Social media marketing is the use of social media platforms to connect with your audience to build your brand, increase sales and drive website traffic. Such new way of marketing allows for more fluid and personalised messaging comparing to traditional marketing tactics. The seemingly never-ending pandemic has further placed social media marketing squarely in the center of a company’s outreach strategy.
Importance of identifying target audience
A target audience is a specific group of people who are most likely to be interested in your products or services. This group of individuals typically share a common characteristic or trait, such as demographics or behaviors. Identifying target audiences helps improve marketing ability as it provides a clear focus of whom the business will serve and why the consumers need the goods or services. It gives the company an edge to predict all the customers stages in the sales funnel, and meet them at each level for a successful conversion. Understanding such information also keeps target audiences at a manageable level. Another benefit is to maximise time and resources for a business. Narrowing down target audiences allows companies to focus on investing and generating products for their core customers, given that attempting to serve every possible niche is a route to failure.
Major social media platforms
• Social media platforms
Facebook was the first social network to surpass one billion global registered accounts and it accounted for nearly 68% of the social media across Asia as of April 2021. The company currently owns some of the biggest social media platforms including WhatsApp, Facebook Messenger and Instagram. According to the latest YouTube statistics, the video-sharing platform is the most used video network and second-most popular search engine after Google. It is interesting to note that most Japanese companies leverage on YouTube other than LinkedIn or WhatsApp as their business account as younger generations in Japan are gradually moving away from television and opting more for online video streaming platforms. As the world’s largest online professional network, LinkedIn is inherently B2B-centric. The platform acts as a content marketing channel for B2B markets, providing career development, professional connections, industry discussions and other business-related activities.
• Instant messaging apps
For instant messaging apps, WhatsApp is the world leader with two billion users on a monthly basis. It is a popular mobile messenger app in various Asian countries such as Hong Kong, Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia and India, though rarely being used in Vietnam. Line is maintaining popularity in Asia, with the highest performance in Japan and Taiwan. Established by a South Korean internet company, Kakao Talk became the dominant market leader, counting nearly 90% of South Korea’s 51 million users.
• Special landscape in China
With China’s great firewall banning most of the foreign social media platforms and encrypted messaging apps, major global platforms such as Facebook, YouTube and WhatsApp are inaccessible in China without the use of a virtual private network or another circumvention tool. The country built its own set of social media platforms: WeChat as WhatsApp; Douyin as TikTok; Youku as YouTube. It is imperative to have these accounts if businesses plan to enter the China market, one of the most engaged app user markets in the world. With a focus on Asia, Elite Asia produces compelling and valuable content through creative Chinese copywriting together with pragmatic technical support such as WeChat account management services.
Importance of multilingual contents on social media
Studies have been repeatedly emphasised that customers are five times more likely to purchase from a website that has content in their mother tongue. Not only do multilingual contents on social media platforms allow businesses to enhance customer experience, they also help increase online visibility as they become searchable on search engines after being localised. Identifying your target audience is the first and crucial step in creating successful marketing campaigns. Considering the local customer preference on social media, purchasing habit and local laws and regulations, businesses can then create a well-balanced marketing plan that build brand loyalty and continue to boost sales.
