Our region is still very new and hence, receptive when it comes to digesting content from companies. Comparing with the USA and Europe, where people tend to treat every mail received from companies as spam, because of the bombardment of information, the people in our region pay attention to each mail and read every mail. They are intrigued by engaging colors, layouts and content.
This translates into the online and digital medium as well.
Information receipt and information exchange is getting more popular in our region. WOM, Viral and Buzz marketing have an audience in the MENA region – even though the concept is in its nascent stages, the audience is present. They are looking more and more to the online space for information about brands, products and services.
The right strategy is to tap into the right customer segments and introducing these concepts to them. The MENA audiences love a social, community life and hence, believe in a culture of togetherness. Maximizing and utilizing this culture and getting together trend through the WOM and Online/Digital medium can generate the desired buzz, awareness and engagement.
| YouTube & Facebook are one of the top and most popularly visited sites in the region. For example, the growth of members on Facebook is astronomical – in within the last year, the number of users in Lebanon has grown 399%, in UAE 704% and in Saudi Arabia 644%. Social networking, chatting and community interaction online is the in-thing – and the BIG thing. A major portion of the population is also accessing the internet via their mobiles. According to a study conducted by Maktoob, in the region, there are approximately 40 million users on the internet and this figure excludes mobile internet users. |
Traditional and conventional web advertising is not sufficient to cut through the communication of competitors. The need of this digital hour is innovative, engaging and interactive communication – viral, digital WOM devices that should form a key component of the media mix for the audience. Thus, innovative and engaging WOM & Viral marketing is important to connect with the audience – building truly customized connections - differentiating from the competition and getting ahead in the market.
SocialVibe