Tag: Social Media

Singapore – Prasana William, former regional marketing manager of HubSpot for Asia, has been named as the new head of APAC marketing at Sprout Social, the US-headquartered company that provides cloud-based social media management software. 

Based in Singapore, William will be responsible for growing the brand awareness of the company within the region, as well as running end-to-end marketing activities to expand its customer base and enable brands to maximise the power of social.

William is a seasoned marketer who brings with her seven years of hands-on experience in the Asia B2B tech space. She worked previously for fintech platform FAVE and email marketing platform GetResponse Malaysia. Prior to HubSpot, she also held the position of regional marketing manager for SEA at Singapore-based Ematic Solutions, a marketing and technology consultancy. 

On the appointment, William commented, “Sprout Social recognises and is committed to its growth across international markets. So when the opportunity to co-create their journey in APAC was presented, I couldn’t say no. Social media touches every part of our lives today and the impact it is having on businesses is invaluable, which is why I am thrilled to be at the helm of the company’s strategy and culture in APAC and have a seat on this rocket ship.” 

Sprout Social offers deep social media listening and analytics, social management, customer care, commerce and advocacy solutions to brands and agencies worldwide. As she steps into the new role, William shared that her main priority is to partner with General Manager for APAC, Amrita De La Pena to align Sprout Social’s sales and marketing functions. This is in line with the company’s goal to accelerate its international expansion. 

According to William, Sprout Social is further increasing its pace of hiring with a strong emphasis on international markets. The company also continues to expand its product roadmap and partnerships, including the announcement of its most recent integration with TikTok. 

“We are thrilled to welcome Prasana William to Sprout Social as Head of Marketing, APAC, based in Singapore. She brings incredible expertise and experience to her role and will have a meaningful impact on Sprout’s growth in the region,” said Marino Fresch, VP of acquisition & revenue marketing at Sprout Social.

India– WATConsult, the digital marketing arm of hybrid digital agency Isobar, has won the creative and social media mandate for CarDekho, India’s digital automotive solutions provider. The account will be managed by the agency’s Delhi office.

As per the mandate, WATConsult will be responsible for CarDekho‘s social media management, digital creative designing, and content marketing, as well as ORM.

Charu Kishnani, CarDekho’s SVP of marketing and content, commented, “We’re thrilled to partner with WATConsult as our creative and social partners. This engagement will help us elevate our brand presence with the right Strategy, Ideation and Creative thinking. We are looking forward to creating some good and memorable work. Welcome aboard, WATConsult.”

Meanwhile, Heeru Dingra, CEO of Isobar India, said, “CarDekho is a one-stop destination for new as well as second-hand cars. The brand’s auto and non-auto business is expanding, and we are so excited to embark on this journey with them.”

Sahil Shah, WATConsult’s managing partner, shared that they are happy to have the opportunity to partner with CarDekho and they cannot wait to build a dynamic brand presence for them. 

“Our strategy is to enhance the top of the mind recall that the brand has created by applying creative, new age thinking and a strong storytelling narrative,” said Shah.

India – Evergreen Club, the online community for seniors in India, has launched a simple but touching campaign on social media for Mother’s Day. Through stories narrated on its Instagram and Facebook channels, it pays tribute to the incredible journey of motherhood and the one-of-a-kind love and service that only our mothers can bring. 

Through the campaign #AllMothers, the online community platform aims to create a no-judgement space where mothers feel cared and nurtured for, while they keep doing the same for their children. Stories featured are in fact from real-life experiences of ‘Club’ members. 

One of the stories shared under the campaign

“Every woman’s journey to motherhood is beautiful and unique. For some it could be a planned journey; while for others, it could be a winding, unexpected, sudden or even a short-lived experience,” said the club. 

One woman paid honour to her own mother now that she has her own family to take care of, while two stories narrated the journey of grief from different perspectives – one suffering from death in infancy and one from losing an adult son, but both showing the resiliency, strength, and grace of a mother. 

“These are the stories, we believe, we need to hear every day, and not just on an occasion like Mother’s Day,” said the club. 

Evergreen Club is an online community for 50+ older adults, where they are able to enjoy interactive virtual sessions curated especially for their diverse needs. The first-of-its-kind platform is aimed for the ‘young at heart’ to learn, interact, and engage with like-minded peers from the comfort of their homes.

Singapore – Social media giant Facebook has announced that it is shutting down its podcast platform, less than a year since it was launched in June 2021. While the date has not been specified for the discontinuation of the service, the social media platform stated that it is slowly removing parts of the podcast business in the following weeks.

“After a year of learning and iterating on audio-first experiences, we’ve decided to simplify our suite of audio tools on Facebook. We’re integrating Live Audio Rooms into Facebook Live and we will discontinue our other audio products. We’re constantly evaluating the features we offer so we can focus on the most meaningful experiences,” a Meta spokesperson said in a statement.

Some of those components that will be discontinued include Soundbites, Podcasts and the Audio destination on Facebook.

The company clarified that while the podcast platform will no longer be in service, they will be integrating Live Audio Rooms features into their Facebook Live product so that they can offer a comprehensive live broadcasting solution.

“In practice, this integration will make for a more streamlined experience so that, when using Facebook Live, you’ll have the option to go live with audio and video, video-only, or audio-only,” the company added.

Facebook’s podcast platform was launched in dedication to the platform’s growing number of online creators tapping into their platform for online reach. The company aims at growing a creator’s planned show through a social experience that drives discovery and fandom.

San Francisco, USA – Social media giant Twitter has announced that they will be acquired by multi-billionaire CEO of Tesla Elon Musk for US$44b, based on US$54.20 per share in cash. Upon completion of the transaction, Twitter will become a privately held company.

This follows after Elon Musk announced that he had previously bought a 9.2% stake in the company and invited to be part of the company’s board. However, Twitter CEO Parag Agrawal clarified back then that Musk won’t be joining the board.

Speaking about his acquisition of Twitter, Musk said, “Free speech is the bedrock of a functioning democracy, and Twitter is the digital town square where matters vital to the future of humanity are debated.”

He added, “I also want to make Twitter better than ever by enhancing the product with new features, making the algorithms open source to increase trust, defeating the spam bots, and authenticating all humans. Twitter has tremendous potential – I look forward to working with the company and the community of users to unlock it.”

Meanwhile, Agrawal commented, “Twitter has a purpose and relevance that impacts the entire world. Deeply proud of our teams and inspired by the work that has never been more important.”

The transaction, which has been unanimously approved by the Twitter Board of Directors, is expected to close in 2022, subject to the approval of Twitter stockholders, the receipt of applicable regulatory approvals and the satisfaction of other customary closing conditions.

Bret Taylor, Twitter’s Independent Board Chair, said, “The Twitter Board conducted a thoughtful and comprehensive process to assess Elon’s proposal with a deliberate focus on value, certainty, and financing. The proposed transaction will deliver a substantial cash premium, and we believe it is the best path forward for Twitter’s stockholders.”

Singapore – Last April 6, MARKETECH APAC, in partnership with Smartly.io, launched a webinar to discuss the current state of social advertising in APAC. The industry discussion, ‘Social Advertising Trends in APAC 2022’, gathered marketing leaders from brands like HappyFresh, KFC Malaysia, and Unilever Indonesia to draw their expert insights on the best strategies for social advertising today. 

Stewart Hunter, the director for customer success of Smartly.io for APAC, delivered the keynote presentation and shared why a multiplatform strategy stands to be the best plan of action for brands in this new period of social media. 

According to Hunter, a Smartly.io-led report showed that APAC brands are truly becoming social media-first where over 84% of brands in the region are spending over 50% of their advertising budget on social media advertising, which is the highest percentage globally compared to their North American and European counterparts. Of where they wish to direct this ad spend in 2022, the top social media platforms eyed were Facebook, followed by Instagram, YouTube, and then Twitter. 

Hunter said that 2022 is the year for brands to truly go multiplatform. 

“Your customers are already there, [and] are already across social media platforms; now the brands, the CMOs are really looking to make sure they are truly following their consumers and potential consumers,” said Hunter.

While there used to be fewer social media platforms for advertisers to focus on previously, now that more users have gone multiplatform, so should brands and advertisers.

In addition, in order to deliver effective social advertising today, Hunter said that brands must harness the human and tech resources needed for today’s social media landscape. As they adopt new multiplatform and multiformat strategies, social media advertising creation and delivery that still involve manual processes will prove to be cumbersome. 

As more brands and advertisers focus on social media advertising, they will need to attract talent, amid the growing competition for skilled employees. Hence it is key to harness the power of automation to drive campaigns across various platforms and generate the greatest results.

When it comes to talent, Hunter said this doesn’t necessarily mean removing talent, but rather, unleashing the creativity of their people to add additional value to the brand. 

“Within this year, how are people going to use automation to blend a range of processes [is important] so they can achieve creativity at scale,” added Hunter. 

On-demand access to the webinar, Social Advertising Trends in APAC 2022, is now available here.

Singapore – Social media platform Twitter has announced that it will be prohibiting misleading advertising regarding climate change on their platform. The announcement was made to a recent blog by the company in celebration of this year’s Earth Day.

The blog, written by Director of Sustainability Seán Boyle and Global Sustainability Manager Casey Junod, notes that said approach is informed by authoritative sources, like the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change Assessment Reports. 

“We believe that climate denialism shouldn’t be monetized on Twitter, and that misrepresentative ads shouldn’t detract from important conversations about the climate crisis,” they said.

They also added, “We recognize that misleading information about climate change can undermine efforts to protect the planet. In the coming months, we’ll have more to share on our work to add reliable, authoritative context to the climate conversations happening on Twitter.”

Twitter also pledged to continue its dedicated topic rollout on the platform to help people find personalised conversations about climate change, which included a stint for #COP26 last year, where Twitter rolled out pre-bunks — hubs of credible, authoritative information across a range of key themes, like the science backing climate change, made available in the ‘Explore’ tab, ‘Search’, and ‘Trends’.

The platform also noted that the climate conversation happening on Twitter is ever-expanding and uniquely global. Since 2021, conversation about sustainability has grown by more than 150%, and they have seen a 60% increase in terms like ‘restoring’ and ‘rebalancing’. In addition, discussion around waste reduction has increased by over 100%, and decarbonization by more than 50%.

“We all have a part we can play in tackling this urgent, global crisis. From volunteering with an environmental organisation in your community, to joining a Twitter Space with environmental experts, to learning more about protecting our planet, there are lots of ways to get involved,” the company concluded.

New York, USA – Multi-billionaire Elon Musk, CEO of Tesla Motors, officially joins the board of global social media platform Twitter, following Musk buying a 9.2% stake in the company.

In a tweet by Parag Agrawal, CEO at Twitter, he said that Musk is both a passionate believer and intense critic of the service, which is exactly what they need on Twitter and in the boardroom, to make them stronger in the long-term.

Twitter said in its regulatory filing that Musk is categorised as a Class II director with a term expiring at the company’s 2024 annual meeting of stockholders. In addition, Twitter pointed out that for as long as MrMusk is serving on the Board and for 90 days thereafter, Musk will not, either alone or as a member of a group, become the beneficial owner of more than 14.9% of Twitter’s common stock outstanding at such time.

The decision comes six months after Agrawal became the platform’s CEO while its founder Jack Dorsey left the company to become the CEO of Block, an American financial services and digital payments company.

Singapore – Marketing reports are aimed at giving a holistic view of a particular trend or landscape in the industry, but this time, MARKETECH APAC, in partnership with IAS, presents a comprehensive and targeted study that eyes to inform the community of consumers’ overall social media usage as well as their perception and receptivity towards in-feed advertising. 

In-feed ads are a format inside a user’s social feed. ‘Social Ads and Consumer Perception study – Singapore Edition’ aims to provide readers with the current behaviour and perception of Singaporean consumers towards social media and more specifically, in-feed ads. 

The report is based on a survey of over 500 Singapore consumers and vows to shed light on topics like the effect of fake news on consumers’ trust towards ads, the effect of the placement of content together with brand’s ads, and the consequence of the context of a particular ad on brand favorability and intent to purchase. 

“Social media has become a mainstream platform for advertisers to engage with the online consumers. This report shows that nearly nine out of ten online Singaporeans have engaged with an ad on social media in the past year, and that six out of ten feel favourable towards brands with contextually relevant messaging. Social media consumers are discerning about ad adjacencies and brands must make sure that their ads are contextually relevant. While 67% of consumers hold social media platforms responsible for ads appearing near unsafe content, it is equally important that brands take the onus and direct their agency partners to help them align with what’s relevant and avoid unsuitable content. A key aspect of this is working with a trusted media quality partner,” said Laura Quigley, SVP for APAC at IAS. 

Meanwhile, Shaina Teope, regional editor of MARKETECH APAC, said, “When it comes to knowing what effectively draws consumers to a particular marketing campaign, it’s always the little things that matter. Because when they are taken care of, objectives of brand awareness and brand favourability come as a natural progression. This report helps break the puzzle out of delivering in-feed ads by looking into what consumers think of this format.”

Download your copy of the report HERE.

Sydney, Australia – Automotive brand Volkswagen has reappointed agency L&A Social to manage organic social media for its Passenger Vehicles brand, following a four agency competitive pitch.

Through the mandate, L&A Social will handle the automotive brand’s end to end social media activity, including strategy, content development, photo and video shoots, campaign development, reporting and social listening.

In addition, L&A Social will continue to manage Volkswagen PV’s social pages across Facebook, Instagram, YouTube and TikTok for its Passenger Vehicle brand.

Ralph Beckmann, GM of marketing and product for the Volkswagen Passenger Vehicle brand, said, “As we continue to optimise our presence across social, L&A Social demonstrated best-in class strategic thinking and bang for your buck creative solutions that will continue to lift our brand’s engagement with social audiences on all platforms. We have successfully worked with the team for a number of years now and look forward to elevating that relationship further.”

Meanwhile, Gina Lednyak, founder and CEO at L&A Social, commented, “We are absolutely thrilled Volkswagen have once again appointed us to manage their social media strategy, content creation and implementation, against competition from other strong agencies. Their decision is a testament to the brilliant teamwork between the Volkswagen PV and L&A team, the expertise of our team and the deep understanding of social trends we have.”