Indonesia
– the world’s fastest growing social media hub
Unless
you’ve had business or holiday reasons to visit Indonesia, chances are this
Asian nation might not be as familiar to you as, say, India or China. But here
are some facts you probably weren’t aware of. As one of the world’s major
economies, Indonesia is a member of the G-20. It covers over 17,500 islands
and, with a population approaching 240 million, is the world’s fourth most
populous country. What else? Indonesia is currently at the forefront of a
technological revolution.
Indonesia’s
growing love of mobile phones
While the economies in the aforementioned
India or China have experienced fluctuations in fortune, Indonesia has steadily
been nurturing a taste for the latest in computer and telecommunications
technology. In fact, according to recent economic trends, Indonesians will be
purchasing over 60 million mobile phones during 2013. This eye-watering figure
represents a 114% penetration rate.
This ferocious upsurge is being driven by two
factors: the replacement market and, even more significantly, social media.
Samsung are leading the way in the Indonesian marketplace, taking the lion’s
share of the two-thirds of mobile sales generated by international brands.
Samsung, a South Korean conglomerate, are facing stiff competition from both
local Indonesian retailers and the Chinese market (this chunk of the overall
pie chart has risen to 37% and continues to grow). BlackBerry and Nokia are experiencing
strong sales figures, although Apple is currently lagging some way behind.
Where the Indonesian market is really
burgeoning is in sales of smart phones. Blackberry have seen their products
shifting at a rate that represents a 30% increase. The 37 models they are
offering in Indonesia have seen them taking around 50% of the market. Samsung,
who have an even greater number of smart phones in their arsenal (some 225
models) have enjoyed a sales increase of over 130%, or 39% of the market.
Apple have not reached such impressive heights
with their smart phones: their 13 models amount to a mere 2% of the overall
sales. Similarly, the Nokia Windows phone (with 22 models) equate to 2% of the
total. While they dominate the market in feature phones, they have come nowhere
near matching Samsung’s dominance in Indonesia.
Mobiles
and social media
As with elsewhere on the globe, the potent
driving force behind smart phone sales in Indonesia is social media. Everyone
from commuters heading into Jakarta’s financial district to farmers on the
outlying Javanese islands are increasingly reliant on having virtual lifelines
to the outside world in the palm of their hands. Interestingly, statistical
research reveals that while one-fifth of the Indonesian population are connected
to the web at home and 65% can surf in internet cafes, less than 10% possess
PCs. This means that there is a vast pool of consumers who are reliant on
mobile phones for maintaining network links, as well as providing
entertainment.
Indonesians are particularly susceptible to
social media. Meeting up with friends for chats and games, and getting together
with likeminded people in groups, have been cultural mainstays for generations.
These activities are more than catered for by mobile phone technology, which is
one reason why smart phones have been so embraced in this part of the world.
Facebook
and Twitter
Social media giants Facebook regard Indonesia
as their fourth-largest marketplace. In the bustling capital, Jakarta, there
are an estimated 11 million users. Of these, the most popular fan page
subscribed to is Opera Van Java. The hugely popular improvised comedy show on
the Indonesian Trans 7 TV station boasts 7.6 million fans. Other Facebook fan
bases numbering well into the seven millions include Mario Teguh, the
charismatic motivational speaker (7.3 million) and Dahsyat, the music TV show
(7.2 million).
Twitter look upon Jakarta as the city at the
foremost of their 140-character communication revolution, while the second
city, Surabaya, follows at number six in their user tally. Every second of the
day, the information superhighway is being bombarded by tweets – some 10.6
billion worldwide. The fact that 2.4% of these messages are emanating from
Indonesia illustrates the scale of Twitter’s popularity in this corner of Asia.
Indonesians are making a huge imprint on the ‘twittersphere’, typing out and
sending a dizzying average of over 900 tweets every minute; that’s 15 every
second! 87% of all these tweets are composed on mobile phones.
Twitter’s accounts in Indonesia can be further
broken down to underline these enormous figures. Popular culture is just as
all-pervasive here as anywhere else in the planet. The 26-year-old pop and
hip-hop singer, Agnes Monica Muljoto, is followed by almost 6.8 million Twitter
users. Songwriter and cultural ambassador Sinna Sherina Munaf, aged 22, can
boast a tally of 5.3 million and rising.
Elsewhere in the Indonesian social media
world, the most popular YouTube channels are malesbanget.com, with 4.1 million
subscribers, Gadis Gery (2.9 million) and Pocari Sweat (2.85 million). Almost
1.4 Indonesians use LinkedIn, over 70% of whom are aged between 18 and 34 years
old.
Indonesians aren’t just using Twitter as
another form of communication; they are truly embracing the powerful potential
of this social network, with over half the messaging being retweets. This means
that Indonesian topics are frequently ‘trending’ in the overall Twitter
listings.
This simple act of reading an original
140-character message and then passing it on has had a fundamental impact in
many areas. When the Indonesian footballer Irfan Bachdim, who currently plays
for Thai side Chonburi, tweeted an advert for his favourite isotonic drink
(Pocari Sweat), many of his fans seized on his recommendation and retweeted. A
trending topic snowballed, which had a significant sway on the global market.
English Premiership football clubs, such as Arsenal, have realised the
potential enormity of the market forces in the world’s fourth most populous
nation. The North London side have established a Twitter feed aimed at
Indonesian ‘Gunners’ fans, with messaging conducted in English and Bahasa.
The size of this market cannot be
underestimated. Social media is embraced by an estimated 96% of the Indonesian
population. This represents far more than the numbers reading newspapers or
tuning in to the radio; in fact, this staggering demographic is a bigger ratio
than anywhere else on the planet. Because Twitter and Facebook are now
considered social mobile brands, they are gaining new users at a phenomenal
rate as Indonesians engage with the expanding infrastructure that has been
taken for granted in Asian countries, such as Singapore, for some time.
Demographic
trends
Considering the Indonesian population is one
clue to the phenomenal success of social media in the country. Two-thirds are
over 15 years old. Of this total of 160 million people, all will own at least
one mobile phone. (And, like anywhere else on the planet, a sizeable portion of
the under-15s will also own these devices).
While Indonesia itself covers a huge area,
with more than 6,000 islands spread over both sides of the equator, its
far-flung population has been uniformly eager to embrace social media. Feature
mobiles enjoy a 97% distribution, with the figure for smart phones standing at
78%. The latter are enjoying a surge in popularity as consumers are drawn to
the availability of larger screens. There has been a particular flood in sales
for 2-3 and 3.5 inch versions.
Indonesians are clearly enthusiastic about
social media. Brands must be aware of this fact, as it is key to infiltrating
the marketplace here. While the population have traditionally been drawn to
local brands, the 10 most popular Facebook brands include BlackBerry, the
Bali-based Surfer Girl, Samsung, Intel and Axe. Local brands feature far more
prominently in Twitter.
But for any brand to gain a foothold in the
Indonesia market it must engage with social media platforms. This point is
crucial, with the preliminary stage of any campaign being to dip a toe into the
Indonesian online community. Marketing executives must carefully analyse what
is being discussed on social media, and understand the hot topics that are
currently trending. A careful balancing act must be initiated, because unlike
other Asian markets, such as Singapore, where a brand can be popular simply
because it is widely-known and respected, Indonesians aren’t necessarily impressed
by ‘famous’. The long-established integrity of brands reflecting local interest
are just as important.
There is much proof of the inexorable growth
of Indonesia’s social media, but a particularly telling instance was when
popular Facebook game ‘Angry Birds’ was launched globally. The choice for this
event was a suburban mall in Jakarta. Enthusiastic fans turned up in their
droves, hopeful of winning prizes, with children as young as five displaying
their keyboard dexterity. This was an example of the direction the Indonesian
market is taking, with a new generation of potential smart device users already
waiting in the wings. According to the Asia Vice-President of Rovio, the
company behind Angry Birds, the reasoning behind the launch was: “… to ignite
the whole market of Indonesia. To get them to like Angry Birds on Facebook and
then play the game online." He added that the Indonesian capital was
selected for a simple reality: this nation has become the social media capital
of the world.
