We’ve all heard it: Social media isn’t a fad but a fundamental shift in the way we communicate. Yet, the only thing more popular than social media marketing is questioning social media marketing.

It flies in the face of everything we as marketers have learnt over the last 50 years. A lot of us grew up in an era of flashy commercials for rather uninspiring products, and something in our DNA makes us believe that’s the proper way to go about things. The most important asset in social media marketing is having something worth talking about. Advertising is the cost of being boring.

There are the strong souls among us that are trying to convince management to see outside the box and we bring you the answers to the questions you’re asked.

Question: If we get into Social Media, we open a can of worms. Customers will start complaining.
We say: They’re already doing it. You’re just not there to hear it and its not the critics that are waiting for you, it’s your customers. If you can learn what’s important to your customers, you’ll learn what’s important to your business.

Question: What about control? We could lose control of our branding.
We say: You’ll find out what your brand really is. The truth might hurt but ignorance isn’t bliss. Social Media is the best way to prove your brand promise sir.

Concern: Even big regional marketing agencies ban Facebook and Twitter in offices because they don’t trust employees to manage time well or perhaps say the wrong thing online.
We say: Why pay them if you don’t trust them? If you can trust your employees to talk to customers, you can trust them to use social media.

Concern: What about the exit clause? If we mess up, they’ll haunt us forever.
We say: Well, that’s called accountability. Mistakes are allowed. They help you learn and improve.

Concern: We can’t predict the ROI.
We say: Uh, you can’t tell the return on an investment you don’t make. Social Media is one of the most measurable marketing tools available. You just have to decide what to measure, based on your objectives for the campaign.

Oh and the famous: We’re not sure if our audience is using social media.
We say: The Middle East alone has some 15 Million registered users on Facebook and that’s more than the circulation of the largest daily. So, if your audience isn’t on social media it’s probably because they don’t exist. Na, we’re being mean. Every generation is embracing Social Media. Just not in the same way.

So, there you have it. Yes, many a times social media is a reality check, but hey – reality is not always as bad as we think. Tell us about your experiences convincing management. What worked?

Do you have a Facebook page? Do you think it’s a complete waste of time? Have you recently considered deleting it? Well,don’t. Get back on that page because it’s time for some revamping.
Here are some tips on how to successfully run a Facebook Page in the Middle East:

1. Evolve with your audience.
Your audience may vary. From excited, glum, smart, hyper to just plain annoying, each one of their needs must be addressed separately. Being kind to all gives the evil McDonald impression. Sometimes fans love debating and there’s no harm in keeping it healthy and exciting. Getting defensive is a Big No.

2. Connect, don’t spam.
Being passionate about your fanpage is natural; however, constantly posting things every twenty minutes is not advisable. It might gather your an audience in the initial stages but at a certain point people start un-liking the page. If not that, there’s always the Hide button. Remember to try and keep the intervals between posts big unless its an urgent announcement. Loudness doesn’t always pull in the crowds, it can often drive them away.

3. Be Multilingual.
Most fan pages are in English. But there’s no harm in using the English script and writing in another langue. If you notice that someone posting on the wall might speak in Arabic, throw in few words or phrases so he/she relates to you. Tay3b ?

4. Take it like a man.
Deleting a comment is worse than ignoring a comment. Pretending like your fanpage has no negativity on it can either only mean you’re not interactive enough or there’s a heavy censorship, both absolute turn offs. Best-case scenario: Take the criticism, be constructive about it and report feedback to the person.

5. Create a buzz – Competitions.
Fans love free bees and won’t hesitate to spread the word just to win something as simple as a Music CD. Contests must be simple to understand but remember never ever to deviate from the rules. Never let the fans change the rules. Here’s an example: www.facebook.com/switchtoapple

6. Games,Games,Games. Applications are fun.
Developing an application that is more fun and less advertising is perceived well by the audience. It might not communicate a strong message but it creates if not enhances brand image. Also having a custom landing page can convince users to not only join, but explore the fan page. Chances are they’ll share the page or application with friends if they enjoy it. Plus if they’re amusing, games often go viral. Here’s an example : www.facebook.com/samsungwave

And there you have it. So if you’ve read something here that you haven’t incorporated yet, go to your Facebook page, spice it up, and watch the wonderworks a simple Facebook page can do for you.
Is there anything we haven’t mentioned? Have you tried something that has worked for your Facebook page?

What’s the first thing you did this morning?

Don’t say “brushed my teeth” or “washed my face”, because the first thing you probably did was check your Blackberry.Your “BBMs”, your emails, maybe even your Facebook and Twitter?

So when most of us heard that “The Telecommunications Regulatory Authority (TRA) to ban Blackberry services”, we looked past in absolute denial because well, ignorance is bliss. But it’s safe to assume that waking up this morning to a text message from Etisalat was a WAKE UP call indeed.

The SMS reads:
“Dear valued customer, the UAE’s Telecommunications Regulatory Authority has decided to suspend BlackBerry services from Oct 11, 2010. In accordance with this decision Etisalat will soon announce alternative mobility products and services. Please visit www.etisalat.ae/blackberry for further information and updates.”

Most people probably googled it, tweeted/Facebooked about it and even BBM-ed about it almost immediately.Du came out with great corporate Blackberry packages then Etisalat came up with more social packages this year. But now it’s over.

So let’s ask the question on everyone’s mind right now, WHY ?

Well, TRA in Dubai can’t monitor any of the content sent,received or browsed through a Blackberry using EDGE because they don’t control the server. So they says it’s a national security threat.Others say it’s a profit-loss threat to the SMS world.

We spoke to Kalpesh Desai, a Blackberry user in Dubai, and here’s what he had to say:

“India threatened too, and RIM agreed to plant a server. China’s gone that route. Most countries will demand a local repository onshore. RIM will have to comply.”

Oh well,

Call me dramatic, but I have faith in Blackberry’s giant empire to find a solution.

Socialize headed down to Social Media 101 at the Media Rotana last night. No surprise there, really. We’re attracted to anything Social Media related!

The hustle and bustle of Social Media came together as a tangible curious crowd to network and learn yesterday!

The turnout was great and we had a full room with all ears on Akanksha, who was the main speaker at the event.
With bubbly,heels, women, husbands and entrepreneurs , the event held a great atmosphere of humour, class and sociability.

Claire and Georgie, the lovely ladies at Heels and Deals started off the night by introducing themselves, the event, member’s businesses and none other than *drum rolls*, Akanksha Goel. She spoke about why Social Media is such a vital ingredient in your marketing mix in today’s day and age and how businesses can see through the clutter and hyperbole surrounding it. If you missed it, the presentation can be found below.

We were delighted to see Sushi. the men there too. We hear it’s not that often they turn up at a “Heels and Deals” event.A question round was held after to pick a part of Akanksha’s brain.There were some interesting prize give aways from indulgent dinners to weight loss trials or packages. (Ironic? We know.)

An exquisite lantern by Irony Home was won by Radhika (@left_handesign) in a mini-draw. The Piazza Italia crew came down, with an Italian chef to give away 3 vouchers for “A dinner for two”.Claire,Mark and Margaret seemed more than happy to win that! We’d be too! We hear there food is mouth-wateringly good. It’s a beautiful restaurant down at the boardwalk, opposite the Sheraton (JBR).

All in all, the night was a great success. And we define success as putting a smile on 100+ people’s faces at some point during the night. It was great being able to not only put a smile on their faces but, know that (most of them) they are genuinely interested in learning about Social Media.

Social Media Strategy 101: Demystifying Social Marketing in the Middle East

Hello World. Did you miss us?

Well, either ways, we missed you! And we sincerely apologize for missing-in-action and not keeping you updated on the latest social marketing developments, events, research and plain old industry gossip. So, we have some good news and some bad news. The good news is we’re back to blogging.The bad news, however, is tragic.

Our blog’s resources and material were hosted on someone’s server, so to speak. So, even though we had control over all content and design, it was essentially hosted somewhere else. Now that person’s site/server/something apparently crashed, and all our content has inexplicably vanished into a black portal called the internet.To put it in layman terms, it’s somewhat like adopting a child and having his/her birth-mother come back for him/her decades later and have it all taken away from you. Or worse, kidnap him/her and then pretend like it never happened!

Dramatic ? We know; but this blog was born with us! It was our baby.

But here’s to new beginnings and worry not, a mini-funeral was held for our old blog at the Socialize HQ. Akanksha cried and promised to get revenge on the dark forces that caused the sudden death of our blog. And she’s a woman of her words. Scarily.

So here’s what we’ve got for now: We’ve recreated the old design in honor of “Socialize Blog” and with Socialize Blog 2.0, we promise you better content, and more frequent posts.What say you? All we need from you, our loyal followers, is to support Socialize Blog 2.0 and groom him to be as popular and confident as his predecessor.