The surest way to fail at social media marketing is to rush into it without a plan or a strategy. Unfortunately, we see it happen all too often. Maybe you've done it yourself; set up a Twitter account or Facebook page without really knowing why, what you're going to do with it or how to measure whether it's successful or not.

The best place to start is to understand what social media is, and what it isn't. Social media is not like traditional marketing or advertising. Social media is the integration of words, images, video and audio. In a word, it's "conversations" made richer and more convenient.

In this short workshop, Mohammad Hijazi will be explaining the basics of developing your social media strategy that can apply to personal branding, your start-up or even a well-established business.

- Date: Wednesday, March 2, 2016
- Time: 6:30 - 8:30 pm
- Venue: Berytech Digital Park, BDD - 1st floor, Beirut Digital District, Bechara El Khoury Street
- Trainer: Mohammad Hijazi
- Fee: Free Of Charge

Trainer bio:
Mohammad Hijazi runs the Online Collaborative, a non-profit initiative that aims to promote awareness about technology and social media, and is the organizing entity of The Social Media Awards MENA which took place for the first time in Beirut in 2013 and launching in several Arab countries. In addition, he is the Editor in Chief of Cloud961, a print and online magazine that is dedicated to the online community in Lebanon and discusses digital and social media topics from the region.

Mohammad also works as a marketing consultant, trainer and digital media strategist with some of the Middle East's top agencies and institutions. He is a social media producer for one of the top social TV shows in Lebanon, Bala Toul Sire on Future TV with Zaven. He is also blogger at Mind Soup, and an instructor on computer literacy, social media techniques, and social networking for senior citizens as well as corporate digital marketing courses. Mohammad graduated from the American University of Beirut (AUB) with degrees in biology and marketing communications. Hijazi was also participated in an invite-only professional leadership exchange program with the US State Department about social media.

Mohammad takes part of several international and regional conferences where he speaks about different topics relating to social media and hosts training workshops for professionals, agencies, students and senior citizens. He was named as the Social Media Consultant of Lebanon by ECONEWS and was nominated for the MENA Best Social Media Trainer Award by Social Media Club in Bahrain.