Mind Soup

Read the full magazine here . I was recently interviewed by Youmna Naufal  for  ECONEWS  magazine by The Chamber of Commerce Industry and Agriculture. A version of the interview below appeared in print in the June 2014 edition. Named the Social Media Consultant of Lebanon, Mohammad Hijazi is a young man who, like many, has mastered the art of social media. In his words, social media is no longer just a tool to communicate or connect with people that we know. Its opportunities have become much wider. People can now get acquainted with professionals in their fields, get exposure for their work, get funding for their start-ups, find jobs and even meet new people with similar interests or hobbies. In Lebanon, there is a thriving community of well-educated and interesting members who are worth connecting with on a professional or personal basis. However, he believes only a portion of the Lebanese are aware and knowledgeable enough about proper ways of using social med...

Ipsos MediaCT has released the results of the ‘Ipsos Football Score’ (IFS), which is a two-month long national representative survey * conducted across 11 MENA countries. The independent survey seeks to gauge the sentiment of Arab football lovers and their favorite teams, assessing who they think will win the title in the World Cup 2014. The ‘Ipsos Football Score’ was designed by Ipsos MediaCT to categorically rank the various football teams based on specific variables such as favorability, likeability, loyalty, popularity, uniqueness (tactics and abilities), as well as their chances of winning the title. The independent study then assessed the importance and significance of each of these variables, and a comprehensive score was derived from these results. The study covered Saudi Arabia, Egypt, the United Arab Emirates, Lebanon, Iraq, Bahrain, Kuwait, Morocco, Tunisia, Qatar and Jordan. In general based on the results, the Brazilian football team received the highest score in ...

Many businesses have finally started to realize the importance of social media for their success, but few have relied so heavily on it in Lebanon to promote their concept. A perfect example of this would be Pizza Cups, an all-homemade catering business with a fresh, delicious idea that was launched solely on social media platforms. To know more about Pizza Cups and its social media strategy, I interviewed Wassim El Haddad, co-founder, about this innovation. El Haddad has been working in social media for the past year in Cleartag, while co-founding Pizza Cups with Khajag Apelian and currently handles the communication matters of the brand as they get ready to open their new outlet and expand. What is Pizza Cups and how did you come up with the concept? Pizza Cups are cup-shaped pizzas prepared with fresh quality ingredients and baked with care and dedication. They're available in different savory and sweet flavors, with different crust choices. The starting point of...

I can vividly remember the first time I was briefed about the concept of Cloud961  by our managing director. Back then, I had no time to even think about anything outside of the realm of the first Social Media Awards (SMAs) in Beirut, which were coming up. There was just so much to do. I must say I was skeptical about how the concept of the magazine would be received by the online community and digital agencies in Lebanon, knowing how the local vibe is generally tainted with competition and jealousy. At that point, Cornerstone PR, the publisher of the magazine, wanted to sponsor the SMAs, but did not want to be a traditional sponsor with brochures and roll-up banners related to their work. They wanted to give back to the online community and put their voice through a louder speaker, and attract a relatively traditional audience who still believes in print media. Cloud961 was born on April 30, on the night of the SMAs, as a gift to the online community in Lebanon. We start...

Earlier this month, I was invited to speak at the 3rd Arabian Social Media Forum hosted by Promedia in Kuwait about the state of e-commerce in the Middle East. My presentation from that talk was featured in the Business section and Retail section on SlideShare . Check it out below. You can also read more about the state of e-commerce in Lebanon in Cloud961 's 7th Issue ( pdf  | online ).

Facebook vs. LinkedIn advertising: which one is suitable for your business? A version of this article was published in Entrepreneur Middle East and Entrepreneur Qatar magazines on pages 52-53. Without a doubt, online advertising has become a necessity for businesses, brands, and organizations online. It allows your content to be exposed to a wider audience, but it requires a lot of attention and knowledge of the market. Knowing how to use the advertising tools available on platforms is just as important as having the budget to do so- study your target audience, then choose your medium. Before you start an online advertising campaign, you should consider all of the following factors. • Your objectives for the campaign What are you hoping to achieve from the campaign? Is it brand awareness, acquisition, increasing likes, call to action, competition participation, etc…? • Your target audience Who are your customers or users? Who do you think will be interested in particip...

Inspiring People from the Lebanese Online Community A version of this article appeared in the April issue of Cloud 961 Magazine . You can download it here . 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 . If you ask anyone in Lebanon about blogging, Gino’s blog is bound to get mentioned eventually. This 4-year-old blog, which is run by Gino Raidy has been read over a million times and won the Best Personal Blog Award at Beirut’s Social Media Awards 2013. It is both the most praised and most criticized blog in Lebanon. In this interview, I will be addressing some of the rumors about this blog as well as some insights from Gino’s experience. Gino is a 23 year old blogger who currently works as a ...

Photo by @AUB_Lebanon on Instagram Have you wondered why very few people find jobs at the AUB job fair? AUB charges each company a minimum of $2,000 to be present at the job fair. Obviously, big companies and agencies can afford this and that is why most of them are there. But most of these companies and agencies are not there to hire, very few of them even have fresh graduate positions. These companies are there for three reasons: prestige and brand awareness, a change of scenery for their HR staff and to get the student's emails and phone numbers for spamming purposes. Many start-ups and small companies that are actually recruiting may not be able to afford (or do not have the budget) to participate in the job fair. Thus, AUB students will not be exposed to these new or small companies and struggle more before or after graduation to find jobs in Lebanon. In comparison to other universities in Hamra, LAU charges $300 per campus and Haigazian promotes the companies for ...

A version of this article was originally published as my editorial for Cloud961 Magazine 's April issue . It seems that everyone is sticking their noses in the bloggers’ business these days, with no regards to their feelings—as if they are not living breathing human beings, but rather products that they can exploit or manipulate as they see fit. (If you cannot pick up on OR do not master the art of sarcasm, I suggest that you do not go through reading). First, there are the agencies who proudly announce to their clients that they are so close to the blogging community in Lebanon that they practically “own” them. They brainwash their clients into believing that they can push any content they want publicized to these bloggers and those  would gladly oblige because they “crave content” and they would “do anything to please the agency” or get the opportunity to test the latest smartphone model or car. Second, there are those washed-up-advertisers-turned-bloggers who tr...

How to piss off the online community in 10 simple steps The online community is an important part of a brand’s public relations strategy. It can make a huge difference for your brand resulting in more profit or loss, and in some cases even bankruptcy. That is why it’s crucial to handle these relationships very delicately. In general, this community is mostly made up of 16-30 year-olds who are extremely tech savvy and connected round the clock. As a brand, you should be extra careful about navigating this demographic, and here are the 10 things you need to avoid. 1. Discrimination We all know that discrimination is something that we want to avoid, but when it comes to social media, it is even worse because it’s public and you will get a lot of heat. This includes the different forms of discrimination including ageism, disability or so forth. 2. False News Fact-checking and research are the key words here. On the internet, news travels fast, even if it is untrue. Eventually,...