Smartphone advertising growing like crazy

A recent E-Commerce Association of Vietnam survey of small businesses found that 47% of those responding report they use mobile technology in their advertising and other marketing efforts daily.

A second Bizweb survey also pointed out more than 28% of online stores tend to use mobile technology and social networks regularly in their marketing efforts with Zalo and Facebook their top two choices.

Zalo, a Vietnam home-grown messaging app, created by the country's top Internet company VNG, is used by around two-thirds of the country's smartphone owners, the survey results show.

While Line, Viber, WeChat and other international messaging platforms have struggled to gain traction in Southeast Asia, they haven’t made much headway to speak of in Vietnam.

According to Vuong Quang Khai, executive vice president of mobile and web at VNG, Zalo made its way to the top of the heap through the use of aggressive mobile marketing.

Khai also disclosed the product’s superior design secret is that it was specifically tailored to run well on Vietnam's unreliable 3G infrastructure and more popular low-end phones.

The Bizweb survey revealed an estimated 30 million Vietnamese smartphone users access the Internet daily and that 86% of them check their social network sites several times a day.

Digging deeper into the numbers, 81% of users report they make it a habit of sharing their shopping activities with friends and relatives.

Facebook is the most popularly used social network in Vietnam, according to the Bizweb survey with approximately 14 million members, including 11 million who regularly access it through their mobile phone.

Bizweb estimates that each user spends roughly 40 minutes daily on Facebook.

All of the mobile technology and social media use in Vietnam may make it appear to be a great marketing tool for small businesses to use, but many leading experts think just the opposite.

The problem, they say, is that businesses can waste too much time trying to make superficial business connections online at the opportunity cost of not dedicating sufficient time and effort cultivating deeper business real-life relationships.

Too much chatter, too little real conversation, these experts say.

Others, such as Emeral Digital Marketing Agency’s CEO Nguyen Hong Thanh counter that mobile technology and online social networks supplement face-to-face sociability, they don’t replace it, and can be highly effective.

Thanh said the Vietnam government is following a strategy on expanding it’s free Wi-Fi network coverage to public places, such as parks, universities and hospitals. In Ho Chi Minh City, free Wi-Fi will be available throughout the city by 2016.

As a fallout, vendors across the country are experimenting with smartphone and social network advertising and marketing as alternatives to more traditional methods to reach potential customers, said Thanh.

Tran Bao Chau from Viettel Telecom is one of those who readily admit that the use of mobile technology and social networks has not yet proven itself to be an effective advertising or marketing tool.

However, these tools have forced businesses to rethink their marketing strategies, because TV, printing newspapers and leaflets are no longer the only means of advertising and marketing.

Most notably, they have a much lower cost than traditional advertising such as television ads and are a convenient way for vendors to access consumers in the rural market, where 68% of the population resides.