Instagram-stories-for-business-oman

Should You Use Instagram Stories for Your Business?

Instagram Stories have been around for a while now, and the effect of it is huge.. but businesses in Oman are not using it much as yet. The reason could be that it has left many brands, influencers, and content creators confused: should we be using Instagram Stories for business?

In our opinion, since Instagram in General and Stories, in particular, are huge in Oman Social Media, If you’re not using Instagram Stories for business, you could be missing out on a huge opportunity. Not only are Instagram Stories fun and creative, but they’re one of the best ways to grow your engagement, build brand awareness, and even drive sales!


2019 Instagram trend review in Oman

We’re into the last few days of another decade. It is a fact that many experts say the 2010’s will be known as the Instagram decade in the social media world: within a relatively short period of time of 9 years, Instagram has completely changed the perception of many of the online platforms. It made a profound effect on many industries.

let’s take a look back and see how it has changed during just this year alone.

It really has been a roller-coaster ride on Instagram with stuff like record-breaking egg, filters like AR filter boom, the decision to hide likes which of course took the internet by storm.

Here are some of the worldwide highlights of 2019

Most followed channels

 

 

 

View this post on Instagram

 

Always great to see you my friend @faz3

A post shared by Cristiano Ronaldo (@cristiano) on

 

 

View this post on Instagram

 

A post shared by Ariana Grande (@arianagrande) on

Most like post

 

Even in Oman and around the region, 2019 has been an amazing year on Instagram. Instagram has always maintained the status of the most popular social media channel in Oman. We hope that it will continue to 2020 and beyond as many local brands are focusing on social media marketing on Instagram due to its popularity.

From amazing new features and inspiring social activities to viral challenges, 2019 has been a BIG year on Instagram.

Looking forward to another decade… 2020.


best-social-media-marketing-agency-oman

Social Media Marketing

Yes, you need Social Media Marketing.

It might be an obvious statement in a few years, but for now it is a period of transition, in which the old internet generation and new internet generation still discuss how were things before and how they are now. In fact, for renowned brands the Social Media marketing is growing with a little help of the struggles of the past.

The free access to promote the brands made those names reach every corner of the world, but also increased their efforts to renew their products/services constantly, considering that their competitors got the same benefits.

It isn’t only about the free accessibility, the reason to be on Social Media is that “everyone is there”, looking for something. You are able to target your audience, guide them to your website and boost your content among other tools available.

The Social Media channels aren’t only good for renowned brands, it can also be an effective tool for new companies, because of the interaction with the customers that can provide them with valuable information such as, what products they are buying, what are their hobbies, what kind of content they share etc. That allows the companies to customize their products and services to the trends, therefore gaining visibility in this new world.

Within the last 5 years people in Oman have been using Social Media for business matters as much as for their personal use.
Advertising Agencies had a sudden switch from their previous majority of press media jobs to Social Media due to the rapid growth of this market.


Al Aktham Restaurant Launches the first-ever Meter Grill Platter in Oman

Mirrors as a brand consultant always seeks to improve partners’ growth. In one of our weekly meetings with Al Aktham Restaurant, we suggested coming up with a unique idea to make a buzz in the market. So after a few rounds of brainstorming sessions, we proposed launching a new item which is a 1 Meter long grill platter.  We then explained to the client that this can possibly create a hype among the people. We started with creative designs while the client ordered to manufacture a wooden 1M long plate.

 

Al Alaktham Restaurant has almost 30 years experience in the market and prepared a mouthwatering grill spread. 

 

 

Finally, we launched the campaign on digital space. The sales and interaction with the campaign so far are more than the expectations. The demand is high not only for dining orders but also for deliveries. We faced some challenges because of delivery demands such as companies asking to deliver the platter to their offices and we were informed that setting up the platter at the companys’ premises excited the employees. They further said the staff of the companies applauded after the setup was done. With the success of this campaign, our client managed to boost their monthly revenue. The campaign is ongoing and the photos of the 1M grill have been shared virally all over social media.

 

 


How Businesses in Oman can take advantage of Social Media Artificial Intelligence

The use of Artificial Intelligence (AI) is growing very fast in business. Social media is no different. Companies are able to leverage their businesses using social media through AI.

The everyday evolving nature of social media makes it very hard for companies to keep a track of all new trends. Hence the companies are seeking the help of AI. The AI-based algorithms can analyze everything that is happening on social media platform in real time and feed that information as data so marketers will be able to utilize them in smart ways. It’s helping the companies to get a better understanding about their customers and their buying patterns, Which means, they are able to market more relevant products to the right targeted audience.

While investment in AI is increasing around the world, companies in Oman adoption of AI technologies is still lagging behind. We at MIRRORS encourage corporates and small businesses in Oman leveraging AI in efforts to gain market share or expand their products and services in the smartest ways.


How will Oman welcome WhatsApp new updated version with limiting message forwarding for 5 times?

Now you will no longer be able to forward WhatsApp messages to more than 5 times. Announcement from WhatsApp on Monday 21st January 2019 said it was restricting worldwide how many times any given message can be forwarded from 20 to 5.

Spreading of Mendacious campaigns and fake stories on WhatsApp has become a big problem around the world. Unlike other social media channels like Twitter and Facebook, WhatsApp messages are private and encrypted. Hence it’s very difficult to track the origin of the message.

WhatsApp spokesman said, “We’ll continue to listen to user feedback about their experience, and over time, look for new ways of addressing viral content.”

Countries like Oman with a fewer number of social problems may be affected by this release negatively as friends and groups are restricted to forward their messages. WhatsApp is already playing a major role in the communication system in Oman, not only among friends but within companies.  Due to it’s fast and convenience many companies in Oman are using WhatsApp as a communication method. So we will have to wait and see how the local market will adapt to this new version.

The company will release an update with forwarding limit, first to Android devices and then to IOS devices accordingly. Oman is expected the new release in near future.


41 Social Media Tips for Omani Small Business Owner

  1. What’s your social media goal? If you don’t know where you want to go, it’s pretty hard to get there.
  2. Promote your most popular posts – and that goes for blog posts as well as social media posts.
  3. If you hate tracking, at least track with Facebook Insights. It’ll show you a lot about your Page progress.
  4. How do you get the conversation going on social media? Try humor and controversy. They’re very powerful.
  5. Social media is a powerful thing, but never mistake fooling around with being productive. Stay focused!
  6. Click FB Insights’ “Posts>When Your Fans are Online” to see your audience’s peak posting times. (Post during these times!)
  7. Look for questions repeated over and over on your chosen social networks. Provide the definitive answer.
  8. Analyze your own tweets. Which types got most retweeting? Most Interaction? Questions, graphics or ?
  9. Don’t be shy with your social media presence. Go for it – but be authentic – and be social!
  10. Still trying to be everyone’s “friend”? Each connection counts – and speaks loudly about who you are to your other connections.
  11. If you want your social content to social content to attract, do your best to share quality tips that are really unique.
  12. Make sure you speak with an identifiable, individual voice when posting social content. Your posts should never sound “canned”.
  13. Be consistent and post regularly during your audience’s peak posting times on any social networks you’ve chosen to frequent.
  14. If you use Pinterest regularly, make sure you also access http://nitrogr.am/ for powerful, easy to use Pinterest analytics.
  15. Use http://nitrogr.am/ for easy hashtag monitoring. (Let your social networking friends know about this, too.)
  16. Posts people skip most? Highly personal negative posts complaining about illness and problems.  (Do you agree?)
  17. Include a mix of rich media in your social content. Video, photos, Instagram and Vine looping video clips.
  18. Vine video clips loop. Instagram video clips don’t. Vine streams on Twitter; Instagram videos on Facebook.
  19. Vine videos are 6 seconds long. Instagram are 15 seconds. How can you use this information for your marketing?
  20. Tapping your screen for a Vine video starts filming. Tapping your screen for an Instagram video just adjusts focus.
  21. Be sure you don’t use any banned hashtags with your Instagram photos or videos: http://thedatapack.com/banned-hashtags-instagram/
  22. Use Instagram hashtags to crowd-source user-generated content as well as extend your own reach.
  23. Remember that Instagram hashtags are not case-sensitive and don’t work with spaces or special characters.
  24. If your preferred social platform doesn’t have good native analytics, look for third party sites that provide it.
  25. Give your new product campaign a name – and start talking about it on your social media.
  26. Make sure all new product posts are made regularly. Don’t let gaps occur. Keep it fresh in people’s minds (without overdoing it.)
  27. Don’t tell everyone too much at once about your upcoming project. Mystery breeds interest! Hints and teasers are part of the fun.
  28. Use surveymonkey.com to create free surveys. You can ask questions for your new product idea and share the link on social media.
  29. If you’re advertising on Facebook, remember your ad images, including the thumbnail, cannot include more than 20% text.
  30. Take advantage of the fact you can now use text, arrows and calls to action in Facebook Cover –photos.
  31. Facebook Profile photos are square and display at 160 x 160 pixels – but remember Facebook wants you to upload at 180 x 180.
  32. At the very least, include a Facebook app tab leading to your sign-up page or form (and use a clear, easy-to-read call to action.)
  33. You can display 3 custom app tabs of your choice in your Facebook header section. Make the most of this “real estate”!
  34. Only your short description displays in your Facebook header section, but fill out your Profile 100% for max searchability.
  35. Select “Replies On” in your Page Admin panel “Manage Permissions” section to increase the conversation on your Page.
  36. If you consistently get endorsements that are not relevant on LinkedIn, be aware you can remove endorsements completely.
  37. Check “Who’s Viewed Your Profile” in LinkedIn to see who is finding you – as well as the keywords they used.
  38. In your LinkedIn Privacy and Settings page, "Select what others see when you've viewed their profile” to keep it private - or not.
  39. In Google+ posts, encase text in asterisks for bold and underscore it to create italics. (Share this tip!)
  40. Did you know Google+ makes animated .GIFs from your photos? Just type the keyword “motion” in your Photos section to find them.
  41. Use the Google+ Ripples feature to track your posts by clicking the top-right arrow in your post.