KSA + MBS

One of the significant benefits of living and working in the nation's capital is the staggering amount of talent that is active and speaking in the city on any given day.

Just this week I had the opportunity to attend a high-level presentation on happenings in the Middle East and how a social-political crisis in the region can last decades, impact millions, explode unexpectedly, and ultimately end up on Western shores.

In the West, we can hope and ignore the Middle East situation, but the social-political challenges of Syria, Iran, and Yemen won't go away anytime soon, if ever.

One issue I haven't been paying enough attention to is the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA) and the pending leadership of Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman.  

Though Muhammad bin Salman is not yet officially the head of state, he popped into London Town this week, and prim and proper Britain rolled out the red carpet for the crown prince. Known as MBS, he had lunch with Queen Elizabeth and meet PM Theresa May at her country estate. He's coming across the pond soon and is scheduled to meet with Trump on March 19 here in DC. 

Why this matters?

MBS is hoping to persuade Western diplomats, thought leaders, influencers, and CEOs that his "shock" reforms like letting women drive and a crackdown on corruption have made his country a better place to invest. Also, he has the massive carrot of the planned Saudi Aramco IPO to shape the West's view.

Though just 5 percent of Saudi Aramco will be made available to international investors, many are speculating this will likely be the world's largest IPO ever. This sale could bring Saudi Arabia $100 billion if Saudi officials' valuation of the company of $2 trillion remains. 

Besides the IPO, MBS wants to solidify support for his tough anti-Iranian stance, secure greater empathy for his boycott of Qatar, and advocate that KSA's aggressive military action in Yemen is necessary to provide long-term stability in the region and to ensure "The Kingdom" is secure and stable.

The speaker suggested this combination of anti-corruption reforms, moves to empower women, and energetic use of force is something we have never seen before. 

With MBS moving quickly to reform KSA internally and employing aggressive military tactics never seen from Saudi Arabia in decades, the leadership of "The Kingdom" is in a race to change the Middle East in unknown and unseen ways.

While the bankers of London and New York are seen as the frontrunners to host the partial upcoming flotation of the Saudi Aramco IPO, we all need to be more engaged with the MBS show - his leadership is making moves like never before.

Marc A. Ross is the founder of Caracal Global and specializes in global communications and thought leader management at the intersection of politics, policy, and profits. Working with boardrooms and C-Suite executives from multinational corporations, trade associations, and disruptive startups, Marc helps leaders create compelling communications, focused content, and winning commerce.

Social media - what is it good for?

Social media marketing has been the hottest marketing concept for the past decade. And why not?

With just a little effort, the marketing machine complex has amazingly shifted the production and creativity to a workforce that does all the heavy-lifting for free.

Free.

Consumer generated content, for free.

Direct to consumer engagement, for free.

Friends and family telling what to buy, where to eat, what to watch, all for free.

But is social media marketing losing steam or are we at the pioneer stage of these tools?

This week Pew Research is out with their annual report on Social Media Use in the United States.

And to no one's surprise, a majority of Americans use Facebook and YouTube, and young adults are unusually heavy users of Snapchat and Instagram. The survey of US adults finds that the social media landscape in early 2018 is defined by a mix of long-standing trends and newly emerging narratives. 

As has been the case since the Pew began surveying about the use of different social media in 2012, Facebook remains the primary platform for most Americans. But the social media story extends well beyond Facebook. The video-sharing site YouTube is now used by nearly three-quarters of US adults and 94% of 18- to 24-year-olds.

But there are pronounced differences in the use of various social media platforms within the young adult population as well. Americans ages 18 to 24 are substantially more likely to use platforms such as Snapchat, Instagram, and Twitter even when compared with those in their mid- to late-20s. 

As was true in previous surveys of social media use, there is a substantial amount of overlap between users of the various sites measured in this survey. Most notably, a significant majority of users of each of these social platforms also indicate that they use Facebook and YouTube. But this “reciprocity” extends to other sites as well. For instance, roughly three-quarters of both Twitter (73%) and Snapchat (77%) users also indicate that they use Instagram. 

This overlap is broadly indicative of the fact that many Americans use multiple social platforms. Roughly three-quarters of the public (73%) uses more than one of the eight platforms measured in this survey, and the typical (median) American uses three of these sites. 

As might be expected, younger adults tend to use a greater variety of social media platforms. The median 18- to 29-year-old uses four of these platforms, but that figure drops to three among 30- to 49-year-olds, to two among 50- to 64-year-olds and one among those 65 and older.

So is social media marketing still a thing?

Yes.

But what does this social media thing mean for marketers, communicators, and advocates?

A few ideas.

Americans might say in polite company they don't love social media, but their activity says otherwise as they use these tools and use them a lot. Second, social media users take advantage of multiple platforms and embrace their unique tweaks. Finally, it may be early days of social media, but there is a lot of content and distraction out there - and frankly, most of it is junk food for the brain.

For marketers, communicators, and advocates to take advantage of these tools they must think reinforce, reward, recognize, refresh, and research.

Also, your content must be outstanding because the consumer has multiple channels for distraction, others want your audience, and if the user doesn't feel special, someone else will give them a home.

And most importantly, more and more content is being produced daily. Just like this Ross Rant, content will be easily created and then placed on a minimum of six social media and digital platforms.

So keep on using social media marketing but make sure your content and engagement reinforces, rewards, recognizes, refreshes, and is well researched.

If you want more, you can access the full report here: https://goo.gl/rWdo9g

Marc A. Ross is the founder of Caracal Global and specializes in global communications and thought leader management at the intersection of politics, policy, and profits. Working with boardrooms and C-Suite executives from multinational corporations, trade associations, and disruptive startups, Marc helps leaders create compelling communications, focused content, and winning commerce.

Timing of the Trump trade tariffs: When politics trumps policy

The White House will have a tariff signing ceremony and/or meeting today surrounded by steel and aluminum workers at 3:30 pm ET. 

I think - it is still not clear to me if and when this will happen.

Is it just meeting or will DJT sign something? 

Nobody is certain.

After years of all that boring No Drama Obama, Team Trump has decided to bring forth an avalanche of self-indulgent drama due to a lack of professional and proper political communications execution.

Regardless of the outcome and the purpose the gathering this afternoon, this advancement of tariffs as an idea to create jobs by installing commercial irritation makes sense for a POTUS that puts personality above policy.

Trump is scheduled to be in Pittsburgh on Saturday night for a pre-election rally to support current Republican State Representative Rick Saccone who is working to hold-off Democratic challenger Conor Lamb in the race to represent Pennsylvania’s 18th Congressional District.

Trump carried PA-18 overwhelmingly in Election 2016; however the latest polls show a much closer race than expected - GOP campaign spending efforts have reached nearly $10 million - as Lamb closes in on Saccone’s lead.

The special election takes place on Tuesday, March 13th.

Trump is obsessed with campaign promises, so he'd love to remind the western PA audience/voters working in the shadows of once proud smokestacks and nostalgia that he has kept his promise to fight for them and their jobs.

What is stunning is on the same day America's allies sign a major trade deal to better connect the nations of the Pacific Rim, DJT responds and moves America to a new level of protectionism.

America last century was at the forefront of designing an environment of business and commerce that looked and worked like America. This century we have a POTUS determined to be at the forefront of designing an environment of business and commerce that hampers and suppresses America.

We are witness when politics trumps policy - enjoy the ride.

Marc A.Ross is the founder of Caracal Global and specializes in global communications and thought leader management at the intersection of politics, policy, and profits. Working with boardrooms and C-Suite executives from multinational corporations, trade associations, and disruptive startups, Marc helps leaders create compelling communications, focused content, and winning commerce.