Social media used ineffectively by Middle East firms, survey shows

Almost half of the 15,758 people surveyed by Bayt.com, from 12 countries in the Mena region, were in agreement about ineffective usage, while 43% feel their social media strategy was positive, even 'excellent'.

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The study, titled "Corporate Usage of Social Media in the Middle East", found uncovered that Middle East businesses are worried about the potential for social media to damage their reputation. With eight in 10 of those polled citing that as a primary concern, the results indicate that education and policymaking are essential for a winning formula.

Aside from such risks, other top challenges were difficulty to monetise online presence (11.3%), pitching the correct tone of their content (11.3%) and keeping up with processing feedback (10.5%). Other challenges include measuring ROI, and dealing with frequent technology updates.

"When asked what they consider to be most important in a successful corporate social media page, more than a quarter of respondents said that they want content that is informative and educational," says Lama Ataya, CMO of Bayt.com.
"Companies looking to implement a successful social media strategy should bear this in mind when launching a new page. Social media is a dynamic force that is being manifested today in both the personal and professional realms."

Facebook was the most commonly employed platform, with 65.5% reportedly setting up a Page, followed by Google+ (10.7%) and LinkedIn (9.7%). Twitter scored a stunningly low 3.4%, despite being a strong brand with ubiquitous references in the media.

Social media content important, but a strong liability

In terms of desired features of a social media page or profile, 17.8% of respondents agreed 'fun and interesting' content was key, more than providing customer service (14.9%), answering comments and queries (13.2%) and being updated frequently (11.7%). Almost a third of respondents are managing to update their social media presences at least once a day.

With a proclivity toward social media content being 'fun', therein lies a measure of subjectivity that may slow the process down, and even inflate the risk to a firm's reputation. AMEinfo.com spoke with Rishi Saha, Regional Director for Hill+Knowlton Strategies AMEASCA, who commented that the real risk is to not develop any kind of strategy.

"There's a flawed perception that if you don't engage with social media, you are insulated from potential damage to corporate reputation," he said. "Nothing could be further from the truth. Failure to develop a coherent social media strategy - even if it just includes some regular monitoring and analysis to begin with - simply increases your level of reputational vulnerability and denies an opportunity to respond or rebut."

Social media 'not surprising' as unsuccessful traffic driver

Social media is mainly perceived as a channel to boost brand exposure, while allowing user interaction, feedback and even offering other perks such as recruitment.

With the poll finding that only 47.5% view their social media activity as successful in driving traffic, Rishi Saha weighs in: "It's not surprising that so many companies feel that their social media efforts are failing to hit the target. All too often, there is an arbitrary and pointless race to stack up as many Likes or Followers as possible without any focus on the quality or purpose of those relationships.

"This is exacerbated by a failure to apply the same strategic approach to social media as one would to traditional brand communications or public relations. How does social media align with business strategy? How does it help enrich the relationship with consumers? How can social media principles be applied to internal communications, recruitment, CSR activation, media management or customer service?

"Without asking these fundamental questions - or at least, having a sense of where and how social media fits into your specific organisation - it is unsurprising that results remain lacklustre."

Social media sophistication, like all forms of communication, will evolve as enterprises gain experience and channels establish more refined performance indicators. Trial and improvement will continue to be commonplace as six in 10 predict even a 'dramatic increase' in corporate social media within the next year.