The first part of this report outlines the strengths and weaknesses of Oxfam ME on Facebook, as well as, Oxfam International on Twitter.The report also highlights many lacunas that Oxfam ME need to overcome in order to better harness the power of social media, such as: Empowering its own digital property, its company website.

1. SOCIAL
MEDIA
AUDIT
by Judy Maàmari

2. OUTLINE
A. INTRODUCTION (300 words)
- What is Oxfam?
- Oxfam in the Middle East
- Using Social Media
B. SOCIAL MEDIA AUDIT (1762 words)
- What is Oxfam doing right on Social Media?
- What is Oxfam doing wrong on social Media?
- What can Oxfam do to better harness the power
of social media?
C. REFLECTIVE ESSAY (978 words)
D. BIBLIOGRAPHY
Judy Maamari | Oxfam | 2

3. What is Oxfam?
Perhaps what differentiates Oxfam from other
NGOs is its endeavor to empower the people
it helps by enabling them to exercise their
rights and manage their own lives (Oxfam.org,
2014). Made of “an international confederation
of 17 organizations in more than 90
countries,” Oxfam helps fight poverty and
promote human rights, as well as political and
economic freedom (Oxfam.org, 2014).
The name “Oxfam” stands for Oxford
Committee for Famine Relief, which was
founded in Britain in 1942. The group’s
mission was to campaign for food supplies to
be sent to starving citizens in
enemy-occupied Greece during World War II
(Oxfam.org, 2014).
Image Source:
http://www.omtropy.com/WYD2014.php
Judy Maamari | Oxfam | 3
INTRO.

4. Oxfam in the Middle East
What started off as a local committee back in
1942, soon became one of the world’s leaders
in the delivery of emergency relief
(Oxfam.org, 2014)
In the Middle East, Oxfam has been working in
the Arab world for more than thirty years, and
with Palestinian refugees, in particular, for
over sixty years. Currently, Oxfam is working
with local partners in the Arab countries to
provide humanitarian aid and help improve
the lives of the poor (Oxfam.org, 2014).
Oxfam is currently present in 9 Arab
countries, including: Palestine, Sudan,
Somalia, Morocco, Yemen, Syria, Lebanon,
Egypt, and Mauritania (Oxfam GB, 2014).
Using Social Media
In their effort to rally attention or campaign for specific initiatives, or causes, Oxfam Middle
East has not been a stranger to social media and is currently active on both Facebook and
Twitter.
While Oxfam has allocated specific social media channels and blogs to the major countries
it operates in, such as: Oxfam Mexico, Oxfam America, and Oxfam France, among many
others, it did however, encompass all of the 9 Arab countries it is currently operating in
—despite their diversity—under one social media account dedicated to “Oxfam Middle East”
on Facebook, and under Oxfam International account on Twitter.
FOLLOWERS
513K
TWITTER AGE
years
3 months6
Judy Maamari | Oxfam | 4

5. What is Oxfam doing right
on Social Media?
From North Africa, to Turkey and the Persian
Gulf, the Greater Middle East is currently
witnessing some of the worst troubling times
(Greater Middle East: Managing Change in
Troubled Times?, 2014). Hence, on a national
level, Oxfam’s attempt to represent the 9
Arab countries it operates in under one
Facebook page can have a positive impact on
unifying the Middle Eastern people around
common humanitarian goals.
According to Facebook’s insights, the
dominant age group of Oxfam ME’s fans is
young adults between 25-34 years old. A
study about age and activism suggests that
“younger people are more likely than their
parents and grandparents to engage in
cause-oriented actions, social movements and
environmental and humanitarian
organizations (Norris, 2013).
The type of content published by Oxfam
Middle East (ME) on social media is
diversified. By using pictures, links, and
videos, Oxfam raises awareness to new
campaigns about climate change, as well as
inequality and famine causes, shares success
stories from the Arab world of people who
managed to lift their lives from poverty, and
posts updates about the allocation of
donations.
SOCIAL
MEDIA
AUDIT
Image Source:
http://womenofworld.org/wp-content/uploads/hungerbanquet.jpg

6. What is Oxfam doing wrong
on social Media?
On average, 3-4 Facebook users out of 1,001
engage with the content published by Oxfam
ME. A recent study shows that the average
organic reach of a Facebook post has hit 2%
in February 2014. Facebook relates the drop
to the increased competition for narrow space
in news feeds. Nevertheless, many believe that
the drop is meant to encourage ad spend
(Social@Ogilvy: Facebook Zero: Considering
Life After the Demise of Organic Reach 2014).
While investing in ads may help Oxfam ME
recruit new followers and increase its posts
reach, it does not however promise a higher
engagement rate. For Oxfam ME to increase
its engagement rate many factors must come
into play, such as: the quality of the content
and its ability to go viral, timing, posting
frequency, punctuation, length, consistency,
copywriting, among many others.
With an average rate of: 23 tweets/day, one
word describes Oxfam International account
on Twitter: clutter. Having an international
account compels Oxfam to tweet so much in
an attempt to cover the various causes it
supports around the world. In doing so,
Oxfam is missing the opportunity to create a
personal online reality by reaching out and
connecting “with each and every follower on a
personal level” rather than spamming them
with content they most probably will not
relate to. People in different countries, have
different priorities. Although of utmost
importance, yet a person living in turbulent
Middle East might not be much interested in
receiving updates about climate change
(Gembarski, 2012).
Unlike Oxfam International Twitter account,
Oxfam ME’s Facebook page suffers a lack of
consistency in post frequency. For example:
The page published 11 posts for January 2014,
only 1 post for the entire month of February
2014, and 3 posts in March, the latest being on
March 14th. No posts have yet been published
during April 2014. Social media experts advise
against such inconsistencies and recommend
posting regularly at an ideal rate of 5 – 10
posts per week (Socialbakers, 2011).
Another problem would be timing. Being an
international page makes it hard to nail the
best timing to post content to your fans. A
recent report identified the best timings to
publish content on Facebook and Twitter in
seven major Arab countries. For example: For
Lebanon 10am is the best time to publish
content on Facebook and 4 pm on Twitter,
whereas in Qatar it is 7pm on Facebook and
6pm on Twitter (Wamda, 2014). Accordingly,
Oxfam must either dedicate an account for
every Arab country it operates in, or make use
of targeting tools, such as the one available
on Facebook, which allows community
managers to target specific content to
specific countries and schedule them to
according to the best timings in every
country.
Another common mistake is leaving the fans’
comments unanswered. Unfortunately, most
brands and organizations fail to spend
necessary time to reach out to their fans and
followers (Gembarski, 2012). In a world where
brands are obsessed in securing high
engagement rates on highly cluttered social
media channels, it is of utmost importance
that Oxfam distinguishes its organization from
the competitors. Marty Neumeier says: “when
everybody zigs, zag” in his book dedicated to
help brands stand out from the crowd
(Neumeier, 2007). Hence, Oxfam ME should
start replying to its fans and seek to nurture
the relationship it has with its fans by
dedicating the right time to answer each of
their inquiries and reply back to their
supporting messages.
A fatal mistake many brands and business
pages commit on Facebook is shutting down
the wall to avoid moderation, which disables
the fans from communicating their
appreciation, support, recommendation,
positive or even negative feedback. It is
important to note that in today’s world if
someone has a negative review about any
organization, they can do so anywhere on the
web. By not allowing the fans to post on its
timeline and constantly deleting some
comments, Oxfam ME runs the risk of
seriously damaging its image and appear as if
it lacks the necessary confidence to face its
own community’ comments.
Judy Maamari | Oxfam | 6

7. The current language used as means of
communication on the international Twitter
account is English, whereas Oxfam ME’s
Facebook page combines both English and
Arabic. With Arabic becoming “one of the
most widely used language on Facebook and
Twitter”, and the percentage of Arabic tweets
reaching 74% of total tweets in the region in
March 2013, Oxfam must reconsider the use of
English as a means to communicate and
engage with fans and followers in Arabic
countries, and replace it with Arabic content
only (ASMR | Home, 2014).
While Oxfam invites people to take action and
contribute to humanitarian causes as they see
fit whether via campaigning, volunteering,
fundraising, donating, or shopping, its content
on its International Twitter account and
Middle east Facebook page fails to replicate
such values. The current content is
informative and does not convey the
organization’s slogan: “set change in motion
and start lifting lives today” (Get involved |
Oxfam GB, 2014). Oxfam Middle East must
publish content that is engaging and that can
go viral. Oxfam GB, for example, often resorts
to shocking images of people in devastating
conditions to raise awareness to their
campaigns and incite action. Similarly, Save
the Children’s shocking video “one second a
day” about the Syrian crisis became
increasingly popular on YouTube and was
ranked as one of the top trending viral ad
campaigns for 2013 (Peck, 2014).
Source: SaveTheChildrenUK on Youtube
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RBQ-IoHfimQ
Judy Maamari | Oxfam | 7

8. What can Oxfam do to better
harness the power of social
media?
In order to improve its social media presence
on Facebook, Oxfam ME should first invest in
promoted posts to expand its posts reach so
that more people can see Oxfam ME’s content
on their newsfeed. Additionally, the content of
the posts needs to be interesting and
stimulating enough to incite action and
engagement. The content must be written in
Arabic and published according to the best
timings in each country by using the
Facebook targeting tool. The content must
also be posted consistently and regularly.
As for Twitter, based on the findings we
discovered earlier, I recommend creating a
separate account for countries in the Middle
East. Such a decision, will allow Oxfam to
publish relevant tweets using Arabic, which
will stimulate engagement. It will also reduce
the amount of tweets published usually by
Oxfam, and allows it instead to dedicate the
time to start meaningful conversations with
its followers.
However, building customer engagement and
loyalty online is not just about Twitter and
Facebook anymore. According, to social
media expert Teri Lynne Underwood,
organizations and businesses must invest in
their websites and not their social media
channels (Underwood, 2013). Investing in the
organization’s website allows the organization
to stay in control since the website is a
platform it actually owns. The website is also
the platform where long-term action and gain
usually takes place (Underwood, 2013).
Whether or not we are social media
enthusiasts, “the reality is, we are at their
mercy. We have no say in the algorithms that
control how many people see our posts. We
don’t get to choose the ideal image size or
placement. We can’t even be sure what will
work from one day to the next” (Underwood,
2013). A self-hosted website on the other
hand allows organizations and businesses to
prioritize their content and develop their
branding, as well as, customize their site to
meet the needs of their community
(Underwood, 2013). Moreover, products and
services are usually sold on websites and not
on social media platforms, same goes for
donations. Still, social media should be a core
component of Oxfam ME’s marketing strategy
as it can drive traffic to its website. Yet, if
Oxfam ME’s website is not optimized to
ensure the visitor has a unique and long visit,
all of these numbers and figures of fans,
followers, and visitors do not mean a thing.
Hence, I recommend launching a separate
website for Oxfam Middle East.
The website will serve as a digital platform
that aims to unify the Middle East and the
Arab countries around common humanitarian
causes and relief. The website will be directly
linked to the Oxfam ME Facebook and Twitter
pages.
The website will showcase an interactive map
of the Middle East, highlighting the main Arab
countries. Upon exploring the different areas
of the map, the visitor will be able to explore
in real time the different problems and
discover the latest happenings taking place in
a specific country. The data will appear to the
visitor in the form of shocking or inspiring
status updates, images, videos, statistics, or
insights that aim to provoke the visitor in
order to instigate action. The content will not
be descriptive or informative, but will appear
in the form of call-to-action.
Both Oxfam ME and the users can generate
content about the latest happenings in a
certain country. By allowing the visitors to
discover more news about what is going on in
neighboring countries and by giving them the
ability to generate content, Oxfam ME’s
website will be on the one hand empowering
the visitor and on the other subtly promoting
solidarity and unity among Arab counties in a
highly turbulent and conflict-driven Middle
East. In doing so, the website will become a
news hub for non-political, purely
humanitarian causes.
Updates can be displayed according to the
most recent, or by urgency. The visitor will
also have the choice to access information
either in a map format, or by listing the
various causes and campaigns Oxfam is
currently undertaking in the Middle East, such
as: Hunger, Displacement, Hygiene, Famine,
Equality, among many others.
Judy Maamari | Oxfam | 8

9. Causes Donate Activities Contact
me
> 2.4 Million
Syrian Refugees
Need your help!
SYRIAN CRISIS
DONATE
Hunger
Displacement
Poverty
Medical Support
Other Causes
Twitter User @Oxfam @UNHCRUK This is a HORRENDOUS crisis 4 the ppl of Syria!
I saw photos of Syrian children drinking milk from female dogs,4 loveofGod!
Judy Maamari | Oxfam | 9
LINK TO
SOCIAL
MEDIA
FILTER BY
CAUSES
MULTIPLE
DEVICES
ONLINE
DONATION
LIVE
NEWSFEED
CROWD
SOURCING
Oxfam ME Platform

10. REFLE
-CTIVE
ESSAY
The role of digital technologies in nearly all
aspects of life – particularly in the form of
“social media” --has been a constant news
focus in recent years, and it has also become
a major focus for brands, businesses, and
organizations. A quick research will show that
the world’s top NGOs, such as Greenpeace,
Islamic Relief, Red Crescent, and Save the
Children, among many others are very active
on social media and exist on more than 1
platform. Like many of its competitors, Oxfam
also believes in using Social Media to create
impact and wipe out poverty (UN, 2014).
Oxfam has dedicated different social media
accounts to the different countries it operates
in. On Facebook, Oxfam has allocated almost
a separate page to every country it works in,
such as: Oxfam in the Middle East Facebook
page, whereas on Twitter, it has created a
single International account to symbolize
worldwide presence.
The first part of this report helped us outline
the strengths and weaknesses of Oxfam ME
on Facebook, as well as, Oxfam International
on Twitter. We were able to conclude that
Oxfam has successfully chose a Middle East
page to represent the Arab countries it
operates in, which helps promote notions of
unity and solidarity, especially that these
countries share similar cultures, and speak the
same language. It also makes use of different
types of content to convey its message to a
majority of fans between 25-34 years old,
which earlier research shows is the perfect
age for social activists.
The report also highlights many lacunas that
Oxfam ME need to overcome in order to
better harness the power of social media,
such as: generic, informative posts, wrong
timing, ignoring or deleting fans’ comments,
lack of consistency in posting on Facebook,
and flood tweeting on Twitter, using English
rather than Arabic as a means of
communication, and using impersonal and
self-promoting content that does not
stimulate action or engagement from users.
The report also suggested ways to fix the
above-mentioned problems in order to
optimize Oxfam ME’s social media presence.
However, as I explained earlier, investing
money, resources and efforts on social media
channels is not enough. Oxfam ME must
invest much more in empowering its own
digital properties to ensure long-term gain,
such as: launching its very own website that
can work on multiple devices from mobile, to
tablet and desktop.
Besides its basic ability to accept online
donations and be directly linked to its
respective social media channels to drive
traffic and maximize online fundraising and
cause awareness, the Oxfam ME’s website will
also have higher purposes: empower the
visitors by giving them the right to generate
content so they keep coming back to the
website, as well as, promoting notions of
solidarity and unity among the Arab countries
in the Middle East, which are often in conflict,
by channeling their attention and interests to
humanitarian crises happening near them. The
website will also have an effective call to
action by providing its visitors with real time
heartbreaking or inspiring content about the
crises taking place in various parts of the
Arab world, and urging them to take prompt
action.
The new website will not only allow Oxfam ME
to leverage the power of digital properly but
it will also provide it with full control over its
platform and help it solve some of the
problems it is currently facing. The idea
behind the new website consisted of building
on the current assets that Oxfam ME already
had. Without a doubt their Middle East
Facebook page inspired me and so I aimed to
replicate a similar experience to the Arabic
user on the organization’s website. After all,
and I speak from experience here, these
countries share a lot of similarities and
commonalities between them, so having them
listed under an international social media
account or website is currently hindering
Oxfam from building meaningful relationships
with its Arab advocates and supporters.
Judy Maamari | Oxfam | 10

11. The content published on the website will also
help Oxfam ME stop pushing content that is
irrelevant to the people in the Middle East and
that is extremely descriptive or informative.
The immediacy of the news and updates
published on the new website will ensure that
visitors will constantly return to the website to
find out more about the latest updates and
the humanitarian repercussions of the crises
taking place in a certain country. It will also
ensure that people concerned can contribute
and take proper action to help support
Oxfam’s emergency relief campaigns.
By using strategic promoted tweets and
Facebook posts to increase post and tweet
reach to fans and followers, Oxfam ME’s social
media channels will then function as a vessel
that drives traffic to its website. Unlike the
one-time only social media campaigns that
trend for a while and go viral, but soon lose
their impact, the website, a digital asset, will
provide Oxfam ME with an ongoing solution
to engage with its visitors and instigate
change.
Oxfam ME is a well-known NGO. Its name and
international fame enables it to be a pioneer
in social media and properly harness the
power of digital to drive its cause. By
adopting a tactical digital strategy, Oxfam ME
can ensure optimum engagement with its
fans, followers and visitors, increase loyalty
via rich and engaging content, and rally
people’s support for new relief campaigns, as
well as raise awareness to new humanitarian
causes. However, as the number of NGOs
multiplies and since many of Oxfam’s niche
competitors are already present on social
media with higher engagement rate and are
probably after the same target audience as
that of Oxfam ME, it becomes of utmost
importance for Oxfam ME to reconsider its
current digital strategy and involve the
people, after all we live in a world where
“customers, not companies [are the ones]
who decide which brands live and which one
die,” (Neumeier, 2007, p. preface).
Judy Maamari | Oxfam | 11

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Judy Maamari | Oxfam | 12