Social Media Managing

Some of you have asked me for details about working in Dubai so hopefully this post answers your questions.

Cubicles! It's begun. 

I began working as a Social Media Manager (SMM) for Balsam for Health Promotion JLT in July when I was still in Los Angeles but didn't move into a full time role until my arrival in Dubai. My job boils down to using psychology, social media & technology to meet our clients' goals. 

Being a SMM in Dubai differs from my work in LA in a few ways. In LA, I worked with larger teams - in Dubai, I am the sole professional in this department. As a result, I have much more responsibility now than I did before and my work has a larger impact. It's challenging, exciting, new... and scares the absolute s*** out of me when I stop to breathe.  

My boss's desk

As the company name indicates, we promote health-based info: dental clinics, overall well being, pharmaceutical products. Compared to the services I was marketing in LA (e.g. bookkeeping services), promoting health-related stuff satiates a deep craving within me to do genuine good unto the world.  

For example, diabetes is a serious problem in the UAE. I recently collaborated with a coworker to design a multifaceted plan to address issues of diabetes awareness, prevention, and management in Dubai. I'm sure this sounds boring to some people but the opportunity to create this proposal was really exciting - it feels rewarding to have semi-moved into the healthcare sector. 

And onto these comfy leather couches.

The bulk of my work involves: market research, creating & running social media profiles, search engine optimization, writing PR articles, web design/dev, editing, and Arabic-to-English translation. Being this busy forces me to be more organized. +1

I'm fortunate to work with a close, integrated team of 11 people (Syrian, Filipino) who are all invested in my success and vice versa. My coworkers are polite, helpful, and educate me about the local culture. I feel more sophisticated already. 

We've even got a conference room. How sophisticated is that?

I hope this post cleared things up and if there's anything I missed, please comment! What are you interested in? What would you like to know about Dubai? Any suggestions for my next post? Please share!

The building I work in