Mind Soup

The art of sharing has taken on a whole new dimension in today's digital age. With the rise of social media and content-driven platforms, sharing has become an integral part of our online behavior. From heartwarming videos and inspiring stories to hilarious memes and thought-provoking articles, the content we encounter every day is ripe for sharing. As marketers, understanding the psychology behind why people share content is crucial for crafting successful viral marketing campaigns. In this blog post, we'll delve deep into the intricacies of content sharing and explore the psychological triggers that drive people to hit that "Share" button.   I. The Desire for Connection At the core of human nature lies the fundamental need for social interaction and connection. Social media platforms have become virtual meeting grounds where people gather to interact, share experiences, and express themselves. The act of sharing content allows individuals to forge and maintain r...

Influencer marketing has become a game-changer, driving successful marketing campaigns like never before. Small and medium-sized businesses (SMBs) have realized the immense potential of influencer relations as a cost-effective and powerful means to connect with their target audience. Unlike traditional advertising, influencer marketing harnesses the credibility and reach of influential individuals, creating authentic promotion of products and services. For SMBs aiming to stand out in a competitive market, mastering the art of influencer relations has become a vital component of their marketing arsenal. Influencer relations involve building collaborative partnerships with authoritative figures within specific niches. These influencers hold sway over a devoted and engaged audience, making their recommendations and endorsements highly valuable. The success of influencer relations lies in strategic selection—targeting influencers whose values, interests, and content seamlessly align with t...

JCI Beirut hosted me on Wednesday March 2, 2016 to conduct a hands-on training about Social Media Strategy at Berytech Beirut Digital District. In this workshop, where more than 50 people from different backgrounds (students, fresh graduates and professionals) attended, I explained how to create a social media strategy for business. The points discussed included examples of brands that do not have a proper strategy, defining social media goals, the sales cycle, asset mapping, defining the audience and creating personas, choosing channels, voice & tone, posting frequency & time, crisis management, and understanding Facebook's algorithm. The session was followed by a Q&A session. I was really overwhelmed by the positive feedback from the attendees after the session especially that several ha said that they learned so many new things that they have not learned when they took expensive workshops or companies. It had been almost two years since I had given a public so...

I was invited to speak at the 4th Arabian Social Media Forum in Kuwait last week. I spoke about some case studies that reflected the state of social media in the Middle East. In my presentation, I discussed successful campaigns from Lebanon, UAE, KSA, Jordan and Egypt. I have also included examples of bad conduct from brands and celebrities on social media, in addition to examples of really bad (ugly) examples of social media customer service from Lebanon and Kuwait. Some key takeaways from the presentation: A simple campaign can go viral for a long time if implemented properly. (# MyDubai ) Negative content spreads much faster than positive content. Campaigns that use negative content in a smart way can take advantage of this with a smaller advertising budget. (Ugliest Couch campaign) You must know and study your demographic before you launch an online campaign. (Samsung Levant's Secret Valentine) With a small budget, small businesses can hugely increase their sales wh...

This is not a peace offering, as I am not at war with anyone. This is a simple and straight-forward clarification about a few points about my relationship with the Online Community in Lebanon. As a member since the very early days of Twitter, I have witnessed all the phases that this community has went through from the cuddly adorable early days to the bitchy whiny era that we are in now. In 2010, I was super proud of the hard work of the bloggers and tweeps that I thought there should be an entity that protects and promotes this community. The Online Collaborative was born from a group of enthusiasts who wanted to make it worthwhile for this growing community and till this day, it has only served the goal of promoting proper online citizenship and creating an open platform for every member of the Online Community with no exclusions. Three years into the project, our volunteers have made a HUGE impact on this society (if you like to admit it or not) in an attempt to make...

Interview with Leila Khauli Hanna, a pioneer in social media adoption in the Lebanese classroom Leila Khauli Hanna is a full time Instructor of Marketing Management at AUB’s Sulaiman S. Olayan School of Business since the year 2000.  She holds a Masters of Business Administration with a specialization in Marketing and Econometrics from Bowling Green State University in Bowling Green, Ohio. Ms. Hanna has taught courses at the Undergraduate and Graduate level in the fields of Marketing and Economics in the US, Lebanon, and France.  She has introduced and coordinated several highly specialized and cutting edge courses at the school and was nominated three times for the teaching excellence award at AUB. Her research interest lies in the Creative Industry of Lebanon and the Digital Transformation of businesses in the region.  Ms. Hanna was the first to introduce full-fledged social media integration into her courses in Lebanon. Her students use these tools to com...

NESCAFÉ recently launched its new product, NESCAFÉ® Dolce Gusto®, into the GCC market and was about to launch it in Lebanon. This is a relatively small coffee machine for the home. For this reason, it selected around 30 tweeps from the Lebanese online community to receive and test the machine and give their feedback about it on various social networks. Below are the pros and cons of this campaign. Pros: Who doesn't love free stuff? This campaign was received very well by the tweeps it concerned and most of them are happily engaging with the campaign, posting photos of the machine and the coffee regularly on social networks such as Facebook, Instagram and Twitter. The packaging was customized to show each person’s Twitter profile and most recent tweets. The package did not only include the coffee machine but also 5 boxes of different coffee capsules to last two months. Each capsule box had a suggested tweep name on it to make it more engaging. For example: Have an es...

When looking for a job online, most people tend to go directly to Linkedin.com and create a profile while disregarding their existing social networks. What they don’t realize is that most employers search for potential employees on personal social networks before professional ones. I am going to discuss a few measures that you should undertake to survive an unexpected stalking from a potential employer. Firstly, your email address should be professional. Try to create a professional email address using your first name and last name, or first initial and last name. Email addresses like sexybeast69@aol.com or puppy_loveXOXO@msn.com will deter an employer from considering your resume. In addition, your email provider says a lot about you. If you are using AOL for example, you would give off an internet newbie vibe: "Hi. I'm from 1996. What is this internet that you speak of?“. If you use Hotmail, you are perceived as an amateur or a teenager: “Hi, I’m 16. Would you like...

Can you put borders on social media interactions? In January 2012, Former Prime Minister Saad Hariri unknowingly responded to a “Good Morning” tweet by Israel Defense Forces Spokesman Avichay Adraee and Hezbollah affiliated media such as Al-Manar Television and Al-Akhbar newspaper had a field day with it, dubbing it as “tweeting with the enemy.” Soon after, Hariri publicized a formal apology that reads: "When I answered today's good morning greetings, I answered one some of you say belongs to an Israeli official's Twitter account. If that's true I would like to clarify that I did not know it when I answered him, since I consider Israel to be an enemy state.” In January 2013, blogger Elie Fares from Separate State of Mind received a supportive email from an Israeli and wrote about his dilemma of answering him back. “I recently received an email from an Israeli […] and the email was touching. People advised me not to reply. So I didn’t. But I really, really wan...

I was honored to be interviewed on Future TV's English News last week. Check out the video below where I talk about the state of social media in the Arab World , the Lebanese online community, the Social Media Awards and University for Seniors . I'm also very humbled to have been called The Social Media Consultant of Lebanon. Thank you Youmna for the superb interview! For more information about what I do, you can connect  with me on Linkedin. 

In an attempt to promote inspiring stories about people from the Lebanese Online Community, we, at Cloud961 , have decided to dedicate a monthly column to interview an inspiring figure that has left a mark in the Lebanese online sphere. For your suggestions for this column, feel free to email me on mhijazi@cloud961.com. Fida Chaaban is the Editor in Chief of RAGMAG Magazine. She is an avid tweep who joined Twitter after moving to Lebanon from Canada just over three years ago. Q: What is your relationship like with the Lebanese Online Community? A: The relationship I have with the online community has actually made me a happier person in Lebanon. I’ve met a lot of my close friends here through Twitter. Initially, my interaction was more of a learning experience, and now it’s basically the place where I go to keep updated on what my friends (tweeps) are up to. In addition to the personal side of it, I interact daily with the magazine’s readers via Twitter. Their comments on everythi...

This is a feature story done for Cloud 961 Magazine Issue 4 . The main purpose of medicine and the thousands of years of trying to perfect it is to extend a human’s life and eventually achieve immortality (through robotics for example). What the internet, social networks in particular, unexpectedly achieved is another type of immortality: digital immortality. Yet, people don’t usually think about what happens to their social profiles online once they are deceased, until they are forced to when someone close to them dies. According to a study done for the purpose of this article, 65% of the respondents have at least one deceased person as a connection on their social media platforms. Only 12%, however, are aware of Facebook’s and Twitter’s procedures for deceased people. Facebook’s official policy for deceased people who have profiles on their site is to turn it into a memorial where “people can save and share their memories of those who've passed.” This setting hides the prof...