Top tips for a great social media campaign

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Social media has become a must-have business tool for professionals and companies alike. Here Faheem Gill offers tips on how to make the most of your social media campaign…

With such a connected audience, developing social media campaigns that capture the attention is essential

Social Media a must for any company that wants to be successful. The UAE has the highest penetration of smartphones in the world (72%), not to mention that 52% of UAE residents visit social media sites daily. With such a connected audience, developing social media campaigns that capture the attention is essential.

Facebook is now limiting organic reach to roughly 2% of followers of pages, which is forcing most companies to begin looking at other social media channels. With social media users in the UAE embracing these new social channels, it is worth reviewing your social media strategy. Here’s five top tips to help you stay on track:

1. Start with your goals
The goals of a social media campaign must be defined first. Whether it is just getting more followers, or increasing engagement, the goal of the campaign must be measurable. In addition to having clear targets, you must have a good analytics package to measure this. With most social media channels you can either use third party tools or develop a custom tool to measure the key performance indicators that you and the client have agreed upon.

In addition to having the goals in place, you should also:

  • Ensure the client has a social media policy, and how does the campaign fit the policy
  • Define the key customer including their interests, demographics and psychographics
  • Be within the confines of the cultural and legal framework of the region

While you are getting ready to run your client’s campaign, a value added service you can provide to your client is to measure how their competitor is doing during the same time. Tools such as Moz Analytics gives you a good way to gain some insight into your client and their competitors and gives you a granular look at the competitive landscape.

2. Be active
With a plethora of social media channels out there, you have to be active on the ones that are important for the campaign. For example, a B2B may be more inclined to be on LinkedIn whereas a B2C in the home and garden space would be a better fit for Pinterest. Being active on the right channels at the right time is key. One tidbit we have found out is that more negative viral events occur during holidays and weekends than the weekdays. A good rule of thumb is to be active three times a day with three different touch points to the target customer.

3. Entertain through images
Visual graphics and videos are easier to share and have to be part of the mixture. From videos to images and infographics, there are numerous options that can fit your campaign. In general campaigns should have a good mixture of visuals to content. You can easily newsjack trending topics with images that fit your campaign’s goals.

4. Quality over quantity
Campaigns must meet the right balance of hitting the touch points without becoming spammy. Often there is too much content being distributed without any feedback. Engagement with your target customer is key and some try a ‘throw everything’ approach. The top three most visited sites in the UAE are Facebook, Instagram and Twitter.  Having your campaigns on these sites will be enough for most campaigns. Just don’t overuse the #hashtags (3 maximum).

5. Measure and report
We started with the goals of the client and we end with it as well. The way to keep your clients satisfied comes from the data that shows how social media is helping them with their goals. Tools such as Buddy Media, Brandwatch, Social Sprout and many more can help you capture the data you need and keep your clients happy.

 

Faheem Gill is Managing Director, Asia Operations at Xelleration. Follow him on Twitter @ims43

Christina Sang joins Insignia PR

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Christina Sang has joined the Insignia PR team as Account Manager. Christina was previously with Esquire Financing Inc. in the Phillipines, where she set up the marketing team and managed business development initiatives.  Subsequently, she was appointed as Project Manager of the Office of the Chairman, and handled the Chairman’s private equity development projects. Prior to this, Christina worked for Emaar Hospitality Group with Armani Hotels and Resorts in Dubai, dealing with events in luxury, VIP and corporate segments, as well as spearheading the launch of At.mosphere for which she handled the communications and events.

“Christina is a true third culture kid of today,” says Gabriela Asquith, Director, Insignia PR. “Her versatile background and multi-lingual capacity keep Christina in the know and adaptable to emerging international trends.”

Aquarius Magazine launches redesign

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Aquarius Magazine has undergone a full redesign and rebrand unveiled for this month’s June issue. In circulation since 2002, this is the first restructure of the women’s lifestyle magazine, and includes a new look, new logo and new attitude.

“While the title has always been very close to our hearts and a vital part of our portfolio, we wanted to offer readers a new and fresh look to compliment our new editorial attitude,” says Katie Heskett, Associate Publisher, Gulf News Magazines. “We have changed our focus to address all elements of a woman’s life – from careers and parenting to fashion and beauty, food and home. With so much more content on offer and various platforms that we are able to deliver it on – including our website, app, social media and monthly events – we wanted to have a fresher look that fitted a new era for the title.”

Louisa Wilkins, Editor of Aquarius Magazine adds, “Aquarius is such a well-loved and respected magazine with our readers. Our commitment to them remains our top priority, and this redesign and editorial direction will offer them even more great content and opportunities to engage with us. It’s amazing to see how the magazine has developed this year – we’ve done a lot of work and research with our readers to get this final results and the feedback from them has already been fantastic.”

Gulf News Publishing Director James Hewes further adds, “The magazine is one of the most important titles at Gulf News Magazines, and to see this exciting new direction is just one part of our ongoing development plans for our women’s lifestyle group.”

CNN International launches Future Finance

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CNN International has announced the launch of Future Finance, a new weekly segment showcasing future trends related to the global financial system that will feature in two of the network’s highest profile business shows – Quest Means Business and World Business Today. Future Finance will complement CNN’s business coverage by examining everything from a future without cash to high-speed trading that employs the power of laser beams.

Each month Nina Dos Santos will host a Future Finance 15-minute special programme highlighting the best in CNN’s series of short feature films, and offers global insight into what’s on the horizon at consumer and industry level. With stories from Asia, Africa, Europe and the Americas; Future Finance will be an opportunity to gain perspective on possible future trends related to all areas of global business innovation. The weekly reports began airing on June 3 2014, with CNN’s first instalment of its 15 minute programme launching June 25, at 10.45 BST / 11.45 CET.

A dedicated microsite www.CNN.com/FutureFinance will feature Future Finance reports and supplementary content such as digital explainers, info-graphics and analysis. The material will also appear and be promoted across other CNN business and news web pages.

Winners of Transform Awards MENA revealed

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The first winners of the inaugural MENA edition of Europe’s Transform Awards were announced last night in a ceremony held at the JW Marriott Marquis Dubai, with sixteen regional ad, branding and creative agencies honoured with the highly-contested ‘Best in Class’ titles.

“We’re absolutely delighted with the response to the first Transform Awards in the region,” says Andrew Thomas, Founder of Transform and Managing Director of Cravenhill Publishing. “There is a tremendous amount of work in the rebranding, repositioning and brand transformation space and we see huge potential for growth in the coming years. As we’ve seen from the awards, the level of talent in the region is quite outstanding, and we seriously hope that the Transform Awards will set a brand industry benchmark to take it to the next level.”

Reviewing and evaluating the categories were Flavia Barbat, Editor-in-Chief of Branding Magazine; Patrick Lloyd-Bradley, Brand and Marketing Communications Director for Averda International; Ammar Elkurdi, Brand Manager for Volvo Cars, and Stephen McCallion, Global Head of Marketing and Communications, Abu Dhabi National Energy Company.

Fellow judge, Syed Abdul Karim Tanveer, Director of Brand Experience at Mobily adds, “The Transform Awards are a great platform to celebrate the best from the world of branding. It is a wonderful opportunity for talent in the MENA region to be recognised for their work. This is key to inspiring others and helping the industry to evolve and mature.”

The categories and winners of the Tranform Awards MENA 2014 included – Best Use of a Visual Property – Seef Mall and Unisono; Best External Stakeholder Relations During a Rebrand – Abu Dhabi Commercial Bank and StartJG; Best Internal Communication During a Rebrand – Dubai Airports and StartJG; Best Implementation of a Rebrand – Gama Aviation and Brash Brands; Best Creative Strategy – Milaha and Bellwether; Best Brand Evolution – du; Best Strategic/Creative Development of a New Brand – Mubadala and Omnia; Best Rebrand to Reflect Changed Mission/Values/Positioning – Intel and Red Peak; Best Brand Consolidation – Toyota (Al-Futtaim Motors) and Bellwether; Best Rebrand of a Digital Property – Xplored for GardaWorld and Bladonmore (Middle East); Best Visual Identity from a Charity/NGO/NFP – Doha Film Institute; Best Visual Identity from the Technology, Media and Telecommunications Sector – MixFM and Turquoise Branding; Best Visual Identity from the Financial Services Sector – Emirates RE and Omnia; Best Visual Identity from the Industrial and Basic Materials Sector – Milaha and Bellwether; Best Visual Identity from the Property Sector – Mubadala and Brash Brands; Best Visual Identity from the Retail Sector – 1915 by Seddiqi and Brash Brands; Best Overall Visual Identity – Mihala; Best Overall Visual Identity Bellwether for its work with Milaha, and Grand Prix – du.

Alongside the awards, Transform MENA held a full day conference attended by branding and communications professionals from the MENA region. The conference included a lineup of sessions discussing the most successful rebranding, repositioning and brand transformation projects globally and in the MENA, and saw the launch of Transform Magazine, a global publication on brand development.

Stylist to launch Middle East edition

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Arab Publishing Partners (APP), part of the ITP Group, has announced today a new licensing agreement with London-based Shortlist Media Ltd. The first brand under license will be fashion and lifestyle weekly Stylist, and is set to launch in the UAE in September 2014, introducing the ‘freemium’ magazine sector to the market.

Similar to its UK and French versions, the Arabia edition of Stylist will target cosmopolitan, urban professional women aged 20-40 years. Once launched, the magazine will be the highest circulated women’s weekly title in the market, with a print circulation of 50,000 across the UAE. The magazine will also be made available at five star hotels, airline business class lounges, spas, salons and universities, and will be sent direct to ITP’s extensive female database. An online edition of the magazine will be available from Apple iTunes, and the title will be BPA audited.

“Stylist has taken the UK by storm over the last four years,” says Tim Ewington, Co-Founder and International Director, Shortlist Media. “With our first overseas edition in France now firmly established we are thrilled to be launching into the dynamic Middle East market. We are delighted to be working with APP in the Gulf. They are experienced and professional operators – perfect partners to recreate the same impact that our brand has had in the UK and France in a new region.”

Ali Akawi, Managing Director of APP Group adds, “We are excited to see the APP Group further expand its portfolio and bring the first ‘freemium’ magazine to the Middle East. We look forward to building a large interactive community of readers and are confident we can replicate the success that the brand has had in the UK and France.”