The Philippine Digital Economy 2022

digital marketing economy

When the pandemic struck in 2020, we saw some of the most useful digital marketing trends that changed the online competitive landscape. It transformed the way B2B and B2C companies operated as people’s behaviors changed from brick and mortar to online.  From research, review, all the way to purchase, the Philippine audience quickly transitioned to digital. Digital marketing consultation and services became widely used by businesses to adapt to the changes caused by the pandemic and adoption to digital channels grew from websites, Facebook pages, YouTube channels and even TikTok.

Filipinos rank as some of the most active people on the web, usually ranking first or second on the list of countries whose citizens spend the most time on the internet and social media.

To help marketers and digital leaders navigate this new landscape, here are the developments coming down for this year.

Internet user growth in the Philippines

Internet users pass the 5 billion mark around the globe, with the global total increase by almost 200 million over the past year. This means 63% of the world’s total population is now online. These numbers say everything especially on how big the digital space has become in recent years.

In the latest Digital 2022 report of social media management firm Hootsuite and We Are Social,  at least 76.01 million internet users came from the Philippines, which is more than half of the population in the country. It increased by 2.1 million users between 2021 and 2022. That’s an internet penetration rate of 68% of the total population.

The report also showed internet users aged 16 to 64 across the globe spent an average of 6 hours and 58 minutes using the internet each day on any device. It means, a typical internet user now spends more than 40% of their day online. On the other hand, Filipinos in the same age range spent an average of 10 hours and 27 minutes each day. This number is lower compared to the Digital 2021 report, which shows that internet users in the Philippines spent an average of 10 hours and 56 minutes.

At the start of 2022, around 36 million people in the Philippines did not use the internet, and the remaining 32% of the population was offline at the beginning of the year. South Africa outranked the Philippines as they spent an average of 10 hours and 46 minutes on the internet.

The top reasons for using the Internet in the Philippines is for finding information (83.7%), staying in touch with friends and family (81.9%), and researching how to do things (78.5%).

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2022 Philippine Digital Marketing Statistics You Should Know

Time spent using mobile phones accelerate

According to GSMA Intelligence, the Philippines has recorded 156.5 million cellular mobile connections this year, with an increased 6.9 million between 2021 and 2022. It is equivalent to 140% of the total population in 2022. In addition to that, 96.5% Filipinos use cellular mobile connections that are broadband.

Around 51% of the online web traffic comes from mobile, which is 14.5% higher compared from last year. This is followed by laptops and desktops at 47.14%, and tablet devices at 1.79%.

Filipinos who spend time using the internet through their mobile devices spend an average of 5 hours and 47 minutes which is longer than the average of 3 hours and 43 minutes spent by internet users globally who surf the web using mobile devices. Typical mobile user ranges from ages 16 to 64 years old.

Filipinos who spend time using the internet through their mobile devices spend an average of 5 hours and 47 minutes which is longer than the average of 3 hours and 43 minutes spent by internet users globally who surf the web using mobile devices. Typical mobile user ranges from ages 16 to 64 years old.

Therefore, it is important for businesses to make sure that their web design is mobile-ready when their audience decides to respond to their call to action. According to statista, it is estimated that mobile phone users in the country would reach almost 90 million in 2025.

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TikTok’s rapid rise continues

TikTok has grown significantly over the years as it beat Google as the number one visited website globally.  Last Sept. 2021, TikTok announced that it had 1 billion global monthly active users and has also become a significant player locally, with flourishing content driving its rise from sixth to the third most used social media platform.

The Philippines has 40.4 million active TikTok users aged 18 and above, 65.3% of its ad audience were female and 34.7% of them were male. The latest numbers published in ByteDance’s advertising resources also revealed that marketers around the world can now reach 970 million users aged 18 and above with ads on TikTok, which means TikTok’s adult audience is currently growing at a rate of almost 1 million users everyday.

With at least 98.4% of Filipinos watching any kind of online video content on the internet, TikTok could be one of the most effective ways to promote products and services to people in their 20s.

Some brands in the Philippines are also starting to consider TikTok marketing as part of their digital marketing strategy. With the popularity of this platform, many websites also started to adopt short-form videos.

For example, Facebook and Instagram have Reels while YouTube also refers to its bite-sized clips as Shorts. Eventually, Tiktok also expanded  the duration limit of their videos to 60 seconds while content creators can now make three-minute videos.

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Social Commerce continues to become seamless 

In the midst of the growing number of consumers flocking to social media platforms to discover and purchase products from social networking sites, the social commerce industry is gaining increasing ground on traditional e-commerce channels and physical retail outlets in the Philippines.

The amount of time spent by consumers, especially younger generations, on social networking platforms is making social commerce one of the fastest-growing trends in the Philippines. The growing investment from large social media platforms such as Facebook, Instagram, and TikTok, is also expected to support the growth of the social commerce sector in the Philippines.

According to the Philippines Social Commerce Marketing Report 2022-2028, brands are increasingly using social platforms to tap into the growing social commerce trend. Social commerce industry in the Philippines is expected to grow by 30.4% on an annual basis to reach $681.6 million in 2022.

A Global Web study also revealed that Filipinos have taken online shopping with enthusiasm and are likely to continue doing so even after the pandemic ends.

Around 62.5% of the population purchased a product online with 43.31million purchased goods via the internet. At least $16.79 billion annual spend on online consumer purchases, with electronics as the highest $7.13 billion. That is almost a 22% increase compared to last year.

A number of different brands are using social commerce platforms to boost their sales. Belo Medical Group and Shopee Philippines are using TikTok to tap into the platforms’ potential for commerce.

Samsung Philippines is also using the platform to drive engagement and purchasing intent among consumers in the country.

The company reported a 7.35% increase in ad recall, 11.25% increase in purchasing intent, and a 9.5% increase in brand preference among consumers in the Philippines after employing a gamified hashtag challenge on their social media platform for launching its smartphone models.

One of the most visited e-commerce websites in the Philippines is Shopee with 47.8 million visits, according to Semrush, based on its total monthly web traffic. Free delivery, customer reviews, coupons and discounts are the factors to complete an online purchase in the country.

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Digital Marketing Trends in 2022: What’s In and What’s Out?

When it comes to digital marketing in 2022, we will see the dawn of new trends to explore and expect more companies to invest in digital marketing to the new normal. Now is the perfect time to take advantage of each new development to deliver more value at reducing costs. We’ve broken down the key digital marketing trends to be aware of this year. 

  • Privacy and security

When it comes to digital marketing, it’s very important to gain customer’s trust and privacy, and security is, without a doubt, the strongest asset that will bring you good results for your business. New privacy regulations like Apple’s privacy protection and pending removal of cookies have reduced the data available for use in artificial intelligence. At least 80% of Apple users refuse the tracking of applications they download. For Google, it announced the end of cookies which are used to track Internet users.

Undoubtedly, Internet users no longer want to offer their data freely. Organizations should begin and increase the collection of customer information directly from every touchpoint. Marketers must rely on tools that do not use private data such as improving SEO, email campaigns, or even surveys through social media platforms. 

  • Emotion-evoking campaigns remain king

Emotions are a great tactic in digital marketing. Research shows how the consumer’s path to purchase is driven by emotions. Around 59% of Filipinos like funny, heartwarming and inspiring ads. This proves that Filipinos enjoy online entertainment that provides a sense of normalcy and evokes positive emotions. Having a good product is no longer enough to have customers, it is also important to make the company’s values known. 

  • Shorter video contents are the best option

Attention span on social media is short, that’s why it’s important to rise above the noise and catch attention quickly. Customers are now looking for easy-to-digest content because they are always in a rush. Try to upload videos that shouldn’t go over 60 seconds in length. This is most evident in the rising popularity of TikTok, Instagram Reels, and YouTube Shorts. According to Vidyard, brand-published videos are more likely to keep 58% of viewers watching until the end if it’s under 60 seconds. 

  • Social Media Marketing 

Social media remains an important and influential way of reaching potential clients for many businesses in the Philippines. Around 39% of Filipinos check social media before they do anything online and spend an average of 4 hours and 6 minutes using social media each day. This shows that a significant portion of active social media users can come across your business at a certain time daily, giving you more opportunities to promote your brand.

Businesses will benefit from creating a presence through social media platforms like Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, Youtube, and Twitter. Here’s the number of audiences you can potentially reach and engage using advertisements on the following platforms:

Facebook: 83.85 million users (53.5% female, 46.7% male)

YouTube: 56.5 million users (50.8% female, 49.2% male)

Facebook Messenger:  55.15 million users  (52.3% female, 46.7% male)

Instagram: 18.65 million users (64.2% female, 35.8% male)

TikTok: 35.96 million users (65.3% female, 34,7% male)

LinkedIn: 11 million users (53.8% female, 46.2% male)

Twitter: 10.5 million users

  • Influencer marketing will be bigger than ever in B2B

Influencer marketing is popular nowadays because of content creators’ ability to attract people and impact their followers’ purchase decisions. Most of these personalities have enormous audiences and loyal followers. It increases conversion rates outside of a business’ physical location and website.

According to AnyMind Group’s “Influencer marketing in the Philippines-Market overview 2022,”  they saw a 19.66% increase in total volume of social media influencers in the Philippines. Instagram (37.42%) emerged as the social media platform of choice by both influencers and brands for influencer marketing, followed by Youtube (35.96%), Facebook (18.77%)  and Twitter (7.85%).

Therefore, it’s important to include influencers in your digital marketing campaign as it increases your chances of connecting with a broad range of potential customers.

Conclusion

With the right digital marketing agency and latest trends, it can help your brand adapt to the ever-changing world of business. It is currently experiencing crucial changes that can make or break the activities of marketers on a large scale.

It’s definitely worth exploring some of these trends such as SEO and social media marketing to boost your brand visibility and increase your sales revenue in the long run.

Lastly, given the more pervasive role digital marketing now plays in everyone’s lives, it’s more important to always be on the lookout for the latest in the industry.

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