Singapore – More than half of APAC businesses (55%) see artificial intelligence as important to their social media programme – a notably higher percentage than their global counterparts (44%), according to a report by social and media intelligence firm Meltwater.
Data from Meltwater’s study also suggests that with the prominence of AI usage in marketing, 64% of the respondents in APAC leverage AI tools to save time on writing, with 36% utilising it to improve their copy.
However, though almost half (48%) of APAC teams surveyed said that social media will play a more important role in their company this year, many teams are struggling to maximise their social programs due to reduced resources.
The survey showed that even respondents from large companies with more than 1,000 employees operate in small social media teams of 2 to 5 members. Additionally, many social media teams find strategy and execution a challenge, with 34% of respondents saying that they are still working on defining a strategy, whilst a quarter are in a tougher spot of having a strategy but lacking the resources to execute it.
For other notable findings from the report, it stated that Instagram is the highest channel of interest (45%) for APAC teams, closely followed by TikTok (43%). Additionally, teams in APAC are more likely to dedicate the same budget to social media that they did in 2023, unlike teams globally who are increasing social media budgets. Lastly, 64% of respondents in APAC agree that social listening is a key component in strategic planning.
Talking about the findings, Mimrah Mahmood, vice president – enterprise (APAC) and partner at Meltwater Asia-Pacific, said, “Social media teams are in an unenviable position of doing a lot more for their organisations this year with limited resources and budget. Concerningly, not having a defined social media strategy is a more prominent challenge in APAC than other regions.”
“With the typical social media user using 6.7 platforms each month, brands need to understand the usage intent of their target audience for their platform of choice. With bandwidth being a major concern, it is crucial that teams identify which are priority channels and customise content accordingly,” he added.
