NEW SAT-7 SOCIAL MEDIA STRATEGY FOR ARABIC-SPEAKING VIEWERS

“With this new strategy, we want to build active monthly social media followers, create long-term impact in their lives, and distribute continuously relevant content to each audience segment so we can better engage and follow up with their requests and needs,” shares Shady Francis, SAT-7’s new Arabic Digital Director.

2020 was the year where everyone’s eyes were on their screens. Whether through computers, smartphones, or tablets, the global community was engaging online more than ever, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, and the deep global desire to feel connected to others during times of lockdown and isolation.

Office meetings moved online. Education – from primary schools to universities – all moved online. And churches moved online. In addition, a variety of services and businesses moved online, from counselling and life coaching services, as well as skill-building courses; all these saw an increase in audience engagement and interest. Specific audience were leaning towards specialised content to meet their individual needs; many searching for meaning and answers from God as to why all this was happening.

In an effort to better meet the growing need for engagement and curated online content, Shady Francis and the Arabic channels’ social media staff came up with a future-oriented strategy to help funnel SAT-7’s audience towards the content our viewers are most interested in for their individual needs and struggles. This strategy also allows SAT-7’s Social Media team and Audience Relations staff to better cater to the specific requests from viewers, to provide one-on-one counselling and prayer, and to create posts that nurture their specific interests more regularly.

Prior to this new strategy, almost all of SAT-7’s Arabic channels had their own Facebook pages, which helped to build an enormous number of followers. However, this made it difficult to distribute relevant content to each individual audience segment on a regular basis. Now, SAT-7 can keep engaging with followers, even when a program comes to a close.

With the new strategy, SAT-7 is able to maintain these relationships through creating brands where users can easily find what they need, as well as discover new relevant content. The brands are: SAT-7 Family, SAT-7 Youth, SAT-7 Women, SAT-7 Worship, and SAT-7 Daily Bread, along with the brands for SAT-7 ARABIC, SAT-7 KIDS, and SAT-7 ACADEMY.

“Only weeks after the strategic shift from many social media pages to these selected brand pages, we began to see that it really works. We are seeing testimonies pouring in and our viewers are getting what they need for their individual needs,” shares Marianne Awaraji Daou, SAT-7 Arabic Channels Audience Relations Manager.

One such testimony came from a 20-year-old Muslim woman from Algeria named Sara. Sara had been heartbroken and disappointed by love and she shared her comments on the SAT-7 Youth page. Sara shared that she had a disability, which made her feel that she was not worthy of love as other girls are. She wanted to be loved but felt inferior. Marianne helped her to understand her value through God’s eyes and that she is worthy of being loved. “I feel so relieved just talking to you guys,” Sara shared with Marianne. “I’ve never seen these values in my community, and I love the way you Christians love each other.”

Marianne shares that she told Sara that anyone can have a relationship with Christ. “‘He sees what’s in your heart,’ I said to her. We are continuing to communicate with her and pray with her. If she wants to know more, when we feel she is ready we will encourage her to join a discipleship course online,” Marianne says.

As for SAT-7’s YouTube channels, the new strategy will include edited and curated short clips that would then encourage viewers to watch the full episode exclusively on SAT-7’s new video-on-demand platform, SAT-7 PLUS.

“This new social media strategy, the new video-on-demand SAT-7 PLUS platform, and our long-standing satellite channels together, have the potential to reach more people and give them access to the Gospel and God’s transformational love, for their spiritual, mental, and physical wellbeing,” shares Rita El-Mounayer, SAT-7 CEO. “For now, our strategy has begun with the Arabic-language pages. We are developing similar plans for our social media pages in Farsi and Turkish.”

Please pray:

• Please pray for the new social media brand SAT-7 Family, which aims to address the spiritual, psychological, and educational needs of families in the Middle East and North Africa. Pray that families dealing with divorce, relationship and parental struggles, and other issues will access the life-giving messages of this page and allow God to transform their troubles to triumphs.
• Please pray for the new social media brand SAT-7 Youth, that it will equip the new generation of young adults to maintain and grow their relationship with Christ, understand their identity in Him, and develop the emotional resilience they will need to build their careers, their families, and their future.
• Pray for the SAT-7 Women social media brand, that it will speak to the hearts and minds of women across the region, so they can see themselves through God’s eyes, as valuable, empowered members of society, deserving of equal rights to men.
• Pray for SAT-7 Worship, that more viewers will be inspired by the praise and worship posts and that these will help them to connect deeper to God.
• Pray for the page SAT-7 Daily Bread, that our audience will regard it as a valuable resource to grow deeper in their relationship with God and receive daily discipleship posts, and that seekers will learn the true nature of Christianity and have their questions answered.