Economic uncertainty not a factor in driving ad dollars into social for APAC marketers

Businesses in the APAC region are increasing their social media investments amid economic uncertainties. According to a recent study by Meltwater, three in five marketers and communication professionals in APAC regard social media as more important for their organisation due to economic uncertainties.

On average, 34% of their total marketing budget will be invested in social media, with as many as 77% of respondents planning to increase spends or keep them intact. Meanwhile, the five channels dominated the APAC social landscape in 2022 are:

• Facebook (87%)
• Instagram (81%)
• LinkedIn (81%)
• YouTube (64%)
• Twitter (50%)

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Meanwhile, LinkedIn is the biggest B2B network and it’s no surprise that within B2B, marketing and communications professionals ranked it highest with 44% of respondents indicating that LinkedIn was the most important channel, followed by Facebook with 21%.

Interestingly, short-form content platforms played a bigger role in B2C and NGO, with significant importance on Facebook in B2C (54%), followed by Instagram (20%). The APAC State of Social report also identified video content as a top marketing trend in 2023. Around 23% and 21% of marketers and communication professionals intend to use Instagram and YouTube in their marketing strategies for the year.

Mimrah Mahmood, senior director and partner at Meltwater Asia-Pacific said short-form videos such as Instagram Reels and Youtube Shorts are effective new formats that marketers should incorporate moving forward.

“In 2024, we expect to see more social commerce features, including paid ads, and purchase capabilities woven into these formats in response to consumers seeking more seamless shopping experiences,” he said.

For NGOs, Facebook is by far the most important (67%), followed by LinkedIn (15%). As paid options increase and Facebook owned channels become more integrated, this will have an impact on how people use the platforms in the future. Despite TikTok being named the fastest growing social media channel, it seems that it has yet to prove itself as an important channel for business.

Interestingly, TikTok has yet to be leveraged at the same rate, with only 29% using the platform. Despite TikTok’s low usage rates, it is fast emerging as the channel of choice, with 41% of participants stating that they plan to establish a presence on TikTok this year. This is not surprising given that TikTok enjoyed the highest average monthly use per Android user over the course of 2022.

How are brands measuring success on social?

When asked for the top three social media metrics, engagement (82%), website traffic (64%) and followers (also 64%) came up most frequently.

Tracking and measuring social media performance has grown, especially during recent years, in which enhanced visibility - as well transparency - are considered top priorities by a broad spectrum of organisations.

When it comes to ROI measurement, only 21% of all participants stated that they track revenue from social media channels; additionally, for 34%, marketing leads are an important metric to track. Interestingly, though the top 2 goals for social media were brand related, only 29% of respondents use brand reputation as a key metric.

Currently, 42% of marketers are currently running a social listening programme and an additional 15% plan to do so in 2023, with the goal of improving their understanding of audiences and target groups (64%), said the report.

Mimrah Mahmood, senior director and partner at Meltwater Asia-Pacific said that the average internet user actively uses about 7.2 social media platforms each month. Audiences are not always where you expect and marketers now have stronger social listening tools to find and understand them. For instance, even Reddit and Twitch can now be analysed through third-party social listening tools, he said.

“With a huge amount of consumer data available these days, it is now possible to segment audiences in far more sophisticated ways. Marketers need to go beyond demographics and look at communities. Social media data can reveal how people form ‘digital tribes’ based on their shared attitudes, behaviours, and interests, allowing marketers to make more strategic decisions.”

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