Twitter's promoted advertising services coming to Thailand

Bangkok-based digital agency McFiva has won the rights to manage adverts for Twitter in Thailand according to the Bangkok Post.

The news, which comes hot on the heels of the announcement of a Facebook ad partner for Southeast Asia, demonstrates the speed in which the country's appetite for social media has grown over the last 18 months.

Both Twitter and Facebook saw a surge in new users during the Bangkok protests in early 2010. Expats and Thais alike flocked to Twitter to stay in touch with the latest news as Thai armed forces clashed with anti-government protesters on the streets of the Thai capital.

With the country's established media struggling to gather and publish story quickly, social media updates from those on the streets or witnessing the battle become the key line of news during the clashes which claimed more than 90 lives.

In the year that has passed since the clashes, Thais have been increasingly vocal celebrating the country's King's birthday and discussing key national issues such as a road accident involving an unlicensed 16 year girl which resulted in a number of deaths.

With increased usage levels of Twitter in Thailand--with an estimated 450,000 users, according to the Bangkok Post article--it is no surprise to see an official advertising outlet emerge to manage Twitter's paid promotion services in the country.

According to the official press announcement, McFiva will be responsible for handling all "promoted accounts, promoted tweets, and promoted trends"--which typically generate 3 to 8 percent clickrate on a pay per click basis--on the service, but they may face an initial hurdle.

Bangkok does not yet have its own Twitter "trend" service which has helped its promoted services in markets like the United States. In the countries where Twitter's local trends service is active, users are more compelled to keep up with trending topics where "promoted trends", one of the more success promotion services, features.

Thailand's largest companies are largely aware of Twitter, Facebook and other social media, however, encouraging them to engage at the next level will be a challenge. While promoting Twitter in a country where a huge number of small to midsize businesses do not engage in basic Web marketing, such as search engine marketing or Google AdWords, will also be challenging.

Yet, Twitter is gaining considerable buzz in Thailand, making Twitter's promoted services an interesting prospect for those companies happy to take the plunge in Thailand as they try to generate interest and kick-start a viral promotion online.