By: Anton I.
Let’s Name Our Platforms!
Many of us are familiar with the online platforms currently being used in Philippine society such as Facebook, Tiktok, Instagram, and the like. Especially nowadays where social media is a commonplace activity for many Filipinos, understanding these platforms and the statistical demographic behind them is certainly key to digital marketing success.
In a survey done by the Global Digital Report 2024, data was taken from the leading social media platforms in the country based on differing criteres. Some examples include: number of cellular connections, average internet use, and even the platform’s ad audience. With this, let’s look into the platforms.
Facebook/Messenger
In the same survey, Facebook was labeled as one of the most used social media platforms in the Philippines. It boasted a 94.6% login rate, where compared to Snapchats 24.6% login rate, is a difficult statistic to beat. Along with its communications counterpart, Facebook Messenger, both share the highest login ratings. However, in terms of average time spent per month, it sits below both TikTok and YouTube.
On the same dataset, Facebook and Messenger ranked the highest in monthly login sessions with 709.4 and 483.5 respectively. This means that many internet users check these platforms on a regular basis but don’t spend a significant portion of their time doing so. The interaction is brief but consistent, meaning engagement on this platform is more of a quantitative measure than a qualitative one.
Unsurprisingly, Facebook was measured to have the highest ad to audience percentage with 99.7% of ads reaching total internet users. As for the total population of Facebook users themselves, it reaches an astounding 73.4% which makes it an overwhelmingly great platform for total ad reach.
All in all, Facebook most likely sits as a top contender among the other social media platforms. There may be differences depending on your product and how you’d want to market it, but at the end of the day, Facebook is a solid choice for any and all brands.
TikTok
In the same survey, TikTok ranked as the second most used digital platform with an 80% login rate. However, in terms of average time spent per month, Tiktok sits at the top with 40 hours and 46 minutes. That’s at least one full hour of straight usage everyday. Unlike Facebook, whose engagement works in multitudes and not longevity, Tiktok influences its audience to stay engaged with its content for longer periods of time. This allows for more forgiving marketing strategies whose contents can be split into multiple publication materials. Given their format of short-form content, it would be good to follow a marketing strategy that doesn’t rely on too much background information to get its point across. Soft selling would be a good tactic to employ here.
In terms of ad reach, Tiktok may not have as high of a rating as Facebook does, but given its 56.4% reach to total internet users and 41.5% reach to its population, it’s still a contender for the top spot. Furthermore, their total ad reach has seen an increase of 13% compared to last year making it a rising star among the other social media platforms.
Tiktok may pose challenges to marketers with its hyper-focused medium of content, but given its uniqueness in the world of online platforms, it can still stand its ground as an oncoming platform against the older brands of social media.
In the context of the survey, Instagram sits right below the podium with a 72.5% login rate, accompanied by 3 hours of monthly average usage. It stands as the 4th most used social media platform above Twitter and Telegram. Similar to Facebook and Tiktok, Instagram features a similar format to Facebook’s use of posts and stories with limitations on the word count and content materials. On Instagram every post must be accompanied by a 1×1 image along with a strict count of 400 words. This creates an environment of short-form content suitable for visual marketing.
All this puts Instagram at a niche spot for much of online marketing. Although it doesn’t have the same content range as Facebook has, its content format has surely found its place in today’s online world.
X (formerly Twitter)
Looking through the survey, X sits along the same field as Instagram. In terms of monthly usage, it ranks as the 5th highest, just above Telegram and below Instagram. Regarding time spent and monthly sessions, it isn’t close with other high hitters like Tiktok, Youtube or Facebook.
Given its primary use as a space for online discussion and not so much communication or shopping, it isn’t surprising to see it at the bottom of the list. It was mentioned in the survey that the most important reasons for using the internet included: chat and messages, search engines, and online shopping. These reasons aren’t exactly what Twitter invests in making it a potentially risky avenue for any kind of marketing.
If X is your only choice, it’s suggested to hire an influencer to market your product or service. The high barrier for entry will make it difficult to sell any new product on the platform. It’s better to connect with the individuals whose audience matches your target market and sell from their place on the platform.
Overall Demographics
In terms of demographic, there was no significant rift between audience reach and the men and women population on each platform. As for age brackets of the audience, those ages 18-24 make up the largest part of the audience with the number decreasing as the bracket increases signaling the internet’s popularity with today’s youth. It’s also important to note that among all age groups, there tended to be a larger female audience than male.
What are our takeaways with this?
Each online platform has its own set of pros and cons. As seen from the data described above, many platforms differ in statistics such as login rates and ad reach. Much of these differ with the communities existing within them. Ultimately, this all depends on the decision of the brand as to what platform works for them and their goals.
Need help in deciding which platform to use? Contact Us now and we’ll help you reach out and engage with your target audience better.
References:
https://www.meltwater.com/en/blog/social-media-statistics-philippines