Introduction to Global Social Media Marketing - Can You Afford Not to Think Globally?

Organizations cannot afford not to be listening to what is being said about them, or interacting with their customers in the space where they are spending their time and, increasingly, their money too. Malcolm Alder, Partner, KPMGs Digital Economy Practice, KPMG Australia We have all heard the phrase Think globally, act locally, but not often do we realise its far reaching implications, or the deep seated pragmatism behind it. For profit based organisations with operations cutting across geographical fault lines, this is no longer a new age business ideology, but a matter of survival. The neo-liberal economic policies that we are living under demand that the process of globalisation be a practical one. And today, nowhere is it more necessary and relevant than in the online promotion of goods and services in the ever expanding consumer markets of the world. Internet based mass media and the exponentially expanding and evolving online social networking landscape has brought about a sea change in how people view themselves and others. Individuals are becoming more and more receptive to all sorts of information and ideas across continents and cultures. And therefore, businesses are confronted with an unprecedented opportunity to state their case to existing customers and reach out to potential markets through this medium. They now have a direct and flexible platform to assess their place in the markets zeitgeist by simply listening in. Basically, web based social media and networking has provided an impetus to marketing and commercial activity across the globe, across sectors, and across markets, that can only be described as revolutionary in its magnitude. Social Media Use Around the World In 2012, eMarketer projected a growth of 220 million in the number of world wide social media users - a rise from 1.18 billion in 2011 to 1.4 billion by the end of that year. Although it is a slight decrease in percentage growth from 2010 to 2011, it still is a 20% rise in the number of new social users across the planet. This moderation in growth rates only signifies a gradual market maturity. The SocialBakers graph below represents a continent wise growth in social media users over a period of ten months in 2012.

The penetration of social media among netizens is set to remain the highest in North America for the foreseeable future owing to its wider accessibility to the Internet, says eMarketer. Close on its heels would be the Middle East, Africa, and Latin America. In regions such as Africa, Internet penetration rates and infrastructure remains an impediment to the spread of social media and online networking. As a result, user numbers are still small. The potential on the other hand is enormous. As industrialisation and modernisation touches more and more African capitals, the continent is poised to become the largest growth centre for online social networking. The most interesting social media phenomena in recent times however, is the shift of power to the developing world from traditional western hubs of online enterprise, in terms of user numbers, market size, and future potential. The fastest growth in web based social media networking is poised to emanate from the emerging markets of the world, particularly South Asia, Asia-Pacific, and the Middle-East. South America will also witness a growth of 18.5% its social media user base. One can gather some interesting insights in world wide social media usage trends from the following data chart prepared by eMarketer. It displays country and continent specific growth projections from 2010 through 2014.

These numbers are reflective also of the rapid growth of the Internet itself in several of the nations that feature the top social media figures. Markets such as India, China, Brazil, Mexico, Russia the economic engines of the world today, are driving the world wide Internet and online social revolution as well. The graph below contrasts Internet penetration rates up till 2011 in some of these countries, against those in some established and increasingly saturating western markets.

Facebook, Twitter & YouTube: Global Growth and Penetration Although local and indigenous social media platforms have a pivotal and increasingly customised role to play in reaching potential markets for multi-national outfits, the larger world wide social revolution is unfolding on the backs of the usual suspects. Internet giants such as Facebook, Twitter and Youtube have been the primary catalysts in generating international interest and acceptance of online social networking and content creation over the last decade or so. They have played a crucial role in introducing the world to targeted online marketing by global and local brands. According to eMarketer, Facebook was poised to witness a rise in the number of its world wide users to approximately 826 million in 2012, up from about 651 million in the previous year. But real numbers outdid projections by a huge margin. Overall, there were over 981,374,000 Facebook users in the world by December 2012. This constituted of around 60% of the total number of social media users and about 40% of overall Internet users in the world. This figure is also nearly 12% of the total world population. These are astounding figures for a single website on the Internet.

The United States has traditionally been the biggest Facebook using country on the planet. However, the last 3-4 years have seen a sea change in Facebook user demographics. During 2010-11, smaller markets like the UK, Turkey, Indonesia, and France were in the Facebook spotlight. 2012 on the other hand, saw a completely different trend. Emerging, populous markets such as Brazil, India, and Mexico started overshadowing relatively developed markets during this period, and the focus shifted from saturated western countries to Asia and other developing regions.

Asia-Pacific specifically, is poised to remain the biggest driver of user growth for Facebook for quite some time to come. Adoption rates in countries like India, Indonesia,

and Japan have left the rest behind by miles. Other regions set to witness high user growth include the Middle East, Africa, and Latin America. Another interesting phenomenon is the rising average age of Facebooks population across the world. It has gone up from 29 years in 2010, to 30 in 2012. Gender distribution too has undergone considerable changes. The female domination of social networks has ended, and more and more men are spending an increasing amount of time on sites such as Facebook and Twitter. While women still spend more time than men on Facebook in countries like the UK, its the other way round in non-western nations such as India and Turkey.

In spite of a general sense of pessimism regarding the future of social platforms such as Twitter owing to its declining growth rates and dropping engagement statistics in several non English speaking regions (including European nations), according to an eMarketer report, it will continue to expand its worldwide user base. In 2011, Twitter saw a growth of almost 32% in its user base, an increase from its 23.5% figure from 2010. In fact, in 2011, Twitter actually overtook Facebook in terms of user growth. User numbers swelled from 106 million in 2010 to over 500 million by the end of 2012, and more than 190 million tweets were sent out in 2012 on a daily basis. Twitter is expected to grow its monthly user numbers to more than 37.6 million before the end of 2014.

By mid 2012, 50% users on both Facebook and Twitter were accessing these sites through their mobile devices. Here is how mobile social media usage looked like for Europe during late 2011.

Apart from conventional social networking platforms, websites such as YouTube too have played a huge role in pioneering the rise of social multi media interfaces. Youtube was born in May 2005, and has seen rapid and exponential growth ever since. Today, it has become almost synonymous with online video watching and uploading. The evolution of high-speed internet access has played an important role in the mass popularity of this medium. Marketers had identified the potential of this platform quite early, as it was seen as the medium to replace television. Viral marketing is a concept very much associated with social media phenomena such as YouTube. For a better idea of the magnitude of YouTubes impact on the Internet and netizens the world over, consider this - YouTube is the worlds largest search engine, next only to Google. It handles at least 10% of the overall traffic on the entire World Wide Web. According to Alexa statistics, YouTube is the third most visited website on the Internet with 2 billion views each day. It had more than a trillion views in 2011 alone. Over 829,000 different clips are uploaded on its servers each day, with 72 hours of video uploaded every 60 seconds. More than 3 billion hours of video was already being watched on YouTube each month by mid 2012. YouTube has also been widely accepted and adopted on mobile platforms across the world, with more than 600 million views per day on mobile devices. Mobile traffic on YouTube swelled 300% just in a matter of ten months in 2011. Volumes were expected

to double up in 2012. This apart, approximately 500 years of YouTube video was being watched every 24 hours just on Facebook in 2012. Twitter too was being used to share roughly 700 YouTube videos per minute during the same period. Changing Trends in Social Media Demographics Social media platforms and habits vary greatly with country and region. Europe for instance - apart from a few exceptions, is still mostly dominated by local operators providing online media and networking platforms in native languages. The same holds true for several Asian countries. With the exception of Facebook, social networking web sites used in this part of the world are quite different from the ones dominant in the US, UK, or Europe. Factors determining online demographic trends however, are becoming more and more dynamic due to the levelling effects of concerted efforts towards a western brand of globalisation. According to a 2011 Forrester report that examined social media behaviour around the world by studying social media data from 18 separate countries across North America, Europe, South America and Asia, emerging markets such as India, China, Mexico, and Brazil are the ones that are the most addicted to online social media. In spite of dismal Internet penetration proportions in these countries, their vast geographical and population sizes have resulted in a netizen class with highly entrenched online lives, which is much larger and much more engaged in web-based social media as opposed to their western counterparts.

Another contributing factor for the passive attitude towards social media in North America and Western Europe is their long association with it. As a result, users here tend to be bigger consumers than creators of social media content. Also, it is next to impossible to determine a clear profile of a European social media user. Attitudes and habits differ with language and region even in this largely economically and culturally homogeneous society. Japanese on the other hand, are an exception when it comes to Asian social networking usage trends. They display social media behaviour and patterns more akin to, say a German user. For instance, they still prefer a high level of anonymity when online. The following graph reflects the contrast in interest and involvement in social media between the orient and the occident.

In countries such as China, South Korea and Taiwan, indigenous social networking platforms still hold the sway over the ones favoured internationally. Facebook is an exception however, which in the last half a decade, has developed a strong presence in nine out of thirteen of the major nations in the Asia-Pacific region. At the end of 2012, the top five social media platforms here were: Facebook Renren (China)

Twitter Cyworld (South Korea) Wretch (Taiwan)

The Edelman presentation below represents the internet usage habits in this part of the world a region that has become the most important hub for social networking and content generation activities on the planet today. For organisations looking to frame a marketing pitch here, this is valuable information.

The State of Play in World-Wide Social Media Marketing The advent of web based social media has made it possible for people all across the globe to connect with each other at the click of a mouse. And as a consequence, new possibilities for international brands to penetrate fresh and exciting markets are opening up by the day. In fact, having a social media portfolio has now become a business imperative - irrespective of the size or nature of operations. Participating in the ongoing social media revolution has climbed up on the boardroom agenda of all and sundry.

Over 70% of the business organizations on the entire planet manufacturers and service providers, public and private, small and large, are now promoting their products and services proactively on web-based social networking platforms. Social media is going corporate in a big way, and businesses of all shapes and sizes are posting, tweeting, and pinning like never before. This is helping them gain extra exposure and interact directly with their existing and potential customers. An astounding 94% of all corporations around the world now use some or the other social media platform, of which 85% claim to have gained exposure for their business operations. Not surprisingly, Facebook is the numero uno favourite, followed by Twitter and LinkedIn. Social media marketing has skyrocketed in the corporate world also on account the pay off rate. A reported 74% of brands witnessed a considerable rise in web traffic to their portals by putting in just 24 hours of their time and effort on various social media platforms in a months time. 65% brands say that social media is a crucial tool for them to acquire market knowledge, and 58% found it useful in expanding their customer and fan base.

According to Gartner projections, global social media revenues were set to reach almost $15 billion by the end of 2012 a jump of approximately 50% from the 2011 figure of a little over $10 billion. Advertising on the other hand, is set to maintain its place as the largest contributor to the revenue stream generated by social media, with a projected total of approximately $9 billion in 2012 alone. Gaming apps on social networking sites are proving to be massive revenue generators as well, with figures doubling from 2010 to 2011, and expected to

cross the $6 billion mark by end 2012. An estimated $280 million was the expected revenue just from world wide subscriptions on social media sites in 2012.

Trans-National Social Media Marketing With all this good news and great future prospects, one must also remember that along with rapid expansion, the social media landscape is also undergoing constant change. Though an increasing number of commercial entities are adopting and embracing social media as a strong marketing tool, it also brings unprecedented challenges to the board room. The task of guiding and streamlining product and brand perception on all existing and upcoming social marketing channels on a world scale is a tough one. The biggest challenge for global brands is a dilemma relating to its marketing policy should a brand centralize its online campaign on a particular platform under a unified brand page, or does it create customised web spaces for each of its markets locally? Increasingly, localisation is triumphing over globalisation, while an urge to maintain a global ethos across markets remains.

It is important for digital marketers to understand that while national boundaries hold little water on the web, it can not change cultural and societal differences. And these do reflect on behaviour patterns on the Internet. A research conducted by Trendstream on global consumer adoption of the Internet and social media in 36 different markets found three separate behaviour types in users - messengers, groupers, and content sharers. Emerging markets such as those in Asia were found to be intense content creators and sharers. While established western markets like the UK and Canada found to be prolific messengers. These behaviour patterns have driven most leading brands to customise their approach and establish localised online presence in different parts of the world, as the aforementioned report found out. Over 40% of the fortune 500 were already maintaining local pages for different territories on Facebook by early 2012. This is a challenging task that a lot of brands are struggling with. Many brands have made severe errors of judgement. Some took it as a matter of translating their existing promotional themes and material into the local language, and have had to suffer debilitating consequences. The two main factors at play here are culture and responsiveness. For an international brand to generate and optimise monetizing through a Facebook page, it needs to concentrate on leveraging local community management, and engage with local consumers in a manner that is authentic to the local market. Leveraging the Social Media Boom A 2012 KPMG International study has reported that although over 70% of business organizations throughout the world are active social media participants today, it is businesses in developing markets like China, India, and Brazil that have assumed a leadership role in social media marketing strategies, techniques, and success rates, over their western counterparts in the UK, Australia, Germany, and Canada. Respondents from the former were 30% more likely than the latter to say that social media figured within the marketing mix of their respective businesses. The research also found that organisations still have a tendency to undervalue the potential of web based social networking. An appalling 87% of the respondents that did not have an existing social media presence were of the opinion that it would have no substantial influence on their brands public perception or bottom line benefits. Contrast this with an overwhelming 80% of those with an active social program that claim that they had scientifically measured organisational proof that suggests otherwise. At the Nielsen Consumer 360 conference held in New Delhi on 15th November 2011, Brad Smallwood - Facebooks Global Head of Insights and Measurement, laid deep emphasis on the role and relevance of social media and networking in brand marketing in this cyber age. Also mentioned was the importance of measuring and quantifying the same, so that the performance of a particular brand can be assessed accurately on each social media platform.

Smallwood laid a lot of stress on listening to the online community and drawing important lessons, so that a campaign evolves into an effective value addition and delivers long term bottom-line benefits. The most crucial point made by him however, was the need to focus on the community that is not a fan, the logic being a fan is already a customer. The like button is only an opportunity, not an end. he said. As part of eConsultancys sixth Quarterly Digital Intelligence Briefing titled Managing and Measuring Social that was done in collaboration with Adobe in 2012, a survey was conducted on more than 650 marketing professionals from several business sectors in Europe and North America. The goal was to analyse trends in the management and measurement of the value that social media is bringing in for businesses. The study found that 67% of businesses accept social media as an integral part of their marketing strategy, 64% use it for increasing awareness, 44% for direct marketing, and 37% for content marketing. Only about 25% of the sample use social for providing post sales customer service. 86% of the participants were found to be using Twitter and Facebook as their social media platform of choice. The study also underlined the leading concerns that businesses face while managing and quantifying the benefits of their online social profiles. Most businesses willing to co-opt social media into their marketing scheme are under-confident of being able to accurately measure their social media efforts as optimised techniques and tools are still under evolution. 67% suggested that social media marketing requires more data to rely on. Only about 25% claimed to have leveraged available data and statistics for optimization purposes. 41% of the sample claimed a lack of data tracking tools and capabilities. Irrespective of this, businesses need to focus on the fact that for an average individual user (a potential consumer), an average of two social media platforms have become an integral part of their day to day lives. And this is not going to change anytime soon. Measurable or not, the impact on users of a brands presence on these platforms can hardly be contested.

Apart from dominant names such as Facebook a domain of choice for most brands on account of the time spent on it by existing and potential costumers, there also exist some niche social media web sites like Pinterest and Instagram which have an expanding and increasing loyal user base. It is therefore important for businesses not to follow the flock blindly when it comes to choosing a primary social media platforms. The decision should

instead be based on industry-specific considerations and the kind of brand identity the business envisions for itself. To experience marketing success on the web, it is essential to choose a service provider that is ideal for the target audience of the brand, and is in sync with its digital marketing strategy. Local social media platforms also need to be given due weightage while designing a social media strategy. Localisation is a pivotal part of any comprehensive and successful social campaign. In China for instance, Facebook is not an option. Renren the largest operator in this part of the world should be the first choice for anybody targeting this market. Brands also need to be open minded about user participation. Co-creation is a crucial aspect of brand building on the web. Suggestions and feedback can always be taken with a pinch of salt, but constant interaction, responsiveness, and transparency are of paramount importance. Global Social Media Marketing Tips for Trans-National Organisations In a nutshell: Shift focus on markets that are more social and will generate the biggest bang for your buck, i.e., emerging markets in Asia, Eastern Europe, Middle-East, and increasingly, Africa. Target markets that have the best social media adoption record, instead of persisting with heavy spending on traditional markets like the US and the UK. A cookie cutter approach does not work with social media marketing. Diverse cultural and societal norms in different regions evoke unique online behavioural patterns. The need of the hour is active local activation and tailor-made strategies for each homogenised market. Lower consumer interaction expectations from mature markets, especially in the west. Focus on providing top notch content that can simply be read or viewed by the American or Western European user. Mobile adoption and localised data tracking is crucial for social media success. In the US, more than a third of the users were accessing social networking platforms from their mobile devices in 2011. For world wide Facebook users, this figure is more than 40%. In Asia - the largest emerging social media market, viewing videos makes up for the majority of the time spent online. Campaigns targeted for this region must therefore be built around this medium. Blogging is a highly under rated social media tool. Businesses have started discontinuing personal blogs due to the emergence of ready made audience loaded social platforms. However, a well maintained company blog is still capable of

bringing in immense value and industry credibility for brands. These can serve as launching pads or pivots for their broader social media program. References: Democratization and Economic Globalization by Helen V. Milner and Bumba Mukherjee, 2009: www.princeton.edu/~hmilner/forthcoming %20papers/MilnerMukherjee_Democratization&EconGlobalization_ARPS.pdf KPMG: Going Social - How businesses are making the most of social media: www.kpmg.com/Global/en/IssuesAndInsights/ArticlesPublications/Pages/goingsocial.aspx A Larger Social Media Community Doesnt Equate Consumer Engagement Nielsen Consumer 360 India by Malavika Varma, November 16, 2011: www.indiasocial.in/a-larger-social-media-community-doesnt-equate-consumerengagement-nielsen-consumer-360-india Twitter is Now Growing Way Faster than Facebook by Josh Wolford, March 6, 2012: www.webpronews.com/twitter-is-now-growing-way-faster-than-facebook-2012-03 YouTube by the Numbers: Statistics, Traffic & Growth in 7 Years by Eric Guerin, June 12, 2012: www.adeliestudios.com/youtube-numbers-statistics-traffic Emerging Markets Lead World in Social Networking Growth, August 16, 2012: www.public.site2.mirror2.phi.emarketer.com/Article.aspx?R=1009269 Jonas Klit Nielsen, Mai Bruun Poulsen, Marlene Friis: www.mindjumpers.com Gartner Says Worldwide Social Media Revenue Forecast to Reach $16.9 Billion in 2012, July 25, 2012: www.gartner.com/it/page.jsp?id=2092217 Images: www.stateofsearch.com/social-media-world-in-statistics-infographic www.mindjumpers.com/blog/2011/06/asia-infographic www.mindjumpers.com/blog/2012/12/optimize-your-twitter-presence

www.visual.ly/social-media-statistics-and-facts-2012 www.jeffbullas.com/2012/04/23/48-significant-social-media-facts-figures-and-statisticsplus-7-infographics www.socialbakers.com www.cxotoday.com/story/social-media-revenues-all-set-to-increase www.trends.e-strategyblog.com/2012/09/11/b2b-b2c-social-media-leads-sales-bychannel-chart/3689 www.i.marketingprofs.com/assets/images/daily-data-point/b2b-vs-b2c-social-media-usebusiness.jpg www.marketingpilgrim.com/2011/10/social-network-ad-revenues-to-top-5-billion-in2011.html