AGENCY BIO

Twitter is what’s happening in the world and what people are talking about right now, from breaking news and entertainment to sports and everyday interests.

Number of users worldwide 152 million monetisable daily active users

Primary media on the platform
People come to Twitter because they are interested in seeing what’s happening – previously in text only, but now it is increasingly in video. Globally, video views on Twitter nearly doubled in 2018 and last year 72 per cent of audiences in MENA who use Twitter said that they “consider it as one of their main sources for online video content”.

User demographic
While we can’t disclose demographic figures, recent research in the MENA region shows that 57 per cent of audiences on Twitter spend more time viewing ads on Twitter versus other platforms, and 75 per cent of consumers on Twitter influence purchases of friends and family. We therefore see Twitter as a platform that connects marketers with the most valuable audience when they’re most receptive.

What do people best know you as?
A real-time platform whose purpose is to serve the public conversation.

What is the Biggest misconception about the platform?
It’s not a micro-blogging site. The platform allows people to see every side of the story, join the open conversation and watch live-streaming events.

Regional influencers
Some of the top influencers include: Ahmad Al Shugairi (@shugairi); Elissa (@elissakh); Mohamed Salah (@MoSalah); HH Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid (@HHShkMohd); Queen Rania Al Abdullah (@QueenRania).

Regional brands
There has been interest in the region from advertisers across multiple sectors; from government to multinational and regional brands. These include STC (Saudi Telecom Company), the Department of Tourism and Commerce Marketing in Dubai (DTCM), Huawei, Almarai, HungerStation and Saudi Aramco.

What can you do best for brands?
Twitter is the best place to launch something new and connect with what’s happening.

What social media story do people in the region best know twitter for?
Twitter is a place people of influence engage with the public. Over the years, His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum (@HHShkMohd) has turned to Twitter to announce some of the UAE’s most groundbreaking news and initiatives, such as the new UAE Cabinet.

What are the KPIs brands look for on your platform?
Brand awareness campaigns are measured based on CPM; Tweet engagement campaigns are measured based on Retweets, Likes and replies and website click campaigns are measured based on website conversions.

What new features for marketers have you launched in the last year?
We launched Promoted Trend Spotlight in Saudi Arabia. This is a takeover ad product that pairs the power of video with the premium real estate of Twitter’s Explore tab, Twitter’s collection of trending topics and hashtags,.

What new features can we look forward to in the next year?
We recently launched Topics in Arabic to make it easier to find the most interesting conversations happening on Twitter. When you follow a Topic, the Tweets you see about that Topic in your timeline are personalised. Arabic Topics currently include football, music and gaming. We’re adding new Topics almost every week.

Viewpoint

Benjamin Ampen

Regional managing director, Twitter

What’s a favourite brand campaign on your platform?
Recently we worked with STC on a global-first rebranding campaign in Saudi Arabia under their campaign umbrella ‘Let’s go further’. For the activation, Twitter built a custom activation asking audiences to tap on a livestream to gradually unveil the new STC brand manifesto video.

The full video was unveiled in less than three hours post-launch, generating almost 180,000 views of the full unlocked video.

What would you like to see brands doing more of on your platform?
It’s important to follow creative best practices, especially when it comes to video. The creative should be short and focused to grab attention quickly; it should have strong visuals to make it easy to process the message; and clear and persistent branding should be included throughout the ad.