In Southeast Asia, the Philippines is one of Twitter’s fastest-growing audience markets. Data reveal 57 percent of Filipinos who are on the platform use it 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.
Gujral also said 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,” said Gujral.
He continued, “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.”
The Twitter executive emphasized the opportunity the platform 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.”
Here are his three key points in making an engaging campaign on Twitter.
Make it relatable to the audience
People go to Twitter to join conversations on subjects that matter to them, said Gujral. They look for a community where they can exchange sentiments about a common interest.
Love is a universal topic, and Closeup Philippines (@CloseUpPH), for instance, leveraged its campaign on this. They launched #FreeToLove campaign to promote the many facets of love through real-life stories of some Filipino couples.
Present something new
While an idea or a product may not be new, Gujral said there are many creative and fresh approaches of presenting it to the audience.
With the majority (70 percent) of Filipinos on Twitter wanting to try new products, brands have the opportunity to launch something new and stay connected with their audience on the platform.
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.
Tackle debatable issues
Apart from using Twitter to express oneself, people also use it 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. From a simple hashtag on Twitter, #MeToo evolved into a global movement that was brought to the cover of the prestigious Time magazine.
In the Philippines, women initiated #BabaeAko (I am a woman) on 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.