Social Media in 2020: Do you need a full scope digital agency in Dubai?
Posted by Scarlet Media on January 16th, 2020
Given the importance of social media in the lives of end-users, companies flock to digital media platforms to reach their target consumer audience. However, there is a content overload on social platforms and the competition is quite high. In 2020 it will be even more difficult for your brand to stand out unless you have a clear digital marketing strategy in the Middle East.
Let’s take Dubai as a reference point. According to the research conducted by our digital agency, Dubai consumers are getting more responsive to:
Short-duration (Ephemeral) content like Instagram & Snapchat stories
Video content
Influencer content
Contests, Q&A’s
Social Communities (like Facebook Groups)
Apart from the social Dubai audience, there are even more active users who use social media for their customer service inquiries. Therefore, many Dubai brands have started recognizing social media networks for “Community Management”, which can be assigned to a full scope digital agency in Dubai
In order to reach the consumers, digital agencies in Dubai used specific digital marketing methods in social media, some of which are:
Geo-targetted advertising
Social Commerce (from shoppable posts to Instagram Storefronts)
Influencer marketing
Remarketing (advertising according to browsing history of the consumer)
Programmatic targeting (Look-alike audience based on past internet behavior)
Short bumper ads (like 5-6 second long Youtube ads)
How about 2020 trends? Do you need a full scope digital agency?
2020 is expected to be a year of milestones for social media marketing. Here are some social trends to help fuel your digital strategy and make your brand stand out in the crowd for 2020 and beyond:
Augmented Reality (AR)
We know AR from Selfie filters of Snapchat and Instagram and it’s already affecting social media. More than 190 million people are using Snapchat and on average are spending between 25 to 30 minutes in the app every day.
Adopting the AR and VR technology more into the social media will change the rules of the game. Google realized this fact many years ago.
Back in 2012, Google had launched a device called Google Glass, an optical head-mounted display designed in the shape of a pair of eyeglasses, that became a catalyst for a huge surge in wearble tech, however it has officially been pulled from the market due to heating and battery problems. Google’s aim was simple: Bring the mobile phone camera in to the eyes and use the AR technology to socialize.
Meanwhile Apple worked on the subject thoroughly through the years and spent big funds on AR research in silence. Finally September 2020 is expected to be the day Apple launching Apple Glass (or iGlass).
Glass and similar gadgets will help consumers interact with each other in real world using virtual objects inside AR based applications. You will be able to see if a person is waiting for taxi in front of Dubai Mall to share the cost, if he/she is single/married or which football team he supports just by looking over the glasses. You will be able to see which restaurant in La Mer has the highest Zomato score without using your phone, just by looking over your AR glasses.
So what? How it will affect social media?
Consumers and brands will rejoice in this this technology and find new opportunities to promote their products and services in unique and engaging ways:
- Virtual stores on social media: Consumers with AR headsets will not even have to visit your brand’s physical stores any more. Using AR, they will be entering into your brand’s virtual store, check out your products virtually and buy them directly with a hand gesture. You don’t need to spend 2 hours of your weekend inside Carrefour or Spinneys anymore.
- AR Outdoor Ads: Game industry will boom with the launch of AR glasses and marketers will be having a totally new medium: AR outdoor! Think of any game you play on the street using AR Glassses, do you think you will see only virtual game objects? Many brands will race to have a spot on the virtual streets of popular AR games. As outdoor advertising is quite expensive in Dubai, AR outdoor ads will give you a limited but filtered audience.
- AR videos: Many brands will be able to further engage their audiences by creating interactive AR videos; such as explainer videos on the go. When you are inside the Mall of Emirates, think of navigation arrows guiding you to Ski Dubai. You may see some videos of your favorite brands while you are nearby their real stores inside the mall.
- AR Social Platforms: 4G technology is limited for AR but with the launch of 5G, things will change even faster. Facebook and Instagram will be providing full fledged AR features to different brands. Take Sephora brand, which has already activated its AR features for enhancing user experience on Facebook. An end-user can check out different products offered by Sephora on Facebook messenger and know if a specific product suits him/her or not.
As these platforms grow, consumers will look for engaging social experiences. There will be opportunities for the brands that act proactively and learn how to engage with them. We strongly suggest your brand to get involved in these new technologies with the help of a professional digital agency in Dubai.
Instagram may remove “likes”
During the second half of 2019 we have seen a decline in the organic responsiveness of Instagram. It seems to become another Facebook, a paid-ad platform where your post gets more views only if its interesting enough for the first 50 people. According to our branch digital agency in Dubai, Instagram recently tested this proposal in a beta test and may remove the likes globally. The reason is that likes supposedly determine a person’s social value and waiting for likes is detrimental to one’s mental health.
Because of this fact we don’t see Influencer marketing as a growing trend as brands will not be able to measure the success of campaigns without likes. Instagram may be doing this deliberately as they don’t gain any funds in influencer marketing campaigns and they want to be involved.
Social Commerce will dominate
Instagram, Pinterest, and Facebook have long been used by brands for product sales. Social commerce has become a trending turnover portal for brands and this is getting stronger day by day. Social commerce is becoming a mainstream retail platform similar to Amazon, Noon and Souq. This trend will be more popular and more social networks will start introducing pro-selling features like shoppable posts.
From shoppable posts to Instagram Storefronts, we will see more social platforms becoming retail platforms in 2020. Companies and agencies will leverage these and incorporate social sales in their marketing strategies. As a brand, you may require a full scope digital agency in Dubai to setup your own Social Commerce portals.
Video Content will Expand
According to a Cisco study, by 2022, 82% of all online content will be video. Especially short videos will soon dominate the social media as a clear winner among other content types. Think of so many video walls flourishing at Dubai streets during the past year. They certainly attract more attention (which may cause distraction for drivers tough)
How about Youtube ads: it was 1, now it’s sometimes 2 before you watch anything.
If you’re not currently creating videos, it is time that you include videos in your brand marketing strategy. You don’t need a full crew of video production company. Almost any digital agency in Dubai, (like Scarlet Media) can help you generate quick and engaging social media videos, even without any shooting. Here are some examples: https://www.scarletmedia.net/showreel/
If you want to create a high scale Youtube videos, explainer videos, customer testimonials, product reviews, etc, we suggest you to visit Skyrocket media (https://www.skyrocketmedia.org/ ) who can provide you turnkey solutions.
Which digital agency in Dubai?
If you are looking for a 360 full scope digital agency in Dubai who can help you for social media marketing, remarketing, SEO, Email marketing, coding and AR needs, please contact us at mail@scarletmedia.net or +971526998809
Social Media Agency Dubai