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Facebook puts on its game face in indoneisa by pulling marketers close
Children log on to Facebook in Jimbaran
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Children log on to Facebook in Jimbaran. âOur main focus is to educate clients and agencies on how to use Facebook to engage with users,â he noted,â according to Facebookâs new country chief for Indonesia. (AFP/Sonny Tumbelaka) (AFP/Sonny Tumbelaka)
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span class="inline inline-center">Children log on to Facebook in Jimbaran. 'Our main focus is to educate clients and agencies on how to use Facebook to engage with users,' he noted,' according to Facebook's new country chief for Indonesia. (AFP/Sonny Tumbelaka)
Facebook means business in Indonesia. The Indonesian office of the social networking site is as much focused on working more closely with digital marketing practitioners in tapping industry potential as introducing new features that cater to the needs of local users.
'There is no issue on awareness given how large Facebook is,' Facebook Indonesia country manager Anand Tilak said recently.
With a user base of 69 million, Indonesia is one of the largest markets for the California-based social networking site.
'However, people do not know how to use Facebook for their brand advertising,' he continued.
And this, Tilak pointed out, was the issue Facebook wished to resolve through its presence in Indonesia.
Facebook officially established a presence in Indonesia roughly six months ago, with the early team tasked with 'building the foundation' for long-term operations in the country.
Tilak pointed out that part of the know-how the company would like to impart was on the ways to utilize the advertising and promotion tools available on Facebook.
'Our main focus is to educate clients and agencies on how to use Facebook to engage with users,' he noted.
Digital advertising spending, albeit small compared to traditional media, is on the rise. Numbers from eMarketer suggest that digital ad spend in Indonesia will amount to US$420 million in 2014, increasing by 71.4 percent in 2015.
He said that Facebook had become a site where people discovered new content through their respective newsfeeds, which advertisers could capitalize on to create buzz around their brands.
Nonetheless, those advertisements and promotions inserted into the site must not 'irritate' users.
Like most online platforms, Facebook customizes the advertisements based on the perceived online interests and habits of the user.
In the second quarter of the year, Facebook garnered $2.68 billion in advertising revenue, up by 67 percent compared to the same period the previous year.
He further added that doing non-invasive advertising and promotion via Facebook meant 'giving users what they want to know'.
'User experience is the most crucial thing, and users must be treated with respect,' he said.
Besides supporting brands and advertisers, Tilak also aimed to further 'help people connect and share what is relevant' in their lives.
He pointed out that during the Indonesian presidential election, Facebook introduced the Election Tracker whereby users could check the latest information regarding the election.
'During that election, we provided an election megaphone to remind users to go out and vote,' he said.
Introduced for the first time during the 2008 US elections, the feature allows users to tell friends that they are voting. The feature has since been made available in countries conducting general elections this year.
Tilak, who last served at Google and saw his appointment to the current post as a 'fantastic opportunity', added that Facebook was 'exploring a lot of new features suitable for higher growth markets' such as Indonesia.
Yet, he noted that one challenge in carrying out operations here was acquiring sufficient bona fide talent in the digital sphere. A solution to this issue faced by the digital industry as a whole was collaborating in nurturing future talents.
'All of us [in the industry] need to work together in going to universities and giving lectures on topics like digital marketing,' he said.
'Poaching is a short-term solution,' he said in reference to the current habit of companies to snap up talent from their competitors.
XM Gravity CEO Nanda Ivens noted that the presence of Facebook ' notwithstanding other global, digital platforms ' in the country was an 'incredible asset' to the development of the digital market industry.
XM Gravity is a digital marketing agency with clients in the consumer goods, telecommunications and e-commerce industries.
'We cannot underestimate their [Facebook's] presence in Indonesia,' he said.
He pointed out the industry had grown rapidly in recent years. Yet, a shortage of digital marketing professionals persisted given that advertising in the country remained geared toward traditional media.
Thus, the provision of training, such as technical workshops on the usage of Facebook's Support Dashboard, aided digital advertising practitioners in better managing digital campaigns.
'Having Facebook and its representatives available at the touch of a button helps the industry quite a lot,' he said.
However, he pointed out that digital marketing practitioners too must be open to lessons provided by online platforms.
He noted that a lot of practitioners 'who have only been in the industry for one or two years' had quickly grown self-satisfied given their fast-track careers.
'We [practitioners] also need to change our paradigm and mind-set by being inquisitive and go on this journey of discovery,' he said.
