Case studies: 3 Foreign companies that penetrate Thailand using LINE OA strategy

To achieve success in Thailand’s digital marketing landscape, look no further than LINE Official Account- the number 1 communication platform among Thais.

According to a LINE report from 2019, Thai users are generally happy to receive promotional messages on LINE, with roughly 70% of surveyed users indicating that their most preferred type of content is brand promotions. 

In this article, IH Digital will provide examples of foreign brands that are leveraging LINE to penetrate the Thai market, as well as marketing strategies that tap on the unique features of LINE.

The LINE OA strategy employed by foreign companies

Sanitarium LINE OA strategy

Let’s start with Sanitarium, the # 1 plant-based milk brand from Australia. Sanitarium has adopted LINE as a way to do social media marketing in addition to Facebook and Instagram. LINE’s primary functions are 1. customer relationship management and 2. send special promotional messages through the Broadcast function, direct into the inbox of 100% of their LINE OA followers.

In order to disseminate the promotional messages through Broadcast effectively, Sanitarium had to first acquire a significant number of followers, and it was achieved through a LINE contest, – also promoted on their other owned social channels including Facebook and Instagram. The result was satisfactory, helping Sanitarium boost up follower count by more than 500 people in a short span of time.

 

Learn more: LINE Contest: Sanitarium Thailand Is Giving Away 10 Prizes Worth 2K Baht Each This Summer 2020

DEKALB LINE OA strategy

The next brand is DEKALB, a top-quality crop science brand from Bayer, focusing on farmers as the target audience. To achieve the goal of high engagement rate and low block rate, DEKALB produces contents that are deemed highly relevant to farmers, such as introducing new farming products, as well as providing applicable agronomic tips and information about corn.

Moreover, DEKALB also uses LINE OA as the main customer relationship management platform, taking in enquiries from new and existing customers, and these questions often revolve around pricing and distribution channels. This helps DEKALB convert social media engagement into sales effectively.

In terms of growing a solid follower base, DEKALB employs the same strategy as Sanitarium- organizing LINE contests and promoting the contests on Facebook. Through a recent successful contest, DEKALB managed to double its follower count. 

Here’s the success formula – attractive prizes, simple contest mechanism, drive participation from other social channels, and keep engaging with your audience when they have questions about the contest.

 

Learn more: Dekalb doubles LINE OA friends with LINE contest.

Swarovski LINE OA strategy

Thirdly, Swarovski, a premium jewelry brand from Austria, uses the LINE Broadcast function to send information about new collections and special promotions directly to 100% of their LINE OA followers.

As a best practice to grow LINE friends organically, Swarovski attaches its LINE OA link in almost every Facebook post,  hence effectively directing traffic from its well-established Facebook page to the LINE OA. 

In recent months, as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, Thailand’s department stores had to halt operations, impacting Swarovski’s retail business. However, Swarovski turned this crisis into opportunity- the brand enhanced its LINE OA’s customer relationship management into a personal shopper service. 

Just by adding Swarovski’s LINE OA, customers are able to privately message the brand to order products, make payments, and arrange for delivery. 

This strategy, again, successfully converts social media engagements into sales.

Learn more: Swarovski Strategies To Grow LINE Friends Organically

Reach your target audiences in Thailand with LINE

If you have your eyes set on the Thai market for your business, do add LINE as part of your digital marketing strategy for growth in brand loyalty and sales.

LINE is the third most used social media platform in Thailand, trailing behind just two of the world’s biggest tech giants, Facebook (93%) and YouTube (91%).

The Japan-based mobile messenger app has grown tremendously in Thailand, with 22 million registered LINE app users in 2014, which doubled to 44 million in Q2 2019. It is also Thailand’s top mobile app by monthly active users and overall revenue according to a 2018 report by Hootsuite, and We Are Social.

Build Up Your Online Presence in Thailand with LINE Marketing!

IH Digital can help you expand reach in the Thai market with our LINE services. We will assist you with opening a LINE Official Account, run LINE ads, create LINE contests, plan LINE OA strategy, and set up LINE MyShop.

Are you ready to get started? Contact us today to learn more about our LINE capabilities.

Attractive prizes, simple contest mechanism and drive participation from other social channels- these are some essential ingredients that determine the success of LINE contests.

In April this year, DEKALB, a top-quality crop science brand selling maize seeds, organized a LINE contest campaign incorporating the above ingredients and emerged successful in its objective of growing follower base.

What was the contest mechanism and how was the outcome? Let’s explore.

Dekalb’s LINE contest

To establish the context, this is not the first time that DEKALB organized an event on LINE. Back in late 2019, DEKALB launched its first LINE contest and the result inspired the brand to take it to another level by offering a more attractive prize- 10 sets of DEKALB special edition power bank (10,000 mAh) up for grabs!

Here’s the contest mechanism in 3 steps:

1. Add DEKALB as a friend on LINE.
2. Tell us what is your favorite corn hybrid and why.
3. 10 participants with the best answer will win a special edition power bank.

All thanks to the simple contest mechanism, it could be easily communicated and highly comprehensible to farmers, hence making it convenient for farmers to participate without barriers to entry.

To further drive contest participation, DEKALB also shout-out about the LINE contest on its Facebook page. Whenever farmers were unsure of the participation criteria, DEKALB’s community management team was also prompt to guide them in the comments section and inbox.

 

Within a month of running the contest, DEKALB’s LINE OA experienced a surge in followers, with follower count more than doubled from 600 to 1,500.

For more information about the contest, visit Dekalb’s Facebook page.

About DEKALB

DEKALB is a leading brand in agricultural seed technology. Established in Illinois USA, it has been operating for more than 100 years and has a distinctive and unique “winged ear” logo, which represents farmers’ potential to increase yields and profits. Today, more than 60 hybrid corn seeds are sold worldwide, and DEKALB has been a brand that Thai farmers have known and trusted for over 50 years.

Reach your target audiences in Thailand with LINE

If you have your eyes set on the Thai market for your business, do add LINE as part of your digital marketing strategy for growth in brand loyalty and sales.

LINE is the third most used social media platform in Thailand, trailing behind just two of the world’s biggest tech giants, Facebook (93%) and YouTube (91%).

The Japan-based mobile messenger app has grown tremendously in Thailand, with 22 million registered LINE app users in 2014, which doubled to 44 million in Q2 2019. It is also Thailand’s top mobile app by monthly active users and overall revenue according to a 2018 report by Hootsuite, and We Are Social.

Build Up Your Online Presence in Thailand with LINE Contest and More!

IH Digital can help you expand reach in the Thai market with our LINE services. We will assist you with opening a LINE Official Account, run LINE ads, create LINE contests, and set up LINE MyShop.

Are you ready to get started? Contact us today to learn more about our LINE capabilities.

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IH Digital is a 360 ° digital marketing agency in Thailand, with offices across Southeast Asia and Greater China. We offer a comprehensive range of digital marketing services, including Facebook and LINE marketing. Talk to our marketing expert today to learn more about our services.

Social commerce is the buzzword in recent years – it integrates the interactive element of social media and the convenience of e-commerce, thereby creating a user experience that combines the best of both worlds.

In a social commerce environment, consumers can discover the brand, engage with the seller, and purchase on the spot without having to switch between platforms. It effectively shortens the consumer funnel, bringing them from awareness to buy in a short period.

Earlier this year, Thailand’s no.1 messaging platform, LINE, launched LINE MyShop, joining the likes of Facebook and Instagram in beefing up its social commerce capability. In LINE MyShop, consumers can engage in private one-to-one conversations with the brand to ask questions, and then make purchases on the platform natively, almost similar to what one would experience when shopping in a physical store.

So what is LINE MyShop all about? What can it do for you? Let’s find out.

What is LINE MyShop

Launched in Q1 of 2020, LINE MyShop is a new frontend feature of LINE that allows businesses to sell products online conveniently, supported with a complete set of simple-to-use e-commerce tools at no additional cost.

The only prerequisite is that you need to have a LINE Official Account (OA) set up first for your business to gain access to LINE MyShop.

Interesting statistics

According to the statistics from LINE MyShop official website.

• The potential reach of selling through LINE is over 45 million people.
• Up to 45% chance of closing sales with customers from LINE chat.
• More than 40% of customers in Thailand prefer buying and selling through social media.
• The chance of closing sales is 15 times higher when the customer interacts in Chat first as compared to entering the Shop directly.

The advantages of LINE MyShop

Other than upping your chance of closing sales, Line MyShop also offers other e-commerce advantages for your brand. By and large, here’s what you can expect:

• Relatively fuss-free shop setup for brands with Line Official Account. You just need to upload your SKU’s information and enter your payment details, and your e-commerce shop is ready to roll.
• You will be able to manage the entire e-commerce process easily with free tools, from editing SKUs, issuing an order sheet, filtering chats by order status, managing fulfillment, and more.
• There will be a URL and QR code for your Line MyShop store, enabling you to publicize the store on websites or other social media channels.
• Sales are closed natively in LINE, hence reducing drop-out rates typically associated with switching of platforms.
• Able to integrate different payment modes like Rabbit Pay, credit card, wire transfer, and collect money on destination.
• Built-in reporting function that provides insightful statistics to aid you in optimizing your store and sales performance.

Store examples and usage

Here is how the frontend of Line MyShop looks like, where customers can view the full selection of products, as well as filter products that are on sale.

Customers can click each product to see additional details, such as product information, product images, amount of inventories, etc. When a customer finds a product that they like, he/she can add it to cart immediately.

When satisfied with all products added to Cart, the customer can press the Buy Now button to proceed to the payment page.

Lastly, in the Place Order page, the customer will be required to fill in his/her shipping address and select the payment method.

Start Social Commerce on LINE MyShop today!

If you have your eyes set on the Thai market for your business, do add LINE as part of your digital marketing strategy for growth in brand loyalty and sales.

The Japan-based mobile messenger app has grown tremendously in Thailand, with 22 million registered LINE app users in 2014, which doubled to 44 million in Q2 of 2019. It is also Thailand’s top mobile app by monthly active users and overall revenue, according to a 2018 report by Hootsuite and We Are Social.

IH Digital can help you expand reach in the Thai market with our LINE services. We will assist you with opening a LINE Official Account, run LINE ads, and set up LINE MyShop.

Are you ready to get started? Contact us today to learn more about our LINE capabilities.

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IH Digital is a 360 ° digital marketing agency in Thailand, with offices across Southeast Asia and Greater China. We offer a comprehensive range of digital marketing services, including Facebook and LINE marketing. Talk to our marketing expert today to learn more about our services.

Starting a LINE Official Account is essential in penetrating the Thailand market, but the real uphill task begins when brands attempt to grow LINE friends organically.

But fret not, let us walk you through some strategies and best practices employed by Swarovski to help you maximize your brand’s potential for LINE organic growth.  

Put LINE contact on Facebook caption to grow LINE friends organically

This strategy is simple yet effective. As a rule of thumb, Swarovski includes their LINE OA contact on almost all Facebook posts.

By using this technique, Swarovski taps into their broad Facebook fan base to drive existing fans from Facebook to LINE. 

This is exceptionally effective when Swarovski posts about price promotions, as customers tend to react by initiating conversations with the brand to find out more about product information and pricing, and LINE is typically their preferred platform for personalized one-to-one interactions.

Grab hold of opportunities to engage

The efficacy of this technique was most apparent when Swarovski rode on the k-pop wave and launched a new jewelry line inspired by the Korean drama series “Crash Landing On You”.

Since posting it up on Facebook, Swarovski experienced an influx of new friends on LINE, who mainly enquired about price and store locations, and it subsequently drove footfall traffic to Swarovski’s stores as well.

Why does Swarovski use LINE to penetrate the Thailand Market?

When we talk about the most indispensable communication applications in the daily lives of Thais, the answer is clear that LINE is one of them. LINE is the third most-used social media platform in Thailand, trailing behind just two social media giants- Facebook (93%) and YouTube (91%).

According to a survey result released by LINE, more than 70% of LINE users in Thailand prefer to receive broadcast messages about discounts and promotions, hence it is a suitable environment to push out high-quality promotional content through the Broadcast function.

Moreover, after building a sizable friends base on LINE, Swarovski also ensures that followers are kept engaged and rewarded through contests. In some contests, Swarovski’s LINE friends are notified through a Broadcast message and then redirected to Swarovski’s Facebook page to participate, hence strengthening the synergy between both platforms.

Read more:

• Guide To Line Marketing In Thailand 2020
• LINE Contest: Sanitarium Thailand Is Giving Away 10 Prizes Worth 2K Baht Each This Summer 2020
• Get Started With LINE Marketing

Build Up Your Online Presence in Thailand with LINE OA and More!

If you are exploring to enter the Thai market for your business, do add LINE as part of your digital marketing strategy for guaranteed growth in brand loyalty.

The Japan-based mobile messenger app has grown tremendously in Thailand with 22 million registered LINE app users in 2014, which doubled to 44 million in Q2 of 2019. It is also Thailand’s top mobile app by monthly active users and overall revenue, according to a 2018 report by Hootsuite and We Are Social.

IH Digital can help you reach the Thai market with our LINE services. We can assist you in getting a LINE Official Account, as well as run LINE ads and launch LINE contests to increase brand awareness.

Are you ready to get started? Contact us today to learn more about our LINE capabilities.

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For more information about IH Digital’s digital marketing services, please view the full list here.

IH Digital is a 360 ° digital marketing agency in Thailand, with offices across Southeast Asia and Greater China. We offer a comprehensive range of digital marketing services, including Facebook and LINE marketing. Talk to our marketing expert today to learn more about our services.

Line marketing in Thailand remains to be a profitable strategy for most Chinese companies despite the plunging economy. Regardless of several business setbacks and losses due to COVID19, China brands stayed active in their Thailand market penetration, particularly in the e-commerce sector.

In fact, according to a Bangkok Post news report, Chinese companies continue to invest tens of millions of baht in marketing budget to stimulate spending.

One way to successfully penetrate the Thai market is through LINE marketing. While there are other messaging apps in Thailand, Line remains to be on top. That’s why marketers view it as an indispensable tool for Thailand’s marketing.

To help you further explore this marketing opportunity, we’ve come up with an ultimate guide for you. We comprehensively covered the two most important aspects of Line – the Official Account and MyShop.

Why is Line an Important Marketing Tool in Thailand?

Over the years, Line has turned into a powerful app with more and more features added in. Similar to China’s WeChat, the app went beyond messaging and integrated the following functions:

• Follow friends and businesses
• Engage in one-to-one conversations
• Receive push notifications from Official Accounts
• Online shopping
• Payment gateway
• News updates through Line Today

Furthermore, a survey report shows that a vast majority (85%) of Internet users in Thailand use Line actively.

In 2019, Line is also the top app in the country when it comes to the amount of time spent on the app each day. According to statistics released by Line, Thais’ average daily usage time on the app lasts 216 minutes (3.6 hours).

How to set up a Line Official Account?

Building your Line Official Account in Thailand to start doing Line Marketing in Thailand may get tricky if you have zero knowledge in the Thai language. Therefore, seeking help from a local agency may help speed up and ease the application process for you.

Alternatively, if you want to set it up on your own, here are the 5 steps:

1. Apply for a Thai mobile number.
2. Create a Line Official Account.
3. Submit company documents for Line to verify the Official Account.
4. Purchase a Line Broadcast Message package to send push notifications.
5. Purchase Line ads through Line’s official partner.

What are the Line benefits for your brand?

Besides gaining a solid presence in the Thai market, Line offers many benefits your brand can eventually profit from. With Line, you can:

• Send push notifications to 100% of your followers, contrary to other social media platforms like Facebook and Instagram that don’t have this function
• Distribute coupons to all your followers, whereby you’re allowed to set a limit to the volume of coupon and redemption period
• Conduct market surveys
• View your Official Account’s backend statistics to analyze page performance
• Launch an e-commerce store on Line MyShop

These marketing advantages continue to flourish as a result of many positive studies and surveys about Line. For instance, a 2019 Line survey discovered that Thais are generally happy to receive promotional messages on the app. About 70% of them said that brand promotion is their most preferred content type.

Being Thailand’s primary communication tool, Line indeed promises an incredible marketing opportunity for brands exploring the market. Hence, harnessing the platform’s dominance is your very first step to market penetration. With Line, you are most likely to earn acceptance by Thai consumers and ultimately achieve success in the market.

Why build e-commerce on Line MyShop?

Launched in Q1 2020, Line MyShop is a relatively new feature in the app. Based on Line MyShop’s official website, it currently offers an opportunity to reach more than 45 million users in Thailand.

Generally, its aim is to help brands close sales directly and natively on the platform. More so, the new e-commerce feature comes with a full suite of e-commerce tools – all these at no additional cost.

Moreover, the feature guarantees a higher chance of closing sales through direct chat. In fact, it’s 15 times higher than redirecting your customers to another shopping platform.

What are the advantages of Line MyShop?

Other than upping your chances of closing sales, Line MyShop also offers more advantages for your brand. By and large, here’s what you can get for e-commerce:

• Relatively fuss-free shop setup for brands with Line Official Account. You simply have to upload your inventory details to start selling.
• Free e-commerce backend tools to oversee inventory and delivery management.
• Integration of different payment modes like Rabbit Pay, credit card, and wire transfer.
• Publicly visible store with URL and QR codes for easy sharing across multi-channels.
• Built-in reporting function that provides insightful statistics to aid you in optimizing your store and sales performance.
• Sales are closed natively on the platform. This way, drop-out issues will be significantly reduced. Normally, drop-outs happen to customers needing to switch platforms to complete a purchase.

Line OA & MyShop Case Studies in Thailand

Need examples to feed your mind about Line Official Accounts and MyShop? Check out these big brands currently using the leading platform to engage with their Thai customers.

Huawei (@Huawei)

Vivo (@VivoSmartphone)

Haier (@HaierThailand)

Xiaomi (@Xiaomithailand_store)

Sulwhasoo (@Sulwhasoo_Thailand)

Lactasoy (@LactasoyClub)

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IH Digital is a digital marketing agency headquartered in Singapore. Spanning Southeast Asia and Greater China, we have offices in Malaysia, Philippines, Thailand, Vietnam, China, Hong Kong, and Taiwan.

If you are interested do Line Marketing in Thailand, schedule a consultation soon to speak to our marketing experts.

Get started!

This summer, Sanitarium is giving away 10 prizes worth 2,000 baht each with its first-ever LINE contest in Thailand. The contest was announced on Friday through their Facebook page.

Here’s how to join:

1. Add @sanitariumthailand as a friend on LINE
2. Tell why you love So Good^TM Milk on LINE

Ten lucky winners will each receive 2,000-baht worth of Sanitarium products and a gift card.

The LINE contest runs from 13 March to 12 April 2020. The winner will be announced on 22 April 2020.

For more contest details, check out Sanitarium’s Facebook announcement and contest terms and conditions. The LINE contest is open for users based in Thailand only.

Follow Sanitarium Thailand’s Facebook page to get the latest promotions on your favourite breakfast brand.

Sanitarium Announces LINE Official Account

In February, Sanitarium announced its LINE official account for Thailand on a Facebook post, inviting its fans to connect on LINE. Followers will receive the newest product and special promotions, as well as LINE contest announcements through the app.

Don’t miss out on great deals! Be sure to add Sanitarium Thailand as a friend on LINE. You may also shop your favourite Sanitarium products at Tops Online.

Related Article >> Sanitarium engaged Thai influencer Aum Napat to Promote Weet-Bix on Instagram

Build Up Your Online Presence in Thailand with LINE Contests and More!

If you are exploring the Thai market for your business, add LINE to your digital marketing campaigns for a guaranteed brand awareness growth.

The Japan-based mobile messenger app has grown tremendously in Thailand with 22 million registered LINE app users in 2014, which doubled to 44 million in Q2 2019. It is also Thailand’s top mobile app by monthly active users and overall revenue according to a 2018 report by Hootsuite and We Are Social.

IH Digital can help you reach the Thai market with our LINE services. We can assist you in getting a LINE official account, as well as run LINE ads and launch LINE contests to increase brand awareness.

Are you ready to get started? Contact us today to learn more about our LINE capabilities.

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IH Digital is a 360 ° digital marketing agency headquartered in Singapore, with offices across Southeast Asia and Greater China. We offer a comprehensive range of digital marketing services, including LINE marketing. Talk to our marketing expert today to learn more about our services.

IH Digital, IH Singapore, and Digital 38 are members of the IH Digital Group.