Influencer Marketing in Singapore- An In-depth Guide

Yes, Singapore, it is! Where the business ecosystem thrives. 

A country counted among the high-income economies of the world and a major startup hub.  

Amid that, influencer marketing in Singapore - connecting brands to their target audiences or customers via social media influencers - has also gained prominence in the competitive business environment.
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You can attribute the growing interest in influencer marketing to the strong internet penetration in the region. According to the Hootsuite Digital 2021 report, of the 5.87 million population, almost 90% of people use the Internet. Among them, nearly 84.6% are active social media users. 

No wonder you get to see an array of influencers in multiple genres across the country.

But to bridge the gap between your brand and the target audience in the Southeast Asian region, many influencer marketing platforms and agencies have forayed connecting brands to influencers who can create awareness about their product or service and drive sales. 

Let us learn about the content creators of Singapore and the advantages and disadvantages of using different methods to execute an influencer marketing campaign. 

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‍1) Manual Execution - No harm in calling it the traditional method! In manual execution, you can search influencers on social media platforms or Google based on the conversations around a topic (somewhere related to your brand). Then, identify those people who want their voices to be heard. Be ready to deep dive into fetching out contact details and reaching out to influencers which can take days. 

Advantages: 

Apt for small brands looking for only a limited number of influencers     ‍

Disadvantages

1) Require a great deal of manual effort during bulk outreach of influencers
2) It can be too time-consuming to find and manage  influencers, also understand the effectiveness of the campaign
3) Leads to delay in campaign execution 

2. Through Influencer marketing agency:  Opting for an agency having an established network of influencers can also be an option for you. Agencies can run campaigns on behalf of your brand, from setting up the content outline to reaching out to influencers and managing them. 

Advantages: 

1) Have a network of known influencers 
2) Connect brands to relevant influencers in the desired industries 
3) Focus on multiple aspects like conducting events for brand promotion
4) Manages contracts of influencers

Disadvantages:‍

1) Expensive
2) Limited network and database of influencers 
3) Rely on influencer marketing software or manual effort to identify influencers
4) Time-consuming to pull out campaign data
5) Disconnects brands to establish long-term partnerships with influencers for future campaigns 

3. Through Influencer Marketing Platform: It is an automated way to execute an influencer marketing campaign. Driven by data, it is an all-in-one solution for running a campaign. Based on the overall objective of your campaign, the platform finds the right influencers catering to your target audience through its advanced vetting process, manages bulk outreach and provides campaign analytics.

Advantages:

1) Access to a large pool of influencers across different continents and countries
2) Easy to review an influencer based on audience demographics like age, gender and interest 
3) Helps to track all the processes from product fulfillment to stories posted by influencers 
4) Easy to use management tools for easy workflow, knowing how well the campaign is performing at anytime 
5) Detailed campaign analytics 

Disadvantages:
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1) Monthly subscription fee
2) Desired set of influencers may not be available in the database

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‍1)Affable.ai: Founded in Singapore in 2017 with a vision to be the most intuitive efficient word-of-mouth marketing channel, affable.ai helps brands engage with relevant influencers in the fastest way and effectively manages influencer marketing in Singapore and other countries across the globe. We have worked with more than 100+ brands in different industries and agencies like blendJet, L’oreal, Chanel, Ogilvy, Pomelo Fashion and many more. 

2)Partipost- Partipost, set up in 2016, is a crowdsourced influencer marketing platform in Singapore focusing mainly on recruiting content creators. Compared to affable.ai working with no geographical restrictions if your brand wants to grow globally, Partipost restricts itself to only Southeast Asia influencers. It focuses on polls and user behaviour to analyse the campaign outreach. Affable.ai, on the other hand,  gives complete campaign analytics based on engagement through influencers stories and videos. 
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3) Narrators.io-  Headquartered in Singapore, Narrators.io caters to only Southeast Asia with its database of 500K influencers. They are a micro-influencer marketing platform in Singapore that restricts their access to a network of existing macro and nano influencers, whereas affable.ai  has a large database of macro, nano and micro-influencers in Singapore and other countries across the world.

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1) Digital Business Lab: Digital Business Lab manages brands by defining their social media and marketing strategy. They are into social media analytics, also called social media listening, to give a better picture of marketing campaigns.  

2)Act Media:  It started as a retail marketing agency in 1993. They specialize in online and offline marketing channels for beauty, fashion and lifestyle brands. They even leverage word of mouth marketing to reach out to millennials by using digital marketing strategies

3)First Page: It is a marketing and digital advertising agency, largely into social media advertising, paid search, content marketing and reputation management. 

4)Top: Top is an influencer marketing agency that provides digital marketing services and advertising for brands. They have worked in multiple sectors across different countries. 

5) Impossible Marketing- It is a digital marketing agency active since 2012 and has been providing services like social media marketing and management, video marketing, influencer marketing, email marketing, web app development etc. 

6) X10 Media: It is an influencer marketing agency that started in 2016. Campaign managers are assigned to coordinate between the brand and influencers in executing campaigns. With the help of influencer marketing software, they vet the influencer's profile. 

7) Ninja Promo: Focusing on social media marketing  strategies, Ninja Promo conducts paid social advertising, email marketing and influencer marketing. But they only cater to fintech, crypto and B2B industries.  

8) One9ninety: It is a social media agency actively working only in Southeast Asia. They recommend, develop and execute social media strategies for their clients. 

9) AJ Marketing: An influencer and digital marketing agency, AJ Marketing works with 7000+ YouTube, Instagram and TikTok influencers in Singapore, Japan, Korea, Thailand, Malaysia, Vietnam, Indonesia and Taiwan.

10) Mandreel: It is a marketing and public relation agency that executes digital   marketing strategies, creative branding and design to boost its client’s brand image.

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‍1) Millennial moms “advocates” of Pampers products 

A well-known brand in baby products - Pampers - used the influencer marketing strategy to win new customers. They reached out to millennial moms in Singapore, who were active on social media. The brand roped in at least 18 mothers to endorse Pampers’ quality products for infants and toddlers. Through stories on Instagram highlighting the warmth shared between a mother and child, the message reached out to over 4.7 million people, with an engagement rate of almost 3%.

2. Tricoderm’s approach of using influencers to sell anti-hair loss product

To promote their anti-hair loss product, Tricoderm hired an influencer marketing agency in Singapore to execute a campaign. The brand engaged with both mega and macro-influencers to highlight features of the product by doing long-form informative videos on YouTube and short videos of 60 seconds on Instagram. The strategy generated over 18,000 clicks on Tricoderm’s website and impacted online and offline sales. 

3. McDonald’s smart move to promote its Night In-service 

Already a renowned name in fast food, McDonald wanted to create a buzz around its McDelivery Night In service and its loungewear line in Singapore. The brand partnered with a Singapore-based influencer marketing agency to identify content creators of Singapore who could garner the attention of their target audience. In an event, influencers wore loungewear while enjoying the food to make the audience view the comfort and chill. Content creators even shared the experience with their followers on social media. McDonald received a demand much higher than their overall target. 

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Facebook

1)Yukiko ( 975k followers)

Yukiko is a professional cosplayer and streamer in Singapore. She captivates her followers by  dressing up like interesting animated characters and does live streaming in Singapore. Yukiko even endorses new phone models. 

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2) Naomi Liu (922k followers)

Naomi Liu is a public figure who actively shares videos on food and her workout sessions. Almost 42% of his audience base are between 26 and 32 years. Data shows that her average share per post is about 18 people. 

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3)Siti Mastura (607k followers) 

Siti Mastura is a dedicated chef who diligently posts videos on various recipes and informs about the best practices to be adopted while using the oven, microwave, blenders and other electronic devices used in the kitchen. 

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Instagram

1)Steve Tan (449k  followers)

Steve Tan is an entrepreneur in the eCommerce space and invests in crypto and Non-Fungible Tokens (NFTs). Tan helps brands with his marketing and eCommerce skills to achieve desired results. 
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2)Naomi Neo (663k followers)

Parenting, lifestyle, and fashion influencer Naomi Neo has seen growth in her fan following from 2018 onwards. She has endorsed both Singapore-based and other international brands, having a mix of branded and non-branded content. 

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3. Cenna  (360k followers)

Cenna is a fashion, lifestyle and food influencer with over  90% of its audience base above  21 years. Cheng has worked with renowned brands like  Victoria’s Secret, Hugo, Chanel, Dior and many more.

YouTube

1) Car Shoping (155k subscribers)

A Singapore-based YouTube channel educates people about car technology and provides information about second-hand cars for sales. It gives all details like sale, exchange, finance and purchase within the warranty period. 

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2) Life Unique Wilderness (1 million subscribers)

Of late, many videos sharing primitive skills for survival have gained traction among people. Life Unique Wilderness is one such YouTube channel of Singapore with 1 million subscribers, giving insight into survival skills and primitive technology. It has videos like building a secret underground tunnel house in water well, building a swimming pool around a mushroom house and many more interesting concepts. 

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3)Kerina Wang (923k subscribers)

Kerina Wang is a fashion and lifestyle influencer who actively posts videos on the latest trends, sharing outfit ideas for special events like the first date, girls night out, job interview etc. She discusses outfits for all seasons and how they can be paired for a chic look. 

Top Celebrity Instagram Influencers of Singapore

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1) Loh Kean Yew (208k followers) 

The 24-year-old is Singapore’s first world champion in Badminton. He is currently among the best players in men’s singles and represented his country in the 2020 Tokyo Olympics. Yew likes to post stories of his tournaments. ‍

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2) Jian Hao Tan

JianHao Tao is a known YouTuber and an Instagram influencer in Singapore. He runs a video series called Titan Academy that are short skits and role-playing videos around situations in schools. Tao has his digital media agency promoting regional leaders and KOL (Known Opinion Leaders) influencers. 

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3) Benjamin Kheng (238k followers) 

Benjamin Kheng is a Singaporean musician, actor, and writer who made his debut in the local pop quartet The Sam Willows. Benjamin won the nomination for MTV EMA's Best Southeast Asia Act in 2020, representing Singapore. He is into acting too and is also a part of the acclaimed comedy sketch series The BenZi Project. 

4. Taufik Batisah (344k followers)

Desmond Tan is a Singaporean singer in the pop and R&B genres. Since 2005 Batisah has released various singles and has explored television and films as an actor.  

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