Getting social with Loay Al Shareef

Loay profiles English-language destinations via Snapchat (30-50k views per video), Twitter (80k+ followers) and his YouTube channel Fallimha (600k subscribers).

He came here under ENZ’s Visiting Media Familiarisation Programme, and as part of a broader #yoursummerinNZ English-language campaign in Saudi Arabia.  

Heidi Stedman, Communications Lead hosted the visit in her penultimate week at ENZ, with Sahinde Pala, Regional Programme Manager, taking up the reins for the Auckland leg.

Together with Loay and videographer Glen, they visited Auckland, Wellington and Queenstown to meet with Saudi students, sample local food and activities, and profile education options.

Loay's visit, with the #yoursummerinNZ campaign, successfully delivered. Together they generated an extra 13,000 Twitter followers for @nzeducationsa during the three-week campaign, prompted 8,600 tweets, and received more than 3,100 entries in a competition to study English in New Zealand.

English-language providers also reported enrolments coming directly from ENZ’s Twitter account during the campaign.

I met Loay for dinner with six Saudi students on his last night in Auckland,” said Peter Bull, ENZ General Manager - International.

“He talked endlessly about New Zealand, and how impressed he was with the education he'd seen.

“He connected really well with the students, and they reinforced for him how good their own New Zealand experience was.

“Ours was a story he clearly enjoyed telling.” 

 Above: Loay with Peter Bull