This article is the continuation of the discussion on social media 2010 trend and 2011 outlook for Japan, focusing on similarities and differences of those of rest of the world mentioned in recent blog articles, to conclude 2010, following Vol.45 – 2011 Trend of Social Media: Worldwide and Japan (Part 1).
4. Mobile grows, worldwide including Japan
Mobile was the trend predicted for 2010 and also for 2011 as well, and it is the same for Japan, too. Mobile phones had been extremely popular in Japan since 1997 when Japan specific mobile platform and services called I-mode started, and so many people have been using mobile phone on trains etc. And, 2010 marked another milestone in Japan mobile market; launch and outbreak of feature phones such as iPhones and Android. This was one of the reasons for the Twitter outbreak in Japan in 2010, as mentioned in the previous article Vol.42 – How to Leverage Twitter to Reach and Engage Glocal Audience .
Early adopters started to use iPhones in 2009, and in latter 2010 more feature phones including Android and Windows mobile have been launched. (Blackberry is also available but has not become popular like western countries, probably because it has not been sufficiently tailored to meet Japan local needs). Today advertising (online, TVCF, print) of iPhone and Android can be seen almost everyday, anywhere. Also carriers have been developing variety of value package products, such as combination of smart phone, monthly phone call cost and internet access fee, and portable wireless LAN system, thus now is a good timing to switch from normal mobile phone to smart phone. Of course, there have also been many applications coming out. As a result, according to recent statistics reported by Nikkei.net (online news portal specialized in business and economy) mobile sales of smart phone has reached as much as 50%. The percentage is expected to continue to rise in 2011.
5. Social gaming grows, worldwide including Japan
Social gaming was another predicted trend for 2010 worldwide, which is likely to be the same in 2011 as well. This is the same for Japan, one of the countries that have been leading gaming industry.
The main players of social gaming industry, worldwide including Japan, are usually considered to be global companies such as Sony, Microsoft and Nintendo, and global SNS such as Facebook are also becoming hot in the industry. The recent rapid growth of Zynga is a good example. And, there may well be more players entering the industry, further activating the market and industry.
Some Japan local web content providers such as Gree http://gree.jp/ and DeNa http://www.dena.jp/, have been providing SNS platform with which members can enjoy gaming, which have become very popular and the popularity in Japan is likely to continue in 2011 as well. Such companies are not well known outside Japan but the situation may change in 2011. In autumn 2010 DeNA acquired a U.S. company in order to start and grow their business internationally, which was reported by Forbes as “a company you need to know in 2010”.
6. Use of social media in business increases, worldwide including Japan, although Japan may be behind in the speed and degree of the increase
Use of social media in marketing and business seem to have taken root in western countries, including among Fortune 500 companies, and some (not all) Japanese companies and business owners are following such trend. With the outbreak of Twitter in 2010, Japanese IT companies such as Softbak http://mb.softbank.jp/en/ started to use Twitter as an information sharing platform among employees (like Yammer https://www.yammer.com/ is used in some western companies). There also have been some case studies introduced in which Japanese companies started to leverage Twitter in business and marketing. There are a few Japanese people specialized in social media, providing know-how and information about leveraging social media in business.
Organizations and/or individuals that are not following such a trend seem to be Japanese traditional companies and conservative people. RSS is usually available in the company websites of such Japanese traditional companies but their Twitter account and Facebook fan pages are rarely found. Some possible reason include the fact that although Internet is well used in recruiting, PR and marketing, such things as finding talent and business partners online is not yet a well accepted concept in Japan, and conservative organizations and individuals still think social media is a fad.
7. Social Media metrics and ROI become more crucial issue worldwide including Japan, although Japan may be behind in this issue
When social media is used in business and marketing, measurement of its success, i.e. metrics and ROI, becomes crucial, and thus there have been some articles on social media measurement ROI in the U.S. It goes without saying that this issue is another area that is likely to become more important and hot as many people say, although as Ferriss (2010) mentions, large companies still may well not be able to define appropriate metrics. Having wrote her MBA thesis on “Concept and Maximization of Web Equity) in 2006, the author strongly feels that it would take time for framework and standard criteria of this issue (or of measurement/valuation of website) to be established similarly to measurement and valuation of company and brand.
Social media site metrics and ROI issue have not yet been hot in Japan, however. This may be because the use of social media in business and marketing is behind western countries so there is no need to measure ROI in Japan, Japan is simply behind the west in this realm (similarly to overall web/IT marketing), and/or lacks in talent who has knowledge and expertise in web/Internet, marketing and finance. Whatever the reason may be, Japan has not yet reached the stage to discuss and define measure success and ROI of social media.
References:-
Ferriss, Tim (2010) 4 Social Media Marketing Predictions for 2011
http://mashable.com/2010/12/28/social-media-marketing-predictions/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+Mashable+%28Mashable%29
Jonas, Trevor (2010) 5 Predictions for Social Media in 2011
http://socialmediatoday.com/trevorjonas/253235/5-predictions-social-media-2011?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=twitter&utm_campaign=Social+Media+Today+%28all+posts%29&utm_content=Twitter
Thomas, Jesse (2010) 6 Predictions for Digital Advertising in 2011
http://mashable.com/2010/12/21/advertising-industry/
White, Charlie (2010) 7 predictions for the Gaming Industry in 2011
http://mashable.com/2010/12/26/gaming-industry-predictions-2010/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+Mashable+%28Mashable%29#
Wednesday, 29 December 2010
Saturday, 25 December 2010
Vol.45 – 2011 Trend of Social Media: Worldwide and Japan (Part 1)
To conclude 2010, the author would like to discuss social media 2010 trend and 2011 outlook for Japan, comparing to worldwide trends of 2011 (mostly of the U.S.) mentioned in recent blog articles by Jonas and Thomas (2010).
1. Japan local SNS continue to prevail while major global SNS gets popular in Japan
International SNS originated in the U.S. such as MySpace http://www.myspace.com/, Facebook http://www.facebook.com/ and LinkedIn http://www.linkedin.com/ have not sufficiently penetrated Japan online market, where Japan local SNS such as mixi http://mixi.jp/ have been extremely popular and Twitter broke out in early 2010 when it won attention from mass media.
However, Facebook, whose Japanese version became available in May 18 2008 seems to taken root among early adaptors, starting to spread among other people as well as well in 2010. As a regular user of Facebook, the author noticed that more Japanese business owners and general public as well as social media and web marketing experts joined Facebook to benefit from in their business (making alliances) and private (keeping in touch with friends).
The author met a few Japanese web marketers online who blog in Japanese about how to leveraging Facebook in business and marketing. The author herself advised and supported a Japanese online business owner engaged in international trade to leverage global social media such as Twitter and Facebook in 2010, who at first was skeptical but now is a great fan of Facebook. Some of her friends (not necessarily web marketers) have been switching from Japan local SNS to Facebook. Therefore, it is possible that Facebook becomes hot in 2011 in Japan like Twitter became hot in 2010 in Japan. Being the largest SNS worldwide, its potential to become a leader in Japan is large; it may well be simply about the timing and marketing. The fact that Mark Zuckerberg, the Facebook founder and CEO was chosen as the hottest person in 2010 by Times, is a huge positive factor for Facebook to become hot in Japan in 2011.
LinkedIn is a leading SNS for professionals worldwide but it is hardly used among Japanese people, and whether it becomes popular is a question under current situation. LinkedIn was the first SNS that the author started and it took a year for her to meet a Japanese people, especially those currently located in Japan. Possible primary reason is the language (it is unrealistic to join and benefit from LinkedIn community through group discussion and Q&A function without English communication skill as well as expertise and specialties). Having said that, the author was recently told from a Japanese online friend (the person mentioned above, who became a Facebook fan) that he found a Japanese how-to book about LinkedIn and is reading it, determined to master LinkedIn next. If Japanese version is launched (currently profile can be made in Japanese but it cannot be bilingual, English and Japanese), if discussions can be done in Japanese, and if how-to-use know how tools targeting Japanese become available, LinkedIn may also start to take off in Japan.
2. Blogging and Micro-blogging continue to grow, worldwide and Japan
Blogging has been popular in Japan similarly to other countries but blogging environment and blogosphere in Japan are rather unique, and this situation seems to remain the same in 2011. Japan local blog platform such as Ameblo http://ameblo.jp/ being popular instead of global ones of Wordpress http://wordpress.org/ and Blogger http://www.blogger.com/ that also allows blogging in Japanese. Blogging has been popular among authorities (TV starts, politicians) and individuals of general public but company blogs are not popular. Company blogs available in Japan are mostly of Japan office of the U.S. IT companies such as IBM and Dell and company blogs of Japanese traditional companies become popular in 2011 is a question.
Twitter http://twitter.com/, whose Japanese version became available in April 2008, had only been used by early adopters until 2009 but when Twitter and its related information such as smart phone application was introduced by media in February it became extremely hot and drastically became popular. Authorities including politicians (e.g. ex-Prime Minister Mr. Hatayama and ex-Minister of Environment Ms. Koike), TV starts and celebrities as well as social media/web marketing experts and general public now enjoy tweeting, as mentioned in the previous article Vol.42 – How to Leverage Twitter to Reach and Engage Glocal Audience. Twitter became so popular that many new Japanese words originated from Twitter and tweeting, one of which was nominated as a “popular word of the year”. Some Japanese companies developed interesting marketing models leveraging Twitter, and new Twitter model is a predicted worldwide trend for 2011. Twitter’s popularity and development of new marketing model likely to continue in 2011, worldwide including Japan.
3. Movies/videos grows and interactive TV news may become hot, worldwide and Japan
Further growth in online video, short and long content, is another trend worldwide including Japan. YouTube http://www.youtube.com/ has been very popular worldwide including Japan and this trend is likely to continue in 2011. Ustream http://www.ustream.tv/ is also drawing attention of some Japanese early adopters when a Japan local movie platform/portal site called Gyao http://gyao.yahoo.co.jp/ that has been providing videos of movies/cinemas for over 5 years (originally by Japan local IT company, which sold the platform to Yahoo! Japan).
The fact that such online contents and services are growing implies that needs/market of interactive TV is present. And with recent news about interactive TV from such companies like Google, there may well be a big progress in interactive TV technologies and interactive TV becomes a big topic in 2011.
The author would like to continue the discussion in the next article.
References:-
Jonas, Trevor (2010) 5 Predictions for Social Media in 2011
http://socialmediatoday.com/trevorjonas/253235/5-predictions-social-media-2011?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=twitter&utm_campaign=Social+Media+Today+%28all+posts%29&utm_content=Twitter
Thomas, Jesse (2010) 6 Predictions for Digital Advertising in 2011
http://mashable.com/2010/12/21/advertising-industry/
1. Japan local SNS continue to prevail while major global SNS gets popular in Japan
International SNS originated in the U.S. such as MySpace http://www.myspace.com/, Facebook http://www.facebook.com/ and LinkedIn http://www.linkedin.com/ have not sufficiently penetrated Japan online market, where Japan local SNS such as mixi http://mixi.jp/ have been extremely popular and Twitter broke out in early 2010 when it won attention from mass media.
However, Facebook, whose Japanese version became available in May 18 2008 seems to taken root among early adaptors, starting to spread among other people as well as well in 2010. As a regular user of Facebook, the author noticed that more Japanese business owners and general public as well as social media and web marketing experts joined Facebook to benefit from in their business (making alliances) and private (keeping in touch with friends).
The author met a few Japanese web marketers online who blog in Japanese about how to leveraging Facebook in business and marketing. The author herself advised and supported a Japanese online business owner engaged in international trade to leverage global social media such as Twitter and Facebook in 2010, who at first was skeptical but now is a great fan of Facebook. Some of her friends (not necessarily web marketers) have been switching from Japan local SNS to Facebook. Therefore, it is possible that Facebook becomes hot in 2011 in Japan like Twitter became hot in 2010 in Japan. Being the largest SNS worldwide, its potential to become a leader in Japan is large; it may well be simply about the timing and marketing. The fact that Mark Zuckerberg, the Facebook founder and CEO was chosen as the hottest person in 2010 by Times, is a huge positive factor for Facebook to become hot in Japan in 2011.
LinkedIn is a leading SNS for professionals worldwide but it is hardly used among Japanese people, and whether it becomes popular is a question under current situation. LinkedIn was the first SNS that the author started and it took a year for her to meet a Japanese people, especially those currently located in Japan. Possible primary reason is the language (it is unrealistic to join and benefit from LinkedIn community through group discussion and Q&A function without English communication skill as well as expertise and specialties). Having said that, the author was recently told from a Japanese online friend (the person mentioned above, who became a Facebook fan) that he found a Japanese how-to book about LinkedIn and is reading it, determined to master LinkedIn next. If Japanese version is launched (currently profile can be made in Japanese but it cannot be bilingual, English and Japanese), if discussions can be done in Japanese, and if how-to-use know how tools targeting Japanese become available, LinkedIn may also start to take off in Japan.
2. Blogging and Micro-blogging continue to grow, worldwide and Japan
Blogging has been popular in Japan similarly to other countries but blogging environment and blogosphere in Japan are rather unique, and this situation seems to remain the same in 2011. Japan local blog platform such as Ameblo http://ameblo.jp/ being popular instead of global ones of Wordpress http://wordpress.org/ and Blogger http://www.blogger.com/ that also allows blogging in Japanese. Blogging has been popular among authorities (TV starts, politicians) and individuals of general public but company blogs are not popular. Company blogs available in Japan are mostly of Japan office of the U.S. IT companies such as IBM and Dell and company blogs of Japanese traditional companies become popular in 2011 is a question.
Twitter http://twitter.com/, whose Japanese version became available in April 2008, had only been used by early adopters until 2009 but when Twitter and its related information such as smart phone application was introduced by media in February it became extremely hot and drastically became popular. Authorities including politicians (e.g. ex-Prime Minister Mr. Hatayama and ex-Minister of Environment Ms. Koike), TV starts and celebrities as well as social media/web marketing experts and general public now enjoy tweeting, as mentioned in the previous article Vol.42 – How to Leverage Twitter to Reach and Engage Glocal Audience. Twitter became so popular that many new Japanese words originated from Twitter and tweeting, one of which was nominated as a “popular word of the year”. Some Japanese companies developed interesting marketing models leveraging Twitter, and new Twitter model is a predicted worldwide trend for 2011. Twitter’s popularity and development of new marketing model likely to continue in 2011, worldwide including Japan.
3. Movies/videos grows and interactive TV news may become hot, worldwide and Japan
Further growth in online video, short and long content, is another trend worldwide including Japan. YouTube http://www.youtube.com/ has been very popular worldwide including Japan and this trend is likely to continue in 2011. Ustream http://www.ustream.tv/ is also drawing attention of some Japanese early adopters when a Japan local movie platform/portal site called Gyao http://gyao.yahoo.co.jp/ that has been providing videos of movies/cinemas for over 5 years (originally by Japan local IT company, which sold the platform to Yahoo! Japan).
The fact that such online contents and services are growing implies that needs/market of interactive TV is present. And with recent news about interactive TV from such companies like Google, there may well be a big progress in interactive TV technologies and interactive TV becomes a big topic in 2011.
The author would like to continue the discussion in the next article.
References:-
Jonas, Trevor (2010) 5 Predictions for Social Media in 2011
http://socialmediatoday.com/trevorjonas/253235/5-predictions-social-media-2011?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=twitter&utm_campaign=Social+Media+Today+%28all+posts%29&utm_content=Twitter
Thomas, Jesse (2010) 6 Predictions for Digital Advertising in 2011
http://mashable.com/2010/12/21/advertising-industry/
Saturday, 13 November 2010
Vol.44 – Are Requirements for Reaching and Engaging International Audience Special?
The previous articles through Vol.40-42 were about methodologies of effectively reaching and engaging global and local audience, based on the live experience of the author, who was mentioned in a guest blog article by Kathy Meyer (@2cre8 on Twitter) Top 10 Twitter Revelations http://www.thetop10blog.com/top-10-twitter-revelations/ as someone on Twitter who tweets in English and in her native language.
The topic of this article is requirements for effectively reaching and engaging glocal audience, i.e. local and global (international) audience.
1. Are requirements for reaching and engaging international audience different from those of local audience?
There might be additional requirements for effectively reaching and engaging international audience such as English, inter-cultural communication skill and global perspective; however, the essence of requirements are the same for reaching and engaging international and local audience.
The author would like to explain this by first presenting requirements of local audience and then additional requirements specific of international audiences, explaining how the essence of the latter is the same as that of the former.
2. Why the requirements are the same in essence?
1) Requirements for reaching and engaging local audience
Requirements for reaching and engaging audience in general, normally local unless specified, can be concluded as the following.
- Customer focused
- Active participation to the community, providing value
This is because as mentioned in many blog articles on this topic, concrete tips and methodologies of reach and engagement in social media world can be summarized as below, which are all about the above two points.
(1) Completed bio
Complete a bio with appropriate information so that people would know who, what kind of contents/updates are to be tweeted and posted etc. This is about opening the account from customer-focused way. Also, if people would not now such things, that person would not be able to actively participate in the community.
(2) Regular and appropriate frequency tweets and updates
It is often mentioned based on statistics result that majority of people open up twitter account but do not tweet at all or much, which is inactive participation to the community and providing no value. Not many people are posting sufficient updates in other social media such as Facebook meaning only a proportion of the community members are active.
Regarding the frequency of the tweets on Twitter, it should not be too frequent so that Tine Line of your followers will be filled only with your tweet. It is the same for Facebook and all other social media. This is about consideration to the followers/friends of social media and contributing to the community in an appropriate way.
(3) Content of value
This is whether tweet/post updates are something that gives value to the followers/friends. Sadly it is a reality that there are tweets and updates that are not understandable to others and/or have no meaning to others except the person who tweeted/posted the update.
Also, there are public tweets and updates targeting to only a specific follower that that all others would not understand at all or would not be interested in, and therefore have no value to others. This is not of customer-focus and does not provide value to the community. Such tweets and updates are ideally sent as DM and/or private message to the target.
(4) Mentioning and promoting someone
It goes without saying that promoting and mentioning your followers/friends is active contribution, giving value to the community, in a customer-focus manner. Everyone would be thankful if he/she is mentioned and being promoted.
(5) Thanking and responding
And everyone would agree that saying thank you and/or replying to someone when he/she helps someone, retweets someone’s tweet, promotes someone and mentions someone is of customer-focus and is active participation in the community.
(6) Being sincere and ethical
Unfortunately there seems to be some insincere and unethical behaviours in online communities. Such include pitching, unfollowing someone as soon as that person starts to follow, abusing etc.
These are not of customer-focus and not contributing to the community, or rather, insincerely and unethical. This means that the reverse is necessary requirements although it may not be sufficient for customer-focused and contribution to the community.
2) Additional requirements for reaching and engaging international audience
The following are the primary additional requirements for reaching and engaging international audience. These are in essence about customer-focus and active contribution to the community providing value.
(1) English communication skill
English is a kind of standard language in international world including online community so English communication skill is a requirement for reaching and engaging audience around the globe. Online translation services are available but it is a reality that not being able to communicate in English is a big hurdle in reaching and engaging international audience through interactive communication.
People are unlikely to follow unless the bio and/or tweets are in the language they understand because it is inconvenient to translate every tweets and updates. What is more, quality of the translation is not yet so high. At least that is the frank evaluation when the author reads some English and Japanese translations; many of them are not smooth grammatically. In such a situation, the nuance and style of the tweet and updates would be not delivered sufficiently if it is the translation.
If this requirement is interpreted as providing information in the language that people understand, this is all about customer-focus. Also, if it is interpreted as a way of providing information with meaning because information in the language not understandable is meaningless, this is about providing information of value.
(2) Inter-cultural communication skills / global perspective
People would also agree that this is another requirement for reaching and engaging international audience. This can be paraphrased as philosophy and mindset of Diversity and Inclusion, focusing on accepting and respecting differences attributing too difference in nationality, ethnicity, society and culture.
This is also about customer-focus and providing value to the community. Such philosophy and mindset, it is impossible to select content that has value to the international community in a customer-focus manner, nor to tweet and update in a way that has value to global and/or local audience. Also without such philosophy and mindset, it is impossible to reply appropriately to people of different background attributing especially to different nationality, ethnicity, location, or even gender, generation etc. which can be difference of local audience.
The topic of this article is requirements for effectively reaching and engaging glocal audience, i.e. local and global (international) audience.
1. Are requirements for reaching and engaging international audience different from those of local audience?
There might be additional requirements for effectively reaching and engaging international audience such as English, inter-cultural communication skill and global perspective; however, the essence of requirements are the same for reaching and engaging international and local audience.
The author would like to explain this by first presenting requirements of local audience and then additional requirements specific of international audiences, explaining how the essence of the latter is the same as that of the former.
2. Why the requirements are the same in essence?
1) Requirements for reaching and engaging local audience
Requirements for reaching and engaging audience in general, normally local unless specified, can be concluded as the following.
- Customer focused
- Active participation to the community, providing value
This is because as mentioned in many blog articles on this topic, concrete tips and methodologies of reach and engagement in social media world can be summarized as below, which are all about the above two points.
(1) Completed bio
Complete a bio with appropriate information so that people would know who, what kind of contents/updates are to be tweeted and posted etc. This is about opening the account from customer-focused way. Also, if people would not now such things, that person would not be able to actively participate in the community.
(2) Regular and appropriate frequency tweets and updates
It is often mentioned based on statistics result that majority of people open up twitter account but do not tweet at all or much, which is inactive participation to the community and providing no value. Not many people are posting sufficient updates in other social media such as Facebook meaning only a proportion of the community members are active.
Regarding the frequency of the tweets on Twitter, it should not be too frequent so that Tine Line of your followers will be filled only with your tweet. It is the same for Facebook and all other social media. This is about consideration to the followers/friends of social media and contributing to the community in an appropriate way.
(3) Content of value
This is whether tweet/post updates are something that gives value to the followers/friends. Sadly it is a reality that there are tweets and updates that are not understandable to others and/or have no meaning to others except the person who tweeted/posted the update.
Also, there are public tweets and updates targeting to only a specific follower that that all others would not understand at all or would not be interested in, and therefore have no value to others. This is not of customer-focus and does not provide value to the community. Such tweets and updates are ideally sent as DM and/or private message to the target.
(4) Mentioning and promoting someone
It goes without saying that promoting and mentioning your followers/friends is active contribution, giving value to the community, in a customer-focus manner. Everyone would be thankful if he/she is mentioned and being promoted.
(5) Thanking and responding
And everyone would agree that saying thank you and/or replying to someone when he/she helps someone, retweets someone’s tweet, promotes someone and mentions someone is of customer-focus and is active participation in the community.
(6) Being sincere and ethical
Unfortunately there seems to be some insincere and unethical behaviours in online communities. Such include pitching, unfollowing someone as soon as that person starts to follow, abusing etc.
These are not of customer-focus and not contributing to the community, or rather, insincerely and unethical. This means that the reverse is necessary requirements although it may not be sufficient for customer-focused and contribution to the community.
Authenticity is also usually included in requirements for engagement. This is also related to sincerity and ethics.
2) Additional requirements for reaching and engaging international audience
The following are the primary additional requirements for reaching and engaging international audience. These are in essence about customer-focus and active contribution to the community providing value.
(1) English communication skill
English is a kind of standard language in international world including online community so English communication skill is a requirement for reaching and engaging audience around the globe. Online translation services are available but it is a reality that not being able to communicate in English is a big hurdle in reaching and engaging international audience through interactive communication.
People are unlikely to follow unless the bio and/or tweets are in the language they understand because it is inconvenient to translate every tweets and updates. What is more, quality of the translation is not yet so high. At least that is the frank evaluation when the author reads some English and Japanese translations; many of them are not smooth grammatically. In such a situation, the nuance and style of the tweet and updates would be not delivered sufficiently if it is the translation.
If this requirement is interpreted as providing information in the language that people understand, this is all about customer-focus. Also, if it is interpreted as a way of providing information with meaning because information in the language not understandable is meaningless, this is about providing information of value.
(2) Inter-cultural communication skills / global perspective
People would also agree that this is another requirement for reaching and engaging international audience. This can be paraphrased as philosophy and mindset of Diversity and Inclusion, focusing on accepting and respecting differences attributing too difference in nationality, ethnicity, society and culture.
This is also about customer-focus and providing value to the community. Such philosophy and mindset, it is impossible to select content that has value to the international community in a customer-focus manner, nor to tweet and update in a way that has value to global and/or local audience. Also without such philosophy and mindset, it is impossible to reply appropriately to people of different background attributing especially to different nationality, ethnicity, location, or even gender, generation etc. which can be difference of local audience.
Saturday, 30 October 2010
Vol.43 – How to Leverage Facebook to Reach and Engage Glocal Audience
The previous article Vol.42 – How to Leverage Twitter to Reach and Engage Glocal Audience was about effectively reaching and engaging global and local (glocal) audience and managing online reputation for business success leveraging Twitter. The article was based on the live experience of the author, who was recently mentioned in a guest blog article by Kathy Meyer (@2cre8 on Twitter) Top 10 Twitter Revelations as someone on Twitter who tweets in English and in her native language.
The focus of this article is Facebook, especially on the difference from Twitter. This article is also based on the live experience of the author.
1. Create an account
Unlike Twitter, Facebook does not allow a person to create multiple accounts, so a single account needs to be created for both global and local audience. In doing so following points need to be carefully considered after self branding/identity concept is established.
1) Bio content and language
Unlike Twitter with multiple accounts meaning bio can be created separately in different languages, only one bio can be created for Facebook, so the content and language need to target both global and local audience. There are three possible options.
(1) Local language bio
This is probably the most ineffective because this is the same option as targeting local audience and would not attract global audience because they would believe the target is local audience.
Possible solution in choosing this option is mentioning such things as English speaking friends are welcome in English at the end of the bio.
(2) Bilingual bio
Since Facebook allows us to create longer bio than Twitter, it is possible to create bilingual bio. As effective targeting, the content of the bio in each language is better if tailored to meet the needs of each customer segment of the language (English and local language). Which language comes first depends on the expected volume of the customer segment (English/global and local).
Bilingual bio is good to cover both global and local audience but with restriction of the total length of the bio the content volume would be extremely restricted. As a result the author did not choose this option, and she has not yet met online friends with bilingual bio although she has bilingual friends.
(3) English bio
If the main target is global audience and/or if local audience is expected to understand some English, English bio is acceptable. Such things as the fact that local language speaking friends are welcome could be added at the end in the local language.
The author chose this option and then filled basic information in English and Japanese because the main objectives of starting Facebook (when Facebook was still not so popular in Japan) included global networking, getting back in touch with her friends from the U.K. and AIESEC, and her Japanese friends from university and AIESEC were mostly bilingual. In choosing this option she conveyed the message that she is Japanese but her main objective of leveraging Facebook is networking and sharing information with global audience, not only local audience.
2. Leverage multiple languages with one account
Managing one account leveraging multiple languages targeting both global and local audience is probably the toughest challenge and issue in leveraging Facebook to reach and engage glocal audience. However, it is not impossible.
1) Choose and use the language for each interaction and updates
Choosing which language to use depends on the target and content of the interaction and updates.
(1) Interaction (sending message and writing on walls of friends)
In this kind of case, apply one-to-one marketing concept and use the language of the target, i.e. the language used by the recipient of the message or by the owner of the wall. If it is English native speaker and/or global audience use English, and if it is local language speaker use the local language.
(2) Updates
This is case by case, depending on the content and target of the update, based on targeting. If the update is of something global targeting global audience, it would be in English. If the update is of something local targeting local audience, it would be in local language. This kind of mixture of language is no problem but appropriate as long as the content is of value to each audience based on appropriate targeting.
2) Bilingual update is a solution in some updates
In some cases when the content is of glocal bilingual update might be better, rationale and effective because compared to Twitter longer updates are possible and less frequent updates are usually made on Facebook, and the introduction/lead part of the link is shown. The author came up with this methodology and now utilizes it quite often, which seems to be working well and effective.
This methodology would deliver the message that the content is targeting glocal audience and that the message is delivered equally and fairly to both global and local audience.
(1) Update without a link
If the update is of glocal without a link (e.g. busy so inactive, attended global meeting), it can a bilingual update instead of two updates in different languages of the same content. This methodology seems to be used in many global companies in sending an e-mail to inform important messages and facts to employees.
(2) Update with a link
The fact that the introduction/lead part of the link is shown in Facebook can be leveraged when the update includes a link, such as sharing a link.
For example, if it is sharing a link in English of information about social media that Japanese people (especially social media experts like many of the author’s friends) might also be interested in, update can be a brief explanation and the author’s thoughts about the link in Japanese then the author’s thoughts in English with the link at the end.
The same concept and methodology can be applied when sharing the link of a new blog written by the author. If it is the English blog posts the author adopts the same methodology as mentioned above. If it is the Japanese blog posts based on her recent experiences, she first writes updates in English with sufficient explanation and background of the link then extremely brief Japanese update, with the link at the end.
The above methodologies seem to be one of the most rationale and effective ways to deliver maximum value and information with minimum volume of updates, with smooth flow and navigation to the link.
3. The author’s final thoughts
There is no one-fits-for-all solution to effectively reaching and engaging glocal audience leveraging multi-languages. Concrete methodology needs to be developed leveraging the characteristics of each social media vehicles, based on basics of marketing such as concept making, customer segmentation, positioning and targeting. Vital requirements in successful reach and engagement include constant yet appropriate frequency updates of content that delivers value to target audience, being social for engagement with the audience, all with customer-focused philosophy.
The focus of this article is Facebook, especially on the difference from Twitter. This article is also based on the live experience of the author.
1. Create an account
Unlike Twitter, Facebook does not allow a person to create multiple accounts, so a single account needs to be created for both global and local audience. In doing so following points need to be carefully considered after self branding/identity concept is established.
1) Bio content and language
Unlike Twitter with multiple accounts meaning bio can be created separately in different languages, only one bio can be created for Facebook, so the content and language need to target both global and local audience. There are three possible options.
(1) Local language bio
This is probably the most ineffective because this is the same option as targeting local audience and would not attract global audience because they would believe the target is local audience.
Possible solution in choosing this option is mentioning such things as English speaking friends are welcome in English at the end of the bio.
(2) Bilingual bio
Since Facebook allows us to create longer bio than Twitter, it is possible to create bilingual bio. As effective targeting, the content of the bio in each language is better if tailored to meet the needs of each customer segment of the language (English and local language). Which language comes first depends on the expected volume of the customer segment (English/global and local).
Bilingual bio is good to cover both global and local audience but with restriction of the total length of the bio the content volume would be extremely restricted. As a result the author did not choose this option, and she has not yet met online friends with bilingual bio although she has bilingual friends.
(3) English bio
If the main target is global audience and/or if local audience is expected to understand some English, English bio is acceptable. Such things as the fact that local language speaking friends are welcome could be added at the end in the local language.
The author chose this option and then filled basic information in English and Japanese because the main objectives of starting Facebook (when Facebook was still not so popular in Japan) included global networking, getting back in touch with her friends from the U.K. and AIESEC, and her Japanese friends from university and AIESEC were mostly bilingual. In choosing this option she conveyed the message that she is Japanese but her main objective of leveraging Facebook is networking and sharing information with global audience, not only local audience.
2. Leverage multiple languages with one account
Managing one account leveraging multiple languages targeting both global and local audience is probably the toughest challenge and issue in leveraging Facebook to reach and engage glocal audience. However, it is not impossible.
1) Choose and use the language for each interaction and updates
Choosing which language to use depends on the target and content of the interaction and updates.
(1) Interaction (sending message and writing on walls of friends)
In this kind of case, apply one-to-one marketing concept and use the language of the target, i.e. the language used by the recipient of the message or by the owner of the wall. If it is English native speaker and/or global audience use English, and if it is local language speaker use the local language.
(2) Updates
This is case by case, depending on the content and target of the update, based on targeting. If the update is of something global targeting global audience, it would be in English. If the update is of something local targeting local audience, it would be in local language. This kind of mixture of language is no problem but appropriate as long as the content is of value to each audience based on appropriate targeting.
2) Bilingual update is a solution in some updates
In some cases when the content is of glocal bilingual update might be better, rationale and effective because compared to Twitter longer updates are possible and less frequent updates are usually made on Facebook, and the introduction/lead part of the link is shown. The author came up with this methodology and now utilizes it quite often, which seems to be working well and effective.
This methodology would deliver the message that the content is targeting glocal audience and that the message is delivered equally and fairly to both global and local audience.
(1) Update without a link
If the update is of glocal without a link (e.g. busy so inactive, attended global meeting), it can a bilingual update instead of two updates in different languages of the same content. This methodology seems to be used in many global companies in sending an e-mail to inform important messages and facts to employees.
(2) Update with a link
The fact that the introduction/lead part of the link is shown in Facebook can be leveraged when the update includes a link, such as sharing a link.
For example, if it is sharing a link in English of information about social media that Japanese people (especially social media experts like many of the author’s friends) might also be interested in, update can be a brief explanation and the author’s thoughts about the link in Japanese then the author’s thoughts in English with the link at the end.
The same concept and methodology can be applied when sharing the link of a new blog written by the author. If it is the English blog posts the author adopts the same methodology as mentioned above. If it is the Japanese blog posts based on her recent experiences, she first writes updates in English with sufficient explanation and background of the link then extremely brief Japanese update, with the link at the end.
The above methodologies seem to be one of the most rationale and effective ways to deliver maximum value and information with minimum volume of updates, with smooth flow and navigation to the link.
3. The author’s final thoughts
There is no one-fits-for-all solution to effectively reaching and engaging glocal audience leveraging multi-languages. Concrete methodology needs to be developed leveraging the characteristics of each social media vehicles, based on basics of marketing such as concept making, customer segmentation, positioning and targeting. Vital requirements in successful reach and engagement include constant yet appropriate frequency updates of content that delivers value to target audience, being social for engagement with the audience, all with customer-focused philosophy.
Monday, 11 October 2010
Vol.42 – How to Leverage Twitter to Reach and Engage Glocal Audience
The previous 2 articles were about effectively reaching and engage global and local (glocal) audience and manage online reputation for business success. In this article, the author would like to continue the discussion focusing on Twitter.
1. Create multiple accounts
The first thing that needs to be decided with clarity is concept of multiple account and languages, which is about targeting based on customer segmentation,
1) Different accounts to be made for different brands and customer segments
It is better to have separate accounts to effectively target global and local audiences like global companies, although managing multiple accounts requires additional resources. Multiple accounts is possible for Twitter and aligning with their business and brand strategy many (global) companies have multiple accounts, each accounts for specific brands and objectives/target segments etc. Dell is perhaps one of a very good example. For the very same reason i.e. having different twitter account for different customer segment, different account is usually used for different country.
2) Language settings to be performed according to customer segment (global or local)
One thing to note in having different accounts not by brand but by language is language setting, especially when the Twitter backgrounds are the same (like a mirror pages). In order to avoid confusion, it is advisable to ensure that language setting is performed in accordance with the target language of the page. In fact, the author often distinguishes which Twitter account she is working on by the language of the top bar etc. She confirms that she is working on English account targeting global audience from the English top bar texts and that she is working on Japanese account targeting Japan local audience from the Japanese top bar texts.
2. Leverage multiple languages
Managing to leverage multiple languages is one of the biggest challenges in managing different accounts for global and local audience.
1) Try to keeping languages separate in line with the target audience
Unlike websites and blogs, it is more difficult to keep languages (e.g. English and Japanese) separate on Twitter but it is advisable to try to clarify which language is the main language for each Twitter account. This would help delivering the message and clarifying to the audience what kind of customer segment are being targeted. People usually do not follow tweeps whose bio and tweets are in the language they do not understand. They also usually judge from the language of the bio and tweets which geographical segment is the target audience.
Having made Twitter accounts with target language setting, the first step to keep the languages separate on Twitter is completing the bio in separate languages, English and the local language such as Japanese. The next step is to tweet content meeting the needs of the target audience in the language of the target audience, such as English for global audience and Japanese for Japan audience.
2) Mixture of language used is not a big problem
In reality, despite the above 2 steps, the languages of tweets can become a mixture of English and local language (Japanese). This is mainly because of interaction with mixed audience of global and local audience attributing to mixed followers of global and local audience. This is the very case of the author and a few of her online friends, with two accounts, one targeting global audience in English and the other targeting Japanese audience in Japanese. However, it does not seem to be a big problem.
3) Some reasons for the “mixture” of languages seems to include the author’s unique way of tweeting
The primary reason for the “mixture” of the language is the fact that the followers of her English Twitter account started to follow her Japanese Twitter account when she opened the Japanese Twitter account and started tweeting. Her good online friends from the English Twitter account were the first non-Japanese people to start following her Japanese account, which is quite natural; however, she was surprised to find a few, including social media guru, starting to follow her Japanese Twitter account at an early stage. They might have found the account by hash tags such as “LinkedIn” “Twitter” “Facebook” that she included in her bio.
Another possible reason for the “mixture” in the case of the author may be how she tweets some contents. When she introduces information in English to Japanese audience in through her Japanese Twitter account, she includes English headline and links with her brief comment/explanation in Japanese. She does so to introduce first hand information on IT, Internet and social media from western countries that are most advanced in these realms. She also does so to inform her tweeps that she posted an article for her English blog.
Although the percentage is lower, there is a similar phenomenon in her English account; i.e. some Japanese tweeps tweeting in Japanese follows her English account.
3. Result: followers from around the globe would be engaged
As a result, people from around the blog, regardless of location, followers the author. Also, some Japanese followers of social media experts paying attention to up-to-date Internet and social media information have been retweeting with additional comments and western followers have been retweeting the “unique” tweets of the author. The author has been enjoying such interaction and engagement with global and local audiences.
Thus, it can be said that the language mixture is not a big problem and it is the quality of the content (tweet) that counts; i.e. whether the tweet is of value to targeted audience. This may well be highly related to the previous article Vol.39 – Should All Content be Translated For Global and Local Audiences Whatsoever?.
1. Create multiple accounts
The first thing that needs to be decided with clarity is concept of multiple account and languages, which is about targeting based on customer segmentation,
1) Different accounts to be made for different brands and customer segments
It is better to have separate accounts to effectively target global and local audiences like global companies, although managing multiple accounts requires additional resources. Multiple accounts is possible for Twitter and aligning with their business and brand strategy many (global) companies have multiple accounts, each accounts for specific brands and objectives/target segments etc. Dell is perhaps one of a very good example. For the very same reason i.e. having different twitter account for different customer segment, different account is usually used for different country.
2) Language settings to be performed according to customer segment (global or local)
One thing to note in having different accounts not by brand but by language is language setting, especially when the Twitter backgrounds are the same (like a mirror pages). In order to avoid confusion, it is advisable to ensure that language setting is performed in accordance with the target language of the page. In fact, the author often distinguishes which Twitter account she is working on by the language of the top bar etc. She confirms that she is working on English account targeting global audience from the English top bar texts and that she is working on Japanese account targeting Japan local audience from the Japanese top bar texts.
2. Leverage multiple languages
Managing to leverage multiple languages is one of the biggest challenges in managing different accounts for global and local audience.
1) Try to keeping languages separate in line with the target audience
Unlike websites and blogs, it is more difficult to keep languages (e.g. English and Japanese) separate on Twitter but it is advisable to try to clarify which language is the main language for each Twitter account. This would help delivering the message and clarifying to the audience what kind of customer segment are being targeted. People usually do not follow tweeps whose bio and tweets are in the language they do not understand. They also usually judge from the language of the bio and tweets which geographical segment is the target audience.
Having made Twitter accounts with target language setting, the first step to keep the languages separate on Twitter is completing the bio in separate languages, English and the local language such as Japanese. The next step is to tweet content meeting the needs of the target audience in the language of the target audience, such as English for global audience and Japanese for Japan audience.
2) Mixture of language used is not a big problem
In reality, despite the above 2 steps, the languages of tweets can become a mixture of English and local language (Japanese). This is mainly because of interaction with mixed audience of global and local audience attributing to mixed followers of global and local audience. This is the very case of the author and a few of her online friends, with two accounts, one targeting global audience in English and the other targeting Japanese audience in Japanese. However, it does not seem to be a big problem.
3) Some reasons for the “mixture” of languages seems to include the author’s unique way of tweeting
The primary reason for the “mixture” of the language is the fact that the followers of her English Twitter account started to follow her Japanese Twitter account when she opened the Japanese Twitter account and started tweeting. Her good online friends from the English Twitter account were the first non-Japanese people to start following her Japanese account, which is quite natural; however, she was surprised to find a few, including social media guru, starting to follow her Japanese Twitter account at an early stage. They might have found the account by hash tags such as “LinkedIn” “Twitter” “Facebook” that she included in her bio.
Another possible reason for the “mixture” in the case of the author may be how she tweets some contents. When she introduces information in English to Japanese audience in through her Japanese Twitter account, she includes English headline and links with her brief comment/explanation in Japanese. She does so to introduce first hand information on IT, Internet and social media from western countries that are most advanced in these realms. She also does so to inform her tweeps that she posted an article for her English blog.
Although the percentage is lower, there is a similar phenomenon in her English account; i.e. some Japanese tweeps tweeting in Japanese follows her English account.
3. Result: followers from around the globe would be engaged
As a result, people from around the blog, regardless of location, followers the author. Also, some Japanese followers of social media experts paying attention to up-to-date Internet and social media information have been retweeting with additional comments and western followers have been retweeting the “unique” tweets of the author. The author has been enjoying such interaction and engagement with global and local audiences.
Thus, it can be said that the language mixture is not a big problem and it is the quality of the content (tweet) that counts; i.e. whether the tweet is of value to targeted audience. This may well be highly related to the previous article Vol.39 – Should All Content be Translated For Global and Local Audiences Whatsoever?.
Saturday, 11 September 2010
Vol.41 – How to Reach and Engage Global and Local Audience (Part 2)
The previous article Vol.40 – How to Reach and Engage Global and Local Audience (Part 1) was about effectively reaching and engage global and local audience and manage online reputation for business success. Methodologies of website/web pages, blogs, LinkedIn and local SNS and similar “information websites” were discussed. This article is its continuation.
2. How can smaller companies and business owners and individuals reach and engage global and local audience and manage online reputation when they have limited resources and no local offices around the globe? (Continued from Part 1)
5) Facebook
Leveraging Facebook http://www.facebook.com/ is vital in reaching and engaging global audience because as Ostrow (2010) mentions, it has large user base and more diverse demographics than any other social network in English speaking countries and becoming a de facto login service around the web, and its access might be surpassing that of portal site such as Yahoo! In fact, social media marketing leaders of big brands and small business owners leverage Facebook, differentiating from other online media and generating synergy.
However, it might be quite different when it comes to reaching and engaging to local audience, at least in Japan, because Facebook is not yet popular. Currently it is used by limited Japanese people such as social media experts and people who use personally to keep in touch with friends worldwide (e.g. people who live or used to live abroad, who have many international friends). The reason is unknown; it may be because Japan already had some popular local SNS mentioned in the previous article (Part 1), Facebook is rather complicated compared with Twitter (to be mentioned next), or Facebook simply does not match needs of Japanese people.
There are a few Japanese social media experts that the author knows who blog about Facebook and Facebook may become one of the popular social media vehicles for marketing in the future. Topics of blog articles by such bloggers range from basics of Facebook to how to use Facebook in marketing. At least, reaching Japanese people by Facebook means targeting niche social media experts and/or international people and if such people are your target Facebook can be effective.
6) Twitter
Twitter http://twitter.com/ is a “must” in reaching and engaging both global and local audience (at least Japanese people) because of its popularity, growth and easiness of use. Ostrow (2010) describes Twitter that similarly to Facebook it has become formidable force with a 300,000+ application ecosystem and a distribution platform for virtually every company large and small. This may well attribute to the ease of reaching out to tweeps and jump into conversation with them around the globe even to those who are not following you. This might be one reason why Twitter popularity exploded earlier this year in Japan.
First wave of Twitter popularity came in summer 2009 when a few Japanese celebrities and best seller authors started Twitter and mentioned it and/or wrote online articles. Then in the beginning of 2010 second wave came, which was huge. Twitter was featured as special article topic in a popular business magazine in February, including basics of Twitter, how to information and useful Twitter applications. This was when Japanese mobile careers started to launch iPhones and TVCF of iPhones went on the air, and iPhones were also introduced as a useful gadget for Twitter.
Now in Japan there are varieties of people using Twitter including celebrities, politicians, online specialists and general public and it is quite possible that Twitter will further grow. At the Twitter top page, celebrities and other famous people using Twitter, and popular tweets are introduced to promote people starting and leveraging Twitter. This is a good way to acquire and retain Japanese tweeps because with collective culture, Japanese people like to copy what other people (especially celebrities) more than people from individual culture such as the U.S. and therefore it is quite possible that more Japanese people join the Twitter community. There have been many online articles in popular business magazine website about Twitter this year, including article about how some companies have started using Twitter for marketing and information sharing among employees. Also some recent TVCF drive TV audience to their Twitter account by mentioning it at the end of the TVCF.
With popularization of Twitter, knowhow transfer of Twitter is also very active and this trend seems to continue at least for a while. There are group of people that study Twitter and individuals that are expert in Twitter. Such individuals and groups have been holding offline seminars targeting beginner and advanced tweeps and publishing Twitter how to books.
7) YouTube
YouTube http://www.youtube.com/ is also a great media/tool to reach and engage both global and local audience (at least Japanese people) because as Ostrow (2010) states, YouTube continues to maintain an enormous lead in online video viewership and through aggressive deal-making, looks likely to fend off competition from upstarts with deeper pro-content libraries.
The YouTube’s enormous lead in online video viewership is true also in Japan, even if people posting their movies on YouTube may be minority. Some of the most viewed content worldwide last year was also one of the most viewed content in Japan, such as of Susan Boyle. YouTube is also available in Japanese and there are also many Japanese local contents uploaded. Some acquaintance of the author who are not online content generator (such as blogging and tweeting) are heavy YouTube user, including a man who said that he was so devoted in enjoying YouTube contents one night that it was almost in early morning the next day when he saw the clock.
8) Ustream
Ustream http://www.ustream.tv/ might become a good media/tool in the future to reach and engage both global and local audience of Japan as well. We just have to see how this grows. Mr. Masayoshi Son, the CEO of Softbank http://mb.softbank.jp/en/ (has already invested in the U.S. Ustream), tweeted in February this year that the company will localize into Japanese by May and did so on April 27. This has attracted attention of some Japanese social media marketers/users and a group was established for a popular Japanese blog platform Ameba http://www.ameba.jp/ in which tips of using Ameba and Ustream are shared.
9) Scribd
Scribd http://www.scribd.com/ is also a great to reach and engage global audience; however, whether it is good to reach and engage local audience is a question, at least for Japan. Being a popular online publishing site, this is excellent to reach global (English speaking) audience who are interested in publishing contents online such as documents and poems. However, it is not at all popular in Japan at least. One main reason may be language issue.
If language issue is solved and/or if this media is used to target bilinguals and international people who are fluent in English Scribd can be become effective in reaching and engaging local audience. When Scribd was introduced by a Japanese social expert in his Facebook update highlighting its beauty, it attracted interest from his Japanese online friends. It seems that language issue is one factor whether Scribd becomes popular or not in Japan in the future.
References:-
Ostrow, Adam (2010) The Next 5 Years in Social Media
http://mashable.com/2010/09/07/next-5-years-social-media/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+Mashable+%28Mashable%29
2. How can smaller companies and business owners and individuals reach and engage global and local audience and manage online reputation when they have limited resources and no local offices around the globe? (Continued from Part 1)
5) Facebook
Leveraging Facebook http://www.facebook.com/ is vital in reaching and engaging global audience because as Ostrow (2010) mentions, it has large user base and more diverse demographics than any other social network in English speaking countries and becoming a de facto login service around the web, and its access might be surpassing that of portal site such as Yahoo! In fact, social media marketing leaders of big brands and small business owners leverage Facebook, differentiating from other online media and generating synergy.
However, it might be quite different when it comes to reaching and engaging to local audience, at least in Japan, because Facebook is not yet popular. Currently it is used by limited Japanese people such as social media experts and people who use personally to keep in touch with friends worldwide (e.g. people who live or used to live abroad, who have many international friends). The reason is unknown; it may be because Japan already had some popular local SNS mentioned in the previous article (Part 1), Facebook is rather complicated compared with Twitter (to be mentioned next), or Facebook simply does not match needs of Japanese people.
There are a few Japanese social media experts that the author knows who blog about Facebook and Facebook may become one of the popular social media vehicles for marketing in the future. Topics of blog articles by such bloggers range from basics of Facebook to how to use Facebook in marketing. At least, reaching Japanese people by Facebook means targeting niche social media experts and/or international people and if such people are your target Facebook can be effective.
6) Twitter
Twitter http://twitter.com/ is a “must” in reaching and engaging both global and local audience (at least Japanese people) because of its popularity, growth and easiness of use. Ostrow (2010) describes Twitter that similarly to Facebook it has become formidable force with a 300,000+ application ecosystem and a distribution platform for virtually every company large and small. This may well attribute to the ease of reaching out to tweeps and jump into conversation with them around the globe even to those who are not following you. This might be one reason why Twitter popularity exploded earlier this year in Japan.
First wave of Twitter popularity came in summer 2009 when a few Japanese celebrities and best seller authors started Twitter and mentioned it and/or wrote online articles. Then in the beginning of 2010 second wave came, which was huge. Twitter was featured as special article topic in a popular business magazine in February, including basics of Twitter, how to information and useful Twitter applications. This was when Japanese mobile careers started to launch iPhones and TVCF of iPhones went on the air, and iPhones were also introduced as a useful gadget for Twitter.
Now in Japan there are varieties of people using Twitter including celebrities, politicians, online specialists and general public and it is quite possible that Twitter will further grow. At the Twitter top page, celebrities and other famous people using Twitter, and popular tweets are introduced to promote people starting and leveraging Twitter. This is a good way to acquire and retain Japanese tweeps because with collective culture, Japanese people like to copy what other people (especially celebrities) more than people from individual culture such as the U.S. and therefore it is quite possible that more Japanese people join the Twitter community. There have been many online articles in popular business magazine website about Twitter this year, including article about how some companies have started using Twitter for marketing and information sharing among employees. Also some recent TVCF drive TV audience to their Twitter account by mentioning it at the end of the TVCF.
With popularization of Twitter, knowhow transfer of Twitter is also very active and this trend seems to continue at least for a while. There are group of people that study Twitter and individuals that are expert in Twitter. Such individuals and groups have been holding offline seminars targeting beginner and advanced tweeps and publishing Twitter how to books.
7) YouTube
YouTube http://www.youtube.com/ is also a great media/tool to reach and engage both global and local audience (at least Japanese people) because as Ostrow (2010) states, YouTube continues to maintain an enormous lead in online video viewership and through aggressive deal-making, looks likely to fend off competition from upstarts with deeper pro-content libraries.
The YouTube’s enormous lead in online video viewership is true also in Japan, even if people posting their movies on YouTube may be minority. Some of the most viewed content worldwide last year was also one of the most viewed content in Japan, such as of Susan Boyle. YouTube is also available in Japanese and there are also many Japanese local contents uploaded. Some acquaintance of the author who are not online content generator (such as blogging and tweeting) are heavy YouTube user, including a man who said that he was so devoted in enjoying YouTube contents one night that it was almost in early morning the next day when he saw the clock.
8) Ustream
Ustream http://www.ustream.tv/ might become a good media/tool in the future to reach and engage both global and local audience of Japan as well. We just have to see how this grows. Mr. Masayoshi Son, the CEO of Softbank http://mb.softbank.jp/en/ (has already invested in the U.S. Ustream), tweeted in February this year that the company will localize into Japanese by May and did so on April 27. This has attracted attention of some Japanese social media marketers/users and a group was established for a popular Japanese blog platform Ameba http://www.ameba.jp/ in which tips of using Ameba and Ustream are shared.
9) Scribd
Scribd http://www.scribd.com/ is also a great to reach and engage global audience; however, whether it is good to reach and engage local audience is a question, at least for Japan. Being a popular online publishing site, this is excellent to reach global (English speaking) audience who are interested in publishing contents online such as documents and poems. However, it is not at all popular in Japan at least. One main reason may be language issue.
If language issue is solved and/or if this media is used to target bilinguals and international people who are fluent in English Scribd can be become effective in reaching and engaging local audience. When Scribd was introduced by a Japanese social expert in his Facebook update highlighting its beauty, it attracted interest from his Japanese online friends. It seems that language issue is one factor whether Scribd becomes popular or not in Japan in the future.
References:-
Ostrow, Adam (2010) The Next 5 Years in Social Media
http://mashable.com/2010/09/07/next-5-years-social-media/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+Mashable+%28Mashable%29
Sunday, 5 September 2010
Vol.40 – How to Reach and Engage Global and Local Audience (Part 1)
The previous article Vol.39: Should All Content be Translated For Global and Local Audiences Whatsoever? was about localizing global content focusing on language perspective, i.e. how much translation is required for target audience to understand when the content is originally made in the language not understood by the target audience.
This article and the next are about effectively reaching and engage global and local audience and manage online reputation for business success, especially for smaller companies and small business owners with limited resources that usually need to leverage website and social media differently from larger global companies.
1. How are websites and social media of global companies managed to meet multi-lingual worldwide audience?
Most global companies have website(s), blog(s) and other social media (if any) in global headquarter and respective countries, in local language. This is because each country (market) is different and they would need to segment target audience by country. Also, in some/many cases local offices/branch is a separate organization (company) within the global group.
For this reason, global companies usually develop their own website and blogs with their original design, layout, navigation and functions, and roll out worldwide, which are managed by country, aligning with how business operations are performed, under a group-wide policy. In most cases, IT infrastructure management is centralized.
Regarding social media such as twitter and facebook, it is logical and appropriate for each country to have their own social media account, and that is how it is mostly done. This is for the same reason of a company having different twitter accounts in one country in the same language for different brands, channels and/or objectives, to target different customer segment.
2. How can smaller companies and business owners and individuals reach and engage global and local audience and manage online reputation when they have limited resources and no local offices around the globe?
Different methodology needs to be adopted according to different online media/vehicles.
1) Websites
It is highly recommended to develop and maintain both global (English) and local (in local language) website, with consistent branding, designing, navigation and domain name. Website can be quite simple and small. When the author say “consisting domain name”, what she means is, for example, “MegOyanagi.com” for English website targeting global audience and “MegOyanagi.jp” or “MegOyanagi.com/jp” for Japanese website targeting Japanese audience. Domain name (com, jp etc) is usually closely linked with location of hosting. Go Daddy http://www.godaddy.com/ could be one of the solutions for this kind of problem.
If possible from all (network, browser etc) technical and other perspective, it is probably the easiest and the most simple to have a hosting server in the U.S. and use the global domain name “com” and its derivational domain name of “com/jp/” for Japanese website. Another alternative is to have a hosting server in the U.S. for the website with “com” domain name and another hosting server in Japan for the website with “jp” domain name. There are some Japanese websites that provide combined services of hosting server and web development.
2) Blogs
Similarly to websites, both global (English) and local (in local language) blogs are required. Similarly to website, it would be easier to manage when the same platform is used for English and local (e.g. Japanese) blogs; however, if free blog platforms such as. WordPress http://wordpress.org/ and Blogger http://www.blogger.com/ are to be used for global and English audience, using different local blog platform is probably better.
WordPress and Blogger are ideal for English blogs targeting English speaking countries and global audience; however, non-English speaking countries tend to have their local blog platforms that are already become very popular (e.g. Ameba http://www.ameba.jp/ in Japan). It would be more advantageous and strategic to be part of that local blog community (interaction in local language) for networking and attracting local audience. In the case of Ameba, there are many groups similarly to LinkedIn and Facebook.
In addition, free blog platform has page template and their original navigation system and functions, and local blog platform usually meet local needs better.
3) LinkedIn
The first thing to do when starting LinkedIn http://www.linkedin.com/ is creating a profile page. There are following options.
- Have English page only
- Have English page and local language page
- Have local language page only
It seems that the first option works best for most people because English is a kind of official language of LinkedIn and is used in all discussions. There seems to be no need (yet) to create a profile in Japanese targeting Japanese local audience.
For example, in the case of Japan, LinkedIn is not yet popular at all and whether it becomes popular among Japanese people is a question mainly because of the language issue. The author started LinkedIn one year ago and although does not know exactly how many Japanese people belong to LinkedIn she has never met even one Japanese people in group discussions and Q&A section.
Few of her friends has started and the Japanese people who have started seems to be basically limited to those who have studied abroad, working abroad, bilingual Japanese working (or have worked) in non-Japanese companies, and recruiters who are seeking bilingual Japanese. Such people seem to have started LinkedIn mostly for global networking and information sharing, and recruiting bilingual Japanese professionals.
4) Local SNS and similar “information websites”
In the case of Japan, there are Japan local SNS sites, and it is such SNS sites that are the key in monitoring and managing online reputation for successful business and recruiting in Japan.
The leading SNS sites in Japan are Mixi http://mixi.jp/ and 2 Channel http://2ch.net/ and it is a good idea for small business owners as well as larger companies in Japan to leverage them in managing online reputation. Both are not specifically for professional/business use like LinkedIn and usually do not have company profile pages. Also, comments are posted by individuals but such comments greatly influence company online reputation. In fact, the company reputation management department staff of the author’s former employer used to monitor these two sites as well as traditional media coverage of newspapers and magazines.
Small business owners and larger companies should leverage other “information sites” available in Japan that are in essence similar to SNS, such as http://careerconnection.jp/ that focuses on topics directly related to recruiting such as reputation, salary, human resource management system and culture of companies operating in Japan including foreign capitals. The information is based on the response of the members to survey questions, and the site is one of the primary information sources for job hunters.
The author would like to continue the discussion in the next article.
This article and the next are about effectively reaching and engage global and local audience and manage online reputation for business success, especially for smaller companies and small business owners with limited resources that usually need to leverage website and social media differently from larger global companies.
1. How are websites and social media of global companies managed to meet multi-lingual worldwide audience?
Most global companies have website(s), blog(s) and other social media (if any) in global headquarter and respective countries, in local language. This is because each country (market) is different and they would need to segment target audience by country. Also, in some/many cases local offices/branch is a separate organization (company) within the global group.
For this reason, global companies usually develop their own website and blogs with their original design, layout, navigation and functions, and roll out worldwide, which are managed by country, aligning with how business operations are performed, under a group-wide policy. In most cases, IT infrastructure management is centralized.
Regarding social media such as twitter and facebook, it is logical and appropriate for each country to have their own social media account, and that is how it is mostly done. This is for the same reason of a company having different twitter accounts in one country in the same language for different brands, channels and/or objectives, to target different customer segment.
2. How can smaller companies and business owners and individuals reach and engage global and local audience and manage online reputation when they have limited resources and no local offices around the globe?
Different methodology needs to be adopted according to different online media/vehicles.
1) Websites
It is highly recommended to develop and maintain both global (English) and local (in local language) website, with consistent branding, designing, navigation and domain name. Website can be quite simple and small. When the author say “consisting domain name”, what she means is, for example, “MegOyanagi.com” for English website targeting global audience and “MegOyanagi.jp” or “MegOyanagi.com/jp” for Japanese website targeting Japanese audience. Domain name (com, jp etc) is usually closely linked with location of hosting. Go Daddy http://www.godaddy.com/ could be one of the solutions for this kind of problem.
If possible from all (network, browser etc) technical and other perspective, it is probably the easiest and the most simple to have a hosting server in the U.S. and use the global domain name “com” and its derivational domain name of “com/jp/” for Japanese website. Another alternative is to have a hosting server in the U.S. for the website with “com” domain name and another hosting server in Japan for the website with “jp” domain name. There are some Japanese websites that provide combined services of hosting server and web development.
2) Blogs
Similarly to websites, both global (English) and local (in local language) blogs are required. Similarly to website, it would be easier to manage when the same platform is used for English and local (e.g. Japanese) blogs; however, if free blog platforms such as. WordPress http://wordpress.org/ and Blogger http://www.blogger.com/ are to be used for global and English audience, using different local blog platform is probably better.
WordPress and Blogger are ideal for English blogs targeting English speaking countries and global audience; however, non-English speaking countries tend to have their local blog platforms that are already become very popular (e.g. Ameba http://www.ameba.jp/ in Japan). It would be more advantageous and strategic to be part of that local blog community (interaction in local language) for networking and attracting local audience. In the case of Ameba, there are many groups similarly to LinkedIn and Facebook.
In addition, free blog platform has page template and their original navigation system and functions, and local blog platform usually meet local needs better.
3) LinkedIn
The first thing to do when starting LinkedIn http://www.linkedin.com/ is creating a profile page. There are following options.
- Have English page only
- Have English page and local language page
- Have local language page only
It seems that the first option works best for most people because English is a kind of official language of LinkedIn and is used in all discussions. There seems to be no need (yet) to create a profile in Japanese targeting Japanese local audience.
For example, in the case of Japan, LinkedIn is not yet popular at all and whether it becomes popular among Japanese people is a question mainly because of the language issue. The author started LinkedIn one year ago and although does not know exactly how many Japanese people belong to LinkedIn she has never met even one Japanese people in group discussions and Q&A section.
Few of her friends has started and the Japanese people who have started seems to be basically limited to those who have studied abroad, working abroad, bilingual Japanese working (or have worked) in non-Japanese companies, and recruiters who are seeking bilingual Japanese. Such people seem to have started LinkedIn mostly for global networking and information sharing, and recruiting bilingual Japanese professionals.
4) Local SNS and similar “information websites”
In the case of Japan, there are Japan local SNS sites, and it is such SNS sites that are the key in monitoring and managing online reputation for successful business and recruiting in Japan.
The leading SNS sites in Japan are Mixi http://mixi.jp/ and 2 Channel http://2ch.net/ and it is a good idea for small business owners as well as larger companies in Japan to leverage them in managing online reputation. Both are not specifically for professional/business use like LinkedIn and usually do not have company profile pages. Also, comments are posted by individuals but such comments greatly influence company online reputation. In fact, the company reputation management department staff of the author’s former employer used to monitor these two sites as well as traditional media coverage of newspapers and magazines.
Small business owners and larger companies should leverage other “information sites” available in Japan that are in essence similar to SNS, such as http://careerconnection.jp/ that focuses on topics directly related to recruiting such as reputation, salary, human resource management system and culture of companies operating in Japan including foreign capitals. The information is based on the response of the members to survey questions, and the site is one of the primary information sources for job hunters.
The author would like to continue the discussion in the next article.
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