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AI adoption is no longer the challenge—trusted context is. Most organizations have AI tools, but many still rely on disconnected, stale, or unverified data, limiting the quality and trustworthiness of AI-generated outputs. Meltwater MCP brings trusted, real-time intelligence into AI assistants.

Your Best Context is Already in the Room

Today, PR teams aren’t just tracking media coverage and share of voice. They’re also measuring how their brand shows up in AI-generated answers, search summaries, and large language models (LLMs). This new LLM visibility layer is quickly becoming a critical part of PR performance.

15 Must-Have PR KPIs and How to Track Them

See how one platform can power every decision across PR, communications, and marketing.

The Meltwater Blog

Blog Topics: Generative Engine Optimization, Media Intelligence, Media Relations, Social Listening, Consumer Intelligence, Influencer Marketing

Find out how you can leverage Facebook to boost your brand's online presence and gain a competitive edge. Explore the Meltwater category page today!

Facebook Blog | Meltwater

Find out how you can leverage Instagram to boost your brand's visual appeal and gain a competitive edge. Explore our category page today!

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Find out how you can leverage LinkedIN to grow your professional network and gain a competitive edge. Explore the Meltwater category page today!

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Find out how you can leverage TikTok to elevate your brand with creative content and gain a competitive edge. Explore the Meltwater category page today!

TikTok Blog | Meltwater

Find out how you can leverage X / Twitter to engage your audience effectively and gain a competitive edge. Explore the Meltwater category page today!

X / Twitter Blog | Meltwater

Find out how you can leverage YouTube to create engaging video content and gain a competitive edge. Explore the Meltwater category page today!

YouTube Blog | Meltwater

Generative Engine Optimization (GEO) is transforming how brands show up in AI-powered search. Explore insights, strategies, and best practices to help your content rank and resonate across conversational engines like ChatGPT, Gemini, and Copilot.

Explore insights and strategies for Generative Engine Optimization (GEO) to help your brand stay visible and discoverable in AI-powered search.

Generative Engine Optimization (GEO) Blog Collection | Meltwater

Media monitoring helps organizations stay informed about what’s being said across online news, print, broadcast, podcasts, and other media channels. Whether you're tracking brand mentions, measuring PR performance, monitoring competitors, or identifying emerging trends, our expert guides, best practices, and industry insights will help you build a smarter media monitoring strategy and make more informed communications decisions.

Discover expert media monitoring guides, best practices, and industry insights to track brand mentions, monitor competitors, and stay ahead of the news.

Media Monitoring: Guides, Best Practices & Industry Insights

Every day billions of conversations take place on social media: tweets, posts, comments, blogs, reviews, podcasts, and much more.
Learn how to use social listening to make sense of all of that data.

On our social listening category page, you find all our blogs covering topics around social listening and social media monitoring. Read more.

Social Listening Blogs | Category

Business Reputation Management: What does it take to add reputation management to your marketing strategy? More importantly, how do you keep your reputation sparkly and shiny? Here’s your all-access guide to online reputation management for the long term.

On our reputation management category page, you find all our blogs covering topics around business reputation management. Read more.

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From your brand's logo to your website, your social media presence to your customer support—these elements combined are what constitutes a brand in the minds of customers. But, there are thousands of other businesses that have a logo, website, social media presence, and website. So, how can you position your business on the market and make it stand out from the competition?
The key to success is branding & brand management!

On our brand management category page, you find all our blogs covering topics around brand management. Build your strategy and reach your goals!

Brand Management Blogs | Category

Competitive intelligence and the act of collecting competitive data can be seen as growth drivers for a company. Our guide will help you understand the concept of competitive intelligence (CI) by answering questions such as: What is the definition of competitive intelligence? How is competitive intelligence useful to organizations? What is the goal of competitive intelligence? And more.

On our competitive intelligence category page, you find all our blogs covering topics around competitive intelligence. Learn how to stay ahead.

Competitive Intelligence Blogs | Category

Let’s dive into the customer journey framework and how to optimize the process by creating a customer journey map and using metrics that matter when analyzing the customer journey.

On our customer journey category page, you find all our blogs covering topics around mapping and understanding the customer journey.

Customer Journey Blogs | Category

What Is Data Analytics?
How can I grow my business? 
How do customers interact with my newly launched product?
How do I increase the productivity of my employees?
How do I know if my marketing efforts are working?
We have just two words for you...Data analytics!

On our data analytics category page, you find all our blogs covering topics around AI and data analytics. Technical and still easy to understand.

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Public relations and media relations can add impact to any marketing strategy. It’s an opportunity for brands to grow their reach beyond traditional sales messages. PR helps to shape the image you want people to have of your brand.
So, what is PR and how do you use it? This guide shows you everything you need to know to build a strong public relations foundation.

On our public relations (PR) category page, you find all our blogs covering public relations and communications topics. Step up your PR game.

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We all know exactly what the roles of sales or accounting are in a company, right? We might even have a slight idea of what the IT guys are doing.
But there is another business discipline, that plays a crucial role in organizations, even more so during the pandemic – internal communications!
But what exactly do we mean by that, what purpose does it serve and what steps can you take to ensure you and your employees will communicate effectively?

On our internal communications category page, you find all our blogs about internal comms topics. Learn about the intranet, internal newsletters, and more.

Internal Communications Blogs | Category

As the internet has taken root in more areas of our lives — everything from entertainment to shopping to paying bills and more — traditional marketing is becoming less impactful. As any marketer knows, you need to focus on where your audience is if you want to reach them. Since the average person spends about seven hours a day online, it’s no surprise that content has maintained its hold on marketers.
Here's a closer look at what content marketing is and why it matters more than ever in our digital-first economy.

On our content marketing category page, you find blogs about content marketing topics. Learn about strategies, KPIs, tips, and more. Make your content king!

Content Marketing Blogs | Category

The rise of the influencer marketing space – today a $10 billion industry, growing 50% per year – is one of the clearest examples of how social media is transforming traditional marketing. These days having a business website, presence on social, PR coverage, and your own content isn’t enough to compete.
We'll dive into the intricacies of influencer marketing to help ensure that you're equipped with the insights needed to be successful in this space.

On our influencer marketing category page, you find blogs about influencer marketing topics. Build your strategy, find influencers, and measure results.

Influencer Marketing Blogs | Category

Have you just launched a new product or service that you want to get the word out about? Maybe you want to share with consumers why it is awesome and how it is so much better than the one your competitors offer.
Well, then, there is one thing you can't do without...Marketing!

On our marketing category page, you find blogs about marketing topics. Learn about all the different angles and types of marketing and improve your results.

Marketing Blogs | Category

In this guide, we want to give you a peek into the definition of social media management, the daily schedule of a social media manager, social media platforms to promote your business, and the do’s & don’ts of social media management.
Are you ready to begin the journey of becoming a social media superstar?

On our social media management category page, you find blogs about social media management topics. Build and manage your online community.

Social Media Management Blogs | Category

Building a following and using social media platforms to reach a wider audience requires a well-planned social media marketing strategy. In this guide, we’ll be looking at why social media marketing is so essential and how you can make it work for your business.

On our social media marketing category page, you find blogs about social media marketing topics. Learn how to get the highest paid social ROI!

Social Media Marketing Blogs | Category

In the fast-evolving realm of digital marketing and public relations, utilizing the right tools is crucial for success. Our interdisciplinary category showcases all the pertinent tools for digital marketing & PR. These tools help in enhancing your online presence and effectively reaching target groups, whether through reputation management, influencer marketing, or social media management.

On our digital marketing and PR tools category page, you find all our blogs covering topics around mapping and understanding the customer journey.

Digital Marketing & PR Tools Blogs | Category

On 7 July 2019, the rumble of 60,000 excited fans echoed through the stands of the Parc Olympique Lyonnais stadium in Lyon, France. They were eagerly anticipating the final showdown to the electrifying campaign that was the Women’s World Cup 2019. Just in the USA alone, another 14.3 million viewers tuned in to the game through their screens. The USA Women’s Football team clinched their fourth Women’s World Cup championship title after a convincing 2-0 victory over the Netherlands that evening – with goals from a penalty taken by Megan Rapinoe and an absolute screamer of a left-footed shot by Rose Lavelle. The team have now returned to their fans back home to celebrate their victory, but their mission to grow the sport is far from over. 

For years, Women’s football has always lived in the shadow of their male counterparts. With a disproportionate amount of tournament prize money going to the male sport and lack of investment to the sport, female footballers are facing huge challenges. But the toughest and longest battle is the one for equal pay. In 2016, the first significant step was made to correct this wrong when five senior US national football players filed a wage-discrimination action to demand equal pay. Since then, the movement has only gained momentum and the Women’s World Cup this year was the turning point. 

There was something different in the air this World Cup compared to the last. No longer were the US team regarded as the Goliath of the football scene trampling on the other teams that came their way. While they remained the strongest contender, they were faced with formidable opposition, advancing the competition by narrowly defeating their challengers with slim single goal margins on multiple occasions. The quality of football improved drastically across the board and this resulted in more thrilling clashes. People – both fans and journalists – shared their excitement online. This World Cup saw a staggering increase of 16K news mentions from the 2015 World Cup and a total of 46.65 million social media mentions across social platforms like Twitter, forums, blogs, Tumblr and Facebook. From controversial calls by referees to heated discussions over the behaviour of the footballers, the digital world was abuzz with chatter this season – a sign of the growing popularity that Women’s Football is garnering.

Now let’s take a look at some of the most talked-about moments of this campaign: 

The opening two weeks of the campaign saw a total of 930K mentions on social media, but online conversations only started gaining traction after the match between the USA and Thailand. The US National team were met with huge criticism online for their lack of sportsmanship when they defeated the Thais with a 13-0 thrashing. Critics were unhappy with the team’s unrelenting pursuit for goals despite an already huge margin, and how vehemently they celebrated after they scored each one. The US team defended back saying that going easy against their opponent is a greater sign of disrespect. This event also sparked a wider discussion of double standards imposed on male and female football and the lack of investments channelled towards female football teams in regions outside the US.

Many have said that this World Cup was more than just a matter of football. It was a stage to advocate for relevant social issues like institutionalised gender inequality and gay rights. Blazing the trail was the US National Team’s co-captain Megan Rapinoe. 

Throughout the campaign, Rapinoe was unapologetically candid in her interviews. Her big personality caused quite a controversy when she boldly claimed that she would never visit the White House. She was never shy to express her disdain towards President Trump for his divisive and non-inclusive policies and statements. This triggered an entire series of tweets by the President himself about how Rapinoe has been disrespectful to the country. People on the Internet began taking sides, as with all issues linked to American politics, and out of the 860K social mentions about the World Cup that week, 250K of them were in relation to Rapinoe’s comment.

Rapinoe has also been extremely vocal about the inequality women face in sports. She has been leading the conversation for equal pay and prize money and has become the face of the movement. When FIFA scheduled two other finals involving US teams at the same time as the World Cup finals between USA and Netherlands, Rapinoe unabashedly called the officials out for their bad management – a reflection of their lack of regard for the sport.  

The final week of the World Cup campaign garnered a grand total of 720K social mentions. While the finals between the US and the Netherlands was the biggest game of the season, the semi-finals match between the US and England generated the most chatter online. The match was highly anticipated with many believing that if the US were to be toppled, the Lionesses were to be their undoing. But topple them they did not, and the US emerged victorious with a narrow 2-1 win. However, what sparked the most online conversation was Alex Morgan’s cheeky goal celebration – she pretended to sip tea in front of the English supporters. This moment alone drew over 210K mentions on social media. 

Viewers who took offence at this gesture began to air their criticisms online. English personality Piers Morgan condemned her celebration as “bordering on a declaration of war” between the two nations. 

Again, the conversation was directed back to the issue of double standards between men and women in sports. Alex Morgan responded to her critics with examples of male footballers celebrating their goal with a bit of jest like grabbing their sacks or flashing the “L” hand sign (implying the word “loser”). Yet viewers often give them a pass or sometimes even embrace them. It seems that people are harsher and more critical of the actions made by female footballers than their male counterparts. 

Women’s Football – More than just a game

The defining moments of the Women’s World Cup campaign simply shone a light on the injustice endured by the football community and the wider society at large. Though participating nations have gone home and the hype has died down, the important conversations sparked during its course continue to burn brightly. Leading the charge are the female footballers themselves, who have been tirelessly fighting for greater recognition for years. The difference after this World Cup? People are finally listening.

To learn more about how you can uncover insights about your campaign from external data, click here!

Women’s World Cup 2019: Social Media Analysis

Star players, big sponsorship deals, massive live events and a huge – and growing – fan base. Surely the time has come for esports to be regarded as part of the marketing mainstream in Britain?

It seems remarkable that there’s a form of entertainment which is already viewed as bigger than the UK video and music markets. Yet, marketers and advertisers remain largely unaware of it, or simply see it as a niche-market netherworld inhabited by stay-at-home teenagers and geeks.

Some experts even believe that esports, or competitive video gaming, could become more valuable than the movie industry as younger consumers, around the world, embrace a radical new era of digital entertainment.

According to the latest Esports Report published by Newzoo, which specialises in games and esports analytics, by the end of 2019 there will be 454 million esports participants worldwide and revenues of US$1.1-billion. This is up 26% on the previous year.

By 2020, it is estimated that the number of participants will rise to 645 million and revenue will be approximately US$3.2 billion. The number of people who play video games (not necessarily competitively and therefore not classified as true ‘video gamers’) is even higher, at an estimated 2.2-billion people.

“This is not just a few geeky kids playing in their attics. This is a generation that is redefining what is considered sport and what is entertainment,” says John Clarke, Global Brand and Marketing Communications Officer at Gfinity, the UK-based esports company.

In a May 2019 column written for The Drum magazine, he notes: “Brands need to understand the scale of this change because the danger is they underestimate the differences of this community of gamers – or make the mistake of thinking of them in terms of traditional sports fans.

The esports community is something entirely different. Quite apart from being hard to reach in more conventional ways, the level of engagement and immersion in the games they are playing or watching is on another level to that of a traditional fan. Hard to imagine. But true.”

Clarke continues: “Like it or not, esports and competitive gaming have become a way of life for hundreds of millions of young people. It will continue to grow; the only question is by how much and how quickly?”

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According to the British Esports Association, the UK is the world’s fifth biggest market for games purchases, but has historically lagged behind many other countries when it comes to esports. But the association is working to change this and is pushing esports not as a rival to traditional sports, “but as a credible activity in its own right which can have positive cognitive and other benefits when done in moderation. eSports promotes teamwork and communication, develops communities and provides jobs”.

Not that British esports is insignificant. The ESL One Birmingham 2019 event which took place at the end of May, for example, had a total of US$300 000 in prize money  and attracted 13,4 million views across platforms such as Facebook, YouTube and Twitch TV, a global live streaming platform for gamers.

This year also saw the start of the ePremier League, an esports competition based on the remarkably successful English Premier League. All 20 Premier League clubs hosted a live playoff round, giving two EA SPORTS FIFA 19 competitors, one for PlayStation and one for Xbox, the right to advance to the ePremier League Final.

The Grand Final took place in London in March, and the event was broadcast live on Sky Sports and the Premier League’s digital channels. Statistics published by Esports Charts indicate that the final attracted 9,63 million views.

“It [the ePremier League] has the potential to do so much for esports in the UK, providing jobs/careers to talent, providing entertainment for viewers and helping to spread awareness of competitive gaming and show everyone it’s a viable activity that’s here to stay.

I swear you’ll never see anything like this ever again,” said Dom Sacco, UK Editor for Esports News when the competition was announced last year.

Although it isn’t purely a UK-focused competition, the Formula One eSports Series has also proved popular. Conceived as a way to market a sport that has been struggling to reach a younger audience, it attracted more than 4 million viewers in 2018.

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Brandon Leigh, a 19-year-old from Oxfordshire who won both the 2017 and 2018 Formula One eSports Series, is now signed up with the Mercedes-AMG Petronas Esports team. “They have literally employed me to play the game,” he explained in a recent interview. This certainly seems to indicate the level of seriousness that professional sports teams are now showing to their esports imitators.

“For marketers, esports promises access to the sought-after 18-34 male demographic, with over 100 million die-hard gamers playing each month and millions more following on free streaming platforms,” says Michael Goldman, a marketing professor at the University of San Francisco in the US. “Relative to the global online population, research suggests esports enthusiasts are more likely to have full-time jobs, have higher incomes, spend more on digital media and download more mobile games.”

So the potential is there. The question for marketers and their agencies, therefore, is how to leverage this to effectively promote their brands and products?

“Despite its rapid rise, esports is still a small fraction of the digital advertising market. The commercial sponsorship model that’s so ingrained in traditional sports, with the legitimacy that big mainstream brands can deliver, is yet to be adopted by esports,” observes Seb Joseph, Brands Editor at Digiday UK, an online publication covering the media and marketing industries.

In an interview with Joseph, Charlie Beall, Senior Consultant at London-based digital sports consultancy Seven League, noted:

“As a brand, it’s not always clear which is the best property with which to align yourself. You can sponsor players, who are often young and commercially naïve; a team, whose managers who are equally young and commercially naïve; or a competition, which have few trustworthy and established players. However, ultimately it’s the game publisher that controls the IP created around esports and the trouble is that they can shut it down at any point.”

Clarke believes that one of the key trends for brands to capitalise on is the growing desire of the target audience to extend beyond just watching tournament play, either live or via a channel.

“There is an appetite for new types of shows and competition formats, bringing more of an entertainment approach to gaming. More people on the esports channel, Twitch, watch live streaming of their heroes playing popular games than watching the ‘best of the best’ in live tournament play,” he writes.

The next step, he predicts, is the growing involvement of professional athletes from the worlds of football, NBA and NFL, as well as entertainers from the worlds of television, film and music who love gaming, pulling their game-loving fans into the broader esports space. This is where the opportunities for new ideas and content are endless – and where the white space exists for brands to play.

“Imagine you like playing the FIFA video game and you get the chance to watch one of your favourite Premier League stars like Dele Alli play the same game against his team mates or star players from rival clubs anywhere in the world. Or for that matter a music or entertainment star. The picking of the teams, the banter, the forfeits, innovative game-play formats and so on. The game-play is peripheral. The level of engagement is unbeatable. This is where brands can play and add value.”

Although global brand giants such as Coca-Cola, Red Bull and McDonald’s are already seizing the esports opportunity, there are hurdles that must be overcome in order to attract more big-name corporates, warns Jodie Fullagar, Managing Director of M&C Saatchi Sport & Entertainment in London.

“The industry is still largely unregulated, which is problematic for brands, particularly when large sums of investment are involved, and particularly for over-zealous in-house lawyers who, despite the best persuasive intentions of a passionate brand team, will ultimately make the call on risk,” he says.

The last word on esports as an emerging marketing opportunity goes to Clarke, who notes that some brands want to dip their toes, try a small-scale esports event and evaluate it through a traditional ‘media buy’ lens. Others believe in what is happening and are investing ahead of the curve for the long term.

“The winners and losers in this industry will be those who have their fingers on the pulse of the consumer and those that don’t. And while in marketing that is nothing new, the challenge is not to approach this industry by looking back at what has happened in the past, or through the rearview mirror. Foresight is needed. In the gaming world the rules are still being written and models created.”

Is the UK About to Catch the Global eSports Wave?

What comes to mind when you think about fried chicken?

But did you know the Filipino fast-food company is currently one of the fastest growing restaurant chains in the world? Aspiring to become one of the top fast food conglomerates, Jollibee has opened branches and gained popularity in many countries across Asia as well as in other regions such as the UK, US and Canada. However, having a foothold in multiple markets would mean that Jollibee branches are operating at the mercy of customers’ different tastes and preferences. This is where social listening can form an essential part of Jollibee’s market research mix to assist them in their expansion plans and business strategies.

With social listening, companies can identify any burgeoning trends and topics within each market by monitoring online conversations and gain a better understanding of how their brands and products are being perceived.

So if we were Jollibee, with a goal to be a globally recognised fast food chain, what would we be listening to?

1. Identify your brand’s trending topics

An important aspect of real-time social listening would be to monitor trending topics concerning your brand so as to understand what comes to mind when consumers think or converse about your company.

One company can spawn millions of social conversations online and it would be too time-consuming to look at every single one of them. Hence, it would be best to observe what are the common words that pop out on social media in relation to your brand, to get a sense of what these trending topics are.

For instance, a word cloud generated using Meltwater based on the February 2019 social coverage for Jollibee looks like this:

Figure 1: Word cloud for Jollibee’s global social coverage (February 2019)

Word clouds are also a great tool for spotting trending topics as they can help us visualise what the recurring keywords are at one look. From Figure 1, we can see straight away that “Tuna Pie” and “Nadine Lustre” are some of the more common terms found in social posts about Jollibee. This is because Jollibee recently held a marketing campaign for their new food item, the tuna pie, which featured Fillipino actress Nadine Lustre.

The high frequencies in these keywords could indicate that the campaign was successful in gaining attention from consumers and sparking conversations online. Jollibee could also further study the data to learn more about how audiences reacted towards the campaign through sentiment analysis.

By identifying trending topics in social conversations, Jollibee would be able to pinpoint which aspects of their business or which products are getting more attention than others.

Take note that trending topics can differ across markets due to the differences in tastes, culture and practices. Consider Jollibee’s market in Malaysia:

Figure 2: Word cloud for Jollibee’s social coverage in Malaysia (February 2019)

There seems to be significant coverage about the restaurant attaining a halal certification during February 2019, instead of the Nadine Lustre campaign, which could be due to the large Muslim population within the country.

Keeping these trending topics in mind, Jollibee would be able to better align their marketing and business strategies with the focus and priorities of each market.

During social listening, while it is essential to listen to your consumers, it is just as important to understand who is listening to you.

Determining and understanding the demographics of online users who interact with or mention your brand can affect whom you target your future marketing strategies to.

Social listening tools such as Meltwater’s Social Influencers tool allows companies to view the demographics of these online users at a glance. For instance, it can be seen that a large portion of users following Jollibee’s Twitter account in 2018 fell within the 18-24 year old category:

Figure 3: Age group and gender demographics for Jollibee’s Twitter followers (2018)

It is also interesting to note that 74% of these users were female.

Such demographic data can be translated into actionable insights which can influence our business strategies. It seems that Jollibee’s followers are mostly women who are 18-24 years of age. Hence, a possible marketing approach for Jollibee would be to post content on Twitter that would appeal to this group of users, hence, inviting them to like or share Jollibee’s content.

3. Look at who’s talking about your brand

Monitoring social conversations online can also help companies identify potential influencers within the industry or in relation to their brands. It allows companies to find brand advocates with a large follower base, within different markets, that can be included in future marketing campaigns and business strategies.

In 2018, the top Twitter handles which have mentioned Jollibee include those of Filipino actress, Anne Curtis Smith, as well as news and magazine companies such as Food & Wine Magazine and CNBC News.

Figure 4: Top Twitter Handles mentioning Jollibee (2018)

However, these Twitter handles are undoubtedly going to garner a high amount of potential reach considering how popular these celebrities, magazines and news suppliers currently are. Furthermore, the content from these more “famous” influencers need not always be authentic in nature or resonate well with audiences.

Instead, Jollibee could consider engaging with Micro-influencers to help generate buzz about their brand. Micro-influencers are not necessarily celebrities but they do have quite a large number of followers who enjoy their content and are usually popular within a niche community or market.  

To locate these Micro-influencers, Jollibee can also engage in Meltwater’s Social Influencer tool which allows companies to find social media users who either mention or follow their brands online, as well as categorise these users according to their level of influence.

Thus, it can help brands like Jollibee to target potential micro-influencers that may have gone under the radar:

Figure 5: Influence categories of Jollibee followers (2018)

From the graph, about 3% of Jollibee’s Twitter followers are Micro-influencers and hence, have a high chance of going unnoticed if the company doesn’t engage in social listening to weave them out.

It’s always easy to get caught up in who’s talking about you. But in social listening, it also helps to pay attention to where these conversations are happening at.

Conversations on one social platform may differ in another and taking note of which social platforms are most commonly being used can be beneficial in planning your next marketing campaign. It also helps to distinguish which markets dominate social conversations about your brand and which markets are lacking.

Looking at social coverage of Jollibee for the year 2018, Twitter appears to be the most popular social platform across all markets for Jollibee brand mentions.

Figure 6: Top Social Media platforms with Jollibee mentions (2018)

On that account, it looks like Jollibee should focus most of its online marketing efforts on Twitter.

As for locations, the highest volume of social posts on Jollibee occurred in its home country, the Philippines, followed by the United States and the United Kingdom, where volume is significantly lower.

Figure 7: Top Locations with Jollibee mentions (2018)

As Jollibee wishes to be as successful in the US and UK as it is in its home country, it could take a deeper look at why social coverage about its brand is lacking in these markets.

Depending on your objectives for social listening, it is useful to establish how often you will review the social data you’ve collected about your brand – be it on a daily, monthly, quarterly or even annual basis.

Other than that, we would advise tuning in during particular periods of times where insights from social listening can be more meaningful for your business plans.

For Jollibee, conducting social listening before entering a new market would help us learn more about consumers’ current perceptions towards the brand or find out more about local competitors or the local fast food scene.

After entering a new market, we would pay attention to social conversations in relation to Jollibee during the first few weeks or months to get a sense of what the reception towards the restaurant was like.

For instance, Jollibee opened its first outlet in the United Kingdom on 20 October 2018. Taking a look at Jollibee’s social coverage from 15 October 2018 to 20 November 2018, there was a drastic drop in volume immediately after its opening day, and the low volume in social coverage continued till the next month.  

Figure 8: Jollibee’s social coverage in the UK (15 Oct – 20 Nov 2018)

Hence, Jollibee could pay closer attention to social conversations when entering new markets in the future. To sustain their popularity in the long run, they could develop more engaging marketing content to increase word-of-mouth about their brand.

During social listening, companies should also take note of any unusual trends in their social coverage which could provide valuable insights on their brands. In some occasions, companies might discover potential positive coverage about their brand which they could leverage on to improve their reputation.

One approach to recognise positive brand mentions would be to investigate any sudden peaks in social volume.

For instance, looking at the social coverage for Jollibee in December 2018, there was a sudden spike in the volume of posts on 27 December 2018.

If we were Jollibee, what would we be listening to?

As more millennials enter the workforce, e-commerce sites gain traction, and the share economy expands, Chinese social media networks like WeChat, Douyin, and Xiaohongshu have never been more important – especially to PR professionals, marketing executives and social media buyers working to promote brands, products and people online.

And with more than 770 million active Chinese internet users engaging in conversations, sharing stories and creating content every day – and the average Chinese adult spending 6 hours a day digesting news media – there has never been a better time to explore the power of social, big data and consumer insights.

To kickstart your thinking, here’s a list of the top four social media trends I see reshaping greater China over the next 12 months:

Tip: Learn how to find social media trends yourself.

Thanks to video and photo sharing platforms like Douyin, the desire to know more about the lives of our friends, the brands we buy from and the Key Opinion Leaders we follow has increased dramatically. However, today, keeping consumers up-to-date with what you’re doing – and therefore satisfied with your level of B2C engagement – can be a challenge. That’s why short media clips and live streaming videos on platforms like Douyin and Tudou have become so popular over the last year. These types of videos enable brands to share real-life, real-time content with consumers, who can then comment, like and share the video with their friends in real-time.

China has the largest e-commerce market in the world – and it’s only set to grow over the next few years. So as the gap between social media networks like WeChat and e-Commerce platforms like Alibaba shrinks – thanks to social media payment platforms such as Alipay and WeChat Pay – converting social media users (or consumers) to paying customers is only going to get easier in China. In fact, Alipay and WeChat Pay are now the most popular forms of online payments in China – with WeChat Pay attracting more than 600 million users every month. In addition to this, the increasing number of e-commerce shopping festivals like 11/11 are having a major impact on new brands entering the market, or existing brands looking to test new products. 

Search engines like Baidu aren’t the only platforms consumers use to find products and services anymore. Today, they also use social media platforms – and the recommendations of KOLs – to find relevant information and items they might like to purchase. So instead of visiting a website, or searching the brand name on Baidu, they will simply search for the brand’s online social media profile to read fellow consumers’ comments and recommendations. Employees and employers are also using social media to network and find out more about individuals and organisations.

Since the advent of the smartphone, Chinese consumers have become increasingly reliant on digital platforms and applications to live their lives. Today, consumers no longer rely on traditional news platforms like print, radio, TV and even news websites to find out what’s going on around them. Instead, they digest their news media via mobile applications and on social media. In fact, the average mobile internet user in China spends 12 minutes a day reading the news on an application, 30 minutes watching video content, and 2.5 hours on social media. As mobile and social become deeply ingrained in our lives, these figures are likely to increase significantly.

Are You Aware of the Social Media Trends Shaping Greater China?

The footballer’s global popularity on social media mirrors his success on the pitch as many social media users predict a Ballon d’Or.

Liverpool striker Mohamed Salah has had an exciting string of achievements in the last 2 weeks, mirrored by the buzz surrounding him on social. His social media mentions increased by 102% between the first and second half of April.

After winning the prestigious PFA Player of the year award on April 22nd and leading Liverpool to victory in the Champions League semi-final against his former club AS Roma in the same week, Salah’s social media mentions peaked dramatically.

In the GCC, Saudi social media users dominated the discussions around Mo Salah. According to research conducted by Meltwater between 16-29 April, Saudi football fans have posted over 4,700 times about Salah across platforms, compared with 2,300 posts from the UAE, and 2,000 posts split amongst the remaining 4 GCC countries.

In his home country, Egypt, Salah generated over 18,000 social media mentions. The mentions in Egypt are more than all GCC countries combined, but still fewer than mentions from the UK (25,000). The keywords of these mentions were similar globally, with “Champions League”, “Roma” and “Congratulations” trending worldwide.

According to Zubair Timol, Director of Strategy EMEA at Meltwater “Mohamed Salah has moved from the front page during the last few weeks. He has transcended sport and entered the mainstream, based on his impact on and off the field. If we continue this trajectory, Salah has every opportunity to increase his social footprint with Liverpool entering the late stages of the UEFA Champions League and Egypt competing in the FIFA World Cup during the summer.”

The data-driven insights from Meltwater reflect what football fans have been noticing: Salah really is the next big thing.

Check out the infographic below for more insights >>>

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Infographic: Mo Salah Scores on Social

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