ACADEMIA Letters The Role of Instagram in Specialty Coffee Marketing during the Pandemic in the United Arab Emirates Kurniawan Arif Maspul, International Open University Abstract This article describes how Instagram plays a role in helping the economic resilience of medium sized businesses in the coffee industry in the United Arab Emirates This qualitative article uses observations and interviews with several respondents using the snowball sampling tech nique in data analysis and reference mater.
ACADEMIA Letters The Role of Instagram in Specialty Coffee Marketing during the Pandemic in the United Arab Emirates Kurniawan Arif Maspul, International Open University Abstract This article describes how Instagram plays a role in helping the economic resilience of mediumsized businesses in the coffee industry in the United Arab Emirates This qualitative article uses observations and interviews with several respondents using the snowball sampling technique in data analysis and reference materials (Ghaljaie et al., 2017; Schensul et al., 1999) The end result is that Instagram has an active role in helping the coffee business during the pandemic even to the new normal now Several challenges were also found in using this platform in digital marketing; however, optimizing the consistency of production and sales on-site and online can maintain resilience in coffee sales in the United Arab Emirates (Maspul, 2021b) The Correlation Between Coffee Consumption and Instagram When the global community needs coffee to help with daily activities, coffee shops and roasteries have a role in helping provide convenience for people who need caffeine as their daily booster This has become commonplace in all areas in the United Arab Emirates, where coffee shops and roasteries have become a bustling business favored by locals and ex-pats alike due to a trend that has been popular among young people for the last five years (Maspul, 2021a) Likewise, specialty coffee is a source of heavy flow for high sensory fans to enjoy single origins imported from various countries focusing on the tropics of cancer and Capricorn Then it is roasted from several well-known coffee roasters with unique curves in creating a classy Academia Letters, September 2021 ©2021 by the author — Open Access — Distributed under CC BY 4.0 Corresponding Author: Kurniawan Arif Maspul, kurniawanarifmaspul@gmail.com Citation: Maspul, K.A (2021) The Role of Instagram in Specialty Coffee Marketing during the Pandemic in the United Arab Emirates Academia Letters, Article 3602 https://doi.org/10.20935/AL3602 taste for coffee lovers It doesn’t matter what the price is with the certainty that you will get for the high-class taste of the final coffee product (Bhumiratana et al., 2011; Giacalone et al., 2019; Hedlund, 1958) Furthermore, with the emergence of various kinds of roasteries scattered in multiple places in the United Arab Emirates, there is fierce competition among 26 coffee roasteries that offer coffee roasting to hundreds of coffee shops, so that trade competitions occur from B2B to B2C (Bager & Lambin, 2020; Claro & de Oliveira Claro, 2004) Various roasting processes are offered to suit the consumer’s taste, from light and Omni to medium roasts that fit consumers’ tastes Likewise, coffee shops provide brewing drinks from classic French press to elegant filter coffee drinks formulated through well-known products familiar to coffee lovers; Kalita and Hario (Dwiranti et al., 2019; Várady et al., 2020) But how to give satisfaction to buyers in adjusting the many sales options in the United Arab Emirates? Residents in the United Arab Emirates are many expatriates who help turn the local economy into one of the most dynamically populated countries The 5G internet network speed that can be accessed super massively and quickly makes social media a significant need for UAE citizens, especially young people, to entrepreneurs In this case, Instagram is the wellknown and most popular platform used in the United Arab Emirates, with many influencers from food, fashion, beauty, lifestyle, and others flooding Instagram, making it the unique identity of each individual (Alghizzawi et al., 2019) This is evidenced by the massive number of Instagram users in the United Arab Emirates, with a total of 6.68 million active users from various generation levels With a variety of unique entertainment platforms offered, Instagram also has the uniqueness of being the identity of its users Even the strong identity of Instagram in playing the personal behavior of its users can be seen from 63% of Instagram users who open multiple times every day (Prichard et al., 2020; Rovetta & Bhagavathula, 2020) Although many social media have enlivened the gadgets of the United Arab Emirates citizens, the emergence of Instagram as a robust platform in attracting users, especially with the unique features offered Especially after Facebook acquired Instagram for USD 1.2 billion in 2012, making Instagram a turning point for the digital marketing economy for Facebook (Glick & Ruetschlin, 2019; Soedarsono et al., 2020) The visualization provided by Instagram makes it at the forefront of other social media platforms; this is also strengthened by the pivot of human society through features on Instagram platforms such as Reels, for example, thus making this platform powerful as a rendezvous of users not only in the United Arab Emirates but in the world (Djafarova & Rushworth, 2017; Szeto et al., 2021) Meanwhile, the pandemic that emerged in the early quarter of 2020 forced all businesses to close Lockdown is the biggest challenge in other parts of the world and in the United Arab Emirates Likewise, residents who make coffee as their daily need make their everyday life Academia Letters, September 2021 ©2021 by the author — Open Access — Distributed under CC BY 4.0 Corresponding Author: Kurniawan Arif Maspul, kurniawanarifmaspul@gmail.com Citation: Maspul, K.A (2021) The Role of Instagram in Specialty Coffee Marketing during the Pandemic in the United Arab Emirates Academia Letters, Article 3602 https://doi.org/10.20935/AL3602 incomplete without coffee during the three months of lockdown (Mahaffey, 2020; Maspul, 2020) But uniquely, Coffee entrepreneurs not run out of ideas; with many Instagram users in the United Arab Emirates, it can be used as a solid thrust to make it a meeting platform between sellers and consumers Several coffee businesses promote coffee products through Instagram, from roasted coffee products to ready-to-drink products such as instant coffee, cold brew, etc Market segmentation is getting more manageable during the pandemic, where the convenience offered by Instagram strengthens the bond between sellers and buyers Likewise, the sales strategy uses several suggestions to engage consumers through visualization and storytelling on Instagram Basically, humans like visualization in images and videos that can be resolved as identity and reflection of specialty coffee Then by uniforming a theme that is in harmony with connecting the initial and subsequent posts with a unique and attractive niche, it will also make the relevance of the specialty coffee business look elegant and attract attention In addition, color adjustments and the consistency of the content offered are added values that consumers will be interested in when learning about the products offered Not to mention using hashtags so that market segmentation of Instagram users can target the appropriate audience This can also be harmonized with the interactions offered through visualization and storytelling, which are the basis of interest in content, where a personal connection from a Barista or Coffee Roaster will be an added value in elevating the emotions of Instagram users (Fadillah, 2019; Kurniawan et al., 2021) Instagram as a Digital Marketing Platform and Strategy Sales strategies through digital marketing are very effective in providing resilience to businesses in the United Arab Emirates, especially in the coffee industry With the number of Instagram users, Millennials are targeted in the segmentation of the coffee market and from various age levels This is interesting because the unique and creative posts delivered through visualization and storytelling on Instagram make the audience interested in following and deciding to buy the final product being marketed Products offered through Instagram are then converted through website purchases integrated with web-based e-commerce for payment methods and modes of delivery of purchased goods Respondents at coffee roasteries in the United Arab Emirates explained that the large number of followers who follow the tagline and post via Instagram has become a substantial market during the Covid-19 period This is reinforced where the audience’s need to consume coffee during the pandemic has become crucial in meeting his daily caffeine needs The majority of respondents explained that Instagram is a platform that elevates audiences’ emotions into Academia Letters, September 2021 ©2021 by the author — Open Access — Distributed under CC BY 4.0 Corresponding Author: Kurniawan Arif Maspul, kurniawanarifmaspul@gmail.com Citation: Maspul, K.A (2021) The Role of Instagram in Specialty Coffee Marketing during the Pandemic in the United Arab Emirates Academia Letters, Article 3602 https://doi.org/10.20935/AL3602 consumers during the pandemic by using Instagram’s purchase feature to convert consumer behavior from first impressions in reading articles to buying actions Coffee roasters and coffee shops also regularly convey information from products and surveys or other types of posts, making engagement with the audience even more intense With the interactive ease between coffee roasters and the audience, it is easy to find out what the market wants and the final product of the coffee produced (roasting) by responding to comments and organic messages expressed by the audience Some coffee roasters also partner with influencers to help recommend the final product that they sell As for consumers, the majority answered that the sales feature promoted through Instagram has a decisive role in meeting their caffeine needs Likewise, with the use of coffee roasters and baristas as figures in the leading service in the coffee sector, respondents from consumers said that the attractiveness of their role was the primary choice they wanted to try the final product offered Respondents also added that they buy coffee in finished products and accessories provided by several local coffee roasteries, making coffee accessories as additional sales on Instagram Meanwhile, there are several challenges in using Instagram, including too many competitors selling the same product So it takes a unique and creative promotion in marketing the product to create a sustainable sales strategy (Lehtonen, n.d.; Mou, 2020) Other challenges include consumers who ask for a refund because of shipment delays and some products that are packaged incorrectly, or goods are broken, so this can be handled on a case by case basis from the seller Apart from the existing challenges, Instagram has become a bridge between coffee shops and roasteries in marketing their products Conclusion Of the many Instagram users in the United Arab Emirates, of course, it can be used as an opportunity in converting audience behavior into buyers This has happened in the United Arab Emirates even after the vaccination of 80% of the population After normalizing sales in coffee shops and roasteries, Instagram is still a unique platform for maximizing consumer engagement Promotional pst via Instagram can pave the way for traffic to product sales and partnering with influencers Analyzing the market and managing performance from the consistency of production and product sales are crucial in making coffee selling products more sustainable Academia Letters, September 2021 ©2021 by the author — Open Access — Distributed under CC BY 4.0 Corresponding Author: Kurniawan Arif Maspul, kurniawanarifmaspul@gmail.com Citation: Maspul, K.A (2021) The Role of Instagram in Specialty Coffee Marketing during the Pandemic in the United Arab Emirates Academia Letters, Article 3602 https://doi.org/10.20935/AL3602 References Alghizzawi, M., Habes, M., Salloum, S A., Abd, M., Ghani, C M., & Shaalan, K (2019) The effect of social media usage on students’ e-learning acceptance in higher education: A case study from the United Arab Emirates International Journal of Information Technology, 3(3), 13–26 Bager, S L., & Lambin, E F (2020) Sustainability strategies by companies in the global coffee sector Business Strategy and the Environment, 29(8), 3555–3570 Bhumiratana, N., Adhikari, K., & Chambers IV, E (2011) Evolution of sensory aroma attributes from coffee beans to brewed coffee LWT-Food Science and Technology, 44(10), 2185–2192 Claro, D P., & de Oliveira Claro, P B (2004) Coordinating B2B cross‐border supply chains: the case of the organic coffee industry Journal of Business & Industrial Marketing Djafarova, E., & Rushworth, C (2017) Exploring the credibility of online celebrities’ Instagram profiles in influencing the purchase decisions of young female users Computers in Human Behavior, 68, 1–7 Dwiranti, N S., Ardiansyah, A., & Asiah, N (2019) Sensory attributes of cold brew coffee products at various resting time after roasting process Pelita Perkebunan (a Coffee and Cocoa Research Journal), 35(1), 42–50 Fadillah, M (2019) Review of Coffee Marketing Strategies in Business Competition Scientific Journal Of Reflection: Economic, Accounting, Management and Business, 2(2), 131–140 Ghaljaie, F., Naderifar, M., & Goli, H (2017) Snowball sampling: A purposeful method of sampling in qualitative research Strides in Development of Medical Education, 14(3) Giacalone, D., Degn, T K., Yang, N., Liu, C., Fisk, I., & Münchow, M (2019) Common roasting defects in coffee: Aroma composition, sensory characterisation and consumer perception Food Quality and Preference, 71, 463–474 Glick, M., & Ruetschlin, C (2019) Big tech acquisitions and the potential competition doctrine: The case of Facebook Institute for New Economic Thinking Working Paper Series, 104 Hedlund, G W (1958) Discussion: Tropical Agriculture: Competitive or Complementary? 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