Navigating Social Media: Maximising Your Brand’s Impact

When well-managed, social media is an essential part of an integrated communications strategy. A strong social presence and consistent engagement with your brand’s target audience keep your business relevant and armed with precious consumer insights. If you get it right, it can be an absolute game-changer for your brand.

That’s why, Accela Communications began to partner with CHOW to supercharge its social media content strategy and development offering for consumer lifestyle brands. Through this partnership, the two agencies offer a 360-degree brand communications service portfolio, including traditional media relations, influencer engagement, content creation, social media and digital strategy, branding and design, event support, media training and crisis communications.

The blended team has already led the successful launch of Nobu at the Four Seasons Hotel Singapore. The Singapore restaurant is the 56th outpost globally for Michelin Star Chef Nobu Hatsumisa and the first in the world to include a Chef’s Table as part of the private dining experience. The team’s comprehensive 60-day launch campaign resulted in continuous, heightened buzz across social channels and top digital, broadcast and print media outlets.

Chace Tan, Senior Content Strategist at CHOW, was a driving force behind this campaign's success. Chace’s transition into marketing from Singapore’s armed forces was a leap of faith that led him to become a social media expert in the food and beverage sector. With his finger always on the pulse of what’s happening across the platforms, we sat down with Chace to get his advice on some of the most frequently asked questions we receive from business owners and brand marketers.

Chace Tan, , Senior Content Strategist at CHOW

Q: Why do brands need a specialist Social Media team for their Communications and PR resources?

Chace: Limited staff and financial resources can cause businesses to treat social media as an afterthought, either tagging it onto the PR team’s strategic communications plate or assigning the responsibility to a single marketing employee. But social platforms are ever-changing, and with 4.8 billion social media users globally, social conversations evolve at lightning speed. They need continuous monitoring, analysis, and engagement to inform a robust brand engagement strategy.

Once business owners recognise this, they often end up with separate PR and social media teams - agency or in-house. However, this structure takes time to manage and fragments the storytelling process, missing the opportunity to synchronise the narrative and drive significant impact across traditional, social, and digital channels. With the Accela Communications and CHOW partnership, you get a truly integrated communications team, each with our deep expertise but with the experience of having worked seamlessly together to exceed client goals.

Q: Business owners with limited budgets often wonder which social channels to prioritise when launching. What do you recommend?

Chace: This should be shaped by your target audience - you need to be wherever they are. The best starting point is knowing which platforms they use the most, how they use them and what inspires and excites them on these platforms. Identifying which platforms your competition uses is also important but shouldn’t dictate what you do.

In Southeast Asia, the leading platforms are Facebook, Instagram, and TikTok, in that order. It makes sense to take an integrated multi-platform approach that prioritises these three. But again - you should be selective and intentional about your presence.

Q: What’s the biggest misconception clients have about social media that you want to debunk?

Chace: Clients sometimes think that artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning have taken over and can now generate their social content. These tools should be used to empower rather than replace your social media team.

Also, social media is not a short-term game or quick fix. It’s a long game requiring patience with results that aren’t always measurable from the beginning. Building a community of engaged, passionate followers takes time, but it’s essential.

Q: Is there any emerging or underestimated social platform we should consider?

Chace: Yes, Lemon8, built by ByteDance, the creators of TikTok, is gaining popularity. It’s super underrated and a bit like Instagram meets Pinterest. It is very lifestyle-centric, and all the content is organic and user-generated, so brands are still exploring the best ways to engage with the platform’s influencers.

Q: With the investment required for social media marketing to be successful, brands want to know it’s worth their spend. What’s the best way businesses can measure their social media success?

Chace: There’s no one-size-fits-all solution that can be put in place as every business has different priorities and goals. For some it’s to build brand awareness, some to drive traffic to their websites and eventually boost sales, and some to build a loyal community. In addition to setting realistic and clearly-defined objectives, it’s important to make sure you’ve defined your target audience. Measuring social media performance if you’ve been targeting everyone and anyone may not reflect the true value of your brand to its core customers. Rather than attempting to dominate every audience, it is vital to identify the right audience and channel your resources toward making an impact on them.

If you’re a business owner or marketing professional looking for truly integrated communication support to amplify your brand’s visibility, shape its reputation and generate growth, Accela Communications x CHOW could be just the pair for you.

If you want to chat more about social strategy or how to launch a brand effectively, please reach out to our team at hello@accela.asia.