What are Sri Lankan brands doing on Facebook?

By Thanzyl Thajudeen

I bet reading this article will truly pay off for many top level executives, if you have the right attitude about what today’s world holds.

Facebook, the social media giant which boasts over a user base of 580 million, has hit Sri Lanka with no doubt. In 2010, Sri Lanka recorded a 1.77 million internet user base – that is an 8.3% penetration compared to 5.5% penetration in 2009.

The statistics show there are increasing levels of internet access. Out of the total internet user base, there were 840,840 registered members on Facebook by the first week of January 2011 – accounting for 47.34% penetration of the whole online population of Sri Lanka, according to statistics from Facebook.

Sri Lanka is currently listed in the 78th position in the global list of Facebook, which shows that 3.91% of the whole country’s population is on Facebook – not bad for a country with very low higher and middle income level groups, lack of computer literacy, undeveloped infrastructure and much more.

Throughout many organisations, many of today’s C-Suite decision makers lack the vision digital media holds. Unfortunately, many executives still see Facebook as a vast, uncontrollable outpost for college slackers – but my piece of advice is that Facebook is just not picture sharing and random life updates; it’s more of the conventional, quicker and a must way of brand building, managing corporate reputation, crisis response and brand bullet-proofing.

Top brands on Facebook from Sri Lanka

It’s such a shame that none of the local brands are making their way to Facebook. The only top five brands from Sri Lanka, according to sources from Facebook and other social media statistics are only from Xbox (table one).

The table one consist all Xbox with their global advertising campaign, among which many fans from Facebook. What does this mean? Where are the locally targeted brands on Facebook from Sri Lanka?

The answer is that there are none. All that is noticeable on Facebook from Sri Lanka is display ads and fan pages from ‘SL girls image collection,’ ‘get your visa’ or some one-day events in Colombo or elsewhere.

What about the top local brands with a global presence with names that you know? None of them are on Facebook. Worse, none of them have a digital media strategy equipped with social media strategies or a digital media policy in place, not even an online strategy.

For these organisations, my writings on online reputational management and online crisis communications are just too long to implement and achieve – this is not a good sign at all.

One thing is for sure – they are on the digital and social media platforms just for the sake of being there. Day and night I sit on my desk and browse through all brands from Sri Lanka that are making efforts on Facebook – there are none. All I could see is just ‘for the sake of the whole world going online’.

It all starts with internal trigger                    

Many employees, even the CEO or any other C-Suite executives throughout many organisations in Sri Lanka that has many top brands locally, have no idea what Facebook is. Worse, they do not know what the whole digital media is about.

Yes, we know – you know it, it’s just something to get into for the sake of telling shareholders, ‘listen up, we are on social media, we are on Facebook’ – I come across these statements on many local organisation’s annual reports, ‘like me’ on the main website, run across advertising integrating the Facebook sign, etc. But there are no ‘real means’ or ‘real rationales’ to get onto Facebook.

Proper internal communications on the importance and criticality of social media platforms such as Facebook need to be in place – Go online, learn about them, make presentations, and have a boardroom meeting for this.

Yes, you will say ‘it’s a waste of time, it’s just useless’ – unless you have this attitude, you can never do this. Let go of this attitude. I have seen many top level executives with this attitude – honestly, you’re making yourself a fool.

You may hire an online team as you just think it is taking your mind off the core operations – this is not a good idea. Getting your brand and your organisation on these platforms is the new way of doing things, not just a channel to get through to your consumer or just get your brand on a page; as a top level executive, you need to know much more than ground level staff.

Get on Facebook

nFirstly, look at your current advertising budgets, and identify why traditional, why not social media sites like Facebook

Does your organisation firstly have an online advertising budget? I bet many of them don’t. Many of the advertising budgets are huge and hire the multinational and top local ad agencies to work on an overall integrated marketing communications plan which barely has any online strategies at all.

(The writer is a 21st century marketer and is the world’s youngest Associate Member of the Chartered Institute of Marketing. He provides advice and ideas on industry, marketing, strategy, communications, and strategic reputation. You can reach him on [email protected]. Critique, comments and feedback are welcome.)



Worse, in Sri Lanka, many organisations still have a marketing communications plan – not an integrated marketing communications plan. It’s critical to have a look whether what pays off more – it’s obvious you need the traditional ones due to the country’s lack of online literacy, but have a look at the Facebook statistics – a 47% penetration rate of the online population from Sri Lanka – is this not enough? Why aren’t Sri Lankan organisations making use of this?

“Why bother?” This is exactly the attitude what many top level C-Suite executives hold – there is no necessity for a survey or a research to prove this (it might be better if there is one), but none of the local research agencies or even a global agency with local operations cares to do a research on social media and attitudes surveys throughout many local organisations.

There’s nothing more to it; get on Facebook. More than Google AdWords, Facebook ads rely on both keywords and a variety of demographic information – information you no doubt have already identified as key indicators of your target audience(s).

Put all this information together, micro-target the advertising buy, narrow the net in the online marketplace and increase the return on your investment – this is exactly where local brands need to come into play.

According to the latest statistics from Facebook, the age groups and number of users from Sri Lanka were sourced as shown on Table Two.

Sri Lanka holds a 64% male user base and a 36% female user base. The top growing age groups on Facebook in Sri Lanka is the 18-24 and the 25-34 groups according to Facebook statistics.

nSecondly, research and identify your employees on Facebook who may be your organisation’s most social media-savvy employees

Many of the employees in Sri Lankan organisations are undoubtedly on Facebook – they browse Facebook most of the time while they are supposed to be doing office work – if you haven’t noticed it, go ask – but it’s all for the good.

Talk to your HR manager, get the whole database of the names of employees, create a page and invite them! This will help you get started, even get to know your employees much better – look at their status and profiles, make them happy – they will be more than happy to act as brand ambassadors for your brand and the organisation.

Many top level executives never see this, too busy being very internal oriented, or just wear a tie and makes phone calls to family and relatives.

nAt last, become a fan on Facebook yourself

Top level executives and managers need to learn Facebook for themselves, its features and the value hundreds of millions of people find in the world’s most populous online community – almost half of the Sri Lankan online population is there – what else do you want? Give it a try yourself, your brand and organisation. See how regularly you update and make online conversations which trigger the word of your brand and the organisation.

Conclusion

Brands and organisations locally need to get up there – not just get on Facebook for the sake of being there. Take this advice as an opportunity – it really is. Put yourself in the people’s shoes, feel the way they do, search what they expect from your brand and organisation, make positive conversations, even if it’s negative – take it for the feedback arena and make it an opportunity, and finally, always engage and assure your fans with openness, honesty and transparency.