Leveraging social media for unleashing business potential

If you are a marketer in Bangladesh, a few questions should often come to your mind; "Should I spend on social media for my brand?" Or "How should I leverage social media?" Well, for your information, an average internet user in Bangladesh spends 3 hours on online on a typical day, according to TNS Global. However, if you take away Facebook from that equation, that person will be left with just 11 minutes. And that statement itself perfectly sums up how social media has become such a powerful medium of communication in Bangladesh.
Let's take a look at the global scenario first. Advertisers worldwide will spend $29.91 billion to reach consumers on social networks this year, based on the figures from eMarketer, a 163% increase from 2013. By 2017, social network ad spending will reach $35.98 billion, representing 16.0% of all digital ad spending globally. The largest share of global social media spending lies in North America and Asia-Pacific regions, 42.6% and 31.2% respectively. However, advertisers in the North America will spend more than $61 for each user across the social landscape in their respective countries comparing to just a bit more than $9 in the Asia-Pacific region, and by the end of 2017, will increase that outlay to $71.37 per user, a reflection of growing spending against a maturing user base. Whereas, Asia-Pacific's ad spending on per social network user will increase to $10.54. The reason behind this massive difference is the rapid growth of social media user base in Asia, especially on Facebook.
At a company level, expectedly, Facebook is leading the social advertising landscape worldwide. According to e-Marketer, in 2015, the company has made $15.50 billion in ad revenues, or 65.5% of all social network ad spending worldwide. That portion is up from 2014, when Facebook owned 64.5% of the social ad market. Twitter has also gained share, taking 8.8% of global social network ad spending, or $2.09 billion, up from 7.1% share in 2014. LinkedIn, the other major US-based social ad seller has made $900 million in advertising last year, but its segment of global social ad buying has dipped to 3.8%, down from 4.2% in 2014.
Getting back to local landscape, Social Media communication is now an exponentially growing tool for marketing in Bangladesh. More than 132 million (81% penetration) Bangladeshi people are using mobile phone and 63 million (39% penetration) people are using internet. According to Google, time spent by consumers on mobile phones is almost 17-22 hours weekly using available digital communication tools i.e. Mobile, Computer, Tablet etc. and through existing digital communication platforms: Facebook, Google, Instagram, linkedin, Mobile IVR, SMS, MMS etc.
As of November 2016, according to Facebook, there are 24 million active mobile social media (Facebook) accounts in the country which used to be 9 million even back in August 2015. This enormous growth, now gives brands close to 35% of the active internet population to talk to. Right at this very moment in the last 10 minutes, there are almost 20+ new Bangladeshis born, 60 new Facebook users activated and 120 new mobile subscribers added to the base; that is how swiftly the digital revolution is happening in Bangladesh. Of the total 24 million Facebook users in the country, 54% are from 18-25 Age group which used to be 78% just a year back. Among them 79% are male users who are mostly interested in technology, sports, fashion and music. There are 18 million people who access internet through normal mobile devices and 14 million who access through smartphones.
The second most popular social media in Bangladesh is Instagram. The number of users in this media increasing at a rapid rate. With Facebook's acquisition of Instagram, they have integrated the media with Facebook's Advertisement Platform. As a result, an ad placed on Facebook can be placed on Instagram with the desired target audience under same given criteria at the same time.
For a brand that is just starting their journey in social media, the marketers of that brand need to think about proper campaigns to attract the right audience to their page. They need to come up with ideas on engaging contents through scopes of online AVs, regular posts, applications and advertisements. Facebook alone provides 15 types of advertising scopes which can be customized based on a brand's campaigns.Moreover, as social network is the only media with two-way active communication possibilities, the opportunities are immense for brands. This is a vital opportunity for a direct marketing approach, as the consumer is directly talking to the brand's spokesperson. With just an instant answer to someone's query regarding a product, a brand can easily establish their loyalty on that consumer's mind. Also, with the rise of Facebook based boutiques, people are being able to easily order products through these pages. Facebook is also facilitating this behavior with different features like Facebook Shop, Catalogue to actually build an F-Commerce platform.
The best thing about social media is, it's way cheaper than traditional media. It enables a brand to reach out to more people at a lower budget. The average cost for reaching 1,000 people using digital media is over 8 times cheaper than that of print media, and around 17 times cheaper than that of Television ads (Lightcastle Partners BD).
Some brands have utilized social media to its fullest potentials. One of those brands is Closeup. Closeup Bangladesh is the most talked about among all the Unilever brands when it comes with social media. Closeup as a brand heavily on emotional connection with the target audience. Majority of Closeup Bangladesh Facebook page's audience is youth. They love to talk about Love and Music. They love to share their stories. Closeup tapped that behavior with the campaign"Kache Ashar Golpo" which took the social media by storm. This social media driven campaign has seen its 4th edition on 2016. The campaign could initiate a whopping 70% average engagement on its contents in social media.
There is a common saying in Bangladesh that, social media is just for the youth population of the country. Through it was true just a year back, now the situation has changed. In 2015 November, 78% of Facebook population were 18-25 years old. Now that number has shrank to 54%. This is because 25+ age group has gradually adopted Facebook. There are brands who have fully utilized this opportunity. One of them is Meena Bazar. The supershop conducted the first ever location based offer campaign through Facebook in Bangladesh which promoted different offers at different outlets. With the help of Facebook's location targeting feature, the campaign was a massive hit. Since then, Meena Bazar has been successfully hitting the right notes on targeting the right audience through social media.
With the digitisation of Bangladesh, internet penetration is increasing every day. Social media marketing is not an option anymore, it is a necessity. As the population is slowly moving away from traditional media, social ones are going to play the biggest role for any marketing communication. So if you want to take the leverage of social media for your brand, now's as good a time as any.

The author has been working for Analyzen Bangladesh Limited, the leading digital marketing company of the country in role of 'The Gambit' & 'Lead Strategy Officer'. He can be reached at [email protected]