Facebook bid to cash in on popularity with SMEs
Facebook is focusing on promoting personalised marketing among small and medium-sized enterprises in Thailand, as an increasing number of SMEs turn to the social media behemoth to help drive sales.
Arrow Guo, head of Facebook’s SMB for Greater China and Southeast Asia, said this year the company was focused on delivering ad products and solutions that helped SMEs in Thailand achieve personalised marketing at scale.
"Facebook combines real identity, massive scale and the best targeting available. It is making marketing personal. With 1.39 billion monthly active users globally on Facebook, its targeted advertising solutions and products help SMEs reach their audiences with precision and simple-to-use tools," said Guo.
With the high rate of mobile-device usage among Thais, Guo said more businesses were turning to Facebook to drive their mobile-first advertising campaigns and strategies.
He said video was also a powerful tool to engage audiences with compelling content.
"This year we are continuing to scale our SME-dedicated support too. For example, more mobile tools for SMEs to manage their Facebook presence and more in-person SME educational events around the world," he Guo.
SMEs in Thailand were increasingly advertising on Facebook, he said, because it drives sales and campaign efforts. While other forms of advertising, including print, TV and radio, could be expensive and hard to measure, Facebook ads helped SMEs reach their targeted audience across multiple kinds of devices.
"We’ve seen many Thai SMEs turning to Facebook to grow their business. [But] while many Thai SMEs have a business page on Facebook, there is room for growth," he said.
He said he could not share information about how much revenue Thai SMEs earned from using Facebook’s service. However, he added that Asia Pacific was one of the two largest and fastest-growing regions for SMEs over the past year.
Thailand was home to a thriving and creative SME community, and Facebook looked forward to reaching out to them more over the coming year.
Recently, Facebook launched the Thai version of Facebook for Business site, providing the latest news, tips and best practices to help businesses meet their goals.
There would be more online support to come, Guo said, adding that Facebook would continue to support SMEs with tools that helped them achieve their business objectives, whether it was driving online sales like its recently launched "Call to Action" feature, boosting the mobile app download volume, or getting more people to engage with their content on Facebook pages.
According to TNS, a leading market research, global market information and business analysis firm there were 30 million active monthly Facebook users in Thailand as of the fourth quarter 2014, and 96 per cent of them used Facebook more than any other digital network.
It said Thai SMEs used Facebook as their main marketing channel because it was where potential customers were. Along with their Facebook page, Facebook Messenger was also a popular channel among Thai SME owners to connect with customers, it said.
"We've seen every type of business find success on Facebook – restaurants, retail, home goods and fashion. We’ve also seen small non-profits, and even farmers, who have grown their business with Facebook," Guo said.
Globally, there are more than 30 million active small business Facebook pages, up from 25 million in November 2013. Currently, around 2 million businesses are investing in Facebook to grow their business with a majority being SMEs.
