Social media platform giants are taking lessons from Asian consumers to inform their next-step strategies for increased fan engagement.
The All That Matter’s Online conference headquartered in South East Asian hub Singapore set a meaningful agenda allowing its audience access to the top brains strategising in some of the most successful social media and streaming platforms.
Throughout the week-long keynote content sessions a recurrent talking point emerged. The shift in definition around direct marketing and how audience based platforms like Twitch, YouTube and TikTok are evolving to serve creators, labels, brands and musicians. The currency in this social democracy of platforms is streams, views, plays and so in order to monetise there needs to be value for the consumer.
If you aren’t already seeing it, quick — open your eyes as these platforms are supporting the development of a rich and symbiotic ecosystem funnelling interrelated, and new revenue streams with attached e-commerce opportunities to all who dare to play.
Douyin helps shape TikTok as we know it
TikTok. In 2020 it’s considered the absolute go-to platform for creatives, brands, artists and labels (as well as tweens/fans) to unleash their imagination and create content for their amassing fans and score streams. Their strategists spied early the opportunity for business and a direct marketing machine to arise.
According to Ole Obermann Head of Music for Bytedance (the parent company behind both international version TikTok and its Chinese sister co: Douyin) fan engagement for the platform is advanced and sophisticated thanks in part to the trends in behaviours noticed via China.
“What’s really exciting — you’re [South East Asia] a lot further down the road with engagement. Doyuin — China, live-streaming, tipping, those revenue streams are more important than ever right now.”
“Artists aren’t on the road, they’re still wanting to create, they’re still wanting the relationship with the fan and you look at what is going on in China with Douyin for example and huge amounts of revenue being generated for that artist through live- streaming, through tipping through e-commerce.
Oberman going as far to reference what’s happening in Asia to be perhaps a perceived tipping point on where the rest of the world is headed.
“I believe there is cultural differences in different regions and things might not land and you can’t cut and paste overnight what’s happening in China to what is happening in say the US or Brazil but I think that is a sign of what is to come and so we’re going to be really focused on exporting that kind of functionality and keeping an eye on that kind of user behaviour to the rest of the world.”
The change in how we view one-to-one engagement with customers/fans is also under the microscope thanks to the trends noticed in the region.
“I see TikTok evolving as it becomes even more multi-directional, as it becomes this direct marketing platform. Right now it’s about direct marketing a song or an artist, but I think on top of that will be some of these revenue capabilities that will ride on top of that, that TikTok provides.”
YouTube: maximising artist interaction with fans via digital paid goods
During his keynote shared with renowned musician Chuck D, Lyor Cohen Global Head of Music for YouTube aligned the loss of live events for musicians (due to the ongoing pandemic) as a key factor that allowed YouTube to capitalise and create more enhanced, intuitive and interactive viewing experiences for both artist and fan. An APAC centric trend he called out as emerging is the advent of paid digital goods by YouTube fans in Asia.
“It’s not new to Asia certainly but it’s something that we [YouTube] feel very passionate about and it’s something we hope to continue reiterating both the live experience and paid digital goods only for the simple reason to help artists engage with their fans.”
And how does this translate while on the platform?
“So we created these Super Stickers and Super Chats where the fans could actually be engaged with the performance by pinning some of their stickers or chats and it’s been really fun and it’s a new product.”
Artists are able to learn more about Super Stickers and Super Chats and how to use/interact with their fans via this education video available from YouTube themselves — views of >100 000 .
These comments from Lyor fall in line with this week’s news that YouTube’s presence as an e-commerce marketplace is coming soon. A strategy play to position themselves alongside Asian super heavyweights who already dominate these online shopping centric territories — WeChat and Alibaba.
Definitely feels a ripe time to remain wide-eyed and curious on how these platforms are planning to evolve their fan strategies next. Look to Asia as the genesis for the next macro trends.
Note: I’m gathering insights and writing more on trends in marketing regularly — follow me to stay up to date.
