Many business entities and advertisers have started using personal accounts of popular social media enthusiasts with massive following paying hefty sums to promote their products and services.
Personal accounts on Snapchat and Instagram have become more attractive to advertisers. “For personal accounts of local celebrities, we pay from QR5,000 to QR10,000 for one advertisement in the form of a post from their accounts. While advertisements on accounts of famous people from abroad usually cost from QR10,000 to QR30,000,” said the supervisor of a catering company.
The Peninsula has found that many famous people are earning lots of money from their personal handles on Snapchat and Instagram. In Qatar, these two social media tools are extremely popular and therefore advertisers and clients choose them for their branding campaigns.
The monthly income of a person having a personal account with huge number of followers may reach QR100,000 depending on his/her popularity and the value of the client.
Mohamed Al Mohannadi, the owner of "Alkhor Live" Snapchat account said: “My account gained popularity as I always highlighted local issues of Alkhor. I also run news stories of Alkhor and activities going on in this area."
Managing social accounts requires special skills & network
Mohamed Al Mohannadi (pictured) said that he had followers from all over Qatar and even from other GCC countries.
"Managing such accounts are not an easy task as it requires special skills and network. To ensure extensive coverage of Al Khor and its issues, I have a team of three persons (I call them hidden assistants) because it is difficult for a single person to handle the whole job and cover all newsworthy events in Al Khor," he added.
Mohannadi said that authorities used to support him and "provide what I need to make this a success".
During summer, most of the advertisements come from resorts.
The tariff of these advertisement on people's personal social media accounts varies from QR20,000 to QR30,000. Some products' advertisements also carried as low as QR5,000 to QR10,000.
Responding to a question on his average monthly income from advertisements Mohannadi said: “I can not tell you the exact amount because it depends on various factors and also varies according to season."
In some months of the year, I get many advertisements and nothing in some other months. And the biggest amount I earned since I opened the account was QR35,000”.
