Dubai: Brands in the Middle East have yet to harness the power of social media despite a surge in young people pushed online since the Arab Spring, experts say.
Analysts point out that while the Gulf region take-up of social media sites such as Facebook and Facebook Arabic is among the highest in the world, brands are not utilising the medium successfully.
"In terms of where we are compared to the rest of the world we are still playing catch up. Brands are using social media. But the question is how they are using it. It's one thing to get up on Facebook and start an account; it's another thing to say you're using social media within a business framework," said Preethi Mariappan, head of digital arts, TBWA\RAAD.
"There needs to be some kind of risk-taking mentality. Whether you're sitting on the agency's side or the client's side you need to have the ability to say ‘I'm going to be the first one in my category to go out and do something radical'," she added.
Jordi Ferrer, global head of TNS Digital, pointed out that only 15 per cent of the total ad spend globally is aligned to digital media, with the ratio around 30 to 35 per cent in developed markets and just 4 per cent in the Mena region.
Main barriers
According to Satish Dave, senior director at TNS, the main barriers are understanding ad measurement and the true ROI on digital marketing, a lack of content and apps in Arabic, mobile enabled websites and adequate e-commerce/m-commerce platforms.
"We're moving from a world of multi-thousand pound ads in media with no audit to a few dollars per thousand clicks on platforms with total transparency. That's going to be a challenge for agencies and marketers alike," said Alexander McNabb, director at Spot On PR.
According to McNabb, companies may be damaging their brands by not managing their online communications properly, not implementing suitable guidelines and putting inexperienced staff or agencies in charge of communicating with online audience.
That said, brand expenditure and awareness of digital media have been growing steadily in the region. A survey conducted by UK training house eConsultancy and local media outlets showed that 58 per cent of business people surveyed said that their organisations were increasing their digital marketing budgets.
"There is a rising demand by consumers across most markets to keep up-to-date with their brands of choice. For some the motivation is promotions and offers, for others it is about access to general information and a deeper feeling of brand proximity," said Steve Hamilton-Clark, CEO of TNS MENA.
