[Academic Research Project] Challenges and opportunities of social networks for brands in the BRIC...

IAE GRENOBLE

Challenges and opportunities of social networks for brands in

the BRIC countries. Research Project

Habiboulahi Mbacké

8/31/2012

Tutor : Agnés Helme-Guizon

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Contents Executive summary ................................................................................................................................. 5

1. Research question .......................................................................................................................... 6

2. Research actions ............................................................................................................................ 6

2.1 Desk research .............................................................................................................................. 6

2.2 Questionnaire .............................................................................................................................. 6

3. Key concepts .................................................................................................................................. 7

3.1 Concepts ...................................................................................................................................... 7

3.2 Research scheme ......................................................................................................................... 8

4. Desk research ............................................................................................................................... 10

4.1 Origin of social media ............................................................................................................... 10

4.2 Traditional vs new media .......................................................................................................... 12

5. Social media and brands ............................................................................................................. 14

5.1 Social media strategy ................................................................................................................ 14

6. Social media in emerging countries ........................................................................................... 18

6.1 Generalities ............................................................................................................................... 18

6.2 Brazil .......................................................................................................................................... 20

6.2.1 General presentation of Brazil .............................................................................................. 20

6.2.2 Internet and social media in Brazil ........................................................................................ 21

6.3 Russia ......................................................................................................................................... 22

6.3.1 General presentation of Russia ............................................................................................. 22

6.3.2 Internet and social media in Russia ....................................................................................... 23

6.4 India ........................................................................................................................................... 24

6.4.1 General presentation of India ............................................................................................... 24

6.4.2 Internet and social media in India ......................................................................................... 25

6.5 China .......................................................................................................................................... 27

6.5.1 General presentation of China .............................................................................................. 27

6.5.2 Internet and Social media in China........................................................................................ 28

7. Popular social networks in the BRIC countries ........................................................................ 29

7.1 Facebook ................................................................................................................................... 29

7.1.1 Generalities ........................................................................................................................... 29

7.1.2 In the context of social media strategy ................................................................................. 30

7.2 Twitter ....................................................................................................................................... 31

7.2.1 Generalities ........................................................................................................................... 31

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7.3 Qzone (QQ) ................................................................................................................................ 32

7.3.1 Generalities ........................................................................................................................... 32


7.4 RenRen ...................................................................................................................................... 32

7.4.1 Generalities ........................................................................................................................... 32


7.5 Kaixin001 ................................................................................................................................... 30

7.5.1 Generalities ........................................................................................................................... 30


7.6 Sina Weibo ................................................................................................................................. 31

7.6.1 Generalities ........................................................................................................................... 31


7.7 Odnoklassniki ............................................................................................................................ 33

7.7.1 Generalities ........................................................................................................................... 33

7.7.2 In the context of social media ............................................................................................... 33

7.8 VKontakte .................................................................................................................................. 33

7.8.1 Generalities ........................................................................................................................... 33


8. Research hypothesizes ................................................................................................................. 34

Research hypothesis 1: .......................................................................................................................... 34






9. Quantitative analysis ................................................................................................................... 37

9.1 Creation of the questionnaire ................................................................................................... 37

9.2 Distribution of the questionnaire .............................................................................................. 38

10. Results presentation ................................................................................................................ 39

10.1 Filter questions .......................................................................................................................... 40

10.2 General use of social media ...................................................................................................... 42

10.3 Brand and notoriety .................................................................................................................. 46

10.4 General information .................................................................................................................. 49

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11. Main differences and similarities between countries ........................................................... 52

11.1 Most popular social networks ................................................................................................... 52

11.2 Preferred social network to follow brands ................................................................................ 53

11.3 Number of brands followed on social media ............................................................................ 54

11.4 Type of brands followed ............................................................................................................ 55

11.5 Reasons for following ................................................................................................................ 56

11.6 Commenting on social media .................................................................................................... 57

12. Hypothesis validation .............................................................................................................. 59







13. Conclusion and recommendations ......................................................................................... 68

Research hypothesis 1 recommendation: ............................................................................................. 70






Bibliography ........................................................................................................................................... 74

Annexes ................................................................................................................................................. 78

Questionnaire ........................................................................................................................................ 78

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I would to like to thank my Tutor, Ms. Helme-Guizon who offered me

her support in both the definition and the execution of this project. I

would also like to extend my gratitude to all the people that offered me

their help both by answering the questionnaire but also by going

further and sending me encouragements and useful information. It

was very much so appreciated.

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Executive summary

Social media has become an important part of our daily lives, both in

professional and personal contexts. Indeed with 1.2 billion users

worldwide representing 82% of the online population, it is more

popular than internet activities such as email and online shopping1.

Created to communicate, share and connect with people from our

past, close relations or even strangers, company most often than not

should seriously take into consideration this tool if they wish to remain

relevant in this fast and ever changing technology oriented world we

increasingly live in now.

Social media and particularly social networks are tools that integrate

themselves perfectly in a world that has become more and more

international. It has the potential to be a useful medium when it comes

to companies wishing to implement strategies to reach clients or to

increase the visibility of their brands, all of this often at a lesser cost

compared to more traditional approaches.

BRIC countries in particular with their strong economic growth and

future prospective represent as of today a unique and unavoidable

opportunity for any organization wishing to expend at an international

level. Social media can possibly assist in penetrating those markets

while taking into consideration that by its very nature it is a medium

that requires a particular social and human approach.

Through this report, by way of desk researches and the results of a

questionnaire filled by social media users from those countries, we will

assess if social media and in particular social networks could possibly

be a tool that can support companies in their quest to reach those

countries with their brands.

1 http://www.webpronews.com/social-networks-reach-1-2-billion-users-worldwide-2012-01

Comscore white paper:

http://www.comscore.com/Press_Events/Presentations_Whitepapers/2011/it_is_a_social_world_top_10_need-

to-knows_about_social_networking

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1. Research question

What are the challenges and benefits associated with a social media strategy for companies

wishing to increase brand visibility in BRIC countries?

Social media is a relatively new and continuously developing medium. Possibilities and

opportunities are vast but unaccounted for especially in those countries. The object of this

study is therefore to assess how prospective consumers use social media. What is the main

type of social media used? How do they perceive brands generally speaking that are

represented in this medium? It will also be an opportunity to assess if the use of social media

is mature enough to seriously implement a marketing strategy.

The research will mainly be aimed on the B2C market with a focus on consumer.

2. Research actions

2.1 Desk research

During the desk research phase of this project, information from books, article and white

papers were used.

The desk research allowed first to have a better understanding of social media, its purposes

and how it works. It also gave more details such as what kind of social media exists and the

different trends that can be perceived in those emerging countries.

2.2 Questionnaire

A questionnaire was created then administered online in order to challenge the research

hypothesis expressed at the beginning of the study and detailed later in the report. It was

administered mainly to young consumers from the selected countries for this study. This

should give a clearer and more detailed vision of social media in those countries related to

brands.

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3. Key concepts

3.1 Concepts

During this research a certain number of key concepts have been used. It is not possible to

talk about social media without taking into consideration the concept of interaction also

known as social interaction which at the very basis of this tool. We will see in the desk

researches that this medium was basically created to facilitate communication between

people. The development of social networks gave companies ever expanding and specialized

platforms where users will exchange, share and comment. The diversification of social

networks today gives companies today an interesting opportunity to increasingly focus their

strategy according to the type of brands and consumers they wish to promote to.

This concept is related to the notion of online reputation management. This is an important

element for organizations wishing to implement a social media strategy. In practice it is the

way a company will monitor mentions, either positive or negative, made by a consumer on the

internet and is particularly relevant in the social media sphere. Furthermore, a community

manager will use a set of online and offline techniques that will promote positive content

while addressing, neutralizing or even pushing down derogatory comment. It is therefore

more concerned with preventing and repairing online reputation and thus exposing a company

to the public in the most positive way.

The concept of marketing buzz is related to the use of word of mouth in order to grab

attention in a way that will spread visibility of a brand. In the context of social media,

marketing buzz can be a powerful tool as traditional media tend to relay buzz found in the

internet, multiplying its intended effect. Once again this is a concept that can be linked to

online reputation management. While the intended effect is to create a relatively controlled

positive buzz that would be beneficial to the brand, outside individuals and organization can

create derogatory buzz or bad buzz that would obviously be detrimental and create a reverse

effect.

Brand notoriety or brand awareness is the extent to which a brand will be recognized by

prospective customers and is associated with a particular product. In the context of social

media positive brand notoriety can possibly enhance the effect of a campaign carried out

through this tool. This notion is related to brand visibility where a company In terms of

introducing a new or lesser known product or service to the general public in the context of

the BRIC countries, social media can represent an interesting opportunity to reach this goal as

we will see later in this report.

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3.2 Research scheme

The following scheme offers a visual representation of the key notions used throughout this

study. It is centered on defining elements such as:

The social media strategy

The goal associated with the campaign

The floating key words represent all of the important element that has to be taken into

consideration when considering a social media strategy in BRIC countries.

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Social media

strategy

Trust

interactivity

notoriety

e-reputation

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4. Desk research

4.1 Origin of social media

In an article titled “Social Network Sites: Definition, History, and Scholarship”published2 in

the journal of computer mediated communication authors Danah M. Boyd and Nicole B.

Ellison define social media and social network in particular as: “We define social network

sites as web-based services that allow individuals to:

1 - Construct a public or semi-public profile within a bounded system,

2 - Articulate a list of other users with whom they share a connection, and

3 - View and traverse their list of connections and those made by others within the system.

The nature and nomenclature of these connections may vary from site to site”.

This is a particularly interesting definition as it showcases three key aspects of social media.

The need for users to expose themselves and a selection of their information, share said

information and interact with contacts made.

Moreover, another key aspect of social media is the idea of belonging to specific groups, with

specific people who the user has ties with, whether personal, professional or simply based on

common interests.

While social networks have seen their popularity rise up particularly in the last five years, the

concept itself has been in existence much longer.

Social media can be defined as being “media for social interaction‟. If we consider this

definition, social media can be traced back to at least the early eighties when IT and the idea

of a network to network tool to communicate was largely still in development. In this part we

will give an overview of the evolution of social media since that time.

The earliest form of social interaction using the internet can be traced back to two tools:

Usenet and BBS.

Usenet, conceived in 1979 allowed users to post articles or posts in newsgroup.

The other tool is BBS (bulletin board systems). They were similar to Usenet systems were

people could interact with another one.

2 Social Network Sites: Definition, History, and Scholarship”published in the journal of computer mediated

communication

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At the end of the eighties, in 1988, another tool was developed that allowed communication

over a network of people called IRC (Internet Relay chat). In the mid-nineties this form of

communication was popularized by instant messaging computer program ICQ which was

more accessible. Those were basically the precursors of popular instant messaging tools that

later become popular and widely used such as Windows Live or Skype.

After those first developments, the rapid evolution of the internet lead to an increased number

of tools aimed at communication, one of the most popular certainly being Emails still widely

in use today. However when it comes to social media as we know them today, the first real

effort wouldn‟t come until the mid-90‟s corresponding with the rapid rise of consumer

internet.

Dating sites are sometimes considered to be the first real social networks. Indeed they allowed

users to create profile sometimes with photos and to connect with others. Another well-known

and also sometimes considered amongst the first social media created is classmates.com. It

was launched in 1995 and bear the same characteristics as dating sites, people could and still

can create a profile and get in contact with other people.

While those examples can be considered early attempt at social media and social networks in

particular, they don‟t exactly fit the definition. Some features were lacking such as the

inability to maintain a friend list and most of the time profiles offered limited capabilities.

Some huge developments were brought in the early 2000s with the launch of Friendster which

is generally considered the first „modern social network‟. It allowed people to get in contact

with not only their own friend but also the friends of their friends thus allowing them to

expand their network.

Other website launched around the same time and featuring similar characteristics include

Hi5, LinkedIn and Myspace, all in 2003.

Myspace brought additional innovation on its own by letting people customize their profile,

post music and embed videos. Those features boost its profile and by 2006 it was the most

popular social network in the world.

After being the most popular social network for a time, Myspace was victim of its own

success and was overtaken by a new wave of social media offering new possibilities and

innovations. Cementing again that perhaps in its development phase, innovation is key to the

growth of social network in general.

Facebook introduced a new concept amongst social media in 2006. This was the news feed.

This news feed concept allowed people to visit their friend‟s profiles, make wall comments

and also maintain a photo gallery for their friends to see. In short it allows people to see what

their contacts, „friends‟ are up to. This new innovation so common now is what allowed

Facebook to emerge as an important player amongst social media websites and take over

closest rival at that time Myspace in 2008.

In 2012, news social media sites continue to arose axed around new concept but still focused

on the basic idea of creating a personal space and sharing said space with more or less

personal acquaintances. Amongst those new players we can cite Pinterest which is a pinboard

style photo social media. Created in 2010 it has been deemed one of the fastest social media

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with company Comscore reporting important increase in terms of visitors in 20123. Another

similar successful social network has been Instagram. Also launched in 2010 it has seen

steady growth since, culminating in its purchase by Facebook in 2012.

The latest major innovation to date is the use of social networks as a mobile tool. This trend

was accelerated in recent years by the explosion of smartphone such as the famous Iphone by

Apple. Users now have access to their favorite social networks whenever they want granted

they have access to internet. With the increasing penetration of broadband internet and above

all Wi-Fi technology, this is a trend that will mostly continue to grow further in years to come.

4.2 Traditional vs. new media

Source : Shannon and Weaver’s model of the communication process

This model shows that the communication process is composed of several parties. The

information source whose role is to create a message, the message is sent by the information

source and received by the destination. The transmitter represents the medium that will be

used to send the message which will be influenced by noise that will influence the quality of

the message and how the receiver interprets it. Those two models are particularly interesting

because we can see that the receiver has no involvement in the content. He does not contribute

actively to the communication process which illustrates well the way traditional media

functions.

Alternatively in new media, users engage in the communication process by creating, changing

and/or updating content. Instead of being the passive receiver of the news for example, they

become active in both its creation and its evolution within the channel. More than that, users

can reacts to what is posted by posting questions and comments which in a way can contribute

to enrich the information.

New media creates a dilemma when it comes to defining how the line of communication

operates. The following scheme is based on the proposed ecological model of the

communication process which attempt to integrate the complexity of this new medium into a

model. 3 http://techcrunch.com/2012/02/07/pinterest-monthly-uniques/

Transmitter Receiver

Noise source

Destination

Message

Information

source

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Source: Ecological model of the communication process, Davis Foulger, 2004

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This model of communication attempts to show the more complex relationship between the

different element of communication, the creators, the message and the consumers. Here the

role of both the consumer and the creator are interchangeable. The consumer will have the

role of creator when they give feedback and alternatively the creator will have the role of

consumer when he uses this feedback to improve content. This model shows how much

interactivity is important when it comes to new media.

Easy access, Portability, time flexibility and easy to disseminate

New media allows access to information at any place and any place especially with the

combination of public Wi-Fi technologies and mobile communication developing more and

more. Users can therefore have the liberty to consult those mediums at the users‟ most

convenient time. The digital form in which the content comes also allows for easier

dissemination of the information which is not possible for old media where content tend to be

limited both at a technological level but also geographically.

Old media doesn‟t offer the same flexibility, content is generally offered at fixed times and

through more or less fixed medium.

Gatekeeper vs. Wisecrowd

Because of the technological limitation of old media, a decision needs to be made about

selecting content thus limiting what can be seen, published or heard. It is generally the

decision of one or a group of person. Therefore this model produces an environment where a

person or a group of persons, the editors, decide what can be seen, heard and/or read by the

consumers.

4 http://davis.foulger.info/research/unifiedModelOfCommunication.htm

Creators Message Consumers

Imagine and create Observe, attribute and

interpret

Use, invent and evolve Learn and socialize

Comments and feedback

Perspective and relationships

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Source: Shannon and Weaver's Modified mechanistic model of communication

The digital nature of new media allows content to be virtually infinite. Because it is a social

medium by nature, the gatekeepers will be replaced by the general public. The Wisecrowd

theory implied that a mass of people will make better decision than a narrow group of people

thus providing better content in the end.

From all of this we can see how the so called new media is increasingly a more attractive

option to users as it allows more interactivity thus rendering the communication process more

lively and interesting. By the same token, social media also represent new challenges for

companies especially in relation to content, how it is presented to the public and the control of

the communication process. In the next part we will address some of these issues.

5. Social media and brands

5.1 Social media strategy

According to a study published in Didier Mazier‟s book “Community manager”5 only 16%

amongst social media users follow brands, with 5 brands followed in general. This can be

interpreted as relatively low but the fact that social media as a marketing tool is relatively new

and that more and more companies hire specialists such as community manager to direct their

effort in this medium means that this figure will more likely rise in the future.

Another interesting point made in the same book is that users, understandably, are primarily

concerned with finding reduction, rebate and advantages over what can be found through

traditional channel. After that comes searching for news and lastly the need to belong to a

community.

More often than not participation is limited to consultation with very few users commenting

or relaying information given by companies.

5 Community manager Didier Mazier, 2012

Sender

(company)

Gatekeeper

(community

manager)

Audience

(Potential

consumer)

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According to the same book, people generally speaking engage in social media mostly to:

Promote themselves

Share new experiences with others

Have fun or waste time

This show that users engage in social media for a large number of reasons ranging from

interaction in a professional context to a tool for community creators and story tellers.

And when asked why they do engage in social networks, users usually only give two reasons;

Stay in touch with friends

Make new acquaintances

It is important to note that social networks have now surpassed all other internet related means

of keeping in contact with people going as far as surpassing face to face contact in 2009.

Social media are changing the way companies are interacting with consumers and potential

consumers. According to a research conducted by universal McCann6 the number of

respondents that have visited an official brand or company web site fell globally from 85% to

75% while during the same period companies have made efforts to direct their strategy

towards more interactivity through social media and social networks in particular.

Some key figures illustrate this movement with 18% of respondents claiming that they have

created an online brand community in the past 6 months. There are interesting variations

geographically throughout the world with for example 12 percent responding favorably to the

same question and more notably 28% in China and 30% in India. This shows that there is

interest from consumer in getting active with brands through those tools.

And with more involvement comes more benefits for companies with 58% of respondents

claiming that that they are more likely to buy a product after joining a brand online.

The same research shows that users join a brand community in order to:

To get advances news of products

To learn more about it

To support a cause they like

To feel part of al likeminded community

So why exactly should a company implement a social media strategy. First of all compared to

traditional media, new media offers possibility to reach a much wider range and number of

consumer. This is in relation to the marketing concepts of buzz and bad buzz. Secondly,

consumers tend to become more and more defiant towards traditional channel. They are

nowadays much more savvy thanks to the emergence of internet which allows them to verify

by themselves whether a product, a service or a brand fit their expectations instead of being

told so which is mostly how traditional channels operates.

6 The socialization of brands Wave 5 http://fr.slideshare.net/Olivier.mermet/universal-mccann-wave-5-the-

socialisation-of-brands

16

When it comes to social media strategy in emerging countries, it offers the opportunity to not

only be less expensive than traditional ones but also more effective in some cases as we will

see later in this report

.

5.2 Establishing a social media strategy

In order to establish a social media strategy, a company has to follow a certain number of

steps in accordance of the inherent nature of this tool.

The first step would be to collect information about the different social media and how they

can be integrated into the company strategy. It is therefore important to know how the

different social networks operate. How can they be used to promote a brand? For example

Facebook allow the creation of fan pages whereas Twitter will allow for short promotional

and update messages to be sent to a large number of people. Another question that comes to

mind is how users relate to the presence of brands on a particular network? Are they open or

hostile to them?

The central point made here is that companies must communicate and make the consumer feel

implicated in the community. As we have seen earlier in this report, social media users do not

expect to be passive but an active part of what the brand has to offer.

As a result, a lot of companies will allow their followers to take part in the development of a

new product, ask their opinions on its features or organize a contest in which the winner can

have the satisfaction of having been an active part of a brand he/she likes amongst other

rewards. By encouraging increased involvement, the company will create an effect in which

users will start talking and spread the company name around them.

As for what a company should concretely do once the suitable social media has been spotted,

writer Rohit Bhargava7, a marketing expert and currently a member of the Global Strategy &

Planning group at Ogilvy has created a set of basic rules called social media optimization

AKA SMO, that can give companies a guideline as to how to operate such strategy on this

medium:

Those are:

1. Increase linkability

2. Make tagging and bookmarking easy

3. Reward inbound links

4. Help content travel

5. Encourage mashup

6. Get communities connected

Those rules were updated in 2010 to include 16 rules which are:

7. Reward Helpful and Valuable Users

7 http://rohitbhargava.typepad.com/socialmediabio/

http://www.ogilvy.com/

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mashup_%28web_application_hybrid%29

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This rules preconize that the most helpful and popular users be rewarded for their help. This

can take the form of a private note of a more public system in which their contribution is

highlighted directed on the brand community. This is done to not only increase loyalty of

useful members but also to engage with them at a deeper level.

8. Participate

This point is linked to what was said earlier in this report where participation in conversation

will increase buzz and awareness.

9. Know How to Target Your Audience

It is essential to know the target audience at large. This allow the company to know exactly

what is appealing to them and thus to generate content that will resonate with the audience at

its core. This is a particularly interesting point in the context of social media in the BRIC

countries coming from the stand point of view of a company not too familiar with their

culture, ways of thinking and other features that is unique to the target audience in a given

country.

10. Create Content

One of the top reasons, social media users join a community is to get information. Creating

useful content that can be as basic as presenting the company history in an entertaining way or

post update about interesting development can generate even more loyalty from the customers

towards a particular brand. This is a pivotal point that is generally left out by companies as

generating content that is useful, relevant and interesting regularly can be quite daunting and

more difficult in certain industries however a company who stick to this rule can possibly

create a strong advantage in the long term.

11. Be Real

Faking involvement can have disastrous effect on a social media strategy and should be

avoided at all cost. This rule encompasses all the other ones presented here as a matter of fact.

It is better not to get involve rather than it being not genuine.

12. Don‟t Forget Roots, Be Humble

This rule was created more with personal bloggers in mind so is not relevant in this study.

13. Don‟t Be Afraid to Try New Things, Stay Fresh

One of the defining characteristic of social media is its ever changing state with new tools

appearing every year, popular tools being replaced by new ones, i.e Facebook supplanting

myspace internationally, Google + and Orkut being phased by Facebook in Brazil. It is

important for companies to stay at the top of their strategy by keeping up with those changes

utilizing then when it is suitable.

14. Develop a SMO Strategy

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Like in all marketing strategy, it is important to define clearly goals desired from a social

media strategy such as reputation, sales, influence etc…

15. Choose SMO Tactics Wisely

This point is related to the fact that a strategy should be chosen taken into consideration the

defining characteristics of the product, the goals set out at the beginning of a marketing

campaign and most importantly the results desired. Thus a company should keep in mind that

what work for a particular brand or company might not for another one. While it is important

to keep with technological advances for example such as the creation on new networks, those

might not be suitable to a particular company at large.

16. Make SMO part of process and best practices

It‟s all about being making sure that the rules being presented are being integrating into the

way a strategy is carried out by ways of templates and documents being share into the

organization without forgetting the human side of it all i.e avoid being robotic in the

implementation of the strategy.

Now that social media has been addressed on its whole let’s have a closer look at how it is utilized in

the BRIC countries.

6. Social media in emerging countries

6.1 Generalities

In this part we will first make a succinct presentation of the countries included in the study,

i.e. the so called BRIC countries: Brazil, Russia, India and China. This will be an opportunity

to assess the situation of social media and at large of the internet in those countries.

The term BRIC is an acronym standing for four countries namely Brazil, Russia, India and

China. It has been coined by the chairman of Goldman Sachs asset management Jim O‟Neill

in 2001 because they were deemed at that time to be at near stage of economic development8.

Projections from Goldman Sachs forecast that as a result of their annual growth, those four

countries would become much more important than the then six largest economies in the

planet known at that time as the G69.

When it comes to social media it is becoming more and more important in the BRIC

countries. In a long study carried out by Universal McCann10

where respondents are

researched periodically through stages called “waves” managing a profile on an existing

8 http://articles.businessinsider.com/2011-11-27/markets/30446417_1_bric-countries-india-and-china-gdp

9 Global economics paper n°99, Dreaming with BRICs http://www2.goldmansachs.com/ideas/brics/book/99-

dreaming.pdf 10

The socialization of brands – wave 5 http://fr.slideshare.net/Olivier.mermet/universal-mccann-wave-5-the-

socialisation-of-brands

19

social media went from 27 percent in wave 1 to 74 percent in wave 5 which was carried just

four years later. Figures given for the BRIC countries in particular are revealing. In Brazil,

respondents answered to the same question in wave 3 at 64% going up at 75% in wave 5. In

Russia it went from 64% to an impressive 80% in the same period. Growth were similar in the

remaining BRIC with India going from 51% to 73% in wave 5 and China which went from

47% to 68%.

BRIC countries represent a unique opportunity for companies wishing to increase their

presence in those economically interesting countries. Statistics show that engagement in

social media is often more important than in so called developed countries. What is more

interesting is the fact that contrary to developed markets where social media penetration has

plateaued there are important opportunities for growth in BRIC countries especially

considering that emerging countries, more notably China and India often have younger

population that are known to be generally more engaged with new technology. For example

social media penetration was at 86% in May 2011 up from the previous period in 2010 at

76%11

.

Moreover a research from Pew research center12

shows that general users in those countries

are more open to brands using social media platforms than their counterpart in developed

countries.

Another research from research company TNS called digital life 201113

shows that users from

BRIC countries view social media as a good place to not only learn about but also buy brands

and products than users from other countries. A possible explanation for this peculiar attitude

is given by company e-marketer14

. According to them users in developed countries use social

media mainly to keep up social relation however in emerging markets where ecommerce is

relatively new, social media represent a way for those consumers to relate even in a virtual

way to a brand most likely previously unknown to them and thus create a sentiment of trust.

This means that social media have the possibility to play a bigger role in the purchase cycle in

those emerging countries than in developed market thus potentially facilitating a brand

development in those countries.

Even more encouraging data from prospective companies wishing to implement marketing

strategies there, a survey by Jack Morton worldwide15

shows that social media in Brazil

(23%), China (22%) and India (21%) are twice as likely as users that come from the US

(11%) to share brand information and experience the same way they do with family and

friends as in the real world.

Another interesting to take into consideration, the size of a brand‟s following on social media

is more likely to impress users in emerging markets. The same countries mentioned

previously are significantly more likely to consider a brand that have a lot of fans or is liked

11

http://www.pewglobal.org/2011/12/20/global-digital-communication-texting-social-networking-popular-

worldwide/

http://www.emarketer.com/Article.aspx?R=1008766&ecid=a6506033675d47f881651943c21c5ed4 12

http://www.pewglobal.org/2011/12/20/global-digital-communication-texting-social-networking-popular-

worldwide/ 13

http://www.tnsdigitallife.com/ 14

http://www.emarketer.com/Article.aspx?R=1008766&ecid=a6506033675d47f881651943c21c5ed4 15

http://www.emarketer.com/Article.aspx?id=1008851&R=1008851

http://www.jackmorton.com/news/article.aspx?itemID=106&typeID=3

20

by many users on a social media. The same users are also more likely to like or follow most

brands on Facebook most notably.

However encouraging those data are, it has to be taken into consideration that social media

marketing in BRIC countries are still relatively in the early stages of its development there are

still a number of challenges that has to be surpassed considering the BRIC status as emerging

countries such as fragmented industries, low literacy rates and in some cases underdeveloped

infrastructure.

6.2 Brazil

6.2.1 General presentation of Brazil

The federative republic of Brazil is the fifth

largest country in the world and the sixth most

populous with 205 716 890 according to a July

2012 estimate. Brazil gained its independence in

1822 after three centuries under Portuguese

monarchies. After further changes in the 20th

century, Brazil was able to expand its economy

through industrial and agricultural growth. It was

able to do so through its extended natural

resources such as bauxite, gold, iron ore,

manganese, nickel, phosphates, platinum, tin,

rare earth elements, uranium, petroleum, hydropower, timberand and a readily available labor

base. Challenges include highly unequal income distribution and important widespread crime

rate.16

Brazil economy is based on sectors such as agricultural, mining, manufacturing and services

being the most important economy in South America with an increasingly important place at

an international level. Since 2003, this country has been able to improve its economic

situation by building up foreign reserves and decreasing its debts profile.

Brazil was able to reap the fruit of its reform in 2007 and especially in 2008 with strong

growth. The financial crisis beginning in 2008 took a hit on its economy but it was one of the

first emerging countries to actually be able to get out of this difficult situation in 2010. That

16

https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/br.html

21

year consumer and investor confidence rose to 7.5% reaching the highest growth rate for this

country in the past 25 years.17

6.2.2 Internet and social media in Brazil

There is an estimated 81 798 000 Internet users as of December 2011 representing a 42.2%

penetration for this country18

.

The most used social network in Brazil is Facebook with 42 206 120 Facebook users in

March 2012 representing a 21.8% penetration rate or a 36.1 million visitors. It recently

dethroned Orkut as the most popular social network in the country19

.

A study from a local ad agency f/Nazca Saatchi and Saatchi20

found that penetration of social

media reached 93% of total internet users in august 2011.

A peculiarity of social media users in Brazil is the differentiation that exists for a given social

media according to different criteria such as gender, age and geographic region. For example

women have shown a stronger engagement (+16%) towards social networking sites such as

Facebook and Orkut and content consumption. Younger users (15-24 years old) are more

likely to use Orkut and Twitter however older people prefer to use Facebook as do people in

the south East region where big cities such as Sao Paulo and Rio are located.

According to a research conducted by BricData21

, companies in Brazil typically use social

media as a marketing tool to advertise their products and services, monitor brands and identify

sales opportunities. BricData expects that there will be an increased in the budget allocated to

such campaign in the next few years.

17

https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/br.html 18

http://www.internetworldstats.com/sa/br.htm 19

http://www.internetworldstats.com/sa/br.htm 20

http://siliconfilter.com/why-social-media-is-cooking-in-emerging-markets/ 21

http://marketpublishers.com/report/technologies_electronics/media/social_media_marketing_strategies_n_emerg

ing_opportunities_in_bric_countries.html

22

As for the future, a new instance created in 2011 and called the secretariat for digital inclusion

(SID) will implement a project named digital cities in which it is established that the country

will provide:

Partnerships between agencies and entities of Federal Public Administration bodies

and civil society actions for implementation of infrastructure connection

Installation of free public access points to the Internet

Qualification and support for public and community use of digital technologies

Training of digital inclusion, implementation of electronic government

Support continuing education of public servants in the use of information and

communication technologies in public administration

Articulation of digital inclusion initiatives with the federal government's social

programs in municipalities.

Those actions will probably ensure that companies wishing to implement social media

strategies will have even more incentives to do so as internet becomes more attractive and

widespread thanks to those measures.

6.3 Russia

6.3.1 General presentation of Russia

The Russian federation is a country jointly located in Asia and Europe. With

a population of 138 082 178 according to a July 2012 estimate it is one of the most populous

countries in Europe. After tumultuous changes ranging from the founding of the principality

of Muscovy, where they had to fight mongol domination to the early part of the 20th

century

when monarchy was overthrown in favor of the formation of a parliament amongst other

reforms, the mid-20th

saw the creation of the communist laden URSS finally overthrown in

1991 where the then commonly called ex URSS was renamed Russia and lost some of its

territory. Having long been known for its communist stance, Russia has since then shifted

towards a centralized semi authoritarian state.

Beginning in the early 90‟s, Russia underwent deep reforms in most privatized industry. It

became the world‟s largest oil producer in 2011 surpassing Saudi Arabia and is the second

largest producer of natural gas.

23

Even though Russia was one of the countries hardest hit by the global economic crisis, they

were able to recover somewhat in 2010 and remain one of the emerging territory with the

most interesting opportunities at an economic level. Like all emerging countries, Russia has to

go through a certain number of improvements such as its workforce which is shrinking, a high

level of corruption, difficulty in accessing capital for both smaller and non-energy companies

which remains the central industry in Russia and poor infrastructure22

.

6.3.2 Internet and social media in Russia

Russia had had one the fastest growing internet population within Europe over the last years.

There is an estimated 61,472,011 Internet users as of December 31 2011 representing an

estimated 44.3% penetration amongst the Russian population. This represent the second most

important internet population in Europe even though its penetration rate is relatively low

compared to other, more developed countries. However this data actually represent an

interesting opportunity as the country is expected to continue to develop itself in the

foreseeable future, both internet and social media penetration is likely to increase significantly

in the same span of time representing a chance for companies to reach one of the most

populous countries in the world23

in the future.

One of the peculiarities of Russia is the fact that most users are located in the western part of

the country because the more modern infrastructure are located in the capital and the other big

cities located in this region.

Russians are the most engaged when it comes to social media, they spend an average of 9.8

hours per month. This is particularly impressive when we take into consideration the fact that

the global average is 4.5 hours per month globally24

.

The most popular social network in Russia is VKontakte with 54.2 percent of the online

population being present in thisparticular network. Other popular social media include

22

https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/ch.html 23

http://www.internetworldstats.com/euro/ru.htm 24

24

Moimir and Odnoklassniki with both Twitter and Facebook gaining ground in this country as

well.

As for the future, there has been encouraging mentions made by the government that shows

that Russia is committed in providing free internet. Russian prime minister said in December

2011 that "This environment is very free, highly democratic, and I consider it impossible to

restrict the Internet. This is technically difficult and politically incorrect. If the government or

someone does not like what is happening on the Internet, there is only one way to confront -

in the same area of internet offer other options and approaches to address these problems,

which are discussed on the Internet, and make it more creative, interesting, and collect more

number of supporters".

Company BricData suggests that amongst the biggest challenges for social media marketing

campaign are related to linguistic barriers and spamming methods that are widespread there.

Like most emerging countries a good understanding of the complexities of internet

penetration related to regional differences and socio economic variables is key.

6.4 India

6.4.1 General presentation of India

The republic on India is a country located in Asia with a population of 1 205 073 612 in July

2012. Coming from a long and ancient civilization, Indian people has been recognized for

centuries for its striving economy until it came to a halt during English domination which last

from the late 19th

century until 1947 when it became independent. During the 20th

century,

India went through a certain number of turmoil most notably national problems that resulted

in the creation of Pakistan and Bangladesh both formerly part of the country, now often at

odds with India.

Economic reforms began in the early 90s where industrial deregulation, privatization of state

owned enterprises, reduce controls on foreign trade and investment helped growth rate

averaging 7% per year in 1997.

India has a diverse economy going from village farming to a range of more modern activities

and services with a little more of half of the workforce being in agriculture, service, especially

IT which accounts as a major source of economic growth but only employ one third of the

labor force.

25

Perhaps a testimony of its importance at the international level today, India became a

nonpermanent seat in the UN Security Council.

Long term challenges include overpopulation, environmental degradation, poverty, poor

infrastructure and widespread corruption however it can count on its young population and

corresponding low dependency ratio, healthy savings and investment rates, and increasing

integration into the global economy.

Like other BRIC, India was impacted by the economic crisis but was able to recover due to its

strong internal demand in the IT sector25

.

6.4.2 Internet and social media in India

There is an estimated 35 million Facebook users in India and the country is ranked fourth in

Asia for the number of users for twitter. India has a non-negligible advantage over other

BRIC as there has been a long colonial period with the UK meaning that the English language

is well in use in this country thus facilitating the use of international social media such as

Facebook and twitter. However this data is to be taken with caution as there are more than 20

languages currently in use in India especially considering the fact that English is not

necessarily in widespread use in certain regions. However this is an obstacle that might be

surmountable in the long term with increased literacy rate as the country develop itself

economically in the future as forecasted today and also with the generalization of the mixing

of English and Hindi, the most common language, as widely practiced nowadays.

Company BricData26

in their research have found out that social media was particularly

helpful for companies in this country using it as a marketing tool. Indeed according to

25

https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/in.html 26

http://marketpublishers.com/report/technologies_electronics/media/social_media_marketing_strategies_n_emerg

ing_opportunities_in_bric_countries.html

26

estimate from 2010 over 50% of enterprises using social media were successful in expending

their customer base through digital media campaigns. These figures are also expected to grow

even further in the future.

27

6.5 China

6.5.1 General presentation of China

The People's Republic of China is a country located in Asia with a population of 1 343 239

923 according to a July 2012 estimation, it is the most populous country in the world. China

has been known for centuries as a leading civilization in the world of arts and sciences

amongst other domains until the 19th

and 20th

centuries where civil unrest and other upsets led

to the country being sidelined. After the Second World War, communism resulted in an

autocratic socialist system with controls over everyday life. Beginning in the late 70‟s, China

began to shift its focus towards a market oriented economy coming from a closed and

centrally controlled economy.

In order to attain the status it enjoys today internationally, China had to go through a certain

number of reforms like the phasing out of collectivized agriculture, a remnant of communism,

the gradual liberalization of prices, fiscal decentralization, increased autonomy for state

enterprises amongst other reforms all of this in a gradual manner27

.

Even though quality of life has improved dramatically and the country has opened itself

internationally, political controls remain a major concern.

27

https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/ch.html

28

6.5.2 Internet and Social media in China

Internet penetration is estimated at 38.4% with 513,100,000 Internet users as of December 31

2011 making China the country with the most internet users in Asia.

The situation of social media is peculiar in this country with strong regulations from the

government. For example the government applies strong censorship of several websites

including several social networks such as Facebook and Twitter.

However instead of tearing apart the social networks phenomenon, it created a situation where

locally created and approved social networks are majorly popular.

According to some studies, Chinese social media usage is amongst the most intense in the

world. A study from Boston consulting group revealed that Chinese internet users are online

for an average of 2.7 hours per day. This peculiar situation is thought to have developed

because of socio economic factors such as rural to urban migration that separates families, the

loneliness that results from the famous one child per family rule and a general distrust of

information thought to be manipulated by the government resulting in internet and more

particularly social media becoming more and more integrated of Chinese users‟ experience of

internet. An interesting fact illustrates that well, young Chinese users reportedly have more

online friends that they do in real life.

When it comes to social media and brands in China, a survey from Ogilvy one found out that

55% of China internet users had initiated or had participated in an online conversations about

companies.

As with most emerging countries, usage of social media varies depending on various factors

such as languages, level of economic development and the general development of

infrastructure all of this depending on geographical consideration or age. As a matter of fact,

the situation of social media in China is such that companies deciding not to integrate this tool

in their marketing strategies run the risk of missing entirely on certain segment of the

population where social media have literally replaced older and more traditional media. For

example social media Yukou and Tudou specialized in playing video clips can be seen as

replacing television as TV show from international sources are posted there sometimes

illegally.

Another peculiarity of the social media situation in China, networks are specialized in relation

to certain interests. For example, the social network Douban is aimed at art students and those

passionate about culture in general whereas kaixin is aimed at a more mature audience of

young professionals. This, just like the situation in Russia but for different reasons

complexifies the situation of the social media landscape in China and requires for marketers

to have a deep knowledge of the situation.

Another interesting fact about language is the fact that Chinese is considered to be a more

economical language than English or French meaning that more can be said with fewer

characters. This is particularly useful in micro blogging websites such as Twitter and its

counterparts in China the notoriously popular Sina Weibo. This is particularly interesting

when companies wish to spread messages through this particular channel.

29

Moreover, social media specific to China are thought to be generally more advanced than

their western counterpart. For example Chinese users were able to embed multimedia content

in Twitter social networks equivalent Sina Weibo a good 18 month before twitter could do the

same. Chinese people were also amongst the first to adopt earliest form of social media back

in the mid-nineties.

7. Popular social networks in the BRIC countries

In this part we will have a closer look at some of the most popular social networks used

specifically in the countries assessed in this study.

Source: www.generation20.fr/la-repartition-des-reseaux-sociaux-dans-le-monde/

7.1 Facebook

7.1.1 Generalities

Created in 2004, Facebook has become one of the most important social

networks in the world in a relatively short span of time going from 100 million28

in 2008 to

955 million29

in June 2012.

28

https://blog.facebook.com/blog.php?post=28111272130 29

http://pdf.secdatabase.com/700/0001193125-12-316895.pdf

30

7.1.2 In the context of social media strategy

Facebook offers companies two ways of marketing themselves:

Creation of groups centered on a particular thematic. They are a good way for a

company to interact with customers

Fan pages which are similar to groups but it is possible to create commercial campaign

on them whereas this is not the case on groups

Those tools are complementary in the sense that they allow brands to reach two of the defined

goals mentioned in this report. Groups can increase involvement as the company provides

content that is of interest for the consumers whereas fan pages will allow distribution of

information that is more commercially minded focusing on a particular product or service.

The table below provides a useful comparison of those tools.

Pages Groups

Good for companies

and organizations:

Meant for companies

and organizations

OK for companies

and organizations,

but requires more

management

Broadcast message

to friends, fans or

members:

Into Updates next to

Facebook Inbox

Direct into Facebook

Inbox

Engage in

discussions:

Available via

“Discussions” tab,

but less

prominent than with

a Group

More focused on

discussions

Administrator

profiles:

Hidden from public

view

Listed publicly on

Group main page Source: Facebook pages, groups and profile explained, Aliza Sherman

30

Apart from that, Facebook also offers the possibility to run targeted ads according to different

criteria (geographic location, age etc )

30

http://gigaom.com/collaboration/facebook-pages-groups-and-profiles-explained/

31

7.2 Twitter

7.2.1 Generalities

Twitter was created in 2006 and with more than 500 million users in June

201231

, generating more than 340 million tweets a day32

is one of the most popular social

networks today. It is described as micro blogging social network where users can share short

messages called tweets comprised of a maximum of 140 characters with their followers

instantly.

Other features include the possibility of sending private messages, mention someone using the

sign @ and associate a theme to a tweet using a hashtag sign # leading to a list of trending

topics on the main page that regroup the most used hashtag over a period of time.


The real advantage of twitter is the fact that it allows a message to be sent out to an important

group of people granted that the company have a critical number of followers. Other ways of

using Twitter is to utilize promoted tweets that will appear alongside the list of trending topics

thus exposing them to users that are not necessarily followers.

Twitter usefulness has sometimes been called into question as the site is known to be opposed

to ads plus the character limitation makes it difficult to communicate more than a very

succinct message with companies often having to share links instead.

31

http://www.mediabistro.com/alltwitter/500-million-registered-users_b18842 32

http://www.mediabistro.com/alltwitter/500-million-registered-users_b18842

32

7.3 Qzone (QQ)

7.3.1 Generalities

Qzone was created in 2005 by Tencent, a company who also owns a

wildly popular instant messaging called Tencent QQ on which Qzone draws a large number

of users. Official number of users appears to be difficult to find but it is estimated than Qzone

has 500 million users in China representing a 32% share in that country33

. Other sources

estimates than the figure should be between 300 and 400 million users34

. It appeals mostly to

teenager and rural users.

It allows its user to write blogs and diaries, send photo and listen to music. Other extra

services cost a fee. Those include applications that are mostly games


As said, Qzone appears to draw a large number of its users from popular service Tencent QQ

resulting in a lot of the profiles being dormant thus limiting its appeal in terms of marketing

strategy especially considering than nicknames and not real names are mostly used.

7.4 RenRen

7.4.1 Generalities

Deemed as a Facebook remake, RenRen

(literally meaning everyone‟s network) was created in 2005 and much like Facebook in its

early day caters mainly to the college students market with an eye in becoming a mass market

social network. As of February 2011, it has 160 million registered users35

. Much like

Facebook, RenRen basically offers registered users the possibility of creating a profile, add

33

http://www.chinainternetwatch.com/1050/qzone-active-users-over-500-million/ 34

http://www.chinasocialgames.com/?p=372 35

http://www.ft.com/cms/s/2/c26ed156-3d23-11e0-bbff-00144feabdc0.html

33

RenRen page screenshot

connections known as “friend” and a number of third party applications. It also offers a

number of features not found on its international counterpart such as a footprint of who last

visited a given profile and customized skins. Its targets are teens, white collars workers and

people from lower tiers city.

RenRen login page

Facebook login page


RenRen like most other Chinese social networks aggressively features ads as a way for

companies to market their brands. One of the peculiarities of this site is product placement in

games which coincidently is the major stream of revenue of this network.

For example, company Lays launched a campaign on happy farmer which is the most popular

game application on this social network. Users were able to grow lay‟s potatoes and create a

lay‟s crisps factory36

.

Another way of marketing a brand is by using the forum which is a space where RenRen users

can see the hottest links being shared, the most commented journal entries, daily poll and the

most talked about topic. This relate more to the notion of providing interesting content for

36

http://www.web2asia.com/2009/02/24/the-world-s-largest-online-social-network-qzone

30

users as brands would have to have some kind of buzz in order to be feature in this section

without being commercially promoted.

Like Facebook companies can create brand page.

7.5 Kaixin001

7.5.1 Generalities

Kaixin (happy net) was launched in 2008. It is another Chinese social media that is closely

associated with Facebook. Its target audience of 130 million registered uses as of 201237

is

mainly composed of white collars workers. Much like concurrent Facebook it offers the

possibility of creating profiles; connect with friends and features third party applications.


Kaxin offers standard ways of marketing brands similar to what lookalike Facebook and

RenRen propose it is therefore possible to advertise brands by featuring ads or through games

application albeit in a much less aggressive fashion than concurrent RenRen.

37

http://www.techinasia.com/kaixin-2011-profit-user-numbers/

31

7.6 Sina Weibo

7.6.1 Generalities

Sina Weibo (Sina microblog) was created in 2009 and is often

referred as an hybrid between Facebook and Twitter. With about 300 million registered users

in China and 100 million daily post38

it is one of the most popular social network in this

country.

The success of this particular social network can be explained by its ability to attract

celebrities, famous Chinese actress Yao Chen has more than 12.5 million followers on this

site, but also because it is seen as amongst Chinese social media user as a place where they

can express their ideas more freely than in other social media indeed because of its rapid

update system it is more difficult to be government controlled than other more general

Chinese social networks.

A study from UM titled “the social media tracker wave39

offers some insight from a social

standpoint of view. They claim that users using Sina Weibo are three times more connected to

brand communities than in france, Germany or Japan thus rendering it the most attractive

Chinese social networks in the context of a social network strategy especially when we know

that generally speaking users from all BRIC countries appears to be more engaged with

brands already.

Relatively new compared to other social media network platform, the popularity of Sina

Weibo has greatly impacted its concurrent RenRen and Kaixin001 who both saw a decline in

active users since the ascent of Sina Weibo.

It features are reminiscent of those of twitter with message limited to 140 characters, mention

of other user using the sign @ and utilization of hashtag under the format "#HashName#".

Additional features include the possibility of inserting graphical emoticons and attachment of

video files, images and/or music in each message.

38

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-02-28/sina-s-weibo-outlook-buoys-internet-stock-gains-in-n-y-china-

overnight.html 39

http://fr.slideshare.net/fred.zimny/uu-report-wave-5-the-socialisation-of-brandsreport

32

Sina Weibo homepage


Much like Twitter, one of the advantages of Sina Weibo in the context of social media

strategy is that companies can send direct messages to a large number of followers in real

times with some added bonuses compared to what Twitter offers with more being said in

mandarin within the 140 characters limit and the possibility of embedding pictures and other

numeric files as previously said.

However Sina Weibo actually goes beyond those features to offer additional functionalities. It

allows the creation of private groups which contains comments thus enabling expended

communication but also functionalities related to games, polls, games, apps, photo, audio and

video and most importantly companies pages that feature brands and e-commerce related

items.

It features a light blogging side service reserved for users who wants to produce more content

at unrestricted length.

Those additional features explains why it is considered a hybrid of general social network

such as Facebook and twitter allowing to not only distribute content but also share more

content thus possibly resulting in more engagement from customers.

An example of that is the company Starbucks which was one of the first to foray its way into

Sian Weibo40

. Their strategy is to offers coupons and deals but also ask customers questions,

thanking and rewarding fans much like the advices preconized by the social media

optimization concept seen earlier in this report.

40

http://adage.com/article/global-news/marketers-learning-microblog-sina-weibo-china/230074/

33

7.7 Odnoklassniki

7.7.1 Generalities

Odnoklassniki (classmates) is a Russian social network

created in 2006. It claims to have 45 million registered users41 with 10 million daily visits.

Odnoklassniki focus is on sharing photos between users with features such the possibility to

rate said photos, online chat, the possibility to see who has viewed one‟s profile and real time

viewing of who is online. It also features games, streaming media and video hosting services.

Odnoklassniki is generally trending downwards, losing ground to the benefit of concurrent

Facebook and VKontakte. In a effort to maintain its viability, Odnoklassniki will be translated

in the coming months in English. A peculiarity of this social network is the fact that it is more

popular than Facebook in Armenia and remains the network in this country42.

7.7.2 Odnoklassniki in the context of social media

Odnoklassniki mostly offers targeted advertising as a way of promoting brands on its

platform.

7.8 VKontakte

7.8.1 Generalities

Vkontakte is the leader amongst social networks in Russia with

118.8 million accounts as of 201243

. It was created in 2006 and much like Facebook, to which

it is often compared and boasts the same color code, was restricted in its early version to

university students. By 2008 it was able to overtake then leader rival Odnoklassniki and was

the first out of the two to offer its website in multiple language (up to 22 as of 2012). Even

41

http://odnoklassniki.ru/dk?st.cmd=helpAdvertise&tkn=2260 42

http://telecom.arka.am/en/news/internet/more_than_80_of_armenian_users_of_social_networks_prefer_odnokla

ssniki/ 43

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/VK_(social_network)#cite_note-usercount-2

34

though it is the leader on this market, VKontakte is facing problems like spamming in which

hackers regularly enforced users‟ account and infringement copyright due to the presence of

video and audio files.

Much like Facebook and other similar social networks, it offers the same basic functions such

as personalized and public pages, connections to “friends” and access to their info, photo and

video hosting, basic messaging and chat system, groups and notes. It boasts other features

such as the possibility of hosting audio files within groups and personal pages, upload video

and of course applications for game playing.

VKontake screenshot

7.8.2 VKontakte in the context of social media strategy

VKontakte much like other Facebook copycat offers the same opportunity for brands to

market themselves mainly the possibility of running ads, creating company brands page and

fan groups.

8. Research hypothesizes

Social media strategies are implemented around a certain number of recognized consumer

attitudes and ways of doing thing in order to take advantage of the full potential of this tool.

This research in particular will be the opportunity to assess whether or not consumer from the

chosen markets react to social media in a way that allows the implementation and the

development of a proper base for a consumer – company relationship strategy within this

medium.

Research hypothesis 1:

Controversial and polarizing opinion on social media networks can have a negative impact on

brands.

The concept of e reputation is an important one when it comes to social media and can be

extremely difficult to manage. Social networks represent one of the easiest ways for

35

individuals and organization to express opinions that can be derogatory to a brand especially

if it turns into a wave of bad buzz, resulting in a reverse effect in the context of a marketing

strategy. This is because people tend to organize themselves in community causing

participants to react either positively or negatively and then relay information around them.

The question is to know whether people in those markets would be enticed to express

controversial or polarizing opinion on a brand using social media and would they be sensitive

to such opinions if exposed to them.

36


Social media users in BRIC countries are likely to engage deeply with a brand online.

In relation to this concept, social media should be a medium where consumers are able to

express their opinions freely. This component when used appropriately can make a

community feel like they are listen too especially if actions are taken towards easing their

interaction and experience with a brand before and after purchasing a product or service. This

is a way to increase loyalty which is after all one of the principal goal of implementing a

social media strategy especially considering than more likely than not engaging in this

direction results in more loyalty and engagement from consumers.. During the questionnaire,

this concept will be assessed and will focus on knowing if consumers in emerging markets use

or would be willing to use social media in this manner.

The desk researches showed that social media users who engage with brands through this

medium follow in general an average of 5 brands or more. This can represent an important

element to take into consideration for a marketing strategy. The questionnaire will verify if it

is the case for consumers from the BRIC countries specifically.


Social media users in BRIC countries feel close and trust brands online

During the desk researches, one of the key elements that have been found is the fact that

social media from those countries feel closer and are more likely to trust brands present on

social media. This was a trend particularly found in China where social media users appear to

trust more information given on a social media than in any of the traditional media which are

mostly government controlled.

During the questionnaire we will verify this hypothesis.


The concepts of notoriety and popularity of a brand is essential in the social media world.

When it comes to a marketing strategy targeted at increasing the visibility and awareness of a

brand the concepts of notoriety and popularity come naturally to mind as they are all

important element to take into consideration in order to increase a brand presence in the

public eye. When it comes to social media the question here is to know if those elements are

given the same importance in this particular context for users. Do they tend to follow only

brands that they know or are they more likely to be open to the idea of following new brands.


Social media can be used as a way to federate followers through word of mouth.

Word a mouth is a key element in a successful social media strategy. If a campaign is carried

out respecting key rules such as two way communication, increased sharing of relevant

content or any other marketing campaign that will encourage followers to be implicated in a

brand that will snowball into customers sharing buzz through their closest contacts

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In the questionnaire, we will assess if BRIC consumers are likely to respond to said buzz by

for example following a brand they did not know previously thanks to the suggestion of a

social network “friend”


Interaction is important for social media users.

As we have seen in the desk researches, interaction is the basis of why social media was

created in the first place and one of the element any social media users utilize this tool in the

first place.

We have already said it numerous times through this report but in any successful social media

campaign it is important that interaction be one of the mandatory element present in the way a

brand present itself on a given network.

Through the questionnaire we will assess how important it is for the BRIC consumers by

asking if they are satisfied by the current level of interaction brands afford them.

9. Quantitative analysis

In order to carry out successfully this research, it was chosen to conduct a quantitative

research where a questionnaire was first created and send out to a selection of respondents

from the BRIC countries.

It was deemed to be a better way to collect information that lends itself to be quantified. It

also allows easier comparison to be made between the different countries.

9.1 Creation of the questionnaire

The questionnaire was created using the online tool “Survey Monkey” which allowed

facilitated creation and then easier distribution towards a greater selection of respondents.

The questionnaire is axed towards six sections:

Two selection questions

This section was created to filter respondents in order to make sure that they would

correspond to the desired profile. These questions were axed around their hypothetical use or

not of internet and from which country they were coming from. In the case they did not match

the desire profile they were redirected to a page thanking them but also informing them that

their profile did not fit.

General use of social media

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This section is comprised of questions related to their most preferred social media and all

related questions such as on which one they were more interested in following brands and

what type of brands they were following.

Social media, brands and following

We were also interested in knowing why they were following it and a number of statements

about the influence of the popularity of a given brand.

Brand and notoriety

In this part we asked respondents to asses a certain number of notions such as trust, closeness

and word of mouth. It was also the occasion to ask questions related to interactivity.

Social media, brands and interactivity

We were also interested in knowing how users felt about the level of interactivity generally

afforded by community created in social media. We also touch upon the concept of e-

reputation and how it affects interactivity.

General information

The last part of the questionnaire was created in order to get personal information such as age

and level of education. This section also included two open questions. One affording

respondents to leave a comment about their general thoughts about social media and the other

one allowing them to leave their email address in order to receive a synthesis of the results if

so desired.

The criteria used for applicable questions were created using information from other study

and general bits found in the desk researches.

9.2 Distribution of the questionnaire

It was decided that in order to have exploitable data that highlighted differences between the

BRIC a minimum of 30 answers should be collected from each countries.

In order to reach this goal, it was first decided to contact previous students from IAE

Grenoble considering that its roster includes a large selection of people coming from these

countries especially when it comes to Brazil and China. However this strategy proved to be

unsuccessful as even though a message inviting this public to answer the questionnaire was

sent to a large selection, only a few responded and this, after a second email was sent out

again a week or so later.

This can be attributed at least in part to the fact that certain of those former students belonged

to older classes with the possibility than the email address provided was no longer in use.

Another issue that has arisen is the fact that very few of those students were from India and

the selection of Russian former students was relatively low especially when compared to the

other two countries.

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From this point on it was clear that this strategy was not going to work for this study. The

second idea was to therefore invite people directly using social media.

The first one used was Twitter. A message containing a link to the survey was relayed using

hashtags, a popular feature of this social media, as we have seen in the desk research, such as

#india, #china, #russia, #brazil, #social media.

The second social media used was linkedin were personal messages were sent to group

members from the aforementioned countries while making sure than those messages were

only sent to people actually living in those countries and not coming from its diaspora.

Lastly Facebook was used using the same method in order to round up the number of

respondents.

Even though it was a very time consuming process, it proved wildly successful especially

when compared to the initial idea as the proposed number of minimum respondents was not

only reached but also surpassed.

The only drawback from this technique came from Chinese respondents. As we have seen

previously in this report, Chinese social media users are generally less present in western

world based social media like those used in this study, therefore decreasing the base number

of possible participants, for this reason there are less respondents from this country.

Unfortunately language was a strong barrier against using popular Chinese social media such

as QQ or Sina Weibo.

The choice of respondents was random, therefore it can be considered than the random

method was used for this questionnaire.

While initially apprehensive about asking strangers, to which the school linkage was not

present, to take part in this study, it went relatively well with a certain number of people

offering to help by providing useful research results and advice or offering to further

distribute the questionnaire amongst their acquaintances.

There was also a general sense that it was a subject that interested people that answered with

more than 134 people asking to have the results sent back to them.

A total of 412 people answered to the questionnaire with 339 completing it (including those

that were filtered) and 229 completing through the end.

10. Results presentation

In this part we will present the different results found through the survey. In a latter part we

will analyze those results according to the research hypothesis formulated in a previous part

of this report.

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10.1 Filter questions

This questionnaire was distributed to a selection of random respondents. In order to make sure

that their profile corresponded to the problematic of the survey, two filter questions were

asked at the beginning of the questionnaire.

Those two questions allowed us to only have respondents from the BRIC (Brazil, Russia,

India and China) countries. The other selection criterion was about the respondent‟s use of

social media and namely if it is used to follow brands.

This graph shows us that on the 412 people that took part in this survey, 11 don‟t use social

media and subsequently did not continue the questionnaire.

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34.1% of the subsequent respondents declared not following brands by means of social media,

like the precedent question, those respondents were not invited to continue the survey.

Another filter question allowed us to only have respondents from the BRIC countries. We can

see here that respondents from India and Brazil were more represented at slightly more than

27.4% each while respondents from China and Russia represented almost 21% each.

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During the distribution of the questionnaire, Indian respondents that were sent the

questionnaire were in general the most cooperative in answering the survey and a few people

also send it out to some as their acquaintances as testified by subsequent email received. A

Brazilian surveyed also offered to translate the questions in order to reach more people,

unfortunately due to time constraints it was not possible, however the same person did pass it

out to English speaking acquaintances of his further explaining why the minimum quotas in

this country was reached and surpassed before the other three countries.

10.2 General use of social media

In this part, we were interested in knowing more about social media consumption habits. This

part also asks questions about the respondents‟ relation with brands in the context of social

media.

A clear majority (67.2%) of respondents declared using social media several times a day.

This is in line with what was found during the desk researches where studies showed that

even though the BRIC have a relatively low level of penetration compared to other countries,

the people that do use social media tend to really engage with it due to political, social reasons

or simply because it has become engrained in their way of living especially considering that

they tend to also be consumed through mobile technology such as smartphones and tablets.

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Concerning the most used social media, the two most popular are Linkedin and Facebook at

more than 88% and 80% respectively with Youtube and Twitter being in third and fourth

places. This result can be explained by the fact that a majority of respondents were selected

through LinkedIn explaining its edge in this study. This figure will be deeper analyzed in the

latter part of this study where the most striking differences between countries will be

presented.

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This question allowed us to know what social media were used to specifically follow brands.

Facebook took the lead position at a strong 73.9% with Linkedin and Twitter in second and

third position respectively.

This again is mostly in line with the desk researches where Facebook as become and continue

to be an inevitable network in most countries let alone the BRIC with the notable exception of

China.

In this graph we asked respondents how many brands they follow on social media with the

majority answering five or more at more than 52% and a vast majority of respondents

generally following more than one.

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Services are brands that are mostly followed by the surveyed at more than 60% followed

closely by travelling at 59%. A certain number of other options were left in the “other”

section of this question and will be presented in the annexes.

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Asked why they follow their favorite brands on social media, a large percentage (65.22%)

answered that they do so in order to get information. At a distant second, 10.7% of the people

surveyed answered that they do so in order to get exclusive reduction and rebates and to

experience interactivity with brands.

10.3 Brand and notoriety

In this part we were interested in knowing how important the concept of awareness of a brand

was to social media users.

In this series of question we can see that a slight majority of respondents disagree with the

statement do you only follow well-known brands on social media whereas they at more than

33% and 41%, surveyed people agree with the statement “the popularity of social media

influenced whether or not I follow it” and “I am influenced by my contacts”.

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All respondents agreed with the statements provided in this series of question. Indeed they

were 53.7% agreeing with statement „generally speaking I feel closer to brands I follow on

social media. 42.8% responded positively to the statement “I trust more information shared by

brands on social media with a strong part at 36.36% choosing the neutral choice. A strong

64.6% answered positively to the statement word of mouth is a way for me to discover new

brands and finally more than 60% and 58% responded respectively to the following

statements “I have discovered brands that I did not know previously thanks to social media”

and “I have followed a brand I did not know thanks to social media”.

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Once again a majority of respondents agreed with the different statements provided. 43%

agreed with the statement “I am satisfied with the level of interaction afforded by brands on

social networks. Almost 60% agreed that negative comments could possibly change their

mind about a brand with few a little more than 10% disagreeing with this particular statement.

The last statement was last conclusive with a little more than 44% declaring that they

comment on social media networks.

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Asked why they comment on social media, respondents indicated that they do so in order to

share their experience. 31.7% of people surveyed answered that they never comment and

13.5% do so in order to help other customers.

10.4 General information

This part allows us to build a profile of the people that took part in this survey.

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A majority of respondents are within the 26 – 34 years old age bracket with 35 – 44

representing the second largest age group in this survey.

Even though a particular attention was made in order to send the questionnaire to an equal

number of men and women, a majority of male, 66.3%, answered the survey.

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A large number of respondents have reached a post graduate level of education at 66%. This

can be possibly explained by the large number of Linkedin users that took part in the survey.

52

11. Main differences and similarities between

countries

Now that we have presented the results from the standpoint of the BRIC countries as a whole,

let‟s have a closer look at the main difference between the four countries.

11.1 Most popular social networks

India

Brazil

Russia

China

According to those graphics we can see that Facebook is the most popular social network

amongst the surveyed in India and Russia with Linkedin appearing strong at second. Linkedin

appears as the most social network for both Brazil and China. While Facebook also appears in

second position for Brazilian surveyed, local social network sina Weibo comes in second

place amongst our Chinese users.

It is interesting to note that the only local social network in India, Bharat Students, the only

local Indian social networks found during the desk research, appears very low in the list, well

after more internationally known social networks and appears to have few users in its own

country.

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While the top three is occupied by globally used social networks, local ones such as

Odnoklassniki and VKontakte appears in healthy numbers in the fourth and fifth position in

Russia ahead of other renown social networks such as Twitter and Google +.

Having no local social networks, international ones appears to be the most popular as

expected in Brazil. Validating data found during desk research is the low position of social

media Google + which used to be the most popular social networks going back only a few

years ago.

Alongside India, China is the country where the most social networks are used and also the

only one with as much local ones. It is also the only country where Facebook is not in the top

two. A rather surprising occurrence is the presence of social networks Youtube and Twitter

alongside Facebook considering their status as banned in the country. It appears users are able

to bypass those restrictions in order to access those sites.

11.2 Preferred social network to follow brands

India

Brazil

Russia

China

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Facebook is the preferred social network when it comes to following brands in three

countries, Russia, Brazil and India whereas local site Sina Weibo is the most used in this

fashion in China.

In India, Facebook is followed by Linkedin, Twitter while Google + and Youtube appears to

have a significant number of users utilizing it for this function.

Amongst its two local social networks, VKontakte appears to have the edge over competitor

Odnoklassniki for users wishing to follow brands as was expected since it has more followers.

International social networks Twiter and Youtube are, like in India, well placed amongst the

different social networks used in Russia.

Once again the most striking element found for this particular question in Brazil is how much

Google + has fallen out of favor in this country giving its place as a leader to social networks

Facebook by a large margin followed by Linkedin, Twitter and Youtube respectively.

The situation remains peculiar in China where Sina Weibo is bar far the most used social

network when it comes to following brands. Social networks Linkedin and QQ follow suite

while Facebook is surprisingly in fourth position, once again demonstrating the influence of

this particular social network when taken into consideration the fact that it is banned there.

We can see here the leading position Sina Weibo occupies amongst the other Chinese social

networks more than doubling its next concurrent QQ. It is somewhat surprising to see that two

wildly but admittedly declining Chinese social network, RenRen and Kaxin fared less than

QQ when the desk researches implied that they were more popular and more user friendly.

This can be explained by the fact that QQ has a more important number of registered users

due to the strength of its parent company Tencent.

11.3 Number of brands followed on social media

India Brazil

55

Russia

China

Validating data found during the desk researches, users from the four BRIC countries follow

five or more social networks all by a wide margin. China is the country with the largest

number of users declaring that they follow 5 brands or more even though it is by a negligible

margin.

11.4 Type of brands followed

India

Brazil

56

Russia

China

Asked what type of brand do they follow on social network, consumers from both India and

Brazil answered prominently services followed by travelling and clothes in India and also

travelling plus luxury in Brazil.

As for the remaining countries, travelling is the top choice in both Russia and China followed

by services and clothes in Russia and services plus leisure in China.

11.5 Reasons for following

India

Brazil

57

Russia China

As to why they follow their favorite brands on social networks specifically, all surveyed

overwhelmingly chose “to get information” demonstrating that the primary function of a

brand community in those countries is to get better acquainted with the brand itself.

Only in India do we get a significant number two with the statement “to get exclusive

reduction and rebates having a bit more ground compared to other statements.

11.6 Commenting on social media

India

Russia

58

Brazil

China

When it comes to why do users from the BRIC countries comment on social media, the results

are more mixed. In India, Brazil and China, they reportedly do so in order share their

experience. It is worth noting that this results is more pronounced in China and even more so

in India where it leads by a relative wide margin. The same result is split in Brazil where the

option “I never comment” got the same percentage of answers. The option “help other

customers” also got a sizable percentage of answers in Brazil contrary to India and China.

Russian customers reportedly never comment on social networks as this option got the largest

number of answer followed distantly by “share my experience”.

In all cases the option, comment positively was the least popular choice.

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12. Hypothesis validation

As described earlier in this report, the research hypotheses were formulated based on the

different challenges and opportunities that a company wishing to implement a social media

strategy might encounter. Those hypotheses will be presented firstly as a whole then by

country when necessary.



brands.

Interaction and commenting are an important element of the social media experience for

users. Most of the time it also means that a company wishing to utilize social media as a tool

will more likely than not have to face criticism when a client is dissatisfied by the service

provided for example.

According to the graph users agree at 51.2% with the statement “Negative comments shared

on social media are likely to change my opinion on a brand”. This means that a majority of

users are likely to be influenced by what is said on a social media brand community. In terms

of number, 121 responded positively, 28 responded negatively and 57 people neither agreed

nor disagreed.

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In light of the majorly positive answers to this question, we can validate this hypothesis

for the BRIC country as a whole.

India

Brazil

China

In all four countries we can see that a majority of surveyed responded positively to the

statement with Russia having the highest percentage at 51.7% and Brazil the lowest at 41.9%.

In light of those results this hypothesis can be validated in all four countries taken

individually.


Social media users in BRIC countries are likely to engage with multiple brands online.

In order to assess the engagement of social media users from the BRIC countries, two

questions were asked:

How frequently do they engage with social media in a given period

How many brands do they follow

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This hypothesis allows us to not only know if social media users from BRIC countries are

likely to follow multiple brands but also if they are likely to be exposed to brands followed a

number of times for a given period.

This graph shows us that a little less than 68% of social media from BRIC countries use this

tool several times a day.

No major differences were noted once countries are taken individually with Indian users

answering “several times a day at 72.8%, Brazilians at 59.4%, Russians at 66.7% and Chinese

at 70.4%.

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52.8% of people surveyed declared than they followed 5 brands or more which is on par with

what was found in other surveys covering other region of the world. In total more than 91% of

surveyed declared following multiple brands.

Taken individually, 38.8% of Chinese users follow 5 brands or more, 44.9% in Russia, 58.5%

in Brazil and 63.2% in India.

This hypothesis can therefore be validated.


Social media users in BRIC countries feel close and trust brands online

Another strong element to be taken into consideration is the level of trust and closeness a

social media user must feel towards a brand using this medium in order to launch and carry

out a successful campaign.

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This graph shows that an overwhelming number of surveyed feel closer to brands on social

media with more than 58 % answering positively to this statement.

The results were a bit more mixed for the second statement concerning the notion of trust with

more than42% answering positively but 36.6% answering neutrally.


India

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Brazil

Russia

China

The results are sensibly the same when the countries are taken individually with Russia

posting the highest results at 57.8% and Brazil posting the lowest at a little more than 50% for

the statement concerning the notion of closeness.

The results for the second statement gives us an insight as to which country has the highest

level of trust social media amongst the BRIC with Brazil posting a low 27% agreeing with the

statement and the majority choosing the neutral answer. The situation is more mixed in India

were the majority of answers are split between choices agree and neither at around 35% each

China was once again the country with the highest degree of trust towards social media with

50%of users agreeing with the statement

Let us have a closer look at the peculiar situation of Brazil. The situation is a bit more mixed

for this country even though a majority of surveyed agreed with the statement, the notion of

trust appears to be a bit more problematic with a lot of surveyed choosing the neutral option

and almost the same percentage of negative answers.

This hypothesis can be validated but with some reserve concerning trust in Brazil.


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The concepts of notoriety and popularity of a brand is essential in the social network world

when it comes to brand community management.

Those elements are mostly related to a social media strategy for brands wishing to expand

their community exponentially. The questionnaire allowed us to verify that they are in pace in

the BRIC countries and therefore can contribute to a successful campaign.

As we can see from this graph results are mostly mixed when it comes to the concept of

popularity. Asked “I tend to follow only well-known brands a majority negatively at more

than 40% while when asked if the popularity of a brand affect whether or not they follow it

the results were split at approximately 38% both positively and negatively.

Results was more decisive when it comes to the influence of contacts with more than 41%

agreeing than their contacts influence their choices when it comes to following a specific

brand.

This hypothesis cannot be validated

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India

Brazil

Russia

China

Taken individually the situation varies from countries to countries. Asked “I tend to follow

only well-known brands on social media” more than 40% of Brazilian users responded

positively while more than 37% responded negatively whereas in India a strong 54%

answered negatively to the statement.

When it comes to the second statement concerning whether or not the popularity of a social

network influences whether or not they follow it, surveyed from India, Brazil and Russia all

disagreed, China was the only country to agree at a majority with more than 51% of positive

answers.

All surveyed from the four countries declared being influenced by their contacts on social

media with China being the highest at 52.2% of people responding positively in this country

and the rest of the countries being more or less even at around 47%.

Taken individually, this hypothesis cannot therefore be validated

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This graph gives us information about word of mouth and how social media is followed. At

55.2%, surveyed people agree that word of mouth was a way for them to discover new brands

through social media.

It also appears that social media is an interesting tool also when it comes to attracting new

followers as 70% responded positively to the statement I have discovered brands that I did not

know previously thanks to social media while more than 58% answered than they have

followed a brand discovered through this tool.

This hypothesis is therefore validated.

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When it comes to interaction we can see here that a majority of the surveyed people answered

positively to the question “I am satisfied with the level of interaction afforded by brands on

social media at 43.2% versus 25% for negative answers.

Similarly more than 48% declared commenting on brands on social media while 44.2% agrees

that negative comments can possibly change their opinion of a brand.


13. Conclusion and recommendations

As a reminder here is a recap of the validation of the hypothesis in the previous section:



brands.

Hypothesis validated




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Social media users in BRIC countries feel close and trust brands online.




Hypothesis is not validated







When it comes to what social media to use we have two situations in the BRIC countries.

Brazil and India are countries that don‟t possess significant local social networks. This is an

advantage for companies wishing to develop their strategy there as they would deal with

wildly popular social networks at an international level with which they are more than likely

already familiar. The only drawback here could be language. Interaction with possible

customers in most cases would be more accessible and generally more successful if carried

out in the local language. Whereas English is a fairly popular language in India, meaning that

campaigns could possibly be carried out in this language or at the very least a combination

with Hindi, the most widespread of the spoken language in this country and English which is

in use as we have seen earlier, it is also a country where not only a sizeable portion of the

population does not speak this international language, it is also a country where there are

several other official languages depending on the region.

Brazil doesn‟t have the same connection to the English language but possesses the advantage

of having a single widespread official language, Portuguese.

The situation for the remaining country is different especially for China. In Russia both local

social network, namely VKontakte and Odnoklassniki, and international ones such as

Facebook and Twitter are popular giving perhaps in this particular country more official and

popular platforms to implement a strategy when compared to other BRIC.

China is of course the country which would demand much more attention as it is the only

country where local social networks are more popular than international ones. This means that

a company wishing to implement a strategy there must do so taken into account not only the

language but also the peculiarities of those platforms, such as the fact that they appear to offer

more advanced technological features to their users or again that the demographic of various

social media appears to be split by numerous variables.

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As we have seen the Chinese language can represent an advantage due to the fact that more

can be said with less meaning that tools such as Sina Weibo can actually be more effective in

carrying out a message than its international counterpart Twitter for example. However this

study gives us a more nuanced view on this. The questionnaire revealed that even though

local social networks are more popular than international ones, those are still utilized by

Chinese social networks user perhaps due to a general defiance towards government

controlled and approved social media networks, Chinese people reach out of their way to

bypass restrictions imposed on Facebook and Twitter for the most part. In the context of this

study, it is clear than local social media should be prioritize as part of a campaign,

international ones could also be possibly integrated as well even if it would be at a lesser

scale.

An interesting fact about China is the prominence of Sina Weibo. The desk researches

highlighted the fact that concurrent RenRen and Kaixin001 were popular but since the

emergence of Sina Weiba, both of them have fallen by the wayside so to speak. The

questionnaire also reflected this trend. More than that Sina Weibo seems to be a particularly

interesting social network in the sense that it combines features from traditional platforms

such as its aforementioned competitors but is also a miccroblog amongst other rich features as

we discussed earlier, thus presenting more varied and generally more innovative opportunities

for brand strategy as illustrated by the enthusiastic comments it generated during the survey.



brands.

This hypothesis has been validated in the preceding section. When conducting a social media

strategy through social networks it is therefore essential to mitigate the consequences a flow

of negative comments can generate. Through the desk researches, we have seen that in order

to do so, a company must not try to enforce policies that will for example disturb the free

flowing nature of a brand community present on social media networks but must on the

contrary address criticism head on and provide solutions and support in a timely and reactive

way showing by the same occasion that they listen to their clients and are able to provide help

if a problem should arise.



This subject has been touched upon briefly in the desk researches and has been validated by

the questionnaire. This represents an important opportunity for companies wishing to expand

their brands in the BRIC as social media users from those countries are proven to not only

engage but are also more likely to trust more and feel closer to a brand present on social

media.

In practice this means that a successful marketing plan carried out in those countries have a

real chance to succeed in increasing a brand visibility and number of potential followers. Of

course this must be done respecting what the users want. Through this questionnaire we have

seen that the surveyed are mostly looking forward to get information about a brand before all

other reasons such a getting rebates and so on. A brand community should therefore be

heavily axed around this element which has been shown to increase the level of trust and

closeness one feel for a brand.

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Social media users in BRIC countries feel close and trust brands online.

Another subject touched upon in the desk research, the questionnaire validated the fact that

social media users in the BRIC countries feels close and tend to trust more brands that are

present on social networks.

One of the most interesting data found here concerns the results taken by countries

individually where China appears to have the highest level of trust amongst the four countries

and Brazil presenting the lowest. This means that Chinese social networks in particular

represent a real opportunity for brands wishing to implement their strategy even more so than

traditional mediums. This is particularly interesting as certain studies suggest that a company

ignoring social networks in this country could potentially be missing on certain demographics

altogether highlighting how vital it is to integrate this medium in this country.



The questionnaire highlighted the fact that the popularity and notoriety of a brand is not so

important for our surveyed. This represent an opportunity for brands that are starting out as

this means that social media networks users are more open to discover new brands through

this medium.



In BRIC countries, social media is also used as a way for people to exchange their thoughts

and experiences with people that are more or not at all close to them. Through this study we

have seen that users are really open to the concept of word of mouth related to the concept of

buzz marketing in this platform. It also shows that users are open to follow brands that have

been recommended by a contact.

In most social networks, brands update are shown through the user main page meaning that

users will be casually exposed to them whenever they visit their personal page, what this

means for companies wishing to implement such strategy is that there is also there a real

opportunity to expose brands casually to followers quite regularly as we have seen that users

from BRIC countries tend to really engage with their social networks visiting them several

times a day.

However we have seen that they also tend to follow 5 brands or more. While this is a sign that

following brands is a sizeable part of the user‟s experience of social media, following multiple

brands can also lessen the impact of brands amongst the sea of information that is generated

through frequent updates. This is an element that has to be taken into consideration especially

when choosing the most appropriate social media to use such as microblogging sites such as

QQ and twitter or more general ones such as Odnoklassniki and Facebook.

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Research hypothesis 6: Interaction is important for social media users.

Interaction for users, which is the basis of social media networks, is unsurprisingly important for

users. The study revealed than a majority of users are satisfied with the present situation when it

comes to the level of interaction afforded by brands even though a few comments were made in the

questionnaire asking for more by a few surveyed. Commenting also appear to be a sizeable part of

the social network experience which is an element that has to be taken into consideration when it

comes to the impact of negativity previously discussed.

In practice, the situation of social media use in the BRIC countries is divided in two situations:

- The countries who have their own popular social media such as China and Russia

- The countries who almost exclusively use international social media like India and

Brazil

The first case is more complicated for companies wishing to implement a strategy based around

popular social networks VKontakte and Sina Weibo, the two main social networks used in Russia and

China respectively. Whereas popular networks such as Facebook and Twitter are widely known for all

they can offer in a marketing strategy, aiming at implementing a strategy using those two probably

would be more problematic as both the language and the way they function has to be seriously taken

into consideration. This is even more true for China with Sina Weibo which appears to offer exclusive

features as said previously. This would require an extra investment in order to really grasp the

peculiarities of social media use in those two countries by hiring a third party such as an expert for

example.

The cultural element also has to be taken seriously into consideration. One of the most surprising

element found during this research is the fact that Chinese users are likely to post comments on a

brand moreso than Brazilians users for example whereas basing a judgment on initial on general

stereotypes could suggest otherwise. As we have seen during the des researches, social media is of

grander importance in China because it represents a way to bridge some of the communication gap

that exist in this country thus explaining why Chinese users are not particularly shy in expressing

themselves when it comes to brand in this particular media.

The second case is easier for most companies as both Indian and Brazilians users prefer well known

and international social networks such as Twitter and Facebook. in practice this means that they

would require less specific investments for any managers that knows how to utilize as a marketing

tool however Just like China and Russia any social media campaigns launched through social media

has to take into consideration cultural peculiarities that can represent a challenge and are detailed in

the questionnaire answers.

To conclude, social media definitely represent an opportunity for companies wishing to implement a

strategy in those countries however it is important to note that we are dealing here with countries

that are still developing meaning that a large part of the population apart from China don’t have

access to internet for example thus a social media strategy wouldn’t necessarily reach a maximum of

people even though the number of social media users is still relatively high and thus non negligible.

Consequently at the moment a social media strategy should be more of a complement to other

strategies based around traditional media for example. In the long term it will be interesting to keep

73

an eye on how social media will evolve in the BRIC countries as more efforts are put in place to

facilitate access and use of internet for their population.

74

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Community manager et strategy média social, Nicolas Durand, M=mémoire de recherche appliqué, group sup de co Amiens\Picardie, 2011

Annexes

Questionnaire

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Open questions

[Academic Research Project] Challenges and opportunities of social networks for brands in the BRIC...

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