Facebook ups focus on helping SMEs via its solutions and platforms

According to the latest survey by TNS Thailand, “The eCommerce Path to Purchase Journey”, Facebook is the influential digital marketing platform for SMEs (small and medium-sized enterprises) because it is involved in each step of a consumer’s path to purchase, and then in sharing their online shopping experience.

Arpapat Boonrod, managing director of TNS Thailand, said the study showed that 66 per cent of consumers shopped online via mobile devices and conducted product research in retail stores simultaneously.

The smart phone is also the leading choice of device to browse, research and make payment for products.

“Facebook is the most widely used social-networking platform among e-commerce users, with 92 per cent surveyed using it every day,” said Arpapat.

Arrow Guo, head of SMB (small and medium-sized business) for Greater China and Southeast Asia at Facebook, said Facebook was the platform with which people had the most engagement.

There are 30 million monthly Facebook users in Thailand, of which around 28 million use Facebook on a mobile device. 

“Around 21 million people in Thailand use Facebook every day. More than 93 per cent, or around 20 million, use Facebook on a mobile every day,” said Guo.

Facebook is the powerful marketing platform for business, and especially for SMBs, he said, adding that “huge numbers of potential customers are out there on Facebook”.

The SMB solutions provided include Facebook Ads (Boost Post), Facebook Video (Ads) and Carousel Ads, to get a customer’s attention and make a purchase; Website Customer Audience, for retargeting marketing; Page Post Link Ads with Call-to-Action, to gain a customer’s purchase; and Customer Audience from Database, for up-selling. 

Facebook’s range of tools can help SMB create ads to engage customers in each step of their path to purchase, said Guo. 

“As of the first quarter, around 73 per cent of Ads come from mobile devices, while the growth is driven by the Asia-Pacific and Latin America regions. We offer a lot of tools that can benefit SMBs. Firstly, SMBs need to have a Facebook Page, which plays a role as their website, then to use the right tools to fit to their marketing objectives, and to track and evaluate tools performance in order to allocate the budget efficiently,” he explained.

Thailand is an important market for the company in terms of its SMB focus. Meanwhile, Facebook also plans to promote large organisations in vertical areas such as telcoms, finance, e-commerce and developers (of mobile games and apps) to benefit from the use of its products and solutions, he said.“Facebook is a market platform to help SMBs succeed in their business. Our strength when compared to the other platforms includes the fact that almost all Internet users in Thailand are on Facebook; we are a seamless platform across types of device; and Facebook is not a single app, but it is a family of apps,” said Guo.

He added that in Thailand, while only a few per cent of the roughly 3 million SMBs currently knew of and benefited from Facebook’s platform and tools, growth in SMB usage was continuous. Tetsuji Hori, web planning & design manager of HIS Thailand, said Facebook allowed the company to develop marketing campaigns that ultimately drove sales.

“Local customers also like to leave comments and ask questions via Facebook, so it is essential to monitor the Page to provide answers in a fast and timely manner. With Facebook’s advertising solutions, we can better monitor the effectiveness of our advertising reach and adjust our campaigns accordingly. This gives us a highly flexible marketing platform that is both engaging with customers, yet drives sales,” said Hori.

Vithavin Lertsaroj, co-founder of 425 Degree, an SMB that also uses Facebook’s products, said Facebook advertising solutions and tools had helped the company, as a start-up, to build trust and connect customers in its products’ quality without physical stores. 

“Facebook is arguably the best platform to target audiences with high efficiency and scalable reach for Thai SMEs. As a local start-up, we’re always experimenting to find the best way to connect with our customers online, which is possible through Facebook’s ad solutions,” said Vithavin.