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Generative AI is everywhere now. You see it in content, campaigns, customer experiences, and even internal workflows. It promises speed, scale, and efficiency, but there’s a harder question sitting underneath all that progress; Do your audiences actually trust it?

Trust in the Age of AI: What Consumers Really Think About AI Generated Content

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!

Instagram Blog | Meltwater

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

LinkedIn Blog | Meltwater

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

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.

Reputation Management Blogs | Category

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? [Beginner’s Guide 2023]
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.

AI & Data Analytics Blogs | Category

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.

Public Relations (PR) Blogs | Category

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

Having gone through the process of prepping for and filming case studies this spring, the Meltwater team shares best practices for stellar case studies. Read the post and check out our results for Visit Baton Rouge and the University of Michigan.

Any company that provides a service, especially if that service involves the Internet, (and what service doesn’t include the internet these days?) should be assembling case studies. And, if you’re going to produce a successful one, you’ll need to start with a great customer interview. When expertly guided, customers will hand you a case study on a platter by answering just a few questions. With a good interview, the case study will write (or in the case of video, edit) itself. But if your customer interview falls short, you’re stuck doing a lot of research, trying to connect the dots, and piecing the case study together on your own.

Sometimes it’s a writer who conducts the customer interview, other times a product marketing manager, or even an experienced sales rep. For a video case study, it might be a professional director. Whichever role you happen to have, along with being well-informed about your company’s service(s) and your customer, here’s some customer interview tips:

Don’t be shy. Make sure your customer talks about you.

Given the chance, people usually feel most comfortable talking about what they know best—themselves. It’s human nature, so don’t expect customers to be any different, even when they’ve agreed to an interview that’s supposed to be all more about you. For example, when describing their own products and work processes, customers are likely to go into great detail; when describing yours, they will probably be more inclined to generalize and skip to the next topic. 

Before we look at strategies for nudging your way into the spotlight, remind yourself why you’re working on case studies to begin with. The goal here is simple: get a customer who uses your product to say nice things about it.

To help ensure this happens, start by asking yourself what you want these case studies to focus on. Make a list and be sure to put the most obvious item at the top: your product. You’d be surprised how often the transcripts to case study interviews never mention the company whose conducting the interviews’ product or even its basic functionality. Add to the list your product’s key benefits and everything that sets you apart from the competition. 

Keep the list short, so you can glance at it during the interview and make sure that the customer touches (in their own words) on the points that matter most to you.

All customer case studies follow a tried-and-true, feel-good formula: (a) Meet the sharp, successful customer, who (b) finds him or herself facing a truly herculean obstacle, until (c) your product or service arrives on the scene to save the day.

Your case study is designed to make it easy for someone who is still considering your product to put themselves in your customer’s shoes, imagine themselves on a similar journey, and reach a similarly happy ending. To establish this basic narrative, start by asking your customer: What challenge did you face? Why did you choose our product/service to overcome it? What results have you achieved using our product? These are your core questions.

But for readers to connect with your customer and relate to their experiences, remember, you’re not actually talking to a company, you’re talking to a person. Encourage your customer to share specific examples and recall anecdotes from their personal point of view. By asking the right questions, you can help bring out their natural storytelling abilities while steering them to provide details that will showcase your product’s key strengths.

Ask about the company’s biggest challenges. Then personalize the question by rephrasing as: What was the most frustrating part of the job that you were able to solve when you started using our product (or service)?

Ask about the impact your product has had on the company as a whole. Then get more specifics by asking your customer to list their favorite feature and describe their day-to-day routine interacting with your product.

Don’t be afraid to go for high drama. You can ask: Did our product help you avert a crisis? Did our product enable you to do something you never thought was possible? What did you find most surprising about our product after you started using it? Has our product shifted the way you perceive your job function?

Don’t forget to ask for measurable improvements (in time, money, manpower) and attribute them to your product’s specific features.

Since you’ve already written your questions down, there’s really no point in keeping them a surprise.

In fact, to help your customers prepare, and help you get the best possible interview, send them your core questions and a list of five optional ones with the instruction to choose the three they feel they can answer best.

Ask them to jot some notes down and send them back to you, or set up a preliminary call to review them together. You can then let them know what you’ll want them to elaborate on in more depth. 

If you’re conducting a video case study, send guidelines for how your customers should dress. You can keep it general, for instance, “business formal” or “evening wear,” or get more specific like, no patterns and no white tops. If customers have objections, be honest. Let them know that you’re going for a specific aesthetic and that these guidelines will help you achieve it. 

You may need to adjust the questions to hit on the specific features and benefits your product or service offers, but as tempting as it might be to just wing it, don’t. Prepare for your customer interview, and ask your customer to prepare a little too.

3 Customer Interview Tips for a Great Case Study

It's possible to predict a trend before it becomes widespread. Knowing how to read the social zeitgeist can inform thought leadership, help you find influencers, and determine business decisions. Learn how to forecast trends from an expert by downloading our on-demand webinar, Secrets of a Trend Spotter Revealed.

Trendjacking is wildly popular. It can garner you kudos or widespread condemnation from fans and influencers. In the always-on social media sphere, knowing when to trendjack or calmly step away from the ledge is a delicate dance. Cultivating the skills necessary to read and react to the social zeitgeist during the crucial six hours after a trend starts to spread is invaluable. Here’s how to keep ahead of the curve, so your attempts at trendjacking results in a win.

Infographic: Should I Trendjack on Social Media?

When it comes to global brand management, deciding whether or not to take a multiple or single vendor approach is a topic that many executives can relate to. As the tech space proliferates, the choice of Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) partners to choose from also increases – as does the confusion over comparing, evaluating and making good purchase decisions.

With the above in mind, here’s a list of key factors to consider when deciding whether or not to take a multiple vs single vendor approach.

What to Consider Before Deciding on a Multiple VS Single Vendor Approach

1. Superiority in different application areas

While ERP partners may offer a vast array of solutions, that’s not to say they’re experts in all of them. The fact is, it’s difficult to excel in every niche; an integrated solution might be impressive overall but not every function will be the best in the market.

Companies often invest in solutions from different vendors with the goal of obtaining the most superior solution for each application area; for example, a social package from one single vendor and an online news package from another. This factor is arguably the most compelling for a multiple vendor approach.

Before deciding on whether to invest in a multiple or single vendor approach, research whether the vendors you’re considering are specialists in the software categories important to you; you don’t need every component in your tech stack to be the ‘best of breed’. Companies often send Request for Information documents to the vendors they’re evaluating to understand where they score in their business-critical areas.

Download your free media intelligence RFI template.

Realistically, you have four options you can take:

1. Choose multiple vendors who are superior in your required fields

2. Choose a single vendor that’s superior in most fields

3. Explore whether it’s feasible to build your own command centre type solution and then leverage the enriched data you need from multiple vendors (assuming they offer an API to do so)

4. Invest in a command centre and then leverage the enriched data you need from multiple vendors (assuming they offer an API to do so)

Having multiple vendors opens up competition and reduces ‘vendor lock-ins’, so you have more flexibility on price. With that being said, consolidating vendors helps to reduce costs on a larger scale as you’re able to bundle offerings together and package them up to receive volume discounts. A single vendor approach is, therefore, more efficient – it’s also easier from a procurement viewpoint – one contract, one invoice, one point of contact, one negotiation process etc.

While technology greatly assists leaders, investment alone will not deliver goals. In order to take maximum advantage of your investment, support from your solution partner is vital. Executives need to understand how to implement insight found from the huge amounts of data the solutions they’ve invested in are tracking. The level/ quality of onboarding, training, local/ global support etc. are all valid factors to bring up during your evaluation process. Some vendors will charge you for this, while others offer unlimited support at no extra cost.

When the project is deemed complex, it’s likely ‘off the shelf’ solutions won’t solve business needs and so custom solutions are required. When this is the case, it’s advisable to opt for a single vendor approach due to compatibility and governance reasons. Multiple vendors will all have their own models and processes, and this tends to have a negative knock on effect on efficiency and compatibility – something that’s needed when working with a complex task. Often differences can come down to when, where and how the data is collected and structured. Unless you’re using the same provider throughout, it’s near enough impossible to compare data. A single version of truth combats this challenge.

Working with a singular vendor can be like putting all your eggs in one basket; if there’s a fault, the effects will be felt throughout your team. On the other hand, it can be challenging to hold one of your multiple vendors accountable for errors, as blame is often passed around. With a single vendor approach, it’s relatively easy to ensure that the supplier is contractually responsible for the services throughout the outsourcing term, therefore, errors can be rectified more effectively.

If scale is a focus area for you, a single vendor approach is wise as it improves alignment amongst teams, making it much easier to scale processes. For example, it’s likely that the problems your regional teams have are shared across the board on a global scale too. By consolidating your vendors, you can implement and action solutions to business problems a lot more fluidly.

If the scope of your media intelligence goals is wide/ diverse, you’ll want to invest in a vendor that offers unlimited searches, tracks a superior number of sources in your areas, and operates in your desired languages/ countries. It’ll be easier to decide on a multiple or singular vendor approach based on how the vendor/s you’re evaluating in terms of scope also stack up on your other required areas. A Request for Information is an easy way to source details to help with evaluation.

Different enabling and constraining forces influence companies motives to move towards a multiple or single vendor approach and the importance of the forces vary from company to company. As such, there is no standardised right or wrong approach. The path you take should depend on your strategy, business priorities, budget considerations, and the type of relationship you want to foster with your Enterprise Resource Planning partner.

If you’d like to discuss the best path for your organisation (single vs multi-vendor) based on your specific needs, fill out the form below and we’ll be in touch!

Managing your Global Brand’s Digital Footprint: Deciding on a Multiple VS Single Vendor Approach

Social media campaigns are fast becoming the main facet of any brand’s marketing efforts. After all, these campaigns provide access to the 2.5 billion Facebook users, 1 billion Instagram users, and 330 million Twitter users that prowl these apps every month. Getting your content out there is as simple as creating an account and publishing your post… right?

Given the sheer volume of posts that are being created every day, brands must do a little extra to stand out. As we look towards 2020, here’s our roundup of campaigns that have grabbed audiences by the collar.

This humble stock image of an egg broke the world record for the number of likes on a single Instagram post following its appearance in January this year. To date, it remains the most-liked post on Instagram, having garnered over 53.9 million likes thus far. 

Over the course of a few weeks, the egg gradually began to crack, leading up to the grand reveal (during a SuperBowl commercial, no less) of Talking Egg, a global mental health resources page. 

While the account’s Instagram feed remained sparsely populated, the account’s creators instilled a sense of camaraderie in its main target audience — youths — through Instagram Stories. Fuelled by the common goal of breaking a world record, people who had come across the account were able to influence fans and laymen alike to ‘like’ the egg.  

By further using the post’s virality to promote mental health, the account’s creators ensured that the egg would become more than a passing fad. Today, the account continues to post original animations that promote mental wellbeing. 

GoJek, the Indonesian ride-hailing app, made waves on Twitter due to its exchange with rapper Rich Brian. After the rapper tweeted about missing Indonesian food, the company offered to have food delivered to him despite him being in New York at the time. 

This gesture was made in the spirit of pasti ada jalan, or “there’s always a way,” the tagline for its cerdikiawan campaign, which encourages users to showcase smart solutions to everyday problems. The tagline is also the central message reiterated by its recent rebranding efforts.

Proof of GoJek’s eventual food delivery received almost 19K retweets and over 25K likes. While the exchange was entirely organic, Rich Brian eventually collaborated with GoJek on its cerdikiawan campaign a month later. 

Why exactly did this Twitter exchange go viral?

GoJek simply capitalised on the right influencer — Indonesia-born Rich Brian, whose global following would allow GoJek to reach users beyond its home base. By following through on its commitment, GoJek ensured that its main customer base — Indonesian users — would have a better impression of its variety of offerings. On a global scale, followers of Rich Brian would also gain greater awareness of the brand even if they did not use the app in their home countries.

Facebook: Lazada Malaysia’s Facebook Live Show

On top of regular Facebook and Instagram ads, e-commerce giant Lazada went big this year with its interactive Facebook Live event. 

To celebrate its 7th birthday, Lazada Malaysia launched LUCKY 7th, a game show that allowed shoppers to catch a glimpse of the prices of items on sale. To drive greater awareness towards the campaign, carousel ads that targeted users based on previous shopping activity were created. Photo ads announcing discounts were also published after the show.

The game show itself drew over 11K views, with Lazada Malaysia reportedly earning 38 times more than its historical highest revenue from a campaign. The campaign was also able to reach 30% more users and garner 46% more interactions than previous campaigns. 

Lazada made use of an underutilised Facebook advertising function — the livestream, which allowed it to showcase product information and interact with fans in real-time. Lazada is no stranger to live streaming, having also done so for its birthday Super Party concert this year. What then makes livestreaming on Facebook different?

Facebook’s 2018 algorithm favours “meaningful interactions” — namely comments, shares, replies, and reactions. Live videos especially are prioritised over traditional ads and posts through the possibility of encouraging discussions among viewers. 

This means that live videos are likely to get more airtime on an individual’s news feed. In addition, the ability to notify followers of a brand’s page when the brand goes live contributes to an increase in potential reach and engagement. 

According to Facebook, live videos also produce 6 times more interactions than traditional videos, with users being more likely to comment or engage directly with a brand than on a regular post. 

Since its inception, TikTok has risen to become a leading player among short-form video social apps. Popular among users within the millennial demographic or younger, the app’s downloads this year surpassed Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, and Snapchat. 

Not one to miss out on marketing to youths within its markets, Uniqlo UT partnered with TikTok to launch an in-app challenge, #UTPlayYourWorld, in Japan, Taiwan, and France. The challenge encouraged users to share their experiences while wearing a Uniqlo UT outfit. Selected participants then won the chance to appear on screen in Uniqlo stores and social media pages worldwide.

The two-week campaign saw over 185K submissions, with over 95K TikTok participants and over 330 million views on submissions. 

According to Rei Matsunuma, director of UT and collaboration business at Uniqlo, UT’s main challenge was generating interest in Uniqlo from younger audiences who had never shopped there. As such, paid media would not generate long-term interest in the brand’s main offering — ‘LifeWear’, or clothing designed to make life better. 

User-generated content (UGC), which would be crucial in this campaign, is right up TikTok’s alley. By partnering with a platform that is built on UGC, Uniqlo was able to leverage on a huge base of young creators. These creators would act as micro-influencers, spreading awareness of the brand through their participation in the contest. Furthermore, the campaign’s aim of showcasing interesting snippets of daily life tied in well with the philosophy of LifeWear.

Spotify’s Wrapped campaign has become something of a year-end tradition. Users look forward to receiving a simple, personalised recap of their year in music, be it to rediscover songs they used to love or revisit embarrassing favourites. 

This year’s Spotify Wrapped, however, included something special — a Decade Wrapped, which provided unique listening stats and compared users’ favourites from 2010 to 2019. 

In Australia, for example, Spotify showcased statistics on prominent local artists such as Tones and I, while Aussie phenomenon Egg Boy also received a cheeky nod. The streaming platform even gave away speciality slushies in Melbourne and Sydney that feature the likenesses of four Aussie artists.

Even though it’s only been a week since the campaign’s release, it has generated a huge amount of buzz among Spotify users.

For one, the integration of sharing functionalities for both Free and Premium users have increased the campaign’s reach. What was once a private, personalised recap can now be shared with a user’s followers. Artists can also share their audience listening stats with their fans, promoting greater interaction between both parties.

Spotify Wrapped also makes the user its focus. While the brand employs a distinct look, the campaign’s copy makes scant reference to the company. The repetition of “you”, the user, reiterates the viewer’s role as the hero of the campaign. The clever use of audience insights also ensures that every user relates to the content that they receive.

Furthermore, the commitment to holistic advertising efforts both on and offline cements the campaign’s status as a year-end checkpoint for users.

Key learning points from these top campaigns

In the case of GoJek and Spotify, relatability accounted for a huge part of user engagement.

Both brands understood that they were writing for their audience. GoJek and Spotify did not highlight their own platforms and instead allowed their content to drive organic engagement.

Creating relatable content isn’t just dependent on your copywriting prowess. An important aspect of this involves a keen understanding of your top audience demographic. Which brands do they pay attention to? What age group do they belong to and what trends are they interested in?

Meltwater’s Audience Insight reports allow you to understand the communities that drive conversations on your social media channels. Our tool allows you to discover your audience’s consumption habits, analyse shifts in their demographic, and identify key influencers within these groups. You can then use these insights to create content that is tailored for your audience.

Apart from the use of cheeky language, these brands were able to capitalise on the right influencers. Be it showcasing top local artists on billboards around the city or engaging directly with an artist on Twitter, both moves ensured that the artists’ followers would be watching.

While these brands used high-profile influencers, brands can emulate these results even when engaging micro or nano-influencers.

With Meltwater’s Influencer Discovery tool, searching for influencers with high reach numbers and high follower engagement is easy. Find influencers based on your audience’s demographic as well as your target market, industry, or topic. This allows you to engage influencers that know your product and would genuinely like to promote it. By extension, their followers will be familiar with brands in your industry, ensuring that the content you produce is always relatable.

User-generated content can be as valuable as paid media

In the case of Uniqlo, paid media would not have been as effective as UGC in demonstrating their brand’s principle. Brands that wish to reach untapped markets can likewise consider using UGC as an arm to showcase their products. Marketers benefit from killing two birds with one stone — you get content, and your customers feel greater affinity with your product.

The main reason why UGC is so valuable is the fact that consumers often find this type of content the most authentic. Within the millennial demographic, UGC is trusted 50% more than traditional media and contributes 20% more to purchase decisions than other media types.

Social media platforms, particularly video platforms, are big proponents of UGC. Think TikTok and Snapchat’s short videos, IGTV or Instagram Stories, and even YouTube. After all, video content benefits brands by showing, not telling.

Types of UGC that can be useful for both B2B and B2C brands include client stories, product use cases, employee-generated content, product tutorials and contest submissions.

Seasonal posts don’t have to follow a pattern

The best brands make a key event or holiday campaign their specialty. Just as Spotify Wrapped has become a hit seasonal offering, Lazada’s annual birthday campaign has also become something that shoppers anticipate.

Campaigns centred around festivities and events (think the Lunar New Year, or Black Friday sales) are valuable even though they are predictable. Instead of just offering festive greetings or sweeping discounts every year, utilise your social media platform of choice to produce interactive content that engages your audience.

This could include creating simple games on Instagram Stories, hosting a Facebook or YouTube live video, or posting a TikTok video challenge.

While preparing for a big campaign is important, it is also vital that you leave wiggle room for other posts. Meltwater’s Social Media Management tool allows you to plan and publish your content on different social channels, identify gaps in your publishing schedule, and easily reorganise your posts all on a single platform. With this consolidated workflow, you can anticipate upcoming events and start planning for them ahead of time.

Shares and likes aren’t all that social media platforms today have to offer. Lazada’s Facebook live event is proof that a good campaign doesn’t have to rely on ads alone, while the Instagram Egg post was made popular through another key Instagram feature — Instagram Stories.

Just as marketers strive to find new ways to engage their audiences, social media platforms are also finding new ways to make content creation better. In fact, these platforms and their innovations can help to make marketers’ jobs much easier.

Instagram, for example, has released a ‘create’ function on Instagram Stories, allowing users to easily create polls, questions, gifs or even simple drawing games from the app. Instagram’s integration with Spark AR Studio also means that brands can create unique Instagram filters for their audiences.

Facebook 360, powered by Oculus, allows brands to create immersive 360-degree photo or video experiences that can be liked and shared just like any other post.

Effective online campaigns are supplemented by offline initiatives

The success of Spotify Wrapped demonstrates the power of a comprehensive on and offline campaign. When implemented in tandem, both strategies serve to support each other and reinforce your campaign’s ideals. This can be especially important for B2B brands, where strong offline connections can demonstrate your sincerity and the value of your product.

Offline initiatives aren’t limited to print advertisements. Networking events, speaking opportunities, demos or consultations, trade shows, and online-to-offline experiences (in-store events, click-and-collect options) are all ways that brands can take their social media campaigns into the real world.

The mix of online and offline efforts, however, vary with each company. To find out the combination that works best for your brand, monitor key trends and happenings online to figure out your audience’s needs. For example, frequent requests for samples or product inquiries may indicate the need for a pop-up store.

To better keep track of online chatter, consider using Meltwater’s Media Intelligence tool. We provide you with a comprehensive view of conversations that impact your brand, products, and industry. With unlimited searches and full historical data from up to 15 months, you can access reviews, online news, articles from blogs and forums, and data from social media channels such as Instagram, Reddit, Twitter, and Facebook. In addition, you can perform searches on-the-go with our mobile app. These insights will help you to better understand your brand health, market insights, competitor strategy, and audience needs.

There’s no doubt that social media marketing will continue to be a mainstay for marketers in 2020. With our rundown of what makes a great campaign stick, you too are ready to leverage the power of social media.

Meltwater’s Social tools are here to take your campaign from A to B. Manage your social interactions across multiple channels, plan and publish your content, and obtain one-click reports to easily track how you’re doing. Social media marketing has never been easier.

Are you looking to dig deeper into social media strategy examples? Check out these 3 Recipe Sites’ Social Strategies.

Key Lessons from Asia's Best Social Media Campaigns of 2019

It’s a showdown alright…of streaming services that is. Who was the top-performing platform this year? In order for us to find out, we searched to find out the affinities behind the top players. 

Netflix, Hulu, Disney+, Sling, HBO Now, Amazon Prime Video, YouTube TV, Apple TV+, CBS All Access…are all key services in this face-off. Some took the title for top players and some are new players—we broke it down a little more to get a full picture of the details. 

Most talked about show on social? Stranger Things…is this a surprise?

YouTube takes the win for most costly per month. Do customers find value? 

Drumroll for the overall top streaming platform…Netflix for the win!

Are you surprised by any of these stats? Look out for the new players in 2020: HBOmax, peacock, and Quibi.

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There are two factors that health enthusiasts and athletes are always focused on – physical exercise and the perfect dietary requirement. Both factors have a plethora of choices – from deadlifting to yoga as well as adopting the keto and then changing it to a paleo diet. However there has been one diet which has been gaining momentum – the plant-based or vegan movement.

And this movement recently had a boost in its proliferation through Netflix’s promotion of a documentary – Game Changers. The documentary focused on how adopting veganism helped boost athletes’ performances and increased the power levels during their activities. The documentary helped to eradicate myths about veganism such as the lack of protein “weakening” an athlete’s strength and in fact, reverses that myth by proving that it actually boosted performances. 

Directing the documentary is Oscar winner Louie Psihoyos and Hollywood honchos James Cameron and Arnold Schwarzenegger bankrolling the film, it also features interviews with big-name stars in Tinseltown and sporting fields such as Hong Kong action movie legend Jackie Chan, Grand Slam champ Novak Djokovic, six-time F1 winner Lewis Hamilton and world record Strongman Patrick Baboumian. Psihoyos curates the film through the eyes of The Ultimate Fighter winner James Wilks and illustrates how his journey of a plant-based diet helped him improve his focus and performances. 

In October, the documentary premiered on Netflix and the response can only be described as phenomenal. Many have unequivocally adopted and they attest to the benefits of a plant-based diet after watching the film. On social media, there were around 60,000 mentions of the dietary movement since the global Netflix premiere of the documentary on 16 October. Sportspeople, fitness gurus and muscle maniacs pored over the documentary and argued in the social media space whether a plant-based diet could be beneficial to their regimes. Testaments popped up everywhere online with more athletes trumpeting their support – such as Indian cricketer Virat Kohli who proclaimed that he ‘had never felt better’ and Game Changers had vindicated his beliefs on diets. The documentary also garnered support from international organisations such as PETA to relay their message to their specific audiences. With media reach of 32 and 6 million respectively, the two profiles boosted the attention on the highly-engaging documentary.

(Figure above represent the number of times the documentary Game Changers was mentioned in relation to Netflix and the veganism movement during the months of October and November 2019.)

Growing Interest in Veganism Fuelled by Netflix

Based on this documentary phenomenon, it would be a misnomer to call veganism or plant-based diets a fad. This lifestyle choice has been in practice for years by various groups of people such as animal rights activists and Straight-Edge hardcore musicians. To put this dietary choice into the context of sporting excellence adds another dimension to the lifestyle as it attempts to break the preconceived positive benefits of meat-based diets. The Australian city of Melbourne has normalised the plant-based diet in its menus that it becomes much more accessible for people to easily adopt the practice without breaking a step. The city is now known to be one of the most vegan-friendly cities in the world. 

Originally released in January 2018 at the Sundance film festival with relatively low fanfare, the recent frenzy over the documentary revealed an interesting insight – Netflix had provided a new platform for film producers to reach out to the masses. And this accessibility amplifies that reach to a myriad of groups such as environmental activists, fitness enthusiasts and those who are just curious of the movement. Without specifically targeting a particular audience, watching the documentary became an inclusive phenomenon without scaring away new fans of the practice. 

Unsurprisingly, the main demographic that paid attention were male (58.18%) and within the age range of 25-34 years (33.84%) – the prime age of gym freaks and muscled bodies (Meltwater Audience Insight Report on Game Changers, Nov 2019). The report also highlights other measurements such as online habits and personalities of the demographic group. Using AI to sieve and aggregate the raw data retrieved from social media, the audiences watching Game Changers have an affinity for social activism, curious to explore new ideas and have a tendency to succumb to try (or buy) new things.

With the wide coverage on social media, it expectedly influenced those on the fence and even converted skeptics to adopt the vegan lifestyle. Presumably the main objective of the documentary is to influence people to at least try the diet after watching the film while those who already had adopted the lifestyle highlighted the positive effect that veganism has on the society. Echoing this writer’s colleague Jason Hill’s post on Game Changers, messaging plays a key role in influencing new opinions and persuading the public to switch their diets. Judging by the popularity of Game Changers, the vegan community should perhaps re-strategise their messaging to focus on strength training and athletic performance.

With online data being an integral aspect for both MNCs and public institutions, the non-governmental sector should transition in using alternative data insights to proliferate their messages. In a recent report, the global vegan food market is expected to grow in the near future and is estimated to be worth US$24 billion. By incorporating various channels of data sets, decision makers can strategically deliver their messages for the intended audiences. Using social data and business intelligence together, vegan business owners can identify potential markets, boost investment in thriving cities and re-strategise in less performing ones.

The documentary has received an overwhelmingly positive response from the global Netflix audience and this would indefinitely boost the social movement. And with any topic which receives widespread attention, there are detractors ready to put their opinions across. Many scientists and nutritionists have come up to debunk the show’s overarching message of a plant-based diet and strength conditioning. With more than 12,600 mentions in Reddit and forums alone, fitness enthusiasts wanted further clarification on whether it would affect their regimes or should they cut down on their amino acids. Even Joe Rogan, the ubiquitous commentator of the Ultimate Fighting Championships called out on the documentary and invited a showdown between Paleo advocate Chris Kresser and Wilks to prove their points. And the debate ended with Rogan praising Wilks for his tenacious defence of the vegan movement. 

Game Changers may have caused a ripple on audiences – but ultimately adopting veganism as a lifestyle is still a personal choice. Platforms such as Netflix give the impetus to idea makers and movements to generate interest and garner support for their causes. By evolving the methods of informing the public and educating the masses, getting people to adopt the vegan lifestyle will be less of an obstacle but instead they will be stepping up their game.

Game Changers – The Vegan Phenomenon

Content marketing combines the creation of valuable content with social media marketing and search engine optimization (see 9 Keys to Content Marketing). It helps companies drive new leads, establish industry credibility, and stay top of mind with existing and potential clients.

Social media plays a large role in content marketing as one of the key distribution vehicles for content. In addition to advertising and email marketing, social media shares of content via sites like Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, Pinterest, Google+, Tumblr and other platforms allows good content to spread: the modern version of word-of-mouth marketing.

With that said, the spread of content via social media doesn’t have to be left to chance. There are specific things that companies and organizations can do to either encourage (or inadvertently discourage) the social sharing of content.

Here are nine ways to increase shares of your great content in social media. If your content is not getting shared, use this as a checklist to see where your efforts may be falling down.

Not all topics are created equal, so you need to develop a sense for what your topics your audience really cares about. Some ways to do that include looking at search keyword volumes (e.g. via Google Adwords or various keyword tools), asking sales what customers always ask about, or seeing what consistently gets shared and commented on on your blog, competitor’s blogs and in social media in general (see this deep dive about business blog topics).

I hate to say it but 99% of business blog post headlines are accurate but extremely dull. “Why Your Company Should Use Encrypted Storage Solutions” may describe what’s in the post clearly, but is not that compelling. Here are a couple of twists on the same content, with new headlines to increase interest, curiosity and share-ability: “5 Reasons Hackers Love Current Data Storage Solutions” or “Traditional Data Storage + Your Corporate Secrets = Serious Risk”. You may be able to come up with better, but the point is to intrigue the audience who sees this headline in social media or on your blog.

Many industry influencers stay top of mind with their social media followers by curating valuable, unique or interesting content. In fact, they often won’t read whole posts before they share. If your post is not designed in a way that makes it easy to quickly grasp the key points, they won’t bother to skim it or share it. In addition, many of your regular readers don’t have time to dig into large blocks of text. Think bold headers and key points (2-3 sentences) for each versus dense paragraphs.

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