Creativity unlimited: Loft offers rising Jeddah artists a platform

It seemed to have been their collective fate to meet in Jeddah: Farah Jouni had just arrived back from the New York film academy, Nada Hakeem had just been at the London College of Fashion studying fashion photography and Ruba Sidani was fresh with design inspiration from the American University of Beirut. The three friends met at an art event in Jeddah, and their common creative interests soon made them good friends. Soon afterwards, the three young women co-founded The Loft Creative Hub.
The Loft offers three services: photography, film and design. The idea was born out of a mutual need to create a creative space in Jeddah, where they could express themselves through their disciplines. The Loft is also a platform for rising artists in Jeddah, and a big supporter of the creative movement in the city.
Being a modest start-up business, The Loft took on a creative, up-to-date and cost-effective marketing strategy: social media. The Loft provides its social media audience with creative and engaging content around its three disciplines. They share their portfolio and their most recent jobs on their channels. The results have been a solid fan base.
Twitter, Facebook, YouTube and Instagram soon generated a client base for The Loft. Most of their new clients heard about them from social media. The three women agree that it is completely different to print advertising where they just display a static message to their audience. They believe social media allows them to engage with their audience. They share what they are working on in real time, including news of their guests, events, office space and funny incidents. They are convinced this creates an intimacy with their audience.
The Loft uses its social media channels in line with their mission and vision to support education, the arts, and do good deeds. For instance, social media is where they announce their new workshops. They also share information about exhibitions or other creative activities. On every special occasion, they feature a local artist who designs their social media visuals. Moreover, they use social media to shout out positive causes that they have adopted such as breast cancer awareness and recycling initiatives.
More importantly, more often than not the Loft recommends social media as a strategy for their clients as well. “Where else will a local fashion client showcase their fashion promo and photography, for instance?” says a member of The Loft team.
Social media has had a positive impact on The Loft as a business. And because it is something that they believe in, they joined forces with The Social Clinic, a social business consultancy. The two sister companies often work with common clients.
The young women say that their satisfied clients and their own experience has proven that social media is a real “super power.”

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