Understanding the Middle East Market
The Middle East is a place with many different countries, each with their own culture. There are over 400 million people here who speak Arabic, spread across 22 countries, and it’s a very big market, but a lot of people haven’t really noticed it. Especially in places like Saudi Arabia, the UAE and Egypt, people are getting more and more online and it’s becoming more popular to buy things online and use social media.
Key demographic characteristics and online behaviour
-Young population: The Middle East has a significant portion of its population under the age of 30, making it one of the youngest regions in the world. This demographic is tech-savvy and highly engaged online.
-Mobile device penetration: Almost everyone in the Middle East has a mobile phone, and it’s especially common to use them to access the internet. So, if your content doesn’t look comfortable on a mobile phone, you’re going to lose a lot of viewers.
-Social media engagement: platforms such as Facebook, Instagram and Twitter are extremely popular in the region. Additionally, Arabic is the fourth most commonly spoken language on the internet.
The Benefits of an Arabic Content Strategy
01.Engage more people
Having content in Arabic attracts more people from the Middle East to see your stuff. This is because language brings people closer together and builds trust. If they find out that the content is in their native language, they are more likely to like it, share it, and come back to it often.
02.Improve Search Engine Rankings
If you write content in Arabic, your website will rank higher in search engines. Since a lot of companies aren’t doing quality Arabic content these days, this is a great opportunity. Use the right Arabic keywords and your website will be found by more people.
03.Be more in tune with the local culture
When making content, consider the culture and people’s preferences in the Middle East. This way your brand will seem more authentic and people will be more willing to trust you. If you understand and incorporate local cultural traits, your brand will be different and more distinctive from other companies.
How to make a good Arabic content strategy
01.Research the market well
It’s important to find out what your target people like, what they need and what their behaviour is like. Then find out the topics and keywords that will appeal to them the most.
02.Get professionals to translate and localise
Get a professional to do the translation and localisation so that your content is free from language mistakes and more in line with the locals. Localisation is not just about translation, but also takes into account local expressions and cultural background.
03.Optimise for search engines
In order for more people to find your Arabic content, you need to do some search engine optimisation. For example, using the right keywords, well-written introductions and titles. It’s also important that your website loads quickly and is easy to look at on mobile phones
04.Making content more engaging: the wonders of visuals and multimedia
To make it more enjoyable for people to read your content, you can spruce it up with some images, videos and graphics. In this way, your content will become more interesting and people will be more willing to share it with others. Don’t forget that every local social media has its own speciality and you can prepare some content specifically for those popular platforms.
05.Stick to updating your content
To keep people following you, you need to update your content frequently. Whether it’s a blog, social media or any other platform, stay active and post fresh, useful stuff. This way, people will remember you and become your loyal fans.
01.What big international brands are doing
Many big international brands have found the golden key to enter the Middle East market, which is to make content in Arabic. For example, Nike, they know what Middle Eastern people like, so they made a lot of advertisements related to the local culture, but also in Arabic, the result is that everyone especially like, brand awareness went up immediately.
02.How do small local companies buck the trend?
Some small local companies in the Middle East, such as Souq.com (which was later acquired by Amazon), are also very smart. They specialised in Arabic content, attracted a lot of Arabic-speaking users, and slowly built up a lot of customers, turning into the largest online shopping platform in the Middle East.
