Facebook continues to help Thai SMEs with #SupportSmallBusiness initiative.
Initiatives include new #SupportSmallBusiness promotion of SMEs across platform; interactive features such as Food Order stickers for Instagram; updates to resources and trainings.
As the coronavirus hits small businesses everywhere, consumers are shifting more towards online activities. According to a recent YouGov study, over 32 per cent of Thai respondents have increased their online shopping during the COVID-19 crisis, over 39 per cent ordered food delivery more often and over 44 per cent of those surveyed have spent more time watching online content.
Facebook’s communities and resources have become increasingly important to businesses and consumers as they practice social distancing, with more than 2.6 billion active monthly users on Facebook and more than 1 billion monthly active users on Instagram worldwide.
more than 140 million businesses on Facebook using the platform to continue connecting with their customers in new and creative ways.
Chawadee Wongphyat, country manager for Growth Businesses, Facebook Thailand said that the #SupportSmallBusiness virtual conference highlighted how Facebook is responding to Thai business needs by announcing new ways for people to support and discover small businesses, along with more tools for keeping businesses informed and connected with their customers.
These include the launch of a Support Small Business sticker on Instagram and a #SupportSmallBusiness hashtag on Facebook for users to show their love for small businesses.
“When people use the Support Small Business sticker on Instagram, it will also be added to a multi-author Instagram story so followers can see it,” said Chawadee.
This is on top of Instagram’s recently announced Food Order features, where businesses can now share food order stickers in Instagram Stories and as a button on their profiles, which will direct Thai users to the business’ food delivery platform (currently Foodpanda and Grab) to complete their purchase.
Other #SupportSmallBusiness initiatives include COVID-19 resources and updates to its business tools so administrations can share critical information quickly, personalized recommendations to help improve their pages, and online activities to educate and help small businesses, including helping people move their business online so they can continue to trade and tips on how to use Facebook Live and Messenger to reach their customers.
These initiatives complement Facebook’s existing Business Resource Hub. The Hub, coupled with Facebook’s creation of a USD $100 million in grant funding to help 30,000 small businesses around the world, features resources and recommendations to help small businesses stay connected to customers and utilize social media to keep their business on track.
Success Stories of Thailand Sellers:
Thai small businesses included Restaurant chain Penguin Eat Shabu; online local produce and agricultural grocery store Organicwa (Thailand), and the community leader of Chula Marketplace, which has quickly risen to prominence during the COVID-19 crisis.
They show that the importance of conversational commerce and building engagement through creative activities on social media can benefit local businesses.
Thanapan Vongchinsri, founder and co-managing Director of Penguin Eat Shabu, said that when they closed the doors of their nine restaurants, the company needed to adjust and start selling to-go boxes to survive.
Through Facebook Posts and Messenger, they let customers order directly through the platform. After receiving 350 sales in one minute, and a promotion leading to 2,500 hot pot sales, Penguin Eat Shabu introduced a Bot for Messenger to help respond to the high number of messages.
These sales increased their revenue and allowed them to restore their employees to full pay.
Organicwa (Thailand) also highlighted the importance of Messenger to engage with loyal customers and suggested businesses use targeted Facebook Ads to expand their customer base. Another crucial recommendation from the online grocery store was to offer customers a one-stop service within Facebook so customers do not have to wade through other applications to complete a purchase.
Meanwhile, Panaphon Juntarasugree, founder and Group Admin of Chula Marketplace said that “at a time when we are affected by the COVID-19 spread, it is important we have spaces to boost more selling opportunities. By creating themes or topics for each product category, we are seeing more engagement for sellers, and online channels such as Facebook provide us a way to support each other virtually, as well as help us survive and recover this period.”
