Instagram Remains Key Channel for Singapore’s Public Sector – Delivers Highest Engagement Rate

• Twitter: 51.05% of social media content, but only 1.94% of interactions

• Facebook: 29.06% of content and 60.26% of interactions

• Instagram: content increased 5.34% and engagement grew 14.18% to 34.57%; remains most engaging platform

Emplifi, the leading unified customer experience platform, has released its “Singapore Government Social Media H1 2022” report. The report highlights how 30 statutory boards and 16 ministries are leveraging leading social media channels (Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and YouTube) to communicate and engage with Singapore residents on a wide array of topics, including COVID-19, vaccination, the environment, national service and social conversations.

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Singapore has 5.3 million social media users, accounting for 89.5% of the country’s total population^[1]. “Social media continues to be a key channel for the public sector to inform citizens on important topics from the COVID-19 pandemic and vaccination programs, travel measures to floods and social initiatives,” said Varun Sharma, Vice President, Asia Pacific & Japan, Emplifi. “We also see an increased focus on reaching millennials and Gen Z through the growing use of Instagram and platforms like TikTok. We expect this trend to continue along with a greater mix of content types – videos, stories, livestreaming – to appeal to the younger demographic”.

Emplifi’s report shows that H1 2022’s ranking of published content and interactions across the four platforms remained consistent with H1 2021. Over 50% of content was published on Twitter (12,877 tweets), however this drove little engagement (1.94% or 39,954 interactions). While on Facebook, there were 7,330 pieces (29.06%) of content published and significantly higher engagement (60.26% or 1.24 million interactions). Despite the strong results, Facebook engagement has decreased by 15.4% from H1 2021. Instagram on the other hand continues to grow as a key channel to engage with netizens, particularly the younger generation. The proportion of published content on the platform rose 5.34% to 3,797 posts from H1 2021 to H1 2022, and engagement increased 14.18% to 710,688 interactions.

Instagram and YouTube have the highest engagement

Instagram is the platform of choice for statutory boards and ministries in H1 2022 as it has the highest engagement (0.85%). While YouTube overtook Facebook as the second most engaging platform in comparison to H1 2021, highlighting the growing opportunity for the public sector to tap into imagery and video through social channels.

Among the top five campaigns that drove the highest interactions, The Ministry of Health (MOH)’s vaccination content came in on top followed by The National Parks Board (NPB)’s #CityInNatureSG campaign, The Ministry of Defence (MINDEF)’s NS55 campaign, MOH’s COVID Protocols and MuslimSG’s Ramadan and Raya content.

Three out of the top five campaigns saw Instagram and YouTube dove the majority of interactions. On Instagram, #CityInNatureSG gathered 47,251 interactions (66.74% of total interactions), while MuslimSG earned 27,359 interactions (82.79% of total interactions). MINDEF NS55 registered 15,380 and 17,674 interactions (combined, 80.42% of total interactions) on YouTube and Instagram respectively.

This is not surprising given that 88.7% of Singaporeans use YouTube two hours daily on average while four out of five select the channel as their preferred platform to watch videos^[2]. As for Instagram, it continues to be one of the most popular social networks for millennials, allowing brands to reach about 86% of the population^[3].

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Top performers of H1 2022

Collectively, statutory boards produced four times more content than ministries in H1 2022. However, ministries saw better engagement, with over one million total interactions versus over 988,000 interactions received by statutory boards.

The National Environment Agency (NEA) maintained its lead from H1 2021 regarding the number of published content while second and third top content publishers were MINDEF and GOVTech respectively.

MINDEF overtook MOH in H1 2022 as the top government body that drove the highest audience interactions. Most interactions were from Instagram at 112, 981 versus Facebook at 90,946. MINDEF also saw increased engagement on YouTube, receiving three times more than H1 2021.  MOH received only 22.8% (234,138) of the interactions it saw in H1 2021 where content on COVID-19 and national vaccination programs drew more interest.

The Land Transport Authority (LTA), secured third place with 140,940 interactions in H1 2022 with mini contest posts, behind-the-scenes content as well as news on the land border opening between Singapore and Malaysia.

Government profiles remain highly engaging to user

Following the 2021 trend, users remained highly engaged with government agencies in H1 2022. Brand content made up about half (54.52%) of all content on government profiles, with 2.05 million interactions (97.21%). Separately, while user-generated content accounted for 45.48% of content, it led to only 58,666 interactions (2.79%).

In terms of engagement and interactions in H1 2022, replies took the lead at 42.83%, followed by shares (31.12%) and posts (26.05%). Previously, sharing was the most popular and replies the least, which shows how users are increasingly conversing with government bodies.

“Social media is a key strategic tool for the public and private sector. The speed at which messages can be passed and shared on social media can’t be equalled by any other communications channel. Whether it’s for real-time updates, answering questions or simply to show their more fun side, Singaporean governmental organisations continue to make good use of social media to reach and engage with their audiences,” concluded Sharma.

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