TikTok beefs up Indonesia team, hires Traveloka marketer Veriyanta Kusuma

TikTok Indonesia has appointed Veriyanta Kusuma for brand strategy duties. Kusuma (pictured) was most recently the head of community and social marketing at Traveloka, and has left after over two years. Marketing Interactive has reached out to TikTok for additional information.

According to LinkedIn as head of community and social marketing, Kusuma was tasked to lead the development and execution of a social media and community marketing strategy which supports Traveloka business objectives across all business units and markets in Southeast Asia, Australia, and rest of the world. He was also tasked to orchestrate social media content and engagement, influencer partnership, community engagement and activations, social insights and analytics, along with paid and owned media for brand, product and customer marketing. Additionally, Kusuma managed a marketing centre of excellence which sets standard and governance in Traveloka marketing practices to ensure the initiatives are globally aligned and producing optimum outcome.

Prior to his time at Traveloka, Kusuma was with Instagram, where he was involved in community engagement, editorial and activations. He was also with telco Indosat Ooredoo, where he was involved with live chat and community operations. Kusuma was previously with tech company LeEco in Hong Kong, as well as Blackberry, where he managed the social media, digital marketing and community engagement aspect for new product/services introduction, in-market product marketing campaigns and operations for 12 markets in APAC. 

In a previous interview with Marketing Interactive, Kusuma highlighted the importance of content marketing in a crisis to aid a company's customer care team. He said then that during a crisis, content marketing plays an huge role in maintaining the connection between the brand and its customers, whilst also managing the company’s reputation.

"It is important to keep a pulse on what’s happening and communicate with the customers through relevant content during a crisis. We believe that brands need to keep their thought leadership among their customers and maintain a positive image amidst the situation, therefore when the crisis subsides, they will remain at the top of mind and preference,” Kusuma added.

Last month, TikTok Indonesia appointed Rahul Divay as its lead client partner in Indonesia. Divay was previously the general manager of media agency OMD Indonesia, where he helmed the role for one year and seven months, according to his LinkedIn page. Divay previously told Marketing Interactive that he was looking to switching his career tracks and getting out of his comfort zone after his time at OMD Indonesia. TikTok Indonesia has declined to comment on the appointment, and Marketing Interactive has reached out to Divay for a statement.

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