This article is sponsored by the marcusevans Middle East Social Media Marketing conference that will take place on the 29th & 30th of May in Dubai. We will be writing more articles in this format leading up to the conference where we will ask the expert speakers of the conference different questions related to social media and in the MENA region. Our second expert is Arto Joensuu.

Arto Joensuu is the Head of Digital Marketing, Middle East and Africa at Nokia with extensive experience in online, social media under his belt. His work has been rewarded with several industry awards and for the last years.

I think his Linkedin profile sums up his interests very nicely:

“I’m completely and utterly in love with digital; its complexity, simplicity, measurability, creativity, scalability, conversational nature and above all-> interactive energy.

I’ve “been there and done that” but above all, i’ve had the priviledge of sharing numerous victories with the most amazing and talented people in the industry. Many people label themselves as digital gurus, I would like to call myself a digital change agent. Change is constant, life is a journey and digital is the way.” – Arto Joensuu

Q1) How do you view social media in the MENA Region?

Social media is an ever growing phenomena that outlines the fundamental paradigm shifts that are occurring within the industry. People are connecting with other people and brands to exchange ideas, find information and share experiences.

Q2) Nokia has been a leader in mobile for years, but competition now is increasing so how does social media fit in your marketing mix?

Nokia is about connecting people. This connecting people ethos is what we stride to live to and social media plays a crucial role in bringing this to life. Conversations are the new conversion and these conversations are cultivated through continuous customer engagement in social channels (in addition to the overall brand experience a consumer has when using our products & services)

Q3) Obviously Nokia is a worldwide brand, is the social strategy universal across all locations? Or is it dependent of location?

We have certain “global truths” that we go by, but we also leave flexibility for our markets to bring the connecting people message into the relevant culture and context. A good example of this is for example www.facebook.com/nokia and www.facebook.com/nokiaegypt Both follow the same principles, but while one is a global presence, the later is very much tailored for our specific market needs in Egypt.

Q4) What are the key elements to consider when diving into the social media world?

Human beings have 2 ears and one mouth. After decades of one way broadcast media, brands need to start using their ears more before going out and shouting their brand messages. Social media monitoring, listening and customer focus are the key considerations  we take into account before diving into social media. Social media is not a campaign, it’s a commitment.

A big thank you to Arto for sharing his views as well marcusevans for helping out. If you’d like to see Arto at The Middle East Social Media Marketing Conference you can get in touch with the organizers and request more information here.

Africa was a different story with 50% of the top 10 countries being from the MENA region or North Africa, Egypt accounts for 12% of Africa’s traffic growing 174% over the past year. Remarkably Sudan had an impressive growth of 2466% however they only account for 6% of Africa’s traffic since they started from a small base according to the article published. But all of Libya, Morocco and Tunisia made it on to the top 10 African countries resulting in a total of 30% of Africa’s traffic requests, including Sudan and Egypt.

This data is based solely on ad requests in the AdMob network of mobile web sites and iPhone, Android, webOS, and Flash Lite applications. To get the information for all the remaining regions download the complete presentation prepared by the guys at Google Mobile Ads.

]]> http://interactiveme.com/index.php/2011/01/admob-a-deeper-look/feed/ 0 http://interactiveme.com/index.php/2009/11/the-1st-search-engine-for-job-opportunities-in-the-middle-east-africa/ http://interactiveme.com/index.php/2009/11/the-1st-search-engine-for-job-opportunities-in-the-middle-east-africa/#comments Sat, 07 Nov 2009 18:27:10 +0000 Tarek Kassar http://interactiveme.com/?p=2189

Jomea.com announced today the official launch of Jomea.com, the first free search engine for job opportunities in the Middle East and Africa. Designed to facilitate and accelerate the job search process, Jomea offers as well free unlimited job listings to employers, recruiters and job boards.

Through one site and by using a simple keyword search, job seekers can now access all vacancies from the most reputable job boards, recruiting sites, company career pages, classifieds… in the Middle East and Africa. Ziad Ghorayeb, co-founder of Jomea.com, says “the search engine combines all the resources needed by job seekers, in one single site. Jomea.com is the only search engine in the Middle East and Africa that scans the web for its users by gathering all job opportunities available in one simple step.”

Employers, recruiters and job boards can now promote all their jobs to a large number of targeted job seekers, free of charge. They can also list their vacancies as links that redirect the job seekers to their site. Jomea.com is not a recruiting site but a search engine that exposes the vacant positions to a large number of people and speeds-up the recruitment process. It’s a site that caters to both job seekers and recruiters in the Middle East and Africa.

Star Satellite Communications Company PrJsc, a wholly owned subsidiary of Al Yah Satellite Communications Company (Yahsat) has signed its first service partner agreement for “YahClick,” Yahsat’s revolutionary satellite broadband service.

The agreement was signed with Intersat Africa Limited, an established provider of satellite-based internet services. As part of the service agreement, Intersat will roll out YahClick in Africa.

Intersat’s initiatives in Africa include a number of programs in the area of education, including its involvement in an e-school project that aims to provide communications, technology skills and knowledge to primary and secondary school students in Africa.

YahClick will offer broadband via satellite, to deliver reliable high-speed internet connectivity for home users and businesses in areas with limited or no internet access, at costs comparable to terrestrial services. This will be provided by Y1B, Yahsat’s second satellite which will be launched in the second half of 2011. Prior to the launch, Yahsat will partner with additional service providers in 2010, to ensure timely planning and preparation.

“YahClick will fast track the deployment of affordable broadband services and play a key role in connecting communities and creating informed societies. Our partnership with Intersat will ensure that the service is instantly available to consumers when we launch Y1B,” said Jassem Al Zaabi, CEO of Yahsat. “Intersat have the vision, capabilities and experience to successfully rollout the YahClick service.”

Y1B will be the first satellite in the region to offer internet connectivity through the latest technology, the Ka-band multi-spot beams, with reusable frequencies to maximize spectrum efficiency. The multi spot-beam technology means greater efficiency on the ground, which enables use of a smaller antenna size with a low power amplifier.

Due to the highly flexible system design, Yahsat’s partners who provide the YahClick service will bundle hardware and software services; offering packages tailor-made for specific markets and user segments, from basic internet access for a home user to high speed service plans for the corporate user.

Author note: This is a press release, edited to be digestible by interactiveME audience.

Around 100 speakers from all over the world have submitted papers for approval to be delivered during the three days of the Conference. They are all related to the various themes of the Conference as mentioned hereafter. They relate to research papers, and works that have never published elsewhere.

Many participants will be gathered during these three days to be acquainted with the latest developments in the fields of ecommerce, epayments and they applications. The audience is composed of academics and researchers, experts, professionals, decision makers, engineers and consultants, bankers and the general public wishing to start a business in the fields covered by the Conference. In addition to the conferences and presentations, there will be a series of training workshops which will be delivered by some speakers.

This event is organised by SIST and Educasphere in collaboration with other partners and co-organisers. SIST is an off-campus centre for University of Sunderland and Educasphere are the organisers. AMECSEL is a co-organiser and our partners are University of Wales Institute (Cardiff), University of Essex, Groupe Sup de Co Amiens, Université Laval (Faculté des Sciences de l’Administration, Canada), Journal of Internet Banking & Commerce (JIBC), Europe Asia Business School, India, University Hassan II, University Cadi Ayad, Internet Society and Emerald, American Chamber of Commerce, African Press Organisation and more.

You can download the programme here

[Edited Press Release]