How to Start with Social Media Marketing for Small Businesses in the Middle East?

1. mazen@iworksdigital.me www.iworksdigital.me

2. In the Middle East, the use of social media marketing has reached its peak. Much like the rest of the world, social media has become an essential part of daily internet usage in Kuwait and the rest of the Middle East regions. • Some of the interesting social media statistics in Kuwait 2020: • The total number of social media users in Kuwait increased by 155,000 during April 2019 to January 20. • As of January 2020, there were 4,096,000 Facebook users in Kuwait, which is accounted for 93.8% of its entire population. • Twitter is ranked second as the most used social media platform per individual and businesses in Kuwait, with an online market share of 17.61% during April 2020. • The majority of the social media agencies in Kuwait are relying on five major social media platforms, Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, Snapchat, and LinkedIn. • These statistics indicate and prove the significant role social media plays in the life of the Middle Eastern population, which is why we hear how crucial it is for any business to have a strong social media presence. mazen@iworksdigital.me www.iworksdigital.me

3. Social media has a massive impact on how both big and small brands connect with their target audience. Today, many distinguished brands such as Zain, NBKGroup, Boubyan Bank, STC Kuwait, and Toyota Kuwait are found trending on YouTube, using it as a means of interaction with their audience during these economically stressful times. Did you know that 32% of small businesses find social media a challenging marketing channel to win? It proves that there is a substantial gap between the usage of social media by small businesses and how they should be utilizing their digital channels or social media marketing services. Are you one of those SMBs struggling to get your social media presence noticed and reap the benefits of this powerful medium to grow your business? This post will be an on-hand guide for small business owners to make social media marketing service work for them. Misalignments regard to Social Media in SMBs Before getting into how you can use social media more effectively for your small business, it is crucial to debunk a few of the most common misalignments and establish the affirmative thinking of social media marketing services for SMBs. A few of the key points when it comes to these services are: mazen@iworksdigital.me www.iworksdigital.me

4. Google algorithms keep changing and new social media platforms launch every now and then. This imposes a great challenge on the social media management agency to define a strategy for long-term success. • Social media platforms are majorly used by SMBs to generate leads. Still, it is of no use until the small businesses run proper ad campaigns to capture the necessary information from their target audience and sell more products. • Many companies often believe that social media is meant for engagement with the customers, but they lack the knowledge to convert those engagements into the business. • These are a few of the reasons why many SMBs often feel social media marketing a daunting task. So, how can you avoid such issues and make a powerful social media marketing strategy? Let us explore how to use social media effectively for your small business. • Designing a realistic social media marketing STRATEGY! • To use social media to grow your brand effectively, the first step is to create a well-planned social media strategy. Unlike other marketing activities, social media marketing differs since it requires focusing on a variety of variables like brand, industry domain, how innovative your products or services are, budget, and a lot more. Of course, you can rely on social media marketing services from digital marketing experts, but before that, you have to specify the following information: mazen@iworksdigital.me www.iworksdigital.me

5. Define clear-cut GOALS and BUDGET! To maximize your results from the Best Social Media Marketing Agency you employ, it is crucial that you have clear goals and budget for your marketing campaigns. Based on the nature of your business, you might have different objectives than others. It is crucial that you decide on the goals, whether you aim to drive more traffic, improve brand awareness, increase social media following, or to generate leads through engagement. Identifying these goals allow you to create a proper plan with the appropriate budget, resulting in positive digital marketing. If you have merely or no presence on the social platforms, you might have to come up with a bigger budget and spend some time analyzing whether social media can be a helpful tool for your business growth or not. Get clear about social media CHANNEL to be used! Every so often, new social media platforms are introduced across the world! Many giant brands often invest their time to think about the social media platform that will work best for them. Presently, Facebook and Twitter are leading when it comes to social media usage in the Middle East, so it is highly recommended that you start with those platforms. mazen@iworksdigital.me www.iworksdigital.me

6. If you have some other thoughts, the social media management agency you employ has the resources to conduct in-depth research of new and already existing social media platforms, to determine the best platform for you. However, the rule of thumb is to follow your audience! Wherever your target audience is, go to their social media channel when conducting your marketing campaigns. Think about social media CONTENTstrategy Among all the social media marketing tactics, finding out what is going to be shared is the most fundamental action. When you think about what to post, it takes a lot of effort to create creative and original content. Additional struggles also include creating a variety of different strategies to promote these posts and show them to as many people as possible in the most cost-effective manner. This can be challenging for SMB’s, which is when a professional digital marketing company can provide essential services to these businesses. However, to start with, you can think about status updates, product promotions, and content to improve engagement. You must think about your audience, understand what they expect, and pitch the right content to make your social media marketing efforts worth it! Consider using social media TOOLS mazen@iworksdigital.me www.iworksdigital.me

7. When you invest significant money into social media marketing, consider social media tools and technologies within your budget. Each tool or technology will have different prices, and it depends totally on your social media budget and target audience. Based on your budget and strategy, you can either have a full suite of social media tools or merely a single application to help you manage your strategy. You can have detailed research about popular tools, i.e. Hootsuite, Buffer, MeetEdger, and more. It is time to think about enabling your own social media team If you have carefully reviewed the post, you might have realized that when it comes to social media marketing, it is not something you can go all alone and win the battle. Hiring a social media management agency can help in crafting and implementing your small business social media strategy that allows you to reach your goals. Want to discuss how social media can work best for your SMB? Get in touch with our experts now! mazen@iworksdigital.me www.iworksdigital.me

8. THANK YOU Source Link mazen@iworksdigital.me www.iworksdigital.me