Vancouver, Canada – Global social media management company Hootsuite has announced that it is set to acquire Talkwalker, an AI-powered social listening solutions company.
By acquiring Talkwalker, Hootsuite aims to help marketers unlock the value of social media relationships by having a combined social media engine that can turn insights into action into impact—all fueled by AI.
Moreover, its clients can expect having predictive analytics and social intelligence that can give forward-looking insights to get a head-start on a cultural trend before it starts and get a brand noticed in the larger conversation.
In addition, the combined capabilities of both companies will drive more qualified leads into a seller’s funnel from social through a deeper understanding of audience intent, as well as offer comprehensive reach across more than 100 social networks and 150 million websites.
Irina Novoselsky, CEO of Hootsuite, said, “We have had listening for years. But it was industry standard, just like everyone else’s. While that worked then, the industry is entering a new era of social media performance. To achieve this, we’re building a social media performance engine, a feedback loop where AI takes consumer data and generates insights for actionable strategies and measurable impact. The combination of social listening’s best insights technology, Talkwalker, brought into Hootsuite, will leapfrog the industry into the future of social marketing.”
Meanwhile, Lokdeep Singh, chief executive at Talkwalker, commented, “I am confident that this acquisition marks a significant milestone not just for Talkwalker, but for Luxembourg as well. It’s proof of the immense potential this vibrant ecosystem holds for nurturing and scaling startups into global tech leaders. Together with Hootsuite, we’ll continue to harness Luxembourg’s dynamic environment, propelling innovation, driving growth, and serving our customers, as we shape the future of social analytics and performance on a global scale.”
Singapore – Consumer intelligence and deep listening company Talkwalker has partnered with digital-first customer engagement software Khoros to provide brands with a world-class social media management, intelligence, and deep listening experience.
Said partnership will equip brands with the tools they need — from insights to action — to remain attuned, responsive, and adaptive to market trends and audience shifts.
Through the partnership, Khoros customers are now equipped with in-depth insights through deep listening. Additionally, Talkwalker customers can now leverage an integrated social media management solution with tools to take action on insights at scale and the ability to thoughtfully engage with and meet customers wherever they are.
Some of those advantages include holistic view of all customer conversations, powering thoughtful engagement, data coverage, actionable insights with leading AI, as well as reporting and strategy.
Lokdeep Singh, CEO at Talkwalker, said, “Having the best of both social listening and customer engagement technologies together means that brands have unprecedented capabilities to understand customers more than any other solution on the market. Marketers can tap into the deepest and most reliable data coverage allowing them to get closer to consumers more than ever before, at every point of the consumer journey.”
Meanwhile, Chris Tranquill, CEO at Khoros, commented, “We’re proud to partner with Talkwalker to help brands stay one step ahead in competitive markets and a rapidly changing digital landscape. Deep listening insights are key to tracking competitor activity and audience shifts, informing campaigns, and providing brand reputation management. Adding this to our digital engagement platform with publishing, content management, and moderation capabilities creates a powerful social marketing solution, and we’re excited to build upon our partnership.”
Santa Monica, California, USA – Avatars made on Emoji maker platform Bitmoji gets a fashion upgrade with Bitmoji through a new partnership with global clothing brand Levi’s. As its in-app avatar creator, the “wardrobe” addition will also be applied to social media platform Snapchat.
Through the Levi X Bitmoji partnership, which was brought on to appeal to Gen Z consumers, users will now be able to customize their avatar with select Levi’s “apparel”, which includes 12 curated Levi outfits, the 501® Original Fit Jeans, Trucker Jackets, and Western Shirts, all available in multiple washes.
Once finished customizing their digital avatar, users can use and see their designed avatars in various Snapchat features, such as chat and games, on the Snap Map, in Lenses, and in personalized content like Bitmoji Stories.
(Left) A model sporting Levi’s Trucker Jacket, (Center) A Bitmoji avatar sporting a digital version of the Levi’s Trucker Jacket, (Right) A SnapChat QR Code for users to check on the rest of the featured Levi collection.
“As people live more and more of their lives online, it’s crucial for brands to find authentic ways to exist in the digital world,” says John Imah, Snap’s head of games and entertainment partnerships.
“Leading fashion brands like Levi’s have embraced Bitmoji’s ability to foster genuine connections with consumers in the digital spaces that they live in. We’re pleased to bring together the world’s most loved avatar with one of the world’s go-to denim brands in this exciting partnership,” he added.
The Levi’s® x Bitmoji collection is now available worldwide for Snapchatters and Bitmoji users on Android and iOS devices.
Hong Kong – Media investment company GroupM is continuing its expansion in the Asia-Pacific region, this time launching INCA, an influencer marketing company, to the Hong Kong market.
With this regional expansion, INCA will then allow brand-influencer partnerships to leverage content-driven campaigns. Furthermore, as more brands are reallocating their influencer marketing budget to social media brand engagement, INCA upholds brand safety across using AI technology leverages.
As a study from data company Nielsen shows that economic and social uncertainties have affected brand advertising by means of audience impact, brands have since then ventured out into strategies that are efficient and will have return of investment in no time. Hence, INCA in Hong Kong aims to provide influencer marketing to the local brands by allowing them to collaborate with genuine influencers in spreading the brand, benefiting Hong Kong-based brands from the leveraging strategies from INCA.
“We are committed to helping brands in Hong Kong create the best possible outcomes through our data-driven and brand-safe approach to influencer marketing. Our AI-powered solutions and thorough influencer and content approval processes ensure their investments in influencer marketing inspire their customers, protect their brands, and achieve results that are directly tied to business results,” said Michael Woo (right of banner picture), associate director for Product & Operations at INCA Hong Kong.
INCA is also allowing brands to check the authenticity of their influential marketing strategies through INCATech, a platform that allows brands to check unique creator and audience insights, workflow tools, content amplification, and detailed campaign reporting dashboards which includes Genuity Score.
A screen grab featuring the dashboard of INCA’S INCATech platform that monitors partner influencers (Photo Courtesy of INCA)
“Advertisers are faced with the challenge of finding authentic and relevant content creators while ensuring cost-efficiency in their marketing campaigns. Our technology will help equip advertisers, not only in Hong Kong but globally, with data-driven tools that will connect them to genuine influencers and leading publishers in order to achieve their marketing objectives,” said Andy Chung (left of banner picture), head of programmatic at GroupM.
Singapore – 15% of people in Singapore turn to live streaming to purchase popular products such as fresh seafood, lipsticks, and earphones. Millennials are more likely to jump onto the bandwagon. 4 out of 5 respondents aged 18-24 years old state that they are likely to purchase products from live streaming.
These are findings commissioned by Shopavision, a live stream focused shopping platform in Singapore. The data was derived from 5,200 online conversations from 9 May 2020 to 9 June 2020.
Research partner Parrot Social extracted these conversations from social media platforms such as Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, forum, and online pages in Singapore.
Who is tuning into live streaming?
People in Singapore who purchase items from live streaming are 51.3% female and 48.7% male. In terms of live stream purchases among the different age groups, 55.4% of people aged 18 -24; 36.8% aged 25-34, and 6.4% aged 35-44 purchase products via live streaming.
Despite this, Singapore is slower in the adoption of live streaming as compared to countries such as China and America. 15% of people in Singapore consume live streaming content as compared to 90% of people in China and 38% in America.
Consumers are no longer just browsing through product descriptions, but they are now actively participating in the buying process.
Rachel Pang, Founder, Shopavision
“We saw that live streaming has become such an integral way of life for people in China and wanted to bring it to Asia. Live streaming marries sales with entertainment and provides a direct channel for people to interact with merchants. Consumers are no longer just browsing through product descriptions, but they are now actively participating in the buying process. They can ask questions, get responses live, and get entertained by live streamers, from the convenience of their homes. Live streaming is the future of online commerce,” said Rachel Pang, Founder, Shopavision.
What are people buying via live streaming?
The top three product categories that people in Singapore are buying online are food, make-up,and technology gadgets at 70%, 20%, and 10% respectively.
Some of the food items that people have been purchasing online include bubble tea, seafood, and other meats. People typically spend between $2 – $200 on seafood and fresh meats.
In the category of make-up, lipsticks are one of the most preferred items. This is likely due to the fact that lipsticks are low cost items and often come in bundled deals.
People typically spend between $1 – $40 on lipsticks and lip glosses. One of the top searched items in this category are moisturizing lipsticks.
In the category of electronic gadgets, people typically spend between $5- $25 on earphones. Other commonly purchased electronic gadgets are power banks, which see purchases between $5- $20 on average.
Why do people like live streaming?
9 in 10 respondents who tune in to live streaming like the platform as they can get actively involved.
74% of millennials say they find live streaming videos helpful when it comes to comparing products before they make a purchase.
What are popular live streaming platforms?
Online conversations seem to reflect the dominance of platforms catered to specific interests in Singapore. The top three most popular live-streaming platforms include Twitch; a live streaming app for gamers, V Live; an app that facilitates live chat between Korean celebrities and fans, and Youtube Live.
“We started to explore live streaming to sell our products and services in 2018. Today, our traditional wholesale business relies solely on live streaming as a sales channel. I believe live streaming brings many opportunities to merchants and they should try it. Shopavision is the first live streaming focused shopping platform and its system helps merchants with tedious backend work such as manually collating customer orders. Customers can buy instantly. We are excited to be one of their partner merchants,” said Max Kee, Merchant, Shopavision, and Business Owner, Lian Huat Seafood.
Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia – The Conditional Movement Control Order (CMCO) was announced on May 1st effective on Monday, May 4th. As Netizens raised concerns over the potential increase in infections, businesses are rushing to put safety measures in place and prepare for reopening over the short notice. Several states have taken a stance to either opt out entirely or revise the CMCO for tighter control. The 7th edition of this study covers chatter about the CMCO, reactions and stances taken by individual states, compulsory screening for all foreign workers, highlights on four selected industries, and top trending topics among Netizens during this period.
With an estimated loss of RM 2.4 billion per day of MCO, the government announced the CMCO effective May 4th to reopen most businesses. The rushed announcement was made on Friday, May 1st with only three days for businesses and workers to prepare. The movement restrictions have also been eased with conditions, allowing two people in a car, travel distance more than 10km, allowing stranded Malaysians to return to their home or workplaces, and limited sports activities. The reopening of businesses also highlighted another concern over the finances of affected citizens.
The gap between the public’s spending capacity becomes apparent when we look into social chatter, typically industries that are considered as non-essential or a luxury. This edition’s study covers the Telco, Local Fashion, Gold Jewellery, and Beer industries, angled to derive insights from trends of chatter among consumers when it comes to non-essentials and luxuries. Providing insights into the proportion of Netizens who are financially comfortable during the MCO, and indirectly indicate the proportion of those who are not.
While communications are a necessity, multiple telco packages were offered in line with Stay Home campaigns during the lockdown, providing greater access and bandwidth to users but what of users who now will spend more time at work and dread the additional expense. On the other hand, the local fashion and gold jewelry guys who were pretty stagnant during lockdown have seen increasing interest as the festive season draws near. With hope for the MCO to conclude before Hari Raya, a considerable portion of Netizens including non-Muslims are preparing to celebrate the festive season in the new norm.
Wisesight’s Founder and Regional Director of APAC, Shakthi DC said, “Engagement data in relation to these industries can be used to assess the economic impact on target markets. After almost two months in lockdown, Netizens appear to have had a shift in priorities, where self-reflection has increased individuals’ needs towards personal well-being across the dimensions of physical, emotional, and financial health and security. This is indicated through the uptake of essential supplies while comfort and luxury were compromised during lockdown.
Depending on how quickly a vaccine is identified, when the economy picks up and People as individuals begin feeling secure again, it’s likely that the Luxury segment and Brands offering high-value assets will suffer as People make cutbacks due to the effects of Covid19 and are shaping up to be the last segments to recover.”
She added, “The reopening of the economy will unquestionably bring back some volume in traffic and transactions, albeit with changes in consumer buying behaviours. Businesses that have adapted and remained in touch with their audiences throughout the lockdown will find it easier to engage with their customers post-MCO. Purely because brand loyalty and affinity was actively maintained throughout the lockdown, and the results will show in the target audience’s response. Also considering the heightened fear of infection, organisations that create environments and processes with reduced physical contact, increased hygiene and safety measures will continue to gain public support as we embrace the new norm.”
Wisesight’s study details the events from 29th April – 5th May analysing the reactions and impact of these changes in comparison to findings from the previous weeks. The latest study includes:
Netizens reactions to the CMCO
Stances taken by individual states regarding the CMCO
Top Malaysian’s concerns over the past seven weeks
Current trending topics Malaysians shared online
Selected Industries’ performance during the MCO (Telco, Local Fashion, Gold Jewellery, and Beer)
Best practice recommendations for Brands content strategy
Case Study – Communications and strategies adopted by highlighted industries to retain market share during the MCO
Other stories of key interest among Malaysians during the period analysed
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