3 Popular Social Media Marketing Practices in Iran

You have decided to enter the Iranian market and now you want to gain exposure for your product or service. Here are three social media marketing practices which many companies in Iran are employing.

Many of the old advertising schemes are now considered expensive and inefficient. Instead of spending millions of dollars on TV ads, billboards, magazines and newspapers, many brands have approached digital marketing and more specifically “social media marketing”. Today advertisers know that the younger generations are the tastemakers of many industries and can have an impact on the older generation via the apps and social media platforms they use.

The following social media marketing practices are some of the most popular choices of local and international companies in Iran.

Working with Instagram Influencers

They may not be as popular as the stars you see on TV or the silver screen, but some of them are cherished and are trusted way more than the “non-virtual” celebrities. Today Instagram influencers are able to fundamentally change the mindset of their followers (read: make them buy a Samsung phone instead of iPhone, or vice versa) and shift the culture towards new trends. These influencers might be daily bloggers, comedians, artists, sports fanatics, etc., but what they all have in common is being able to have a direct or indirect impact on their followers.

How can you work with an influencer?

•Send them gifts or goods from your product for review

•Sponsor their photo, video or just the caption under the post

•Partner up with them for product giveaway and contests

If you want to get results, make sure you choose an influencer with the right target audience for your brand. A new approach which many companies are trying is to involve different influencers with uncommon target audiences in one campaign. This approach might be a bit pricey, but the results would likely be satisfactory. The prices for a simple Instagram photo start from a few hundred dollars to thousands, depending on the popularity of the influencers, their engagement rate and the campaign length.

Advertising on Telegram Channels

Telegram is not considered a simple messaging app in Iran anymore, but it’s rather a social media and entertainment hub for Iranians. Ever since Telegram dominated the Iranian market, many channels have popped up which share dozens of posts every day covering the news, celebrity gossip, health and fitness information, jokes and etc. According to a research by Information technology division of Iran’s Ministry of Culture, Iranians spend 5 to 9 hours in the digital world and an average of 60% of them use Telegram for entertainment purposes.

Last month, the Head of the Research Center at Iran’s National Center for Cyberspace also announced that Telegram channels have broken records for the number of Farsi content over the Internet. Currently, there are thousands of channels on Telegram which are creating content and making revenue by selling ads in-between their posts.

Usually, you have the option to have your promotional post in the channel temporarily for 2 hours or you can pay extra if you don’t want it removed from the channel. Popular Iranian channels covering the news or sharing entertaining content usually charge advertisers around $70 to $125 on average for posting an ad for only two hours. You can also have the link to your company’s Telegram channel underneath your paid post if you want to gain a user-base on Telegram.

Sponsoring Animated Videos on Social Media

In the past three years, many Iranian animation studios have started making short and funny cartoons covering the issues in the society or the everyday events happening in the country. These videos are circulated around in hundreds of Telegram channels, Instagram and Aparat and get millions of views for each episode.

These animation studios charge the advertisers depending on the length of the video, the quality of the work, and the number of sponsored videos. These sponsored animations can cost several thousands of dollars depending on the campaign.

There are many approaches available when you decide to go with digital and social media marketing, but the important trait is to know your target audience and the way you want to paint the picture for them. Let us know if you have any experience in this regard, or if you have questions send us an email at [email protected] .