LINE remains to be the top messaging app in Thailand with 47 million active users as of 2020. Apart from LINE’s powerful features, Thai users were also attracted to the app’s appealing “stickers”. It helped them express themselves better on the app’s chat feature. LINE stickers indeed helped the social app surpass other platforms, with over 10 billion stickers sent out as reported in 2018. That’s an average of around 31 million stickers a day.

Besides stickers, LINE has also found great success by positioning itself as a smart app, offering robust features such as messaging, games, payment and more.

For businesses that want to penetrate the Thailand market, LINE is a key marketing tool to help reach out to 84% of users in Thailand.

If you’re eyeing to target Thai users, we have listed down the reasons you should use LINE marketing, as well as guides on how to enter the Thai market and advertise your brand effectively.

Benefits of LINE Marketing

There are many benefits of using LINE for marketing. Its functions include:

• Follow your friends and businesses
• Engage in one-to-one conversations
• Receive push notifications from LINE Official Accounts
• Shopping on the app through LINE MyShop
• Make payment to merchants across the country
• Stay updated with news through LINE Today
• And many more!

With these functions, you are able to:

• Create content in any way you want (messages, images, videos, live streams) to reach out to consumers
• Send push notifications to 100% of followers through chat – other social media platforms like Facebook, Instagram, YouTube and TikTok do not have this function
• Distribute coupons to 100% of your followers, whereby you can set a redemption limit
• Conduct market surveys
• Display backend statistics to allow page performance analysis
• Sell your products or services through LINE MyShop e-commerce store

To start publishing and enjoying these functions, you will need to set up a LINE Official Account (OA). Below are the 5 steps that you need to follow to create an account.

How to set up a LINE Official Account

There are several hurdles in setting up a LINE Official Account, and it is essential to be competent in the Thai language to complete the application process:

1. You have to apply for a Thai mobile number.
2. You need to create a LINE Official Account.
3. Next, you are required to submit your company documents for LINE to verify the Official Account.
4. You must purchase a LINE Broadcast Message package in order to send push notifications.
5. Lastly, you should purchase LINE ads through its official partner.

After you have set up an account, it will initially be considered as an Unverified account. Once you have verified it, it will become your brand’s official account. It is recommended to verify your account once you set up as official accounts can be searched easily on the app and other search engines unlike unverified accounts.

If you are looking at building a huge follower base, you can create a premium account for your brand where you can use sponsored stickers. With a premium account, you can also apply for a premium ID where you can choose a customised name for your brand. This will in turn allow your brand to be found easily on LINE and gain more friends as well.

After creating an Official Account, you will be able to use all the functions below to push out promotional content for your audience.

LINE Official Account Functions

• Broadcast message to audience who are interested in your brand
• Greeting message
• Auto-response message
• Rich message
• Rich video message
• Rich menu
• Coupon and reward card
• Unlimited 1:1 chat
• Unlimited timeline post
• Free API

Greeting message, auto response message, 1:1 chat and quick reply

These are the 4 types of inbox messages that users can receive from you.

Rich Menu

As the rich menu is customisable, you can decide on the number of tabs to use and upload different images and links for each tab. Typically, you can use this function to showcase your website, promote e-commerce platforms, set up a FAQ sheet, list out locations, promote ongoing promotions and link to other social media channels like Facebook and Instagram.

Free Messaging API

Messaging API provides two main messaging methods for you to use – replies and push messages. Reply messages are sent in response to user actions, such as sending a message to a friend. Push messages are messages that you can send to users, be it single or multiple users.

Thailand E-commerce with LINE MyShop

E-commerce is forecasted to grow from $5 billion in 2019 to $18 billion in 2025, as reported by Google. With 85% of the population using LINE in Thailand, it is essential that brands set up a LINE Official Account for your marketing and e-commerce strategy.

After you have created a LINE Official Account, you are now eligible to start your e-commerce store using LINE MyShop. It is an extension of LINE with e-commerce capabilities that allows you to sell products on the app with ease.

Advantages of using LINE MyShop

Besides allowing brands to sell products on the platform, LINE MyShop also has its advantages that lets you sell conveniently.

The following advantages include:

• Fuss-free setup — you only have to upload inventory information to start selling
• E-commerce backend tools for easy inventory management and delivery management
• Different modes of payment including Rabbit Line Pay, credit card and wire transfer
• Public URL and QR code links of the shop that can be easily shared across different channels to aid your marketing efforts
• Sales completion directly on the channel eliminating the issue of drop-out when customers are asked to switch platform to complete purchase
• In-built reporting function that provides insightful statistics to help stores optimise sales strategies

LINE Marketing Case Studies in Thailand

Here are some brands that are using LINE in Thailand to inspire you on your marketing strategy:

• Sanitarium (@sanitariumthailand) – Australia dairy brand

• The History of Whoo (@thehistoryofwhooth) – Korea beauty brand

• Swarovski (@swarovskithailand) – Austria jewellery brand

• VietJet (@thaivietjet) – Vietnam airline brand

• Secret Recipe (@secret_recipe) – Malaysia food brand

• Charles and Keith (@charleskeith_th) – Singapore fashion brand

If you are interested do LINE Marketing in Thailand, contact us to speak to our marketing experts.