Brands are finally prioritising customer experience over brand awareness

Brands in Singapore are placing social media at the heart of their strategy as they strive towards 360o customer engagement.According to a study released today by global insights consultancy, TNS for its second annual Marketing Monitor study across Asia Pacific, the centrality of social media for marketers is now ranked as the top element guiding the planning process as well as the top metric used to measure the performance of campaigns.The study also highlighted the top priority for marketing departments this year – customer relationship management.The Marketing Monitor 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, 53% of marketers are using social media for brand communications but in addition, 40% are using it to provide customer service. Social media appeared to be a big part of e-commerce strategy, with 42% 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 only 39% of marketers partnering with customer service teams, one in three (30%) working with the digital team and a mere 16% working with the insights department.Zoë Lawrence,  digital director, APAC for TNS 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 organisations to ensure that they are realising the potential positive impact that an aligned, well-executed social strategy can deliver.”The study also said businesses are using a variety of sources to inform their marketing strategy, however 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 study said the top five metrics informing planning areSocial media monitoringMarket share dataBrand trackingWhat the competition is doingInformation from media agenciesThese findings echoed the changes happening in consumer behaviour across the country. 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’.Lawrence added: It’s no secret that social has become an intrinsic part of our daily lives – 96% of connected consumers in Singapore use social networks, switching between Facebook, Instagram and Twitter 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."Lawrence said that as the digital ecosystem evolves, whatever the metric used, it’s important to ensure marketers are monitoring the indicators that contribute to sales.APAC Singapore Top five metrics informing planning1.    Social media monitoring1.    Social media monitoring2.    Market share data2.    Market share data3.    Brand tracking3.    Brand tracking4.    What the competition is doing4.    What the competition is doing5.    Information from media agencies5.    Information from media agenciesTop priority for marketing departments this year1.    Customer relationship management1.    Customer relationship management2.    Increasing brand awareness2.    Identifying and converting new sales opportunities3.    Transforming the marketing organisation in the digital world3.    Increasing brand awareness4.    Deriving value from data to inform decisions4.    Transforming the marketing organisation in the digital world5.    Identifying and converting new sales opportunities5.    Marketing automation and programmaticHow marketers are using social media46%: Brand communications53%: Brand communications43%: Customer service40%: Customer service38%: Sales channel36%: Sales channel37%: Amplifying other marketing activity36%: Providing insights to inform product development36%: Providing insights to inform product development33%: Amplifying other marketing activity27%: Mining for customer intelligence 26%: Mining for customer intelligenceSocial media and e-commerce47%: Using social media advertising42%: Using social media advertising30%: Using social media buy buttons32%: Using social media buy buttonsDepartments marketers are collaborating with46%: Customer service teams39%: Customer service teams39%: Business development teams42%: Business development teams33%: Wider sales team30%: Digital team30%: Digital team26%: Wider sales team16%: Insights team16%: Insights teamSocial media penetration92%96%Top three social media platforms used daily1.   WeChat Moments1.   Facebook2.   Facebook2.   Instagram3.   QQ Space3.   TwitterThe Marketing Monitor study was carried out in July 2016 across 11 countries in Asia Pacific, comprising Australia China, India, Indonesia, Japan, Malaysia, New Zealand, Philippines, Singapore, South Korea and Thailand.