Nuffnang, Powered by a Millennial Workforce to Lead the Social Revolution

Nuffnang, with its newly revamped image as Asia’s leading influencer and content marketing company, means business.

As the world aggressively moves towards the age of social media, Nuffnang follows in tandem, but with a unique twist. Knowing that this digital era calls for a specific type of know-how, Nuffnang’s workforce is powered by millennials, a generation that was born into it.
Times are changing, and Nuffnang has reinvented itself to fortify its position as a leader in this space.

Understanding that over the years, bloggers have transformed into content creators across today’s main social media platforms, Nuffnang shifted its approach to keep itself in the forefront of the business. Given the current audience’s inclination towards visuals and content, Nuffnang has chosen to adopt a more hands-on, ideas-first approach for their clients’ marketing campaigns instead of simply providing them with a list of influencers to work with. With a full servicing team onboard, the company seeks to serve their clients and community better.

With nearly 100% of its workforce consisting of innovative, motivated millennials, Country Manager Kausern Hieu said, “In today’s world, content can be created and accessed by just about anyone thanks to the Internet. This shake-up has changed how we do business; we now have to be fast, fluid and perpetually learning and improving. No longer can we run our organizations like machines—this is where the millennials step in. Because they are impatient, agile and purpose-driven, they are created for such an environment.”

“From the very beginning, people have always been one of Nuffnang’s main focuses,” said Afreeda Nawawi, Community Relations Specialist. “Fast forward to today, people are still of vital importance to Nuffnang, even more so as we are now living in an era where everything is automated and computerized.”

From hiring, to operating styles, to managing influencers, and to building its community, Nuffnang emphasizes people in every aspect of its organization. The established company has been around for 10 years, and it has grown tremendously in terms of the community it has. To date, it has half a million social enthusiast across Asia in its database, and it is still growing.

“We will continue building our community to create a more diversified group that’s suitable for any activation,” said Afreeda.
The reason why diversity is important was further elaborated by Jo-yee Lee, the company’s Head of Sales.

“A brand should never assume that a content creator (influencer) has the same level of understanding it has. Even if they have been using the brand for the past few years, they would probably have dissimilar knowledge and understanding of it,” said Jo-yee. “Influencer marketing involves careful planning and ideation. With our tools and know-how, we ensure our clients and influencers are on the same page in order for us to craft out high quality and effective campaigns.”  

In Nuffnang’s view, an ad-hoc or guerilla approach is a one-way ticket to campaign failure, although it is a cheaper option.

That said, despite being a pioneer in the industry, it would be a lie to say that it has all been sunshine and roses for Nuffnang. With the rising competition in the social media sphere, extra measures needed to be taken to reinforce its position as a leader.

Rebecca Kiew, who is the Head of Operations, ensures that all processes are performed at the highest quality.

“We have a highly scrutinized hiring process in order to hire the right people who know all the cracks of social media. We place a strong emphasis on specialization of skill to assure quality, and also have routine reviews on processes to ensure what we’re doing is relevant and useful to the nuances of the demand,” Rebecca said. “We’ve been here since the beginning; we’ve seen the changes and paradigm shifts and we’ve always been able to meet these challenges swiftly and tactfully. With this rebranding, we have vowed to do the same.”

“’Leadership is not about being in charge. Leadership is about taking care of those in your charge.’,” said Kausern, in reference to a quote by Simon Sinek. “My responsibility as a senior in this industry is to paint my team of young people a crystal-clear image of purpose and profits, fuel them with motivation and equip them with the relevant skills. As their ‘coach’, my job is to inspire everyone in the team to bring their A-game every day.”