Digital and Social Media Marketing in the Philippines

With more and more corporations jumping into the social media, wouldn’t it be interesting to take a look at what’s considered to be the Social Media Capital of the world – the Philippines.

In survey by GlobalWebIndex in 2011, they found out that The Philippines leads the world in social media usage. Below is the Social Networking Usage in the Philippines for 2011 – 2012.

We Are Social has published a comprehensive report on the State of Digital and Mobile in the Philippines which you may want to read here.

Social Media Usage in the Philippines (2011 – 2012)

Facebook remains the favorite social networking site of the Filipinos with over 28 million of its population registered in the said social networking site, with 52% of Facebook users in the Philippines are female from the ages 18-24, followed closely by users ages 25-34.

You may want to view this infographic of Facebook Usage in the Philippines to see which cities are included in the Top Facebook Users in the Philippines (most number of registered Facebook users) and the growth of Facebook in the Philippines.

Facebook - 28, 259, 940 (as of July 2012) (3.2% of the global Facebook population) [Source: SocialBakers] 

Twitter 4,016,345 (as of May 2011)

LinkedIn 473, 978 (May 2011)

Foursquare 45,000 (as of February 2011) [Source: The New Media]

Top Facebook Brand Pages in the Philippines 

In November 2011, the top 10 brands with the most Facebook fans are Smart Communications, Hair Experts (Sunsilk), Starbucks Philippines, Nescafe Philippines, Red Horse Beer, Globe Telecom,Axe Philippines, MyPhone, Havaianas Philippines and Cebu Pacific Air.

The Top Brands on Facebook as of November 2011

However, as of the latest data from Social Bakers, below are the brand pages with the most fans / following on Facebook (as of 2012).

The Top 5 Brands on Facebook  (2012)

1. Nescafé Philippines – 1636615
2. Smart Communications, Inc. – 1232995
3. Starbucks Philippines – 1159903
4. Hair Experts – 1095652
5. Kit Kat Philippines – 779968

The Top 10 Media Facebook Pages in the Philippines (you may view the full list here) 

1. Abs-Cbn – 2427108
2. MYX Philippines – 1917193
3. Definitely Filipino – 1601276
4. TV5 – 1252358
5. FHM Philippines – 885694
6. GMA News – 458113
7. Candy Magazine – 395232
8. GMA Network – 273674
9. Cosmopolitan Philippines – 163239
10. PhotoworldManila – 163182

Twitter Users in the Philippines

In 2010, ABSCBN reported that  The Philippines was named 6th top user of the social networking site Twitter.

Below are the Top 10 Celebrities on Twitter (as of April 2, 2012)

1. Anne Curtis
2. Angel Locsin
3. Vice Ganda
4. Kris Aquino
5. Angelica Panganiban
6. Sam Milby
7. KC Concepcion
8. Bianca Gonzales
9. Iya Villania
10. Luis Manzano

How Much do Brands Spend on Social Media Marketing?

In an interview with Mashable, “What’s the State of Social Media in Asia?“, Carlo Ople mentioned how Manuel V. Pangilinan (MVP), the chairman of Philippine Long Distance Telephone Co (PLDT) [the  largest telecommunications company in the Philippines], said that Telcos will be obsolete and that social media is the future.

Ople also said that companies spent an estimated Php 2.1 Billion last year for online (specifically social media) marketing.

In a quantitative survey by Buddy Media, which includes 125 marketers in the Asian Region (including Philippines), advertisers are likely to include more social media spending in the next two years and 27% of the respondents plan to work with a partner in the near future.

Respondents are responsible for a number of different markets across Asia, and represent
18 different countries: Australia, Bangladesh, Cambodia, China, Hong Kong, India,
Indonesia, Japan, Malaysia, Myanmar, New Zealand, Philippines, Singapore, South Korea,
Sri Lanka, Taiwan, Thailand and Vietnam.

How is the social media marketing and advertising in your area? Share with us through the comments below on how has social media helped increase brand awareness and sales for your company.