Summary: Social networking giant needs to better educate local marketers on benefits of both online and mobile ads through physical relationships to better monetize markets.

Social networking giant has successfully monetized in the emerging markets of Asia through social games, however, it now needs to focus on pushing advertising to marketers in the region.

Audrey Heng, market analyst for emerging technology at IDC Asia-Pacific, pointed out that Facebook had successfully monetized its social games business in Asia's emerging markets. "Social gamesare easy to learn and quick to play that are able attract new gamers and new internet users in these developing markets," she noted.

However, social games are only one aspect of monetization and the social network will need to address advertisements, said Heng. "Both online and mobile advertising remain low particularly in developing markets where traditional marketing continues to dominate," she said.

While users in the developing markets of Asia tend to stay connected online using their mobile phones rather than the desktop, Heng noted that the mobile platform and services only started to develop in the recent two years.

Many Web sites were designed for desktop browsing and this was replicated for access on mobile phones, she said. "Only recently in the past year, more emphasis was made to design a separate mobile Web site that was user friendly and considered the mobile's smaller screen size and capabilities," Heng added.

Challenges monetizing mobile This is why it is "not surprising" that Facebook is facing challenges in monetization of mobile, she noted.

However, the social networking giant has been "aggressively" investing in mobile monetization strategies, such as by acquiring mobile apps such as Instagram and introducing advertising solutions like sponsored stories and App Centre, Heng noted.

Tackling monetization on the mobile platform is not a problem specific to Facebook. China's top social network Renren also saw its user base shifting from desktop to mobile.

In its second quarter results announcement Tuesday, Renren chaiman and CEO Joseph Chen noted that its strategy remains focused on mobile opportunities and will experiment on different monetization models such as mobile games, mobile advertising and mobile group-buying.

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Personal relationships key to Facebook's Asia advertising success