Social Media Strategies in BRIC Countries

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

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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Trust

Social
e-
reputation media interactivity

strategy

notoriety

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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

Information Transmitter Receiver Destination
source

Message

Noise source

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/

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Comments and feedback

Imagine and create Observe, attribute and
interpret
Creators Message Consumers

Use, invent and evolve Learn and socialize

Perspective and relationships

Source: Ecological model of the communication process, Davis Foulger, 20044

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

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Sender Gatekeeper Audience
(company) (community (Potential
manager) consumer)

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

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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

15

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/

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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 development 8.
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

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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

19

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

20

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

21

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.

22

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

23

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.

24

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

25

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.

26

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

27

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.

28

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

29

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 Meant for companies OK for companies
and organizations: and organizations and organizations,
but requires more
management
Broadcast message Into Updates next to Direct into Facebook
to friends, fans or Facebook Inbox Inbox
members:
Engage in Available via More focused on
discussions: “Discussions” tab, discussions
but less
prominent than with
a Group
Administrator Hidden from public Listed publicly on
profiles: view 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/

30

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

31

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

32

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

33

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/

30

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

31

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/

32

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

33

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

34

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.

35

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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Social Media Strategies in BRIC Countries

Social Media Strategies in BRIC Countries

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