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+.
Saturday, 10 December 2011
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.
Sunday, 18 September 2011
Vol.67 – KFS of Web Contribution to Information Value, Branding and Engagement
To conclude series of articles on Web Equity survey implemented by Japan Brand Strategy following the previous articles Vol.65 – Web Equity Valuation in Japan – Model and Ranking and Vol.66 – KFS of Web Contribution to Sales Generation and Value, the author would like to introduce what kind of corporate websites are ranked high in “Information Value”, one of the two constituents of Web Equity, together with possible KFS (key factors for success) for high “Information Value” in this article.
1. What is “Information Value”? How is it calculated?
“Information Value” is how much the website contributed to corporate branding. This requires customer acquisition (driving web users to the website), retention (making visitors re-visit frequently) and engagement (interacting with online customers to develop long-term relationship).
In calculating Information Value, “Access Value” and “Behaviour Value” were calculated and then added together.
(1) Access Value
Access Value is how much the online customer’s access to view the web site information contributed to brand enhancement of the company and its products/services.
This was calculated by multiplying PV (Page View) = number of pages of web sites viewed by value coefficient (unit value of a page set).
(2) Behaviour Value
Behaviour Value is how much online customer’s behaviour other than viewing pages such as applying for a campaign and requesting for pamphlets contributed to brand enhancement of the company and its products/services.
Number of behaviours such as membership registration and reading e-newsletters were selected.
Then for each behaviour, number of people who took such behaviour was calculated which was multiplied by value coefficient (unit value of a behaviour).
2. Which company websites are ranked high up in Information Value ranking?
They are mostly companies of frequent purchase such as beverage, transportation/leisure and financial services such as the following.
Unit: Million Yen
Information Value / Web Equity / Company/Brand / Information Value / Access Value / Behaviour Value
1 / 7 / Suntory / 29,090 / 19,783 / 9,306
2 / 10 / UniQlo / 25,106 / 21,134 / 3,973
3 / 17 / Kirin (Beverage) / 21,174 / 11,138 / 10,036
4 / 18 / Asahi (Beverage) / 20,027 / 10,409 / 9,618
5 / 4 / NTT DoCoMo / 19,612 / 14,541 / 5,071
6 / 30 / JP Bank / 19,500 / 16,543 / 2,958
7 / 1 / All Nippon Airways / 18,185 / 13,948 / 4,236
8 / 19 / JP Network / 18,119 / 16,860 / 1,259
9 / 2 / Panasonic / 17,567 / 6,905 / 10,662
10 / 14 Tokyo Disney Resort / 16,814 / 15,040 / 1,774
Information Value can be regarded as a leading indicator of sales because increase in awareness and interest of consumers is likely to lead to increase in sales; therefore, Information Value trend can be said as an index that investors are recommended to be aware of.
3. What are some possible KFS for high Information Value?
1) Strategic use of multiple online media
Strategically leveraging multiple online media increases touch points of web users therefore it increases possibility of driving web users to the website.
In the case of Suntory, which was ranked #1 for 3 consecutive years, one reason for high Information Value is many e-newsletter subscribers and people applying to campaigns, driving web users to the website.
The company also has been successful in developing relationship with online consumers through multiple online media including blogs, Twitter, Facebook and YouTube.
2) Continuous update of content meeting customer needs
Web visitors visit website for content (information) and they would re-visit if they are satisfied with the quality and quantity of the content and even recommend to others, meaning increasing loyalty to the website. Thus, this approach consequently leads to creating fans of the website, the company and products/services.
By no means, this approach means increase in access to the website. Also, regular and frequent information update is appropriate for SEO along with optimum key words and phrases.
It is for this reason that many food companies have developed recipe content, which is accessed daily by web users. Entertainment contents such as gaming and beneficial information such as campaign related contents are also content accessed very frequently.
Communication site creating online community is another content that is visited frequently by web users. A good example is UniQlo’s UNIQLOOKS. Web users around the globe can post and share photos of people or themselves in UniQlo fashion (wearing UniQlo clothes). Web users will be able to know popular fashion at a glance and purchase any items they like online.
3) Proactive roll out of mobile website/content
Proactive roll out of mobile website/content creating environment in which web users can access online contents from multiple mobile terminals such as smart phones and tablets when mobiles are drastically becoming popular is also a good approach to drive as many web users to the website.
There have been many companies rolling out websites for mobile phones but lately their challenge has shifted to rolling out contents for smart phones.
For example, in the case of mobile website of SoftBank, types of mobile terminals of the web users accessing the mobile website is automatically determined. Then the optimum display is selected for that particular web user and displayed. The mobile website is not optimized in terms of the display size but also designed to enhance usability such as menu easily operated by touch panels of standard smart phones.
A good approach to encourage web users to benefit from mobile website is providing them with mobile application of frequently used services. Many airplane companies provide application for smart phones free of charge. This enables web users making reservation anytime, anywhere with ease, leading to frequent use of their services.
4. What is the case of Information Value #1 website?
1) Overview of Suntory website initiative
Suntory is ranked #1 for Information Value for 3 consecutive years. The company has been developing variety of contents for the website. And lately the company has been focusing on leveraging social media to increase touch point with online customers.
Their upcoming challenge is rolling out mobile website, adapting each page to smart phones.
2) Examples of online initiatives
(1) Branding contents
Branding contents include TV commercial of products and collection of movies/web casts of the company called Suntory Channel.
There is also Suntory Café Plus in which information to help web users enjoy their life such as about party, gift and cuisine are uploaded together with introduction of related products.
(2) Mixi
Mixi is the leading SNS in Japan. In November 2010, the company opened a Mixi app specific to Suntory including gaming introducing their products and online community to encourage interaction among web users.
(3) Facebook
The company also opened their official Facebook Page this June. A few posts are made every day aligning with official company blog and website.
The team members managing the Facebook Page had prepared to the opening of the Page since summer 2010 by using Facebook privately and studying official Facebook Pages of other companies. One of the outputs of such preparation is knowhow of posting in friendly style and manner.
5. The author’s final thoughts
The above possible KFS are mostly the same as those of Sales Value mentioned in the previous article. After all, these together with globalization, are the focuses and challenges of the Japanese companies in enhancing their online branding and Web Equity, engagement with (online) customers, leading to sales/revenue generation.
References:-
The web site of the weekly business magazine
http://dw.diamond.ne.jp/
Japan Brand Strategy - The web site of the brand strategy consultancy
http://japanbrand.jp/
Resources:-
Japanese company websites of high Information Value are mostly of companies with products purchased frequently on a daily bases. Some possible KFS for high Information Value include strategic use of multiple online media, continuous update of content meeting customer needs and proactive roll out of mobile website/content. These KFS are mostly the same as those of Sales Value, and lead to customer loyalty and engagement and branding.
1. What is “Information Value”? How is it calculated?
“Information Value” is how much the website contributed to corporate branding. This requires customer acquisition (driving web users to the website), retention (making visitors re-visit frequently) and engagement (interacting with online customers to develop long-term relationship).
In calculating Information Value, “Access Value” and “Behaviour Value” were calculated and then added together.
(1) Access Value
Access Value is how much the online customer’s access to view the web site information contributed to brand enhancement of the company and its products/services.
This was calculated by multiplying PV (Page View) = number of pages of web sites viewed by value coefficient (unit value of a page set).
(2) Behaviour Value
Behaviour Value is how much online customer’s behaviour other than viewing pages such as applying for a campaign and requesting for pamphlets contributed to brand enhancement of the company and its products/services.
Number of behaviours such as membership registration and reading e-newsletters were selected.
Then for each behaviour, number of people who took such behaviour was calculated which was multiplied by value coefficient (unit value of a behaviour).
2. Which company websites are ranked high up in Information Value ranking?
They are mostly companies of frequent purchase such as beverage, transportation/leisure and financial services such as the following.
Unit: Million Yen
Information Value / Web Equity / Company/Brand / Information Value / Access Value / Behaviour Value
1 / 7 / Suntory / 29,090 / 19,783 / 9,306
2 / 10 / UniQlo / 25,106 / 21,134 / 3,973
3 / 17 / Kirin (Beverage) / 21,174 / 11,138 / 10,036
4 / 18 / Asahi (Beverage) / 20,027 / 10,409 / 9,618
5 / 4 / NTT DoCoMo / 19,612 / 14,541 / 5,071
6 / 30 / JP Bank / 19,500 / 16,543 / 2,958
7 / 1 / All Nippon Airways / 18,185 / 13,948 / 4,236
8 / 19 / JP Network / 18,119 / 16,860 / 1,259
9 / 2 / Panasonic / 17,567 / 6,905 / 10,662
10 / 14 Tokyo Disney Resort / 16,814 / 15,040 / 1,774
Information Value can be regarded as a leading indicator of sales because increase in awareness and interest of consumers is likely to lead to increase in sales; therefore, Information Value trend can be said as an index that investors are recommended to be aware of.
3. What are some possible KFS for high Information Value?
1) Strategic use of multiple online media
Strategically leveraging multiple online media increases touch points of web users therefore it increases possibility of driving web users to the website.
In the case of Suntory, which was ranked #1 for 3 consecutive years, one reason for high Information Value is many e-newsletter subscribers and people applying to campaigns, driving web users to the website.
The company also has been successful in developing relationship with online consumers through multiple online media including blogs, Twitter, Facebook and YouTube.
2) Continuous update of content meeting customer needs
Web visitors visit website for content (information) and they would re-visit if they are satisfied with the quality and quantity of the content and even recommend to others, meaning increasing loyalty to the website. Thus, this approach consequently leads to creating fans of the website, the company and products/services.
By no means, this approach means increase in access to the website. Also, regular and frequent information update is appropriate for SEO along with optimum key words and phrases.
It is for this reason that many food companies have developed recipe content, which is accessed daily by web users. Entertainment contents such as gaming and beneficial information such as campaign related contents are also content accessed very frequently.
Communication site creating online community is another content that is visited frequently by web users. A good example is UniQlo’s UNIQLOOKS. Web users around the globe can post and share photos of people or themselves in UniQlo fashion (wearing UniQlo clothes). Web users will be able to know popular fashion at a glance and purchase any items they like online.
3) Proactive roll out of mobile website/content
Proactive roll out of mobile website/content creating environment in which web users can access online contents from multiple mobile terminals such as smart phones and tablets when mobiles are drastically becoming popular is also a good approach to drive as many web users to the website.
There have been many companies rolling out websites for mobile phones but lately their challenge has shifted to rolling out contents for smart phones.
For example, in the case of mobile website of SoftBank, types of mobile terminals of the web users accessing the mobile website is automatically determined. Then the optimum display is selected for that particular web user and displayed. The mobile website is not optimized in terms of the display size but also designed to enhance usability such as menu easily operated by touch panels of standard smart phones.
A good approach to encourage web users to benefit from mobile website is providing them with mobile application of frequently used services. Many airplane companies provide application for smart phones free of charge. This enables web users making reservation anytime, anywhere with ease, leading to frequent use of their services.
4. What is the case of Information Value #1 website?
1) Overview of Suntory website initiative
Suntory is ranked #1 for Information Value for 3 consecutive years. The company has been developing variety of contents for the website. And lately the company has been focusing on leveraging social media to increase touch point with online customers.
Their upcoming challenge is rolling out mobile website, adapting each page to smart phones.
2) Examples of online initiatives
(1) Branding contents
Branding contents include TV commercial of products and collection of movies/web casts of the company called Suntory Channel.
There is also Suntory Café Plus in which information to help web users enjoy their life such as about party, gift and cuisine are uploaded together with introduction of related products.
(2) Mixi
Mixi is the leading SNS in Japan. In November 2010, the company opened a Mixi app specific to Suntory including gaming introducing their products and online community to encourage interaction among web users.
(3) Facebook
The company also opened their official Facebook Page this June. A few posts are made every day aligning with official company blog and website.
The team members managing the Facebook Page had prepared to the opening of the Page since summer 2010 by using Facebook privately and studying official Facebook Pages of other companies. One of the outputs of such preparation is knowhow of posting in friendly style and manner.
5. The author’s final thoughts
The above possible KFS are mostly the same as those of Sales Value mentioned in the previous article. After all, these together with globalization, are the focuses and challenges of the Japanese companies in enhancing their online branding and Web Equity, engagement with (online) customers, leading to sales/revenue generation.
References:-
The web site of the weekly business magazine
http://dw.diamond.ne.jp/
Japan Brand Strategy - The web site of the brand strategy consultancy
http://japanbrand.jp/
Resources:-
Japanese company websites of high Information Value are mostly of companies with products purchased frequently on a daily bases. Some possible KFS for high Information Value include strategic use of multiple online media, continuous update of content meeting customer needs and proactive roll out of mobile website/content. These KFS are mostly the same as those of Sales Value, and lead to customer loyalty and engagement and branding.
Saturday, 17 September 2011
Vol.66 – KFS of Web Contribution to Sales Generation and Value
The previous article Vol.65 – Web Equity Valuation in Japan – Model and Ranking outlined the Web Equity valuation model and the results of the ranking by Japan Brand Strategy based on a special article published in a recent Japanese business weekly magazine.
Based on the same article, the author would like to introduce what kind of corporate websites are raked high in “Sales Value”, one of the two constituents of Web Equity, together with possible 4 KFS (key factors for success) for high “Sales Value” in this article.
1. What is “Sales Value”? How is it calculated?
“Sales Value” is how much the website contributed to sales generation among variety of media and communication channels that consumers access and refer in purchasing products and services.
This is calculated through the following 4 steps.
(1) Calculate what percentage of customers who purchased products and/or services used web site in their decision making.
(2) Calculate the degree (what percentage) the purchaser used the web site in their decision making.
(3) Multiply (1) and (2) to calculate effect of web site = average amount of information the purchaser used the web site in their decision making.
(4) Multiply (3) and marginal profit to calculate Sales Value.
2. Which company websites are ranked high up in Sales Value ranking?
They are mostly large companies of strong brands as the following.
Sales Value Ranking / Web Equity Ranking/ Company/Brand / Sales Value (million yen)
1 / 1 All Nippon Airways / 89,692
2 / 2 / Panasonic / 70,769
3 / 3 / Toyota / 62,360
4 / 5 / Honda / 46,739
5 / 6 / Nissan / 44,670
6 / 4 / NTT / DoCoMo / 40,679
7 / 12 / Japan Railway Tokai / 40,086
8 / 13 / Nomura Securities / 38,816
9 / 6 / Japan Travel Bureau / 38,166
10 / 11 / Sony / 37,410
3. What are some possible KFS for high Sales Value?
1) Integrated Marketing Communication (IMC)
Integrated Marketing Communication (IMC) in which strategically integrating all possible marketing communication tools and media, offline and offline, contributes to high Sales Value because it increases touch points with the customers.
In general, IMC is advanced in western countries, the U.S. in particular such as Fedex．On the other hand, Japan is far behind because departments in companies that are responsible for traditional offline media and the Internet are usually separated.
Many companies ranked high up in Sales Value rankings are innovators in IMC in Japan.
2) Web contents with which consumers can enjoy virtual experience online
Web contents with which consumers can enjoy virtual experience online of products and services contribute to high Sales Value. This is because it is a good approach to make consumers feel and understand the benefit of the products and services.
All Nippon Airways web content in which online consumers share their experiences of travelling is a good example. This web content allows cabin attendants and travelers share guides, know-how and experiences of their trips/travels, which helps provoke demand of travelling.
The next good example of virtual experience web content is Panasonic’s LED content. This allows consumers to find places in their homes where they can replace current lights with LED and make simulation of energy saving. The result of the simulation can be posted on Twitter and Facebook to share with online friends.
Another good example is Nissan’s content called User Voice in which experiences of Nissan car owners is shared. Voices and information can be displayed by types of cars. Voices and information can also be carefully selected by setting requirements such as gender, age, number of car users and usage with a search function.
3) Proactive use of social media
Proactive use of social media also contributes to high Sales Value ranking because it promotes web users share information.
Companies such as All Nippon Airways (ANA) have been leveraging SNS. Companies such as ANA and Nissan already have started leveraging Facebook.
UniQlo is the company that is often mentioned as innovator in leveraging Facebook in Japan. It is ranked 20 in Sales Value ranking which is unexpected to the author who thought it would be higher up in the ranking; however, considering the business size with top 10 companies, it can be said that UniQlo’s website is highly contributing to generating sales.
4. What is the case of Sales Value #1 website?
1) Overview of All Nippon Airways (ANA) website
All Nippon Airways (ANA) is ranked #1 for Sales Value and Web Equity. Its Web Equity is 107,877 million yen with Sales Value of 89,692 million yen and Information Value of 18,185 million yen.
The company has successfully developed its website as an important sales channel. Its website now generates sales of approximately 400 billion yen per year with its 70% of its air flight business generated online.
2) Online initiatives
The next challenge for ANA is strengthening online communication leveraging the Internet. The following are some of the ongoing initiatives to achieve such objective.
(1) Facebook Page
The company opened its official Facebook Page this January. Information and photos of cabin attendants, trips and events unique to ANA are posted one after another. People who clicked “Like it!” totaled over 170,000 as of middle of August.
Immediate after the March 11 Japan disaster, considering victims, information related to the Japan disaster was posted such as information of relief services to Tohoku, re-opening of Sendai Airport and raising money for victims leveraging frequent flyer programme.
(2) SNS content
SNS called Social Sky Park opened in June targeting members of ANA Frequent Flyer Club. When members post on Twitter and Facebook regarding varieties of proposed topics, the post is also shared on the SNS. The content is of user generation which is encouraged to be easily shared online.
(3) Globalization
ANA started globalization of their web initiative to provoke demand of overseas market. The company first rolled its website in multiple languages and currencies to allow worldwide customer making reservation and payments online.
However, ANA’s awareness and brand is still rather low overseas. Therefore, the company’s next challenge is raising its awareness and brand overseas leveraging such media as Facebook.
References:-
The web site of the weekly business magazine
http://dw.diamond.ne.jp/
Japan Brand Strategy - The web site of the brand strategy consultancy
http://japanbrand.jp/
Resources:-
Japanese company websites of high Sales Value are mostly of large companies with strong brand. Some possible KFS for high Sales Value include Integrated Marketing Communication (IMC), web contents with which consumers can enjoy virtual experience online, and proactive use of social media such as Facebook Page, Twitter and SNS. Globalization is also a challenge for many companies.
Based on the same article, the author would like to introduce what kind of corporate websites are raked high in “Sales Value”, one of the two constituents of Web Equity, together with possible 4 KFS (key factors for success) for high “Sales Value” in this article.
1. What is “Sales Value”? How is it calculated?
“Sales Value” is how much the website contributed to sales generation among variety of media and communication channels that consumers access and refer in purchasing products and services.
This is calculated through the following 4 steps.
(1) Calculate what percentage of customers who purchased products and/or services used web site in their decision making.
(2) Calculate the degree (what percentage) the purchaser used the web site in their decision making.
(3) Multiply (1) and (2) to calculate effect of web site = average amount of information the purchaser used the web site in their decision making.
(4) Multiply (3) and marginal profit to calculate Sales Value.
2. Which company websites are ranked high up in Sales Value ranking?
They are mostly large companies of strong brands as the following.
Sales Value Ranking / Web Equity Ranking/ Company/Brand / Sales Value (million yen)
1 / 1 All Nippon Airways / 89,692
2 / 2 / Panasonic / 70,769
3 / 3 / Toyota / 62,360
4 / 5 / Honda / 46,739
5 / 6 / Nissan / 44,670
6 / 4 / NTT / DoCoMo / 40,679
7 / 12 / Japan Railway Tokai / 40,086
8 / 13 / Nomura Securities / 38,816
9 / 6 / Japan Travel Bureau / 38,166
10 / 11 / Sony / 37,410
3. What are some possible KFS for high Sales Value?
1) Integrated Marketing Communication (IMC)
Integrated Marketing Communication (IMC) in which strategically integrating all possible marketing communication tools and media, offline and offline, contributes to high Sales Value because it increases touch points with the customers.
In general, IMC is advanced in western countries, the U.S. in particular such as Fedex．On the other hand, Japan is far behind because departments in companies that are responsible for traditional offline media and the Internet are usually separated.
Many companies ranked high up in Sales Value rankings are innovators in IMC in Japan.
2) Web contents with which consumers can enjoy virtual experience online
Web contents with which consumers can enjoy virtual experience online of products and services contribute to high Sales Value. This is because it is a good approach to make consumers feel and understand the benefit of the products and services.
All Nippon Airways web content in which online consumers share their experiences of travelling is a good example. This web content allows cabin attendants and travelers share guides, know-how and experiences of their trips/travels, which helps provoke demand of travelling.
The next good example of virtual experience web content is Panasonic’s LED content. This allows consumers to find places in their homes where they can replace current lights with LED and make simulation of energy saving. The result of the simulation can be posted on Twitter and Facebook to share with online friends.
Another good example is Nissan’s content called User Voice in which experiences of Nissan car owners is shared. Voices and information can be displayed by types of cars. Voices and information can also be carefully selected by setting requirements such as gender, age, number of car users and usage with a search function.
3) Proactive use of social media
Proactive use of social media also contributes to high Sales Value ranking because it promotes web users share information.
Companies such as All Nippon Airways (ANA) have been leveraging SNS. Companies such as ANA and Nissan already have started leveraging Facebook.
UniQlo is the company that is often mentioned as innovator in leveraging Facebook in Japan. It is ranked 20 in Sales Value ranking which is unexpected to the author who thought it would be higher up in the ranking; however, considering the business size with top 10 companies, it can be said that UniQlo’s website is highly contributing to generating sales.
4. What is the case of Sales Value #1 website?
1) Overview of All Nippon Airways (ANA) website
All Nippon Airways (ANA) is ranked #1 for Sales Value and Web Equity. Its Web Equity is 107,877 million yen with Sales Value of 89,692 million yen and Information Value of 18,185 million yen.
The company has successfully developed its website as an important sales channel. Its website now generates sales of approximately 400 billion yen per year with its 70% of its air flight business generated online.
2) Online initiatives
The next challenge for ANA is strengthening online communication leveraging the Internet. The following are some of the ongoing initiatives to achieve such objective.
(1) Facebook Page
The company opened its official Facebook Page this January. Information and photos of cabin attendants, trips and events unique to ANA are posted one after another. People who clicked “Like it!” totaled over 170,000 as of middle of August.
Immediate after the March 11 Japan disaster, considering victims, information related to the Japan disaster was posted such as information of relief services to Tohoku, re-opening of Sendai Airport and raising money for victims leveraging frequent flyer programme.
(2) SNS content
SNS called Social Sky Park opened in June targeting members of ANA Frequent Flyer Club. When members post on Twitter and Facebook regarding varieties of proposed topics, the post is also shared on the SNS. The content is of user generation which is encouraged to be easily shared online.
(3) Globalization
ANA started globalization of their web initiative to provoke demand of overseas market. The company first rolled its website in multiple languages and currencies to allow worldwide customer making reservation and payments online.
However, ANA’s awareness and brand is still rather low overseas. Therefore, the company’s next challenge is raising its awareness and brand overseas leveraging such media as Facebook.
References:-
The web site of the weekly business magazine
http://dw.diamond.ne.jp/
Japan Brand Strategy - The web site of the brand strategy consultancy
http://japanbrand.jp/
Resources:-
Japanese company websites of high Sales Value are mostly of large companies with strong brand. Some possible KFS for high Sales Value include Integrated Marketing Communication (IMC), web contents with which consumers can enjoy virtual experience online, and proactive use of social media such as Facebook Page, Twitter and SNS. Globalization is also a challenge for many companies.
Sunday, 4 September 2011
Vol.65 – Web Equity Valuation in Japan – Model and Ranking
Web Equity Ranking of companies in Japan was introduced in a special article published in a recent Japanese business weekly magazine.
The author would like to outline the Web Equity valuation model and the results of the ranking based on the article.
1. What is the background of the Web Equity Valuation efforts in Japan?
It is the fact that the value of Internet as a communication channel and advertising together with its degree of influence are increasing in Japan just like in western countries.
For example, according to the survey result on advertising expenditure in Japan implemented by Dentsu, the leading advertising agency in Japan, advertising expenditure of the 4 traditional media (TV, newspaper, radio and magazine) for 2010 was decrease by 1.9% from 2009 when it was increase by 9.6% for the online advertising.
This means greater needs of means to know ROI of the Internet and website from companies leveraging the Internet and websites in their business, marketing and communication.
Therefore, a leading branding consultancy in Japan called Japan Brand Strategy developed a model of Web Equity Valuation for BtoC companies and started to publish the ranking after valuating 200+ web sites of around 2004.
2. What is the overview of the valuation?
1) Scope
Valuation of how much a corporate web site of BtoC companies contributed to the business in a year (April 2010 – March 2011) was calculated. Web sites of BtoB companies were excluded from the valuation.
2) Which corporate web sites
BtoC businesses were classified to 12 industries; electronics/machinery, IT/telecommunications, automobile/automotive, housing, entertainment/hobby related, foods and beverages, transport and leisure, retailers, finance and securities, energy and materials, toiletries and OTC drugs, and pharmaceutical.
And total of 236 leading corporate web sites were selected from each industry.
3) Data used
Data such as the following of each company was used in valuation.
- Financial data ending March 2011: if end of fiscal year is different, latest financial data was used.
- Result of online survey: implemented in July 2011, with 18,600 response
3. How valuation of Web Equity of each corporate web site performed?
“Sales Value” and “Information Value” of each corporate web site were calculated then the two were added together, as the Web Equity of the corporate web site.
Web Equity = Sales Value + Information Value
1) Sales Value
Sales Value is valuation of how much the web site contributed to selling of the company’s products and services.
This was calculated through the following 4 steps.
(1) Calculate what percentage of customers who purchased products and/or services used web site in their decision making.
(2) Calculate the degree (what percentage) the purchaser used the web site in their decision making.
(3) Multiply (1) and (2) to calculate effect of web site = average amount of information the purchaser used the web site in their decision making.
(4) Multiply (3) and marginal profit to calculate Sales Value.
2) Information Value
Information Value is how much the corporate web site contributed to brand enhancement of the company and its products/services.
“Access Value” and “Behaviour Value” were calculated and then added together to calculate Information Value,
(1) Access Value
Access Value is how much the online customer’s access to view the web site information contributed to brand enhancement of the company and its products/services.
This was calculated by multiplying PV (Page View) = number of pages of web sites viewed by value coefficient (unit value of a page set).
(2) Behaviour Value
Behaviour Value is how much online customer’s behaviour other than viewing pages such as applying for a campaign and requesting for pamphlets contributed to brand enhancement of the company and its products/services.
Number of behaviours such as membership registration and reading e-newsletters were selected.
Then for each behaviour, number of people who took such behaviour was calculated which was multiplied by value coefficient (unit value of a behaviour).
4. What was the result?
The top 10 companies were the following.
2011 / 2010 / Company/Brand / Web Equity (million yen)
1 / 4 / All Nippon Airways / 107,877
2 / 1 / Panasonic / 88,337
3 / 5 / Toyota / 72,337
4 / 3 / NTT DoCoMo / 60,291
5 / 2 / Honda / 56,960
6 / 24 / Nissan / 52,513
7 / 10 / Suntory / 51,787
8 / 6 / Japan Travel Bureau / 48,008
9 / 9 / Japan Airlines / 47,913
10 / 12 / UniQlo / 45,728
To the author, the companies/brands that were ranked in top 50 all in at least one of the following:-
(1) Strong corporate brand: e.g. Panasonic, Toyota, Sony, Honda, Nissan, Nomura Securities
(2) Strong product brand: e.g. NTT DoCoMo, Suntory, Kirin, Asahi, Coca Cola Japan, UniQlo
(3) Active in EC (Electronic Commerce): e.g. All Nippon Airways, Japan Travel Bureau, Japan Airlines, Japan Railways
(4) Leveraging SNS in their communication: e.g. Honda, UniQlo, All Nippon Airways, Suntory
(5) Leveraging Mobile: e.g. NTT DoCoMo, SoftBank Mobile, Tokyo Disney Resort
5. The author’s final thoughts
The Web Equity valuation model of Japan Brand Strategy may not be sufficiently refined from corporate finance perspective. It is nothing like corporate valuation model (of NPV = Net Present Value and DCF = Discounted Cash Flow) or of brand valuation of InterBrand.
Also, only BtoC company web sites are valuated. Many BtoB companies also leverage their web sites in their business and they cannot be disregarded.
Having said that, the result of the valuation and the ranking does provide us with some insights that help us coming up with clues what are required to enhance value of the web sites.
In one of her upcoming article the author would like to introduce some of the initiatives of the top ranking web sites that is assumed to made them to be of top ranking.
References:-
The web site of the weekly business magazine
http://dw.diamond.ne.jp/
Japan Brand Strategy - The web site of the brand strategy consultancy
http://japanbrand.jp/
Resources:-
A Japanese Brand Strategy Consultancy developed a Web Equity valuation model from which it calculated value of corporate web sites of major BtoC companies. Although the valuation is not necessarily refined as corporate and brand valuation model, it does provide us with some insights and help us understand what is required to enhance web equity.
The author would like to outline the Web Equity valuation model and the results of the ranking based on the article.
1. What is the background of the Web Equity Valuation efforts in Japan?
It is the fact that the value of Internet as a communication channel and advertising together with its degree of influence are increasing in Japan just like in western countries.
For example, according to the survey result on advertising expenditure in Japan implemented by Dentsu, the leading advertising agency in Japan, advertising expenditure of the 4 traditional media (TV, newspaper, radio and magazine) for 2010 was decrease by 1.9% from 2009 when it was increase by 9.6% for the online advertising.
This means greater needs of means to know ROI of the Internet and website from companies leveraging the Internet and websites in their business, marketing and communication.
Therefore, a leading branding consultancy in Japan called Japan Brand Strategy developed a model of Web Equity Valuation for BtoC companies and started to publish the ranking after valuating 200+ web sites of around 2004.
2. What is the overview of the valuation?
1) Scope
Valuation of how much a corporate web site of BtoC companies contributed to the business in a year (April 2010 – March 2011) was calculated. Web sites of BtoB companies were excluded from the valuation.
2) Which corporate web sites
BtoC businesses were classified to 12 industries; electronics/machinery, IT/telecommunications, automobile/automotive, housing, entertainment/hobby related, foods and beverages, transport and leisure, retailers, finance and securities, energy and materials, toiletries and OTC drugs, and pharmaceutical.
And total of 236 leading corporate web sites were selected from each industry.
3) Data used
Data such as the following of each company was used in valuation.
- Financial data ending March 2011: if end of fiscal year is different, latest financial data was used.
- Result of online survey: implemented in July 2011, with 18,600 response
3. How valuation of Web Equity of each corporate web site performed?
“Sales Value” and “Information Value” of each corporate web site were calculated then the two were added together, as the Web Equity of the corporate web site.
Web Equity = Sales Value + Information Value
1) Sales Value
Sales Value is valuation of how much the web site contributed to selling of the company’s products and services.
This was calculated through the following 4 steps.
(1) Calculate what percentage of customers who purchased products and/or services used web site in their decision making.
(2) Calculate the degree (what percentage) the purchaser used the web site in their decision making.
(3) Multiply (1) and (2) to calculate effect of web site = average amount of information the purchaser used the web site in their decision making.
(4) Multiply (3) and marginal profit to calculate Sales Value.
2) Information Value
Information Value is how much the corporate web site contributed to brand enhancement of the company and its products/services.
“Access Value” and “Behaviour Value” were calculated and then added together to calculate Information Value,
(1) Access Value
Access Value is how much the online customer’s access to view the web site information contributed to brand enhancement of the company and its products/services.
This was calculated by multiplying PV (Page View) = number of pages of web sites viewed by value coefficient (unit value of a page set).
(2) Behaviour Value
Behaviour Value is how much online customer’s behaviour other than viewing pages such as applying for a campaign and requesting for pamphlets contributed to brand enhancement of the company and its products/services.
Number of behaviours such as membership registration and reading e-newsletters were selected.
Then for each behaviour, number of people who took such behaviour was calculated which was multiplied by value coefficient (unit value of a behaviour).
4. What was the result?
The top 10 companies were the following.
2011 / 2010 / Company/Brand / Web Equity (million yen)
1 / 4 / All Nippon Airways / 107,877
2 / 1 / Panasonic / 88,337
3 / 5 / Toyota / 72,337
4 / 3 / NTT DoCoMo / 60,291
5 / 2 / Honda / 56,960
6 / 24 / Nissan / 52,513
7 / 10 / Suntory / 51,787
8 / 6 / Japan Travel Bureau / 48,008
9 / 9 / Japan Airlines / 47,913
10 / 12 / UniQlo / 45,728
To the author, the companies/brands that were ranked in top 50 all in at least one of the following:-
(1) Strong corporate brand: e.g. Panasonic, Toyota, Sony, Honda, Nissan, Nomura Securities
(2) Strong product brand: e.g. NTT DoCoMo, Suntory, Kirin, Asahi, Coca Cola Japan, UniQlo
(3) Active in EC (Electronic Commerce): e.g. All Nippon Airways, Japan Travel Bureau, Japan Airlines, Japan Railways
(4) Leveraging SNS in their communication: e.g. Honda, UniQlo, All Nippon Airways, Suntory
(5) Leveraging Mobile: e.g. NTT DoCoMo, SoftBank Mobile, Tokyo Disney Resort
5. The author’s final thoughts
The Web Equity valuation model of Japan Brand Strategy may not be sufficiently refined from corporate finance perspective. It is nothing like corporate valuation model (of NPV = Net Present Value and DCF = Discounted Cash Flow) or of brand valuation of InterBrand.
Also, only BtoC company web sites are valuated. Many BtoB companies also leverage their web sites in their business and they cannot be disregarded.
Having said that, the result of the valuation and the ranking does provide us with some insights that help us coming up with clues what are required to enhance value of the web sites.
In one of her upcoming article the author would like to introduce some of the initiatives of the top ranking web sites that is assumed to made them to be of top ranking.
References:-
The web site of the weekly business magazine
http://dw.diamond.ne.jp/
Japan Brand Strategy - The web site of the brand strategy consultancy
http://japanbrand.jp/
Resources:-
A Japanese Brand Strategy Consultancy developed a Web Equity valuation model from which it calculated value of corporate web sites of major BtoC companies. Although the valuation is not necessarily refined as corporate and brand valuation model, it does provide us with some insights and help us understand what is required to enhance web equity.
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