Digital Marketing In Middle East
By: Digital Exchange
Tags: Middle East, Export, Digital Marketing, Digitalmarketingstrategy, Exporters

Middle East countries are some of the markets, which is growing step by step and developing in terms of exports, has been targeted by Turkey. While many different items and services were exported to Middle East, an answer was sought to the following question: How should digital marketing be in Middle East, how should digital marketing be done to countries in this geography?

When we look at the Middle East countries in general, it is possible to talk about the existence of approximately 170 million Arabic-speaking internet users. This shows that the number of social media users in the Middle East countries is high in terms of both quantity and quality.

Arabic ranks 4th in the list of languages ​​most used in the internet and social media channels. The top three are followed by English, Chinese and Spanish. As long as the rise of Arabic continues at this momentum, it is not difficult to predict that it will be the most used language on the internet in 2050.

When we look at the profiles of internet users, approximately 53 percent of the Y generation, who is seen as a ready-to-buy audience rather than being a target audience, uses the internet, which they find more useful and functional, rather than radio and television.

The rate of female internet users who actively use social media accounts constitutes 34–35% of total internet users. When we look at the whole world, we see that this rate is 61%. This shows that the female population living in Middle East geography lives under more limited conditions in terms of freedom.

The Place of Social Media in the Middle East

We can say that Facebook is the most used social media in the Arab world. The Arab world, which met Twitter later than Turkey, also uses this channel, but its usage rate is quite low compared to Facebook.

In the Middle East, where the use of Instagram is higher than Twitter, this medium is also widely used.

Video Advertising Is Very Popular

The fact that YouTube is preferred after Facebook in the Middle East geography shows that videos are very popular. In particular, it has been measured that more than half of the young generation watches at least one video every day on Youtube. It is not difficult to say that Saudi Arabia is the country with the highest number of videos watched per capita in the entire world. These videos also positively affect internet users’ purchasing decisions. For this reason, many international companies allocate a serious budget to video advertisements in Middle East.

Mobile Device Usage Rate Is Very High

Smartphone usage is also very common in Arab countries. In fact, smartphones are preferred more than desktop computers here as in other countries of the world. In this respect, it is a fact that mobile devices are highly influential in users’ purchasing decisions. In particular, nearly 90% of the young population under the age of 25 conducts preliminary research by searching on a smartphone before purchasing a product.

If we look at the subject in the light of all this information, if the entrepreneurs who want to do e-export in the Middle East market, adding the Arabic language option to their websites will provide great feedback. Although English is a common language in Arab countries, the Arabic language option will be much more advantageous.

If your website is mobile-friendly (responsive), it will add added value and this will be reflected in sales.

Preferring display ads rather than written text in AdWords ads will also enable to reach more users. It is necessary to pay special attention to the fact that the images used here are suitable for Arab culture. Otherwise, the situation may turn into a disadvantage.