14 February 2015 – Global Marketing News
Facebook growing in Asia but struggling with monetisation
Facebook is growing in popularity in Asia faster than anywhere else in the world, with a 51% increase in user numbers in the last 2 years alone, compared to a mere 8% increase in North America over the same period.
The rapidly rising number of Facebook users in Asia is not converting into an equivalent rise in revenue, however, with Facebook users in Asia spending an average of just 1.27 US dollars per person on the social network, compared to 9 US dollars in the US and Canada.
Facebook makes most of its money through advertising fees and the figures show that Asian users simply do not have the spending power of their North American counterparts.
Facebook’s Chief Operating Officer Sheryl Sandberg has said that the social network is committed to helping small businesses all over the world advertise on Facebook, adding that India, the largest market for Facebook in Asia, “has a lot of potential” and represents a “huge opportunity”.
In an attempt to improve its monetisation in India, Facebook has begun testing a new advertising feature that allows users to click on an ad to call a business and then hang up before incurring a charge, with the business then calling the user back. This “missed call” method is already well-established and very popular in India.
Facebook page content management (monthly)
Facebook is the most popular social network in the world and is somewhere that your brand needs to be actively present. Keeping your Facebook page up-to-date maintains your online presence and this can translate into increased traffic to your website and a wider user base. This service manages your Facebook page by posting daily content such as new links, pictures, videos etc. in the languages supported by Facebook.
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Global smartphone provider data 2014
The market intelligence company IDC has released data about the global smartphone market in 2014.
The data revealed that a staggering 1.3 billion smartphones were shipped last year, up 28% on 2013.
Samsung remained the most popular smartphone provider, but its lead shrunk to just 600,000 handsets, a significant drop from its comfortable 33 million handset lead the year before.
Apple took second place, with the release of its iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus models pushing up its popularity, especially in Asia where larger screened smartphones, or phablets, are more popular.
Lenovo came in at a distant third place, with its success being largely put down to its recent acquisition of Motorola.
Huawei made it back into the top 5 last year, taking fourth place. Huawei said that their improved performance was due to improved brand awareness and customer experience. It says that going forward it plans to focus on midrange and high-end smartphones only.
And finally, fellow Chinese smartphone vendor Xiaomi took fifth place, a fall of two places from the previous year. Its hold on its spot in the top 5 is weak, with rivals LG and ZTE following closely in sixth and seventh place.
Argentina has highest digital buyer penetration rates in Latin America
Research by E-Marketer has revealed that Argentina has the highest digital buyer penetration rates in Latin America.
Over 48% of Argentinean netizens and over a third of the entire Argentinean population are expected to buy online this year, ahead of Brazilians in second place, and Mexicans in third place.
Despite its high penetration, however, ecommerce sales only account for 1.6% of all retail sales in Argentina. Furthermore, when dealing in absolute numbers, Argentina’s small population means that it falls to third place for the number of actual online buyers.
It is likely that only Argentinean retailers are benefiting from the high penetration of ecommerce in the country, as last year the government introduced complicated customs duty rules that made it extremely difficult for Argentineans to buy from foreign retailers, effectively making buyers register as importers if they want to make more than two 25 US dollar purchases in a year.
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