Instagram advertising hasn’t been introduced to Southeast Asia just yet though, so a well-thought out community management strategy is imperative.
But how should you go about developing one?
Here are three brands that are actively engaging Instagram audiences in Southeast Asia. Let’s take a look at what they are doing in our region.
Starbucks
Handle: @starbucksph
Followers: 89.6k
Country: Philippines
Starbucks has had a strong presence in Southeast Asia for many years. And this shows clearly on their Instagram account.
The Philippines branch currently has over 89,000 followers, with post engagement (likes and comments) often creeping above 3%.
One look at their feed and you’ll notice that their photos are a constant reminder of the warm and friendly atmosphere that lives inside each and every one of their cafes. However, only a small portion are actually snapped by their marketing team.
What Starbucks does is to use their description and posts to actively encourage their followers to tag their cafe photos with #starbucksph. With nearly 200 stores across the country, this provides an endless and authentic source of photos to be reposted for their community of coffee-lovers.
Reposting is a subtle indication that you care about your followers and from a customer’s perspective. After all, who wouldn’t like their weekend coffee photos to be seen by an audience of nearly 100,000?
Air Asia
Handle: @airasia
Followers: 94.2k
Country: Malaysia
According to ZocialRank, Air Asia was Malaysia’s top brand on social media in 2013. The popular low cost airline has now taken to Instagram to post a range of engaging content. This includes new promotions, competitions and stunning photos from top holiday spots around the world to entice people to travel.
But what’s most interesting is that they also use the platform to build trust with their followers.
At a time when the airline industry has come under intense scrutiny, Air Asia has shown leadership by communicating authenticity. Upon winning the award for “World’s Best Low Cost Airline”, Air Asia released a series of videos containing messages filmed directly with the group’s CEOs. This included a personal message from the group’s founder, Tony Fernandes.
It’s not a one-off incident though. Tony has involved himself in the airlines’ social media communications for a long time. This included taking personal responsibility for communicating the bad news when Air Asia plane QZ8501 was involved in a crash in the Indonesian seas.
The truth is, being real works, and this relates to social media platforms like Instagram.
Tic Tac
Handle: N/A
Followers: N/A
Country: Singapore, Indonesia, and the Philippines
Even though Tic Tac does not have an Instagram account for the Southeast Asian market, they still managed to integrate the platform into their communication strategy.
The global mint manufacturer recently launched a new campaign compelling millennials to design their own packaging. Setting up their own Instagram account from scratch to promote the campaign would have required a lot of time and resources.
Instead, they simply partnered with influencers who have already amassed large followings such as the popular fashion blogger, Diana Rikasari (169k followers). This offered Tic Tac two incredible benefits – it enabled them to reach targeted audiences almost instantaneously and helped them obtain trust with these users through an influencer’s personal endorsement.
Learning from the big brands in Southeast Asia
Although not all businesses are as big as Starbucks, Air Asia and Tic Tac, there are still valuable lessons that that we can learn from them. Whether it’s reposting your followers’ photos, being real with our customers or partnering with influencers who share our philosophies, the basics are still the same.
Know who your customers are, treat them with respect and communicate with them in a way that will connect and engage with them deeply.
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