TikTok Spotlight: MENA Content Creator's Talent on the Rise, Nabaa Al-dabbagh's Story

Disclaimer: The content creator mentioned in this blog was selected to highlight the article's theme. There are no financial benefits resulting from this act of participation.

I am pleased to introduce my guest interviewee Nabaa Al-dabbagh, an Iraqi female born and raised in Baghdad in 1990. She moved to Dubai in 2005 and has lived there ever since. She studied Marketing at the American University of Sharjah and graduated in 2012. Nabaa Al-dabbagh works in digital marketing and is a football content creator. I am thrilled to share her story and insights to inspire every aspiring TikTok Content Creator in the region.

The rise of social media has opened up a world of opportunities for content creators, especially for women in the MENA region. With the emergence of TikTok, it has become even more accessible for female creators to share their stories and experiences with the world. TikTok has become a platform for young women in the MENA region to showcase their creativity and talent and, at the same time, create educational cotent. Women in the region face multiple challenges, and TikTok has provided a platform for them to discuss these issues and find solutions. They create educational content about health, politics, history, culture, and social problems, among other areas.

I create football content on TikTok, "No, I don't play football," but I analyze matches, participate in trends, attend matches, travel to big tournaments, and meet football players. TikTok has positively impacted my life and career. It has taught me to be creative, get closer to my community, and inspire other women and creators. It has taught me to be fast-paced and think about what's next. I always strive to strike a balance while creating TikTok content with other aspects of my life. TikTok has become essential to my life as I consistently produce high-quality and engaging content in new ways. What sets my TikTok content apart from other creators in my niche is put in my username. My handle speaks for the content I present. It's called ispeakfootballonly. Everything I give is diverse content related to football, from match analysis to comedy sketches, games, matches, player meet-ups, etc.

I found several strategies effective in encouraging young people in the MENA region to create content on TikTok. Thanks to social media, everybody wants to be famous and make money. If you get that one video to go viral, you could go to different places on TikTok. I know a lot of examples of content creators who had their content on TikTok help them become businesspeople or influencers! The key is to have a strategy on what you are trying to create and how serious and dedicated you are. How will you stand out?

Let's motivate youth in the MENA region to create content on TikTok and help them to believe that content is king. This hasn't changed and definitely won't. Content impacts youth tremendously nowadays, so we must deliver the right message. One thing I love about TikTok is the diversified content verticals it offers from many people who managed to create a positive impact on young people. We need more of that high-quality content and less of the useless things that are considered a waste of time.

Sadly, cultural and societal barriers prevent young people in the MENA region from creating content on TikTok. As a female developing content outside the female space, as the community sees, this challenged me to prove to society that football is for everyone. I have been building on how females can be much more if given the space and support to be creative, as long as it is within limits.

We need to empower females to contribute to society as well. We must let go of stereotypes about girls belonging in the kitchen only. I have an example of how Hollywood now empowers women through superhero movies like Marvel. In the beginning, most of the Marvel movies were male-dominant regarding superheroes; now, we see more dominance from female superheroes such as Mrs. Marvel, AntMan's daughter, Blackpanther, Thor's daughter is the future, etc. So we need to support females in Arab society, for they also deserve to rise and prove their worth.

In this sense, I ask schools and educational institutions to be aware of their role in encouraging young people to create content on TikTok in the MENA region. Social media has become an integral part of our lives. Schools play a significant role in educating young people on communicating and interacting responsibly with creators on TikTok. They need to highlight the negative impact of bullying as it has become a concerning matter given anybody and everybody can comment without feeling the effect of that comment on the creator. There need to be special classes on the use of social media safety.

As a matter of fact, there are ethical issues with every tool. To ensure that young content creators on TikTok in the MENA region use the platform responsibly and ethically, we must lead by example. We are inspirational figures to followers. Everything and anything we say impacts them as this is where they spend most of their day. We have to ensure abiding by community guidelines, and this is what makes me happy about being very active on a platform like TikTok because it does support a safe community, and this, for me, is what I work on in all my content.

Don't count on views. They aren't everything. What matters is presenting original and high-quality content. And the most important factor is consistency. Posting almost daily is vital to your growth on the platform.