2012 singapore social media study by rockpublicity.com

THE STATE OF SOCIAL MEDIA IN SINGAPORE

THE 2012 ROCK PUBLICITYSINGAPORE SOCIAL MEDIA STUDY

© 2012 ROCKPUBLICITY.COM – SOCIAL MEDIA CONSULTING

COPYRIGHT NOTICE

This document is Copyright © 2012 ROCK PUBLICITY and Leon Hill, All Rights Reserved. This document may be shared with others for free providing it is not edited, modified or changed in any way. This document may not be resold, republished, reproduced or redistributed in any other way without express written permission from ROCK PUBLICITY.

DISCLAIMER

While ROCK PUBLICITY invested a considerable amount of time, energy and money, took the greatest care and attention (and some may even say love) in creating this study and maintaining its accuracy for your benefit, we cannot guarantee data, information, statistics or any other part of this study are 100% accurate.

LANGUAGES

Currently, the 2012 ROCK PUBLICITY Singapore Social Media Study is only available in ENGLISH, though it is currently being translated into MANDARIN CHINESE. To be advised of when the translated version will be available, please email [email protected] and we will alert you at the relevant time.

SHARING THIS DOCUMENT

The 2012 ROCK PUBLICITY Singapore Social Media Study may be shared with other people, within your company, within the media and other organisations freely, providing it is kept wholly intact and not split into parts, destroyed or disseminated.

CREDITS

You are free to use any data within this study, providing it is credited to ROCK PUBLICITY if it is used in your own material.


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DISCUSSING THIS STUDY

To further discuss any information in this study, or to find out how your company fits in, please contact Leon Hill or Jasmine Moore at ROCK PUBLICITY.

[email protected]@rockpublicity.com

PHONE(SINGAPORE SKYPE ID) rockpublicity

(AUSTRALIA) +61439 2222 05

TWITTER@rockpublicity

WEBhttp://rockpublicity.com/






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TABLE OF CONTENTS

* * *

Contacting ROCK PUBLICITY

Our Services

Introduction to the 2012 Singapore SocialMedia Study

The ROCK PUBLICITY DeKinition of Social Media

Important Note on Data Collected

Executive Summary & Overview

Data on the 2012 Singapore Social Media Study

Basic Data on Communications in Singapore

Social Media Statistics for Singapore

Consumer Buying & Selling via Social Media

Corporate Social Media in Singapore

The Lighter Side of Stats

Conclusions Based on the 2012 SingaporeSocial Media Study

Forecasts for Singapore’s Social Media in 2013

Advice for Singaporean Companies

More Information About ROCK PUBLICITY

Thanks and Credits


CONTACTING ROCK PUBLICITY

For anything relating to the 2012 ROCK PUBLICITY Singapore Social Media Study, or advice relating to corporate social media, you can get in touch with us, or our head consultant Leon Hill using any of the following details.

EMAIL: http://rockpublicity.com/contactBLOG: http://rockpublicity.com/blogPHONE (Singapore Skype ID ): rockpublicityPHONE (Australia): +61439 2222 05EMAIL: [email protected]: http://www.linkedin.com/profile/view?id=24222347TWITTER: http://twitter.com/rockpublicity

OUR SERVICES

ROCK PUBLICITY deals almost exclusively with large companies, corporate entities and government organisations. Large-scale social media and real-time media is what we do best, so we stick to it.

- Social Media Consulting- Social Publicity- Social ROCKstar Program- Real-Time Sales Mastery- Research & Insight

Find out more at: http://rockpublicity.com/

For corporate consulting, Leon will be in Singapore from December 2012 through to May 2013 so may be available to work with your company during that period, Please be aware we may need several months notice for large contracts, however short consulting contracts (~1 week long) are usually available given a week or two notice, depending on client needs.

We look forward to working with you.


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“If you can’t explain it simply, you don’t understand itwell enough.”

-‐ Albert Einstein


INTRODUCTION TO THE2012 SINGAPORE SOCIAL

MEDIA STUDY

-‐-‐ ROCKPUBLICITY.COM -‐-‐


INTRODUCTION to the 2012 Singapore Social Media StudyHi, I’m Leon Hill and I am the Chief Consultant, founder and face of ROCK PUBLICITY. Over the next few pages I’ll be introducing you to the 2012 SINGAPORE SOCIAL MEDIA STUDY, some definitions and information to help you understand the details within the pages of this world-class survey.

While introductions aren’t always that important in documents or books, I implore you not to skip the next few pages as you will miss out a lot of detail in what makes this information so special.

To start with, what you’re about to read is the biggest study and survey on social media in Singapore that has ever been undertaken – this alone makes our 2012 study the best source ever in history on understanding consumer and business use of the platform in Singapore.

For me personally however, Singapore has always held a special place in my heart as I’ve travelled there many times; it was actually the very first nation I ever visited outside my home country of Australia (that is, if you don’t count a stop-over in the KL airport on my way there). Combined with my passion for social media, learning about the impact of the medium on Singapore has always something I wanted to be a leader in. I also wrote a great deal of my upcoming book Social Mind in Singapore and I plan to release it there before the rest of the world.

However, as my company is planning quite a lot of business in Singapore over the next two years, I decided in June that there simply wasn’t enough data or understanding of Singapore’s social media scene and digital communications environment. No matter where I looked, I was met with incomplete or lacking information.

If we were going to provide our Singaporean corporate clients with the absolute best service and results possible, we had to know more.

The solution?


In June I decided we needed to not only fill in the gaps, but come up with the most conclusive, detailed and complete set of data surrounding social media and real-time Internet usage in Singapore. After spending a couple of months formulating an action plan with my team and an external research company, we began work in August.

Over the next 95 days we surveyed tens of thousands of Singaporean Internet users, collected data on hundreds of local companies, calculated figures and forecasted as accurately as possible what the future of the nation’s social media would be like.

I invested over $20,000 SGD per month in staff, data collection, expertise and outside knowledge, as well as drawing on my years of industry experience to make certain we were covering all bases and extracting as much as we could, as accurately as we could.

And in early November 2012, I was satisfied we’d done absolutely everything possible.

This is our first ever study of social media in Singapore, however I know for a fact it’s the largest, most complete and most accurate study of the way Singaporean people and companies use the platform.

To give you some idea of how much blood, sweat and tears we invested in our study on Singaporean social media, here are some interesting facts about what went into it:

- 2,160 hours research over 95 days- $63,118 SGD invested- 51,750 Singaporeans surveyed- 4 staff and 2 outside researchers used- 217 Singapore-based companies studied- 379 phone calls made- 1,761 pages of raw data

As you can see, we really did our homework to create what you’ll see in this 60-page report!


Whatever your role, whether social media junkie, tech entrepreneur, business owner, statistics lover or corporate marketing executive, you’ll get something from this study. More than anything, it will give you the most definitive view on what the social media and digital communications scene is like right now in Singapore, as well as snapshot of how it will progress next year.

Like most our clients, if you have a role anywhere in the corporate world in Singapore, the later parts of this study should especially be of great interest to you. It’s towards the end of the study that we uncover how the nations companies are using social media, how they’re interacting with communities and how they’re driving sales.

However you find the study, I’d like to invite your comments on the ROCK PUBLICITY blog, via Twitter, or directly via email. And if you’re a company who would like to discuss any further how this study affects your business in Singapore, myself or one of my staff would love to chat to you further about this.

And finally, be sure to find out more about ROCK PUBLICITY after the close of the study, as well as some interesting, amusing and entertaining facts we came up with about Singaporeans when we conducted our research.

From here, in all its magnificent glory, here you’ll find the 2012 ROCK PUBLICITY Singapore Social Media Study. I truly hope it helps you create, nurture and grow a better online community in Singapore.

Kindest Regards,

Leon HillFounder, Chief ConsultantROCK PUBLICITYhttp://rockpublicity.com/ FB: http://facebook.com/RockPublicity TW: @rockpublicity




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The ROCK PUBLICITY definition of Social Media

Although everyone is familiar with the term ‘Social Media’ and it’s still the most widely-used name to describe the industry, communications medium and platform, I don’t think it’s necessarily an accurate title most of the time.

For us here at ROCK PUBLICITY, the term used by author David Meerman-Scott who calls it ‘Real-Time Media’ is much more accurate.

Sure, it’s still social, but ‘real-time’ describes the main benefit of social media much better. It really hammers home that your company can track, listen, contribute to and start conversation with people online immediately, as well as discover and act-on sales opportunities online as they happen.

This is why we like ‘Real-Time Media’ much more. And although we’ll continue to refer to ‘Social Media’ in this study as it’s still the most common way of describing it, we’d like you to keep the ‘real-time’ aspect of it in your mind at all times.


IMPORTANT NOTE ON DATA COLLECTED

PLEASE NOTE:

1. All data was collected via our own and various external sources, then cross-referenced, checked and confirmed by outside researchers as best as possible. We maintained as high a standard for accuracy as we possibly could, however please keep in mind there is no way to be 100% certain figures are exactly correct. In all cases they will be accurate or extremely close to accurate, however please allow a margin for error in each statistic.

2. Whenever an age group is expressed in this study, please be aware we ONLY surveyed Singaporeans 15 years and above when it came to age splits. No data relating to age splits of users on social networks reflects the entire population of Singapore, simply the group of Singaporeans of ages 15 years and above.

3. All numbers are expressed as a number with a single decimal place. Figures have been rounded up or down to the nearest 0.1 point.

4. All population figures were rounded up or down to the nearest whole number. No population figures are expressed as decimals.

5. This report is only available in ENGLISH at present, though is currently being translated into MANDARIN CHINESE. Please contact us at [email protected] to be alerted when this translated version is available.

6. Population figures are based on the World Bank figure for Singapore in December, 2011.




EXECUTIVE SUMMARY&

OVERVIEW



EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

The objective of the 2012 Singapore Social Media Study has been to attain a comprehensive understanding of how consumers and companies use social media in Singapore. The study was carried out due to the lack of information available relating to social media in Singapore, as a source of information for Singaporean companies and to give ROCK PUBLICITY the most detailed view possible on the SM environment in Singapore.

The study was based around two major fields:

1. General Internet and consumer social media usage in Singapore, and;

2. The way companies in Singapore use social media to communicate, interact with and sell to locals.

Within these fields, we focused on many key lines of inquiry including:

• How frequently Singaporeans use social media and what sites do they most regularly use,

• What devices locals use most frequently to access social media,

• Singapore’s online buying habits and how social media fits into this,

• How consumers in Singapore use social media as a tool for research and review before buying products online,

• What local companies use social media for and how effectively it’s being used,

• How social media use will grow in Singapore in 2013 and beyond.

The study has been carried out over a period of 95 days, between August and October 2012, by ROCK PUBLICITY and with the assistance of a partner research organisation based in Singapore. Specifically, we surveyed more than 50,000 Singaporean locals, as well as 217 companies in various industries.


The present report draws upon the data collected during the period of this study and is expressed as openly as possible, with our comments based on industry experience, knowledge of the global social media environment and current global trends, facts and figures.

While the report can be considered as a stand-alone and comprehensive look at the overall social media environment in Singapore, it should be looked at as a complimentary part of a more detailed research campaign into online interactions as a whole in Singapore. Also, in the interest of maintaining the theme of the report we have omitted more detailed and specific information relating to specific industries specified in the report.

(NB: If your company fits within one of the researched industries listed in the report, we request you contact us for further information)

The research we conducted followed well-accepted approaches to collecting data relating to online usage, as well as surveying a large volume of people in order to attain their views on a certain topic and their actions relating to specific activities.

In relation to attaining general data on Internet usage in Singapore, as well as very basic social media statistics, we utilised several reputable sources of information including the Singapore Government Department of Statistics (http://singstat.gov.sg/) and the World Bank (http://worldbank.org/) in order to maintain accuracy to the best of our abilities.

In relation to attaining data on social media usage in Singapore, we carried out thorough and detailed data collection by surveying locals via the Internet, over a period of approximately three months. In total we surveyed 51,750 Singaporean locals, however data from 1,329 of these surveys was removed from the study and not considered due to incomplete, duplicate or inaccurate information.

In relation to attaining data on corporate and business social media usage in Singapore, we collected data by individually


http://singstat.gov.sg/

http://singstat.gov.sg/

http://worldbank.org/


studying the social media presence of 217 Singapore-based companies and the way they were using the medium, over a period of around three months. Using basic social media monitoring tools, we looked at things like how often these companies were using social media sites like Twitter, Facebook and online forums to communicate with Internet users, their customers and potential new markets. We also analysed how they were using these sites to promote and sell their products and how often consumers were responding. The companies studied were spread over several industries and included major names such as SingTel, Singapore Airways and the Singapore Flyer.

Overall we learned much invaluable knowledge regarding the social media landscape in Singapore,

• The nation’s consumers are extremely heavy users of social media, both at home and on mobile devices. Not only are they leaders in the Asian region as a whole, but in some areas also global leaders. Most locals have accounts on more than one social media site meaning the potential reach for companies to target consumers via social media is extremely high.

• Singaporeans are the highest smartphone users on the planet per capita, as well as some of the highest tablet users. This also reflects their online spending habits via mobile devices.

• Singaporeans spend quite a large sum of money every year online in general, but also directly through social media sites. In total we estimate around one quarter of all online sales in 2012 had something to do with SM, for example being directly referred from a relevant site

• While Internet and social media use in Singapore is extremely high for consumers, this does not translate to businesses. We found local companies do not frequent the platform anywhere near as much as consumers and are actually dangerously behind not just their Asian counterparts, but a large portion of the developed world. Our belief is that most of this is down to lack of training and education of Singaporean companies, though possibly in a small part due to complacency or seeing social media as not worthwhile.


• Due to the lack of corporate social media performance, the satisfaction level of Singaporean consumers towards local companies is quite low. This means that while businesses for the most part aren’t using SM effectively or simply not at all, their followers and customers are noticing this.

• Also because of poor social media performance by companies, we found potential sales and revenue driven by the medium reflected this. We estimate that while local companies earned over $750 million (SGD) through SM in 2012, they missed out on a further $809 million (SGD) due to lack of strategy, not knowing how to target and take advantage of sales opportunities, ignoring communication by community members and bad brand image.

• Social media usage with rise again noticeably in 2013; however there are no indications that consumer or business use will change much beyond increases in use. For local companies this means further increases in sales, but also sales losses if current social media practices (or lack thereof in some cases) do not change.

To conclude, the study provides a deep insight into the overall social media landscape of Singapore and how it is being used in 2012, as well as basics on where we expect it to go in 2013.

MAJOR FINDINGS and Overview

Overall, we found Singapore a paradox when it came to social media in general. On the one hand, the nation leads Asia in terms of social media usage and general tech-savviness across the board, as well as owning some interesting stats such as being the heaviest Facebook users in the world in terms of average use per session.

Singaporeans are also some of the heaviest mobile users on average in Asia and use social media on mobile devices more than 96% of the rest of the world. Also, Singaporeans buy more tablet devices per capita than any other nation in Asia and lead the region in social media use on these devices also. Singapore also leads the world in smartphone use, per capita being the highest on the planet.


Average online growth in the region is around 7%-13% for 2012 in most areas of social media, from Internet use, to social media growth and similar figures, which you’ll read about later in the report. We forecast this growth should continue through 2013.

However, despite this apparent attraction to social media by users, social media marketing and communication as a whole by companies in Singapore is lagging behind the Western world and is in the bottom 50% when compared to the rest of its Asian counterparts who use similar sites.

In all, we found that Singaporean companies are either very slow to take up using social media as a tool for advertising and promotion, as well as customer relations and brand building. A great number of the corporate businesses and brands in the country had no real social media presence at all. Of the ones that did, very few were doing anything that could be called proper implementation.

Mostly we attribute this to lack of proper training and knowledge in social media by local corporations, as well as Asia’s generally later adoption of the medium than in the Western world. Though despite this, we think some companies still simply don’t see the value in social media as any kind of platform, or simple complacence.In terms of driving sales online, again Singapore is extremely advanced when compared not only to Asia, but a large portion of the globe. And direct sales via social media are rapidly increasing, as are consumers using the platform to find out more about products and services before buying.

Despite this, we found that Singaporean companies are actually missing out on more sales than they’re making in social media, this year totaling close to $1 billion, possibly more. Again, we believe this is due to poor implementation, strategy and lack of knowledge.

From here we’re going to let the data and our commentary speak for itself. Over the next 40 pages or so, you’ll be shown a better picture of social media in Singapore than you’ve ever been offered before.


DATA ON THE2012 SINGAPORE SOCIAL

MEDIA STUDY



BASIC DATA on Communications in SingaporeIn this initial section, you’ll find basic data on how Singaporeans are using social media. This covers things like the ages of population using it, penetration of people in the country who use it regularly and everything in between. We recommend you use this section to give yourself a better understanding of the social media and basic online environment in Singapore, how many people are in your target audience and other details like that.

STATS:

1. Singaporeans with household Internet access

2012: 80.8% of total population or 4,188,430 people

Around four-fifths of Singaporeans have access to the Internet in their home, totaling almost 4.3 million people.

2. Singaporeans who regularly use the Internet

2012: 4,032,919 people or 77.8% of total population.

This year, more than 4 million Singaporeans used the Internet regularly, at least three times per week. This accounts for more than three-quarters of every person in the country, which should rise to well over 80% in 2013.

3. Singaporean daily Internet users

2012: 3,457,600 people or 84.7% of Internet users

Of Singaporeans with household Internet access, a massive 84.7%, or almost 3.5 million people, use the Internet on a daily basis.

4. Time spent online per month


2012: 103.6 hours2013: 110.1 hours

The average Internet user in the country spends just over 25 hours online every single week, including Internet usage on mobile phone devices and tablet computers. This makes Singaporeans some of the heaviest users not just in Asia, but in the world as well.

5. Internet user age demographics for Singapore

15-‐24: 31.0%25-‐34: 32.1%35-‐44: 19.6%45-‐54: 8.7%55+: 8.6%

Almost two-thirds of all Singapore’s Internet users are aged between 15-34, with the remainder

6. Internet user age split in Singapore

MALE: 50%FEMALE: 50%

In Singapore, users are split by gender almost exactly. While this never varies much from nation-to-nation, some countries like Australia have a MALE/FEMALE split of 47/53, with Malaysia being 53/47 percent respectively.

7. Blog reach in Singapore

2012: 57.6%2013: 60.1% (Forecast)

Blogs in Singapore reached over 57% of the nation’s total population this year, meaning people are extremely familiar and comfortable in using this medium for finding information online.

8. Search engine market share in Singapore

GOOGLE: 82.2%


YAHOO: 15.9%BING: 1.9%

These shares are based on both International .com as well as local .sg domains of these search engines. While Google dropped slightly over last year, it still holds the vast majority of the search market share.

9. Mobile subscribers in Singapore

2012: 7.1 million2013: 7.3 million

Although this figure is actually well over Singapore’s population, it is accurate as it takes into account people who have more than one mobile subscription service such as a mobile contract, prepaid phone service and mobile data plan for a tablet device or similar. While this will increase in 2013 further, we estimate it won’t be a massive jump in terms of percentage.

10. Smartphone use in Singapore

2012: 3,685,611 people or 71.1% of total population2013: 3,747,815 people or 72.3% of total population

At present, more than 70% of all Singaporeans own a smartphone, which is estimated to rise slightly in 2013. This smartphone penetration of population is the highest anywhere in the world.

11. Tablet use in Singapore


As it stands now, around 40% of Singapore’s population own a tablet device, accounting for more than 2 million people. This should rise dramatically next year, accounting for over half the nation’s people owning a device such as an iPad or Galaxy Tab.


SOCIAL MEDIA STATISTICS for SingaporeIn this section you’ll discover specific social media statistics for Singapore, including what sites users have accounts, how often they’re using social media and how they’re interacting within their own circle of influence.

STATS:

1. Singaporeans who regularly use social media

2012: 3,530,100 people or 68.1% of total population:2013: 3,835,938 people or 74.0% of total population (Forecast)

In 2012, more than 3.5 million Singaporeans used social media on a regular basis, at least once per week. This usage is well above the average for the rest of Asia and very close to world averages in developed nations. Based on growth trends, we estimate this will rise sharply next year to 74% of total population.

2. Facebook users in Singapore


Over 60% of all Singaporeans have used Facebook in 2012 and this will rise next year to cover more than two-thirds of the population.

3. Facebook penetration of population

TOTAL POPULATION: 62.2%ONLINE POPULATION: 76.9%

Of people in Singapore with household Internet access, more than three-quarters are Facebook users in 2012. This figure is the leader in the region, making Singaporeans the most prolific ‘Facebook-ers’ in Asia.


4. Facebook usage in Singapore

2012: 19.6 hours active use per month2013: 20.7 hours active use per month (Forecast)

2012: 47.5 hours logged in per month2013: 50.1 hours logged in per month (Forecast)

Singaporeans spent almost 20 hours active on Facebook every month, averaging out to 39.2 minutes browsing and posting on Facebook every single day.

5. Facebook average session time

2012: 37.9 minutes per session2013: 38.1 minutes per session (Forecast)

This is one of the most interesting statistics in social media in Singapore; the average single session time for a Singaporean in 2012 was 37.9 minutes, meaning they spend more time per session on the social networking site than any other country on the planet. Proof they love social media, Facebook in particular.

6. Average number of status updates per month (per user)

2012: 18.72013: 20.3

The average Singaporean posts updates their Facebook status around 19 times every month, which is around the world average. This did not include comments on other people’s updates. An interesting note is that some locals surveyed admitted to posting up to 500 times in a single month in 2012.

7. Average number of Facebook friends

2012: 319.52013: 372.0 (Forecast)


Singaporeans are popular, on Facebook at least. The average

user has over 300 friends, which will rise dramatically next year as growth trends continue.

8. Average Facebook ‘likes’ per month (per user)

2012: 37.02013: 39.1 (Forecast)

When it comes to ‘liking’ other people’s content on Facebook, Singaporeans do this almost twice as much as they update their statuses. With increased usage this trend will rise next year, though not by a large margin.

9. Average Facebook shares per month (per user)

2012: 22.62013: 30.1 (Forecast)

Much higher than the world average by around 50%, Singaporeans love sharing content on Facebook, from photos to other people’s status updates. In 2013 this should continue to rise further based on current trends, making Singapore’s Facebook users some of the most prolific sharers in the world.

10. Percentage of Singaporean Facebook users accessing the site via mobile

2012: 64.4%2013: 77.1% (Forecast)

Almost two-thirds of Singapore’s Facebook users accessed the site using a mobile device this year, which includes mobile phones and tablet devices. With Singapore’s intense growth in app usage and the tablet market, this will increase considerably next year.

11. Twitter users in Singapore

2012: 2,561,240 people or 49.4% of total population2013: 2,790,500 people or 53.8% of total population (Forecast)


Almost half of the country’s total population have a Twitter account, which is higher than the world average. Again, this will increase next year to cover over 50% of Singapore’s people.

12. Twitter penetration of population

TOTAL POPULATION: 49.4%ONLINE POPULATION: 61.2%

While less than half of the total population are on Twitter, the micro-blogging site covers almost two-thirds of people will Internet access at home.

13. Twitter usage in Singapore

2012: 7.7 hours active per month2013: 9.1 hours active per month (Forecast)

2012: 40.6 hours logged in per month2013: 44.0 hours logged in per month (Forecast)

While less than half of how often they use Facebook, Singaporeans still use Twitter quite a lot, in fact more than the total world average. They spent over 7 hours active on the site per month tweeting and checking out other people’s updates, while being logged in for an average of 40 hours per month. Based on total usage as a city, Singapore ranks 11th in the world.

14. Average number of Twitter followers

2012: 1472013: 177 (Forecast)

Around a quarter of Singaporeans had less than 20 followers, however the average was raised by the percentage that had many hundreds, or even thousands of followers. The average in SG is 147 followers per account.

15. Average number of tweets per month


2012: 77.0 per user2013: 79.4 per user (Forecast)

The average Singaporean Twitter user tweets more than twice per day, though a decent chunk of users posted only around once per week. Many users had an average of around 20 tweets per day, showing how active some of the nation’s account holders can be.

16. Average number of re-tweets per month


While slightly lower with the world average when compared with number of tweets, Singapore’s Twitter users re-tweet something on average once every business day.

17. Average number of Twitter ‘favourites’ per month


Similar though slightly lower than re-tweets, Singaporeans actually favourite items on Twitter more than the rest of the world on average. Based on current trends, this will increase quite substantially in 2013.

18. Percentage of Singaporean Twitter users accessing the site via mobile

2012: 59.9%2013: 66.4% (Forecast)

Again this number is less than Facebook, though more than half of the nation’s micro-bloggers accessed the site via a mobile device this year.

19. YouTube users in Singapore

2012: 3,937,125 people or 76% of total population


2013: 4,251,898 people or 82% of total population

This figure took into account people in Singapore who watched at least one video on YouTube in 2012. This was not only Singaporeans who actually had a YouTube account.

20. YouTube users age split

15-‐24: 20.8%25-‐34: 25.3%35-‐44: 25.9%45-‐54: 19.8%55+: 8.2%

Of all Singapore’s YouTube users above the age of 15, this is how numbers were split. Percentages are a fairly constant split until we reach the over 55 age bracket, which accounts for less than half the usage of each other age bracket.

21. YouTube usage in Singapore

2012: Average 151 videos per user, per month2013: EST Average 176 videos per user, per month

2012: Average 11.6 hours per month usage2013: EST Average 12.4 hours per month usage

Each YouTube user in Singapore watches around 5 videos every single day on the site, which is similar to the global average. This also means the nation’s online video viewers spend almost half a full 24 hour day watching YouTube content every month.

22. Average minutes consumed on YouTube per month (Singapore total)

2012: 695.02013: 744.6 (Forecast)

When split into minutes, this is Singapore’s average time spent browsing and watching content on YouTube per person, every


month. In the next section you can find out more on how this is split over age groups in Singapore.

23. Average minutes consumed on YouTube per month (age specific)

15-‐24: 1011.025-‐34: 603.335-‐44: 512.445-‐54: 647.655+: 700.8

When split into age brackets, the youngest and oldest Singaporeans spent the most time on YouTube per month. These usages dropped the closer age brackets got to the middle bracket of 35-44, who used the site least frequently among the nation’s users.

24. LinkedIn users in Singapore

2012: 522,030 or 10.1% of total population2013: 630,266 or 12.2% of total population (Forecast)

1 in 10 Singaporeans have accounts on the world’s largest business networking site, which means the nation’s social media users care less about business networking than they do in terms of pure social use, or as consumers.

25. LinkedIn penetration of population

TOTAL POPULATION: 10.1% or 522,030 peopleONLINE POPULATION: 12.5% or 522,030 people

Because of low initial number, the difference between penetration of total and online population does not vary considerably, with 12.5% of Singapore’s total Internet users having an account on the site.

26. LinkedIn usage in Singapore


2012: 1.8 hours active per month2013: 2.6 hours active per month

2012: 10.4 hours logged in per month2013: 13.0 hours logged in per month

The average LinkedIn user of Singapore spent much less time than the average global user, though this will grow significantly next year.

27. Average number of LinkedIn Connections

2012: 72.22013: 90.3

An average user is connected with over 70 people on LinkedIn in Singapore, however connection trends indicate much higher growth in this area than with Facebook friends or Twitter followers, which will make a noticeable difference in 2013.

28. Average number of LinkedIn updates per month

2012: 6.62013: 8.3

LinkedIn users are much more likely to browse other people’s content than post their own status updates and Singapore follows this global trend fairly closely. The nations members post only around 1.5 times per week.

29. Average number of LinkedIn Groups user is member of

2012: 4.12013: 4.6

Quite similar to the global average, the average Singaporean on LinkedIn is a member of around 4 groups.

30. Pinterest users in Singapore


2012: 96,750 or 1.7% of total population2013: 197,772 or 3.8% of total population (Forecast)

Although growing extremely rapidly in popularity, only a tony portion of Singaporeans have an account on Pinterest. This accounts for less than 2% of the nation. Although reasonably new, this should more than double next year.

31. Pinterest penetration of population

TOTAL POPULATION: 1.7% or 96,750 peopleONLINE POPULATION: 2.3% or 96,750 people

Due to the relative new presence of Pinterest globally, less than 2.5% of the nation’s online population are on the site.

32. Pinterest usage in Singapore

2012: 1.9 hours active per month2013: 2.3 hours active per month

2012: 9.9 hours logged in per month2103: 12.1 hours logged in per month

Singaporeans are slightly more active on Pinterest than they are on LinkedIn, however at least this year they spent less time logged in comparatively. In With the rapid growth of Pinterest, both of these figures are looking to surpass LinkedIn next year.

33. Singapore’s multiple-network social media usage

1-‐3: 19.6% or 691,900 people4-‐6: 41.3% or 1,457,931 people7-‐9: 26.1% or 921,356 people10+: 13.0% or 458,913 people

We surveyed Singaporeans who said they regularly used social media how many accounts on different social networks they had. Nearly half the population on social media had somewhere


between 4-6 accounts on social networks, with 13% having accounts on more than 10 social sites.


Consumer BUYING & SELLING via Social MediaOne of the main things we wanted to know was how Singaporeans were using social media to buy and even sell things via the web and social media in general. We found that most residents of the nation were not only comfortable with buying and selling services online, but on average bought something at least once per month. Not only that, a large portion of social media users in Singapore researched products and services online before buying.

STATS:

1. Singapore online sales

2012: $3.1 billion SGD2013: $4.4 billion SGD (Forecast)

While worth only $1.1 billion SGD two years ago, the online sales market has almost tripled since then to what will close the year at $3.1 billion Singaporean dollars.

2. Spend on local vs. overseas websites

LOCAL: 37.4%OVERSEAS: 62.6%

For most countries outside the USA, it’s often estimated the vast percentage of online sales come from outside the country, however we found that in 2012 almost 40% of all online sales were generated via companies or websites based in Singapore.

3. Singaporeans who buy products/services online

2012: 3,614,615 or 69.7% of total population2013: 3,907,399 or 75.4% of total population (Forecast)

Of the almost 4.2 million regular Internet users in Singapore, the vast majority have bought at least once online this year – in total, almost 70% of the country’s entre population. This should increase dramatically in 2013 and we estimate next year three-quarters of


all Singaporeans will make a purchase online at some stage.

4. Number of online purchases per month

<1: 6.0%1-‐2: 44.3%3-‐5: 28.6%6+: 21.1%

Of the nation’s population who bought online, nearly half bought at least one item every single month on the Internet. There were only 6% of Singaporeans who stated they bought less than once per month, with more than one-fifth saying they bought six or more times in the same period.

5. Average transaction per sale online

2012: $101.34 SGD2013: $104.19 SGD (Forecast)

Singaporeans closely match other countries in terms of average value of an online transaction, this year at just over $100 SGD per sale. While this is slightly lower than countries like the USA and UK, this will grow as a large percentage of Singaporeans said they are would be more likely to increase online spending in 2013.

6. Percentage of online sales via mobile devices

2012: 26.2% or $812 million SGD2013: 29.5% or $1.3 billion SGD (Forecast)

This year, more than a quarter of all online sales were made on mobile devices, more than $800 million is total sales. This is a notable increase on last year and a massive jump on the 5% share mobile devices accounted for in 2010. While this growth will slow slightly next year, it will still increase and it’s estimated almost 30% of all online sales next year will be made on mobile devices.

7. Percentage of Singaporeans who use Internet banking


2012: 33.6%2013: 35.1%

Almost one-third of all Singaporeans used online banking services – either via home-based computer or mobile – in 2012. This is the largest reach in Asia in terms of what percentage of the population use Internet banking.

8. Mobile devices online sales percentage breakdown

SMARTPHONES: 71.0% or $576.5 million SGDTABLET: 29.0% or $235.5 million SGD

While tablets are still rapidly growing in popularity, smartphones like offerings from Apple, Samsung and Sony are still the most popular portable devices for making purchases online by Singaporeans at 71%. The remainder is made up of transactions on devices like the Galaxy Note and iPad.

9. Singaporeans who bought via social media

2012: 24.3% of online buyers or 878,351 people2013: 27.1% of online buyers or 1,058,905 people (Forecast)

Singaporeans are more than willing to buy products when referred directly from social media, with almost a quarter of all people who bought something online this year doing so as a direct result of social media, by being directed via a link from a social site. However, compared with countries like Australia and the UK this figure is quite low, simply because of poor promotional practices by the vast majority of Singaporean companies using social media. It’s expected over 1 million people in Singapore will buy something directly via social media in 2013.

10. Estimated sales via social media

2012: $753.3 million SGD2013: $1.0 billion SGD (Forecast)Over three-quarters of a billion dollars in sales were generated by Singaporean businesses, as a direct result of consumers purchasing via links on, or being referred by social media sites in


2012. Even if poor company online sales practices do not improve in Singapore next year, this figure will dramatically increase in 2013 simply due to the large increase in general online sales and purchasing trends.

11. Singaporeans who researched products/services via Social Media before buying

ONLINE POPULATION: 46.2% or 1,935,055 peopleTOTAL POPULATION: 37.3% or 1,935,055 people

Of people in Singapore who bought online this year, around 46% said they used social media to discover more about a product or service before placing an order. Specifically, purchasers searched for companies via sites like Twitter and Facebook in order to find out more before spending money, or uncover reviews by other consumers.

12. Singaporeans researching via Social Media used the following sites

FACEBOOK: 59.8%TWITTER: 61.0%YOUTUBE: 27.3%LINKEDIN: 2.7%%PINTEREST: 12.2%FORUM: 42.3%BLOG: 39.6%OTHER: 67.6%

Surprisingly, Twitter was the highest-ranking site, with 61% of Singaporeans who said they used social media for researching products and services, saying they’d used the micro-blogging site at one point in time to find out more. Usual obvious choice to find out more about a company’s services, Facebook, came a close second. A large portion of Singaporeans also said they used online blogs and forums to research online before buying.

13. Online buyers who searched for coupons before purchasing via the web


2012: 17.3% of online buyers or 625,328 people2013: 21.1% of online buyers or 824,461 people (Forecast)

Over one-sixth of all online shoppers searched for some kind of coupon on social media or the Internet before making a purchase online. However, as we detailed later in the study, less than 0.5% of companies using social media in Singapore were found to be offering any kind of discount, special offers or coupons via social media in order to help boost sales. This means that many opportunities for increased revenue were being missed by SG businesses.

14. People searching for coupons who used social media to do so

2012: 81.7% or 510,893 people2012: 86.6% or 713,983 people (Forecast)

Of the 17.3% of the online public in Singapore who searched the Internet for coupons before making a web purchase, the vast majority of these at some point used a social media site or tool to do so. Over half a million Singaporeans searched social media for online purchasing coupons this year, which should surge to well over 700,000 in 2013.

15. Singaporeans who sold something online

2012: 31.1% of online population or 1,302,602 people2013: 35.7% of online population or 1,495,270 people (Forecast)

In 2012, almost one-third of all Singaporeans with household Internet access had something sold online, either themselves or by a family member or friend. This was using any online means, including online sales or community sites like eBay or Gumtree.

16. Singaporeans who sold something via social media

2012: 22.6% of online population or 946,585 people2013: 24.9% of online population or 1,042,919 people (Forecast)


Of people with household Internet access in Singapore, more than 20% said they’d sold at least one item to someone via social media, for example to a friend or family member on Facebook. As social media use becomes more prevalent next year and more people are using social portals to sell items, this is expected to increase to almost a quarter of all online Singaporeans in 2013, or over 1 million people.

17. Singaporeans who used social media to make a purchase decision

2012: 51.2% of online buyers or 1,850,682 people2013: 66.4% of online buyers or 2,594,512 people

Of all online buyers in Singapore this year, more than half said that something they’d read on social media about a product, service or company helped them to make a decision before choosing to buy something. With the increased use of social media and how Singaporeans are using it to buy, sell and make purchase decisions, this will increase to two-thirds of the online buying population next year.

18. Factors Singaporeans took into account when making purchase decisions (using Social Media for research)

NEG-‐ FEEDBACK: 91.4%POS+ FEEDBACK: 87.0%LACK OF INFO: 46.6%

We asked thousands of Singaporeans what were key factors in helping make them a purchase decision when it came to searching for information via social media before buying. More than anything, negative consumer feedback stood out, followed closely by positive feedback. However, a large volume of people surveyed also said lack of information or communication in social media relating to a company or their products and services was also something that mattered to them.


CORPORATE SOCIAL MEDIA in SingaporeAs ROCK PUBLICITY deal exclusively in corporate, government and big business social media consulting, of course we were interested in how Singaporean companies were marketing, promoting and communicating on the digital medium. It’s in this section you’ll discover the paradox of social media in Singapore. While the nation’s population are leaders in Asia and almost equal in terms of social media use and knowledge, the companies of the country are extremely far behind in taking advantage of real-time media; companies here lag behind Malaysia, Hong Kong and the Philippines.

STATS:

1. Number of companies studied

217

2. Notable companies included

Singapore Flyer, MasterCard Singapore, SingTel, Resorts World Sentosa, Singapore Airlines, Hong Leong Bank, FlyScoot, MILO, Starbucks, Marina Bay Sands, Changi Airport, Tiger Airways, Tiger Beer, YourSingapore, KFC, M1, JetStar, McDonalds, OCBC, DBS Bank, UOB, Far Eastern Bank, Subway, IKEA, Raffles, Citibank.

3. Industries surveyed

TRAVEL/LEISURE: 26.6%FOOD/DRINK: 26.5%RETAIL: 17.3%TECH: 15.6%OTHER: 7.1%BANKING/FINANCE: 4.6%TELCO: 2.3%

Of the 217 companies we surveyed, most fit within six industry categories. Over 50% were in the TRAVEL/LEISURE and FOOD/DRINK industries combined. The 17.3% in RETAIL made up chain stores such as department stores, fashion outlets and


similar companies, with TECH being companies like Sony who sold digital consumer products. BANKING/FINANCE made up banks and credit card companies, with TELCO being entities like SingTel and M1. Anything else went into the OTHER category.

4. Site usage by Singaporean companies

FACEBOOK: 82%TWITTER: 69%LINKEDIN: 51%YOUTUBE: 22%PINTEREST: 4%OTHER: 37%

Of the companies surveyed in Singapore, the vast majority had some Facebook presence (though not all regularly used it) and well over 50% had an official Twitter account. However on most other interactive portals this dropped sharply. One note was that around half of all companies had some kind of official presence on LinkedIn, which was well over the individual 1 in 10 Singaporeans who had a personal account on the business-networking site. Also, companies on average used Pinterest more than individuals, though YouTube much less.

5. Number of social sites company had presence

10+: 12%5-‐9: 13%1-‐4: 48%0: 22%

Here we asked companies how many social media sites they had a presence on. While around half had a presence on a few of the majors (Facebook, Twitter, etc.), very few branched out on anything more than that. The most shocking fact is that almost a quarter of all companies surveyed had no social media presence at all, even on a single social networking site.

6. Frequency of posting to social media:


5+ TIMES PER DAY: 7%2-‐4 TIMES PER DAY: 26%ONCE PER DAY: 22%LESS THAN ONCE PER DAY: 45%

Of the companies we surveyed that had a social presence, this is how often we found they were posting to their social media accounts on a daily basis. What’s scary is that even for those businesses that did have a presence in social media, almost half were still posting less than once per day.

7. Average time invested in social media marketing per day

10+ HOURS: 13.0%5-‐9 HOURS: 25.5%1-‐4 HOURS: 51.0%LESS THAN 1 HOUR: 9.5%

Whilst the vast majority of Singaporean businesses on social media are doing some kind of social marketing on a daily basis, most aren’t doing nearly enough. Only 39% are doing more than the bare minimum, with more than half doing very little or almost nothing on a daily basis.

8. Companies engaging followers

ENGAGING: 49.0%NOT ENGAGING: 51.0%

Here we looked at every company and found what percentage were replying to, or communicating with their followers and fans over a one-month period. This part only took into account communication where the company was directly contacted via social media first, for example, when someone asked them a question on Twitter. Keep in mind that only just over half of all companies were doing this at all.


9. Companies ACTIVELY engaging followers

ACTIVELY ENGAGING: 7.5%NOT ACTIVELY ENGAGING: 92.5%

This is an important figure. While the previous statistic to this one shows you what percentage of companies were doing some kind of communicating or replying to their online communities, this is a different figure altogether. Here we looked at what percentage of Singaporean corporate entities were going out of their way to address mentions about their business, or talk to consumers or social media users, without being directly contacted first.

Only 7.5% of companies were doing things like addressing indirectly-made complaints on Twitter, chatting to people when their company name was mentioned or other activity like this. Because all companies have the ability to see when they’re being mentioned in social media, it’s unacceptable that 92.5% of Singaporean companies were ignoring this completely.

10. Percentage of company posts that were sales related

MOSTLY SALES/PROMOTIONAL: 46.0%EVEN BALANCE OF SALES/CONVERSATION: 39.3%MOSTLY CONVERSATION: 14.7%

Here we studied what was the predominant kind of post that companies in Singapore were promoting to their communities – either mostly sales and promotional content, mostly conversation with their community, or an even balance of both.

Almost half of all the nation’s corporate social media accounts were posting mostly promotional content, with only a small amount of other communication to followers. Another 39.3% had a fairly even mix of promotional content, as well as conversation building with their communities.

However, for best results corporate entities should be communicating mostly with people, with only a small percentage of posts being totally promotional. We found only 14.7% of


Singaporean companies were posting in this manner via social media.

11. Average delay in Twitter response

AVERAGE RESPONSE TIME: 17 hours 44 minutes 16 secondsCOMPANIES RESPONDING WITHIN 3 HOURS: 4.5%COMPANIES RESPONDING WITHIN 1 HOUR: <1.0%DID NOT RESPOND AT ALL: 44.6%

ROCK PUBLICITY used several accounts to ask questions to large companies relating to their products, services or support in general in the attempt to see how long on average it took for a company to reply to us, during business hours Monday-Friday.

To start with, more than 44% of Singaporean companies did not reply to us at all; effectively we were totally and utterly ignored. Of the remaining 56% that did, the average response time was around 18 hours -- hardly what you’d call timely, especially on a platform where it’s possible to discover a conversation and reply within seconds. While some companies did respond very timely, only around 5% in total got back to us within 3 hours. Several companies regularly took up to 3 days to respond.

These negative response statistics are around 95% worse when compared to responses by companies in countries like the United States, Australia and Canada.

12. Average delay in Facebook response

AVERAGE RESPONSE TIME: 15 hours 12 minutes 03 secondsCOMPANIES RESPONDING WITHIN 3 HOURS: 6.3%COMPANIES RESPONDING WITHIN 1 HOUR: 2.3%DID NOT RESPOND AT ALL: 57.1%

Just like with the previous set of stats, we wanted to know what company response times were on Facebook. While the average response time was around 2.5 hours faster at 15h12m, as well as more companies responding faster, in total more companies did not respond at all. While only 44.6% of companies directly contacted on Twitter didn’t reply at all, on Facebook this rose to a


staggering 57.1%. Meaning on this Facebook at least, most consumers were being ignored by Singaporean companies.

Again we attempted to ask questions or for help on Singaporean company official Facebook pages from Monday-Friday only.

13. Average number of negative mentions by industry per day

TELCO: 1,752.9TECH: 468.7TRAVEL/LEISURE: 355.5BANKING/FINANCE: 312.1RETAIL: 307.0FOOD/DRINK: 177.0OTHER: 41.4

Over a period of 30 days we used several pieces of social media monitoring tools to see how many times companies were being spoken of negatively by online communities.

Despite the fact that we only surveyed five companies in the TELCO industry in Singapore (SingTel, Starhub and M1, Pacnet and iCell), they alone averaged more than 1,700 negative mentions in social media per day by Singaporeans. This was more than all other industries surveyed combined. The TECH products industry, while mentioned on social media almost as often as TELCO companies, was mentioned negatively almost four times less.

14. Customer satisfaction by industry

RETAIL: 64.4%OTHER: 61.0%TRAVEL/LEISURE: 55.3%TECH: 50.1%BANKING/FINANCE: 42.8%FOOD/DRINK: 30.0%TELCO: 22.2%

Here we asked Singaporeans whether they were satisfied with the social media presence of companies they followed via social


media. The RETAIL industry in Singapore is most favored when it comes to communicating with their communities online, followers closely by companies in the OTHER and TRAVEL/LEISURE industries. Again, TELCO performed the worst in this section, with FOOD/DRINK and BANKING/FINANCE receiving mostly negative reviews from the nation’s online population.

15. Sales opportunities per day

TELCO: 2991.6TECH: 2,974.1FOOD/DRINK: 2,570.5TRAVEL/LEISURE: 2,116.0BANKING/FINANCE: 1,444.2RETAIL: 1,091.0OTHER: 977.9

Here we used some very basic social media monitoring software to uncover opportunities to make sales via social media in Singapore, by companies in these industries. For example, we monitored for certain keywords where people were chatting about a holiday or something referencing an industry, where we believed a company could start a conversation in order to sell to someone.

Technology industries were again leaders in this section and we uncovered almost 3,000 opportunities to start sales conversations with people via social media in both TECH and TELCO sectors. FOOD/DRINK followed closely behind with over 2,500 potential sales conversations per day in Singapore, TRAVEL/LEISURE following with more than 2,100.

16. Sales opportunities per month

TECH: 89,748.0TELCO: 89,223.0FOOD/DRINK: 77,115.0TRAVEL/LEISURE: 63,480.0BANKING/FINANCE: 43,326.0RETAIL: 32,730.0OTHER: 29,337.0


With data pulled from the section above, we wanted to show you how many opportunities for sales via social media were being presented to Singaporean companies every month.

17. Sales opportunities missed per day

TECH: 99.3% or 2,953.3BANKING/FINANCE: 99.1% or 1,431.2FOOD/DRINK: 98.2% or 2524.2TRAVEL/LEISURE: 96.0% or 2,031.4RETAIL: 95.9% or 1,046.3OTHER: 95.0% or 929.0TELCO: 93.7% or 2803.1

Of the opportunities to make sales via social media we uncovered per day, we wanted to know how many Singaporean companies were actually taking advantage of them. The results we found were staggering.

No industry we surveyed were taking advantage of more than 10% of these opportunities, with the TELCO industry performing best – but still missing out on over 93% of all potential sales conversations on social media. Worst performers were TECH, BANKING/FINANCE and FOOD/DRINK industries, all making use of less than 2% of all sales conversations discovered.

18. Sales opportunities missed per month

TECH: 99.3% or 88,599.0BANKING/FINANCE: 99.1% or 42,963.0FOOD/DRINK: 98.2% or 75,726.0TRAVEL/LEISURE: 96.0% or 60,943.0RETAIL: 95.9% or 31,389.0OTHER: 95.0% or 27,870.0TELCO: 93.7% or 84,093

With data pulled from the section above, we multiplied daily figures by 30 as we wanted to show you how many opportunities for sales via social media were being missed my Singaporean companies every single month.


19. Average sale amount per industry

BANKING/FINANCE: $314.9 SGDTRAVEL/LEISURE: $249.4 SGDTELCO: $201.6 SGDTECH: $196.7 SGDOTHER: $110.2 SGDRETAIL: $31.1 SGDFOOD/DRINK: $4.17 SGD

To find out how much money Singaporean companies were potentially missing out on based on social media sales opportunities not acted on, we had to find out the average expected sale amount per industry.

TRAVEL/LEISURE and BANKING/FINANCE lead by a margin, simply because of the potential dollar values involved. For example, a customer buying a week-long hotel stay or flight, or a bank converting over a new credit card customer. TECH and TELCO were quite similar as both had some potentially high sales, including mobile contracts or devices, computers and consumer electronics. And expectedly, FOOD/DRINK came out bottom because of low average single sales amounts.

20. Potential sales lost via social media per day

TECH: $580,914.6 SGDTELCO: $565,105.0 SGDTRAVEL/LEISURE: $506,631.2 SGDBANKING/FINANCE: $450,684.9 SGDOTHER: $102,375.8 SGDRETAIL: $32,539.9 SGDFOOD/DRINK: $10,525.9 SGD

Based on these industries average sale value and the figures we found for missed sales opportunities, this is what we estimate Singaporean companies are missing out on per day in social media.TECH, TELCO, BANKING/FINANCE and TRAVEL/LEISURE all had reasonably similar figures, potentially missing out on between $450K-$580K in sales every single day per industry. The


remaining industries – while having many missed opportunities as well, did not achieve such high sales figures, simply due to low average sale amounts.

While this accounts for total revenue potentially missed, these huge daily numbers are simply a result of Singaporean companies not actively searching for sales opportunities or conversations in social media, either due to complacency, lack of training/knowledge or low social media presence.

21. Potential sales lost via social media per month

TECH: $17.4 million SGDTELCO: $17.0 million SGDTRAVEL/LEISURE: $15.2 million SGDBANKING/FINANCE: $13.5 million SGDOTHER: $3.1 million SGDRETAIL: $976,197 SGDFOOD/DRINK: $315,777.0 SGD

To give you an idea on what these potential losses are per month, we multiplied daily sales loss figures by 30.

TECH, TELCO and TRAVEL/LEISURE are estimated to all be missing out on over $15 million SGD in potential sales per month each, with the BANKING/FINANCE industry over $13 million SGD per month.

22. Total potential sales loss in social media (monthly)

2012: $67.5 million SGD2013: $89.6 million SGD

By our estimated, research and study over the three months we compiled the data in this report, we estimate Singaporean companies are collectively missing out on $67.5 million in sales every 30 days.

As stated before, it’s due to nothing more than a lack of training on how to search for these opportunities via social media. Either that,


or companies are still complacent and don’t see the value of the platform as a marketing tool.

If companies in Singapore don’t make a conscious effort to become informed and to use social media effectively as a sales tool, in 2013 this will increase with social media use and purchasing to nearly $90 million SGD per month.

23. Total potential sales loss in social media (yearly)

2012: $809.9 million SGD2013: $1.1 billion SGD

When calculated over the year, Singaporean companies missed out on a potential $809.9 million in sales generated via social media in 2012. We estimate this is actually more than the nation’s companies made for the year.

If social media use, sales trends and company actions continue into 2013, Singaporean corporations will combined miss out on over $1.1 billion SGD in sales next year. Again, this will be more than we forecast they will earn in total using social and real-time media.

The Lighter Side of Stats


This section was purely for fun and was our way of getting some entertaining, shocking and funny answers out of the people we surveyed in Singapore. Although these stats are accurate, they’re definitely for fun and will probably NOT be able to be used in any of your marketing campaigns!

39.0%Singaporean social media users who said they access Facebook or Twitter at least once a month while on the toilet.

21.7%Percentage of Singaporean social media users who admitted regretting posting something on social media while drunk

9.1%Percentage of Singaporean social media users who said they found a date, met a partner, or entered into a relationship due to using social media in some way.

3,567Number of Singaporeans who said they’d accidentally destroyed a mobile device by dropping it into food or drink.

43.2%Percentage of surveyed people who said they’d ‘stalked’ someone on Facebook in order to find out more information about them.

55.1%Percentage of Singaporeans surveyed who said they’d taken a photo of their food at least once and uploaded it onto a social network

26,817 kg


The weight of ink and paper if every tweet by Singaporeans on Twitter in 2012 were to be printed out. That equates to approximately:

3 fully-loaded Apache Helicopters

12 standard empty 20’ shipping containers

23 Mini Cooper cars

4,500 long-tailed Macaques

44,700 serves of Singapore chilli crab

67,000 Singapore Slings

26%Singaporeans surveyed who said they had sworn or used profanity on social media.

17,456The number of times on an average day that people in Singapore mention something about food, or eating in general, on Twitter alone. That’s one tweet on average every 5 seconds.

2,736,301,875Minutes Singaporeans spend watching YouTube videos every month. This equates to:

45,605,031 hours

1,900,210 days

271,459 weeks

5,220 years


CONCLUSIONS BASEDON THE 2012 SINGAPORESOCIAL MEDIA STUDY



FORECASTS for Singapore’s Social Media in 2013

In many ways, forecasting social media in 2013 is an easy task and a difficult one at the same time.

Firstly, when it comes to consumer usage, Singapore will maintain its stance as social media powerhouse and leader in the Asian region. There is no doubt (especially now with the data we have in this study) that Singaporeans know their social media, use it heavily and will continue to do so.

In fact, based on growth trends, we see no Asian nation who will be able to compete with Singapore’s social media usage per capita going forward in 2013 and beyond.

Along with general consumer usage, consumer spending via the Internet will grow steadily, though next year we will see major increases in the way Singaporeans buy and sell directly via social media, as well as increased use of coupons and researching products and services via digital communications media. Per capita, Singapore should maintain its place as one of the top online and social media purchasing nations in Asia in 2013.

As people of the nation are the heaviest smartphone users in the world, it’s expected social media use on mobile will retain extremely high levels next year as well as beyond that and we see a serious increase in social media application development, as well as better global social media integration for mobile devices, which will have a great impact on mobile users in Singapore.Forecasting consumer social media is easy as we have so many reliable trends and statistics to look upon in this area. However where forecasting becomes a little more difficult is in the area of corporate social media usage, integration and sales.

As we’ve uncovered in this study, Singaporean companies are very far behind the world average when it comes to social media, in basically every single area from engagement to customer service, sales to promotion and everything in between.


While we are seeing increases in the way local companies are taking social media on board, it’s nowhere near at the rate consumer use is growing. Nor does it look like it’s trying to close the massive gap that separates the way Singaporeans are using social media personally and for business.

Through 2013, more local companies will take social media on board and increase their usage, however for the most part we don’t see it at the level it should be. For example, we forecast that only around 1-in-4 Singaporean nations who implement social media next year will create proper strategies, customer service techniques and methods of sales; for the vast majority, we still see the “Oh, it’s just that social media stuff” mentality sticking, meaning they’ll either not use it enough, or use it poorly.

While this is what we see happening mostly with Singaporean companies in 2013, it will see a large opportunity for the companies who do it right.

Next year will be the largest year on record for social media adoption by Singaporean companies and because there is such a large gap in the market in this field, regardless of industry, product or service, it will be extremely easy for local businesses to increase their promotion and profit heavily in online and social media-based sales.

As there’s such a gaping hole in the corporate social media market in Singapore at present, we forecast that the companies who do begin implementing it correctly will be able to market, promote and sell extremely easily, simply because of the lack of competition in corporate social media. This will not necessarily last long as eventually (possibly a year or three away) most companies, while slow to adapt to social media, will eventually get on board. However, as with anything in business it will provide an initial lead for those who adopted earlier.

Whatever happens in the social media scene in Singapore throughout 2013 and beyond that, there’s no doubt that the nation is growing at a fast pace both for consumers and companies. And while consumer growth is extremely stable and self-generating, Singaporean companies will have to work to close the gap they’ve


created over the last few years due to a lack of knowledge, training or simply being complacent.

* * *

ADVICE for Singaporean Companies

While the people of Singapore are not only leaders in the region when it comes to social media understanding, usage and engagement, we see from the data in this study that Singaporean companies definitely are not.

Although companies in Asian nations as a whole are still not utilising social media as effectively when compared to counterparts in Western countries, Singapore should be comparatively similar, due to how prevalent social media use is by the nation’s people. However, that is simply not the case.

While no country can be considered perfect when it comes to driving communication and sales via social media, we were quite surprised actually how complacent businesses in Singapore seem to be on the platform, when our findings were put in raw data form. And nothing stood out more than how many opportunities for sales were being missed by the nation’s companies on a daily basis, as well as how blatantly some companies were ignoring direct public communications and questions by their communities, fans and followers.

As far as specifics on sales are concerned, our research puts lost sales in social media in the realm of $809 million SGD. And if Singaporean business don’t change their ways, this will rise to over $1 billion or more next year. The problem isn’t that opportunities for making sales aren’t there, simply that the nation’s businesses aren’t doing anything to make them – either due to lack of education, or laziness.

Companies in Singapore have a long way to go in order to get their social media up to speed, to say the very least.


While we can never give any specific advice relating to any individual companies until we assess their needs, we do have the following to suggest most businesses in Singapore take on board, especially going into 2013 and beyond.

Firstly, your company needs to understand the value of social media. It isn’t just a platform where your customers can follow your brand for more information; in our opinion, this is the way the vast majority of Singaporean companies look at it.

Social media, while being an excellent tool for updating people about company news, is so much more than that. It’s a medium that allows you to find out every single conversation or comment someone is making on the Internet about your industry, the products you sell, your company and your competitors – all at the very moment they happen.

You need to start looking at it as the only tool that can offer you the ability to connect with people who are searching for what you sell the moment they search for it, something to resolve any customer issue the moment they make it public, as well as being able to influence more people at one time to think differently about your company.

In short, social media is the only thing that can offer your company all this and it’s sad to see the vast majority of Singaporean companies aren’t using it effectively, if at all.

For the companies who are heavily using social media, especially as a tool for communicating with people and giving support, you need to focus more on response times.

As we discovered in the study, it was taking the average company somewhere between 15-17 hours to respond to a question via social media, specifically on Facebook and Twitter. However even worse was that around 50% of companies weren’t even responding at all.

The first reason this isn’t anywhere near acceptable is that social media offers you the ability to discover this communication immediately; there is absolutely no reason your company (unless


under-staffed) should take this long to respond to a simple customer question on a portal like Twitter. Secondly, it shows an extreme lack of care for your customers, which is viewable by the entire public.

And if you need any more convincing how bad this practice is, just ask yourself this: how disappointed would you be with a company if you asked them a simple, one-sentence question on social media and didn’t get a response for hours. Or even worse, not at all.

Next, your company needs to really grasp the concept of the potential for an increased brand image and how you can truly get your community not just to like your brand, but how you can use this personal and mass-communications tool to generate extreme brand loyalty and love for your products and services.

For example, when your company helps someone out online, solves a problem, gives free advice or offers above-standard service via social media – even if it’s only directed at one person – the entire online community can see this. If you’re going out of your way to show you care, thousands upon thousands of Singapore’s Internet users will see this and start to see your brand as a corporate entity who cares for people who buy from you.

While increased loyalty and brand image may not drive immediate sales, any corporate marketing expert will know the better your brand’s image, the more loyal your customers and the more love they have for what your company does, then the easier it becomes to sell anything. In fact, in some cases selling isn’t even required – people will continue to buy your products and services because of the way they perceive you.

Not only that, but social media offers your company the ability to be seen as not just another boring corporate entity, but a brand who does things differently and likes to have fun with their community.

These principles work so well in social media that we base our entire “Social ROCKstar” consulting program around them; how to


get people to fall in love with your brand because of how you’re interacting with your community.

While these few nuggets of advice are only the tip of the iceberg, it doesn’t begin to really show the extent of what Singaporean companies aren’t getting right, or missing out on altogether. And if almost $1 billion in lost revenues in social media doesn’t show you the extent of the issue, not much will.

All-in-all, the biggest hurdle we see is the lack of faith in social media’s value as a communications, marketing and brand-building platform by companies in Singapore. And hopefully with the facts, figures and data we’ve found in this study, the nation’s big businesses will start to see what they’re missing out on.


MORE INFORMATIONABOUT

ROCK PUBLICITY



About ROCK PUBLICITYHi, my name is Leon Hill and to put it quite simply, I am ‘Rock Publicity’.

Although we are a social marketing agency, apart from my small team of accounting, marketing, support staff and my personal assistant Jasmine, I’m effectively the only consultant, strategist and advisor in the company. So despite my agency behind me, I’m effectively a sole consultant and that’s the way I like things to be.

Over the years my work took me from working with SMEs to what is now my specialty of corporate social media. These days, I work almost exclusively with government agencies, large corporations and entities similar to these. I’ve been lucky enough to call some of the biggest names in the world my clients, including departments of governments in over 20 countries.

On top of this I’ve worked with world-class musicians signed to music labels such as EMI and Virgin Records, as well as TV stars from shows such as Game of Thrones and CSI, to some of the biggest sports stars in the world like American MLB players.

Although I live and run my business from Brisbane, Australia, I travel quite regularly to Singapore, Hong Kong, Malaysia and recently the United Arab Emirates to consult with corporate clients; Singapore by far being my favourite place on Earth.

My company specializes in large corporate social media, with over 70% of our clients reporting revenues of over $1 billion per annum. We handle most areas of social media in this field, however my focuses have always been on creating brand loyalty and customer retention through social media, creating new, interactive and exciting brand images, as well as showing large companies how to expose and, capitalise on every possible sales opportunity that appears in real-time through excellent online monitoring.

Despite the ‘norm’ in the big-business world, I hate jargon. And by that I mean being one of those people who insist on talking in


words like ‘leverage’, ‘engagement’, ‘vertical’ and other unnecessary stuff like that. For me, simplicity is always key.

In my experience there is always an easier way of expressing something (even in the sometimes dull world of big companies) and most people in my industry that over-use terms or try to make something sound more important than it is, are most of the time using this tactic to make them sound more experienced than they really are, or over-compensate for a lack of knowledge.

Whether it be with my clients, in my blog posts, books or reports, I always make sure I’m making things as easy to understand as possible – as if I’m writing for someone who has no initial knowledge of the subject I’m talking about.

However above all this, my main goal in social media is to make it as entertaining and interesting as possible, in whatever way I possibly can. I find most companies treat the platform as just another means of advertising and don’t give their communities any reason to ever come back to their pages, or talk about their brand – in other words, they make things unbearably boring.

For any private, corporate or celebrity consulting inquiries, please contact us using the details below.

CONTACTING ROCK PUBLICITY

For anything relating to the 2012 ROCK PUBLICITY Singapore Social Media Study, or advice relating to corporate social media, you can get in touch with us, or our head consultant Leon Hill using any of the following details.

EMAIL: http://rockpublicity.com/contactBLOG: http://rockpublicity.com/blogPHONE (Australia): +61439 2222 05PHONE (Singapore Skype ID): rockpublicityEMAIL: [email protected]: http://www.linkedin.com/profile/view?id=24222347TWITTER: http://twitter.com/rockpublicity FACEBOOK: http://facebook.com/RockPublicity














* * *

THANKS and Credits

Most of the 2012 Singapore Social Media Study was completed by ROCK PUBLICITY in-house, however there are a ton of people it wouldn’t have been possible without the help of.

Firstly, we’d like to thank Dave Phua of Training Edge International (http://trainingedgeasia.com/) for being such an incredible source of help, advice and an amazing connector of people. You’ve helped us out in such a short amount of time already, probably more than you know!

To Brendan Yong at Demospin (http://demospin.com/), we’d like to thank you for being a great partner to us and assisting with content creation as well as some advice on Singapore. You’re always a great help!

To our graphics expert Harris Moshin, thank you for being so patient with us! As well as dealing with a heavy number of edits, changes and alterations we always need in every design you do for us (simply because of how often we seem to change our minds!), we’d love your work simply due to how high-quality it always is.

We’d like to thank David Alexander of Pixelloop (http://pixelloop.org/) for being such a prompt, reliable and knowledgeable web designer and coder. You always seem to be there when we need you and we couldn’t be happier with everything you do for us!

For providing data, we’d like to thank World Bank (http://worldbank.org/), Singapore Department of Statistics (http://singstat.org/), Internet World Stats (http://internetworldstats.com/) and Paypal (http://paypal.com/) for their publicly-available and detailed information that we used as a basis for being able to create this study.


http://trainingedgeasia.com/

http://trainingedgeasia.com/

http://demospin.com/

http://demospin.com/

http://pixelloop.org/








http://singstat.org/




http://internetworldstats.com/

http://internetworldstats.com/

http://paypal.com/

http://paypal.com/

To Leon’s personal assistant Jasmine, thank you so much for the endless coffee runs for all the staff and people who worked on this study. We think that without you, we’d probably be huddled underneath a desk somewhere sleeping because of so much number-crunching!

And finally, we’d like to say thanks to the people and the nation of Singapore. Without you this study wouldn’t be possible.

…and P.S. – thanks for the chilli crab!


THE 2012 SINGAPORE SOCIAL MEDIA STUDY

All material, data, statistics and information courtesy of RockPublicity.com for the use and information of consumers and

companies in Singapore.

Copyright 2012, RockPublicity.com. All Rights Reserved.



2012 singapore social media study by rockpublicity.com

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