GLOBAL SOCIAL MEDIA: STRATEGY, GROWTH, AND TOOLS
Despite being relatively new, social media—especially social networks—have drastically changed the landscape of the Internet. The rapid rise of social media is occurring around the world, including China, Europe, and the U.S. Success with social media requires a solid strategy and an understanding of its global adoption in terms of growth and tools.
Six Steps Towards a Social Media Strategy
Whether you want your social media initiatives to stay local or go global, you will need a viable strategy. Consider these six guidelines:
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List What You Want to Achieve With Social Media.
Your social media strategy should be developed in the context of your overall business goals. What results do you want to obtain from social media? Are they increased lead generation and sales, broader markets, wider brand awareness, or improved customer satisfaction? -
Determine What, Specifically, Social Media Has to Offer You.
Social media is new and has captured everyone's attention, but that is not a valid business reason for steering your company in that direction. What advantages does social media have over your current Web-based communications? Do you have an audience that will participate in social media? How will you engage them? -
Assess Which Kind of Social Media Will Help You Accomplish Your Goals.
Social media offers a wide range of possibilities, and each type has its own set of characteristics and demographics. Social networks and (micro-)blogs are the most versatile in establishing contacts and a following. -
Attract Followers, Engage Them, and Keep Them Interested.
You must be social for social media to work for you. You will need the right mix of staff to interact with your audience and followers. How well you accomplish the dialog will affect who shows up and stays engaged. -
Allocate Resources to Social Media.
Social media has both start-up and ongoing engagement costs. A typical estimate for the first year of social media starts roughly at $200K+ for a core team of a strategist, a community manager, engineering, and a community team. -
Measure Your Success.
You will want to quantify your results and justify your social media efforts. Different types of social media require different measurement criteria. These can range from tracking the number of followers to complex measures of user engagements such as counts of posted comments and retweets of your messages.
Is Social Media Right For You?
The six guidelines for a social media strategy can serve as a checklist for social media readiness.
Your business direction will guide you to an overall understanding of what you want to gain with social media. Without clearly defined business goals, success with social media will be difficult to achieve.
Question your interest in social media. What is unique to social media that will get you the results you want? If you are unsure, then re-assess the feasibility of social media for your business.
Different forms of social media have their own demographics. If you have not determined which types of social media your intended audience is using, then you will be unable to maximize your social media efforts.
Social media is about attracting followers and keeping them actively engaged. Finding staff that understands social media and your customers is critical to your ongoing social media presence.
Social media continually consumes time and resources. Adequate funds must be allocated to maintain an ongoing social presence. Without a realistic budget, you will not succeed.
Even with a carefully planned strategy, there may be aspects of your social media that fall short of desired goals. Without a commitment to ongoing monitoring, you will be unable to identify and correct those components of social media that are not meeting your expectations.
Social Media in China, EU-5, and the U.S.
The number of social network users worldwide is large and is expected to grow over the next several years. China, the EU-5 (Europe's largest economies - France, Germany, Italy, Spain, and the UK), and the U.S. reflect that growth.
Number of Internet Users on Social Networks (Millions)
| 2011 | 2013 | 2015 | |
|---|---|---|---|
| China | 265 | 395 | 488 |
| EU-5 | 100.1 | 123.1 | 141.9 |
| U.S. | 147.8 | 164.2 | NA |
(Source: eMarketer, January 2011)
China will see tremendous growth in social network users in the next several years. It is expected that the U.S. will have reached the saturation point for social network usage by 2015.
The percent of internet users on social networks will continue to increase in China, each EU-5 country, and the U.S.
Percentage of Internet Users on Social Networks, by Country
| 2011 | 2013 | 2015 | |
|---|---|---|---|
| China | 57.9% | 61.2% | 65.0% |
| France | 51.2% | 59.9% | 67.5% |
| Germany | 46.1% | 56.4% | 64.1% |
| Italy | 48.6% | 55.9% | 60.8% |
| Spain | 53.6% | 62.8% | 68.4% |
| UK | 52.6% | 57.7% | 61.9% |
| U.S. | 63.7% | 67.0% | NA |
(Source: eMarketer, January 2011, and McKinsey & Company)
France, Germany and Spain, in particular, show strong penetration in the coming years. By 2015, these countries will have eclipsed the UK in percent of social network users.
Social Network Tools in China and the EU-5
China and the EU-5 have a large and growing number of social network users, with Facebook and Twitter being the leading sites in the EU-5. Due to blockages of these two networks, China has developed a different set of social media tools.
China
Social media in China has prospered despite severe restrictions on Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube. Without these services, China created its own tools, some of which mirror Facebook and Twitter closely. China's major social media include:
- RenRen (formerly Xiaonei): The Chinese equivalent of Facebook. It is popular with students. Note: RenRen has since merged with its sister site, Kaixin.
- Kaixin001: A Facebook-like network with older demographics (white collar office workers) than RenRen. Note: Kaixin011 and Kaixin (see above) are two different sites.
- QZone: Social networking for young teens and rural users.
- Sina Weibo: The Chinese equivalent of Twitter. It is the leading micro-blogging site in China, with over 60% penetration.
Business Perspective. China leads the world in the number of people who use social networks to find information about brands. Many, if not most, companies doing business in China, including some based in the U.S., have a presence on Kaixin001 and RenRen.
China has a number of micro-blogging sites. Sina claims to have more than 5,000 companies and 2,700 media companies on its Weibo site.
France
France's leading social network site is Facebook, which eclipsed France's Skyrock a few years ago. Skyrock has lost its competitive edge and does not offer any unique capabilities.
Twitter does not have a French equivalent.
Business Perspective: Corporations have been slow to adapt to social networks for fear of losing control of their message. Instead, they rely on social media in much in the same way as they use their corporate web sites: as a one-way communications channel.
Germany
Facebook is the predominant social networking site, while Germany's StudiVZ is primarily popular with students.
Business Perspective: Germany has been unreceptive to social networks due to privacy issues. Moreover, German companies have banned Facebook and Twitter fearing IT security breeches, leakage of proprietary information, and loss of workplace productivity.
Italy
Facebook is the predominant social network in Italy. Twitter is fourth after Linkedin and YouTube.
Business Perspective: About a third of businesses, mostly in the banking sector, use at least one social media. For communications, banks use Linkedin rather than Facebook. Most companies do plan to participate in both Facebook and Twitter.
Spain
Tuenti, a members-only site, is Spain's native social network, with features similar to Facebook. Its main audience is Spanish youth. Today, Facebook has more users than Tuenti.
Business Perspective: Spain enjoys a large participation in social media, and established Spanish companies and global brands participate in Spanish social media. While Twitter has a relatively small base, its use by businesses is growing.
UK
Outside of the U.S., Facebook has its largest base in the UK. Twitter is also highly ranked.
Business Perspective: Many of the largest UK companies do not actively participate in social media. That is, they either do not have corporate Facebook pages or Twitter feeds, or if they do, they are not actively updated.
Japan—The Facebook Outlier
By many accounts, Japan has approximately 2 million Facebook users, about 2% of its Internet users. That number, when compared to the 60% of American Internet users who are on Facebook, reveals a wide gap. However, while being reluctant to join Facebook, the Japanese do have their own social network services, including Mixi, a Twitter-like service, Gree, and Mobage-town. Each of these has more than 20 million users. In fact, Twitter has a large following in Japan.
Japan's aversion to Facebook is cultural. In social networks and on blogs, the Japanese prefer their privacy and mask their identities by using nicknames or pseudonyms. In stark contrast, Facebook's model is one of personal identity, where individuals share details of their lives. The cultural divergence between the Japanese and those in western countries is huge, which means that Facebook growth in Japan remains a challenge.
Advantages of Twitter over Facebook For Businesses
Clearly, Facebook and Twitter are the predominant forms of social media today. Although Facebook holds a large lead over Twitter in the number of users and languages supported, Twitter, through its interactive capabilities, offers advantages over Facebook.
Businesses use Facebook to create a public profile to build brand awareness with other Facebook users. However, the profile might not be connecting with the targeted audience. A person might become a follower because one of their friends is and not necessarily because of the intended message. With Twitter, businesses can directly connect with their audience. People become followers because they want to hear the message.
In addition, Twitter offers an effective way for businesses to grow and reach their customers with three simple steps: 1) Follow those you want to reach, 2) Respond to them to show them recognition, and 3) Retweet their messages to show you value their thoughts. Being part email, part instant messaging, and part blog, Twitter allows businesses to interact with customers regularly, even daily. Quick, responsive interactions build stronger relationships.
Global Social Media = Strategy + Global Participation
A successful Social Media strategy starts with a well-defined business plan, knowledge of Social Media, a staff for ongoing engagement, and an adequate budget. Taking the strategy global entails an understanding of a country's social media usage, tools, and demographics. Each piece is critical for launching a successful global social media program.
