Watch out for the Likes, Facebook may be your next gold mine

When consumer giant Unilever announced in 2010 that it was doubling its digital marketing spend, it put marketers the world around on notice that digital marketing had come of age. Considering the amount of time spent online, the rise of the smartphone, and the amount of attention garnered by social media, it is no surprise that traditional marketing is giving way to digital marketing.

But has digital marketing caught on in Singapore? Singapore would seem the ideal arena for digital marketing – it has a strong, mature infrastructure, a high level of education with a correspondingly high level of information technology use. Its government is very supportive of online and digital initiatives, and as a result, Singapore is one of the most progressive nations in Southeast Asia as far as technology goes.

Singaporeans’ relative prosperity has often translated into a fondness for gadgets, and Singaporeans are Asia’s early adopters, with technological developments arriving here before making their way to the rest of Southeast Asia.

GetIT Comms’ 2011 State of Marketing Singapore Industry Report offers some interesting insights. The report consolidates the results of a survey that was issued through social media and direct email to GetIT Comms and Singapore Infocomm Technology Federation (SITF) member/subscriber databases. Run over a 15 day period, the survey polled respondents across a range of companies and job functions. 42 per cent of the respondents came from marketing-specific roles, and 24 per cent from upper management and C-level executives.

Overall, the report indicates that marketing budgets are up, with much of the boost happening in interactive digital media and social media. Traditional media remains a stronghold, with print advertising and broadcast media having strong budgets, but with companies more willing to use social media marketing for brand and product awareness. Unsurprisingly, the top social media channels are Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn.

These top-line findings perhaps reflect the more cautious outlook of Singapore marketers, who do plan to make use of digital and social media, but in conjunction with print and broadcast media. Nearly two-thirds of respondents indicated an increase in their marketing budgets for social media, social networks and interactive digital media.

A third indicated that print, advertising and broadcast budgets were also being increased, a sure sign that these channels continue to be relevant in Singapore. The digital natives of Singapore can still be reached through more traditional means.

The majority of respondents (83%) reported that their corporate web presence was primarily aimed at providing information and news about the company. In addition, many companies (70%) also use that web presence for sales generation, so while corporate websites retain their traditional role, they have also gained an additional use. Companies have become more progressive, and are working to get more value from their web presence, no doubt driven by social media.

Many respondents (64%) also reported that Search Engine Marketing (SEM) is on the rise. It is perhaps a sign of the market’s maturity that this is the case, as companies seek to optimize their web/online presence for search engines. The search engine advertisement platform that was most used was Google Adwords.

65 per cent of respondents indicated that Facebook was their primary online social activity, a rise of 23% from the year before. Twitter rose to second place (42%) and YouTube has moved to third place (38%). This is a change from last year, where LinkedIn and blogs were tied for second place.

Blog use has gone down, perhaps cannibalized by other social media, and YouTube’s higher position is probably due to higher bandwidth and better internet speed and access. The evolution of Singapore’s social media scene continues to grow, and marketers will be quick to keep up or even predict the next hot thing.

Social media marketing is being used for a great many things: brand/product awareness, lead generation, customer engagement and thought leadership. When asked what social media might be used for in the next six to twelve months, the majority of respondents (61%) indicated that lead generation and customer engagement were the most likely choices.

A very large majority (83%) of respondents agree or strongly agree that social media is an effective means of marketing, and only 2% indicate that they see no value in it. 77% manage social media efforts in-house, with 15% outsourcing aspects of their social media marketing.

Social media use is also on the rise, with 63% of respondents indicating that they use social media for two or more hours per week, and 31% using it for over five hours per week. This is an increase from the previous year, showing how much more important social media has become – and how people are putting in more time and effort into maintaining their online presence.

It looks as though this is the year to watch, as companies ramp up their marketing plans, and revamp them to include a large digital marketing component. While traditional media maintain their relevance, it will be interesting to see the kind of synergies they will have when used together with interactive digital media and social media for marketing in Singapore.

Anol Bhattacharya, Director and CEO, GetIT Comms