We Are Social Asia Tuesday TuneUp #95

Tuneup
suhaina.adam

WeChat now on vending machines
300 WeChat vending machines have made an appearance in subway stations in parts of Beijing in a month-long experiment recently. WeChat users get a special discount when they pay online within the chat app – nearly 50% less than the usual price in the capital. Nonetheless, anyone can use the machine using normal cash payments, without the discounts.

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WeChat monetises via celebrity accounts
WeChat now offers fans a more intimate way to connect with their favourite celebrities at a monthly membership fee of 18 RMB ($3). A famous Chinese actor, Chen Kun, rolled out a premium service for his fans this week. Fans get access to his diary entries, music, private pictures, daily greetings and fans-only space where they can communicate and send stickers to each other. With Chen’s page being among the first to offer subscription content for a fee, we can expect more similar monetised accounts to roll out in the future.

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Pinterest-competitor Pulsk celebrates anniversary
Indonesian social content platform Pulsk reached its first year anniversary this September. To date, it has over 200,000 registered users, 450,000 user-generated posts and 4 million ‘wows’ (similar to Facebook’s Like). To commemorate its anniversary, it recently rolled out a new design and new features, inclusive of enhanced user profiles. This year, it aims to reach 500,000 registered members and tackle Pinterest in Indonesia. One of its tactics to do so would be to add features that allow members to cross-post to Facebook and Twitter in the near future.

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Thai Giving commercial goes viral
Thai mobile company True Move H has posted a three-minute video on YouTube which has made its rounds around the Internet, with over a million views on its first day of posting. At the time of writing, the video has reached over 11.4 million views. It has received rave reviews on its powerful message of giving, and is even said to be more poignant than any full-length Hollywood film. Watch this tear-jerker here:

What do advertisers really think about Facebook?
Ad Age recently took a look at how Facebook has changed from an experimental ad channel to a mature part of the media mix for marketeers, and in news that should surprise no-one, the number who say they advertise on Facebook has sharply increased.

A survey of 1,200 marketers found that 80% use Facebook as a marketing channel, and 74% of respondents said their Facebook budgets now include spend on Facebook ads, which has steadily increased from 62% in January 2012.

Ad Age identifies that the importance of mobile is increasing, and since January 2012, the amount of people who said that marketing on Facebook’s mobile app was “very” or “somewhat” important, has increased by 8%.

Interestingly, 56% of respondents said outright that they expected their Facebook ad budgets to increase over the next year, which is consistent with the previous surveys – and if you’re wondering how to exploit the opportunity that Facebook advertising presents, our paid media experts at We Are Social are poised to help you make sense of the opportunities on the platform.

Facebook developing marketing mix model solution
It’s been on the grapevine for a while now that Facebook has been developing amarketing mix model for major retailers to demonstrate what Facebook ads offer in comparison to other advertising platforms such as TV, print and online ads.

However, on Friday their intent to tackle other sectors became clear, as the Telco Outcome Measurement tool was launched, designed to help telecommunications companies (carriers and operators) bridge the gap between sales and ad impressions delivered on Facebook. It’s the next step in Facebook’s mission to develop a measurement tool that goes ‘deeper than clicks’ to help analyse actual sales and partners with insights regarding ROI, differences in adoption rates of devices or carriers according to demographic groups and the types and frequency of ads that yield the best results.

Pinterest test promoted pins
Pinterest announced on Thursday that they will start testing new promotional opportunities for business with the option to promote certain pins from your accounts.

Trialling the scheme with an exclusive list of businesses Ben Silbermann, CEO, justifies that these won’t be the typical banner ads one would usually grumble at, and will endeavour to be ‘tasteful, transparent, relevant and improvised based on [users] feedback’. Whether they’re as successful as a wide angle shot of my new eggshell white ultra-modern kitchen counter remains to be seen…

McDonalds #MightyWings runs across Facebook, Twitter, Instagram
McDonald’s social media director, Rick Wion, has confirmed the ‘Who’s Got The Mighty Wings?’ campaign is the Golden Arches’ first attempt at running a multi-platform narrative across Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and YouTube.

The news follows the fast food chain’s recent TV campaign featuring Super Bowl XLVII quarterbacks Joe Flacco and Colin Kaepernick and promises more slices of Americana with characters joining the discussion cross-platform. Twitter followers will get updates from ‘the Groundskeeper’ and ‘Reporter’ characters, acting as comical nemeses of the ‘Super Fan’ and ‘The Cheerleader’ who both currently reside over at McDonald’s Facebook page.

Consumers seem to be enjoying the initiative, with 10,000 interactions (likes and comments) in six hours.

British Airways is back in the game with #RaceThePlane
British Airways is back in the social media game, after a little hiccup last week with a disgruntled customer buying promoted tweets.

Their new campaign involves a virtual plane called the Tweetliner. All you have to do is tweet #RaceThePlane for a chance to win one of 5 plane tickets to Toronto. Yes please.

Ben & Jerry’s turn to Twitter to create new flavour
In a bold move, Ben & Jerry’s are ignoring the advice of the culinary boffins and taking to Twitter in the hunt for an original and tasty creation. The ice cream innovators are asking their followers to tweet two ice cream flavours, a sauce and their chunk of choice. The winning combination will become the newest member of the company’s range and the lucky creator will get a tub of their own masterpiece delivered to their door.

Cold comfort from LG Sweden
Fridges have been getting smarter for a while now, but LG Sweden have really pushed the boat out by introducing a refrigerator that “tweets”. The very special edition is part of a campaign to promote LG’s new “door-in-door” technology. There’s a webcam inside and it sends out a tweet and some live footage each time the door is opened. You can see all the coolest bits (sorry) at their site. First stop for the fridge is the TV-production company of Swedish comedian, Peter Settman.

‘Imitation is the best form of flattery’
Oreo’s five minutes of fame is finally over. There’s a new superstar in town and it’s Nokia with the ‘Thanks #Apple’ tweet, even beating the much talked about ‘Dunk in the dark’ buzz, and becoming one of the most retweeted brand tweets ever.

The tweet itself came off the back of Nokia poking fun at their rival brand, suggesting that Apple had stolen Nokia’s idea by introducing coloured phones. A good example of a light-hearted Twitter battle grabbing the headlines around a product launch.