Social Media trends to watch – 2024

Capitalise on emerging trends in the evolving social media landscape to elevate your social media marketing strategies. From fresh insights on new platform features, latest content trends, performance benchmarking to the importance of influencers in shaping consumer behaviour in Singapore, we've got you covered.

Question & Answer

What are your thoughts on Lemon8 and Xiaohongshu(XHS) in Singapore? How about influencers on Xiaohongshu?

[Diogo]
Like Stories and BeReal, platforms come and go and very few stay the course for real social marketing impact. One should study, look out for new platforms, pounce on them if its pertinent to your brand; in the case it has staying power, continue to post and invest in it.

Currently, both Lemon8 & XHS are for very specific audiences (especially amongst the non-local Chinese audience) and have barely made a dent in the youth demographic in Singapore – but it’s slowly growing. If you are a brand that is known for making content in new platforms, innovative in how you talk to your audience and have a well-defined niche then it might be the perfect platform for your brand (For e.g., Pinterest works very well for several smaller brands in Singapore), but if it's just another platform to take away your concentration in addressing your general audience in one of the bigger platforms, then you should save the real bullets for the battles that matter.

Do you think TikTok is good for:
1. Audience above 35?
2. Migrant workers as they seem to lean towards Facebook?
3. Premium brands or healthcare products?

[Diogo]
Audience above 35 is a growing demographic on TikTok. The platform now covers 55% of Singapore, with another 30% gap to YouTube. The issue is – if your content doesn’t resonate with the target audience (which is an extremely broad group), then it is better/easier to target bigger platforms like Facebook, Instagram and YouTube. 

For Migrant workers, Facebook is till king. But there are several great local content creators (which are migrant workers) making content with great success on TikTok. If your audience is looking out for trends and good tips on how to survive and thrive in Singapore (and of course have fun) then why not invest in starting your own group/audience on TikTok as well as Facebook?

For healthcare products, advertising guidelines in accordance with the Singapore laws still applies on TikTok. On Premium Brands, Maserati, L'Oreal, Gucci all have accounts and are advertising on the platform. It’s a niche but you'd need to adjust your content and audience goals to support the reason in adapting to TikTok specifically (if you go through their accounts, you can see how much they're changing their content – especially Gucci). 

For a brand, is it recommended to work with an agency rather than directly with the KOL; or would it be more cost-effective to engage the KOL directly and skip the agency?

[Diogo]
Agencies serve a purpose – to offset any human error or other types of biases and issues. Likewise, they're vastly more experienced at working with different KOLs which makes them a value add, not a cost per se. In my opinion, there's place for both relationships (direct and through agencies) but one needs to understand the amount of work that both comprise and if cost make sense for a smaller/different business.

With a limited budget, is it advisable to work with a few ‘bigger’ KOLs or many ‘smaller’ KOLs? Are non-celebrity KOLs more convincing?

[Chris]
When it comes to budget allocation, it's not always about the number of influencers but the alignment with your target audience and campaign goals. 

Micro-influencers tend to have higher engagement rates within their niche communities and can be more cost-effective for brands with limited budgets (although the cost-per-reach / cost-per-engagement, tend to be higher than those with larger following). They are often viewed as more relatable and trustworthy than celebrity influencers. However, larger influencers or Key Opinion Leaders (KOLs) can offer a wider reach at great cost performance. This can be further broken down to the type of content the influencer usually create (sector-specific product reviews, vlogs, etc) -- each playing different roles in your social media strategy.

It's hence crucial to consider your campaign objectives: if you're looking for targeted influence and engagement, go with micro-influencers. If brand awareness is the goal, a few larger KOLs might be more effective. A mixed strategy can sometimes yield the best results by leveraging the strengths of both.

How do we verify the authenticity of the influencer? I realised many "influencers", especially micro influencers have fake followers.

[Chris]
Authenticity can be assessed through a multi-faceted approach. Look for engagement rates that align with their follower count; genuine influencers typically have engagement rates of 1-3%. Use tools that analyse audience quality, that looks into the follower growth patterns amongst other data points. Additionally, review the comments on their posts to see if they reflect genuine interactions. Influencers with authentic followings often have a consistent voice, a clear niche, and audience interactions that go beyond generic comments.

You can also request from your agency their point-of-view or justification.

Where can we retrieve the SocialHub Performance Score (SPS)?

[Chris] 
SocialHub Performance Score is a proprietary scoring system. Mediacorp will provide upon clients’ request – for campaigns that ran through us and/or campaigns that ran outside of our platform.

Some industries like healthcare are unable to do influencer marketing due to government regulations. How can these brands then better reach out and engage with their audience?

[Diogo]
One can follow HSA and still make great content online – like the sponsorships and work done across Mediacorp TV/Radio/Social. To follow the law and still make great content on social, one needs to be inspired creatively. For e.g., Duolingo never talk about their product on TikTok, their entire account is about how awesome it is to work at Duolingo (and how the mascot is a bit nuts). Figure out what is the content that distills the values of your brand, how you can be imaginative demonstrating it on social, why it's a brand you support; rather than pawn on the audience which is something that very seldom works.