What should be the correct approach to operating overseas social media?

In recent years, China's Internet going overseas has become an increasingly obvious trend. What should be the correct approach to overseas social media operations in 2018? Let's take a look with the editor!

According to the latest report "Future Social" released in September 2017 by WeAreSocial, the world's largest professional social media communication company headquartered in London, the number of global social media users has increased by 360 million since the beginning of the year, reaching 2.67 billion, accounting for 73.6% of the world's Internet users. In particular, the Z generation born between 1995 and 2012 has strong consumption power. As "real digital natives", social media has become an important part of their lives. Only by understanding users can we better meet user needs and make products successful. Therefore, operating overseas social media is very important. Based on the author's more than one year of experience in social media operation, this article will talk about my own views on what overseas social media includes, why and how to operate overseas social media.

1. What does overseas social media include?

Common social media marketing platforms mainly include Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, Pinterest, Instagram, Youtube, Snapchat, Tumblr, etc. But in fact, the author believes that in addition to the above major platforms, social media marketing also includes forum marketing, blog marketing, Q&A community marketing, etc. It is especially suitable for products with certain professional thresholds or certain content barriers, such as electronic software and content platforms like novels.

2. Why operate overseas social media?

"No social media, no marketing." The role of overseas social media marketing in overseas operations is equivalent to the status and influence of WeChat in domestic product marketing. Unlike email marketing, operating social media is not just for acquiring customers. Its main functions are as follows:

1. Brand marketing. The official account of overseas social media is a platform for displaying corporate brands and delivering brand information, just like WeChat public accounts. For example, Facebook homepage is an important platform for users to understand corporate brands. Therefore, blindly promoting product advertising information on social media will leave users with the impression that it is a "psoriasis" advertising platform, which will be counterproductive. Operating overseas social media should be able to play a role in establishing a good brand image.

2. User communication. One difficulty in overseas markets compared to domestic markets is understanding the real needs of users. Unlike in the domestic environment, we can understand user needs and various information through various means. Therefore, social media is an important channel to understand user opinions and needs. For example, now we need to understand the degree of user preference for several products, so as to decide on products and promotion strategies. We can conduct a survey on users through social media and collect user opinions. If the platform has a group of high-quality fans, it can collect user opinions more quickly. From this perspective, we can understand why spending money to buy fans is not a wise choice, because the fake fans we buy cannot understand the true inner voice of users, and may even interfere with our judgment of user needs, thus failing to improve products. Operating overseas social media should be able to communicate with users.

3. Website and APP traffic. Whether it is cross-border e-commerce or Internet companies going global, they all want to use social media to attract traffic. But as mentioned above, many people make the mistake of opening a social media account and then can't wait to release their own product information and various advertisements. This is a wrong understanding, because only by accumulating fans first can we attract traffic through social media. The following will talk about the formal posture of operating social media.

2. How to operate overseas social media?

1. Choose different social media platforms according to marketing needs, and prioritize the operating platforms.

Different social media have different user groups, so you should choose the appropriate social media based on the target user profile. For example, LinkedIn and Twitter are the most effective for B2B marketers; Pinterest and YouTube are more suitable choices for B2C users. For products whose target users are mostly young users overseas, you need to always know what type of social media young people like the most, because the social media young people like represents the latest fashion trends. According to data from the professional data statistics platform Statista, in 2013, Facebook was still the most popular social media for young American users, and Instagram became their new favorite in 2014. By 2016, Snapchat replaced Instagram as the most popular social media for American teenagers.

Snapchat is suitable for products that are mainly promoted in Europe, America, and the Middle East. It is also highly entertaining and its user age structure is relatively young. Therefore, overseas companies should focus on operating social media with similar user profiles based on their own product target user profiles, including age, gender, and country of distribution.

2. Content is king, establish an “expert” image

In order to attract traffic and establish a brand image through social media, you must first accumulate a group of loyal fans on social media platforms. So why should fans follow your homepage? Because your content can meet their needs and provide them with convenience and happiness. Just like young people in China are addicted to WeChat Moments or Douyin, young people overseas spend a lot of time on social media such as Snapchat, Instagram, Facebook, etc. every day. In order to build a good relationship with target users on social media, brands should publish content related to them.

Content is king, which is a universal truth. Only by providing interesting and informative content related to the product can the target users pay attention and interact with it. First, you can learn from others' content strategies by studying the content published on the homepages of successful competitors; second, pay attention to current hot topics and news events that the target user group pays attention to. Riding on the hot topics is also a way; third, package and display the product in a popular way. Short videos are also very popular among young people overseas. You can package the product in the form of short videos, which is much better than simple pictures and texts.

3. Conduct UGC and self-propagation of user content through activities such as Giveaway

The idea of ​​a giveaway campaign is to set some rules to let users follow, like or comment on a post or encourage users to post creative photos with their own products, and then select the first few users to be rewarded. Generally, the company's own products are used as prizes, which can have a publicity and promotion effect. Giveaway is conducive to bringing in high-quality fans quickly. A cross-border e-commerce seller launched a giveaway campaign on Halloween, and the number of reposts was several hundred. If the number of reposts is relatively high, the group related to the fans may see a greater number of new posts, and the spreadability will be better than simply posting content every day. Moreover, the Facebook or Instagram fans attracted through this activity will be more effective - fans are more clear about the object of the "like" behavior, and the user relationship formed is relatively close, rather than the subsequent "loss of fans" due to random likes and loose connections.

Encouraging users to generate UGC content through activities can not only create high-quality content, but also enhance interaction with users, which is especially suitable for content-based products going overseas.