What makes a brand super-brand? Opinions will largely vary but an interesting point to start would be the phenomenon of people using that brand as a “verb”! Confused? Don’t be. When you hear things like “Have you googled that word?” or “That image is photoshoped!” you know exactly what we are talking about. We are talking about a brand’s capability to become a generic verb for day-to-day use among the masses. Google and Photoshop are super-brands that we all have known for quite sometimes. Today another brand name is in vogue as a verb which has remarkably changed our life! Yes, we are talking about the mighty Facebook. As we all understand, Facebook has become the largest social media in the world, and not very surprisingly, in Bangladesh, we have seen an influx of Facebook users: more than 11 million till last year.
Traditionally, people are supposed to use Facebook to stay connected with their near ones; there’s a reason it’s called a “social network”. However, as brand marketers, we all are very familiar with the incidence that where there is gathering of people, there is supposed to be business. So is the case with Facebooking! Sounds crazy at first but hundreds of thousands of Facebook pages have been driving huge sales volumes through using Facebook pages as their digital storefront, listing service, product demo site, customer relations touch-point and what not! The word “F-commerce” is still quite unfamiliar to us but has got immense potential as demonstrated by innovative young Bangladeshi entrepreneurs. In recent times, F-commerce or Facebook-commerce has gained a momentum in Bangladesh. Although the concept is relatively new, it has immense potential considering the Internet penetration, Facebook user base growth and rapid expansion of 3G technology in Bangladesh. Keeping this context in mind, GEEKY Social, country’s first and only specialized social media marketing startup with presence in other digital channels, very recently arranged the “National F-commerce Summit 2015.” It was a two-day-long summit held at the EMK Centre in Dhanmondi during 7 and 8 February, 2015.
Big names from the Bangladeshi business canvas came under the same umbrella to share and discuss their experiences, ideas, expectations, and policy suggestions about F-commerce in Bangladesh. The objective of this summit was to showcase the potentials of F-commerce as next generation business in Bangladesh. Leading industry body BASIS was the strategic adviser of the summit. AjkerDeal.com was the gold sponsor and the EMK Centre was the silver sponsor. Newscred and Bangladesh Startup Cup were the bronze sponsors.
In his inauguration speech, Hossain Khaled, President of DCCI, urged the younger generation to come up with new innovations and thus contribute to the economy of Bangladesh. Shameem Ahsan, President of BASIS informed the audience that BASIS was going to open an E-commerce and F-commerce wing to support the upcoming Internet-based entrepreneurs. Among others, Md. Sabur Khan, Chairman of Daffodil Group, Fahim Mashroor, Founder of ajkerdeal.com, M K Aaref, Director, EMK Centre, Prof. Shibli Rubayat Ul Islam, Dean, FBS, University of Dhaka, were present in the inaugural ceremony.
The summit kicked off with the panel discussion on “Policy Advocacy Session on Virtual Payments Systems for E-commerce and F-commerce Businesses.” Panelist Fahim Mashroor said, “Mobile Wallet is going to be our next payment method.” He also informed that new quota Facebook ad payment is likely to come very soon from Bangladesh Bank. Md. Sabur Khan, Chairman, Daffodil Group, made an interesting point. He said, “We need some success stories of F-commerce and E-Commerce entrepreneurs. Otherwise it will be tough to bring policy level support.” On a different note, Shawkat Hossain, Managing Director, BDVenture Limited said, “The biggest drawback for the venture capitalist firms to operate here is that there is no active policy support for venture capital in Bangladesh. That’s why VCs themselves find it difficult to raise funds for investing in the tech businesses in this country.”
The second session was on the topics “Branding & Promotion: Creating Credibility in Social Media Space.” Five renowned marketing experts joined the session. Shariful Islam, Founder, Bangladesh Brand Forum, was the esteemed moderator of this session. He said, “Credibility means trust and branding means making connections with the customers.” Founder of Chaldal.com, Waseem Alim reemphasized on creating long term commitment in marketing and branding efforts. He further mentioned, “To create credibility for F-commerce business, you need to focus on product quality, delivery time, pricing issues apart from branding, as you do not have any physical existence.” Drabir Alam, Associate Director, Cookie Jar Digital was the next to bring up a very interesting point. He said, “Remarketing is important. We need to reengage with our existing customers. Responding to customer queries is also very important. To be a successful brand, consistency is crucial.” Salahuddin Shahed, VP, Planning & Servicing, GREY Bangladesh, pointed out the biggest challenge for creating credibility and branding for F-commerce businesses: “Nowadays control is in customers own hands. So, engaging the customer in the digital media is the biggest challenge for businesses and marketer alike.” This session concluded with three important suggestions. First of all, do not put everything on Facebook; create your own space. Secondly, focus on product innovation, and lastly, focus on existing customers.
The keynote speaker of third session titled “Essence of Facebook Marketing” was Asif Anwar Pathik, Digital Marketing Strategist, iViveLabs. This session’s key objective was to give the audience a glimpse of Facebook marketing tips and techniques.
Fourth Session of the day was titled “Adaption of Social Media in Next generation Media Planning” where there were four panelists. Ariful Bashar, Head of Digital, Red Rocket, specified three suggestions for our entrepreneurs: build your business modality, use the most cost effective channel to promote the business, and explore other social media channels like Instagram, Google+ etc. apart from Facebook. According to Sahadat Hossain Real, Manager, content was the king. He boldly advised the entrepreneurs to create meaningful association with the customers. Lastly, Drabir Alam, Associate Director, Cookie Jar Digital, asked the entrepreneurs to use marginal cost benefit analysis to measure the success of social media marketing.
First day of the National F-commerce Summit 2015 ended with the showcasing of the success stories of five F-commerce entrepreneurs. Maruf Reza Bayron, Assistant Professor of Marketing, Daffodil Int’l University, moderated this session.
The second day of the summit began with a regular session entitled “Social Media for Professionals: Mechanics of building a brand.” G. Sumdany Don, Chief Inspirational Officer at Don Sumdany Facilitation & Consultancy conducted this session. According to him, branding is emotional connections! He stressed that the biggest problem of Bangladeshi Brands was inconsistency. He ended this session giving three cool tips: start using other platforms, find passion and display it, and be sociable both in online and offline.
The second session of Day 2 was on “Using Facebook for Success: The E-commerce Experience” Md. Saimum Hossain, Cofounder, GEEKY Social, moderated this session. Three wonderful insights came up from three successful e-commerce giants’ experience. Alyssa Runsbury, Mentor, Founders Institute, shared her Bikroy.com experience whereby for the first time in Bangladesh, people bought cow from Bikroy.com website before Eid-ul-Adha. Her suggestion: People are already excited about something and bring that in brand. Debashish Phani, COO, ajkerdeal.com said that for the first two years, they did not go for direct marketing and instead utilized Facebook for driving traffic to their website and keep customers engaged. His suggestion: engage the audience by using localized contents. Finally, Junayed Mustafa, Head of Acquisition, Kaymu, pointed out that it was really important to give the customers the option to choose.
The third session of day two was fantabulous. The topic of this session was “Social Content: What it takes to engage your TG.” To engage customers in social media, quality content is very crucial. Like the previous session, Md. Saimum Hossain, Cofounder, GEEKY Social, moderated this session. Riyad Hussain, Founder and CEO, Magnito Digital, talked about the importance of content for engaging the TG and presented a framework for F-commerce entrepreneurs: analyzing, planning, developing the content, social media buying, listening and responding. Zayeema Sarwar, Agile Coach, NewsCred shared, “If content is the king of social media, then distribution is the queen.” Asif M Rahman, Social Media Geek and Founder, AR Communication, elaborated further on Zayeema’s thoughts. He said, “Content Strategy is important. Don’t start new strategy all at once. Create a platform for customers and take time.” Moving further from content strategy, Riyad Husain shared the STEPPS framework on content virality developed by the Wharton Business School folks.
Fourth session of second day was about “Supply Chain Management for F-commerce Businesses: Learning from the Offline Cousins.” Ejazur Rahman, CEO, Asia at ISCEA, conducted this session. He mesmerized the audience with his eloquence and expertise when he tried to present the basic understandings on supply chain. According to him, supply chain begins and ends with the customer. Ejaz suggested that even for an F-commerce business, managing the chain of supply is important to benefit the customer.
One of the most exciting sessions of the National F-Commerce Summit 2015 was the very last session. For the first time in the country, GEEKY Social brought together three homebred YouTube stars with massive virality of their contents to analyze and talk about the factors responsible for their content virality: Solaiman Sukhon, Salman Muqtadir and Xefer Rahman. Md. Saimum Hossain, Cofounder of GEEKY Social, was once again playing the role of the moderator. According to him, when you empower and connect with your audience, your content goes viral. Salman Muqtadir’s point of view was more inclined towards confidence in the content. Xefer Rahman echoed the same regarding content virality. This session ended with all three YouTuber stars performing individually, leaving the audience crazy!
With the performances, the Summit entered its closing ceremony where M K Aaref, Director of the EMK Center giving the closing speech. National F-commerce Summit 2015 was arranged by GEEKY Social. The founders of this young startup, Md. Saimum Hossain and Mahadi Hasan Sagor are both business graduates from the University of Dhaka.
About the Authors
Rezwan Islam is working with GEEKY Social from December 2014
Md. Saimum Hossain is the Cofounder of GEEKY Social
