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Digital and Social Media Strategy For Ramadan

Just like any occasion, Ramadan is one of the fruitful seasons for many businesses, especially in the Middle East. Trust me, abstaining from food for long hours doesn’t make people consume any less food for that matter. On the contrary, expenses double actually triple within the holy month of Ramadan for a mysterious sacred reason… -_-  Therefore, businesses should plan their digital and social media strategy for this season.

Okay so let’s put the “Hypocrisy” factor aside for a minute, in terms of how all of a sudden people start praying and quit bad habits, it is really the time where people spend a ridiculous amount of time on social media!

Rumor has it that the users’ activity and engagement are the highest during Ramadan & it’s true. That means that Ramadan is the busiest period in the year for advertisers, as well.

Generally speaking, businesses of all kinds, plan for Ramadan way ahead.

Studies proved that people access the Internet on their mobiles more frequently during Ramadan, and this activity is maintained for the rest of the year. This triggers the urge for advertisers to have bigger exposure during Ramadan to get more engaged consumers, more subscribers, and higher watch times not only during Ramadan but also for the rest of the year.

To reap the best of the results, advertisers should start planning beforehand.

So advertisers must do their research to know the consumers’ purchase orientation and use these as a basis for their campaigns.

So as far as I’m concerned, I, even though I don’t cook, start searching for new cooking recipes and videos for Iftars & Suhoors before Ramadan to prepare a list of the meals I’m going to cook (which my mom ends up doing anyway).

People start watching cooking videos too early!

A study showed that watch time on YouTube for cooking videos starts to increase one month before the start of Ramadan, and peaks at almost 30% higher than average in the first week of Ramadan. I’ll help you dissect this information in terms of business. When watching cooking videos/recipes, by default, no one has all the ingredients lying there in the fridge, so this is good news for food suppliers. People would rush to the grocery store to collect their items to prepare their meals.

Moreover, when I, or anyone really, see a beautiful presentation table, we all rush to buy all the pieces that make our Iftar or Suhoor tables as beautiful as the ones we saw online. This is, too, good news for home deco suppliers. And the list goes on and on, but I suppose you got the picture by now. By studying the data, you can easily predict people’s interests & prepare plans for advertising campaigns.

Social media engagement increases too much during Ramadan

Furthermore, the word “Iftar”, “Suhoor”, “sweets”, “Knefeh” are the most terms searched for during this period of the year. Restaurants searches related to Iftar and Suhoor meals also increase drastically. The busiest search times are between 6 PM and 8 PM, just around Iftar. I suppose those who fast would know why (drooling over these food photos like I always do). The activity remains strong after midnight as well, until around 5-6 AM, even after Suhoor concludes. In general, the increase in search rates for literally everything is staggering, really. Also, the number of TV competitions increase significantly during Ramadan which is more than perfect for mobile operator companies. Ramadan is such a unique occasion. Ads’ content that gets created for this period is totally different from the ads’ content that brands put during the rest of the year.

User’s behaviors change remarkably on all social media platforms, especially Facebook, Instagram, and YouTube, with notably significant increases in engagement (likes, comments, shares) during Ramadan.

Also, most -if not all- people, I included, start curating videos and channels of Drama series for later or repeat viewing. This activity rises about 151% in Ramadan and remains for something between 3-6 months after Ramadan.

Now let’s talk about Eid.

Eid is an opportunity to harvest from advertisements done in Ramadan. Usually, people, of all ages, start hoarding stuff in preparation for Eid. These “stuff” include food, and by the food I mean non-other than the all-time favorite MAAMOUL!!!!!!! *squeals in utter excitement!!!*, chocolate and candies, gifts. Though most men skip this IMPORTANT part and they wonder why the hell are we grumpy on the first day of Eid -_-. Other non-edible stuff would be clothes, makeup, hair & beauty care products, travel tickets, hotel reservations, salons appointments, etc.

Basically, Ramadan is the most miraculous time of the year, and seizing this opportunity is not to be taken lightly. So, collecting marketing insights before Ramadan will help you prepare a solid digital  and social media strategy.

And since Internet engagement is extraordinarily high, it will only make sense to have online presence more frequently during this holy month, no matter what business you’re in. Especially, people use their phones to distract themselves from hunger and to pass the time until sunsets and become the time to breaking of fast.

Ramadan is a special time for all of us.

It is the time when many of us re-evaluate our lives and priorities and a time when we feel most strongly connected to friends, family, and home. The reason why advertisers should consider evaluating their priorities when it comes to Ramadan’s marketing campaigns. Moreover they should prepare digital and social media strategy.

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