Question

Topic: Social Media

Going Internationally Social

Posted by Anonymous on 11/27/2009 at 5:13 AM ET 125 Points
Hi

I am currently looking at ways increasing our brand awareness on an international level. We have had great success with our social networking campaigns, and are looking at ways to increase this. Read an interesting article yesterday on the different platforms used in different countries and was wondering if anyone had any success or failure stories to share, if they have tried this?

Are you in favor of having multiple social platforms or do you think concentrating on 1 is the better way to go?

Thanks


Brad
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  • Posted by Jay Hamilton-Roth on 11/27/2009 at 9:03 AM Member
    (Aside: While reading your question my eye glanced right and saw the advertisement for "A Step-By-Step Guide To a Successful Social Media Program" (https://www.marketingprofs.com/store/product/33/social-media-program-guide/...). Re-reading the guide reminded me the basics of how/why to get involved with social media and might have some basic rethinking that might be of use to answer your question.)

    In each country/niche, you may have to localize your campaign to reach your target audience. Yelp is popular in some countries, but not others. Ditto other networks. The trick is that you've invested well in your existing campaign, so that not only do you have expertise, you also have social capital: you have people who have commented/testified on your behalf. That means if you reach out in a new market, and you can connect them to your existing network, you've "hit the ground running." People will immediately see the benefits you offer. By restarting from scratch, you'll lose your existing social capital in the new market.
  • Posted by excellira on 11/27/2009 at 8:03 PM Member
    Certain platforms have gained traction in specific regions. Clearly there is crossover but you will likely need to find the popular platforms in each of the states you are targeting.

    Orkut for example was very popular in India.
  • Posted on 11/27/2009 at 10:06 PM Accepted
    "Are you in favor of having multiple social platforms or do you think concentrating on 1 is the better way to go? "

    Consider all of the following:

    1 - What are your resources? Human, as well as available skillsets. If you don't have the required resources, are you able to outsource?

    2 - Where are your customers? If most of your customers are only active on one particular social site, then it's probably best to focus on just that site. But if your customers gravitate toward 2-3 different social sites/tools, then you should explore being active in all these places.


    In general, if your target market is active on one social site or using one social tool, then you probably should be too. It's all about 'fishing where the fish are'.
  • Posted by Peter (henna gaijin) on 11/28/2009 at 11:44 AM Member
    Very much a localization thing. I use both American (Facebook, etc.) and Japanese (Mixi) social media, and the etiquette, how they are used, etc. for the two are very different. Granted that japan and US are very different culturally, but even between western countries, how the social media is used will be very different. You need to localize your strategy to each market.
  • Posted by Gary Bloomer on 11/28/2009 at 3:14 PM Accepted
    Dear Brad,

    Liverpool, eh? Small world. I used to live in Stoke-on-Trent.

    For social media to work the main thing is to forget about using it to sell. Use it to influence, impress, direct, inform, and meet and greet, yes, but not as a selling tool. The sales side of things can come later, once you've established relationships and once people have decided they know you, like you, and trust you.

    For fashion the rules may well be different. But as much as possible, the more you focus on building relationships and helping people make informed choices about fashion, the more your overall network will grow.

    To do this you need to spread the word. I think one of anything is a bad thing in marketing: one product, one message, one market, one method of contact, one source of revenue, all a recipe for disaster. Why? Because if that one thing fails, or if it tails off, you're up le creek du merde sans paddle.

    So, the tried and trues of Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, and Youtube are fine and you really ought to use all of them. But don't be too shy about dipping your toes into other SM networks that focus on fashion. I'm asking you to consider this because when it comes to a niche, the narrower and the deeper you go the more intensely focused your buyers will be on the subject.

    Here are some of the top social media sites dedicated to fashion:

    www.Modepass.com

    www.IQONS.com

    https://ethicalfashionforum.ning.com/

    https://www.thebudgetfashionista.com/archive/stylemob_new_fashion_social_ne...

    www.fashioncareercenter.com

    www.2Threads.com

    www.Chictini.com

    www.Fashionising.com

    www.FashionNetwork.com

    www.MetroFriendly.com

    www.Movmnt.com

    www.MyKidsFashion.com

    www.Stylehive.com

    www.StyleHop.com

    www.StyleMob.com

    www.UsTrendy.com

    I hope these help. And of the sites you post to, the more you can give in terms of context, the better. Good luck to you.

    Gary Bloomer
    Wilmington, DE, USA
    Follow me on www.twitter.com @Gary Bloomer
  • Posted by ckieff on 12/1/2009 at 12:27 PM Accepted
    I'd like to elaborate upon what Mack Collier said above. One important aspect of social marketing is being where your customer is. This is slightly different from fishing where the fish are, because you can only fish in one place, but your target market may be in more than one.

    With that in mind, you need to be where your target is, whether that's one social network or several. You can't expect people to come to you, especially in social marketing. They simply won't leave their comfort zone to join a new network simply to be with you.

    Therefore, you need to meet your target wherever they are, in as many places as there are reasonably sized concentrations of your targets. You need to decide what a reasonable concentration is, but it should be done with their needs in mind, not with your resource limitations in mind.

    There are new products on the market or coming soon that will help you to monitor and respond to many different social networks from a single dashboard. Which greatly simplifies the task and reduces the resources needed.

    Chris Kieff
    CEO, 1 Good Reason.com
    Social Marketing
    Follow me on Twitter, www.Twitter.com/ckieff
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