Philippine Embassy in Tokyo Reaches Out To More People Through Creative Social Media Posts
A sampling of the new infographic announcements being used by the Philippine Embassy in Tokyo. These announcements garner an average of 90 “likes” and 10,000 “people reached” in a span of only two days.
More Filipinos in Japan are now aware of the Embassy’s announcements and important information about consular policies and procedures.
Using Facebook posts featuring colorful graphics and PowerPoint videos, coupled with the use of catchy conversational Filipino text, the Philippine Embassy in Tokyo has been able to significantly increase its social media reach with the Filipino community in Japan.
“We have a community of over 280,000 Filipinos in Japan and it is essential that the Embassy is able to effectively reach out to as many of our kababayan as social media will allow,” stated Ambassador Jose C. Laurel V in his report on this project to the Department of Foreign Affairs.
Consul General Robespierre Bolivar, who initiated and supervises the ongoing project, cites improved information dissemination as a key factor in improving consular services. “We noted that many issues brought to the Embassy’s attention can be addressed through effective information dissemination about our consular policies and requirements. In the age of social media, we have to ensure that our communication strategies are responsive to the public’s needs,” the Consul General emphasized.
The Embassy has created a number of infographic series with catchy Filipino titles, including “Kita-kits” (“See You”) to announce outreach missions and Filipino community events, “Alam Nyo Ba?” (“Do You Know?”) to remind Filipinos of important consular regulations, and “Mag-Ingat Po Kayo” (“Please Take Care of Yourselves”), which features advisories during natural disasters and warnings against scams.
An informal study conducted by the Embassy revealed that its regular “text-based” Facebook announcements receive an average of 40 “likes” and 5,000 “people reached” over a two-month period.
Its infographic and video announcements, on the other hand, garner an average of 90 “likes” and 10,000 “people reached” in a span of only two days.
It’s infographic advisory reminding Filipinos to renew their passports at least 6 months before the end of its validity date reached more than 20,000 people since it was posted on 02 August.
On the other hand, its infographic advisory on the 09 August 2018 typhoon which was expected to hit the Tokyo Metropolitan Area reached almost 77,000 people since its posting.
The Embassy’s consular outreach announcements, have also reached more of its intended audience. Within 15 hours of posting on 19 August 2018, the infographic announcement for the consular outreach in Sendai, Miyagi Prefecture already reached over 6,000 people. The announcement for the outreach in Sapporo, Hokkaido in September reached almost 10,000 people in two weeks.
