Social media management platform Hootsuite has announced the appointment of Rich Meiklejohn as its first general manager for the Asia-Pacific region.

Meiklejohn will be responsible for Hootsuite’s growth strategy and overall performance in the region, and will report to the company’s senior vice president of sales, Bob Elliott.

He brings 25 years’ experience in software, media and consulting across Australia and Asia to Hootsuite, having managed key partnerships for business intelligence and performance management software Cognos, and helped grow web-based customer service company eGain across the APAC region.

Meiklejohn has also served as the CEO of Zafin Asia Pacific, a provider of relationship banking software solutions, and was a partner of professional services firm Heidrick & Struggles.

Elliott said Meiklejohn’s experience in advising the region’s leaders and setting up strategic partnerships, as well as his familiarity with the underlying platforms and technology, will be invaluable to Hootsuite and its clients.

“I’m excited to work with Rich on empowering brands looking to harness the potential of social in APAC,” he said.

Meiklejohn said the region continues to evolve as the world’s biggest growth market for social media.

“Hootsuite is the leader in this space and I’m very excited to take the helm as we expand our operations in APAC,” he said.

Hootsuite revealed it is expanding into a new larger Sydney office space to accommodate its growing operations, and will hire additional staff across the region, including Singapore.

The company has also announced partnerships with the following technology and services solutions for social advertising:

• AdEspresso (a self-service solution for Facebook and Instagram advertising optimisation)
• Kenshoo (an internet marketing service)
• Nanigans (provider of ad automation software for in-house marketing teams)
• Adaptly (enables advertisers to scale campaigns across Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat, Twitter and Pinterest)
• Mediative (a US digital marketing and media company)
• Popimedia (a subsidiary of Publicis that helps brands optimise spend, save time, and scale media on Facebook)

Matt Switzer, senior vice president of labs, corporate and business development at Hootsuite, said brands are investing in paid social media advertising to complement their overall social initiatives and marketing campaigns more than ever.

“Hootsuite’s partnerships with these market-leading social ads solutions will help give our enterprise customers a cohesive and comprehensive view into their entire social strategy, he said.