Following the previous article Vol.73 – Ranking: Companies/Brands Leveraging Social Media Generating Sales in Japan some of the successful companies and/or brands operating in Japan to generate sales will be introduced, starting with this article.
The first one is Muji.
1. What is the overview of the brand?
Muji is the brand of series of products of a company called Ryohin Keikaku Co., Ltd. that is engaged in business of developing, marketing and selling high quality products of non-brands i.e. not the brands of major manufacturers to consumers who visit their stores under their original brand of “Mujirushi”.
They have been doing this business since 1980 and their products have become quite popular, Mujirushi or Muji has in fact a popular brand in Japan.
2. How Muji has been leveraging social media to drive consumers to their stores?
One good example of how Muji has been leveraging social media is their campaign they did from December 26, 2011 to January 10, 2012 to promote their retort-pouched curries.
1) What was the campaign?
As a part of the campaign, they developed a web content linking with account of Facebook Twitter or Mixi in their web site in which the consumers can enjoy Snakes abd Ladders game. Among web users who enjoyed the game, 10,000 people won the coupon with which they could exchange with Muji’s butter chicken curry, and 9 people won coupon with which they could exchange with 9 types of Muji’s retort-pouched curries and crockery.
In order to successfully drive people to their stores, the rule was that they could exchange with products only if they visited one of the Muji shops. That is to say, they could not exchange with products in Muji online stores (EC site).
2) What was the outcome of the campaign?
28,000 people enjoyed the game, and among 10,000 people who won the coupon, 9,761 visited shops to exchange with Muji product(s).
And because many of them would be uneasy to only exchange their coupons with products, they purchased some products as well.
One interesting outcome was that users of their EC site increased as well. This was probably because the awareness of the Muji’s retort-pouched curries increased among web users and those who could not be bothered to visit Muji offline stores visited their online stores.
As a result, even though there were no discounts, sales of their retort-pouched curries increase by 80% from the same time of the previous year during the campaign.
3. Is there any other benefit(s) that Muji has been enjoying by leveraging social media?
Yes, there is. It is the fact that Muji now can distinguish which products sells well from others by leveraging social media while not promoting by other media. This made Muji to leverage social media and allocate their resources more effectively and strategically.
1) How has Muji been leveraging social media to distinguish products that sells well from others?
Muji promotes their products leveraging social media without promoting by other media such as e-newsletter, flyer, website, and magazine and TV advertising, and sees how the sales of the products changed.
There was a case in which such social media use led to sales increase by 10% - 300% from previous day.
2) What is an example of such social media use?
One good example is in the case of promoting a pair of gloves with which consumers can use touch panels of iPhones etc. When the products were promoted in the morning of October 14 2011 by Facebook, Twitter and Mixi, the sales on the day increase by 63% from October 13 on average in Muji stores throughout the nation.
The reason why October 14, 2011 was strategically selected as such a promotion was the fact that it was the day when iPhone 4S was launched in Japan. Muji assumed that iPhone 4S launch in Japan would be a hot topic on the day and sales of related products would increase, which turned out to be true.
3) Does such social media use works for all products?
No, it does not. It seems to work only for FMCG (fast moving consumer goods). This is because after data analysis, it became evident that it did not lead to sales increase for products whose price is rather high and frequency of purchase is rather low such as consumer electronics.
In the next article, the author would like to continue introducing case studies of companies and brands that were included in top 20 of the ranking.
References:-
Japan First Company/Brand Ranking that Generates Sales by Leveraging Social Media (in Japanese)
http://business.nikkeibp.co.jp/article/report/20120224/228963/?rt=nocnt
Resources:-
Muji, a original brand of a company called Ryohin Keikaku that develops, markets and sells their high quality products in their stores, has been successfully leveraging social media to drive consumers to their stores by campaigns in which they provided social coupons to selected web users who enjoyed their Snakes and Laders game on their website. This led to sales increase in their offline and offline stores when consumers could only exchange their coupons with products if they visited offline stores. Also Muji now can distinguish products that sell well from other by strategically using social media.
Saturday, 3 March 2012
Wednesday, 29 February 2012
Vol.73 – Ranking: Companies/Brands Leveraging Social Media Generating Sales in Japan
Nikkei Digital Marketing, a publishing company in Nikkei group (a leading business publisher in Japan) specialized in digital marketing recently executed a survey and announced on February 22 the first ranking in Japan of companies and brands that are successful in leveraging social media to reach consumers and generate sales.
1. How was the survey executed?
1) Selecting companies/brands available in Japan
Number of Facebook fans and Twitter followers of companies/brands available in Japan were added and top 100 companies were selected.
2) Calculating “Reach Score”
“Reach Score” is defined as how many fans and followers the company/brand has. This is calculated by the unique methodology developed by Nikkei Digital Marketing analysis, which was converted to deviation value.
3) Calculating “Consumer Behaviour Score”
“Consumer Behaviour Score” is a metric to see how much social media changed consumer behaviour to purchase products and services. With help from a consulting department of Nikkei group, questions on how social media is used were asked to which 15,164 people answered. The result of the questionnaire was analyzed to calculate Consumer Behaviour Score, which was converted to deviation value.
4) Calculating Total Score for ranking
Total Score was calculated by adding Reach Score and Consumer Behaviour Score, which was then converted to deviation value. Ranking is of Total Score.
2. What was the result of the ranking?
Companies and brands that have been successfully using social media to improve their reach and change consumer behaviour in a positive way are ranked high up.
Top 20 ranking of Total Score (# in bracket is ranking of each score)
Rank / Company/Brand Name / Deviation Value of Total Score / Deviation Value of Consumer Behaviour Score / Deviation Value of Reach Score
1 / UniQlo / 81.0 / 71.2 (2) / 85.1 (2)
2 / Lawson / 75.6 / 66.8 (6) / 80.8 (4)
3 / Muji / 75.2 / 65.6 (8) / 82.2 (3)
4 / All Nippon Airways / 74.8 / 68.9 (4) / 74.4 (6)
5 / Starbucks / 74.2 / 60.5 (18) / 89.9 (1)
6 / T Point / 68.3 / 65.6 (8) / 64.9 (9)
7 / Japan Air Lines / 65.6 / 61.3 (15) / 66.5 (8)
8 / Haagen-Dazs / 65.3 / 72.8 (1) / 42.8 (75)
9 / Subway / 64.7 / 66.4 (7) / 54.1 (21)
10 / McDonald’s / 63.8 / 69.9 (3) / 44.8 (60)
11 / Moss Burger / 61.0 / 61.0 (11) / 55.6 (17)
12 / Sony / 60.4 / 57.6 (20) / 61.0 (11)
13 / The Premium Malt / 60.2 / 63.4 (10) / 48.8 (43)
14 / Yamada Denki / 59.9 / 66.9 (5) / 41.2 (98)
15 / Kentucky Fried Chicken / 59.3 / 62.5 (13) / 48.5 (45)
16 / Tokyu Hans / 59.1 / 56.7 (26) / 59.4 (12)
17 / KDDI (au) / 58.9 / 49.7 (54) / 72.9 (6)
18 / Family Mart / 58.5 / 57.5 (21) / 56.3 (15)
19 / Edy / 57.8 / 63.1 (12) / 43.3 (71)
20 / Seven Eleven / 57.1 / 63.2 (11) / 41.4 (95)
#1 was UniQlo with Total Score as high as 81.0. Both Reach Score and Consumer Behaviour Score were quite high.
This was because of its successful campaign leveraging Facebook held in November 2011 in addition to its strong brand, which drove over 200,000 consumers to the UniQlo shops nationwide, leading to sales generation. With the campaign, when consumers registered their location information using Facebook, they could win discount coupon of maximum 2000 yen upon registration.
#2 with Total Score of 75.6 was Lawson, another company successfully using social coupon. Last summer, the company held a campaign in which coupons were provided to 1.3 million consumers collaborating with special website co-developed by Tokyo FM (a FM radio station in Tokyo) and Mixi (leading social media company in Japan). This resulted in driving 420,000 consumers to their shops throughout the nation. Lawson also did another campaign in autumn of 2011 providing social coupons which helped generating sales.
In the next article(s), the author would like to introduce some case studies of companies and brands that were included in top 20 of the ranking.
References:-
Japan First Company/Brand Ranking that Generates Sales by Leveraging Social Media (in Japanese)
http://business.nikkeibp.co.jp/article/report/20120224/228963/?rt=nocnt
Resources:-
The Japan first ranking of companies/brands that are successfully generating sales by leveraging social media was announced. “Reach” and “Consumer Behaviour” were the 2 metrics used for ranking. Companies and brands (mostly of BtoC) with many fans/followers and successfully driving consumers to their shops nationwide to generate sales were ranked high up, such as UniQlo and Lawson, that held campaigns providing social coupons to drive consumers to their shops nationwide.
1. How was the survey executed?
1) Selecting companies/brands available in Japan
Number of Facebook fans and Twitter followers of companies/brands available in Japan were added and top 100 companies were selected.
2) Calculating “Reach Score”
“Reach Score” is defined as how many fans and followers the company/brand has. This is calculated by the unique methodology developed by Nikkei Digital Marketing analysis, which was converted to deviation value.
3) Calculating “Consumer Behaviour Score”
“Consumer Behaviour Score” is a metric to see how much social media changed consumer behaviour to purchase products and services. With help from a consulting department of Nikkei group, questions on how social media is used were asked to which 15,164 people answered. The result of the questionnaire was analyzed to calculate Consumer Behaviour Score, which was converted to deviation value.
4) Calculating Total Score for ranking
Total Score was calculated by adding Reach Score and Consumer Behaviour Score, which was then converted to deviation value. Ranking is of Total Score.
2. What was the result of the ranking?
Companies and brands that have been successfully using social media to improve their reach and change consumer behaviour in a positive way are ranked high up.
Top 20 ranking of Total Score (# in bracket is ranking of each score)
Rank / Company/Brand Name / Deviation Value of Total Score / Deviation Value of Consumer Behaviour Score / Deviation Value of Reach Score
1 / UniQlo / 81.0 / 71.2 (2) / 85.1 (2)
2 / Lawson / 75.6 / 66.8 (6) / 80.8 (4)
3 / Muji / 75.2 / 65.6 (8) / 82.2 (3)
4 / All Nippon Airways / 74.8 / 68.9 (4) / 74.4 (6)
5 / Starbucks / 74.2 / 60.5 (18) / 89.9 (1)
6 / T Point / 68.3 / 65.6 (8) / 64.9 (9)
7 / Japan Air Lines / 65.6 / 61.3 (15) / 66.5 (8)
8 / Haagen-Dazs / 65.3 / 72.8 (1) / 42.8 (75)
9 / Subway / 64.7 / 66.4 (7) / 54.1 (21)
10 / McDonald’s / 63.8 / 69.9 (3) / 44.8 (60)
11 / Moss Burger / 61.0 / 61.0 (11) / 55.6 (17)
12 / Sony / 60.4 / 57.6 (20) / 61.0 (11)
13 / The Premium Malt / 60.2 / 63.4 (10) / 48.8 (43)
14 / Yamada Denki / 59.9 / 66.9 (5) / 41.2 (98)
15 / Kentucky Fried Chicken / 59.3 / 62.5 (13) / 48.5 (45)
16 / Tokyu Hans / 59.1 / 56.7 (26) / 59.4 (12)
17 / KDDI (au) / 58.9 / 49.7 (54) / 72.9 (6)
18 / Family Mart / 58.5 / 57.5 (21) / 56.3 (15)
19 / Edy / 57.8 / 63.1 (12) / 43.3 (71)
20 / Seven Eleven / 57.1 / 63.2 (11) / 41.4 (95)
#1 was UniQlo with Total Score as high as 81.0. Both Reach Score and Consumer Behaviour Score were quite high.
This was because of its successful campaign leveraging Facebook held in November 2011 in addition to its strong brand, which drove over 200,000 consumers to the UniQlo shops nationwide, leading to sales generation. With the campaign, when consumers registered their location information using Facebook, they could win discount coupon of maximum 2000 yen upon registration.
#2 with Total Score of 75.6 was Lawson, another company successfully using social coupon. Last summer, the company held a campaign in which coupons were provided to 1.3 million consumers collaborating with special website co-developed by Tokyo FM (a FM radio station in Tokyo) and Mixi (leading social media company in Japan). This resulted in driving 420,000 consumers to their shops throughout the nation. Lawson also did another campaign in autumn of 2011 providing social coupons which helped generating sales.
In the next article(s), the author would like to introduce some case studies of companies and brands that were included in top 20 of the ranking.
References:-
Japan First Company/Brand Ranking that Generates Sales by Leveraging Social Media (in Japanese)
http://business.nikkeibp.co.jp/article/report/20120224/228963/?rt=nocnt
Resources:-
The Japan first ranking of companies/brands that are successfully generating sales by leveraging social media was announced. “Reach” and “Consumer Behaviour” were the 2 metrics used for ranking. Companies and brands (mostly of BtoC) with many fans/followers and successfully driving consumers to their shops nationwide to generate sales were ranked high up, such as UniQlo and Lawson, that held campaigns providing social coupons to drive consumers to their shops nationwide.
Saturday, 14 January 2012
Vol.72 – Facebook Use Soaring in Japan: Requirements to Benefit from Social Media
Facebook has become popular in Japan in January 2011 after Twitter became popular in Japan in July 2010, which is the reason why 2011 is often said to be “the first year of SNS in Japan” as explained in the previous article Vol.48 – 2011 Japan’s First Year of Social Media / SNS. Indeed Facebook has been started to be used in marketing by some innovative Japanese companies such as Fast Retailing (famous for UniQlo brand) and in recruiting as explained in the previous article Vol.63 – Social Recruiting: Cases and Future of Recruiting in Japan.
Now Facebook seems to be used by more business owners and companies in Japan that are not necessarily innovators in Internet marketing.
1. What kinds of people in Japan used to use Facebook until 2010?
It was mostly people in IT/Internet industry and/or people with international background that used Facebook until 2010.
The former, i.e. people in IT/Internet industry, are the early adaptors of new social media, and very often those who are to use social media in business and/or to do business on social media, such as web marketer, and social media/web marketing consultant.
But since Facebook had not been popular in Japan until January 2011, it seems that they had not been truly using Facebook in business and/or doing business about Facebook, and such people had been using mostly Japan local social media such as Mixi, blogs, YouTube, and Twitter.
The latter, i.e. people with international background, are mostly those people who have started using Facebook to keep in touch with friends outside Japan. Thus this was mostly for private use.
2. How has the Facebook users changed in Japan?
Today it is quite evident that the Facebook users cover early adopters who are not necessarily IT/Internet savvy nor of international background, just by looking at how the author’s new Facebook friends have changed in the few years.
1) Spread from English to Japanese online community
The author’s Facebook friends used to be mostly of English speaking people. She first started to use Facebook in 2009 mostly used to use Facebook to keep in touch with her friends around the world from her childhood and university, and to share information with worldwide online friends she met on LinedIn and Twitter. That is to say, her online network was mostly of English community.
In 2010 she connected with a Japanese independent Internet marketing consultant on Twitter then on Facebook, from which her online network started to spread to Japanese community as well. The consultant had been looking for a Japanese marketer with high English proficiency to connect online because he believed that it would be a marketer with English proficiency that would be successful in the future. Therefore when he found the author he immediately started to follow her (and advised some of his friend in the Internet industry to connect with her), and she followed him back.
It was then she started to connect first with the consultant’s Japanese online friends including Internet marketer at Japan IBM and founder/CEO of a Japanese social media consulting company who used to fork for Japan IBM, and her Japanese friends from her university years when she was a member of AIESEC, the world’s largest global student’s organization. Such of her friends are mostly bilingual with international background, who were (and still are) using Facebook mostly to keep in touch with friends around the globe.
2) Spread to early adopters of the general public
From around autumn of 2010 the author started to receive friend requests from Japanese people not necessarily of international background nor from Internet industry. This is when the author’s wall started to become bilingual (English and Japanese).
And in 2011, her interactions in Japanese on Facebook surpassed those in English so when she started Google+ in July she changed her Facebook strategy to use it mostly for local interaction although she still uses for global interaction. She positioned LinkedIn and Google+ as the media for worldwide interaction. (She has 2 twitter accounts, one for English and the other for Japanese).
3. How is Facebook used in Japan today?
Today in Japan Facerbook is used both in business and private.
1) Business Use
(1) Internet/web/online marketers
Internet/web/online marketers use Facebook mostly for business. They use Facebook (including Facebook page) mainly to share online articles of their expertise and/or their blogs which showcase their expertise and/or their business.
They also use it to announce the seminars and other events, and share how it was successful after the seminars and events.
They also use it to share that they are to publish a book etc. In fact, there have been quite a few “how-to” Facebook books and seminars lately.
(2) Companies and other organizations
Some innovative companies have set up their Facebook pages for marketing and recruiting, as the author introduced in some of her previous articles.
Now, more companies started to set up their Facebook pages. Such companies seem to be mostly of Japanese companies strong in marketing, engaged in BtoC business, or non-Japanese global companies operating in Japan strong in Internet marketing companies especially in BtoC business. Examples of industries/businesses that such companies are engaged in are IT, retailing, automobile, and cosmetics.
In the case of Fast Retaining, their main objective of being the innovator in Facebook use in marketing is to raise their global brand awareness and expand their business globally.
In the case of marketing of other Japanese companies, it seems that they already had been executing their web marketing and they wanted to make it social and interactive by adding social media.
And in the case of recruiting of companies in Japan, whether Japanese or non-Japanese operating in Japan, they seem to want to make a paradigm shift in recruiting from mass-recruiting to one-on-one recruiting, to find unique talent from around the globe who are compassionate to their philosophy and values, in line with their management/corporate strategy and Diversity initiative.
2) Private Use
Many Japanese Facebook users, regardless of their background, use for private in sharing their status about their family and themselves. They post where they (and their family) are, what they are doing, what they feel lately etc. They also use Facebook to share online articles and other URLs that they find interesting.
Facebook is also often used to say seasonal greetings such as to say Merry Christmas and Happy New Year, and to say Happy Birthday. One thing the author realized is that lately photos of foods are frequently posted (similar trend in Googld+ as well).
Facebook allows their users to keep in touch with online friends regardless of change in location (home address) work etc., and therefore it is often used to send private messages to friends similarly to sending messages by e-mails.
4. What are the author’s final thoughts?
With segments (types/kinds) of Facebook users continuously expanding and diversifying together with how Facebook is used, it is critical that each Facebook user need to be clear of their objectives of using Facebook, from which their Facebook strategy is developed and executed.
This would define who to connect on Facebook and what kind of information to post.
Otherwise, Facebook users would find too much “noise” and, not being able to benefit fully from Facebook. This applies to all other social media as well.
This may be the very reason why a few of the author’s Japanese Facebook friends recently said that they reviewed their Facebook friends and un-friended quite a few. They said they un-friended “inactive users, those whose conversation and posts do not match with them, and whom they cannot understand”.
Resources:-
2011 being said as “the first Year of SNS/social media” in Japan, Facebook has become popular in Japan in the past one year. Variety of people regardless of their background and work experience started to use Facebook both in business and private. More companies are starting to use Facebook in business, marketing and recruiting. This means that each Facebook user need to be clear about their objectives of using Facebook and be brave to un-friend who do not match with their objectives; otherwise they would have too much “noise” and they would not benefit fully from Facebook. Its essence is applicable to all other social media.
Now Facebook seems to be used by more business owners and companies in Japan that are not necessarily innovators in Internet marketing.
1. What kinds of people in Japan used to use Facebook until 2010?
It was mostly people in IT/Internet industry and/or people with international background that used Facebook until 2010.
The former, i.e. people in IT/Internet industry, are the early adaptors of new social media, and very often those who are to use social media in business and/or to do business on social media, such as web marketer, and social media/web marketing consultant.
But since Facebook had not been popular in Japan until January 2011, it seems that they had not been truly using Facebook in business and/or doing business about Facebook, and such people had been using mostly Japan local social media such as Mixi, blogs, YouTube, and Twitter.
The latter, i.e. people with international background, are mostly those people who have started using Facebook to keep in touch with friends outside Japan. Thus this was mostly for private use.
2. How has the Facebook users changed in Japan?
Today it is quite evident that the Facebook users cover early adopters who are not necessarily IT/Internet savvy nor of international background, just by looking at how the author’s new Facebook friends have changed in the few years.
1) Spread from English to Japanese online community
The author’s Facebook friends used to be mostly of English speaking people. She first started to use Facebook in 2009 mostly used to use Facebook to keep in touch with her friends around the world from her childhood and university, and to share information with worldwide online friends she met on LinedIn and Twitter. That is to say, her online network was mostly of English community.
In 2010 she connected with a Japanese independent Internet marketing consultant on Twitter then on Facebook, from which her online network started to spread to Japanese community as well. The consultant had been looking for a Japanese marketer with high English proficiency to connect online because he believed that it would be a marketer with English proficiency that would be successful in the future. Therefore when he found the author he immediately started to follow her (and advised some of his friend in the Internet industry to connect with her), and she followed him back.
It was then she started to connect first with the consultant’s Japanese online friends including Internet marketer at Japan IBM and founder/CEO of a Japanese social media consulting company who used to fork for Japan IBM, and her Japanese friends from her university years when she was a member of AIESEC, the world’s largest global student’s organization. Such of her friends are mostly bilingual with international background, who were (and still are) using Facebook mostly to keep in touch with friends around the globe.
2) Spread to early adopters of the general public
From around autumn of 2010 the author started to receive friend requests from Japanese people not necessarily of international background nor from Internet industry. This is when the author’s wall started to become bilingual (English and Japanese).
And in 2011, her interactions in Japanese on Facebook surpassed those in English so when she started Google+ in July she changed her Facebook strategy to use it mostly for local interaction although she still uses for global interaction. She positioned LinkedIn and Google+ as the media for worldwide interaction. (She has 2 twitter accounts, one for English and the other for Japanese).
3. How is Facebook used in Japan today?
Today in Japan Facerbook is used both in business and private.
1) Business Use
(1) Internet/web/online marketers
Internet/web/online marketers use Facebook mostly for business. They use Facebook (including Facebook page) mainly to share online articles of their expertise and/or their blogs which showcase their expertise and/or their business.
They also use it to announce the seminars and other events, and share how it was successful after the seminars and events.
They also use it to share that they are to publish a book etc. In fact, there have been quite a few “how-to” Facebook books and seminars lately.
(2) Companies and other organizations
Some innovative companies have set up their Facebook pages for marketing and recruiting, as the author introduced in some of her previous articles.
Now, more companies started to set up their Facebook pages. Such companies seem to be mostly of Japanese companies strong in marketing, engaged in BtoC business, or non-Japanese global companies operating in Japan strong in Internet marketing companies especially in BtoC business. Examples of industries/businesses that such companies are engaged in are IT, retailing, automobile, and cosmetics.
In the case of Fast Retaining, their main objective of being the innovator in Facebook use in marketing is to raise their global brand awareness and expand their business globally.
In the case of marketing of other Japanese companies, it seems that they already had been executing their web marketing and they wanted to make it social and interactive by adding social media.
And in the case of recruiting of companies in Japan, whether Japanese or non-Japanese operating in Japan, they seem to want to make a paradigm shift in recruiting from mass-recruiting to one-on-one recruiting, to find unique talent from around the globe who are compassionate to their philosophy and values, in line with their management/corporate strategy and Diversity initiative.
2) Private Use
Many Japanese Facebook users, regardless of their background, use for private in sharing their status about their family and themselves. They post where they (and their family) are, what they are doing, what they feel lately etc. They also use Facebook to share online articles and other URLs that they find interesting.
Facebook is also often used to say seasonal greetings such as to say Merry Christmas and Happy New Year, and to say Happy Birthday. One thing the author realized is that lately photos of foods are frequently posted (similar trend in Googld+ as well).
Facebook allows their users to keep in touch with online friends regardless of change in location (home address) work etc., and therefore it is often used to send private messages to friends similarly to sending messages by e-mails.
4. What are the author’s final thoughts?
With segments (types/kinds) of Facebook users continuously expanding and diversifying together with how Facebook is used, it is critical that each Facebook user need to be clear of their objectives of using Facebook, from which their Facebook strategy is developed and executed.
This would define who to connect on Facebook and what kind of information to post.
Otherwise, Facebook users would find too much “noise” and, not being able to benefit fully from Facebook. This applies to all other social media as well.
This may be the very reason why a few of the author’s Japanese Facebook friends recently said that they reviewed their Facebook friends and un-friended quite a few. They said they un-friended “inactive users, those whose conversation and posts do not match with them, and whom they cannot understand”.
Resources:-
2011 being said as “the first Year of SNS/social media” in Japan, Facebook has become popular in Japan in the past one year. Variety of people regardless of their background and work experience started to use Facebook both in business and private. More companies are starting to use Facebook in business, marketing and recruiting. This means that each Facebook user need to be clear about their objectives of using Facebook and be brave to un-friend who do not match with their objectives; otherwise they would have too much “noise” and they would not benefit fully from Facebook. Its essence is applicable to all other social media.
Saturday, 10 December 2011
Vol.71 – Promotion Strategy in Japan: Google+ vs. Facebook
As of December 8, there are 40 million users for Google+ worldwide. In the case of Japan, as in the previous article Vol.64 – Facebook and Twitter vs. LinkedIn and Google+ in Japan Google+ has mostly been dominated by a small portion of early adaptors even after it became open to the public, and there are only 2 million users for Google+ in Japan.
However, according to what Mr. Bradley Horowitz, a VP of Google said to Japanese media on December 9 when he visited Japan, it is likely that at last Google+ is to breakout in Japan at last with an extremely strategic promotion plan, which is alliance with a very popular Japanese pop group called AK48.
1. Why Google+ did not outbreak until today in Japan?
One reason is the fact that it is only recently that global social media such as Twitter and Facebook became popular in Japan and therefore Japanese people have been still at the point in which they are still learning and enjoying Twitter and Facebook. This would make them unable to think of starting another new social media now.
Another reason, according to some comments the author had from her Japanese online friends, seems mostly is the fact that most Japanese online users currently enjoying Twitter and Facebook including those with high IT literacy (e.g. experts in web marketing and social media) could not really understand the functions and user friendly operations of Google+.
This may attribute to the fact that there were few online articles in Japanese explaining such things. With the same reason, most Japanese online users did not (and probably still do not) understand the benefit of Google+, i.e. functions and services (including potential) integrating with other Google products and services as well.
2. What kind of impact the alliance with AK48 has on Google+, the most popular pop group in Japan today?
It will surely have an enormous positive impact on Google+ expansion in Japan. AK48, a pop group of many young girls, is currently the most popular pop group in Japan. The most popular member of the group has been acting as the heroine of a TV drama based on a comic that became extremely popular in Japan. China has created their pop group referring AK48.
Using a popular TV star, singer or pop group is a very popular promotion strategy adopted by many Japanese companies engaged in business such as AV products and beverages and they have mostly been successful. Therefore, leveraging the popularity of AK48 would surely boost the proliferation of Google+ in Japan.
3. How is Google+ to be promoted by AK48?
The promotion is to be done leveraging a function of Google+ of “Hang Out”, with which maximum of 10 online users can enjoy video chat.
AK48 members is to leverage the function to interact with their fans to regain the concept of “TV start that their fans can meet and interact” online. The group used to be designed to be close with their fans, interacting with them. However, because the group became very popular, it became extremely difficult for their fans to meet and interact with the group. The function would be a solution and Google say that AK48 and Google+ is a “perfect match”.
4. How effective Google+ promotion likely be compared with Facebook promotion in Japan?
The author would say that the both are equally effective; it is simply that the both are different.
Facebook leveraged the founder, Mr. Mark Zuckerberg in promoting Facebook worldwide including Japan, which is a good strategy. Mark was chosen as the man of the year by a leading business magazine Times for 2010. Then in January 2011 there were much coverage about Facebook in Japan. The movie about Facebook “Social Network” started to run in Japan from January 2011. And the Japanese version book about Mark was published in March 2011.
In the case of Google+, the follower in SNS without a person equivalent to Mark of Facebook, they just had to take a different approach. In the case of Japan market, the author understands that Google came up with a popular approach take in Japan which is adopting a popular TV star or pop group in their promotion. And in the current situation in Japan, AK48 is a good option to attract the attention of the general public.
In fact, already as of December 10, many of the favourite content of Google+ in Japan are the taste of AK48, which implies that many online users of AK48 fans have registered Google+ and started using it. A Japanese IT expert who started his business in Silicon Valley and has been providing latest information about IT to Japanese audience commented “I had a look at the status of Google+ favourite content after a long time and was surprised how the trend changed after the announcement of the alliance of Google+ with AK48!”
5. What are the author’s final thoughts?
In addition to products and services, promotion also is an important factor for the success of marketing and business. There is no one-fit-for-all promotion strategy, though.
Breakout of Google+ in Japan is a great news just that for some people (e.g. those who would like to use mainly for business) they may need to be extremely careful who to circle and/or follow on Google+ to make sure that they create their Google+ community that meet their needs.
References:-
Google+ has 2 million users in Japan, “a business opportunity for the follower” says a Google VP (in Japanese)
http://nlab.itmedia.co.jp/nl/articles/1112/09/news091.html
Resources:-
Google+ has been mainly dominated by early adopters in Japan and was not popular even among many Japanese with high IT literacy because they did not understand the good functions, user friendliness and (potential) benefits provided by integration with other Google products/services attributing to lack of explanation of such issues. However, with recent announcement of alliance with AK48, the most popular pop group in Japan today, Google+ is likely to outbreak at last in Japan. Already some general public seem to have started to join Google+.
However, according to what Mr. Bradley Horowitz, a VP of Google said to Japanese media on December 9 when he visited Japan, it is likely that at last Google+ is to breakout in Japan at last with an extremely strategic promotion plan, which is alliance with a very popular Japanese pop group called AK48.
1. Why Google+ did not outbreak until today in Japan?
One reason is the fact that it is only recently that global social media such as Twitter and Facebook became popular in Japan and therefore Japanese people have been still at the point in which they are still learning and enjoying Twitter and Facebook. This would make them unable to think of starting another new social media now.
Another reason, according to some comments the author had from her Japanese online friends, seems mostly is the fact that most Japanese online users currently enjoying Twitter and Facebook including those with high IT literacy (e.g. experts in web marketing and social media) could not really understand the functions and user friendly operations of Google+.
This may attribute to the fact that there were few online articles in Japanese explaining such things. With the same reason, most Japanese online users did not (and probably still do not) understand the benefit of Google+, i.e. functions and services (including potential) integrating with other Google products and services as well.
2. What kind of impact the alliance with AK48 has on Google+, the most popular pop group in Japan today?
It will surely have an enormous positive impact on Google+ expansion in Japan. AK48, a pop group of many young girls, is currently the most popular pop group in Japan. The most popular member of the group has been acting as the heroine of a TV drama based on a comic that became extremely popular in Japan. China has created their pop group referring AK48.
Using a popular TV star, singer or pop group is a very popular promotion strategy adopted by many Japanese companies engaged in business such as AV products and beverages and they have mostly been successful. Therefore, leveraging the popularity of AK48 would surely boost the proliferation of Google+ in Japan.
3. How is Google+ to be promoted by AK48?
The promotion is to be done leveraging a function of Google+ of “Hang Out”, with which maximum of 10 online users can enjoy video chat.
AK48 members is to leverage the function to interact with their fans to regain the concept of “TV start that their fans can meet and interact” online. The group used to be designed to be close with their fans, interacting with them. However, because the group became very popular, it became extremely difficult for their fans to meet and interact with the group. The function would be a solution and Google say that AK48 and Google+ is a “perfect match”.
4. How effective Google+ promotion likely be compared with Facebook promotion in Japan?
The author would say that the both are equally effective; it is simply that the both are different.
Facebook leveraged the founder, Mr. Mark Zuckerberg in promoting Facebook worldwide including Japan, which is a good strategy. Mark was chosen as the man of the year by a leading business magazine Times for 2010. Then in January 2011 there were much coverage about Facebook in Japan. The movie about Facebook “Social Network” started to run in Japan from January 2011. And the Japanese version book about Mark was published in March 2011.
In the case of Google+, the follower in SNS without a person equivalent to Mark of Facebook, they just had to take a different approach. In the case of Japan market, the author understands that Google came up with a popular approach take in Japan which is adopting a popular TV star or pop group in their promotion. And in the current situation in Japan, AK48 is a good option to attract the attention of the general public.
In fact, already as of December 10, many of the favourite content of Google+ in Japan are the taste of AK48, which implies that many online users of AK48 fans have registered Google+ and started using it. A Japanese IT expert who started his business in Silicon Valley and has been providing latest information about IT to Japanese audience commented “I had a look at the status of Google+ favourite content after a long time and was surprised how the trend changed after the announcement of the alliance of Google+ with AK48!”
5. What are the author’s final thoughts?
In addition to products and services, promotion also is an important factor for the success of marketing and business. There is no one-fit-for-all promotion strategy, though.
Breakout of Google+ in Japan is a great news just that for some people (e.g. those who would like to use mainly for business) they may need to be extremely careful who to circle and/or follow on Google+ to make sure that they create their Google+ community that meet their needs.
References:-
Google+ has 2 million users in Japan, “a business opportunity for the follower” says a Google VP (in Japanese)
http://nlab.itmedia.co.jp/nl/articles/1112/09/news091.html
Resources:-
Google+ has been mainly dominated by early adopters in Japan and was not popular even among many Japanese with high IT literacy because they did not understand the good functions, user friendliness and (potential) benefits provided by integration with other Google products/services attributing to lack of explanation of such issues. However, with recent announcement of alliance with AK48, the most popular pop group in Japan today, Google+ is likely to outbreak at last in Japan. Already some general public seem to have started to join Google+.
Saturday, 26 November 2011
Vol.70 – After 1 Month of LinkedIn Japanese Service Announcement
As a follow-up article of the previous article Vol.69 – Requirements for LinkedIn to Popularize and Take Root in Japan, the author would like to provide some updates on how LinkedIn is perceived in Japan after the announcement of the start of Japanese service on October 20.
This is mostly based on some of the feedback she had when she gave a seminar she was asked to give by a NPO about how to start LinkedIn to a small group of Japanese people in the evening of November 25 in Osaka, Japan where she lives.
1. Who participated in the seminar?
The participants of the seminar were mostly small and mid-sized business owners who have already been using Twitter and Facebook in Japanese. They also have been blogging in Japanese using one of the leading blogging platforms in Japan (i.e. not WordPress and Blogger).
They were mostly from Osaka but to the author’s surprise there were a pair of people from the same company from eastern Japan, saying that they had a business meeting in Osaka. The author was informed that there were a few others from places like Tottori (Japan Sea Coastal area) who wanted to join as well but could not because they would have to take a day off to travel to Osaka.
2. Why did they decide to participate in the seminar?
It was because they were very much interested in what LinkedIn is and they strongly feel it would be beneficial in their business but they do not quite know what it is and how to start.
Actually the person who asked the author to give the seminar had opened up his LinkedIn account and filled his title but he was at a loss how to proceed further, which was the reason for the request to the author.
The author assumes that such situation mostly attributes to the fact that there has not been promotion (only to selected tech journalists) nor featured articles in media about LinkedIn targeting the mass audience of the Japanese people.
3. What are the possible hurdles of Japanese people starting LinkedIn?
In addition to no promotion nor featured articles by the media, the possible hurdles are as below.
1) Few people know how to switch to Japanese from English
There is a link button in the bottom right of the display to change the language; however, few people know about it. Even the author did not know about it until she was told by one of her LinkedIn friend in one of the group discussion. The organizer of the seminar said “mekara urokoga deta (did not know about it and was impressed with the information)” when the author made the demonstration of the language selection in the seminar.
In the case of Facebook and Twitter, the language selection is done automatically so most of us assume it is the same for LinkedIn but that is not the case. This fact needs to be communicated otherwise people would likely to think that the Japanese service announce was made but the service has not yet started.
2) The benefits of LinkedIn and basic features are not understood
Global social media/SNS and leveraging them in business (e.g. marketing and recruiting) has only started to spread among innovative companies and organizations in the last year or two in Japan.
This means that benefits of leveraging business SNS to business and why with explanation of some basic features needs to be explained with demonstration. Such demonstration would help people to understand the user interface of LinkedIn also.
3) Group discussions remain in English
User interface is now available in Japanese but currently group discussions are in English. Limited Japanese people have been involved in discussion before the start of the Japanese service attributing to language barrier (high level English communication skill is required to proactively participate in LnkedIn group discussion in addition to knowledge of the topic).
In the case of Facebook, it was mainly used by bilingual people to communicate with their English speaking friends and it was when many Japanese people without English communication skill started to open their Facebook account AND started to interact in Japanese after Facebook was introduced in media etc. that Facebook became popular among Japanese people.
This means that more Japanese people (not necessarily bilingual) joining LinkedIn and systems/environment in which they can interact in Japanese are some of the main requirements for LinkedIn to become popular in Japan.
3. The author’s final thoughts
In addition to the above hurdles, there are also social factors as mentioned in the previous article Vol.69 – Requirements for LinkedIn to Popularize and Take Root in Japan and other factors, and some people doubt that LinkedIn would become popular in Japan.
However, the environment for LinkedIn to become popular in Japan is gradually being developed. With the outbreak of Twitter in 2010, Japanese general public have ready to accept global social media. With the outbreak of Facebook in January 2011, Japanese general public have come to be comfortable in using their real names, when anonymity used to dominate in blogging/SNS world in Japan.
And use of social media (especially SNS such as Facebook) in business such as marketing and recruiting new graduates now has become one of the hottest topics in Japan. This is when with depressive Japanese economy and high yen, Japanese companies are seeking new business opportunities abroad meaning a motivator of leveraging global SNS specialized in business.
Resources:-
After 1 month of the LinkedIn’s announcement of Japanese service, some hurdles for Japanese general public starting LinkedIn started to become clear. This includes few people know how to switch to Japanese from English, the benefits of LinkedIn and basic features are not understood, and group discussions remain in English, in addition to lack of promotion and introduction in featured articles in media. Some people doubt whether LinkedIn will become popular in Japan; however, the author believes more Japanese people will start using it because they now are happy to accept global social media using real names and many Japanese companies are now planning to use social media in business.
This is mostly based on some of the feedback she had when she gave a seminar she was asked to give by a NPO about how to start LinkedIn to a small group of Japanese people in the evening of November 25 in Osaka, Japan where she lives.
1. Who participated in the seminar?
The participants of the seminar were mostly small and mid-sized business owners who have already been using Twitter and Facebook in Japanese. They also have been blogging in Japanese using one of the leading blogging platforms in Japan (i.e. not WordPress and Blogger).
They were mostly from Osaka but to the author’s surprise there were a pair of people from the same company from eastern Japan, saying that they had a business meeting in Osaka. The author was informed that there were a few others from places like Tottori (Japan Sea Coastal area) who wanted to join as well but could not because they would have to take a day off to travel to Osaka.
2. Why did they decide to participate in the seminar?
It was because they were very much interested in what LinkedIn is and they strongly feel it would be beneficial in their business but they do not quite know what it is and how to start.
Actually the person who asked the author to give the seminar had opened up his LinkedIn account and filled his title but he was at a loss how to proceed further, which was the reason for the request to the author.
The author assumes that such situation mostly attributes to the fact that there has not been promotion (only to selected tech journalists) nor featured articles in media about LinkedIn targeting the mass audience of the Japanese people.
3. What are the possible hurdles of Japanese people starting LinkedIn?
In addition to no promotion nor featured articles by the media, the possible hurdles are as below.
1) Few people know how to switch to Japanese from English
There is a link button in the bottom right of the display to change the language; however, few people know about it. Even the author did not know about it until she was told by one of her LinkedIn friend in one of the group discussion. The organizer of the seminar said “mekara urokoga deta (did not know about it and was impressed with the information)” when the author made the demonstration of the language selection in the seminar.
In the case of Facebook and Twitter, the language selection is done automatically so most of us assume it is the same for LinkedIn but that is not the case. This fact needs to be communicated otherwise people would likely to think that the Japanese service announce was made but the service has not yet started.
2) The benefits of LinkedIn and basic features are not understood
Global social media/SNS and leveraging them in business (e.g. marketing and recruiting) has only started to spread among innovative companies and organizations in the last year or two in Japan.
This means that benefits of leveraging business SNS to business and why with explanation of some basic features needs to be explained with demonstration. Such demonstration would help people to understand the user interface of LinkedIn also.
3) Group discussions remain in English
User interface is now available in Japanese but currently group discussions are in English. Limited Japanese people have been involved in discussion before the start of the Japanese service attributing to language barrier (high level English communication skill is required to proactively participate in LnkedIn group discussion in addition to knowledge of the topic).
In the case of Facebook, it was mainly used by bilingual people to communicate with their English speaking friends and it was when many Japanese people without English communication skill started to open their Facebook account AND started to interact in Japanese after Facebook was introduced in media etc. that Facebook became popular among Japanese people.
This means that more Japanese people (not necessarily bilingual) joining LinkedIn and systems/environment in which they can interact in Japanese are some of the main requirements for LinkedIn to become popular in Japan.
3. The author’s final thoughts
In addition to the above hurdles, there are also social factors as mentioned in the previous article Vol.69 – Requirements for LinkedIn to Popularize and Take Root in Japan and other factors, and some people doubt that LinkedIn would become popular in Japan.
However, the environment for LinkedIn to become popular in Japan is gradually being developed. With the outbreak of Twitter in 2010, Japanese general public have ready to accept global social media. With the outbreak of Facebook in January 2011, Japanese general public have come to be comfortable in using their real names, when anonymity used to dominate in blogging/SNS world in Japan.
And use of social media (especially SNS such as Facebook) in business such as marketing and recruiting new graduates now has become one of the hottest topics in Japan. This is when with depressive Japanese economy and high yen, Japanese companies are seeking new business opportunities abroad meaning a motivator of leveraging global SNS specialized in business.
Resources:-
After 1 month of the LinkedIn’s announcement of Japanese service, some hurdles for Japanese general public starting LinkedIn started to become clear. This includes few people know how to switch to Japanese from English, the benefits of LinkedIn and basic features are not understood, and group discussions remain in English, in addition to lack of promotion and introduction in featured articles in media. Some people doubt whether LinkedIn will become popular in Japan; however, the author believes more Japanese people will start using it because they now are happy to accept global social media using real names and many Japanese companies are now planning to use social media in business.
Saturday, 22 October 2011
Vol.69 – Requirements for LinkedIn to Popularize and Take Root in Japan
The author had said that LinkedIn is not yet so popular in Japan and one of the requirements for LinkedIn to become popular is localization in the previous article Vol.64 – Facebook and Twitter vs. LinkedIn and Google+ in Japan. The rumour that Japanese version will be rolled out in June immediately after a small office in Tokyo was set up had spread among Japanese online users but it did not come to reality then.
Earlier this month the author happened to start a LinkedIn discussion asking group members what they think are possible requirements for LinkedIn to become popular in Japan. There were quite a number of interesting comments including localization, i.e. implementing Japanese version.
And then on October 20, the announcement was made that LinkedIn is to enter Japan market, providing Japanese version, committing to engage in business in Japan in the long-term.
Japan is now LinkedIN
Now the Japanese version is available, the author would like to present some possible requirements for it to become popular in Japan.
1. Further localization
Language localization is the basic but not the only localization. Content and services also need to be localized, meeting local needs based on such things as manners and customs, job market, and work environment.
Such possible examples include content and services collaborating with “Hello Work”, the employment bureau initiated and managed by the Japanese government. This is a nationwide network of offices where people without jobs go and seek support in finding a job. The staff members consult and make utmost efforts to introduce a suitable job opportunity.
This might be what non-Japanese companies operating in Japan that post job opportunities in LinkedIn (and executive search agencies) would not like. However, Hello Work cannot be neglected in any discussions and/or initiatives in Japan’s job market, and the author feels that the job seekers who gain support from Hello Work and who leverage executive search firms are of different segments in the job market so both Hello Work and non-Japanese companies operating in Japan could co-exist.
2. Mobility of human resources
One primary characteristics of Japan’s job market is little mobility and limited people seeking job opportunities after they have joined a company. This mostly attributes to lifetime employment system, one of the main characteristics of traditional companies in Japan along with seniority system.
Under such systems, job hopping used to be extremely rare in Japan and for example even the author, who currently works for her second employer, never thought of changing her employer/career when she joined her first employer, a typical Japanese company that represents Japanese consumer electronics industry, in 1990s. It was the burst of the bubble economy around 1993 that such systems started to collapse to trigger growth of career-change market in Japan. This was further driven by some examples of success people working in non-Japanese companies operating in Japan who once started their career in Japanese traditional companies.
Having said that, career change is still the minority in Japan and mobility of human resources is still limited and therefore changing this situation is another critical requirement for LinkedIn to become popular in Japan. This is because one of the main uses of LinkedIn is discovering target human resources and opportunities, and first and upmost of such use is in recruiting. Of course, others include job seeking and finding business partners.
The author would like to add that although human resource mobility is still far behind in Japan, there are quite a few Japanese people working for Japanese companies who work globally and at least for such people LinkedIn could be an optimum online community for business networking.
3. More Japanese companies leverage social media in business
In general, work environment in many Japanese traditional companies does not encourage using social media compared to many western companies so changing this is another requirement for LinkedIn to become popular.
As mentioned in the previous article Vol.48 – 2011 Japan’s First Year of Social Media / SNS, 2011 is the first era of SNS (social media) in Japan so first Japanese companies need to start leveraging social media in their business.
It is only as recent as this year that some innovative Japanese companies such as Honda started leveraging Facebook in recruiting new graduates, as introduced in the previous article Vol.63 – Social Recruiting: Cases and Future of Recruiting in Japan. Also it is only from 2010 that some companies such as Fast Retailing (famous for UniQlo brand) started leveraging Facebook in their marketing.
Such companies are still minority in Japan, and even such companies still have not started using LinkedIn. Such companies first need to start using LinkedIn as innovators in this realm and more Japanese companies need to start leveraging social media in business.
4. Change in mindset of companies and individuals
#2 and #3 mentioned above cannot be fulfilled unless companies and individuals change their mindset.
They would need to be fully aware the power and benefit of effective use of social media. Companies need to set rules regarding privacy and use of social media and in work environment with such rules companies need to be comfortable disclosing their information online and be open to potential employees, business partners and customers.
And in the same work environment, individuals also need to be comfortable disclosing their information (work experience, education etc.) while securing their company information. This means individuals moving out from general preference of anonymity, which is critical in being a member of an online community of professionals.
What encourages companies and individuals change their mindset include introducing successful case studies. This could be of western countries but those of Japanese companies are far more convincing in Japan where lock-step mentality strongly prevails. Also, similarly to how (traditional) media played an important role making Facebook and Twitter to outbreak, exposure to (traditional) media is extremely effective in attracting awareness of the majority of the Japanese.
5. The author’s final thoughts
It is not only about LinkedIn that are the main possible requirements for LinkedIn to become popular in Japan and for that reason it is likely to take time and much efforts for LinkedIn to take root in Japan. The author feels that the change in the mindset of the companies and individuals is the biggest factor.
When localization in all aspects is complete, the key would be “promotions”. This requires LinkedIn evangelists, who are to strategically plan and implement such promotions similarly to any other marketing communication strategy. In doing so, benefits and points that differentiates LinkedIn from other social media for business use needs to be delivered.
Last but not least, social media is a tool or means to achieve something and LinkedIn is of effective business and marketing and to the author LinkedIn provides the best solution to solve business issues. For this reason, if the author were one of the evangelists, she would stress such things in core message and introduce ROI and outcome of leveraging LinkedIn when introducing successful cases.
Resources:-
After an office was set up in Tokyo in May, LinkedIn officially announced on October 20 that they will start providing Japanese version and to enter Japan market. Language localization is one but not only requirements for LinkedIn to become popular. Other possible requirements include localization of content and services, mobilization of human resources in job market and more Japanese companies leveraging social media, all of which require change in mindset of the companies and the individuals.
Earlier this month the author happened to start a LinkedIn discussion asking group members what they think are possible requirements for LinkedIn to become popular in Japan. There were quite a number of interesting comments including localization, i.e. implementing Japanese version.
And then on October 20, the announcement was made that LinkedIn is to enter Japan market, providing Japanese version, committing to engage in business in Japan in the long-term.
Japan is now LinkedIN
Now the Japanese version is available, the author would like to present some possible requirements for it to become popular in Japan.
1. Further localization
Language localization is the basic but not the only localization. Content and services also need to be localized, meeting local needs based on such things as manners and customs, job market, and work environment.
Such possible examples include content and services collaborating with “Hello Work”, the employment bureau initiated and managed by the Japanese government. This is a nationwide network of offices where people without jobs go and seek support in finding a job. The staff members consult and make utmost efforts to introduce a suitable job opportunity.
This might be what non-Japanese companies operating in Japan that post job opportunities in LinkedIn (and executive search agencies) would not like. However, Hello Work cannot be neglected in any discussions and/or initiatives in Japan’s job market, and the author feels that the job seekers who gain support from Hello Work and who leverage executive search firms are of different segments in the job market so both Hello Work and non-Japanese companies operating in Japan could co-exist.
2. Mobility of human resources
One primary characteristics of Japan’s job market is little mobility and limited people seeking job opportunities after they have joined a company. This mostly attributes to lifetime employment system, one of the main characteristics of traditional companies in Japan along with seniority system.
Under such systems, job hopping used to be extremely rare in Japan and for example even the author, who currently works for her second employer, never thought of changing her employer/career when she joined her first employer, a typical Japanese company that represents Japanese consumer electronics industry, in 1990s. It was the burst of the bubble economy around 1993 that such systems started to collapse to trigger growth of career-change market in Japan. This was further driven by some examples of success people working in non-Japanese companies operating in Japan who once started their career in Japanese traditional companies.
Having said that, career change is still the minority in Japan and mobility of human resources is still limited and therefore changing this situation is another critical requirement for LinkedIn to become popular in Japan. This is because one of the main uses of LinkedIn is discovering target human resources and opportunities, and first and upmost of such use is in recruiting. Of course, others include job seeking and finding business partners.
The author would like to add that although human resource mobility is still far behind in Japan, there are quite a few Japanese people working for Japanese companies who work globally and at least for such people LinkedIn could be an optimum online community for business networking.
3. More Japanese companies leverage social media in business
In general, work environment in many Japanese traditional companies does not encourage using social media compared to many western companies so changing this is another requirement for LinkedIn to become popular.
As mentioned in the previous article Vol.48 – 2011 Japan’s First Year of Social Media / SNS, 2011 is the first era of SNS (social media) in Japan so first Japanese companies need to start leveraging social media in their business.
It is only as recent as this year that some innovative Japanese companies such as Honda started leveraging Facebook in recruiting new graduates, as introduced in the previous article Vol.63 – Social Recruiting: Cases and Future of Recruiting in Japan. Also it is only from 2010 that some companies such as Fast Retailing (famous for UniQlo brand) started leveraging Facebook in their marketing.
Such companies are still minority in Japan, and even such companies still have not started using LinkedIn. Such companies first need to start using LinkedIn as innovators in this realm and more Japanese companies need to start leveraging social media in business.
4. Change in mindset of companies and individuals
#2 and #3 mentioned above cannot be fulfilled unless companies and individuals change their mindset.
They would need to be fully aware the power and benefit of effective use of social media. Companies need to set rules regarding privacy and use of social media and in work environment with such rules companies need to be comfortable disclosing their information online and be open to potential employees, business partners and customers.
And in the same work environment, individuals also need to be comfortable disclosing their information (work experience, education etc.) while securing their company information. This means individuals moving out from general preference of anonymity, which is critical in being a member of an online community of professionals.
What encourages companies and individuals change their mindset include introducing successful case studies. This could be of western countries but those of Japanese companies are far more convincing in Japan where lock-step mentality strongly prevails. Also, similarly to how (traditional) media played an important role making Facebook and Twitter to outbreak, exposure to (traditional) media is extremely effective in attracting awareness of the majority of the Japanese.
5. The author’s final thoughts
It is not only about LinkedIn that are the main possible requirements for LinkedIn to become popular in Japan and for that reason it is likely to take time and much efforts for LinkedIn to take root in Japan. The author feels that the change in the mindset of the companies and individuals is the biggest factor.
When localization in all aspects is complete, the key would be “promotions”. This requires LinkedIn evangelists, who are to strategically plan and implement such promotions similarly to any other marketing communication strategy. In doing so, benefits and points that differentiates LinkedIn from other social media for business use needs to be delivered.
Last but not least, social media is a tool or means to achieve something and LinkedIn is of effective business and marketing and to the author LinkedIn provides the best solution to solve business issues. For this reason, if the author were one of the evangelists, she would stress such things in core message and introduce ROI and outcome of leveraging LinkedIn when introducing successful cases.
Resources:-
After an office was set up in Tokyo in May, LinkedIn officially announced on October 20 that they will start providing Japanese version and to enter Japan market. Language localization is one but not only requirements for LinkedIn to become popular. Other possible requirements include localization of content and services, mobilization of human resources in job market and more Japanese companies leveraging social media, all of which require change in mindset of the companies and the individuals.
Saturday, 1 October 2011
Vol.68 – Social New Graduate Recruiting to Take Root in Japan?
The previous article Vol.51 – How Internet and Social Media is Changing Recruiting in Japan mentioned that a few Japanese companies started to leverage social media in their recruiting. And now from recent articles it is prominent that more companies are to start leveraging social media, primarily Facebook, in recruiting new graduates.
1. What is the background of more companies implementing social media in recruiting new graduates in Japan?
It is the difference in the environment of recruiting new graduates this year from previous years.
1) New rule of recruiting set by Japan Federation of Economic Organizations
In previous years companies could start recruiting new graduates who are to join them 18 months ahead, such as accepting applications and holding seminars introducing their company and opportunities from October 1. However, Japan Federation of Economic Organizations reviewed their Ethics Charter and set the rule that allow companies to start such recruiting activities after December 1 from this year.
Such review was made because companies have been moving up their recruiting schedule; 20 years ago they would start recruiting new graduates who are to join the company 10 – 12 months ahead. This usually means longer time for students forced to be engaged in job hunting, sacrificing studying.
The new rule allows companies to communicate to the general public. What the companies cannot do is open recruiting website/web pages targeting new graduates who are to start working from April 2013, hold recruiting seminars, and obtaining personal information for recruiting.
2) Social media becoming popular in Japan
As in previous articles such as Vol.48 – 2011 Japan’s First Year of Social Media / SNS social media such as Facebook and Twitter truly started to become popular this year. In such a situation, some innovative Japanese companies have been opening up their Facebook pages and starting to leverage social media in recruiting, as explained in previous articles including Vol.63 – Social Recruiting: Cases and Future of Recruiting in Japan.
2. How some leaders in recruiting industry in Japan are to adapt to the new rule?
They plan to adapt to the new rule by communicating to the general public new graduates. They plan to do so by hosting seminars with the objectives of motivating new graduates for job hunting. They also plan to leverage the Internet to achieve the same objective.
Similarly to companies, companies in recruiting industry also need to postpone opening website for new graduates who are to start working from April 2013 from October to December; therefore, they plan to enrich online information services regarding job hunting. For example, they plan to post movies free of charge to provide information regarding industry trends to the general public new graduates.
3. How are companies likely to communicate to the general public new graduates?
They most likely to leverage Facebook from October to communicate to the general public new graduates.
A HRM and recruiting consultant established a new company in September with the objective of supporting companies who would like to leverage Facebook in their social recruiting. As of September 29, 25 companies asked him to support their social recruiting. For this reason, the consultant assumed that many Japanese companies are to start opening up their Facebook Pages on October 1, which seems to be quite true.
4. Why Facebook Page is ideal in adapting to the new rule?
It is because Facebook users are asked to make registration using their real name. This means that unlike providing information on their website, companies will be able to analyze and understand what kind of new graduates have been accessing their Facebook Pages even if they do not collect personal information.
In addition, if managed appropriately, new graduates are likely to share information they find on Facebook Pages about the company, employees and what it is like working in the company, which is beneficial for companies managing Facebook Pages.
5. The author’s final thoughts
Both the companies and the new graduates would need to take actions immediately from December and for both of them October and November will an important phase, preparing and planning phase for official recruiting and job hunting from December 1. The success in recruiting and job hunting would attribute to strategic use of the Internet, especially social media, in October and November. This means increase in importance and necessity in social literacy.
Optimization of social media use leads optimization and efficiency in recruiting and job hunting. The companies would better understand their audience thus they would know who to target in recruiting. And new graduates would be able to better understand the company and their culture beforehand meaning minimization of mismatch.
Resources:-
A new rule of new graduate recruiting attributing to changes in environment is likely to drive social recruiting in Japan at last. The prominent trend is likely to be companies start opening up Facebook Pages from October 1. From this year, the success in recruiting and job hunting would attribute to strategic use of the Internet, especially social media, in October and November. This means importance and necessity in social literacy. Optimization of social media use leads optimization and efficiency in recruiting and job hunting. The companies would better understand their audience thus they would know who to target in recruiting. And new graduates would be able to better understand the company and their culture beforehand meaning minimization of mismatch.
1. What is the background of more companies implementing social media in recruiting new graduates in Japan?
It is the difference in the environment of recruiting new graduates this year from previous years.
1) New rule of recruiting set by Japan Federation of Economic Organizations
In previous years companies could start recruiting new graduates who are to join them 18 months ahead, such as accepting applications and holding seminars introducing their company and opportunities from October 1. However, Japan Federation of Economic Organizations reviewed their Ethics Charter and set the rule that allow companies to start such recruiting activities after December 1 from this year.
Such review was made because companies have been moving up their recruiting schedule; 20 years ago they would start recruiting new graduates who are to join the company 10 – 12 months ahead. This usually means longer time for students forced to be engaged in job hunting, sacrificing studying.
The new rule allows companies to communicate to the general public. What the companies cannot do is open recruiting website/web pages targeting new graduates who are to start working from April 2013, hold recruiting seminars, and obtaining personal information for recruiting.
2) Social media becoming popular in Japan
As in previous articles such as Vol.48 – 2011 Japan’s First Year of Social Media / SNS social media such as Facebook and Twitter truly started to become popular this year. In such a situation, some innovative Japanese companies have been opening up their Facebook pages and starting to leverage social media in recruiting, as explained in previous articles including Vol.63 – Social Recruiting: Cases and Future of Recruiting in Japan.
2. How some leaders in recruiting industry in Japan are to adapt to the new rule?
They plan to adapt to the new rule by communicating to the general public new graduates. They plan to do so by hosting seminars with the objectives of motivating new graduates for job hunting. They also plan to leverage the Internet to achieve the same objective.
Similarly to companies, companies in recruiting industry also need to postpone opening website for new graduates who are to start working from April 2013 from October to December; therefore, they plan to enrich online information services regarding job hunting. For example, they plan to post movies free of charge to provide information regarding industry trends to the general public new graduates.
3. How are companies likely to communicate to the general public new graduates?
They most likely to leverage Facebook from October to communicate to the general public new graduates.
A HRM and recruiting consultant established a new company in September with the objective of supporting companies who would like to leverage Facebook in their social recruiting. As of September 29, 25 companies asked him to support their social recruiting. For this reason, the consultant assumed that many Japanese companies are to start opening up their Facebook Pages on October 1, which seems to be quite true.
4. Why Facebook Page is ideal in adapting to the new rule?
It is because Facebook users are asked to make registration using their real name. This means that unlike providing information on their website, companies will be able to analyze and understand what kind of new graduates have been accessing their Facebook Pages even if they do not collect personal information.
In addition, if managed appropriately, new graduates are likely to share information they find on Facebook Pages about the company, employees and what it is like working in the company, which is beneficial for companies managing Facebook Pages.
5. The author’s final thoughts
Both the companies and the new graduates would need to take actions immediately from December and for both of them October and November will an important phase, preparing and planning phase for official recruiting and job hunting from December 1. The success in recruiting and job hunting would attribute to strategic use of the Internet, especially social media, in October and November. This means increase in importance and necessity in social literacy.
Optimization of social media use leads optimization and efficiency in recruiting and job hunting. The companies would better understand their audience thus they would know who to target in recruiting. And new graduates would be able to better understand the company and their culture beforehand meaning minimization of mismatch.
Resources:-
A new rule of new graduate recruiting attributing to changes in environment is likely to drive social recruiting in Japan at last. The prominent trend is likely to be companies start opening up Facebook Pages from October 1. From this year, the success in recruiting and job hunting would attribute to strategic use of the Internet, especially social media, in October and November. This means importance and necessity in social literacy. Optimization of social media use leads optimization and efficiency in recruiting and job hunting. The companies would better understand their audience thus they would know who to target in recruiting. And new graduates would be able to better understand the company and their culture beforehand meaning minimization of mismatch.
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