Tag: Social Media

Singapore – Market measurement firm Nielsen has released new data to list the most influential players on Instagram, with all of the listed players to play at the FIFA World Cup 2022.

Cristiano Ronaldo, who has been a global superstar for nearly 20 years with Manchester United, Real Madrid and Juventus, again increased his Instagram following in the past year with around 47% follower growth. He leads the list with a media value of US$3,585,218.

Following next is Argentinian footballer Lionel Messi with a media value of US$2,631,388 and Brazilian footballer Neymar with a media value of US$1,152,495. Other high-ranking players include French football player Kylian Mbappé (US$1,173,157 media value) and Brazilian player Vinícius Júnior (US$685,120).

Meanwhile, Spanish footballer Gavi ranks first in the breakthrough players list on Instagram, with an expected media value of US$377,305 and an engagement rate of 29.46%. Following him is Brazilian player Raphinha with a media value of US$22,727 and engagement rate of 3.59% and Brazilian player Antony with media value of US$106,229 and engagement rate of 12.42%. 

Other breakthrough players include Spanish player Pedri (US$255,212 media value and 13.20% engagement rate), Argentinian player Rodrigo De Paul (US$206,983 media value and 13.34% engagement rate), and Brazilian player Rodrygo (US$119,726 media value and 5.42% engagement rate).

Marco Nazzari, managing director of international sport at Nielsen said, “With dozens of the world’s most recognizable athletes competing for football’s ultimate prize, the World Cup will capture the attention of nearly a billion people. This event provides brands unique opportunities to partner with the right footballers to effectively engage their target audiences. Nielsen InfluenceScope evaluates all aspects of a particular player’s influence so that brands can ensure that they receive a proper rate-of-return for the right investment.”

TikTok has recently powered up its social commerce value proposition to brands, launching a suite of three ad solutions called Shopping Ads. Identifying brands’ most pressing needs when it comes to using the platform for product and brand marketing, TikTok developed new formats to address these pain points, namely – Video Shopping Ads, Catalog Listing Ads, and Live Shopping ads. 

In fulfilling its mission of becoming a reliable partner for brands and their business, TikTok has integrated digital enablers to help brands successfully put their consumer engagement in place – and for the newly launched Shopping Ads – TikTok has tapped Smartly.io as its first-to-market campaign and ads partner. 

TikTok Shopping Ads is a smarter and simplified solution that drives maximum impact by mixing the best of TikTok’s existing e-commerce advertising products with new tools. As TikTok’s first-to-market campaign and ads partner, Smartly.io will be supporting brands in its Video Shopping Ads and Catalog Listing Ads formats. 

Smartly.io will empower brands with the tools and automated workflows needed to enable scale, optimisation, and testing to drive real results that take their TikTok Shopping Ads to the next level. The social advertising platform will be supporting the creative and campaign creation and management process for Video Shopping Ads and Catalog Listing Ads. 

When TikTok rose to the top of its game, it hadn’t originally been seen as a channel to discover consumer products, but instead as mainly a social media platform for bite-sized entertainment. Khush Karai, the APAC Marketing Lead of Smartly.io, believes the tipping point has been the pandemic. 

She said that the pandemic accelerated peoples’ reliability on social media, and TikTok most especially for its unique format, the short-video platform naturally evolved to be an essential part of consumers’ buyer journey. 

“TikTok’s popularity has steadily increased over the years and gained a strong fanbase. As it became the world’s most visited website last year, brands and advertisers started to plan how to include TikTok in their social advertising mix,” said Karai.

Another strong factor in the transformation of consumers’ purchase journey would be TikTok’s unique ‘For You’ page which enables personalisation, bringing the most curated and suited content for a specific user. Through this experience, users had quickly grown to see TikTok as a source to discover something new, whether that’d be relevant content or products to buy. 

The ‘For you’ page, in line with commerce, will become even more valuable for both consumers and brands with the latter afforded the new Shopping Ads solution. 

With Smartly.io, brands are able to scale, optimise, and test their Shopping Ads to drive performance. According to the platform, they have observed that 86% of customers saw performance lift for test campaigns against core performance metrics. Together with its strong partnership with TikTok and years of expertise with leading brands and advertisers, Smartly.io can be a strong strategic partner to help brands ace their paid social game on TikTok. 

Why brands must start testing now for TikTok Shopping Ads

“Right now is actually just the perfect time,” said Karai. 

As brands and advertisers gear up for the upcoming festive period and the holiday shopping season, brands must now take the time to test these formats and see what works best. These ads are perfect opportunities for brands looking to launch new products during the holiday season, and with these use cases in mind, brands can plan ahead. 

Smartly.io, the new TikTok ads partner, also gives a tip right off the bat – use Shopping Ads with Triggers. In this way, brands can create assets in advance and schedule campaigns to start and end on particular dates, which can be during the Mega Sales Days. This will be largely useful in the South East Asia region, as we’ll see an uptick in campaigns over the Mega Sales Days and this is a great way for brands to stand out from their competitors. 

Karai says that the new commerce solutions from TikTok show the extent to which social media can influence consumer behaviour today. Smartly.io has been sharing its predictions about the ever-evolving consumer behaviour and strongly advises brands to adopt the multi-platform strategy. Within this strategy emerges the need to leverage the high-level traction of TikTok.

TikTok’s Shopping Ads offer a one-stop solution for brands to drive e-commerce sales and allows them to meet shoppers along the purchase journey – from content to cart.

Smartly.io’s solution for TikTok Shopping Ads enables seamless campaign management, bulk optimizations, reporting, and creative automation. Advertisers have access to automated workflows that help them to enable scale, optimise, and test ads that drive results and connection.

Visit Smartly.io for more details.

Singapore – Social media platform Twitter has announced a new feature called ‘Twitter Circle’, which allows users to send tweets to select people, and share their thoughts with a smaller crowd.

Twitter users can now choose who is in their Twitter Circle, and only the individuals they have added can reply to and interact with the Tweets one shares in the circle.

The feature was first tested to select users in May, and is currently rolled out to everyone on iOS, Android, and Twitter.com globally.

“With Twitter Circle, people now have the flexibility to choose who can see and engage with their content on a Tweet-by-Tweet basis. This makes it easier to have more intimate conversations and build closer connections with select followers,” Twitter said in a press statement.

Tweets sent to one’s circle will appear with a green badge underneath them. They can only be seen by those they have selected to be in your circle and cannot be Retweeted or shared. Additionally, all replies to circle Tweets are private, even if your Twitter account is public. 

“We want to ensure everyone on Twitter has the choice, control, tools, and transparency to join the conversation how and when they want, and Twitter Circle is another important step in that direction,” the company added.

United States – Social media platform has announced the integration of podcasts into their platform via their existing Twitter Spaces feature. Twitter describes the move as ‘help[ing] people connect with unique and compelling voices around the world.’

This redesign introduces personalised hubs that group audio content together by specific themes like news, music, sports, among others. Twitter listeners will be able to easily access a more personalised selection of live and recorded Spaces discussing the topics that are most relevant to them.

“From [Twitter] Spaces and podcasts to newsletters and notes, we’re working every day to improve the way people connect with creators and make Twitter the home of the most engaging conversations in the world,” the company stated.

Twitter listeners can also give a podcast a ‘thumbs up’ or ‘thumbs down’ to let the platform know if the content is more or less interesting to the listeners.

The new podcast integration will be visible to a group of global English-speaking audience on iOS and Android as of this writing.

Singapore – Global social media marketing firm Hootsuite will lay off a third of its workforce, TechCrunch first reported. The lay-offs are part of an ongoing layoff trend from giant companies such as Snap.

According to a statement to TechCrunch by CEO Tom Keiser, the layoffs are meant to refocus their strategies to drive efficiency, growth and financial sustainability. However, there were no specific statements regarding the number of layoffs, nor do the laid-off employees have been reported to receive any severance.

However, a report from The Globe and Mail suggests that the Canada-based company–currently having 1,400 people on board–will be laying off around 400 employees.

Hootsuite recently launched a rebranding campaign with its newest mascot called Owly. It has also raised around US$300m, with investors including Fidelity and Accel.

This was not the first time Hootsuite had made some lay-offs, as in 2019 it laid off around 10% of its employees amidst reports that it had failed to sell itself.

Singapore – TikTok Shop, the new e-commerce solution by short-video platform TikTok, has officially launched in Singapore. Starting 10 August, shoppers can usher in Singapore’s 57th birthday festivities via the TikTok Shop 8.8 campaign.

As part of the platform’s ongoing efforts to support local businesses, TikTok Shop is a dynamic marketplace built into the TikTok platform, allowing consumers and creators to connect and engage directly with brands and sellers. 

In particular, TikTok Shop offers merchants and brands a bustling online space they can leverage to connect with newfound consumers keen to discover new brands and share fresh finds with others.

Ng Chew Wee, head of business marketing for APAC at TikTok, said that they have observed that Singapore has exceeded its potential as a major e-commerce market, with its projected market volume expected to hit US$11.45 billion by 2025. 

She stated, “As more people shop online, TikTok Shop presents the ultimate convergence of content and commerce with unique Shoppertainment experiences for all.”

Wee added, “In this way, TikTok Shop not only empowers local businesses to effectively tap onto the platform’s fast-growing audience base to drive tangible business results but also affords the delivery of content that delights and entertains – resonating with the right audience across the discovery to purchase stages.”

With TikTok Shop, sellers can also create an e-commerce experience by having full control of the end-to-end process within TikTok – from uploading the products to curating the point of purchase as well as managing shipping and order fulfilment – affording a seamless consumer journey that will help businesses thrive. 

Additionally, sellers will also be able to tap into the rich variety of content formats to showcase their creativity, connect with their audiences and be discovered by the community. These include shoppable live sessions and creator collaborations that can be easily forged using the TikTok Shop Affiliate Program, which connects creators with sellers through commission-based product marketing. 

Pandemics, war, political dogfights and soaring inflation. You’re not imagining it – we’re being put through the wringer currently.

The recent instability we’ve experienced has only been exacerbated by the massive amounts of information being thrown at us every day. We’re being inundated – and when we’re trying to understand what our new future looks like, it’s important to have information we can rely on.

This is a major reason why news websites have seen surges in audience numbers lately. People need reliable and accurate information to understand the changing world around them.

There is no more room for misinformation. Not when we’ve all seen how dangerous it can be. Being able to trust the content we’re consuming is now one of the biggest differentiators in choosing which online platforms we frequent.

Trust has always been essential to advertisers, but it’s now more important, and difficult to achieve than ever. And with so many online media platforms competing for attention, it’s no wonder why customers are feeling a bit suspicious of the ads they’re seeing.

A recent global study by Outbrain and Savanta looked into the changing nature of trust, recommendations and advertising online. The research discovered that news sites are some of the most trusted online spaces, with 75% of respondents saying they trust the information they find there. That’s compared to just 54% who trust social media sites.

So while trust is harder to win, it can still be won with robust and accurate information. The more likely a website is to offer unreliable information, the more likely it will lose its audience. The said study found that 21% of people are planning to spend less time on social media in the next six months. Of that group, 36% are planning to spend that time visiting websites with editorial content.

This movement means it’s increasingly important that advertisers and marketers think more deeply about where brands appear online. Advertising needs to foster trust for both the page and the brand alike – it’s not just about ensuring the ad aligns with the general theme of the page anymore.

We can already see the effects of this shift in some major internet companies. Take Netflix and Facebook. Netflix had a widely publicised fall in subscribers for the first time in the first quarter of this year, and Facebook reported a drop in Daily Average Users in the last quarter of 2021.

These are both stalwarts of the digital space, and both are battling a content problem. Their trust exchanges are failing as their audiences no longer believe their attention (and in Netflix’s case – money) is being rewarded adequately. The situations aren’t unrelated.

In the new world, customers expect that in exchange for the attention they pay to your brand, they’ll be rewarded with helpful information they can actually use in their lives. Audiences cannot be taken for granted anymore. Any value your brand can provide needs to be established before they can expect to move customers through the purchase journey. 

So in the battle to win trust in the online arena, there are a few ways brands can ensure they’re targeting customers in the most effective and engaging way possible.

Native advertising is considered the least intrusive ad type, with only 20% of people considering it intrusive and 64% placing their trust in it. This is compared to 29% of respondents who say social feed ads are the most intrusive. People are either going online to escape or to find specific information – don’t disrupt that experience with a jarring ad.

Headlines and personalisation are also key ways to ensure you’re targeting customers in the most unobtrusive way. Most customers now prefer to see their recommendations personalised with headlines. Specifically, the research by Outbrain found that household decision-makers are significantly more likely to prefer personalised recommendations (59%) and headlines (58%) than non-decision makers.

These headlines need to be short, sharp and snappy – much like a news headline would be. They’re most effective for grabbing attention and pulling customers in to learn more about the topic.

Personalisation is also one of the best ways to achieve trust and provide a helpful experience online for younger age groups. These demographics resoundingly prefer an evolving experience unique to their preferences, with 53% of 18-24 year olds and 48% of 25-34 year olds choosing this option. To reach these groups, update your creative to highlight the products or services they’re interested in. Be smart about optimising your messaging to reflect where your customers are in their purchasing journey – if you get that wrong, you risk isolating them for good.

It may feel as if it’s all doom and gloom at the moment. But in a time of uncertainty, being trusted by your customer is invaluable – and can be the difference between your brand and your competitors.

This article is written by Ben Steel, general manager of Outbrain for SEA.

USA – Advertising company Taboola, has revealed the results of an independent Multichannel Brand Impact study from Kantar, a data, insights, and consulting company. According to Kantar, video advertising in native environments outperforms social media for improving brand favourability and consideration, native video ads boost brand awareness by 26% as part of larger media mixes.

With more than half of marketers saying video is their most lucrative type of advertising, eMarketer forecasts that digital ad spending in the US will reach $270 billion by 2023.

The Kantar Multichannel Brand Impact study measured the effectiveness of video advertising within native environments against other environments, as it relates to helping reach brand impact goals. The study found that compared to social or video platforms, native video ads on the open web have a greater influence on brand consideration and favorability. When exposed to a native video ad, 59 percent of study participants showed brand favorability, as opposed to 50 percent on social platforms and 51 percent on video platforms.

It is also noted in the study that when incorporating native video ads on the open web into a marketing mix, brand recognition increased by 26%. Participants who saw native video advertising displayed a 33 percent top-of-mind awareness compared to just 14 percent of the control group. When native video ads were combined with social platform video ads, top-of-mind awareness rose to 49%.

Adam Singolda, CEO and founder of Taboola, said video ads continue to prove valuable to brands, especially as TV dollars are moving to digital.

“With industry estimates indicating that video advertising in the U.S. will reach nearly $50B this year, brands have a lot of opportunities to influence customers, as long as they’re choosing the right platforms and mix of platforms to relay their messages,” Singolda said.

Singolda added, “What the Kantar study and our client work spotlight is that native video ads on Taboola High Impact Placements (HIP) are an essential part of a successful media mix. We provide the editorial environments that people trust, on a massive scale, so brands can amplify their efforts with Taboola.”

Manila, Philippines – Tropical Hut, a long-time Philippine-based fast food chain, has seen a revival these past few days, causing a massive organic marketing boost brought by a slew of customers and food delivery riders. It was all thanks to a viral tweet that has since then catalysed the hunt for their nearest Tropical Hut branch.

It all started with a tweet from stock analyst JP Tanyag, who visited a Tropical Hut branch located in Escolta at the City of Manila. In the tweet, he exclaimed that he was the only customer there. Despite the business being slow, he also stated that the fast food chain has retained most of its menu items despite being faced against big fast food chains locally.

For context, Tropical Hut was first established in 1962, and served fast-food items, including rice meals and burgers. They also served fast food versions of Filipino dishes such as palabok and tapa.

As of this writing, Tanyag’s tweet has over 7,000 retweets and over 34,000 likes. Comments regarding his tweet have ranged from nostalgic tweets of them sharing meals with their parents to commenting how the price and food quality are ‘worth it’.

Numerous tweets have popped up online, showing how packed the Tropical Hut branches are.

https://twitter.com/marianboneo/status/1538548492083560449

There are also tweets showing how several food delivery riders flocked Tropical Hut branches amidst growing numbers of orders for the fast food chain’s items.

Even popular superapp Grab in the Philippines jumped into the trend to host a giveaway–which turned out to be a full-on Tropical Hut meal.

Following the surging popularity of Tropical Hut, the chain’s official Twitter account thanked everyone for the support, and also reminded customers to patiently wait for their orders, as stocks for popular items such as their burgers are low on stock.

Belgium – Selligent Marketing Cloud, the omnichannel marketing and customer experience platform, has released a report unpacking the critical issues brands need to address to effectively engage Generation Z (Gen Z) customers.

Gen Z (born between 1997 and 2010) is finally emerging in the consumer marketplace. Having grown up with more access to technology than any other generation before them, Gen Z sees technology as less of a ‘shiny’ object and more of an extension of modern life.

As such, Gen Z’s relationship to data is also different, and privacy isn’t much of a priority. In fact, the report reveals that only half of Gen Z respondents say they have control over their personal data.

This generation is also rewriting the rules when it comes to consumer engagement in areas like technology, shopping, media and brand loyalty. The report finds:

● 75% of Gen Z respondents say they shop on smartphones, compared to 69% of millennials

● 49% of Gen Z respondents say they obtain news and information from YouTube, compared to 37% of millennials

● 55% of Gen Z respondents want to wait until technology is proven to work before they adopt, compared to 47% of millennials

Going forward, it’s vital marketers forge a new toolkit aimed at reaching and engaging with Gen Z exclusively. By learning and understanding this generation’s motivations, behaviours and preferences, they can better create strategies that drive this significant consumer segment to action.

‘Phygital’ retail experiences matter to Gen Z

For retailers, having a presence across digital and physical channels is no longer enough to reach the youngest generation of consumers. Gen Z expects technology to enhance their physical experiences rather than replace them.

Interestingly, this age group shows a clear preference for in-store shopping over millennials in several categories, including electronics (43% vs. 37%) and clothing (43% vs. 40%). Gen Z also visits physical stores more often than any other age group: 59% visit a store at least once a week, the report reveals

Retailers, therefore, need to reinvent the shopping experience, merging the physical (brick-and-mortar) with the digital (online/web) in a way that appeals to Gen Z – a process newly coined as “phygital”. This term often goes hand in hand with “digitalisation at the point of sale” – the fusion between eCommerce and physical stores.

An educated, skeptical audience wants more from media

Rather than turning to traditional media brands, Gen Z is more likely to seek information on social-media platforms than older generations. In fact, almost half (49%) say they are more likely to make a purchase after seeing a post or ad on social media than through any other channel (SMS, website or email). When searching for information, Gen Z turns to influencers on platforms like TikTok (23% – twice as many as other generations) or YouTube (49% compared to 37% for millenials).

“This generation was raised with social media and can, therefore, adapt to various formats and types of content more easily. For this reason, companies have a unique opportunity to merge advertising and content strategies for this audience, as well as create and integrate different touchpoints with their consumers,” said Anne Jarry, marketing director for Europe and North America at Selligent.

“In a trusted environment, delivering highly relevant messages, such as personalised videos embedded in a newsletter or a live-streamed event on TikTok, is much more appealing to Gen Z than other generations. This generation requires an entirely new approach and opens up opportunities to brands that are worth capturing,” added Jarry. 

“The Gen Z transformation is upon us, and marketers must be ready. Those who haven’t evolved their marketing strategies to connect with this consumer segment are already falling behind. Gen Z’s behaviour and motivations are different from their predecessors. They consume information, interact online and even shop differently, therefore, it’s critical for marketers to adapt. As a generation that desires control, brands need to empower Gen Z to effectively capture their unique preferences and form relationships, especially as third-party cookies phase out entirely, making personalisation even more vital to reaching Gen Z,” said Ramses Bossuyt, global VP of client success at Selligent.