Arabnet - Social Media Marketing panel

I had the pleasure to Attend Arabnet event in Beirut as a speaker. The session was very interactive with several comments and questions from the audience around:

• The definition of Social Media/Word of Mouth
• Listening platform
• Measurement (metrics)
• ROI
• Engagement

After the panel, I had the chance to discuss with several people about something that we didn't had the time to address during the panel: The hurdles that each social media professional faces when trying to implement a social media strategy within the organization.

1. The organization can be reluctant to deploy a social media listening platform without having clear KPIs.
2. We are already overwhelmed with information so how can we wade our way through all the pointless babble, self-promotion ect. to uncover those choice nuggets of information.
3. What are the best practices in terms of follow-through

Social Media (الإعلام الإجتماعي) in the Middle East is critical but organisations need to know what are they expecting from this new media by having a clear understanding of the objectives they want to accomplish (in terms of Quali / Quanti).

Members of the panel:

Hall B: Panel: Case Studies in Social Media Marketing

Moderator:

Alexandra Tohme, Digital Planner / Strategist, Leo Burnett

Mr. Patrick Atallah, CEO, 90:10 Group Middle East

Mr. Khalid Dalil, Research Manager MENA, NM Incite

Mr. Marc Dfouni, CEO & Managing Partner, Eastline Marketing

Mr. Vadi Efe, Founder and Partner, Dekatlon Buzz

Mr. Zafer Younis, CEO, The Online Project

In the past few years, we have witnessed the exponential growth of social media: Facebook now boasts over 600 million users and Twitter is serving more than 140M tweets per day. As social networks increasingly dominate the way we use the Internet, and redefine the way we consume and converse about media and products, companies are rushing to understand how to leverage these platforms to connect with their communities.   This panel asks leading social media agencies about case studies and lessons learned in building communities for brands.