‘Facebook powerful ad platform’

New media platforms have introduced new ways for companies to advertise their brands and products in this digital age of consumerism.

Facebook looks to be the most “powerful” platform for effectively communicating and interacting with millions of users worldwide, said George Foo, chief operating officer of ihub Media Group, a social networking marketing agency based in Singapore. The company, which operates in eight countries, develops content applications such as games, characters and contests for marketing and advertising.

Facebook, which ihub mainly uses to help advertise for its clients, has no intrusive ads, banners or pop-ups as many see on other sites.

“The social networking platform offers ads to look like content,” Foo said, which users can easily access and comfortably interact with.

Also, the platform helps expose brands or products to nearly 1 billion users globally, of which more than 50 percent log in more than two or three times a day, he further explained.

However, advertising strategies on Facebook must differ accordingly to regions.

For instance, Taiwan users seek something fast as they tend to spend little time on apps, while users in the Philippines spend a longer time on them.

Korea could be similar to Taiwan. Koreans generally have high expectations and are very detail-oriented.

When ihub first launched content apps on Facebook for its client Pringles, it received low response from Koreans compared to Japan where the potato chip snack attracted some 40,000 users instantly.

The company had to “tweak” the Pringles apps in terms of tone for Korea to garner 11,000 local users from 3,400 in the beginning.

There are still a lot of “inventories” or spaces left on Facebook and the Web where they can be further monetized for advertising, compared to mobile ads.

A growing number of people may be using mobile devices, but mobile ad platforms have not yet been monetized well yet or proven to be efficient ― at least in Southeast Asia, Foo said.

By Park Hyong-ki (hkp@heraldcorp.com)