Twitter grows 300% as marketing through social media gets popular

Marketing through social media is expected to see significant opportunities in the UAE, with Twitter shooting at a growth rate of 300 per cent, according to a research carried out by Middle East based-communications consultancy Spot On Public Relations. Jumping from a 100 per cent growth rate in just a few months, the 140 character platform has already started building up a new trend for regional marketers seeking innovative, interactive and measurable campaigns, said analysts. According to Spot On, there are 12,266 Twitter users registered in the Arab World, while the website itself attracts many times more unique visits from non-users. The GCC currently has 8,212 registered Twitter users with the UAE accounting for about 60 per cent of all GCC users. In common with Facebook usage across the region, Egypt, Saudi Arabia and the UAE have the three largest Twitter communities, accounting for 1,741 users, 1,405 users and 4,952 users respectively. At the end of 2008, the GCC had less than 1,000 Twitter users in total. "There has been a good deal of hype surrounding Twitter, but now we can see from current usage and growth patterns that Twitter is starting to make its presence felt across the region," said Carrington Malin, Managing Director of Spot On Public Relations. "The exciting news for marketers is that Mena's Twitter community is set to move from thousands to tens of thousands, opening up new marketing opportunities and, indeed, challenges." "We're also seeing changes in demographics, as Twitter becomes more broad-based in appeal, spurred on an increasing number of global news stories quoting Twitter or Twitter sources," said Malin. "Whereas the Mena Twitter community was largely the domain of internet professionals last year, 2009 has seen great numbers of people from other professions join Twitter, and from communications, media and marketing professions in particular. That has led to Twitter 'hitting above its weight' both in terms of media influence and search engine impact." Mai Abaza, Account Director, Spot On PR, said: "Compared to Twitter communities in regions such as North America, this region appears relatively small. Marketers might feel discouraged, but instead of thinking of what we would gain from being on Twitter, the correct question is what we would be losing on." Twitter so far has served as a platform for reputation building and positioning. Some B2B might even benefit from Twitter suggested Abaza, "but that depends a great deal on what the communications needs of those companies are." She also added that measurement could be another the challenge. According to the study, countries like Oman, Syria, Algeria and Libya are still lagging behind the region in terms of adopting Twitter. In the UAE, a few brands have started utilising Twitter to interact with target audiences. Wild Peeta, a home-grown dining concept, has been a successful example of a Twitter campaign. The fusion Shawarma restaurant established by two UAE national entrepreneurs has not been inaugurated yet. However, it has succeeded in attracting 764 followers. That is 15 per cent of the UAE Twitter community. Mohammad Parham, Managing Partner of the project, said: "As a small business, we used Twitter as a cost-effective, interactive and honest tool to communicate with our audience. "Although our restaurant is not yet launched we have managed to share suggestions and ideas and we currently have more than 1,500 followers on social networks of whom more of 700 are on Twitter. It had human value to it." He said: "It is much easier and faster for small business to adopt Twitter among other social media as marketing tools. Social media challenges our speed to bring change to the market. While huge companies still debate how to utilise these tools, they are already late. Even agencies do not have the full comprehension of the power of Twitter and other social media." On the other hand, big firms have also started using social networks as part of their marketing campaigns. Virgin Megastore has recently also launched a Twitter campaign targeting the online audience. With more than 600 followers, the brand aimed at conducting competitions for Twitterers, as a part of its PR activities. Keep up with the latest business news from the region with the Emirates Business 24|7 daily newsletter. To subscribe to the newsletter, please click here .