Five Friday Facts #78

News
laura.picard

Line now has 160 million users worldwide
Line hit 150 million users earlier this month, and it has continued to grow at an incredible rate. TechInAsia recently reported that Line has now reached 160 million users worldwide. The biggest contributors to this growth are Asian markets, with Indonesia at the forefront of the Japan-based chat app’s continuing expansion. In a press conference this week, Line revealed that its entire suite of apps had exceeded 23 million downloads in Indonesia – apps that include Line messenger, as well as Line Games, Line Camera and others. Being well-aware of the potential in this market, the company has been vigorously targeting potential users in the market with TV commercials starring local celebrities. In particular, top celebrity Twitter user Agnes Monica has been featured in the ads; her own line of stickers will soon be launched on the messaging app as well. Line is also succeeding in other Asian markets as well, as Line has revealed a user base of 16 million in Taiwan.

Indian brands shift marketing spend to social media
According to a recent report by eMarketer, social is quickly coming into focus for marketers in India. Citing a survey by Ernst & Young, the findings suggested that 83 percent of Indian businesses with “robust social presences” were also advertising their brands on social media this year. Of these brands that advertised on social media, 42 percent were purchasing ads to promote contests or online campaigns. 34.2 percent were using these ads to strengthen brand awareness through social platforms. Advertising budgets for social media were also increasing according to the survey. Nearly 22 percent of the surveyed brands were allocating 10 percent or more of their marketing budgets to social media, while almost 59% had dedicated at least 6 percent.

eMarketer notes that Facebook and Twitter claimed the most focus amongst social platforms; more than two-thirds of these brands were regularly posting twice per day on Facebook, while Twitter came close with 62 percent of brands tweeting at the same frequency. It is interesting to note, however, that these brands are also paying attention to emerging social networks as well. Most notably, Pinterest, Google+ and Foursquare have come into the limelight for Indian marketers. Over 73 percent of brands are already using Pinterest or have plans to use the platform in the next year, while over 71 percent are using Google+ or have plans to do so within a year.

In UK, 56% of young adults recall mobile ads on social
A new study from March 2013 indicates that young adults in the UK are paying more attention to ads they encounter on their mobile devices. Citing a study by ComScore MobiLens, eMarketer reports that 38% of smartphone users in the 18 to 24 age bracket were more likely to recall an ad they had encountered if they were mobile. The findings of the study revealed that over 56 percent of the 18- to 24-year-old respondents recalled reading brand posts on social networks through mobile devices. By contrast, only 35.5 percent of the general population recalled the same. This disparity continued across all mobile advertising activities discussed in the survey, as indicated in the graph below:

eMarketer predicts that this trend will only continue to grow, as more and more UK consumers are adopting smartphones; this is particularly true of those in the young adult age bracket, as 84 percent of them are expected to use smartphones this year with an astonishing prediction of 98% smartphone penetration by 2017.

Two-thirds of Indian employees feel social boosts productivity
Zeenews India reports that over two-thirds of Indian employees believe social media increases productivity at work. Citing a March-April 2013 study conducted for Microsoft by research house Ipsos, the findings suggest a disparity between employee perception, employer restrictions and the results from the study, which found social media was a hinderance to workplace productivity. While 70 percent of employees cited security concerns for social media restrictions, 60 percent indicated that the restrictions themselves were leading to declines in productivity. Meanwhile, 71 percent of the respondents believed that social media was a beneficial to increasing productivity in the workplace. 7 out of 10 saw social media as a valuable resource for collaboration at work.

Social advertisers prefer branded pages over paid ads
eMarketer reports that 7 in 10 brands are marketing to customers through branded pages. Citing a Q1 2013 survey by Forrester Consulting, the results suggested that 73 percent of respondents were using brand pages on social platforms to communicate with their audience. Amongst the US brands surveyed (those that spent at least $100,000 on social advertising), this strategy proved to be the most popular method for reaching out to the brand’s audience. By contrast, only 56 percent of the respondents were using paid ads on a social media platform. Microblogs like Twitter had been used by 52 percent of the respondents in the survey. Professional networks were less popular, but still claimed a higher share of brands for company pages than it did for paid ad space.