Infrastructure and Information Technology Systems Are Not Synchronous and Modern

It is unclear whether it is related to the political reasons mentioned above or not. However, an inevitable consequence is that it has caused a sense of hesitation among users, including businesses.

3.1.2.2. Infrastructure and information technology systems are not yet synchronous and modern.

Although the demand for Internet use in Vietnam is increasing as analyzed above, Vietnam's infrastructure and information technology are still weak, especially compared to the world and have not fully met the needs of the people. In 2008, the rate of Internet users in Vietnam was 22.47%, higher than the average in Asia (17.26%) and in the world (21.88%). However, compared to some countries in the region, Vietnam is still far behind. Specifically, in Brunei this rate is 55.64%, in Malaysia it is 62.57% and in Singapore it is 72.94% 51 .

In addition, the infrastructure and information technology system is not synchronized between the plains and the mountains, rural and urban areas, making it difficult for businesses to conduct social media marketing activities targeting many audiences. In many remote areas in our country, even accessing a television is difficult, not to mention using a computer. More worryingly, children in big cities like Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City have the opportunity to access information technology from a very early age, but many children in remote rural areas do not have this opportunity, causing a large gap in qualifications later on.

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3.2. Current status of social media marketing activities in Vietnam

3.2.1. The current status of social media marketing activities in general of businesses in Vietnam

Compared to the world, social media marketing activities of enterprises in Vietnam are still in the early stages. The main reason is that although the demand for using social media tools in general and social networks in particular is increasing, most of these concepts are still very new in Vietnam compared to the world. The inevitable consequence is that the use of social media marketing

51 Vietnam Internet Center (2010), http://www.vnnic.vn/ , March 25, 2010.

The association has not yet become popular. In 2009, online advertising in Vietnam accounted for only about 0.4% of the total advertising budget 52 . This small 0.4% figure was further divided among other forms of online advertising, meaning that the amount of money businesses spent on a new advertising channel on social networks like Facebook was even more modest.

Currently, businesses that have been using social media marketing in Vietnam belong to a variety of groups: from large domestic and foreign enterprises to small and medium enterprises. When mentioning large enterprises, we can mention names such as Honda, Nokia, Nescafé, Omo, Olay, Close Up, Vfresh, Vinamilk café, XO milk, Friso, ABBank,.... In terms of specific campaigns, we can mention Honda's Be U-nik campaign with the Music and Dance, Photography and Design contests. The contest has set up a separate forum and after 4 weeks of implementation, the number of topics discussed on the forum has reached 84 topics, with 1,133 posts and responses, 18,917 views of 53 debates . Or Nokia's "Rescue Mai Phuong Thuy" campaign to advertise its N97 phone through a microsite and group on Facebook. There is also the Nescafé Let's Chat forum or "Test your super mom's talent" with Omo Matic to promote the new product Omo Matic 2X concentrated. This campaign used Facebook's Fan Page tool and created Quizz (a form of quiz game) while spreading video clips on video sharing networks such as Youtube, Clip.vn, Bamboo.com,...

In addition, many small and medium-sized enterprises have also begun to try their hand at social media marketing. For example, on Facebook today, you can see many advertisements or Fan Pages of these types of businesses, mainly coffee shops, food and drinks for teenagers or travel agencies, training centers, study abroad consultants, etc. For example, the Fan Pages of Le Petit Coffee Shop, Tzo Shop, Doco Bakery, etc.

52 TNS, quoted by Phuong Khanh (2009), Vietnam Marketing Magazine No. 61 , Military Printing Factory 2,

The ad has changed , page 41.

53 Notch JSC, quoted by Chandler Nguyen (2009), Vietnam Marketing Magazine No. 60 , Military Printing Factory 2, Measuring effectiveness on Social Media: Is it necessary?, page 39.

In general, among Vietnamese businesses today, there is no name that really stands out in the social media marketing "playground". According to actual survey results, the level of customer satisfaction with business activities on online communities is not very high. Only 22% of respondents said they were satisfied or very satisfied with these activities of the business, while the majority (71%) rated their satisfaction level as average. Social media marketing activities of major brands are still only on a modest scale, mainly as a supplement to large campaigns. In other words, none of these businesses have invested in a long-term and complete social media marketing campaign.

Meanwhile, for small businesses, social media marketing activities are only at the basic level. Many businesses are only aware of creating an account on Facebook or Twitter without understanding that it is just a tool, do not understand the nature of social media marketing, leading to ineffective use of these tools.

In addition, the tools used in social media marketing activities in Vietnam are not diverse, mainly social networks, blogs and forums. Tools such as Widget applications, digital information series ( Podcast ), virtual worlds ( Virtual World ), open websites ( Wiki ) or even social bookmarking and storage networks ( Social Bookmarking Site ) are not prioritized by businesses. This phenomenon comes from the objective reason that the above tools are still very unfamiliar to the majority of Vietnamese people. Statistics from the actual survey show that only 13% of respondents have used Widget applications, 10% are currently participating in link bookmarking and storage networks such as Delicious, Linkhay.vn and Tag.vn. This figure for digital information series ( Podcast ) is also only 10%.

Although there are still many weaknesses that need to be overcome, it is undeniable that the use of social media in marketing activities is becoming more and more popular in the world and Vietnam cannot stand outside that trend.

Businesses in Vietnam, whether large or small, domestic or foreign, if they are quick enough and have a deep understanding of social media as well as the Vietnamese market, can completely succeed in applying this new form of marketing to their business operations.

3.2.2. Study the social media marketing activities of some brands in Vietnam

3.2.2.1. Social media marketing activities of Olay cosmetics brand for Olay Natural White Cream product in Vietnam

a) General introduction to the Olay cosmetic brand and the Olay Natural White Cream product

Olay is one of the cosmetic brands of the multinational corporation Procter & Gamble (P&G) present in Vietnam since 1995. Olay aims to praise "the hidden beauty in every woman", through the slogan "Always love your skin". The Olay brand focuses on facial cream products that have appeared in many countries around the world and dominate the markets of many countries, such as the US, UK, China, etc. Olay's product lines are very diverse, including Complete, Total Effects, Professional, Regenerist, Quench (North America), White Radiance (Asia) and Olay Vitamins (USA). Olay Natural White Cream is also among the above product lines, introduced to the Vietnamese market around the end of 2009 54 .

b) Social media marketing activities of Olay cosmetics brand for Olay Natural White Cream product in Vietnam

• Tools used

In social media marketing activities for the Olay Natural White Cream product, Olay only uses one tool, which is the social network Facebook. However, it is worth noting that Olay has known how to take advantage of almost all of Facebook's features and applications to fully exploit the advantages of this social network, serving its social media marketing activities. Specifically as follows:

54 Wikipedia (2010), http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Olay , April 16, 2010.

On Facebook, Olay has created a Fan Page: Olay Natural White Fan Page http://www.facebook.com/olaynaturalwhite/ . This is a popular Facebook application chosen by many businesses in their social media marketing campaigns. Specifically, Olay Natural White Cream's social media marketing activities through its Fan Page are carried out as follows:

(1) Through the Wall function - a form of updating information for friends on Facebook, Olay has actively communicated with its customers. Understanding that the target customers of the Olay Natural White Cream product line are young women, the content of Olay's conversations is also very diverse and rich. Accordingly, on its Fan Page, Olay regularly updates information ( update status ) about movies, music, fashion or especially makeup and skin care tips for customers. In addition, this Wall function is also well utilized by Olay as a form of answering questions with customers. Many women who are wondering about the product have come to Olay's Fan Page, asked questions and were enthusiastically answered by Olay. Olay even updates very simple information, in the form of a chat with customers or gives fun quizzes about products, brands and gives gifts to the first person to answer correctly on Facebook. By doing this, Olay has initially built conversations that customers are quite interested in, creating two-way interaction between the brand and customers.

(2) In addition, Olay also takes advantage of the note writing function (a form similar to blogging on Facebook) to post articles with similar content as above but longer than the information updated via the wall function.

(3) Product introduction videos, interesting links, photos of products and daily life are regularly posted by Olay on the Fan Page to encourage customers to interact through commenting , liking or sharing with their friends on Facebook.

(4) Not only stopping at using the most basic applications on Facebook's Fan Page, Olay has actively interacted with customers through other forms such as creating quizz. Quizz is an application with a form like a test.

fun, highly entertaining on Facebook. The quizzes Olay creates mostly have content serving young women - the main customer of the product. Some quizzes include: "Do you care about your appearance?"; "Are you confident in your beauty?", "Which color reflects your personality?", ...

(5) In addition, the Poll function - short survey questions that can be found on Facebook or on blogs/microblogs,... is also used by Olay as a customer survey tool.

• Olay's typical social media marketing campaign for Olay Natural White Cream

In December 2009, Olay organized a photo contest "White and pink with Olay Natural White". Specifically, Olay built an application on Facebook that allows contestants (here are girls from 14 years old and up, Vietnamese nationality) to upload photos directly with necessary personal information to this Facebook application page. These are photos of girls with beautiful white skin. The audience will log in to Facebook to vote, score, and comment on the photos. The photo with the highest score will win the first prize of a Sony Walkman NWZ-W202 (2GB) (worth about 1,600,000 VND) and a set of 5 Olay Natural White beauty products. During the 1 month, the contest attracted 142 photos and a significant number of young people participating in voting 55 .

Promotion for the contest is carried out mainly through the Olay Natural White Cream Fan Page mentioned above and on some forums such as Gamevui.com, Lamchame.com, Ketnoi247.com,…..

c) Evaluation of social media marketing activities of Olay cosmetics brand for Olay Natural White Cream product in Vietnam

Overall, social media marketing for Olay Natural White Cream has achieved certain results. As of April 23, 2010, the Olay Natural White Cream Fan Page on Facebook has attracted 7,616 people who “like” or admire this product 56 . Application to

55 Facebook (2010), http://apps.facebook.com/olaynaturalwhite/ , March 27, 2010.

Uploaded photos for the contest "White and pink with Olay Natural White" were rated 4.5/5 by Facebook users, 55 points .

Olay has also been quite successful in communicating with customers through its Fan Page by regularly updating and sharing diverse and interesting information, responding to customers promptly and quickly. The language chosen for use on the Fan Page is also youthful and playful, suitable for young customers. In particular, the information on this Fan Page is abundant and diverse but does not openly advertise the product. Product information is mainly inserted reasonably in many different directions. Figure 7 below is a part of the interface of Olay's Fan Page with greetings and congratulations from Olay to its female customers on International Women's Day, March 8.

Figure 7: Part of the Olay Natural White Fan Page interface on Facebook 57 .

Another success of Olay is the use of celebrity images to indirectly promote the brand through Facebook. Olay has chosen singer-actress Bao Thy as the Ambassador for the Olay Natural White product, who is loved by many young Vietnamese teenagers. If you visit the Olay Natural White Fan Page, you will see Bao Thy's appearance "skillfully" promoting the product. Figure 8 is part of the Olay Natural White Fan Page interface on Facebook with comments and reviews about the product by Bao Thy.

Figure 8: Bao Thy's appearance on the Fan Page of Olay Natural White 56 .

In addition, Olay also understands the psychology of Vietnamese people when using social networks, specifically Facebook, who really like highly entertaining applications such as taking quizzes, answering poll questions, etc., so they have made efforts to bring many of these types of applications to users on their Fan Page.

Besides the advantages, Olay Natural White Cream's social media marketing activities still have many disadvantages that need to be overcome.

First of all, choosing only Facebook to carry out social media marketing activities is too little. In Vietnam, the habit of using social networks is quite diverse. People not only use Facebook but also use Zingme, Yahoo! Plus, .... If Olay wants to be more successful, it should appear on some other popular social networks in Vietnam.

Second, the content of Olay applications used on Facebook is not yet special enough to attract a large number of participants. There are poll-style questions that Olay puts out but does not receive any answers from customers. Number of

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