SOCIAL MEDIA | 70% of Filipinos on Twitter want to try new products
From breaking news to the latest stories in entertainment, sports, or current news affairs; Twitter is where Filipinos go to see #WhatsHappening.
People nowadays want to be the first to jump into popular ideas and be part of a conversation as it happens. Twitter’s real-time nature makes it possible for people to do so. From breaking news to the latest stories in entertainment, sports, or current news affairs; Twitter is where Filipinos go to see #WhatsHappening.
People want information on-the-go, and brands have been adapting and keeping up with new consumer strategies at the speed of culture. They are compelled to seek their consumers, build their brand equity online, and mobilize conversation in a unique way. With Twitter at the forefront of real-time conversation, brands are flocking to the interest-based platform to understand their audiences.
In Southeast Asia, the Philippines is one of Twitter’s fastest growing audience markets. 57% of Filipinos who are on Twitter use the platform daily, making it a conducive avenue for brands to launch something new and connect with their audience.
Twitter Managing Director for Southeast Asia, Arvinder Gujral shared how cultural relevance continues to shape consumers’ decision-making processes. He shared some of the most remarkable campaigns on Twitter and the insights behind it. He shared that quality and price are no longer the only factors consumers take into consideration. What propels their purchasing decision nowadays lie on how brands reflect their vision, interests, and values, and how they stand on issues that matter.
“Brands make themselves relevant not only by joining discussions, but also by initiating conversations on cultural happenings and social issues. Public discourse has become more open than ever. Millions of people jump into discussion of various topics on Twitter where they have the power to shape the conversation,”
Arvinder also emphasized the opportunity that Twitter can provide for brands. “Being an interest-based and real-time communications platform, Twitter enables brands to better gauge what their audience is up to and come up with innovative ways of engaging them. Brands regard Twitter an integral part in launching campaigns or products as it helps drive the launch’s meaningful incremental value.”
Here are three key points in making an engaging campaign on Twitter:
1. Make it relatable to the audience: People go to Twitter to join conversations on subjects that matter to them. They look for a community where they can exchange sentiments about a common interest.
Love is a universal topic, and Closeup Philippines (@CloseUpPH) leveraged its campaign on this. They launched #FreeToLove campaign to promote the many facets of love through real-life love stories of some Filipino couples. This campaign doubled the positive sentiment of Closeup Philippines’ official Twitter account, increasing the toothpaste brand’s reputation among Filipinos.
2. Present something new: While an idea or a product may not be new, there are many creative and fresh approaches of presenting it to the audience.
With the majority (70%) of Filipinos on Twitter want to try new products, brands have the opportunity to launch something new and stay connected with their audience on Twitter. For example, McDonald’s (@McDo_PH) has been promoting its french fries through National French Fry Day every July. A day before, McDo started to tease Twitter users with a “sur-fries.” To celebrate the special day, people who Tweeted #McDoFries and #ISeeMcDoFries would see a frymoji that appears beside the hashtag. Filipinos had fun in creatively expressing love and craving for fries by pairing the frymoji with other emojis.
3. It is worth-debating: Apart from using Twitter to express oneself, people also use Twitter to amplify their opinions on certain discussions.
#MeToo is one of the most notifiable campaigns on Twitter. This movement encouraged women to share their stories against sexual harassment and sexual abuse. It was a call to not tolerate such acts and a show of support to women who fell into it. From a simple hashtag on Twitter, #MeToo evolved into a global movement which was brought to the cover page of the prestigious TIME magazine.
Filipino women also initiated #BabaeAko (I am a woman) in the platform. It started as an online campaign against misogynistic remarks, but eventually evolved into a bigger movement where women vow to fight for their advocacies. This brought one of the pioneers of #BabaeAko to be recognized among TIME’s most influential online in 2018.
There are countless ways to engage the audience in the conversations but making campaigns culturally relevant is what interests the people most. Its real-time nature, and the strong presence of audiences with a variety of interests make Twitter the best platform for launching new campaigns and connecting with #WhatsHappening.
