State Institution "Public Procurement Department of the Akimat of Zhambyl Region" has published an announcement about the launch of an open competition for the provision of information dissemination services in the form of advertising posts. The editorial team of FBRK decided to take a closer look at the details of the procurement.
On March 26, applications began for a tender to place advertising and information publications on social networks throughout the entire year of 2024. The customer is the regional communications service of the State Institution "Sherkhan Murtaza Printing House". The value of the lot is 23 million tenge.
The supplier's task is to prepare and disseminate information about the implementation of state programmes in the region, informing about the tourist potential and events in the Zhambyl Region via the Telegram, Instagram and Facebook platforms.
The technical specification outlines the volume of services to be procured and the requirements for each of the channels. For example, to place photo/video materials on Instagram, the channel must have at least 2.1 million subscribers and an average number of views per video (Instagram reels) of at least 400,000.
Separate requirements are specified for channels covering socio-economic and political news. Such a channel must be among the top 10 ranking media outlets in Kazakhstan and publish at least 11 posts on each of the Telegram, Instagram and Facebook platforms.
Furthermore, the potential supplier must provide a list of human resources. Simply put, a list of employees: journalists, camera operators, designers and advertising managers with the experience necessary to carry out tasks to generate interest in the Zhambyl Region.
Undoubtedly, enhancing the country's tourist appeal is extremely important. It would also be good to do it effectively.
Otherwise, for example, the Almaty akimat annually spends millions on advertising on social networks, but no one has ever taken the trouble to analyse its effectiveness.
Not long ago, the Almaty authorities invested around 90 million tenge in organising press tours for 50 foreign bloggers.
In 2023, the akimat invited 30 bloggers, providing them with "all inclusive" for 60 million tenge. In 2021, the exact same event with the participation of 40 foreign media personalities cost the city 26 million tenge, and in 2020 - 35 million tenge.
It seems that from now on, the city's attractiveness is measured by the millions invested.
Advertising on social networks continues to gain momentum due to its accessibility and flexibility of formats. Social networks provide a valuable opportunity, including for state bodies, for interaction with the audience.
The key here is not to overdo it. After all, informational publications are only one step away from intrusive self-promotion. Moreover, significant spending on advertising by state bodies does not exactly thrill the public when there are more pressing issues requiring the attention and investment of those same state institutions.
Let us recall that recently a commission of experts from the Association of Legal Entities "Central Asian Advertising Association" (CAAA) summarised the results of the assessment of the Kazakh advertising market for 2023. Chairman of the CAAA expert council Ilimurad Dzhumaev noted that the advertising sector demonstrated "impressive growth" of 33%.