The Rise Of Facebook In Vietnam Media Essay

Published Date: 23 Mar 2015

Reading Public Relations at university, I am always fascinated by the art of communicating with and persuading people. Being a heavy user of Facebook, I am amazed how the social network since its birth has brought about so many changes to the ways people share and communicate. This research paper is my attempt to investigate the marketing communications role of Facebook in my home country, Vietnam.

A survey targeting at 100 Vietnamese internet users and interviews with two industry experts were conducted and analysed. I was able to sit in the positions of both users and marketers to view the issue. Findings showed that Facebook marketing communications in Vietnam is currently at its young age however has had a very interesting journey of development. The young internet community and marketing practitioners in Vietnam love Facebook. Nevertheless, that is not enough to secure future success; the social network has to do much more in order to increase its digital influence in a highly competitive market.

Chapter 1: Introduction

Overview

There have been a number of studies on effects of social media on marketing communications, a few of which have a specific investigation on the social network giant Facebook. However, most of those only focus on cases in the West where the emergence of social media first happened and most of the marketing trends originate. I am thus keen on doing a research on how social networks and Facebook specifically have found its ways and been used as a marketing communications tool in the other side of the world.

Vietnam is one of the fastest growing internet populations worldwide with around 30 million users, making up a third of the total population. The Facebook block issue which caused difficulties logging in the site starting since late 2009 has not made this social network less attractive in Vietnamese users' perspectives. Facebook marketing and communications in Vietnam moreover enjoys a boom when agencies have increasingly appreciated the power of the site in influencing audiences. This research paper attempts to study the nature of this development and its roles to marketing communications in the eyes of both users and marketers.

Objective

The aim of this study is to investigate the current performance and future potential of Facebook as a marketing communications tool in Vietnam. It is hence important to determine profiles of Vietnamese Facebook users and their behaviours towards the social network. Opinions of industry experts on how effective Facebook is and will be to approach and persuade audiences are also essential.

Key areas of investigation include:

What is the current place of Facebook in the Vietnam social web market?

What is happening to Facebook in Vietnam? Is this really blocked?

Who use Facebook most in Vietnam? How do they interact with the site?

What are their concerns when using Facebook?

How reliable Facebook content is compared to other media platforms?

How effective is Facebook in terms of marketing communications in Vietnam?

What is the future of Facebook marketing in the country?

The study is in general to provide an insight of Facebook's performance in Vietnam, focusing on its marketing roles. It specifically aimed to evaluate the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats of the social network as a growing marketing communications tool in this emerging economy.

1.3 Background

The internet in Vietnam has had a 'fascinating' journey of development, in opinion of Thomas Crampton, Asia-Pacific Director of Ogilvy 360° Digital Influence. He believes that the rapid growth of the internet in Vietnam receives support of three main factors including 'a developing nation', 'young population' and 'the Government' (Vietnam News, 2010).

In terms of statistics, a research in 2010 by TNS, one of the world's biggest market research groups, showed that 45% of Vietnamese are highly engaged in digital activities. The country's figure is ranked fifth in Asia-Pacific area and slightly higher than the United Kingdom (43%) and the United States (42%). According to the same source of statistics, Vietnam is known as one of the youngest internet populations worldwide with the average age of 27.

Another significant feature of the internet in Vietnam is its growing mobility. Again, statistics proved it best when showing that "Mobile internet in Vietnam saw a growth of more than 800 per cent last year, reaching a total of 110 million mobile subscribers in early 2010" (Vietnam News, 2010). All of these somehow draw an overall picture of Vietnam's internet environment with a young, mobile-going and highly-digital community.

Social Media in Vietnam

Like the development of the internet, Vietnam social media has witnessed dramatic growth since its first day in the country. Social network usage increased significantly from 4% in 2009 to 64% in 2010 (Crampton, 2010). 'Social networking' was ranked as the most important digital activity by 25% of Vietnamese internet users, just behind 'Emailing' which was ranked first by 27% of the research participants (TNS, 2011).

The social web market in Vietnam marked its first turning point in 2005 with the launch of Yahoo!360, a blogging tool which allows users to compose their writings, customise screens and socialise with friends. Before the emergence of Yahoo!360, the social web environment in Vietnam relied on a few dominant platforms. Yahoo dominated the instant messaging and emailing sectors while its searching function was relatively popular together with Google. Community pages varied when users tended to participate in their online local community such as school forums rather than a particular national-scale page. A similar situation happened to video/music-sharing sites when several providers shared the popularity. After Yahoo!360 came, it ruled the social media world in the country, possibly with the support of Yahoo's early dominance in Vietnam internet services. Millions of Vietnamese enjoyed writing about their daily lives and gossiping celebrity news. They gradually created a mass online community and a unique blogging style called Yahoo!360.

"It was not a tool specifically designed for Vietnam market, but the market took it anyway, with great passion and enthusiasm." (Nguyen, Ogilvy 360° Digital Influence, 2010)

"Only people from Mars don't know about Yahoo," said Hoang An, 21, one of countless fans of the portal, which has one of the country's most potent brands." (Russell, Asian Correspondent, 2010).

The next turning point happening to the Vietnam social web community was in 2009. Yahoo!360 dominated social media in Vietnam however did not work well in other countries. The blogging tool failed to serve global customers, forcing Yahoo! global to close the service. The firm gave warnings about the closure several times since early 2009; however "Yahoo Vietnam has seen a mix of trying to maintain the operation and investment versus tempting to close it down" (Nguyen, 2010). The reason was as clear as the brand has achieved such a significant success in the country. Yahoo!360 users or in this case a majority of the Vietnam web community were strongly against this decision. Nevertheless, their efforts could not help prevent the closure of the site in 2010. Yahoo! Vietnam not long after that launched a local blogging service targeted specifically at Vietnam market called Yahoo!360 Plus. However, the replacement has not achieved such extreme success like its original version did. Since then, the market has witnessed the emergence of a number of social media, both domestic and international brands.

Facebook in Vietnam

The number of Facebook Vietnamese users has reached more than 1.5 million in early 2011 (Social Bakers, 2011). The figure in 2009 was around 40,000 and impressively doubled in 2010. Facebook estimated a number of 1.9 million Vietnamese users in 2011.

The social network has a Vietnamese-language version along with its English site; users thus have a choice of the language they want for their own pages. However, language has never been a problem preventing the popularity of social media in general and Facebook especially in Vietnam. English was the only language used in many social media tools; however, what really matters is that users can always propose their own content in Vietnamese or any other languages. Facebook is furthermore an international social network thus designed to reach international users.

Chapter 2: Literature Review

When researching the performance of Facebook as a marketing communications tool in Vietnam, I came across a number of concepts and facts which help build a better understanding of the topic. In this chapter, I will then explore these concepts and their relations to the study of marketing communications on Facebook Vietnam. They include the growing roles of social media in general and Facebook especially to marketing communications, the place of Facebook in comparison to its competitors and the internet censorship issue in the country.

2.1 Marketing Communications to Social Media and Facebook

There are a variety of definitions of the term 'social media'. Social media guru Larry Weber in his book Marketing to the Social Web suggested that "The social web is an online place where people with common interest can gather to share thoughts, comments, and opinions. It includes social networks such as MySpace, Gather, and Facebook [...] and branded web destinations like Amazon, Netflix and eBay." In summary, it is "a new world of unpaid media created by individuals or enterprises on the web." (Weber, 2009: 4)

Looking at another source, Brian Solis and Deirdre Breakenridge (2009: xvii) defined 'social media' as "the democratisation of content and the shift in the role people play in the process of reading and disseminating information". In general, definitions slightly vary but all feature social media as new media platforms whose content is created on the web and by internet users.

The term 'marketing communications' meanwhile is widely agreed to "consists of the promotional activities pursued by the firm" and "includes personal selling, mass selling, (comprising advertising and publicity), public relations and sales promotions" (Monye, 2000: 11). It is the process of interacting with audiences or customers in a way that promotes a favourable brand image and helps build goodwill.

Putting 'social media' and 'marketing communications' together, it then results in the concept of a new communications tool which is based on strengths of social web. Zarrella in The Social Media Marketing Book believes that the best way to define the term is to compare it with marketing on traditional media (including television, newspapers, radio and magazines). The author describes these traditional media as "one-way static broadcast technologies" while social media with "new web technologies have made it easy for anyone to create - and, most importantly - to distribute their own content" (Zarrella, 2010: 2-3). Marketing on the social web hence does not require "huge sums of money to embed their messages" but can "make their own interesting content that viewers will flock to" (Zarrella, 2010: 3).

Supporting the idea of this growing power, Larry Weber believes that the social web has transmitted the way we do marketing:

"Rather talking at customers, marketers should talk with them. And the social web is the most effective way in the history of the world to do just that on a large scale." (Weber, 2009: 4)

Among a number of different social media platforms, social network giant Facebook indeed makes up to the word 'giant'. The review will focus on the marketing communications role of Facebook, which also seems to be one of the site's most significant social influences.

The Facebook Marketing Book has a comprehensive summary of various marketing tactics Facebook. According to this, key strengths that make Facebook an effective marketing communications tool lie at its "larger audience than old media" and "huge amount of personal information" which "has been volunteered by users" to "give the site then therefore advertisers" (Zarrella, 2011: 3). From big brands to small businesses, anyone is able to use Facebook adverts, applications, and pages to communicate directly with audiences and leverage their brand image.

It is suggested that the diversity of Facebook applications, from messaging and photo sharing to gaming, is beneficial to not only users but also marketers. Marketing people now have more platforms to engage with customers and carry out new effective strategies. For example, a Facebook Profile could make huge contribution as it represents "how people share things with their large and very connected group of social connections". 500 million profiles on Facebook hence become precious sources of data for marketers to get use of: "In fact, this is Facebook's biggest selling point: the site actively encourages users to fill their Profile with the type of information marketers are always trying to find - all for free". (Zarrella, 2010: 33)

Facebook Pages, Groups and Events are also believed to be "the key to most social media strategies and will more than likely be the central point for most of marketers' efforts and promotions". The popularity and importance of creating and monitoring Facebook page was emphasised as users nowadays "look at the site much the way we look at the internet 10 years ago and are confused when they cannot find their favourite store or celebrity" (Zarrella, 2010: 65). In terms of statistics, each of 500 million users on Facebook is connected to 60 Pages, Groups and Events on average.

Overall, Facebook is considered as a "highly competitive and fast-moving channel" but "amazingly cost effective", which "if used properly can be an extension of your brand, helping you present the same personality, tone and visual faces as you would in any other materials" (Zarrella, 2011: 7).

2.2 Marketing Communications on Vietnam Social Media

The phenomenon of Yahoo!360 blog in Vietnam resulted in the emergence of influencers who are called 'hot bloggers' in Vietnam. Their blogs attracted several millions of page views at the time and many of them are journalists. The social media expert in her article described these 'hot bloggers' as "whom PR departments in various agencies incorporated into clients' marketing communications and PR activities" (Nguyen, 2010). In general, it could be said that from the very early day when social media marked its appearance in Vietnam, PR and marketing have already been strongly involved in and taken advantage of the social web.

The social web environment in Vietnam after the age of Yahoo!360 has seen a rapid and diverse development, when a number of both local and international companies have joined the market. None of them seem to have made a phenomenon like what Yahoo!360 did; however more social media platforms are getting popular. Among those, social networks have especially marked a significant growth in the country:

"Those who like local social networks became members of Yume, ZingMe, Tamtay, i-pro, Henantrua, Vietspace, etc., while others who like foreign networks joined Multiply, Wordpress, Yahoo Plus, Twitter, etc. However, none rules the market" (Vietnamnet, 2010).

The top influential social media sites in Vietnam was recently summarised in the below chart by the Ogilvy 360° Digital Influence team.

Figure 3.1: The landscape of Vietnam Social Media 2010 (Ogilvy, 2010)

According to the research above by Ogilvy, social media tools listed in the smaller circle are evaluated as being more influential than those in the larger circle of the same sector. Vietnam overall is considered as a fast-growing country in terms of social web development. There are both local and international names operating in different sectors, ranging from blogging, social networking and music sharing to Q&A and online trading. In the sector of social networking specifically, Facebook is put behind three local sites in terms of digital influence. In other words, it is competing with local providers to be the top choice of online marketing communications tools.

2.3 Facebook Block Story

Facebook is currently not the biggest social network in the country but growing fast in both number of users and influence on audiences. Its growing power has been proved after the blocking. The story started in late 2009 when it was getting difficult accessing Facebook in Vietnam, leading to a worry that the government would ban the social network. There were reasons for such claim because "Earlier this year, Vietnam's government tightened restrictions on blogging, banning political discussion and restricting postings to personal matters. Police have arrested several bloggers for writing about politically sensitive subjects" (Russell, Asian Correspondent, 2009). The government and state-controlled internet providers "did not respond to a request for comment". Private internet companies meanwhile "blame the spotty access on 'technical issues', without offering an estimate for when the problems will be resolved" (Ngo, CNET News, 2009).

Facebook seemed to face its end in Vietnam at the time when local media started spreading the rumour that the site is "going out of service" and following the pathway of Yahoo!360:

"The Thanh Nien, one of the most popular newspapers in Vietnam, ran an article with the headline "Facebook in grave illness." It hinted that this is similar to the process of what happened to the now defunct Yahoo360, suggesting maybe it's time to look to other social Web sites." (Ngo, CNET News, 2009)

The situation remained sophisticated since there has been no official statement regarding the problem logging in Facebook in Vietnam. The only obvious fact was that Vietnamese users could not access Facebook in their usual way. However, not the investigation of whether the government blocked Facebook and why they did so, state of the site after that is more the concern of my study. In relation to this, Global Voices had a comprehensive and interesting review of the whole issue:

"When Vietnam blocked Facebook, everyone was talking about a smaller China. One year after the government's endeavour, Facebook Vietnam tells another story. Not only does Vietnam remain on the list of 10 countries with the fastest growth of Facebook users." (Chip, Global Voices, 2011)

The author explained a 'simple' reason for the above fact: "Because they can. If users in China have to pay for a VPN and go through a painful process to gain access to Facebook and other blocked websites, people in Vietnam just need to change their DNS settings and enjoy a full Internet experience for free".

Information gathered from other sources showed an exactly same situation when Vietnamese users found and spread ways to access Facebook as if there had never been a problem logging in the site before.

"Some tech-savvy Facebook fans have found ways around access problems by readjusting their web browsers to a different configuration. They have been sharing instructions for doing so online." (Russell, Asian Correspondent, 2009)

"Trung, a 15-year-old high school student, taught me how to change the DNS: "I figured it out myself", Trung said proudly, "I just Googled it". Indeed, after a few Google searches, I found plenty of simple ways to bypass the ISP's DNS settings." (Ngo, CNET News, 2009)

The commentator from CNET concluded: "Blocked web sites are new to Vietnam. However, this seems to be the first time people are out in big numbers looking for ways to bypass. This shows the popularity of Facebook and the desire of young Vietnamese to reach out and stay connected with the rest of the world."

2.4 Facebook Vietnam to Marketing Communications

Facebook which had been doing relatively well in Vietnam, after the block seemed to catch even more attention. Its popularity immediately convinced marketers and PR people to take the site as a growing powerful marketing communications tool. ZingMe, which is the biggest social network in Vietnam and once considered as more influential by the Ogilvy team, now seems to lag behind Facebook, in the opinion of an industry expert:

"We have tried some campaigns on ZingMe, but the results weren't very good. Most of Zing Me users are under 15, and many of them log in ZingMe just to play Nong Trai (a game similar to Facebook Farmville). There are not many activities outside games."

"Facebook is still the most effective despite its being blocked, both in term of interaction and conversion rate." (Chip, Global Voices, 2011)

Fan page which can be created by anyone on Facebook and allows users to become members of a group supporting a particular brand or person has increased significantly in terms of number and popularity. It proves the growing power of Facebook as an online marketing communications tool in the country:

"The largest fan page in Vietnam currently has 484,000 likes. For a market of 1.7 million users (and growing), the number means that this page has reached to almost 30 percent of Vietnamese Facebook users. Imagine this ratio worldwide, we would have a fan page with 100 millions likes." (Chip, Global Voices, 2011)

The article on Global Voices emphasised another factor showing the rise of Facebook marketing in Vietnam which is the shift of 'hot bloggers' from Yahoo!360 to the social network. Gao, real name as Vu Phuong Thanh, who was once a Vietnamese 'hot blogger' on Yahoo!360 is now "arguably the most popular Vietnamese on Facebook" with more than 90,000 "likes" on her page. She is also working as the PR Manager for a new boy band in Vietnam. Regarding her media plan for the launch of the band, she shared that "Social media, Facebook and YouTube, accounts for 60% of their marketing plan. Facebook is where people get to know about 365. She doesn't want to use ZingMe or other Vietnamese websites". The fan page of the band on Facebook had more than 7,000 members after three weeks.

It could be said that the blocking issue has not had significant impacts on the users' side since they are still able to access Facebook. The block of Facebook even somehow helped raise public awareness and promote the popularity of the site in Vietnam. Agencies have recognised the growing power of Facebook in marketing communications hence taken actions to develop this new effective tool. The current situation generally looks promising to Facebook Vietnam, yet requires further actions and support:

"100% our customers are international brands. Social media is still new here, local companies don't allocate budget for it. But I think from next year there will be more Vietnamese companies interested in social media. Advertising agencies now understand the efficiency of social media, and they are the ones who advice and allocate budget for brands." - said Vo Thanh Cuong, CEO of Click Media, an agency specialised in digital marketing and communications. (Chip, Global Voices, 2011)

From the other party which is Facebook itself, the social network has also taken this as a serious issue that needs to be considered and dealt with thoroughly:

"Last October, Facebook put up a message on its career page that they are looking for someone that has experience in government relations work and navigating government agencies along with an extensive network of contacts in the government and the technology space."

"The recent visit of Javier Olivan, Head of International Growth of Facebook, to Vietnam suggested that Vietnam will be soon taken care of."

"They should"- said Cuong - "Vietnam is not a small market at all." With a population of 90 million and Internet penetration rate of 27.5%, Vietnam is definitely not small." (Chip, Global Voices, 2011)

Summary

The statistics and information gathered above all in all shows an overall picture of the emergence and development of Facebook in Vietnam. A review of its marketing communications roles has also been covered through brief analysis and case studies. In summary, social media generally and Facebook especially are emerging powerful marketing communications tools. In Vietnam, social media has its own ways of developing and approaching users as well as an increasing power to marketing communications. The use of Facebook marketing is at its early stage but growing rapidly with positive figures and comments from both users and marketers. The censorship issue seems to remain sophisticated but not affect the growth of Facebook in the country in a short run. Meanwhile, government relations and further support from different parties is the key to a more sustainable development of the social network in Vietnam.

The literature review however has shown a one-sided positive picture of Facebook marketing and communications in general. In order to investigate the issue thoroughly, further research and analysis on both advantages and difficulties of Facebook marketing in Vietnam is required.

Chapter 3: Methodology

In order to study the marketing communications roles of Facebook in Vietnam, I believe that a combination of quantitative and qualitative methods will be more helpful than using a single type. I decided to carry out a survey targeting at a variety of Vietnamese internet users and intensive interviews with local communications experts. The survey is expected to provide numbers and facts regarding Facebook usage from the audience side while the interviews aimed to bring an insight of its marketing roles and future development in the opinion of local industry professionals.

Survey

I conducted a survey which aimed to approach 80-100 Vietnamese internet users. As survey could be used to not only describe things but also explain them, data gathered from survey is expected to provide "public behaviour", "population characteristics" and also "measurements of variables between which relationships can be analysed" (Gunter, 2000: 24). In this case, the purpose of doing survey is to find out who are using Facebook most in Vietnam, how they are interacting with the social network, and how reliable the content is to them. At the same time, it is expected to make comparisons of characteristics between different groups such as Vietnamese living in Vietnam and abroad, different genders and ages.

Designing, delivering and managing a survey was said by Barrie Gunter as "not just asking a group of people a few questions. It requires much planning and a high level of skill in its administration to ensure that valid and usable data are obtained" (Gunter, 2000: 23).

Firstly, questions were constructed using different types depending on the purpose and nature of research. For example, multiple-choice was used when specific information is needed and could be easily made while opinion-based questions required a rating function. Questions were put in logical order, from general to specific and all easy to understand. Furthermore, the survey length was also taken into consideration; the number of ten is believed to be reasonable enough as it takes participants less than five minutes to finish.

Furthermore, diverse angles of the research topic "Facebook usage in Vietnam" were included, from time length, frequency, and means of access to content contribution and opinions on content reliability.

Due to the fact that targeted respondents live in different parts of the world and all use the internet, I chose an online survey tool to carry out my quantitative research. Participants who were my circle of friends, relatives and colleagues could start the survey whenever they wanted by clicking the link sent via email, Facebook message or Yahoo Messenger. The reason for using different delivery channels is to ensure that the research will approach both Facebook and non-Facebook users. This includes respondents who use other social networks rather than Facebook and who do not use social network at all. This is in attempt to minimise bias and make comparisons more accurately.

I chose my circle of friends and relatives on the internet as my sample because higher rates of responses and honesty could be expected using personal relations. They also represent a random thus typical group of internet users fulfilling requirements of including different age groups living both in Vietnam and abroad.

In terms of survey layout, the online survey provider was selected instead of sending an attached file via email to ensure professionalism and maximise the response rates. I also added an introduction which is "short, realistically worded, non-threatening, serious, neutral and pleasant but firm" because "one way to increase the response rate in any survey is to prepare a persuasive introduction" (Wimmer & Dominick, 2000: 171). Receivers who fulfil the sampling characteristics and know the sender as well as purpose of this survey are believed to be likely to contribute.

Finally, as a function provided by the tool, data was gathered in an easy-to-use format and valuable for comparisons and analysis. Reponses are available to be viewed individually and in group so that it is possible to compare respondents who belong to different age, gender and location groups. The survey link was available for one month during which reminders and following-up were regularly carried out in order to achieve the targeted response rate.

Intensive Interviews

If the research survey aimed to seek an overview of Vietnamese Facebook users' profiles based on quantitative data, the interviews are expected to provide an in-depth evaluation on Facebook marketing in Vietnam. Evaluation on the effectiveness of something is believed to be best undertaken by people who create it. In this case, they are communications and digital marketing professionals whose work is to create efficient marketing tactics on social media. (See Appendix 2 & 3)

Some expert comments on the issue have already been mentioned in the review of literature (Chapter 3), most of which however are relatively general. The intensive interviews were therefore designed and conducted in a way so as to provide specific, detailed and valuable opinions for further analysis. Since the objective is to obtain opinion-based responses, observational methods are not appropriate and intensive interview seems to be the only practical one.

Areas of investigation include their opinions on Facebook development in Vietnam and its effectiveness as a marketing communications tool. The questions were constructed based on SWOT analysis model in attempt to evaluate strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats of Facebook marketing in Vietnam. Especially, examples or real case studies are encouraged to be provided by the interviewees in order to back-up the statements.

Interviews were conducted via email due to the fact that the interviewees live abroad and were too busy to schedule a long telephone interview. The lack of interaction and flexibility that this channel may result in was already taken into consideration. The interviews were therefore designed as a mini research paper which the respondent dealt with as an assignment. The positive side is that interviewees tend to take it more thoroughly with details and valuable back-up information than some thoughts that come up at the time she gives the answers face-to-face.

The interviewees were given a reasonable length of time ranging from one to three weeks in order to provide the most comprehensive answers possible. Based on their responses, further questions were given to clarify an issue or develop an idea in more depth and generally increase interaction. All in all, the interviews received a kind support of the respondents who agreed in advance to participate in and contribute to this research.

Chapter 4: Survey Analysis

In this chapter, I will be analysing data gathered from the survey results in order to build an overview of Vietnamese Facebook users' profile, their interactivity with the site as well as the reliability and influence of the content in their perceptions. The analysis aimed to provide findings on behaviours of Vietnamese users towards Facebook, based on which evaluation on the effectiveness of the site in marketing communications could be made.

4.1 The profile of Vietnamese Facebook users

Out of 100 survey copies given out to target participants, there were 89 responses. Among those, 14 respondents are not Facebook users, making up 15.7% of the total participants. All of them are in two age groups of 35 - 44 and above 45. This indicates a young population of Facebook users in Vietnam, which matches the result of another research by TNS on Vietnam's mass internet users (See chapter 2).

Figure 4.1.1: The age proportions of Vietnamese Facebook users

Among 75 respondents who use Facebook in Vietnam, 41 are from 15 to 24 years old, making up 55%. The proportion of the age group 25 - 34 is 25% while the other two groups which are 35 - 44 years old and above 45 years old makes up only 11% and 9% respectively of the total respondents.

This result one more time shows Facebook's attraction to young Vietnamese, who will be likely to continue living on the site. They are known as the first generation of Facebook users since the site has only been operating in the country for a few years. It is therefore possible to say that there will be a further growth of Facebook population in Vietnam in the near future, when the current users remain staying and the next young generations start joining.

Figure 4.1.2: The sex proportions of Vietnamese Facebook users

The question on gender aimed to find out which is the dominating sex of Facebook users in Vietnam. As it is shown in Figure 4.1.2, the proportions are relatively similar while the number of female users slightly outweighs the number of males.

Figure 4.1.3: The location proportions of Vietnamese Facebook users

Among 75 total respondents, 59% are in Vietnam and 41% are living abroad. The purpose of this question is to investigate any differences that may have between the two groups when interacting with the social network. It is however worth noting that respondents who are not living in Vietnam are all Vietnamese and has spent most of their time in Vietnam. They include my friends and relatives who are currently living abroad for the purpose of study or work. This is to avoid the possibility that the respondents may not know about Vietnam social media or have never lived in Vietnam thus could not be considered as truly Vietnamese. After all, the similar proportions indicate a fair distribution of participants in terms of where they are accessing Facebook, which helps minimise bias in making conclusions.

4.2 Facebook Interactions

Figure 4.2.1: The length of time spent on Facebook per week by Vietnamese users

The chart above shows relatively similar proportions of the given time lengths per week respondents usually spend on Facebook. According to that, 20% of them spend less than one hour on Facebook a week while 32% spend slightly more, from one to five hours per week. The same proportion of 32% comes from the group who are on Facebook more than ten hours a week. The rest which makes up 16% of total respondents spend from six to ten hours a week interacting with the site.

It is also valuable to investigate who are spending more time on the social network, which is shown in the below table:

< 1 hour

1-5 hours

6-10 hours

>10 hours

15 - 24 yrs old

19.5%

29.2%

14.6%

36.7%

25 - 34 yrs old

10.3%

13.8%

27.6%

48.3%

35 - 44 yrs old

0%

71.1%

14.3%

14.3%

>45 yrs old

50%

37.5%

12.5%

0%

Figure 4.2.2: Number of hours spent on Facebook by age groups

It could be seen from the figure above that majority of young users normally spend at least one hour a day on Facebook. On the other hand, users above the age of 35 only spend averagely from ten to forty minutes a day on the site. It could be said that youth remains dominant customers who tend to participate in time-consuming activities on Facebook such as gaming, sharing video and photos, or just simply updating their 'status' and posting comments on others' content. In other words, they are seen as more active users whom marketers have more opportunities to approach. Meanwhile, it does not mean that older users who spend less time on the site are more difficult to be reached. They may drop at Facebook less often however still spend time reading content at least and may contribute their own content as well. Appropriate strategies and tactics if being applied at the right time and in a right way could win their attention.

Figure 4.2.3: Locations of Facebook access

(Note: Respondents can select more than one option for this question)

According to the figure above, 46% of respondents said they usually go to Facebook when they are at home. Office and school make up in total 23% while only 9% of research participants usually get access to Facebook on the go or via mobile devices. Especially, nearly one fifth of the respondents access Facebook anywhere; in other words, they are always on the social network for regular updates, at home, at work and on the go. This indicates a growing mobility of Facebook in Vietnam, also a growing influence of the social network when it becomes a habit or a part of many people's lives.

Regarding locations of Facebook access, I am furthermore interested in comparing the answers by Vietnamese living at home and abroad. The aim is to see whether Vietnamese who live in another country with a different internet environment will have different habits of using the net. Results show that 21 out of 35 which is equivalent to 60% of Vietnamese living abroad chose 'Home' as one of their main locations accessing Facebook. This figure of Vietnamese living in Vietnam is 74.5%. Among respondents who selected the 'On the go' or/and 'Anywhere' options, Vietnamese living abroad make up 59% and others who live in Vietnam comprise 41%. All of these figures above indicate no significant difference between the two groups in terms of locations of accessing Facebook. It could hence be said that the internet mobility in Vietnam has developed to a reasonable level that allows easy access of Facebook via mobile devices in the country. Or, another possibility is that mobility does not yet make a significant impact on Vietnamese's habit of interacting with Facebook in general.

Figure 4.2.4: Vietnamese Facebook Users Status

Joiner - has an account but rarely log in

Spectator - read others' content but rarely create their own on the site

Creator - create content on regular basis

Figure 4.2.4 shows Facebook users status or their levels of engagement. The results show that more than half of the survey respondents are creators, following by 44% as spectators and only 5% as joiners. Based merely on this statistics, it is possible to say that Vietnamese users tend to engage strongly and actively with the social network.

More specifically, findings also show that among the respondents who describe themselves as creators, those ages 15-24 and 25-34 make up more than 86%. The groups representing Vietnamese youth at the same time make up 48% of respondents who consider themselves as spectators on Facebook. Meanwhile, respondents age 35-44 and over 45 years old make up 22% of total spectators, 13% of creators and 75% of joiners. It thus could be said that young users are currently the group who use Facebook most, in terms of both time spent on the site and content contribution.

Nevertheless, it does not mean that groups of older respondents are not worth targeting at when doing marketing on Facebook. The fact that they make up a major proportion in the total number of 'Joiner' only shows that the younger groups are more constructive. In fact, 46% of the groups ages 35-44 and above 45 are spectators who read others' content on regular basis and 33% create their own content. That means many of them still participate in the communication process happening day by day on the social network, which allows Facebook marketing communications to step in.

Figure 4.2.5: Number of Facebook fan pages by Vietnamese users

Fan page is known as one of the main communication channels between a marketers and customers. It could be the official Facebook page of a product brand or a celebrity; it could also be a page or group with a common interest in the brand and created by anyone on Facebook. By clicking "like" these pages or becoming a "member" of these groups, users will be regularly updated with news, status, and photos about the brands. They can also compose comments and send messages to the pages creator who is in many cases the marketing team of a brand. The number of fan pages that a user has on Facebook could indicate how big his network with digital marketing communication activities is.

Figure 5.2.5 then shows a promising result for the development of this marketing channel. 43% respondents are members of more than ten pages and 17% have from six to ten pages on their profile. The number of people following from one to five pages makes up 32% while there is only 8% said that they are not a fan of any page on Facebook.

Data gathered from the survey also shows that among these respondents who do not follow any page, 75% of them spend less than one hour a week on Facebook and the other 25% comes from the group who spend from one to five hours a week. It is hence possible to say that users who spend less time on Facebook tend to take part in fewer activities. On the other hand, Facebook heavy users are engaging more and somehow influenced by marketing activities on this social network.

4.3 Facebook Content

In addition to the general profile of Vietnamese Facebook users and their interactivity with the site, it will be valuable to analyse concerns of users as well as their opinions regarding content reliability.

Figure 4.3.1: Concerns of Vietnamese Facebook users

(Note: Respondents are able to select more than one option)

It could be seen from the chart above that 'time' and 'privacy' are the top worries of Facebook users in Vietnam when interacting with the site. Only 13% respondents concern about 'Reliability' of content generated on Facebook. "Convenience of access" which indicates any difficulties using the site caused by the block only worried 9% respondents. It could be concluded that the block issue does not make any significant damages to the popularity of Facebook in Vietnam. The minor group of people who are worried about reliability of content could indicate an opportunity for marketing communications on Facebook, especially worth-of-mouth tactic and viral marketing. It is due to a fact that most users tend to believe in information generated or provided by their circle of friends on Facebook.

In order to persuade customers more efficiently, marketers should take extra care on the privacy issue instead. Adverts which highly match a user's profile may cause a worry that their personal details are not protected enough so that advertisers could approach them based on their locations, occupations and areas of interest. To deal with the shortage of time, a solution could be to increase the mobility and flexibility of accessing Facebook, not only at home but also at work and on the go. After all, the tactics used to approach customers and create selling points are hence very crucial since many people do not find much time for social networking on Facebook.

Further investigation on the reliability of Facebook content in Vietnamese users' opinion was carried out. The results are as shown in the table below:

Not reliable at all

Not very reliable

Relatively reliable

Reliable

Very reliable

Average Score

Facebook friends' generated content

4%

20%

41.33%

29.33%

5.33%

75.25%

Facebook fan pages

6.67%

34.67%

49.33%

8%

1.33%

64.75%

Community pages/Forums

8%

26.67%

46.67%

17.33%

1.33%

68.50%

Friends blogs

4%

14.67%

38.67%

37.33%

5.33%

78.75%

Mainstream bloggers

1.33%

29.33%

50.67%

16%

2.67%

71%

Newspapers and magazines

4%

12%

38.67%

37.33%

8%

79.75%

TV and radio

4%

8%

38.67%

37.33%

12%

81%

Figure 4.3.2: Reliability of content on different media platforms

The statistics above show that a majority of respondents rank content generated on all of the given media platforms as 'relatively reliable'. These platforms include both traditional media such as TV and newspapers and social media such as Facebook, blogs and community pages. This indicates a growing power of social media in general and Facebook especially which now have an equal quality and reliability of content to traditional media, in the eyes of Vietnamese audiences. The fact that audiences recognise content generated on Facebook as relatively reliable as TV and newspapers means that the social network has chances to become an effective communication channel and marketing tool, like what traditional media did a few decades ago.

Overall, TV, radio and printed press still have the higher average score; the difference compared to Facebook however is not significant. In comparison between Facebook and other social media such as blogs and forums, blogs are seen as slightly more reliable. It is worth noting that content generated by friends, on both blogs and Facebook, are more reliable in the eye of audiences. Facebook is a network where everyone could be connected; users meanwhile tend to trust the people they know rather than a stranger or a brand representative. This proves the importance of personalising the communication process on social networks with customers in order to win their trust.

Chapter 5: Intensive Interviews Analysis

Findings collected from the two interviews will be constructed based on the SWOT model which attempts to analyse the marketing communications performance of Facebook in Vietnam through four angles: strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats.

5.1 Strengths

The very first and significant strength of Facebook in terms of a marketing communications tool is the amount of audience's data that it offers. Both interviewees agreed on this point when being asked about advantages of Facebook marketing:

"Facebook has a huge user database. This if being used efficiently can help provide valuable market research, identify and analyse target audience as well as generate creative strategies."

"Understanding customers is power in marketing. Facebook is no doubt a valuable source where customers share who they are, what they like and dislike as well as their opinions on particular things."

"Marketers should firstly catch up with the most recent trends and demands coming to a market by finding and following their potential customers, then communicating with and finally persuading them, all on Facebook."

Another advantage of Facebook, especially in comparison to other social media, is its diversity of applications. This characteristic is believed to be the key to further innovation in digital marketing and communications.

"Facebook comprises all forms of digital communications from instant and private message, photo and video sharing to games and community pages. More channels offered by a social network mean more places for creativity to develop hence more ways to communicate with customers."

"It is interesting to observe the growth of Facebook applications and their use to marketing in Vietnam. We can never summarize enough marketing tactics that could be used on Facebook because they keep emerging."

The interviewee mentioned the growth of online clothing shops on Facebook Vietnam as an example for the point above. A Facebook shop is simply a profile created on the site by the shop owner. The page provides photos and descriptions of products as well as information regarding new arrivals, sale and discounts. Facebook users who are 'friends' of these shops do not need to go to the shop physically but stay at home or in the office to have a look on stuff they might want to buy. They can also read reviews of other customers who have bought the product right in the comment section under each photo. They are also able to ask for consultations or send enquiries and get replied by someone from the shop. Finally, if they decide to take a product, they will normally be asked to leave a private message confirming their purchase, contact details and preferred delivery method - either home delivery or store collection. Payments will then be made at the delivery point. Most of these Facebook shops are small-size clothing businesses with relatively simple operating system. Some of them are medium-size companies who use Facebook profiles as a channel to communicate with customers, promote new products and generate goodwill.

Figure 5.1: Marron Shop page on Facebook Vietnam

The figure above shows the Facebook page of a popular clothing shop in Vietnam. Marron Shop which now has 4,829 followers on Facebook and four stores in Hanoi was founded by two Fashion students in 2009. It is a typical example of how a family-size business grows using marketing tactics on Facebook.

"There are hundreds of clothing shops on Facebook Vietnam and the number is increasing. I believe this is due to the nature of the industry in Vietnam, where family-size clothing shops take the majority of market share instead of big retailers."

"It also meets the demand of a new generation of office people, especially women ages 25-35 who do not have enough spare time so prefer shopping online during office hours."

"When people talk about Facebook applications, they normally list content sharing, messaging and fan pages. The site in this case is doing the job of an online trading site."

It thus could be said that Facebook is not just a communication channel to build reputation; this social network in fact can do more than generating favourable marketing content. In this case, the site could enable direct marketing to take place and profit to be made.

Overall, the diversity of Facebook in terms of both users' data and applications are key strengths that make it an effective digital marketing tool. The sharing culture of Facebook helps maximise the number of communication methods, makes new marketing tactics work and encourages new creative ideas to be generated.

5.2 Weaknesses

Like almost everything on earth combining both sides of characteristics, Facebook in Vietnam has its own drawbacks when doing the job of a marketing communications tool. In opinion of the expert from Ogilvy & Mather, the most significant disadvantage of Facebook Vietnam is its 'unstable operational status'. This is again due to the occasional blocks which directly affects the access to the social network of Vietnamese users.

"Facebook operational status in Vietnam is not stable. Sometimes it is blocked so it's not secured for on-going online projects to be completed. Facebook has yet established its representative office in Vietnam, so it will be more difficult and complicated to deploy advertising or marketing campaign which requires technical assistance from the Facebook team."

Supplementing the idea above, the second interviewee said:

"If Facebook keeps being blocked occasionally, it might gradually lose users' interest or fail to attract new members. Its competitors will definitely grab the chance to take a step ahead."

The answers of both experts somehow already indicate a solution to the problem, which is the participation of Facebook itself in solving the issue.

"It's the time for Facebook to take care of its operation in Vietnam. The market growth is promising and marketers here in Vietnam are looking forward to Facebook's cooperation to make the site a more efficient tool."

In addition to the operational status, Facebook in Vietnam needs to deal with its lack of competitiveness in some specific marketing areas. In fact, each social media has its own strengths in carrying out a marketing element. For example, blogs are usually used for PR when favourable things about your brand are published online and become effective third-party endorsements. Adverts seem to work particularly well with content sharing sites such as YouTube and are in fact funding the operation of these sites. Facebook is considered as a multi-functional social media hence expected to be a platform where multi marketing elements can work. It is, like many other social webs, financed by advertising. However, Facebook advertising in Vietnam seems not yet achieved the expected level:

"In Vietnam, Facebook advertising has not been attractive enough, especially to domestic clients. Even for PR and other marketing activities, there have been not many campaigns on Facebook targeting at Vietnamese customers. Facebook marketing here has the potential which however has not been developed enough."

It is undeniable that Facebook has gained the public attention and won a particular market share among Vietnam social web. However, attracting users is not enough; Facebook needs to attract its clients who will pay for marketing activities on the site. Only when more brands are persuaded that marketing on Facebook is effective and profitable, marketers will be interested in the social network and start developing their projects. At the current stage, marketers are moreover facing another difficulty caused by the occasional blocks. These could be considered as main problems that the social network needs to solve out if aiming to be an efficient marketing communications tool in the market.

Finally, Facebook marketing in Vietnam like in any other countries faces the difficulty of content management. Since the social network has a large connected community, negative content could be spread out as fast as positive news. Moreover, Facebook communication and interaction happens almost every second, it causes difficulties in controlling content and taking response when necessary.

"The connection on Facebook is strong while Vietnamese users are highly-engaged. It is hence very difficult to get the message controlled. Reputation could be built up and damaged both on Facebook."

5.3 Opportunities

Facebook marketing in Vietnam has its own strengths and weaknesses, also its opportunities for further development in the near future. The two interviewees who are also marketing practitioners both believe in the growth of Facebook marketing due to some factors below.

Firstly, social network in general is predicted to become increasingly powerful to marketing communications, which means upcoming opportunities for Facebook in the Vietnam market:

"Social networks are no doubt an effective tool that every marketer should exploit. They help business doers listen and understand what the needs of their target consumers are. They act like a bridge that connects enterprises to a larger pool of audiences. They create a platform for enterprises to interactively 'talk' and deliver their messages to their audiences in a subjective manner that can initiate trust in the brand."

Since professionals already recognised the power of social networks in marketing, they will soon take advantage of them to carry out marketing strategies. Among different social networks operating in the country, Facebook particularly has the chance to be the first option due to its popularity and diversity.

Another factor that supports the growth of Facebook marketing in Vietnam comes from the audience side.

"The internet penetration in Vietnam is high (30% of the whole population) and Vietnamese internet users are young, eager to learn new things, love to follow the trends. I believe they are the key to further growth of Facebook Vietnam in the upcoming time."

Vietnamese audiences tend to stick with what they like, which has been proved by stories of Yahoo!360 and Facebook block. Meanwhile, Facebook is a big brand and has gained a place in the Vietnam social web market, especially among the youth. The social network therefore has a chance to become a 'trend' that Vietnamese young internet population 'love to follow', so do marketers.

"More and more marketers will refer to Facebook as an effective tool to deliver their marketing programs. We can expect more interesting consumer-centric activities that have the involvement of users. Moreover, marketers will also exploit more applications from Facebook to diversify their activities."

The strong engagement of Vietnamese users also means a rich amount of content flowing throughout Facebook every day. It brings about a number of opportunities for Facebook marketing in Vietnam, in terms of approaching customers and communicating with them. Facebook itself is a trend; and activities on Facebook could easily find their ways to become trends among the youth. Clever marketing tactics therefore could find Facebook as an ideal platform to take advantage of.

Overall, opportunities for Facebook marketing in Vietnam come from the growing power of social networks in the country, the loyalty of active users as well as the strong sharing culture of Vietnamese web community. Finally also very importantly, it is the welcome of marketers who always seek new tools and tactics on the net.

5.3 Threats

On the other hand of opportunities, Facebook Vietnam has some threats which the site needs taking into consideration so as to become an effective in marketing communications. First of all, government's policy towards social media could be a threat for Facebook marketing in Vietnam.

"The law to instruct the use of social media is not clear enough so it affects the stability of Facebook operational status."

The operational status of Facebook is indeed the main problem that might prevent any further development of the site in the country. Marketers may find it not secure enough to run projects on an unstable site. Further to that, censorship of content generated on the internet could be another threat to every social media, including Facebook - an international site. Doing marketing on Facebook which means talking to the mass audience hence needs to be considered and undertaken carefully in order to ensure success.

The other threat to Facebook marketing in Vietnam actually comes from an opportunity, which is the growth of social networks in the country. Market growth means opportunities for every member, including competitors of Facebook.

"Facebook after overcoming the operational status issue will have to seriously consider its competitiveness, especially with its local rivals".

"The rise of social networks in marketing means a sharper competition. They will have to persuade not only internet users but also marketers."

Summary

Facebook as a platform for marketing communications strategies contains both strengths and weaknesses in the opinion of local experts. The strengths which belong to the nature of the site suggest that Facebook marketing does have the potential to grow and develop. Meanwhile, the drawbacks mainly come from the outside and require support of Facebook the firm as well as the government. Effectiveness of marketing communications on Facebook generally depends on how well strengths are made use of and drawbacks are avoided. In terms of opportunities, the social network benefits from the growth of social media in Vietnam and support of both marketers and users. However, it needs to be prepared for an increasing competition in the market and take responses to the government's policy towards marketing communications on social networks.

Chapter 6: Discussion & Conclusion

The study into the use of Facebook Vietnam in marketing communications led to some findings which will be summarized in this part together with further discussion; all in attempt to draw the final evaluation.

Finding 1: Users' engagement is the key motivation for the rise of Facebook marketing communications in Vietnam

Firstly, data collected from the questionnaire all in all indicates a positive picture of Facebook Vietnam in the near future, from the side of its users. Vietnamese youth are the dominant group who use Facebook in the country. They are the generation who has built the culture of connecting and sharing on social networks in general and Facebook especially. They are hence likely to continue staying on the site, which indicates a further growth of Facebook at least in terms of number of users.

Furthermore, Vietnamese youth are found as regular creators as well as active followers of trends. They are willing to generate content and also spend time reading others; in other words, they interact hard and contribute to the communication flow on the social network. In addition to that, young people when interacting with the site always drive for new things so that they will not get bored. They look forward to innovation coming from Facebook in terms of new applications and functions; however at the same time create new ways by themselves to enjoy social networking on the site. This helps boost creativity and interactivity among users as well as between users and marketers, which are all essential for marketing communications on a social web.

Secondly, users' loyalty and support is the main weapon that Facebook has to maintain its operation during difficult time and develop sustainably in the future. The persistence of users was the main reason for Facebook to survive when being blocked. Since they already feel satisfied with Facebook and have a community to interact with, they will stay on the site as long as their friends are still on it. Satisfying current users and attracting new comers therefore are the main tasks that Facebook the site and marketers on Facebook ought to do. Specifically, they may find it important to get appeal to users aging above 35, in other words to expand their customer population. The site at the same time has to maintain its appeal to young users and keeping itself competitive enough to attract new young users to come. The tasks require not only stability but also continuous innovation. If Facebook succeeds in building a strong user base and encouraging users' engagement, it will be able to stay and grow in the Vietnam market. Marketers then will have more belief in the social network to develop their marketing programmes.

Finally, the strategy for future growth of Facebook marketing and communications in Vietnam is believed to be focused on its users. Mark