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social-media-agency-dubai · 5 years ago

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Social Media in 2020: Do you need a full scope digital agency in Dubai?

Given the importance of social media in the lives of end-users, companies flock to digital media platforms to reach their target consumer audience. However, there is a content overload on social platforms and the competition is quite high. In 2020 it will be even more difficult for your brand to stand out unless you have a clear digital marketing strategy in the Middle East.

Let’s take Dubai as a reference point. According to the research conducted by our digital agency, Dubai consumers are getting more responsive to:

Short-duration (Ephemeral) content like Instagram & Snapchat stories

Video content

Influencer content

Contests, Q&A’s

Social Communities (like Facebook Groups)

Apart from the social Dubai audience, there are even more active users who use social media for their customer service inquiries. Therefore, many Dubai brands have started recognizing social media networks for “Community Management”, which can be assigned to a full scope digital agency in Dubai

In order to reach the consumers, digital agencies in Dubai used specific digital marketing methods in social media, some of which are:

Geo-targetted advertising

Social Commerce (from shoppable posts to Instagram Storefronts)

Influencer marketing

Remarketing (advertising according to browsing history of the consumer)

Programmatic targeting (Look-alike audience based on past internet behavior)

Short bumper ads (like 5-6 second long Youtube ads)

How about 2020 trends? Do you need a full scope digital agency?2020 is expected to be a year of milestones for social media marketing. Here are some social trends to help fuel your digital strategy and make your brand stand out in the crowd for 2020 and beyond:

Augmented Reality (AR)

We know AR from Selfie filters of Snapchat and Instagram and it’s already affecting social media. More than 190 million people are using Snapchat and on average are spending between 25 to 30 minutes in the app every day.

Adopting the AR and VR technology more into the social media will change the rules of the game. Google realized this fact many years ago.

Back in 2012, Google had launched a device called Google Glass, an optical head-mounted display designed in the shape of a pair of eyeglasses, that became a catalyst for a huge surge in wearble tech, however it has officially been pulled from the market due to heating and battery problems. Google’s aim was simple: Bring the mobile phone camera in to the eyes and use the AR technology to socialize.

Meanwhile Apple worked on the subject thoroughly through the years and spent big funds on AR research in silence. Finally September 2020 is expected to be the day Apple launching Apple Glass (or iGlass).

Apple Glass and similar gadgets will help consumers interact with each other in real world using virtual objects inside AR based applications. You will be able to see if a person is waiting for taxi in front of Dubai Mall to share the cost, if he/she is single/married or which football team he supports just by looking over the glasses. You will be able to see which restaurant in La Mer has the highest Zomato score without using your phone, just by looking over your AR glasses.

So what? How it will affect social media?

Consumers and brands will rejoice in this this technology and find new opportunities to promote their products and services in unique and engaging ways:

Virtual stores on social media: Consumers with AR headsets will not even have to visit your brand’s physical stores any more. Using AR, they will be entering into your brand’s virtual store, check out your products virtually and buy them directly with a hand gesture. You don’t need to spend 2 hours of your weekend inside Carrefour or Spinneys anymore.

AR Outdoor Ads: Game industry will boom with the launch of AR glasses and marketers will be having a totally new medium: AR outdoor! Think of any game you play on the street using AR Glassses, do you think you will see only virtual game objects? Many brands will race to have a spot on the virtual streets of popular AR games. As outdoor advertising is quite expensive in Dubai, AR outdoor ads will give you a limited but filtered audience.

AR videos: Many brands will be able to further engage their audiences by creating interactive AR videos; such as explainer videos on the go. When you are inside the Mall of Emirates, think of navigation arrows guiding you to Ski Dubai. You may see some videos of your favorite brands while you are nearby their real stores inside the mall.

AR Social Platforms: 4G technology is limited for AR but with the launch of 5G, things will change even faster. Facebook and Instagram will be providing full fledged AR features to different brands. Take Sephora brand, which has already activated its AR features for enhancing user experience on Facebook. An end-user can check out different products offered by Sephora on Facebook messenger and know if a specific product suits him/her or not.

As these platforms grow, consumers will look for engaging social experiences. There will be opportunities for the brands that act proactively and learn how to engage with them. We strongly suggest your brand to get involved in these new technologies with the help of a professional digital agency in Dubai.

Instagram may remove “likes”

During the second half of 2019 we have seen a decline in the organic responsiveness of Instagram. It seems to become another Facebook, a paid-ad platform where your post gets more views only if its interesting enough for the first 50 people. According to our branch digital agency in Dubai, Instagram recently tested this proposal in a beta test and may remove the likes globally. The reason is that likes supposedly determine a person’s social value and waiting for likes is detrimental to one’s mental health.

Because of this fact we don’t see Influencer marketing as a growing trend as brands will not be able to measure the success of campaigns without likes. Instagram may be doing this deliberately as they don’t gain any funds in influencer marketing campaigns and they want to be involved.

Social Commerce will dominate

Instagram, Pinterest, and Facebook have long been used by brands for product sales. Social commerce has become a trending turnover portal for brands and this is getting stronger day by day. Social commerce is becoming a mainstream retail platform similar to Amazon, Noon and Souq. This trend will be more popular and more social networks will start introducing pro-selling features like shoppable posts.

From shoppable posts to Instagram Storefronts, we will see more social platforms becoming retail platforms in 2020. Companies and agencies will leverage these and incorporate social sales in their marketing strategies. As a brand, you may require a full scope digital agency in Dubai to setup your own Social Commerce portals.

Video Content will Expand

According to a Cisco study, by 2022, 82% of all online content will be video. Especially short videos will soon dominate the social media as a clear winner among other content types. Think of so many video walls flourishing at Dubai streets during the past year. They certainly attract more attention (which may cause distraction for drivers tough)

How about Youtube ads: it was 1, now it’s sometimes 2 before you watch anything.

If you’re not currently creating videos, it is time that you include videos in your brand marketing strategy. You don’t need a full crew of video production company. Almost any digital agency in Dubai, (like Scarlet Media) can help you generate quick and engaging social media videos, even without any shooting. Here are some examples:

https://www.scarletmedia.net/showreel/

If you want to create a high scale Youtube videos, explainer videos, customer testimonials, product reviews, etc, we suggest you to visit Skyrocket media (

https://www.skyrocketmedia.org/

) who can provide you turnkey solutions.

Which digital agency in Dubai?

If you are looking for a 360 full scope digital agency in Dubai who can help you for social media marketing, remarketing, SEO, Email marketing, coding and AR needs, please contact us at [email protected] or +971526998809

Social Media Agency Dubai

#Media Agency #Marketing Agency #Digital Agency #Social Media Agency #Social Media Marketing Agency #Digital Agency Dubai #Digital Marketing Agency in Dubai #Digital Marketing Dubai #Advertising Agency in Dubai #Advertising Agencies in Dubai #Advertising Companies in Dubai #Social Media Agency Dubai #Marketing Companies in Dubai

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viralhottopics · 8 years ago

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Americas millions of Mexicans without documents live in fear of deportation

Donald Trumps crackdown has been a terrifying bolt from the blue

The queue starts outside the consulate gate soon after dawn and stretches up Park View street. The visitors speak in low murmurs, exchanging the latest rumours. A dragnet in Glendale. Checkpoints in Highland Park. People deported for jaywalking. For speaking Spanish.

Some visitors say they have sold their furniture to create an emergency fund. Others wonder if they should stop going to work and pull their kids from school. Overreactions? Wise precautions? No one knows. Theyve come here for answers.

Inside the gate hulks a nondescript, cream-coloured office block. Lights flicker into life on a pale winter day and by 7am all is aglow: the consulate general of Mexico in Los Angeles is open for business. It is a lighthouse, of sorts, for undocumented Mexicans caught in the political maelstrom that is Hurricane Trump.

Im here to make a plan, said Juana Sanchez, 53, a seamstress who has stitched and sewed in LAs fashion district for 29 years. A plan for what? She managed a tight smile. Deportation. The immigration policies gusting out of the White House have chilled the USs estimated 11 million undocumented people, half of whom are Mexican. The new president has vastly widened the numbers deemed priorities for expulsion.

As we speak tonight we are removing gang members, drug dealers that threaten our communities and prey on our very innocent citizens, he told a joint session of Congress last week. Bad ones are going out as I speak and as I promised throughout the campaign.

The Mexicans who flock to the LA consulate say that in reality Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) is sweeping up caretakers, students, mothers anyone who entered the US illegally, and is thus a law-breaker.

Trump is the worlds worst terrorist. He has the Latino community terrorised, said Rosa Palacios, a careworker with a nine-year-old granddaughter who weeps in fear at losing relatives. The hostility outdid previous anti-immigrant crackdowns, she said. It is worse than when they thought we were infected.

Manuel Selvas, 44, who earns $10 an hour unloading containers, said the president had uncorked prejudice. Before people were afraid to be racist in public but now they feel protected. People in the street had yelled at him to leave America, he said. They say were stealing jobs but Americans dont want to clean toilets or pick strawberries.

Mexicos government has warned of a new reality for Mexicans in the US and urged them to take precautions and get in touch with their nearest consulates, which will receive $50m in extra funding. The concern is humanitarian and economic remittances from the US topped $27bn last year, a lifeline that dwarfs oil revenues. Mexicos 50 US consulates are scrambling to meet the surge in demand for their services. A new 24-hour hotline is fielding thousands of calls daily.

With an estimated 1 million undocumented people, LA purportedly the second biggest Mexican city outside Mexico City is a crucible. The four-storey consulate that abuts MacArthur Park is certainly the biggest and probably busiest consulate. Visitors fill its halls and offices with nervous energy, seeking help and hope.

Sanchez, the seamstress, said she had never been in trouble with the law but feared being stopped on her way to or from work. I drive very carefully, so carefully, she said in Spanish. They can take you for any infraction. You have the fear of not knowing that if you leave your home, youll be back.

She sat at the end of a row of plastic chairs in a large room lined by lawyers cubicles the department of protection. Sanchez sought a deportation contingency plan: a checklist of what to say and not say if stopped, who to call, what to pack, if given the chance to pack. Im very grateful to this country. It has let me work. Ive been happy. I dont want to go to Mexico. But if I do go I want to be prepared.

Birth certificates, which many migrants lack, are crucial. Some used to consider them arcane, an irrelevance in the US, but now they feel vital, a key document to help keep them in the US or, if need be, start a new life in Mexico.

Edgar Perez, 35, a business student, sought Mexican passports for his two US citizen children lest he be expelled. It would make it easier for them to visit me. The tone was matter of fact but fear gnawed at him, he said. Its always on the news, every day, but I dont know whats going to happen.

Some compare detention by ICE to a malign rapture experience: youre going about your business then poof, sucked into a void. Who will pick up the kids from school? Feed the cat? Pay the electricity? Questions you can dwell on in a detention centre before being bussed south and herded across a walkway into Tijuana, Nogales, Juarez or some other border city.

The uncertainty is prompting people to scrimp and save, said Jos Guerrera, who sells coffee and snacks outside the consulate. Ive been doing this 16 years and never seen people so anxious. Theyre saving money for whatever may come.

Some trek to this gritty downtown neighbourhood of taco restaurants and discount stores, their signs in Spanish, hoping the consulate can help avert deportation. A Mexican birth certificate, for instance, can be used to obtain a California driving licence invaluable in a city where cars rule and driving without a licence can land you in jail.

Arianna Diaz, 25, sought help with her request for Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (Daca), an Obama-era programme that legalises so-called Dreamers immigrants who were brought to America illegally as children. Diaz, a would-be nurse, entered the US aged seven and grew up speaking English. She now has a husband, a toddler and a newborn, all US citizens, but felt vulnerable. Last month ICE agents deported Guadalupe Garca de Rayos, a young mother of US children, from Arizona.

I dont know Mexico. I have no family there, said Diaz. With all the bad things Ive heard, I dont want to go. Her three-month-old son had a heart condition requiring continuous care. The prospect of separation horrified her. No, no, no. Trump has said he has a soft spot for Dreamers, a vague statement to which Diaz clutches. Most of us are hardworking people. We call this our home.

The consulates website advises on what to do if detained phone someone as soon as possible, dont sign anything you dont understand and offers key phrases in English: I want to remain silent. I do not consent to a search. I am a Mexican citizen and I want to speak to my consulate. I want to speak to a lawyer. Having a lawyer, studies show, dramatically improves the chance of remaining in the US.

Civil rights groups give another tip: do not open the door to immigration agents unless they can show a judicial warrant through the window, or slip it under the door. Agents use ruses posing as regular police, pretending to be looking for someone else, implying a warrant of removal is a judicial warrant to gain access.

The consulates protection unit has 19 attorneys and legal advisers. When not giving advice they are visiting jails, swotting up on immigration law and monitoring social media for alerts about raids. Felipe Carrera, the units chief, said consuls had provided protection for decades, not least during the tenure of Barack Obama, who was dubbed the deporter-in-chief for expelling 2.5 million people.

The Trump eras challenge was how to empower people with information without fuelling panic, he said. The LAPD, for instance, has a policy of not facilitating deportations, but Trump has threatened to withdraw federal funding from so-called sanctuary cities. We dont want to be naive. The reality is changing, said Carrera.

Sifting fact from hype is tricky. ICE picked up 680 people across the US in a series of raids last month a routine sweep, said the agency. Trump, however, claimed it as part of his promised crackdown. Immigrant activists saw it that way too and said plenty of non-criminals were swept up.

Carlos Garca de Alba, the consul general, said similar raids happened before Trump. On TV you hear about massive raids but so far weve not seen that. In the future there could be but up to now, no.

The psychological impact was deep, however, and a panic psychosis inhibited some people from going to work or sending children to school, said the consul. In the current climate, Hispanics had legitimate reason to fear being targeted, he said. My concern is of racial profiling and people being pushed even more to the shadows.

Things looked very different a year ago. De Alba was finishing a stint as ambassador to Ireland and preparing to move to Mexicos embassy in the United Arab Emirates. Trump was leading the Republican primaries but few thought he could win the White House. Hillary Clinton was promising immigration reform and her appeal to Latino voters included comparing herself to a Latina abuela (grandmother).

Latinos in California had become the single biggest population group and wielded growing clout in city halls and the state assembly. The LA consulate enlisted the mayor, galleries and museums in a year-long celebration of Mexican art, culture, gastronomy and commerce. The initiative was called 2017: Year of Mexico in Los Angeles.

Then Trump stormed to victory. Instead of crowning a queen, Mexicans fell under a new kings heel. Instead of moving to the Arabian peninsula, De Alba, as part of a wide-ranging diplomatic shuffle, moved to LA to lead 250 staff. The year-long festival of Mexican culture is going ahead, showcasing writers, musicians and artists, but Mexican residents, documented and undocumented, are in grim mood. Troomp, as they pronounce his name, has shredded any sense of security at inhabiting a liberal, bilingual metropolis.

Its now a felony to pee in the street, said Arturo Arias, 45, a homeless man seated on a bench with two friends in MacArthur Park. Jaywalking too. Used to be you got a ticket. Now they can use it to kick you out.

Freddy Cazador, 77, nodded. Ive heard ICE is riding inside patrol cars.

Carlos Espiridion, 66, chimed in. If they stop you and you answer in Spanish theyll check your record, look for any excuse to deport you.

They referred to ICE, LAPD, sheriffs deputies and other law enforcement agencies. Their comments were based on inaccurate rumours. But the fear was real. It afflicted not just Arias, who is undocumented, but Espiridion, who has a green card. He felt that one slip, a minor infraction, could land him in Tijuana, shuffling in line with other deportees at a soup kitchen. Last month a former gardener leapt to his death near the border crossing hours after being deported.

On the edge of MacArthur Park, a landmark immortalised in the 1968 hit sung by Richard Harris, the queue outside the consulate dwindles as the day wears on. Visitors emerge clutching sheaves of documents and scatter across the city, back to jobs and homes.

The consulate sits in LAs heart. From here you can walk to city hall, the Walt Disney concert hall and Dodger stadium. Numerous allies the mayor, LAPD, civil society groups express desire to protect Mexicans. Hollywood too. Pleas for tolerance and diversity peppered the Oscars.

Few of the faces on stage were Latino, however, and it remains to be seen how hard LAs business, political and cultural elites will fight for a largely invisible underclass.

With Trump vowing more executive actions and a cranked-up deportation machine, it is left to the consulate and grassroots activists to respond case by case, day by day, a gruelling, bureaucratic slog where victories and defeats play out in private, away from the protest marches and cries of resistance.

It is about processing birth certificates and legalisation applications and visiting jails and detention centres and teaching marginalised people they have rights teaching them that if the knock comes it is OK not to open the door.

Bureaucracy behind the climate of fear

New guidelines announced last month expanded the number of undocumented immigrants who can be targeted for deportation and sped up the deportation process. Now any immigrant living in the US illegally who has been charged or convicted of a crime or suspected of one will be an enforcement priority. This could include people arrested for shoplifting or minor traffic offences.

Any undocumented immigrant who has been in the country for less than two years can also be targeted for expedited removal, which does not need to be authorised by a court.

The guidelines also called for thousands of extra federal agents to be hired, local law enforcement to be enlisted to expedite arrests, and more immigration judges deployed.

There were 11.1 million undocumented immigrants in the US in 2014 this has not changed since 2009 and it accounts for 3.5% of the US population.

5.8 million Mexicans were living as undocumented immigrants in 2014 52% of the total.

The number of Mexicans living as undocumented immigrants has fallen over recent years, while the number from other countries has grown by 325,000 between 2009 and 2014. People coming from Asia and central America account for most of this increase.

1 THE PARENTS

Jesus Hernandez, 31, senses the fear among colleagues every time he clocks in for work on one of LAs building sites. You see it on their faces. Theyre worried something will happen that there might be a raid.

For Hernandez and his partner, Berta Cervantes, 41, deportation could mean gut-wrenching separation from their three children, aged five, nine and 10. What can be worse? said Cervantes.

They came to the consulate to ask about certifying a guardianship letter for the childrens aunt, should they choose to keep them in the US. The children are US citizens.

They also wanted to apply for Mexican passports for the children to facilitate cross-border visits and perhaps integration, should they decide to move the children to Mexico, where they could be viewed as foreigners.

They speak Spanish but dont read or write it, said Hernandez. If they end up in a Mexican school we dont want them to feel lost, or fall behind. Obtaining passports now would mean one less bureaucratic headache.

2 THE LAWYER

Felipe Carrera. Photograph: Rory Carroll for the Observer

Felipe Carrera heads the consulates protection department, a 19-strong team of attorneys that advises and arranges documentation for documented and undocumented Mexicans in and around LA.

Were a kind of defence centre. Were trying for a balance between not causing panic and empowering the community with the information that it needs.

Mexicos US consulates have provided this protection service for decades but demand has spiked since Trump took power, prompting Mexicos government to pledge an extra $50m for the increased workload. Were hoping for more money and personnel, said Carrera.

The biggest threat was often not immigration raids but crooked notaries and scam artists who conned clients with fake, dangerous promises to fix peoples legal status, he said. People are being defrauded and losing their property and savings.

3 THE CONSUL

Carlos Garca De Alba. Photograph: Rory Carroll for the Observer

Carlos Garca de Alba, formerly Mexicos ambassador to Ireland, took over the consulate in Los Angeles last year in a diplomatic shuffling prompted by Trumps rise. The speed of developments here, its so fast, he said. It started even before the presidents inauguration.

An urbane Hibernophile steeped in Irish literature, De Albas job now includes tracking detentions of Mexicans by LA and US federal law enforcement agencies.

Despite headlines about mass deportations, numbers so far are normal but the executive orders had unleashed a panic psychosis, said the consul.

My concern is that racial profiling and fear will push people even further into the shadows. Parents are asking me if they should stop sending children to school. It means theyre really in fear. You cant do that to honest human beings. These people are hard workers, they pay taxes.

Berta Cervantes and Jesus Hernandez at Mexicos LA consulate. Photograph: Rory Carroll for the Observer