Social Media has become one of the trendiest tools in a Marketer’s toolbox. The biggest and smallest of companies, worldwide, rely on these platforms to get their messages and campaigns across. The point we are trying to drive home today is that while it is essential to connect with your local audience, it is just as important to connect with your global audience.
A report by Statista shows Facebook Users by country as of January 2018 and the results are astonishing.
India 250,000,000 Users
United States 230,000,000 Users
Brazil 130,000,000 Users
Indonesia 130,000,000 Users
Mexico 83,000,000 Users
Philippines 67,000,000 Users
Vietnam 55,000,000 Users
Thailand 51,000,000 Users
Turkey 51,000,000 Users
United Kingdom 44,000,000 Users
Similarly a report by Forbes shows that the most popular countries using Twitter were Kuwait, Netherlands, Chile, and Sweden.
These are lots of potential customers who are present online, waiting to be targeted by international social media marketers. However, when you take a look at the most popular social network amongst countries, you may find that the most popular, Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Youtube etc. aren’t their preferred platforms.
In Germany a popular platform used is called Xing. Xing is a professional network comparable to LinkedIn. The majority of its users come from Germany, Austria and Switzerland. In France their LinkedIn equivalent is called Viadeo. It was founded in 2004 and the group also owns Tianji which is China’s largest professional social network. To the users of Latin America, Sonico is the preferred network and it is known for having real users, no spammy bots we have become accustomed to viewing. In Russia, Vkontakte is their popular Facebook-Like platform. It is important to take these different countries user preferences into account when reaching a wide global audience because you may just miss some potential international customers
The chance to get to communicate with and promote your content with a global audience is becoming easier and easier. You should not dismiss the opportunity to connect with international customers via social media as it can significantly increase sales and brand awareness without the huge expenses that come with television ads. Don’t forget that as your business expands, your social media audience likely will too and to be successful in connecting with overseas users you may consider hiring a professional who understands that local culture and language or else you may land yourself with campaigns that may offend or not translate correctly to the desired audience.
References:
https://www.forbes.com/sites/jaysondemers/2014/08/11/the-top-10-benefits-of-social-media-marketing/#6b8e5521f80d
https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/rising-trend-social-media-international-marketing-josian-phillips/
https://www.statista.com/statistics/268136/top-15-countries-based-on-number-of-facebook-users/?lipi=urn%3Ali%3Apage%3Ad_flagship3_pulse_read%3Bb5%2BJF09GTOq3oUnQ%2BgEbmQ%3D%3D