If the COVID-19 pandemic has revealed any positives, it’s that the world can adapt to a digital economy if needed. Some countries were able to adapt more quickly than others because they had started the process of shifting towards digitization much earlier. In contrast, other countries, like Malaysia, struggled since their existing economy is steeped in traditional roots. As Malaysian businesses have grown after adapting and transforming their models to be more online, so too has social media marketing in Malaysia grown to drive sales to these newly digitized businesses.
Social media marketing in Malaysia has skyrocketed because more and more businesses are joining the digital sphere. A local restaurant or mom & pop shop that previously succeeded purely with walk-in customers needed to start selling online to survive. But, with a competitive market all moving digitally at once, business owners needed to find a way to effectively advertise their business.
Social Media as Business Tool
Malaysians are not new to social media. Applications like Facebook and WhatsApp dominate the market as the primary communication and socialization tools. In fact, you’d be hard-pressed to find an urban Malaysian who isn’t on social media. That said, the realm of social media marketing in Malaysia is relatively new to some.
Social media is a fruitful business tool that helps connect brands to current and potential customers. Because social media is so prevalent for entertainment, marketers have grabbed the opportunity to reach incredible audiences that they otherwise wouldn’t have the ability to reach.
Aside from those benefits, social media marketing in Malaysia is extremely cost-effective. Brands or businesses can create official profiles for free and begin marketing to their customers immediately. They can post on their pages or 3rd party pages free of charge or choose to spend money on ads. The beauty of social media advertising is that businesses have full control of how much they wish to spend.
The opportunities for businesses in Malaysia to grow by using social media marketing is tremendous.
Choose the Platform That Fits Your Business
Facebook and WhatsApp are just two pieces of a much larger social media puzzle that includes such platforms as TikTok, Twitter, Instagram, Youtube, and more. Each of these platforms differentiates themselves from each other from the user’s perspective, which in turn creates opportunities for advertisers.
For example, Instagram is a platform for sharing photos and short videos, whereas Twitter is for microblogging. Advertisers who want to share photo ads should choose to advertise on Instagram over Twitter because that type of ad best suits Instagram.
All of this is to say that marketers choose to advertise on platforms that fit their marketing strengths and that are used by their target audience. This is an important step for social media marketing in Malaysia, and in some cases, may require working with a digital marketing agency to achieve the best results.