As regulatory body of the information and communications technology industry in the UAE, one of the core roles of TRA is to encourage the use of highly accessible and scalable communication techniques. Based on this, the TRA has advocated the use of social media using web-based and mobile technologies to turn communication into interactive dialogue.

“Social media can be defined as an established and evolving channel that needs to be part of overall communications and capacity-building strategies,” said H.E. Mohamed Nasser Al Ghanim, TRA Director General. “It is a key component for companies whether they are for profit or non-profit because it provides them with greater opportunities to share more information about the important work they do, and it helps them in obtaining the required feedbacks.”

The TRA launched the initiative at the beginning of 2011 in accordance its own trend of utilizing social media in its work and activities. The initiative aims to increase web traffic and to improve the retention rate and the time spent on TRA’s website. Once this is accomplished the TRA hopes to encourage loyalty to the TRA brand, improve the brand’s online visibility, further the brand’s reputation, and improve the marketing approach by collecting data (user insights, behavior and feedback).

The initiative supports generation of revenue by building TRA’s brand alongside that of its initiatives and services online. It builds brand loyalty by creating relationships with influential online entities, which in turn generates word of mouth by turning our most loyal customers into evangelists of the brand. The initiative will also allow the TRA to improve services by building collaboration with clients. Social media optimizes client support by helping to answer users’ questions about TRA and its services, and it revolutionizes customer relations management by collecting user information to create a database of useful customer information. At the same time, it will build relationships with consumers by creating targeted landing pages according to key words researched.

“The emergence of social media has opened gateways of communication with the rest of the world,” said Mr. Al Ghanim. “It is always a good idea for a company to use social media to connect with communities they serve because it improves media coverage. In addition, social media encourages user participation, openness, conversation, connectedness and a sense of community.”

The characteristics of the TRA initiative encourage contributions and feedback from everyone who is interested, blur the line between media and audience, and open the possibility of a two-way conversation. This is better than traditional media, which simply transmits or distributes messages to audiences without allowing conversation. The initiative will also allow communities to form quickly and communicate effectively by sharing common interests, such as a love of photography, a political issue or a favorite TV show. It also encourages connectedness by making use of links to other sites, resources and people.

It’s worth mentioning that the TRA has now official accounts in the most well-known and popular social sites such as, YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/theuaetra, Facebook: www.facebook.com/theuaetra, and Twitter: www.twitter.com/theuaetra.