A healthy pipeline of new strategic partnerships and expansions

Al Sarami:  Social media advertising spend will overtake newspapers by 2020

HITS Marketing - an international business firm with a rich collective experience in Integrated Marketing, Business Consulting, Innovative Business Development, Creative Design and Implementation of Technology-Based Arabic Content Startups - has announced acquiring of   “Social Media Summit” operations in the Middle East.

Since its launch four years ago, the Social Media Summit is considered one of the world’s leading and most important social media gatherings in the Middle East. The Summit draws a large number of international speakers from all over the world from the most successful marketers working today to explore how current trends, technologies, business practices and social media innovation affect both the media industry and its audience helping them discover amazing ideas that will transform the social media landscape through a carefully selected series of workshops, panel discussions, syndicate sessions and other interactive activities.

Commenting on this milestone, Nasser Al Sarami, Chief Executive Officer of Hits Marketing and President of the Social Media Summit, said: "We are delighted own the “Social Media Summit” operations and strong brand, which is a regional event that brings together industry experts and social media stakeholders. The Summit has become a top social networking platform, and one of the most prominent events on the agenda of decision-makers, economists and influencers in the region.”

“This new acquisition by HITS Marketing will support the Summit in its expansion endeavors this year to cover the Middle East and North Africa region. This is coupled with the introduction of new business sectors and verticals on the annual agenda in the Arab region, besides the expansion in specialised training and consultancy workshops, forums and summits," Al Sarami added.

He pointed out that recent estimates indicate that global advertising spending on social media is projected to hit US$50 billion in 2019, accounting for about 20% of all categories of Internet advertising.

“Over and above, social media platforms will be able to overtake newspapers easily by the year 2020 in terms of advertising spend. Such figures are about direct advertising only, not to mention marketing activities and content dissemination across social media platforms, a fact which opens the door for significant opportunities that require new synergies and alliances to capture current and future opportunities," he remarked.

In the latest development, Al Sarami has announced the appointment of Ehab Heissat as the Executive Director of the Social Media Summit. He will be in charge of initiating business development and launching new sectors, as well as overseeing local, regional and international strategic partnerships. Heissat boasts extensive experience that he has gained over the past decades in the fields of technology, media and business development consultancy.

On his part, Heissat said, "I am delighted to join the Social Media Summit team, which, in less than five years, has built a significant reputation among social networking professionals, and is now poised for rapid growth and expansion over the coming months."

He added: "This year we will build upon the success achieved over the past, as we will seek to tap new regional markets and strategic sectors, in order to render 2018 a year for growth and expansion that will have the most significant impact on creating value for our partners and customers along with all those who will engage themselves in our activities all over the year."

Al Sarami concluded: “The coming weeks will see a series of strategic partnerships and agreements announced with a number of leading companies and institutions that will ensure our continued impressive presence and efficient contributions over the coming years. We seek to engage all those interested in social media’s knowledge-rich and value-added events which will reflect favourably on all parties concerned."