Best Social Media Platforms for Businesses in Dubai & How to Use Them
Social Media Platforms to Consider for Marketing your Business in Dubai
Top Social Media Channels for Dubai Businesses & Tips to Leverage Them
You must recognize the importance of social media for your business if you are an entrepreneur or a marketer. Social media gives you access to a large pool of audiences. Have you noticed how it costs less to market on social media compared to traditional channels? Or how social media lets you fully personalize your marketing campaigns?
Social media is particularly important for marketing in Dubai. Think about it! How must the state of connectivity be in a rich luxurious city? And how active and connected everyone would be on social media there? The Internet is used by 99% of the total population. Social media users together account for 112.3% of the total population.
Instagram: Visual branding
Users in Dubai tend to use Instagram to discover brands. Your official business profile will be visited and viewed by many active users. Around 80% of the internet users in Dubai are on Instagram. Users also spend a significant amount of time on the platform. Don’t you feel that Instagram is a great channel for increasing brand awareness in Dubai?
What is the best content for Instagram in Dubai?
Short-form videos make the best Instagram content. You can post reels and stories as a brand. You can also post entertaining content on IGTV for more engagement. The platform is great for reaching and meeting younger audiences.
Leveraging influencers and hashtags
Are you a global brand launching marketing campaigns in Dubai? You will need to express cultural relevance to win the audience. Influencers can help you localize your content and emotionally connect with Instagram users. For example, you will get a higher conversion rate with Arabic-language content.
Are you tasked with boosting a fashion or beauty brand? Or are you in the travel and lifestyle business? The right influencers can also help you show niche specialization.
Instagram also gives you the chance to leverage hashtags. Simply using hashtags like #dubailifestyle and #dubaifashion will get you seen by your most relevant audiences.
LinkedIn: Corporate growth and B2B networking
Why is LinkedIn important?
Dubai is a major business hub. So naturally LinkedIn is popular among professionals. LinkedIn hosts around 52% of the internet users in Dubai. But note that the users spend the least time on LinkedIn compared to other social platforms. Still, LinkedIn is significant as it is the only platform designed exclusively for business networking.
Optimising business page
Optimising your business account on LinkedIn is essential to unlocking the platform’s full potential. Give your LinkedIn profile a makeover. You should do this in a way that portrays your brand’s profile in the best way. This means you need to research the business culture and expectations in the city. For example, show that your company reduces working hours during Ramadan. Show respect for the religious practices and Emirati culture.
Lead generation and industry networking
You will find LinkedIn extremely useful for lead generation. You can use the “People Also Viewed” insights to find new relevant leads. You can also network with professionals by sending and accepting the right connecting requests. Have you considered posting ads on LinkedIn? You can also do that while targeting your audience precisely. Remember that most LinkedIn users in Dubai also access the platform on their phones. So make sure that your ads are mobile-friendly.
TikTok: Engaging younger audiences
TikTok has around 71% of the internet users in Dubai. The users also spent a significant amount of time watching short-form videos. After Facebook, users spend the most time on TikTok. You will find that the platform is just right for engaging young audiences.
Collaborating with TikTok influencers
The TikTok influencers in Dubai are your key people if you want to engage local audiences. Partnership with Humaid Abdulla Albuqaish can help your global lifestyle brand gain Emirati attention. Similarly, Fereshteh Azad can help you promote your fashion business. These influencers know what your target audiences want. So a partnership is going to save you the effort of trying to understand the target market.
Utilise viral content and trending challenges
Do you come across trending TikTok challenges on the internet? Yes, these challenges do attract criticism. However, the platform is unfolding itself as a hub for businesses to find highly engaged audiences. You just need to make sure that the TikTok trend you leverage does not violate local customers and guidelines.
Facebook: Paid ads and community building
Facebook has the second-largest social media user base in Dubai. You can say it has the most user base if you do not consider WhatsApp to be a social media. Around 80% of the internet users are on Facebook. The platform is also where social media users in the city spend the most time. So yes! Facebook is the most relevant.
Managing pages and Targeted ads
You should set up your Facebook business page to reflect local values. This can be done through modest and relevant posts. The platform also allows you to target specific audiences with your free posts or paid ads.
You can simply narrow down the audiences for your ads based on location as well as other criteria. So what does this mean? It means that you can not only focus your ads on users living in Dubai but also narrow your target audiences in the city based on specific interests.
Facebook groups?
Have you ever been added to an active Facebook group? If yes, then you should have noticed how it elicits a sense of community involvement. You can drive a similar feeling among your target audience by adding them to a Facebook group managed under your brand’s name. You can then use the group to have your posts seen by your relevant audiences. You can also engage them with quizzes and polls.
Twitter: Brand authority and real-time engagement
Twitter: Brand authority and real-time engagement Around 54% of the internet users in Dubai are on Twitter. However, users do not spend much time on the platform. This should not discourage you from marketing on the platform. Users in Dubai tend to follow brands and employers on Twitter. Use the platform to amplify your reach.
Promotions and updates
If you are aware of how tweets work, it is time to realize the potential of promoted tweets. You will be able to reach audiences beyond your current followers. You should also use Twitter to run Twitter-only or platform-exclusive discount campaigns. You can create Twitter promotions and contests, and pre-schedule it for release on a specific date.
Trends and hashtags
You should also take advantage of the Twitter trends. Use hashtags and trends to expose your brand to new audiences. For example, the Dubai World Cup is a trending topic in the city. You can use the topic or associated hashtags to increase the visibility of your content and ads.
YouTube: Video marketing and long-form content
YouTube is extremely popular in Dubai. Users spend a significant amount of time on YouTube. Use YouTube for posing long-form videos that help you with storytelling. Music and prank videos get significant views on YouTube in Dubai. Tutorials and demo videos are also popular. You should consider the video preferences of users when designing ads or promotional videos.
SEO and Monetization
It is also important that your videos rank well on YouTube. The platform wants to show you content that best answers your search query. Hence, you also need to use the right phrases and terms for your video title.
Optimise video content so that people watch it for longer. You will also start earning revenue from ads once your channel generates 4000 hours of watch time over 12 months and a minimum of 1000 subscribers.
Snapchat: Reach the youths of the UAE
You should also consider Snapchat for marketing. Around 43% of internet users in Dubai are on the platform. The usage duration of Snapchat is low, so prioritize accordingly. The platform is great for engaging younger audiences with short-form videos. It means you can run TikTok and Snapchat campaigns using the same content strategy. Snapchat also allows you to apply geo-filters and sponsored lenses. This can help you transform users into your brand’s icons.
WhatsApp Business: Direct communication with customers
Around 85% of the internet users in Dubai are on WhatsApp. Users also spend a significant amount of time on the platform. Businesses in Dubai already use WhatsApp for customer service. You can answer the queries of customers or send purchase confirmations. You can also use Chabot on WhatsApp to automate the process of sending quick responses and service updates. So why use WhatsApp for service updates instead of emails? Because WhatsApp messages have a higher average open rate.
Conclusion
Use Facebook for community building and Instagram for Influencer marketing. LinkedIn is good for business networking and Twitter will let you amplify reach. TikTok and Snapchat will help you utilise short-form video strategy. YouTube will let you tell brand stories with long videos. Finally, use WhatsApp to automate customer services.