The secrets behind getting content shared are much sought after by marketers across the world. For those with a global remit, one of the major challenges (as with so many areas of marketing) is that what works with one audience cannot be guaranteed to work others. This is especially true with content strategies designed to resonate globally – how possible is this?
Following on from Ian Forrester's recent webinar, "What makes consumers share content across different territories?", I've gathered together some interesting insights from Ian which every global marketer needs to consider. Ian is the Insight Director at Unruly, the video ad tech company.
It's no surprise that different countries consume video content in different ways. The distinction between consumption habits is vital to factor in to content strategies. For example, for those brands targeting the Asia Pacific region with video content, did you know that Japan has the lowest percentage of YouTube views – a mere 19% – versus a 24% global average? This is due to Japan's fragmented social media landscape – local video upload site, Niconico, is the 7th most visited site in the country. This is good for advertisers though. More variety means more competition to secure advertising revenues, which in turn means advertisers can negotiate on price with the various platforms more flexibly than where choice is limited or where a single major player, such as YouTube, dominates.
I mentioned in my accompanying blog, "5 tips to getting your content shared", how YouTube accounts for 24% of worldwide video views. The intimation behind that was for marketers to consider the full range of alternatives. As Ian explained, "Video sharing is fragmented worldwide". Globally, Facebook accounts for 59% of shares.
Even that though needs to be considered with regional nuances. For example, whereas in the US, 61% of shares occur on Facebook, in South Korea, that number drops to 55% and lower still in Sweden where it accounts for 45%. That is largely due to the more varied sharing landscape in Sweden. Indeed Scandinavians are renowned for being early adopters, but this highlights again the need for advertisers to fully consider the characteristics of each territory's sharing platform nuances within their targeting.
In terms of speed, sharing occurs in South Korea faster than elsewhere in the world. The prevalence of smartphone use may have a role to play in that – the "always-on" consumer has a greater probability to share than those who are only intermittently exposed to content which they may deem "shareworthy". Social media adoption is also notoriously high in South Korea. By contrast, in Norway, 57% of shares occur in the first three days. This highlights the need for content distribution plans to vary to reflect the nuances in sharing speeds and habits of whichever countries are being targeted.
Finally, consider the power of "Super Sharers" – namely those who share daily or more than once a week. This select band of content amplifiers are responsible for 82.4% of total shares. It's key to identify who they are so brands can harness their influence to make maximum use of their content and capitalise on the content virality opportunities they represent. Referring again to social motivations, this group of people tend to love being the first to share new content or spread their knowledge, and view this as commanding kudos within their peer network. It's important to note though that identifying this group is not necessarily a question of finding a particular target demographic or category but more so a challenge of finding a group of content consumers with a shared mindset. Once found though, their amplifying effect can be hugely impactful for brands.
For related reading, visit our Online Video and Content Marketing topic pages. I also recommend again watching Ian's presentation on "What makes consumers share content across different territories?" in full. Take a look at our roster of other Warc Webinars too.
