Social Media in the Middle East: The Impact and Role of Social Influencers

This is the last post in a series of ten short extracts from my sixth annual round-up of social media trends from the Middle East and North Africa (written with University of Oregon student Amanda Lam). Social Media in the Middle East: The Story of 2017 is available for download from the University of Oregon Scholars’ Bank and on Scribd, SlideShare and Academia.edu.

Huda Kattan, an Iraqi American makeup artists and Dubai-based business woman, was determined to be the world’s highest paid social influencer in the first ever Instagram Rich List. She boasts 20.5 million followers and charges $18,000 per post.

According to a survey of 100 in-house marketing and communication experts and brand managers, conducted by BPG Cohn & Wolfe in the UAE, around 43% of marketers spend up to $10,000 per social media influencer campaign.
- Half of those polled currently work with social media influencers in the region.
- 94% of in-house marketers in the UAE believe social media influencer marketing plays a major role in the success of their brands.
- 55% said their biggest challenge when picking influencers was finding relevant ones that relate to the brands.

At the ITP Live Conference, in November 2017, some experts argued that social influencers in the UAE should be regulated and operate within a legal framework.
- At the same conference, Sir Martin Sorrell, chief executive of advertising giant WPP, argued that although “[social media influencers] have become important,” they were not reshaping the media landscape, arguing they are “a variant of traditional celebrity endorsement and word of mouth… [which] has become, in a way, even more important”.
- Sorrell suggested micro-influencers, those with 10,000 followers or less, are becoming the more dominant players.
One of the Middle East’s most popular social media personalities is Mohammed al-Arefe, a religious leader based in Saudi Arabia with more than 19 million social media followers.

Despite the rise in influencer marketing, three-quarters (74%) of Middle-Eastern women say traditional media remains their main source of information on products or brands.
- However, this figure is reversed in Kuwait where 54% cite online sources as more important.
- Younger women also have a different perspective. According to Ipsos MENA, 47% of 18–24 year olds says online platforms are their main source of information on products or brands.

Damian Radcliffe