We're in the midst of an industrial revolution
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"content" is the key success factor, especially as there is such an information overload. People nowadays are served with facts as well as falsehoods, though they can also find information provided by experts in particular fields.
Below is a summary of the content from the second Spark Conference entitled “Age of Expertise”, which was hosted yesterday by Thumbsup.in.th, a leading digital-technology-marketing blog in Thailand.
At the event, Siwat Chawareewong (@siwat), president of Digital Advertising Association (Thailand) and chief executive officer of M Interaction, said 2015 is a growth year for digital marketing, as new affordable smart devices continue to be launched, which in turn boosts the number of Internet users and e-customers.
Data traffic on mobiles and tablets has continued to grow rapidly from 40-45 per cent in 2013-14 to between 58 and 70 per cent in 2014-15.
The LINE app’s latest addition, LINE TV, is one example of this, as it caters to a massive audience. However, good content is also a factor.
Nuttaputch Wongreanthong (@nuttaputch), vice president for online marketing at DTAC, said content is a key factor for marketing in the digital world, because it is not a traditional market.
Online marketing needs a different mindset, and sellers – be they simple advertisers or publishers – need to change their thinking to create useful content for their customers.
“A brand needs to tell your story, but you should also pay attention to the story you want to tell. We are not doing digital marketing, we are doing marketing in the digital world,” Nuttaputch said.
He said that this was the age of the industrial revolution again, and that three major changes have taken place, namely changes in consumer behaviour, communication and marketing.
At the conference, Dave Kerpen (@DaveKerpen), chief executive officer of Likeable Local and author of “Likeable Social Media”, said there were seven simple social concepts driving results – listen, respond, tell, don’t sell, be authentic, advertise better, provide value, and be grateful.
“On social media, the more you give, the more you get,” he said, adding that the trend of content marketing was to create a new business model that he called “content as a service”, which is similar to “software as a service” in the technology domain.
Meanwhile, Pornthip Kongchun (@TonAwe), head of marketing for Google Thailand, explained how YouTube had become a powerful media in the digital world.
YouTube in Thailand is consumed via a multitude of devices, including mobiles, tablets and PCs and the peak time is usually between 6pm and 11pm.
On average, Thais spend 45 minutes or more a day on YouTube and on average they watch seven video genres.
The top three ways Thais use this video-sharing website is to conduct searches, watch favourite videos or to watch YouTube’s recommendations.
“YouTube is one of the most powerful marketing tools in the digital world.
“However, focusing on being viral is not sustainable, consistent content is also key to success,” she said.
