Now is the time to start taking advantage of opportunities to market to Arab LinkedIn users. Just two months ago LinkedIn started the supporting Arabic on their platform. This is the first right to left language (RTL) that LinkedIn has offered to their users. Though LinkedIn has been quite popular among professionals in Arabic speaking countries over the past few years it has not been available in their native language, which makes it hard to use for those who only do business in Arabic. Surprisingly many Arabs who have been on the platform for some time now have done an amazing job strengthening their profiles through adding skills, getting endorsements, and recommendations to the point that some Arab users with little experience could be mistaken as an expert. One thing is for sure, Arabs love social media and making the platform Arabic friendly will significantly increase the number of Arab professionals on the platform. Below we will discuss some of our insights about what this means for marketing to Arab LinkedIn users.
4 Key Benefits for LinkedIn Advertisers to Arab Users
1. Now you can advertise more effectively to an Arabic speaking audience on LinkedIn.
2. More B2B marketing opportunities are available to reach a wider audience of professionals in the GCC and other parts of the Middle East.
3. More demographic data will be available about Arabic speaking professionals in the region and marketers who can advertise in Arabic can reach a unique audience that might be hard to reach through other channels.
4. More accurate data about Arabic speakers in the region will be available. The challenge with many other social networks in the region is the data they have listed about individuals is inaccurate. Many Arabs put a high value on their anonymity and privacy online so it is common for individuals on Facebook and other networks to use fake names and provide inaccurate personal details on their profiles on these other social networks. The advantage LinkedIn brings to this situation is users are encouraged to provide accurate information so they are more likely to take advantage of job related opportunities.
LinkedIn’s Rapid Growth in the Arabic Speaking World
The day LinkedIn launched the Arabic version of their website they included the statistics below about the Middle East stating that in the past 2.5 years their user base in the region had nearly tripled. This made it one of their fastest growing regions in the world. That said, they saw this growth even before they launched Arabic support in the region. Can you imagine what that means for the future growth of the platform in the region given that there at 350 million Arabic speakers worldwide. It is clear the platform is going to grow very rapidly in the region over the next few years. Countries like Saudi Arabia where the majority of the population only speaks Arabic and there is little need for other languages in day to day life should see very impressive growth numbers in the next few years.
Top Industries on LinkedIn in the Arabic Speaking World
So what are some of the top industries you might be able to start advertising to on LinkedIn in Arabic? According to LinkedIn the 3 most represented industries in the Middle East and North Africa region are Oil & Engineering, Construction, and Education.
Arab Professionals Could Market To
What kind of professionals might you want to consider marketing to in the region? Accountants seem to be at the top of the list at 168,349. It seems like a big marketing opportunity for Arabic accounting software.
Many Arab LinkedIn Users Have Studied Outside the Middle East
Arabic Speaking LinkedIn users might represent a more savvy and affluent demographic to advertise to on LinkedIn because according to LinkedIn 1 in 5 of them have studied outside the Arab World.
In conclusion the Arab marketing opportunities on LinkedIn are just getting started. Early adopters will see the biggest rewards due to limited competition.
Source: http://istizada.com/blog/linkedin-arabic-advertising-the-time-to-start-is-now/#more-3629
MEWS is a full service web development Internet marketing company and technology integrator founded in 2003, by leading industry consultants with previous technology experience.MEWS is an Internet services and solutions company with interests in website development – Mobile applications– domain name registrations - web hosting.