{"id":1299,"date":"2016-12-06T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2016-12-06T00:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.motionpoint.com\/?post_type=blog&p=1299"},"modified":"2016-12-06T00:00:00","modified_gmt":"2016-12-06T00:00:00","slug":"the-power-of-social-and-serving-overseas-consumers","status":"publish","type":"blog","link":"https:\/\/www.motionpoint.com\/blog\/the-power-of-social-and-serving-overseas-consumers\/","title":{"rendered":"The Power of Social, and Serving Overseas Consumers"},"template":"","blog_categories":[5,9],"resource_categories":[],"targeted_localized_audience":[],"document_categories":[],"class_list":["post-1299","blog","type-blog","status-publish","hentry","blog_categories-international-business-strategies","blog_categories-marketing-strategies"],"acf":{"blog_short_description":"Is your company expanding to new global markets in 2017? You\u2019ll need to get fluent in their languages\u2014and their social networks.","news_inline_styles":"","blog_video_id":"","article_body":"

These days, businesses are increasingly expanding into less-competitive \u201cblue ocean\u201d international markets<\/a> to serve new customers, and discover untapped and robust revenue streams. The smartest companies are doing this online, using websites offered in those new consumers\u2019 languages of choice.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s a smart play. After all, it\u2019s far more affordable to deploy translated websites that support global shopping and shipping than to launch risky brick-and-mortar endeavors. Further, these shopping experiences are available to local residents anywhere, thanks to the increasing ubiquity of smartphones in emerging markets.<\/p>\n

But it\u2019s been our experience that expanding companies often overlook a key component to success in these digital markets: social media. Engaging global consumers via social channels does more than drive traffic to a company\u2019s in-market social accounts. It also directs them to a company\u2019s localized websites\u2014which directly leads to more engagement and sales. <\/p>\n

We all know that social media engagement is considered \u201ctable stakes\u201d in primary markets such as the U.S., the UK and other Western countries. But social adoption is through the roof in emerging markets. Read on to discover how social networks are reinventing communication and commerce in emerging markets\u2014and how you can tap into this movement to better serve global customers.<\/p>\n

Astonishing Worldwide Growth<\/h2>\n

These days, the world\u2019s population is nearly 7.5 billion<\/a>. Astonishingly, about 40%<\/a> of these people are on the Internet. (Compare that to 1995, when less than 1% of the world\u2019s population was online!) Of these 3.5 billion people, about 2.5 billion<\/a> are active social media users. That\u2019s over 70%.<\/p>\n

This number is projected to rise to nearly 3 billion by 2020<\/a>. About 40% of the world\u2019s total population<\/a> will be Liking, tweeting, posting and sharing by then.<\/p>\n

Social networks have radically changed how we communicate with others, and how frequently we perform that communication. Their growth practically defies imagination: about 12 new social accounts<\/a> are added worldwide every second<\/i>. Sixty billion messages<\/a> flow through ultra-popular platforms Facebook Messenger and Whatsapp every day<\/i>.<\/p>\n

This growth won\u2019t slow any time soon. In five years, nearly half of China\u2019s population will using social networks. (The country\u2019s population will be about 1.4 billion people<\/a> by then.) About half of all Twitter tweets are currently written in languages other than English. <\/p>\n

In the Middle East and Northern Africa (MENA), social media adoption is well above<\/a> the global average. In fact, Arabic-speaking MENA residents use social networks more than other digital channels<\/a>, including mobile messaging apps and texting. And they use these networks more often during special times of the year. For instance, during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan<\/a>, Facebook interactions can increase by 30%, and Twitter interactions can grow by a third.<\/p>\n

Companies must incorporate social-media marketing components into their consumer outreach and engagement efforts, particularly as they expand into new global markets. The omnipresence of these networks\u2014and the business opportunities they can facilitate between company and consumer\u2014are undeniable.<\/p>\n

In fact, that shift is already well underway. Just last year, nearly 40% of companies<\/a> aimed to dedicate over 20% of their total ad spends to social media channels. That represented a sizeable increase over 2014\u2019s 13%. That number will continue to rise.<\/p>\n

Is your business taking this major shift seriously? Read on for a \u201c101\u201d on the ever-changing worldwide social landscape. <\/p>\n

Social Media Who\u2019s Who<\/h2>\n

Globally, Facebook leads the social-media pack<\/a> with over 1.7 billion users. Facebook-owned Whatsapp and Messenger have over 1 billion users each. Chinese networks QQ, WeChat and QZone have about 900 million, 800 million and 650 million users, respectively. (The Chinese government blocks Western social networks such as Facebook and Twitter.) Facebook-owned Instagram has eclipsed Twitter, with 500 million users.<\/p>\n

Indeed, Twitter has been losing worldwide market share for some time. Its user base is currently around 313 million<\/a>, representing a veritable \u201cflatline\u201d of non-growth<\/a> for several months running.<\/p>\n

But as your company enters specific markets, understand that these well-known social networks may not be the best ones to leverage for customer engagement. Take Russia. There, a network called VK (formally called Vkontakte) commands the social media scene with more than 100 million users<\/a>. The market\u2019s second-most popular network is another Russian-owned endeavor, Odnoklassniki. Facebook comes in third.<\/p>\n

The lesson? As your company eyes expansion-worthy online markets, make the effort to clearly understand which networks are preferred by local consumers. Appropriately invest in-language resources into those channels. <\/p>\n

Supercharged Adoption in Emerging Markets<\/h2>\n<\/p>\n

Let\u2019s circle back to Facebook, and emerging markets, for a moment. The network\u2019s user base is downright amazing. According to data compiled from Facebook and Internet World Stats, the percentage of the global population\u2014not just Internet users exclusively\u2014using Facebook looks a lot like this<\/a>:<\/p>\n