Brands in the Philippines are placing social media at the heart of their strategy as they strive towards 360-degree customer engagement, according to a study released recently by consultancy firm TNS (Taylor Nelson Sofres).
The results from TNS?s annual Marketing Monitor study across Asia Pacific highlighted the centrality of social media for marketers — it ranked as the top element guiding the planning process, as well as the top metric used to measure the performance of campaigns.
According to the study, which surveyed a total of 2,250 marketers in Asia Pacific, including 200 from the Philippines, businesses are using a variety of sources to inform their marketing strategy.
Insights gathered through social media monitoring have finally overtaken more traditional metrics such as market share data and brand tracking to become the most popular component used by marketers.
The Top 5 metrics used by marketers in Asia Pacific, including the Philippines are:
? Social media monitoring
? Market share data
? Brand tracking
? What the competition is doing
? Information from media agencies
The findings echo the changes happening in consumer behavior across the region. As people become more connected via digital channels, brands are focusing on how they can communicate with their customers in the online spaces where they are already spending time ? social.
What?s more, for many mobile-first internet users across the country, social is the primary reason for going online, and so it is a valuable environment for marketers to both connect with their audiences and build a better understanding of them.
Zo? Lawrence, digital director for Asia Pacific for TNS, said: ?It?s no secret that social has become an intrinsic part of our daily lives ? 97% of connected consumers in the Philippines use social networks, switching between Facebook and Google+ and Instagram as the top three channels.
?This mass adoption of social provides marketers with an array of sources when it comes to developing strategies and evaluating the effectiveness of their marketing activity. As the digital ecosystem evolves, we will continue to identify new ways to build insights. However, whatever the metric used, it?s important to ensure marketers are monitoring the indicators that contribute to sales.?
The study also highlighted the top priority for marketing departments this year ? customer relationship management. The findings revealed that marketers? sphere of activity has now broadened, as they concentrate on how to deliver the best overall customer experience, ahead of the traditional aim of increasing brand awareness.
To achieve this, businesses are using social media across a range of disciplines. For example, 43% of marketers are using social media for brand communications, but in addition, even more (44%) are using it to provide customer service.
Social media appeared to be a big part of ecommerce strategy, with 54% using social media advertising and one in three (32%) using social media buy buttons.
Despite this approach to using social to support a variety of marketing goals, the results showed that businesses are not working as collaboratively as they could be, with less than half (49%) of marketers partnering with customer service teams, one in four (27%) working with the digital team and a mere 10% working with the insights department.
Lawrence said: ?With marketers using social for a range of marketing objectives, it is important that they are offering a consistent, coherent experience to the customer. Brands need to strive to break down the silos in their organizations to ensure that they are realizing the potential positive impact that an aligned, well-executed social strategy can deliver.?
