{"id":649,"date":"2016-01-06T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2016-01-06T00:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.motionpoint.com\/?post_type=blog&p=649"},"modified":"2016-01-06T00:00:00","modified_gmt":"2016-01-06T00:00:00","slug":"social-media-marketing-in-russia-part-1-of-2","status":"publish","type":"blog","link":"https:\/\/www.motionpoint.com\/blog\/social-media-marketing-in-russia-part-1-of-2\/","title":{"rendered":"Social Media Marketing in Russia (Part 1 of 2)"},"template":"","blog_categories":[5,9],"resource_categories":[],"targeted_localized_audience":[],"document_categories":[],"class_list":["post-649","blog","type-blog","status-publish","hentry","blog_categories-international-business-strategies","blog_categories-marketing-strategies"],"acf":{"blog_short_description":"Russia is home to a thriving online culture\u2014especially on social media. In fact, one network is the fifth most-visited website on the planet. Learn more in this blog series, penned by our Russian market expert.","news_inline_styles":"","blog_video_id":"","article_body":"

This is part 1 in a 2-part series. Read Part 2 here<\/a>.<\/i><\/p>\n

When expanding into the Russian market\u2014especially online\u2014companies must have a clear understanding of the country\u2019s preferred social media networks, and be present in those networks. These days, it\u2019s one of the smartest and expedient ways to serve local customers. <\/p>\n

But which networks are most important in this emerging market? For newcomers to Russia, discovering the best way to reach certain demographics, achieve specific business goals\u2014and do it all within budget\u2014is a real challenge.<\/p>\n

This the first of a two-part series that hopes to demystify this process, and eliminate much of the anxiety that many Western companies experience when engaging with new customers in non-native social channels. By the end of the series, you\u2019ll have a greater understanding of Russia\u2019s most popular social networks, and a few tips on how to best spend your time and resources for maximum engagement with the Russian market.<\/p>\n

If you\u2019re unfamiliar with the powerful opportunity the Russian market now represents, take a look at MotionPoint\u2019s previous coverage<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Russian Social Media Companies<\/h2>\n

VK (Formerly Vkontakte)<\/h4>\n

VK\u2014which once stood Vkontakte<\/i>, Russian for \u201cin touch\u201d\u2014is easily the most popular social networking site in Russia. Its user base has grown nearly 20% since last year, and now currently has around 330 million users worldwide, with more than 75 million using the network every day. That works out to approximately 2.2 billion monthly visits!<\/p>\n

VK isn\u2019t just \u201cthe Facebook of Russia.\u201d The network is massive. According to SimilarWeb<\/a>\u2014a service that estimates the number of visitors to certain websites\u2014VK is the most-visited site in Russia, and the fifth most-visited site in the world. The only sites that generate more monthly traffic<\/a> are, in order: Facebook, Google, YouTube and Yahoo. <\/p>\n

Many Westerners are often surprised by VK\u2019s reach and social media influence. This is often because they\u2019re unfamiliar with Russia\u2019s Internet and adoption rates. With approximately 87.5 million users<\/a>, Russia has the largest Internet population in Europe. It easily dwarfs Germany\u2019s 71.7 million users and the UK\u2019s 57.3 million users. Internet penetration is currently estimated at nearly 60%<\/a>; smartphone adoption is expected to soon cross above 60%<\/a>, too.<\/p>\n

This gap\u2014and VK\u2019s influence\u2014will continue to grow as Russia\u2019s Internet penetration approaches the standard of Western Europe, likely well within the next 15 years.<\/p>\n

Companies expanding into Russia cannot ignore VK.<\/p>\n

Odnoklassniki<\/h4>\n

Another popular Russian-owned social network is Odnoklassniki<\/i>\u2014\u201cclassmates\u201d in Russian. The network is a direct competitor to VK, and was founded at around the same time.<\/p>\n

Odnoklassniki was Russia\u2019s most popular social media service until late 2008, when VK overtook it. But don\u2019t mistake \u201csecond place\u201d for something down-and-out like MySpace. According to SimilarWeb<\/a>, Odnoklassniki is the third most-visited website in Russia, and the eighth most-visited worldwide.<\/p>\n

Interestingly, Odnoklassniki\u2019s user base is more international than VK\u2019s. Annual reports<\/a> indicate that nearly 40% of Odnoklassniki\u2019s users live beyond Russia\u2019s borders, mostly in former Soviet states such as Ukraine, Belarus and Kazakhstan. The network is still growing. Over the past year, its user base has grown nearly 10%. It now has 45.6 million daily users. <\/p>\n

Active Odnoklassniki users tend to be older than VK\u2019s. According to research<\/a> quoted by Odnoklassniki in its annual reports, the network has historically appealed most to the \u201cover 30\u201d crowd; in 2012, nearly 40% of its users were between 35 and 44 years old. In contrast, only about 5% of VK\u2019s users are between 35 and 44. That number declines even further for users 45 and older.<\/p>\n

The generation gap is even greater among young people. About 70% of VK\u2019s users are between 18 and 34 years old. Nearly a quarter of VK\u2019s users are under 18. That age group represents about 10% of Odnoklassniki\u2019s users.<\/p>\n

The disparity between Odnoklassniki and VK is also apparent, when it comes to gender. According to the same annual report, women are far more engaged on Odnoklassniki. About 70% of the network\u2019s social posts were composed by females, compared to 58.7% for VK. In short, VK has a significantly younger user base that has a greater proportion of males. <\/p>\n

Both social media platforms have invested considerable resources to continually add more features to their offerings. These features\u2014such as video and music streaming, and photo sharing\u2014are often \u201cborrowed\u201d from Western competitors. More importantly, the owning group of both, a company called Mail.Ru, has focused on refining the mobile app experience on both platforms.<\/p>\n

This optimally positions both Odnoklassniki and VK to take advantage of Russia\u2019s \u201cmobile-first\u201d culture. Mobile users outnumber desktop PC users<\/a> in this market. <\/p>\n

American Social Media Companies in Russia <\/h2>\n

Facebook<\/h4>\n

Despite its massive worldwide success, Facebook hasn\u2019t replaced VK or Odnoklassniki for most Russian users. According to a 2014 eMarketer report<\/a>, there are about 23.2 million Facebook unique visitors in Russia. Users spend about 7:30 minutes per visit. This is much shorter than a VK user\u2019s average on-site time (13:25), but longer than an Odnoklassniki user\u2019s (6:32).<\/p>\n

(Why does VK have nearly double the engagement of Facebook? We believe it\u2019s because VK has invested a lots of effort into integrating local Russian videos and music into its platform. That makes the site more culturally relevant, and stickier.)<\/p>\n

Despite its comparatively smaller size, there are good reasons to launch and operate a Russian-language Facebook page, and add Russian Facebook campaigns to your company\u2019s online marketing mix. <\/p>\n

For starters, Russian Facebook users tend to be wealthier, and live in major metropolitan areas such as Moscow and Saint Petersburg. This makes Facebook users in particular an extremely attractive demographic for most companies. And since nearly all Western companies are already familiar with launching and operating Facebook channels and advertising, learning to manage a Russian page should be quick to master. (Remember, however, that user-facing content must be translated and localized by region or metro area, if appropriate.)<\/p>\n

Western companies in Russia\u2014especially those offering premium-priced products\u2014should seriously consider Facebook as a social network of note. <\/p>\n

It is worth mentioning that according to a recent study by VK<\/a> (note: in Russian), nearly all Facebook users in Russia also have VK accounts. This makes a detailed understanding of your target Russian customers even more of a priority, since there\u2019s multiple ways to engage and target them, all with varying results.<\/p>\n

Twitter<\/h4>\n

While Twitter usage in North America is thriving, Twitter is still trying to gain acceptance as a platform in Russia. However, after years of struggling in the market, there\u2019s evidence the network is finally gaining traction among Russian users.<\/p>\n

According to the previously-cited eMarketer study, Twitter had 11.8 million unique Russian visitors who spent about six minutes on the site. That\u2019s considerably shorter than comparable social media channels.<\/p>\n

Based on our knowledge of the market, and on what MotionPoint sees with client sites in Russia, we believe devoting resources to Russian Twitter campaigns or ads buys is currently a risky investment. While we\u2019ve seen promising results from some Twitter-based marketing in terms of average order values and time on-site, we\u2019ve yet to see a strong case that compels us to recommend Twitter as a core online marketing component in Russia. The audience simply isn\u2019t there yet.<\/p>\n

However, we do believe that as Twitter gains users, opportunities will quickly emerge for First Movers to generate business success on the platform. Our recommendation: keep an eye on which Russian demographics adopt the platform as it grows. (Or partner with a company like MotionPoint, which regularly tracks such audience trends.)<\/p>\n

As more users come to Twitter, your company can determine \u201cwho\u201d those consumers are: urban dwellers of Moscow and St Petersburg (similar to Facebook), for instance, or a wider range of Russian populations (as seen on VK and Odnoklassniki).<\/p>\n

To Be Continued\u2026<\/h2>\n

Now that we\u2019ve covered the basics of Russian social networks, we\u2019ll soon explore some more nuanced aspects of these channels in Part 2 of this series.<\/p>\n

In Part 2, we\u2019ll cover such topics as:<\/p>\n