NM Incite

By Pete Blackshaw
ESOMAR Research World Excerpt (Originally Published: April, 2010)

While the US pioneered much of the early Web 2.0 and social media innovation, Asia is playing no small role in shaping – and in some cases, leading – the new social media landscape. Asian social media adoption rates have surpassed the West and by 2012 the region will account for nearly 50% of all internet users worldwide.

Even though internet penetration in China still floats around 25%, the country has recently become the largest internet user base in the world, surpassing the United States and approaching 338 million users. Nielsen CR reported that, as of December 2009, China had reached 221 million bloggers, more than twice the number in the US.

A Deeper Dive into Key Asian Markets

While some areas, such as China and India, have internet penetration rates below 25% others, like Hong Kong South Korea and Singapore, boast numbers rivaling anywhere on the globe.

The South Korean internet market is highly mature, largely as a result of government initiatives to invest in infrastructure, and boasts broadband penetration rates among the highest in the world. South Koreans also love to blog with 92% of the internet population reading blogs.

Southeast Asia, especially Malaysia, Singapore and Indonesia present an interesting social media picture with the U.S. based network Facebook being the premier network of choice. Malaysia, largely through government work, has created a welcoming culture for general computing and technology knowledge. Twitter rates are also higher here than most of Asia with Jakarta reigning as the “Asian capital” of Twitter boasting 1% of the world’s tweets every day.

Indian internet and social media markets have yet to be defined. Mobile usage, driven by a lack of hard-wired infrastructure, is taking off and will likely be a huge player as this market engages with social media.

Implications for Researchers

So what does this all mean for market researchers? The Asian market presents a massive opportunity and social media provides a vast reservoir of insight to analyze, interpret, and unlock the possibilities it offers. Listening to the social media conversation can help identify unmet needs, pinpoint under-leverage segments and influencers, and identify where and how to “engage” with these outspoken consumers.

The last point is critical. As social media platforms proliferate, marketers need a clear sense of if, how, and where it’s appropriate to interact with consumers in this space. In what ways should a brand manage, for instance, a Twitter account or a Facebook fan page? In an “app” enabled world, are the brands in the business of serving?

Simple “loyalty” metrics may not be enough. Researchers will need to play a proactive role in defining and shaping next-generation key-performance-indicators (KPI). Such KPIs will need to sit on more integrated and accessible “listening platforms” in order to allow a more diverse set of stakeholders to “listen and act” on the data.

The Golden Age

Social media is not a “shiny new toy” but a key cog in any broader marketing campaign. The richness of social media will increase with new uses and new channels, further empowering the marketer to learn from their consumers. Customers are making their lives better, faster and cheaper via crowd-sourcing and other types of group engagement, why can’t business?

Smart leaders will use social media and its continuous evolution as an innovation catalyst and inside organization business process. Much of the social media conversation related to brands derives from customer service experiences, magnifying brand success and failure. Luckily, social media leaves a digital trail that can be measured and combined with other inputs to detail the consumer’s journey, from first brand exposure through post-usage feedback.

Moving forward, the key research challenges in Asia will be understanding the rich information from multi-platform campaigns and regional multiculturalism. Researchers must be prepared to tell brand leadership their consumer’s story in “surround sound” including traditional, new, social, blended and all other types of consumer media engagement. Researchers will be well served by spending more time with their colleagues in the call-center. While some of these recommendations will certainly be true elsewhere, Asia will be a good market for testing and evaluating as it is moving faster on mobile adoption than US/Europe.

Conclusion

The diversity of Asia provides a rich opportunity to sense and respond to disparate but large communities across the continent. The rising trends in social media will challenge past models and promise greater understanding of motivations, actions and purchase behavior of their consumers. Marketers and researchers should feel empowered as we enter this new golden age of consumer comprehension.

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