GLOBAL MARKETING (BGM7124) Prof. Osman
JUNE
31
08
Fall

WHEN GLOBAL MARKETING MEETS SOCIAL MEDIA
CODY ONG JIA WEI
(1131200119)

Introduction.
Social media has provided us with a world with no boundaries and has allowed small companies to dream of having a global reach. But, along with opportunities come challenges. Top among them is navigating the tricky terrain of communication and social differences in diverse geographies. But before we dive into addressing the challenges of social media in global market lets take a look at the social media consumer adoption and usage statistics.

Consumer adoption & usage statistics
Here is the latest Global Web Index summary in January 2015 (the most recently published) showing social network account ownership and active usage. It's useful to have both since it's the active social media use statistic which really shows the potential of a platform. Although Facebook is no longer growing at the rate it was based on the previous chart, its clearly the number one.
The popularity of Facebook, Twitter and Instagram are expected. You can see that Facebook is most popular in terms of active use - other charts in the report show it scores well in terms of frequency.
The ongoing importance of the Google social platforms YouTube and Google+ may be a surprise since Google+ is no longer actively promoted, but they are integrated into their unified account sign-in.

Social network popularity by country.
This is a great visualisation of the popularity of social networks based on the interviews in the GWI report. If you pick out your country it's probably way behind the countries in which these four core social networks are most popular. Indonesia, Philippines, Mexico, India and Brazil are in the top 10 for each with significantly higher levels of use than the US, UK and European countries.

The Fastest growing social networks.
Which are the fast growing networks? Well, through 2014 Pinterest, Tumblr, Instagram and LinkedIn had the biggest growth, so we can expect this has continued into 2015. So, if you're not actively using these networks for marketing, this could be a missed opportunity.

Use of social networks by different demographic.
This chart is striking for the similarity of usage across different age groups. It shows that the social networks are now at a stage of maturity where they give opportunities to reach all age and gender groups. The exceptions to this are Instagram and Tumblr which are clearly popular with younger age groups.

Addressing the challenges of social media in global market.
In 2010, Buddy Media, Inc. a New York City “software-as-a-service” company that works with some of the top global advertisers conducted a study that looked at the difference between the perceived potential of global social media and the actual level of achievement. Harris Interactive, Inc conducted the survey of 105 Fortune 1000 brand managers. While 72% of respondents indicated that social media offers great opportunity to reach existing and potential customers around the world, they also indicated that they were lacking the tools and information necessary to leverage global social media effectively.
According to the study, when using social media on an international basis to reach customers in local geographic markets, the biggest obstacles faced were
a) Tracking or measuring success (48%)
b) Managing and maintaining information (45%)
c) Engaging audiences (42%)
d) Identifying influencers who can carry the brand message (39%),
e) Keeping regional and country-specific content fresh (32%).
In 2012, Buddy Media conducted a study specifically related to social media marketing in Asia-Pacific, "The State of Social Media Marketing in Asia-Pacific," which indicated that social spending is expected to increase significantly over the next 2 years. It also noted that social media is not new to most brands and agencies in the region-nearly 75% of the respondents indicated they had social marketing programs in place at their companies for more than 1 year; Facebook is the most-used social network (almost 90%), followed by Twitter (66%) and YouTube (62%); mobile is emerging as a key means of connecting with consumers; more than 80% of respondents indicated that they considered mobile strategy important for social media marketing.
Even for marketers without a significant global presence, global issues may emerge. For those operating in global markets, regardless of how small the scale, the issue obviously becomes more immediate.
Basically, social media is global and local events seldom remain local.

Do’s and don’t of global communication.
The growth and popularity of social media presents a unique opportunity for businesses to grow their brands globally, but there are several land mines that need to be navigated in order to ensure a successful global campaign. These land mines, include language translation, time zone differences, and varying global trends.

Language barriers
Your message needs to resonate with your audience, therefore assigning in-country managers for your social media is essential, not only will an in-country manager ensure proper language use, they are also more likely to notice cultural sensitivities and nuances in socially shared text and images. If an in-country manager is not feasible, partner with a language service provider that can provide translation services.

Time zone dilemmas
Effective social media campaigns operate in real time. For a business looking to expand globally, this means having the communication lines open all day, every day. Whether discussing promotions, contests, or any other conversation about your company, it is important that you engage with customers in real time as much as possible.

Global trends
To make your global social media strategy more personal and appealing, it is important to relate and localize content to an in-country audience. It is also important to note that people in different countries share and relate to different kinds of content-one country may relate more to blogs, while another may be more interested in video or photo sharing. They also use different social media platforms. Understand what type of content is relevant to your audience, and build that into your social media strategy.

To sum it up, you have to speak to the targeted people at the right time and right place in their language, both literally and figuratively.

Rule of thumb for adopting social media in global marketing.
While social media is relatively new as a communication medium, the basic principles of good communication still apply.
The first step is thinking about your target audience.
The next, is making sure you have an overall communication strategy that is driving social media activities.
A solid social media strategy in any country should have an established web presence. Social media revolves around your main online presence, and your website is always going to represent presence.
Facebook, is a good starting point for most organizations since it tends to be the dominant platform in most countries.
Find a platform that is compatible with the target country to focus on first and then build from there.

Conclusion.
Social media, like other forms of communication, presents both opportunities and challenges for global marketers. Taking a "think global, act local" approach and staying on top of both cultural and technological trends can help avoid missteps and ensure that communication efforts are resonating with intended audiences.
Involving local markets from the outset at the planning and creative stage is crucial in order to establish common goals and to set roles and deadlines. This way, all stake- holders will have opportunities to raise concerns, or foresee content issues at a local level. There is nothing worse than releasing an asset to 30+ markets for localisation, only to discover that some of the content cannot be used in half (or more) of these.