Red Bricks Media: 10 Things You Need to Know About Pan-Asia Social Media Campaigns - Elliott Easterling - MediaBizBloggers

Recently we have seen a flurry of activity for our clients across Asia asking for help on their Pan-Asia social media campaigns. One thing that is certain is that social media is hot in Asia and it is increasingly becoming one of the top channels for online marketing for both paid and earned media.

Although every country and sub region is unique, there are some generalities to consider when deploying social media campaigns in Asia. Here are 10 of the more salient ones.

1. In Asia social is mobile and mobile is social. If you look at emerging countries, the growth of internet penetration is happening on mobile devices. This is mostly due to the limited penetration of land-line broadband infrastructure, compared to the significant investments made in mobile and mobile data networks. Most new cell phones in Asia, even those under $100, boast internet connectivity capabilities. When you are running social campaigns in Asia, make sure that your social media strategy heavily considers the specific capabilities and limitations of the user experience on a mobile phone.

2. Social media monitoring can be complex. If you are trying to do social media monitoring across multiple regions, plan on it being a logistically complex effort. Monitoring conversations in additional countries does not always offer economies of scale or scope. It is also important (and hopefully obvious) to note that each country and culture has unique intonations in its language. It is easy to misdiagnose good from bad sentiment, and can be difficult to weed out the signal to noise ratio in social conversations. If you are planning to do monitoring and language analysis across the region make sure your technology and service partner supports native language capabilities with their staff and technology.

3. Don’t forget blogs and outlets for User Generated Content (UGC). The current instinct in Western-style social media campaigns is to start with Facebook. Note that in Asia users are much more apt to post UGC than their Western counterparts. Blogs, and like channels, make up a much more important part of the online social fabric. According to Forrester, in 2009, about 40% of the online Chinese population engaged in UGC as opposed to 20% of their US counterparts. In fact, China alone accounts for over 38% of the world’s bloggers (Global Web Index). Informal media networks, such as blogs, need to play a critical role in your Asia social media strategy

4. Facebook is not always a guarantee. In Asia, Facebook has nowhere near the reach as it does in the West; this however varies dramatically by country. According to a February 2010 comScore, report, only 15% of the Asian online population could be reached through Facebook. This is inclusive of countries like the Philippines, with 84% Facebook penetration. Note that Facebook, with its strong mobile access capabilities, is likely to make the most penetration into developing countries on the wave of mobile internet. So, at least outside of China, Facebook is a good long term bet. As you roll out your campaigns it is good to build a matrix of social networks by region to help prioritize and focus your efforts.

5. You actually can achieve scale in an Asian social media program.For example, there are over 400,000,000 Chinese online. That is more than the entire North American population. If you are looking for scale in your marketing efforts across Asia, outside of search, social media is a great #2 choice. Because of the massive market size, make sure that you have your internet infrastructure ready to scale when you launch your programs.

6. Consider micropayments or virtual goods as a revenue strategy. In Asia, consumers are much more open to buy and trade virtual goods and conduct micro-transactions. The use of these strategies can dramatically change the economics of social media campaigns, turning earned media into earned revenue. 100,000,000 teenagers spending $0.25 each can add up quickly.

7. B2B social marketing works in Asia. Social media in Asia is not just for reaching kids on phones. Over 50% of the Fortune 100 companies in Asia are marketing through at least one major social media channel (Burson-Marstellar). Because of the propensity for Asia netizens to rely on blogs and other informal news networks, one could argue that B2B marketing in Asia is far more effective than in the West.

8. Play to your brand strengths. Brand loyalty runs extra strong in most parts of Asia as compared to the West. Sometimes it takes little more than your brand and a small social impetus to kick start a great campaign. If you have a great brand keep the strategy simple and let the social fabric do the rest.

9. Social media can significantly drive offline sales. Partially because of the limited and often corrupt postal infrastructure, ecommerce has not developed to the degree it has in the West. What is interesting is that although ecommerce penetration lags, Asian consumers tend to rely more heavily on social media, like newsgroups and blog reviews, to help guide purchase decisions. A recent study by CIC and Roland Berger showed that 58 percent of Chinese Internet users have their purchase decisions influenced by online consumer reviews vs. 19 percent for US Internet users.

10. Start from scratch in China. Although each territory is unique, none of the rules that apply anywhere else apply in China. The Chinese Internet economy has been very unfriendly to Western brands, so you can count out Twitter, Facebook and YouTube as part of your strategy. Partner with an agency that has a depth of experience in that region before you kick off a campaign. Also note that China is not just one country but a massive conglomeration of unique cultures and very diverse regions.

Elliott Easterling is Co-Founder & Chairman of the Board at Red Bricks Media. Elliott can be reached at eeasterling@redbricksmedia.com

Read all Elliott's MediaBizBloggers commentaries at The Brickwire - MediaBizBloggers.

Check us out on Facebook at MediaBizBloggers.com
Follow our Twitter updates @MediaBizBlogger