This is the 3rd Guest post by Jonathan Rudd, a UK Marketer now based and working in Asia.
He gives his thoughts and observations of Asian marketing through the eyes of a "Westerner". Looking at differences and learning. In this post he looks at digital and Facebook:
The 30” spot is dead; Long live
social. It’s a digital world........
I’m sure as marketers (or people
with an interest in marketing) you’ve been hearing this for years. Of course, the 30” certainly isn’t dead and will continue to play a key role in the
marketing mix (via TV and digital platforms).
But, consumer brand engagement through social media should
now be a fundamental part of any marketers comms strategy.
Content creation, 2-way brand to consumer conversation and
giving consumers a reason to talk about
your brand to others are setting
brands apart much more than who got a HHH link test for their last 30”
spot.
So how easy is it to get consumers to engage with your
brand and how do you keep them interested?
In this post I’m going to focus on the biggest global social
platform out there, Facebook, and compare how brands in Asia are using Facebook
to talk with consumers and be talked
about by consumers, looking at two
examples from markets in Asia; Philippines and Indonesia.
To set some context, take a look at the table below:
Country
|
Users (m)
|
% penetration of
population
|
% penetration of
online population
|
Top 3 brand sites
(last 3 months)
|
UK
|
30
|
50
|
60
|
Creme Egg, Wispa, Maltesers
|
PH
|
28
|
28
|
95
|
Nescafe, Smart Comms, Starbucks
|
ID
|
44
|
18
|
146
|
Surfer Girl, Yamaha, Chocolatos
|
Source:
Socialbakers.com last 3 months
Just by taking a look at the above, it’s evident that if
you’re online in Philippines you’re on Facebook (or in the case of Indonesia,
potentially have multiple accounts) giving an initial insight into the
engagement levels and participation in these countries.
Creme de la crème
Nescafe is the most popular brand page in the Philippines
with 1.6m Facebook users. So how do they go about keeping their current users
engaged? And what content do they offer that their consumers would want to
share with their friends?
A look at the page would suggest they’re doing a pretty
good job. 2 way conversations started
with thought provoking questions such as what cakes go best with coffee, or
asking at what times consumers share coffee with their loved ones.
Posting up
content that users will want to share
such as father’s day or congratulations messages, interesting imagery and art
(often associated with Nescafe) and even commenting on the latest Mani Paquiao
fight (of course!).
These are getting thousands of ‘likes’ and hundreds of
comments a time. This is a great example of a global brand providing content
that is connected with the flow of local culture that makes them part of
consumers social expression. Starbucks is another example and features in many
Asian markets top 10.
If we take a look at ‘Surfer Girl’ that with more than
2.3m members is the most popular Facebook page in Indonesia.
Firstly, it’s interesting that this is a local company, when most other countries top spots are multinational brands. It started as a one off shop in Bali serving the niche of girls who surf and is fronted by Summer (the original surfer girl). It has evolved into a positive, young ‘fun’ lifestyle brand that’s now widely available in Indonesia.
It shares content on clothes, fashion and what Summer is up to, along with social issues, although judging by the number of ‘likes’ and ‘shares’ it doesn’t attract the level of engagement that Nestle achieves due to the lack of any real creative idea or theme.
What is common about both of these brands is they target the demographic with the highest number of users in their respective countries (65% of Indonesian Facebook users are under 24) and they have a continued dialogue with ‘in the moment’ content, posting up to 5 times a day! That’s because consumers in these countries have so many ‘friends’ sharing so much content, if you don’t post regularly you simply may not get noticed.
My observations are that consumers in the UK are generally less likely to ‘like’, ‘share’
or ‘comment’ than those in Asia. In Philippines and particularly Indonesia it’s
about regularity of social content just as much as it is about quality.
Crème de la Cadbury: 2 of the most popular brand pages on Facebook UK
What is apparent strong from the content being shared on
the Creme Egg page is that this is a cross agency, integrated idea that is
being bought to life by social media.
The content is far less frequent but the content was in tune with the nation leading up to and during their Jan – Easter season, such as covering the cast of ‘The Only Way is Essex’ in goo and shocking the nation with massive mock-broken crème eggs at key locations in the UK. Content so great, even us prudent Brits want to share!
Summary
Like with traditional media it’s possible to have a global big idea that plays out in social (Nescafe, Starbucks, Lynx / Axe, Coke are great examples of global brands with great local social execution). But in this digital age that requires a continued flow of content and creativity, brands need to stay connected to local consumers’ desires, trends, passion points, social consumption habits and ever evolving mood to be liked, shared and talked about and assume a relevant role in their consumers’ lives.
Read Jonathan's other posts: Beer Ads in Asia; Why UK jobs won't be heading East anytime soon
If you liked this post, please share it on your favourite social media site using the sharing buttons. I would really appreciate it if you signed up for the email newsletter (and so don't miss any future posts!), join my Marketing Unleashed Facebook Page and follow me on Twitter.
Firstly, it’s interesting that this is a local company, when most other countries top spots are multinational brands. It started as a one off shop in Bali serving the niche of girls who surf and is fronted by Summer (the original surfer girl). It has evolved into a positive, young ‘fun’ lifestyle brand that’s now widely available in Indonesia.
It shares content on clothes, fashion and what Summer is up to, along with social issues, although judging by the number of ‘likes’ and ‘shares’ it doesn’t attract the level of engagement that Nestle achieves due to the lack of any real creative idea or theme.
What is common about both of these brands is they target the demographic with the highest number of users in their respective countries (65% of Indonesian Facebook users are under 24) and they have a continued dialogue with ‘in the moment’ content, posting up to 5 times a day! That’s because consumers in these countries have so many ‘friends’ sharing so much content, if you don’t post regularly you simply may not get noticed.
One company in the UK that really has got their social
strategy licked (sorry) is Cadbury. In Cream Egg and Wispa they have the two
most popular brand sites on Facebook. I’ve long admired Cadbury’s advertising,
from those seductive flake ads, the Caramel bunny to the glass half full
campaign with the drum playing gorilla.
The content is far less frequent but the content was in tune with the nation leading up to and during their Jan – Easter season, such as covering the cast of ‘The Only Way is Essex’ in goo and shocking the nation with massive mock-broken crème eggs at key locations in the UK. Content so great, even us prudent Brits want to share!
Like with traditional media it’s possible to have a global big idea that plays out in social (Nescafe, Starbucks, Lynx / Axe, Coke are great examples of global brands with great local social execution). But in this digital age that requires a continued flow of content and creativity, brands need to stay connected to local consumers’ desires, trends, passion points, social consumption habits and ever evolving mood to be liked, shared and talked about and assume a relevant role in their consumers’ lives.
If you liked this post, please share it on your favourite social media site using the sharing buttons. I would really appreciate it if you signed up for the email newsletter (and so don't miss any future posts!), join my Marketing Unleashed Facebook Page and follow me on Twitter.
No comments:
Post a Comment