There’s an interesting piece in ClickZ on Social Media Marketing the Japanese Way.
The piece references Mixi, one of the most popular SNS sites in Japan, which launched in 2000, years before MySpace and Facebook. There’s also GREE, another well known social media site that started in Japan. As businesses are starting to adopt Facebook, Twitter and other social media tools for their social media marketing efforts, they point out that Japanese businesses have been monitoring and responding to these threads related to their business or products for more than 10 years. For example, 2channel holds the distinction of being the world’s biggest BBS site with over 12 million users.
They list the various social media groups – see recap of their list below.
For PC and Mobile: Mixi and GREE, which provides display ads, text ads, and PPC and advertising opportunities.
Video and Photo Sharing Sites: According to comScore, the Japanese spend 187 minutes on average on YouTube. Nico Nico Douga is another popular video sharing site, with 17 million users, including over 770,000 premium account users.
Social Bookmarking Sites: Hatena and Livedoor are popular in Japan and are still growing their user base. Hatena bookmarks can also be shared via Twitter.
Blog Network Sites: Did you know that there are more blog posts in the Japanese language than any other language in the world. Popular blog network and service sites include Ameba and the Livedoor blog.
Mini-Blogging Sites: Twitter is growing in popularity and use. According to Nielsen’s Report, Twitter Japan has a higher reach (16.3 percent) than Twitter U.S. (9.8 percent).
Micro SNS Sites: While micro SNS sites are not that popular in Japan yet, there are some steady services that let you create your own SNS site, some for free.
Renee Blodgett is the founder of We Blog the World. The site combines the magic of an online culture and travel magazine with a global blog network and has contributors from every continent in the world. Having lived in 10 countries and explored nearly 80, she is an avid traveler, and a lover, observer and participant in cultural diversity.
She is also the CEO and founder of Magic Sauce Media, a new media services consultancy focused on viral marketing, social media, branding, events and PR. For over 20 years, she has helped companies from 12 countries get traction in the market. Known for her global and organic approach to product and corporate launches, Renee practices what she pitches and as an active user of social media, she helps clients navigate digital waters from around the world. Renee has been blogging for over 16 years and regularly writes on her personal blog Down the Avenue, Huffington Post, BlogHer, We Blog the World and other sites. She was ranked #12 Social Media Influencer by Forbes Magazine and is listed as a new media influencer and game changer on various sites and books on the new media revolution. In 2013, she was listed as the 6th most influential woman in social media by Forbes Magazine on a Top 20 List.
Her passion for art, storytelling and photography led to the launch of Magic Sauce Photography, which is a visual extension of her writing, the result of which has led to producing six photo books: Galapagos Islands, London, South Africa, Rome, Urbanization and Ecuador.
Renee is also the co-founder of Traveling Geeks, an initiative that brings entrepreneurs, thought leaders, bloggers, creators, curators and influencers to other countries to share and learn from peers, governments, corporations, and the general public in order to educate, share, evaluate, and promote innovative technologies.
