By: Nicole Tan, Country Director, Facebook Malaysia
It’s hard to believe that 2018 is almost coming to a close, but its also a time to reflect – ups and downs, adventures and surprises, challenges, and successes. The cliché, time flies, sure does speaks volume, because the intense year really does go quickly; yet we had amazing opportunities to work with new and existing clients in a variety of industries, which I find exciting, energizing, and interesting. As we unplug for the festivities, I am grateful for all our clients, agencies, partners, and my team that I’ve had the privilege to support in 2018.
This year, we continued investing in our efforts to help accelerate “digital upskilling” by helping more Malaysian businesses succeed on a global stage. We launched “Made by Malaysia, loved by the World”, an initiative with partners, Malaysia External Trade Development Corporation (MATRADE) and AVANA. The aim of the Made by program was to help train 2,000 local SMEs by giving them the skills they need to grow their businesses. This was a poignant moment as this campaign was close to my heart.
On a personal front, I want to continue to be more intentional with my time by being present and making each meeting and engagement count. One thing I’m planing to do is spend more time with my team to help each other continue to grow, embrace new opportunities and find balance in our lives.
On the professional front, the fast adoption of mobile technology means that entire industries and business models continue to be transformed. Through a decade or more of change, the one constant is that consumers often adopt new technology before businesses do – these trends have profound influence on how people discover, evaluate and converse with businesses and ultimately, how and where they make purchases.
At Facebook, we saw three significant consumer communications trends this year which we expect will only intensify in 2019: Video, Stories and Messaging.
Earlier this year – in August – we rolled out Watch globally and found strong adoption in Asia Pacific, especially in India, Philippines, Indonesia and Malaysia. We also found that APAC leads the way in people accessing video content on mobile. The shift to mobile is particularly strong in Southeast Asian countries like Thailand, Malaysia and Indonesia, where people spend 3.9, 3.7 and 3.4 hours, respectively, on their devices. In 2017, smartphone penetration in Malaysia peaked at 98 per cent, with the country’s internet users spending 15.8 hours each week on their smartphones only.
While we have beaten the drum about the rate at which people were bypassing desktop for mobile in previous years, 2018 marked the cementing of the multi-screen consumer. The simultaneous use of second-screen devices — smartphones, tablets and desktops/laptops alongside TV-viewing has increased year-on-year and is predicted to continue through next year. We are seeing that mobiles are winning the screen battle with PC-only use trending downwards. This complex ecosystem means that businesses that want to stay ahead of the curve will also need to think about multi-touch, cross-media approaches to engage with customers in 2019.
Another interesting development is the consumer adoption of the ephemerality of the Stories format. People now share more than 1 billion stories every day across Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp. The Asia Pacific region accounts for the highest number of story producers with over 40 per cent of Stories being created
in this region. A recent eMarketer report which examined the popularity of Stories, said it plays into several broad consumer communication trends – a preference for sharing photographs or video over typing out a text update, the comfort of knowing what you post isn’t going to stick around forever and the need to share everyday moments with smaller audiences.
This preference is also driving the rise of messaging. Of all the consumer communication trends we are seeing, messaging has the most implications for business as it gives people a direct line to the businesses, they are interested in spending their money with. People are turning to messaging when they want a brand’s guidance or expertise, when they seek a more streamlined shopping experience and when they want to signal that they are open to important updates, whether that’s a delivery notification from a favourite retailer or a gate change from an airline. People and businesses around the world now exchange over 10 billion messages on our platforms each month. This preference for messaging is even more pronounced in Asia Pacific, where 87 per cent of smart phone owners use a messaging app every month.
Messaging is important because it draws people and businesses into what can become an ongoing conversation, rather than a one-time transaction. In many cases, messaging can offer people a concierge-like experience. After answering an initial filtering question, people are able to engage in a two-way dialogue, unlocking a more meaningful and personalised brand experience. We surveyed people across four markets and found that being able to message with a business made people feel more confident about the brand and more connected
to it. This is a new paradigm where businesses can make people feel cared for and create a connection that fosters brand loyalty.
So, if businesses were to make resolutions, what would yours be? To me, all these new trends boil down to an age-old idea – that in business and in life, relationships are everything. And every relationship starts with a conversation. So, meaningful conversations – starting them, sustaining them and growing them – could be one area to focus your energies on in 2019.
About Nicole Tan
Nicole Tan is Facebook Malaysia’s country director. In her role, Nicole leads the Malaysian team that partners with businesses and agencies, helping them achieve growth and drive business results on Facebook.
In her previous capacity, Nicole was the Managing Director of J.Walter Thompson (JWT) Malaysia and carries 20 years of industry experience in the FMCG, tech, automotive sectors. Throughout her career, her teams and projects gained industry accolades from the locally acclaimed Kancils and international awards such as Spikes, Clio, D&AD & Effies. In addition to her experience leading the Malaysia team, she previously served in business leadership roles for JWT in China.
Nicole is an advocate of mentoring and passionate about supporting more women in leadership roles.
