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As of January 2023, there were 33.03 million internet users in Malaysia and a total population of 34.13 million. The jarring numbers indicate that most Malaysian people have an internet connection and use social media. Depending on the context, it could be a pot of gold for businesses intending to market their products.
The history of social media marketing started in the early 2000s when social media like Myspace, Friendster, and the like came to birth. A decade later, more social media platforms surfaced and soon became a part of our intangible reality. The rapid growth is remarkable, and it has an undeniable impact on our lives; Malaysians spend an average of 9 hours a day on the internet, 3 hours daily using social media, additionally an hour and a half a day used to listen to music streaming devices, as well as reading press media.
Considering there are 24 hours in a day, 9 hours, 3 hours, and one and a half hours is a LOT of time spent. According to DataReportal (2022), “Digital 2022: Malaysia” retrieved from https://datareportal.com/reports/digital-2022-malaysia, 63.2% primarily uses the internet to fill up spare time, followed by researching brand at 61.4%, 49.2% allocated the internet to investigate health issues and products, and 81.6% used to find information.
Most Commonly Used Social Medias in Malaysia
A staggering 96.4% of individuals use mobile phones to access the internet. The number reveals that mobile phone-oriented displays are of the utmost importance, with the most visited web being Google, followed by Meta and Youtube.
When it comes to social media, the most used platforms are:
- WhatsApp 93.2%
- Meta 88.7%
- Instagram 79.3%
- Telegram 66.3%
- Meta Messenger 61.6%
- Tiktok at 53.8%
- X at 49.5%
- Wechat 37.7%
- Pinterest 33%
- Linkedin 27.1%
77.2% of social media users use social media platforms to find information about brands and products, which means that digital marketing has become a consumable and digestible aspect of social media usage. Advertising and marketing ploys have become so warped that an average person probably isn’t aware that what they’re consuming is advertising material.
The OG of social media – Meta
Meta is an OG social media platform that changed how the world works. Now communication and information sharing have gotten way more straightforward, and for the same reason, it also gives leeway for misinformation sharing. Meta has an audience of 29.58 million, with 43.7% female and 56.3% male users. 82.4% of Meta users are above 13, making it an ideal platform for businesses to market products and services to the public.
Worth taking note that the highest percentage of engagement comes from photo posts. Humans are visual creatures, or at least trained to become one, and we’re easily influenced by what we see. Visual media don’t consume too much time, making it favourable for the public. The general users are around 25-34 years old, making them a delectable target for advertisers and digital marketers. Although more Meta users are male, female users have a higher engagement rate in liking posts, pages, commenting, sharing, and ad clicks. If your business targets a general audience, Meta is a great platform to start advertising your products, especially if you’re keen on garnering more engagement from the female audience.
Establish brand presence using Meta by creating a business page
Most of the population uses Meta, so any type of business can create a problem-solution awareness campaign to pique curiosity and establish a social media presence. In this technologically advanced civilization, this is a one-way ticket to boosting sales. Meta has many handy business acumen features designed to help anyone establish a brand and promote their business.
Some features include creating a business page on Meta that allows organizations to manage their businesses and using features such as the CTA button. There’s also an ‘about’ section to summarize your business, add location and operating hours, and a custom tab in your feed, like a landing page. One does not have to be tech-savvy to promote their business on Meta.
From there onwards, you can learn how to better optimize your page by discovering and expressing brand personality and aesthetics while acquiring knowledge on what type of content or digital marketing strategy you will implement. Refer to this article to learn more about Meta marketing strategies.
Visually appealing content – Instagram
Starting from its emergence in 2010 by Kevin Systrom and his love for whiskey and bourbon, the application ravaged the world with its simple and user-friendly design. The culture of instant gratification breeds a population of civilization with a short attention span and a love for visually appealing content. More and more businesses are utilizing this to promote their products and services. Kepios noted that the total potential reach of ads on Instagram for the Malaysian population is 15.55 million, with the ability to reach more female users at 56.4% than male users at 43.6%.
Humans are social creatures and use visual sensory more than other organs. Combine the two, and you have an application like Instagram. For businesses looking to expand and easily reach half the population, advertising or promoting your products on Instagram proves to be more than remunerative. The application also comes with tons of features for ordinary users and entrepreneurs to gain more traction, sales, followers, and engagements, you name it!
Businesses or e-commerce that sells apparel and clothing line can opt for the Instagram shopping posts feature that allows you to embed link, add price, and name to redirect potential prospect directly to the website or URL. With the existence of Meta Business Suite and meta business partners, businesses can now easily manage content, ads, and more on both Meta & IG.
Boost brand awareness on Instagram with visually appealing content
As Instagram’s main attraction is visually appealing media, as long as businesses keep this in mind, you’ll be boosting your followers and engagements in no time. But it’s essential to establish your brand on Instagram by switching it to a professional account. This option will allow you to see and observe your posts’ progress through its insights function. Read our article to find out how to increase engagement using Instagram reels.
You’ll be able to see which posts are doing better and can start taking notes of the dos and don’ts. Professional accounts can link to their Meta creator or business account and be managed through Meta Business Suite. Scheduling, cross posting between platforms, optimizing post reach, and leveraging business strategies, alongside connecting and engaging with clients, are a few of the tools offered by Meta.
App for communication purposes – WhatsApp, Telegram & Messenger
WhatsApp, Telegram, and Meta Messenger apps are used mainly for communication purposes. It’s hard to infiltrate these applications in the guise of digital marketing, as users would end up blocking unknown numbers or promoters as spam or scams. It wouldn’t be a good idea to raise awareness of your brand on these platforms without coming across as untrustworthy, which is not a good image you want your brand to be associated with in the long run.
These applications are suitable for the bottom of the funnel conversion, which converts prospects from being interested, to buyers and loyal customers. These apps are better used for quotations, bookings, or serious inquiries. Groups can be created for upcoming events or to group buyers when segregation is required. Prospects could also join groups in these applications to stay updated with specific product availability. The list goes on and depends on how businesses choose to run their campaigns.
Increase brand loyalty and engagement with social media
WhatsApp is a great way to establish rapport between your existing customers and allow new customers to better connect with your business (click here to learn more on Whatsapp Marketing). Start by creating a business WhatsApp account with standard features that can help set your account apart from private or personal ones. This is better observed with the option to set your business address, operating hours, and contact details, unlike personal WhatsApp accounts that mainly allow users to put in a name, bio, and phone number. The business account also allows you to send customizable automated messages that you can personalize according to your needs and the option to group and label contacts. That way, you would know who to prioritize and who to target automated messages.
On the other hand, businesses can use Telegram to group interested clients and create a newsletter group or a community of like-minded prospects. Companies can choose to share ‘exclusive’ content with individuals in these groups, whether it’s coupons, promotions, extra information, free courses, and more. Telegram is ideal since Telegram groups can house 200-000 people, and their channels can be used to broadcast messages. They also have bots with more features that only require a command start with ‘/.’ Like a virtual assistant, bots can be accessed through chats and send texts, files, photos, videos, and links. Telegram also allows up to 2GB of file sharing; group photos or personalized videos are now easily transferable while maintaining quality resolution. The options are endless; businesses can explore which bottom and middle of the funnel marketing strategy they would like to apply!
To viral or not to viral – TikTok
Tiktok is a fun application that doesn’t require much of a person to be fully engaged and find themselves distracted in infinite looping videos, freely available online and for entertainment purposes. The videos range from 15 seconds to 10 minutes, with a multitude of trendy and ambient audio options, and it’s all about what’s trendy, hip, and popular. Videos are such valuable content as you can cram plenty of information and incorporate at least two sensory organs for an immersive experience.
Tiktok has the potential to reach 14.59 million audiences above the age of +18. If businesses are trying to promote or sell risqué products or content, Tiktok would be a suitable platform. With limited supervision and minimal moderators, creators can freely explore the vast type of content and grasp the opportunity to be viral if they wish to do so. Of course, it doesn’t have to be risky and sublime. It can be as simple as posting more engaging content and hopping on the trendy train to win the hearts of the gen-x and gen-z dominating the application.
Create engaging content and raise brand awareness through Tiktok
Tiktok is a platform for sharing and consuming short mobile-oriented videos. Videos are discoverable through their hashtag function, individual setting such as language, device or country, and user interactions. What started as a platform to create lip-syncing videos and dance challenges has now grown to accommodate general contents that are meme-worthy and relatable. Various businesses have decided to join the gen-z & x craze, and some even find themselves making money as a ‘Tiktok influencer.’ Brands can establish themselves in Tiktok by creating trendy content that uses filters, audio, and ideas favoured by the many. Trends typically don’t last long, so you must keep one eye open to any passing faves and hop in it to make yours too. If you feel a little clueless about the trends, you can refer to this article for more information on how to become viral on Tiktok! Complete the task with some hashtags and upload it! Take some time to see your videos’ progress and see whether you’d like to boost or feature your videos through Tiktok.
The Outlook – A valuable marketing strategy
Social media has become an inseparable element in our day-to-day lives. Whether for ease of conduct or to sell a product, one can simply scroll through Instagram to find the right clothing type and be redirected to a shopping platform. Then receive the outfit in a week or two, depending on the courier service used. An average person could have a crush on their classmate and snoop around to find her account, her likes, dislikes, and get those preferences targeted to them. They might purchase those items, and a budding romance starts blooming.
The bottom line is that social media is vast and has us fully wrapped in its fingertips. They are interwoven in a plethora of unexplained and unimaginable possibilities. It can all be quite intimidating, especially with how limited restrictions are placed or supervision offered. Users’ data are at the expense of every individual who has internet access. The way data work is that they map the predictable. Humans are still a creature of habits, but social media platforms are metaverses to unlimited potential. Combine the two, and you can create a fool proof marketing strategy that can transcend KPIs and go viral beyond logic. Worse comes to worst, and it doesn’t hit the KPI. To avoid that, read our 11 digital marketing trends!
Understanding the preferences of social media users is vital for effective digital marketing strategies. At Kode Digital Expert, we specialize in social media management, crafting engaging content tailored to platforms like Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, and Xiao Hong Shu.
Our team doesn’t just manage your social media presence – we create visually stunning graphic design services that people will love to engage with
Explore our complete range of digital marketing services now
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