Meltwater: APAC bucks global trends, maintains steady social media spend in 2024

Despite 38% of global decision-makers planning to increase their spend on social media in 2024, teams in APAC are more likely to dedicate the same budget rather than increase it. That is according to Meltwater's latest State of Social Media Report for the Asia Pacific (APAC) region. 

According to the annual social media trends report conducted by the media intelligence platform, 47% of teams in APAC say social media will play a more significant role in 2024. Only 5% of respondents said they see social media playing a less important in the future.

On a global scale, compared to last year's Meltwater report, X (formerly Twitter) usage is down by 14%. However, in the APAC region, usage is up by 1%.

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In terms of challenges, the study found that employee bandwidth is a shared concern amongst employers (51%) as they think about managing social media. Lacking additional creative resources has also emerged as a significant consideration for 2024, as has beating the algorithm.

Meanwhile, teams in APAC find having no strategy a more significant challenge than other regions (37% vs 25% in EMEA and 29% in Americas). 

The report revealed that 34% of respondents stated that while they have a dedicated social media team, they are still defining a strategy compared to 25% that have a strategy but lack the resources to execute it.

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Looking at influencer marketing, 40% of respondents admit they were unsure whether they would invest more time or budget in the area this year. Meanwhile, 23% reported increasing their budget, which Meltwater alleges may imply a bigger strain on social media managers. 

Meltwater notes the industry, now worth $10 billion, has experienced 50% annual growth and is one of the clearest examples of how social media is transforming traditional marketing.