This is the last thing that I wanted to say, or do…
For me, there’s no place like Twitter. There’s the engagement and the ability to follow trends. The platform also offers the simplest way to interact with others. It’s not as showy as Instagram, or a place for the folks like Facebook. While my wife will love me saying this, but I think I’ve had enough of the bird. The reasoning is simple. I don’t like where the company is headed under its new owner, Elon Musk. From how he’s treated Twitter’s staff, to an out-in-the-open bias for views and social media accounts that I find abhorrent (from antisemitism to transphobia, fascism and xenophobia), my head tells me to get the heck off of Twitter. I want to be on social media for discussion and debate, but also for civility and a purpose that goes beyond hating another group of people. The last straw for me was targeting/banning public servants and journalists who don’t share the Twitter CEO’s worldview (I only wish I could give my Model Y car back).
My family will be happy to read this (less social media scrolling), but I’ll be sticking to LinkedIn for now and exploring new online places that don’t require me to put on a headset and lose my legs. I’ll be leaving my Twitter account dormant, in the naïve hope that Twitter takes a different, more inclusive direction. Otherwise, I’ll be staying off the site. I don’t want to see that level of toxicity, and I feel that we’ve given Elon Musk enough of our attention and time (I certainly don’t want him to make money off of my presence and activity on Twitter, given what he’s doing to the platform). Right, enough of this post and here’s to less social media and more real world stuff. I’m off to do some gardening with the wife!
Saudi’s capital Riyadh has dramatically changed over the past couple of years
A new year, a new job and a new country. Well, the last isn’t exactly true. I’m back in Saudi Arabia, the country I lived in for a number of years over a decade back. And if it wasn’t for the unmistakable Najd accent and the landmarks, I may be fooled into thinking that I was somewhere else. The change in Riyadh alone has been remarkable. There’s the obvious changes, such as women driving (and yes, I’m both enjoying and a little fearful of sitting in the passenger seat as my wife drives me around a town she used to know even better than me). But there’s also a shift in society, in how people deal with each other. There’s more activities in Riyadh, including live shows (I never imagined I’d see an ice show in Riyadh). Society is shifting, partly due to a top-down push and partly due to the relentless energy of the Kingdom’s youth (who make up the majority of the population).
This means opportunities for communications and communicators. For the past two years, the Kingdom has been in many ways the boom market for new accounts, with the launch of government project after government project. And this increasing focus on Saudi Arabia will inevitably translate to demand for more, better communicators on the ground, professionals who both understand the local market (and its language) as well as the media and communications outside of the Kingdom. For the Saudis, this is key. The country I know, and a people who are the most generous and hospitable in the Gulf, is a far cry from how Saudi Arabia is perceived abroad. Open, transparent dialogues will help alter those perceptions.
In true New Year’s style, I’m going to make a few simple predictions about communications in Saudi Arabia. First of all, I believe that the Kingdom will host more foreign agencies over the coming 12 months – you cannot serve the Saudi market from abroad, even from Dubai (and the UAE’s working week shift makes this more difficult). Second, I also believe we’re going to see more home-grown agencies appear, with specializations in new areas such as internal comms and change comms. And we’re going to see more Saudis enter the comms field, which will be essential if we’re going to create the type of professional I believe who can help the function flourish here, a hybrid who can understand both Saudi Arabia and its people as well as the outside world. Both agencies and those client side need to help make this happen by working with universities and giving young Saudis a taste of what communications is all about.
For now, we’re settling in and enjoying the new Saudi Arabia while getting reacquainted will all that makes this country so special. And I’m hoping to both blog and podcast more from this truly special place. If there’s anything you’d like me to write about, please do let me know!
Clubhouse was fun for us in the UAE, at least for a couple of weeks
The buzz came and went faster than you can say ‘two-shot vaccination’. Clubhouse has been the invite-only app that everyone has been talking about, at least iPhone users (the application isn’t available on Android phones, yet). The app, which is audio-based and is designed around the idea of creating rooms where people can listen in to speakers in a talk-radio format (think a live stream but with no video), has proved to be wildly popular in the Gulf.
I’ve loved the application, and the ability to listen in and engage in talks and debates, both scheduled and on the fly. You can find rooms by interest, follow friends and colleagues, and be as involved or as uninvolved as you want. There are talks about current affairs, social issues, and even silence (which is very handy if you’re living in Cairo). And there were also a myriad of PR possibilities for the platform, which made it so exciting.
Sadly for me and all my friends in the UAE, you won’t be able to use Clubhouse. The service has been throttled to the point that the audio is, frankly, inaudible. Have a listen to the below (and Omar is on a 5G connection, which is going to be faster than my wifi).
This is what @joinClubhouse sounds like in the UAE. The cruel machinations of traffic shaping are back
I don’t know the reasons why this is happening. I assume it’s due to the UAE’s VoIP laws, which requires any application that uses voice over the internet to be regulated (in theory, you can call another individual via Clubhouse, but that’s not really the purpose of the application). Have the country’s networks deemed that Clubhouse is an application whose performance should be reduced to the point that it’s unusable? The only way that the application can be used is via a VPN, which is also not ideal.
It’s a shame that this is happening; Clubhouse looked to be such a fun place to hear others and hold group chats. And it doesn’t help the region in its goal to become a technology leader. But anyone who has lived here for a while knows how these things are (we can’t use Facebook messenger calling, for example). Ah well, anyone up for another WhatsApp group chat?
This week, I’m doing something a little different. I had the pleasure of being joined by the Middle East’s leading legal light (try saying that ten times) on all things media related. Fiona Robertson speaks about influencers, media laws, what some hotel brands were doing during 2020, and why communicators should be vetting what goes online. Have a listen, and follow Fiona on her Linkedin page.
I’m giving this post over to two friends, who have gone through an experience that was uncomfortable at best. Sarah and Shelina have dealt with an issue that they’ve found demeaning, not just to themselves but to how women are seen in general. Their views have been called out. Even when they’ve been asked to share their views, the way they were asked felt wrong, even downright aggressive. The issue has been talked about by another person on the radio. Here’s Sarah’s and Shelina’s time to talk over the issue, in a safe space. Listen to what they have to say, and let’s all do more to listen online with the sake of understanding the other.
A lack of trust in what the government is saying leads to panic, fear, and citizens taking action into their own hands
This is the biggest crisis all of us have ever dealt with. The pandemic has impacted every major country, both directly and indirectly. It’s brought whole industries down. And, worst of all, tens of thousands of people have lost their lives. And it’s going to get worse.
The hope is that we can all take action to flatten the curve and reduce the number of infections to a level that our healthcare systems can deal with. And this isn’t just a possibility. Countries such as Singapore and South Korea have shown that the right approach can be found to get us through this in the best shape possible, with fewer infections.
Government communications is key here. I’ve seen some brilliant work, and I’ve seen work which isn’t going to achieve anything other than the opposite of what was intended. Here’s what I hope governments will look at doing right now.
A Single Source of Information
This isn’t just a viral pandemic. We’re seeing fake news spread at an unprecedented rate. Given how many government departments are involved in a crisis response (think health, education, business, finance, legal, customs, transportation, basically everyone), the potential for the message not to be seen is high. Each government department has its own website, its own comms channels, and team.
What a crisis like this requires is a single source of information, especially online. This location needs to take the lead in pushing out any and all information on the virus and its impact, including for individuals and organizations on everything. What others must then do is aggregate information from that website. By doing this, you get people to understand where they should go, not only to source information but to also corroborate what they’ve been told.
One example of a single source is Weqaya.ae, a website set up by the UAE government to educate people on health-related issues. This website is a start (and I haven’t checked out how it looks on mobile, and if the website is responsive in terms of design), but there’s another issue that governments need to tackle, and that’s language.
Multiple Languages
It’s pretty obvious, but I’m yet to see governments in my region push out information in multiple languages. And I’m assuming it’s the same in many other places. Now more than ever, communicators need to understand their audiences, and push out content in as many languages as possible (this is why diversity and inclusion matters when it comes to comms, which many of us seem to have forgotten). Write a piece in multiple languages, translate infographics, and if you can’t dub over a video, use subtitles. In the Gulf, the languages to look at include Tagalog, Hindi, Urdu, Malayalam, Bahasa… If the linguistic group is large enough, bring in people who know the language to translate, and then push out the content through that single source website and via…
The Use of Influencers
This crisis has been a missed opportunity when it comes to using third parties to get the message out. And I’m not just referring to people with blue ticks or big followings. An influencer right now could include a foreign embassy, an ambassador, or any person or account that’s trusted by a specific group of people. These individuals have mass appeal, they’re trusted, and they post consistently. My feeling is that governments are behind brands when it comes to using influencers (and I’ll say that many social media influencers haven’t helped themselves by being tone deaf to the situation).
Finland has enlisted social influencers in the government’s efforts to contain the coronavirus pandemic, arguing that they are just as useful as mainstream media in a crisis when it needs to inform the population fast, clearly and accurately.
“We can reach a large part of the public in Finland through official communications and traditional media, but it’s clear the authorities’ messaging doesn’t always reach all population groups,” the government communications director, Päivi Anttikoski, said.
“The aim of this cooperation is to provide better access to information for those who are difficult to reach through traditional channels. As far as we know, Finland is the only country in the world to have defined social media as ‘critical operators’,” – along with doctors, bus drivers and supermarket workers.
Adapt Social Media
Governments have to innovate when it comes to crisis communications. They’ve got to create new channels based on usage and popularity. Oman set up a new Twitter account sharing all official news on what’s happening in the country. The account was set up this month, but it already has 65k followers, and is tweeting in multiple languages.
🇵🇭 Ang pahayag ng Joint Military-Security Media Committee hinggil sa hakbang na ipinatupad sa pamamagitan ng pinagsanib na pagkontrol sa seguridad at daloy trapiko sa bawat governorates ng Sultanate#COVID19#عمان_تواجه_كوروناpic.twitter.com/LtwmkP37uG
— (Oman VS COVID19) عمان تواجه كورونا (@OmanVSCovid19) April 2, 2020
What the WHO has done with Whatsapp is smart. This channel is used globally, and it’s a simple and effective way of getting out information effectively via a chatbot. It’s also the place where most misinformation spreads (and we have no way of monitoring what is being shared here due to end-to-end encryption). Have a look at the launch of the service, and please do load it into your Whatsapp.
Transparency and Expertise Matters(Especially for Leaders)
My friend Julio Romo wrote a brilliant read on what Singapore is doing to combat the Coronavirus. Given that the state has come through this better than anyone else, their government communications should be studied widely. One aspect of what they’re doing is promoting clear information as to what is happening on the ground, and tell residents what actions they need to take. Their leaders have been using social media and traditional media effectively, to push out a clear message on what is happening, the actions the government is taking to make things better, and what the public can do to help.
And third, look to who is delivering your message. Doctors and scientists have emerged as the best communicators right now, because they understand the subject better than anyone. Look to Dr Anthony Fauci, who has become a household name in the US thanks to his clear, no-nonsense advice. Their understanding of the issue is reassuring. I’d like to see more scientists being given the opportunity to speak and guide the public (have a look at this WEF article about scientists and communications).
Avoid Conjecture
My last piece of advice is avoid making comments in the heat of the moment, especially on social media. I’ve seen so many government communicators in the Middle East mouth off on Twitter, making statements about the impact of the virus on the economy only for these statements to become nonsense a couple of days later. I’ve seen others talk about how well residents have been treated, only to have the country close its borders a couple of hours later. To paraphrase, trust takes time to build, and disappear in an instant. Do what you can to engage, to educate, and to listen as well (we don’t talk about listening enough in communications).
That’s the short of it for me – let me know what you’d add, and let’s start communicating better. What we do matters now more than ever, to keep people safe and save lives. We have been given an opportunity to make a difference for the better, so let’s take it.
How bad is fraud on the UAE’s Instagram scene? What’s your guess?
Fraud isn’t a word to throw about lightly. And not much has been said about what’s going on in a market like the UAE, where Instagram has become the go-to platform for social media influencers and brands. There are 3.78 million Instagram users in the UAE, which is just under 40% of the population.
Well, the numbers are in, thanks to a firm called HypeAuditor. The company has developed software that it says helps marketers root out fake followers on Instagram, with the aim of making the industry more transparent and providing marketers with the data they need to make the right choice about the influencers they work with. And given that spending on influencer marketing is now running into the billions of dollars globally, we’ve got to get better at detecting fraud.
For those of you who don’t already know, influencer marketing is the concept of brands working with people who have large followings on social media. Brands pay the influencers for posts, either in cash or in-kind. Given that those with the largest follower count (we’re talking a million plus) can charge 7-8k USD upwards a post, it’s a lucrative business. The more followers an account has, the more the account owner can charge. And there’s a temptation to artificially inflate follower counts.
According to HypeAuditor, more than half of influencers in the United Arabic Emirates use artificial methods of Instagram growth, including buying followers, likes and inauthentic comments.
“Budgets for Influencer campaigns will certainly increase but brands should remember that Influencer marketing without the proper checks and transparency will not work. Large numbers of followers can be fake,” says Alex Frolov, CEO of HypeAuditor.
Based on HypeAuditor’s research, the most common means used to artificially boost followers include: ● buying followers – 31% of influencers allegedly buy followers; ● use Follow/Unfollow – 16% allegedly use automatic Follow/Unfollow processes; ● use comment pods – 8% allegedly use comment pods (a group of Instagrammers will work together to enhance engagement on posts by liking and writing comments), and ● buying likes and comments – 20% allegedly inflate their comments and likes.
You can see a full run-down of the research here, including an analysis of the Instagram influencer landscape and what is happening where). The report makes for a fascinating read, and should be studied by any brand manager who spends money with influencers in the country. Play in smart, do your homework, and let’s all tackle the issue of fraud on social media (including you too Facebook).
Twitter has temporarily suspended Ahdaf Soueif’s account (@asoueif) Ahdaf is a renowned Man Booker prize-shortlisted novelist, political &cultural commentator and, up until she recently resigned, a trustee for @BritishMuseum. #Egypt critics are being targeted & silenced. Worrying https://t.co/66qP6R8jIf
These actions, which were criticized by human rights campaigners as being targeted at Egyptians who are critical of their government, followed in the wake of action taken earlier in September by Twitter, which resulted in the closing of 271 ‘manipulative’ accounts across the region. It also prompted debate online about the need for Twitter to move its office to what’s described as the only country in the Middle East which is a democracy, namely Tunisia.
The reasoning behind this idea is simple. Online activists argue that Twitter is being influenced by those countries it has offices in to take action that is politically-motivated. They go on to argue that in Tunisia, a country whose constitution guarantees freedom of opinion, thought, expression, information, and publication (subject to some restrictions according to Freedom house), Twitter will be under less governmental pressure to silence online critics (Twitter’s impact on civil society can be clearly seen in Iraq and Lebanon, where anti-government protests are ongoing).
Twitter’s challenge is that most of its MENA revenue comes from the Gulf, with Saudi and the UAE being its two largest markets for business. By moving away from Dubai, where it’s currently based alongside many of its agency partners and brands, Twitter will be losing out to other digital platforms who are based in Dubai.
Twitter MENA announced via a series of Tweets that it was restoring many of the Egyptian accounts which were suspended. But the question remains for Twitter. How do you balance politics with business on a platform which many view as the only means by which they can express themselves freely?
في إطار جهودنا المتواصلة لخدمة المحادثة العامة، نسعى إلى تطبيق سياساتنا بعدل ونزاهة على الجميع. لكن من الممكن للأخطاء أن تحدث في نطاق عملنا الواسع.
Any idea is only as good as the execution. Which McDonalds found out on Thursday
Now, I love my creativity when it comes to marketing and communications. Especially when it involves bridging the online and offline worlds. McDonalds should have come up with a cracker of an idea.
For one night only, the fast food chain was giving out freebies including “Night In” apparel and accessories, including McDonalds-branded loungewear, socks, slippers, games, and more. All consumer had to do was order their food on the 19th of this month between 7:00PM until 3:00AM, online, via the call center or an app. All the surprise items were to be distributed randomly on a first come, first serve basis while supplies last.
Sounds good so far. They’d also gone out and promoted the campaign through influencer marketing, as well as via their own social channels.
It’s time to celebrate McDelivery Night In! YES, join the celebration by ordering through our #McDelivery services and you will get a surprise with every order. This Thursday, from 7 PM to 3 AM. Visit https://t.co/Xo8opAzZCb to know more. pic.twitter.com/foUer7u9cY
So, what’s the problem I hear you say? Let’s go back to what I first spoke about, namely execution. If you don’t fulfill your promise, then consumers will get annoyed. And they’ll vent on social media. And there was ALOT of venting at McDonalds.
3 hours 30 minutes – should have anticipated this from a company who’s main brand ambassador is a clown – hey If it arrives in time for breakfast maybe you could add an order of hash browns ? *circus music plays faintly in the background* #McDelivery
@McDonaldsUAE You took my order at 8pm. I paid by card. You made me wait for 3 hours. Then you canceled my order. And your T&C say I'm not even going to get my money back?!! CRM101: You need to reach out to your failed deliveries and make this right! pic.twitter.com/1DupioPlQ8
“Thousands of customers received a surprise in their McDelivery orders last night, however we know how popular the limited edition merchandise has been and are sorry that some customers were disappointed not to receive any. This was the most amount of merchandise we’ve ever distributed in the UK and Ireland so we are delighted to see so many customers sharing their McDelivery socks and more on social media.”
How to Prep for Executions
Getting campaigns right takes a great deal of planning and experience. But there are a couple of basic pointers to bear in mind.
Ensure that you have enough materials/gifts to go round. Look at previous campaigns, tally up the anticipated numbers of people who will take part, and order extra so you have a buffer. It’s better to have items left over at the end and your customers happy, than leave customers feeling as if they’ve been cheated (and the same applies to people – if you need more people for a campaign, then bring them in and train them up pronto).
Clearly communicate with your consumers and partners. With this campaign, there were multiple partners involved, including call centers and delivery drivers from different companies. It’s clear that some of these drivers didn’t know about the campaign.
Update these people too with new information. If there’s an issue with delivery and execution, let your call center staff and social media people know so they can proactively share information/share the correct information, rather than sharing incorrect information and making a situation worse.
Treat every consumer as a person. Consumers aren’t stupid – they’ll see how social media accounts are basically copying and pasting responses to every single complaint. Don’t do that – respond like a person, not a bot. Consumers will appreciate it.
If something goes wrong, do your best to fix it. There’s many consumers out there who didn’t get any free gift on Thursday night, and they’re still writing to McDonalds. Get them a gift, and do it asap. A brand can fix any issue, as long as they act quickly, sincerely, and proactively engage the consumer. If they don’t, that consumer will be lost.
That’s it from me for today. If you have any of your own tips to share on executions, please do send them across!
I’ve been closely following what’s been happening in Hong Kong. What interests me is how all sides are communicating, how they’re using social media, and also where the industry stands on a big issue such as democracy and transparency.
I reached out to Arun Sudhaman, the CEO of the Holmes Report. Arun is both based in Hong Kong and is one of the leading journalists for the public relations industry worldwide. Here’s our talk on what’s happening in Hong Kong, the impact of social media today, how communicators are struggling with their values and what’s being asked of them, and why purpose is such a hard issue to get right.
Enjoy the conversation, follow Arun’s work on the Holmes Report, and share your thoughts!
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