitor­s, their advertiser­s, their social communicat­ors, bloggers and influencer­s in a tridimensi­onal structure. Their tools are the smartphone­s, the tablets and the laptops by order of importance.

The key factors of this boom is the universal interconne­ction found nowadays on the devices. All devices read text, images, videos, Gifs, and all important file formats necessary to conduct business or to socialise on Social Platforms, and web pages… All from the smartphone or the tablet …

File transfers have become instant and unlimited … What more do we want?

The advertiser­s are finding here their Gold! All Digital Media planning, programmat­ic, distributi­on, targeting, monitoring and reporting have become a reality. ROI is predictive, budget fine- tuning is possible, Reach is a breeze … All the heavy old traditiona­l social circuit has now shifted to instant Digital.

Horizontal communicat­ion is instant on Whatsapp, Instagram, Facebook and Twitter where common people exchange selfies, but where business groups exchange contracts and instant informatio­n to tens or hundreds in a second and at long distances.

Reading less, listening more and viewing more have reduced the typing hassle. Voice exchange, and video exchange by short messages or live transmissi­on like on Instagram event and Facebook live and snapchat have made the Social Sphere a real village.

The Social Media scene in the UAE looks today like a big open market with uncontroll­able and hard to understand flows of communicat­ion.

Sources of Informatio­n have also shifted it seems from macro providers like newspapers, outdoor and cinemas to micro providers of info, personalis­ed, and targeted role models … the influencer­s !!

Are you an influencer or planning to be one? Open your social accounts now!

The Social Media Scene in the UAE looks today like a big open market with uncontroll­able and hard to understand flows of communicat­ion.

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