How Much of a Brand’s Digital Budget Goes to Influencer Marketing in the MENA Region?

Digital ad spending is set to jump beyond $12 billion in the region by 2024 [ref:statista]. More than ever, brands are giving focus to influencer marketing by leveraging the trust that 70% of all consumers have in influencer recommendations over traditional advertising. In fact, depending on the industry and goals, influencer marketing in the MENA region now eats up 10% to 30% of digital marketing budgets.

This is largely driven by the visually dominant platforms such as Instagram, YouTube, and Snapchat that dominate Saudi Arabia and the UAE. Boasting highly visual content and second-to-none engagement, influencer marketing has become a must-have for brands looking to engage with a young and digitally native audience in the MENA region, where social media unlocks most buying decisions.

Why Brands are Increasing Spending on Influencers

Consumer Trust

The ability of influencers to reach an audience that can’t be touched by traditional advertising; people trusted them because they found them so much more relatable. In MENA, where local culture and values are so crucial, influencers build something quite genuine with their followers. Brands will pay for that trust; this turns into loyal customers.

High Engagement Rates

Influencers are more capable of driving engagement than traditional methods of marketing. As an example, on Instagram, influencers in the MENA can experience 2-3 times higher levels of engagement compared to standard advertisements. When audiences relate well with an influencer, they are more likely to be able to engage with branded content.

Cultural Relevance

The diversity in the MENA region yields influence in selecting influencers who understand the local culture. Brands need to seek out the right influencers who would particularly resonate with, for example, Saudi Arabia, Egypt, or UAE audiences. Their potential cultural relevance makes influencer marketing far more effective than a generic global campaign.

Following are more reasons why brands from the MENA region reach out to influencers for services:

Influencers have a personal relationship with their audience. They, therefore, boast higher engagement rates than normal ads.
Consumers in general trust influencers more than they do brands and consider them to be more authentic voices.
Influencers can disseminate content that will resonate well with local audiences by adjusting to local cultural preferences.

Industries Leading the Way

Some industries are rather more aggressive in influencer marketing:

Through influencers in these sectors, products and trends are showcased that really catch on with their followers.
Technology brands use influencers to demonstrate new gadgets and digital services.
Travel influencers expose people to new, exotic places and experiences; this strengthens interest both locally and globally in tourism.

Why Brands are Increasing Spending on Influencers

Digital vs. Traditional Spending

More and more brand focus is being placed on digital marketing. Of course, traditional advertising is not going away anytime soon, but digital, particularly social media and influencer marketing-are fast becoming the number one priority. That focus is reflected in marketing budgets, with as much as 10-30% of some companies’ digital spending devoted to influencers.

Influencer Marketing’s Share

For many brands in MENA, influencer marketing represents a significant share of their digital budget, with 10-30% usually allocated towards influencer partnerships. In some cases, this can go even higher, depending on the goal of the campaign and how engaging it is to the audience.

Regional Differences

This means that in key markets, such as the UAE and Saudi Arabia, with digital engagement on the high side, the spending by brands is higher. They usually grant smaller budgets for the likes of Lebanon, Egypt, and Morocco, but it’s an important leg for their influencer marketing strategy nevertheless.

Conclusion

Influencer marketing in the MENA region will be here to stay, with more brands allocating substantial parts of their digital budgets to the strategy. Going forward, with sustained investment in influencer marketing, the critical areas of attention would need to focus on the right influencer identification, cultural relevance, and clarity over performance metrics transparency. In the next couple of years, we should see an uptick in the percentage of digital budget spent on influencers as brands look to maximize their ROI in this ever-evolving space.