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Mumbai - Facebook is trying to lure sceptical advertisers in India with features such as free email support for questions about advertising and advice on increasing sales in a bid to boost revenue from its second biggest market.
Facebook has 132 million users in India, trailing only the 193 million in the US, according to the company, and the country is critical for the Menlo Park, California, social network's global expansion.
But so far, the payoff has been small: Facebook earns 15c per user in India every quarter, compared to the $7 to $8 it makes on each US user, according to analysts.
Facebook does not break out its revenues in India, but Neil Shah, an analyst at Counterpoint Research, a Hong Kong-based technology consulting firm, estimates it brings in $15m a quarter, far behind the $350m he estimates Google earns there per quarter.
Google, which set up in India in 2004, has been in the Indian market six years longer than Facebook, and its search ads are more familiar to advertisers there than the display ads Facebook offers.
New strategy
The business-boosting features, described by company executives and Indian business people, are aimed at advertisers such as Mohit Khattar, managing director at online grocery company Godrej Nature's Basket, one of the roughly 60 to 65 million small- and medium-sized businesses in the country.
He said he began advertising on Facebook about two months ago as the company ramped up its online presence. He found that advertising in-store events and sales helped attract customers, but would not provide specific figures.
"Since our customers are on Facebook, we are on Facebook. It's that simple," Khattar said.
Facebook declined to say how many staff members it has in India or how much it has invested since it launched operations there in 2010.
But the world's largest social network says it has seen early signs its efforts are working. The company unveiled a new type of ad designed specifically for India last year, called "click to missed call".
Users click a button on an ad, which automatically calls an advertiser. The user hangs up - to save them the charge for the call - and the advertiser calls back with a pre-recorded message.
Garnier Men, a leading men's hair care company in India and a unit of beauty products giant L'Oreal SA, saw online sales more than double by using click to missed call, according to Facebook and the company.
TV ads
But Indian advertisers still overwhelmingly flock to television ads and remain sceptical of the value of advertising on social media, analysts and business executives said.
"Advertisers in India are not warmed enough to social media as a concept of marketing," said Shah, the Counterpoint analyst.
"We really need to help them see how Facebook pages and advertising will help grow their businesses," said Andy Hwang, Facebook director of small- and medium-sized businesses for Asia Pacific.
For instance, the company advises businesses to create interactive Facebook pages and use Facebook Messenger to interact with customers as a way of increasing sales.
Technology companies have turned to India and other markets in Asia for growth because the region contains two-thirds of the world's population. Asia is Facebook's fastest-growing region, with 57% year-over-year growth in monthly active users.
India alone has 1.3 billion people, second only to China, and Facebook increased the number of users there by 22% in 2014. On the other hand, only 252 million people in India have internet access.
