This article includes the following topics and has a regional focus on China, South Korea, Japan and partly India:

1. Demographics on social media use in Asia (China, South Korea, Japan, India)
2. Developing a social media strategy that pays into SEO and includes PR activities
3. Explanation of social media channels

1. Demographics on social media use in Asia (China, South Korea, Japan, India)

The following graphs and tables show information about the use and penetration of social media in China, Japan, South Korea and India.

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Channel usage per country:

Every market is different:

Still, different markets show different user behavior. A reason for this could be the maturity and the development of a country in general. In the following table the item “research / find products to buy” gives an indication: The more developed the country the higher this shopping and comparison related behavior is listed. That’s no proof of course, but an indicator.

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2. Developing a social media strategy that pays into SEO and includes PR activities

You need to have a strategy to fully leverage the potential of social media for SEO. All activities should be coordinated by one person/department. It’s possible that different departments participate in the social media execution, e.g. PR, sales, customer support, but one coordinator needs to remain the helm.

Steps of a social media strategy:

1. Understand your target group. Listen and learn and collect consumer insights. Find out where your target group likes to stay online.
2. Your target group consists of different kind of online contributors. Define the right channel for the respective user group.
3. Execute the channels.
4. Make sure that channel manager communicate with each other to leverage content and create links
5. Track, collect more consumer insights, learn more and use this information to refine your approach.

3. Explanation of social media channels

SEO/search engine results:
All content created in the channels will finally be picked up by search engines and add to your visibility especially for brand and product related keywords. It’s important that good and high-quality content is available in the search engine result pages to create upmost influence. If you do a search for your product or brand you will notice that search engine results are consumer dictated.

Just test yourself for your brand name or product name. How many results do you find among the first 20 results that are user-generated content, i.e. blog posts, forum discussions, video uploads, product reviews, Q&A sites? And how many results are based on your own distributed content, i.e. own website, press releases,etc.?

Blogs:
The majority of blogs in the blogosphere are personal blogs and niche blogs which generally don’t have many views. But they are observed by peers and category specialists or found in the search engines. A good story from a small blog can create some good buzz. On the other hand, a negative product or brand comment/experience can spark the flame. The mega-blogs with million of readers certainly have a strong impact when you get some coverage there. Blog marketing is an essential part of your online marketing communication strategy and goes hand-in-hand with online PR.

Forums:
In China, traditional forums and BBS are still the leading channel of user-generated content. More users contribute to a
forum than to a social network or than write a blog. But also for other countries, forums are an equally important channel.  Forums are mostly expert communities that focus around a certain topic or category. There are always a couple of power contributors who are responsible for most of the content. But for the normal consumer, forums are a powerful and very influencing source of information. Moreover, forums have the characteristic that very few people participate, but many, may people read. Also, for marketers forums are a valuable source of consumer insights.

Reviews:
Reviews should be divided into editorial reviews and consumer reviews. Editorial reviews are often based on product samples that a marketer sends out to a blog or review site to write a profound but independent review. Oftentimes this is part of the PR strategy of a marketer. These editorial reviews oftentimes are also extremely detailed and critical. Reviewers have a high standard and lots of professional experience and see things and specs from a different point of view.

Consumer reviews on the other hand are not as detailed and deep. Often they consist just of a few sentences. But they are an extremely important influencing factor. Web pages of products listed on shopping portals or price-comparison sites which have no consumer reviews normally look very boring: Product image, specs, price. That’s it. Totally exchangable, nothing convincing. A web shop which has consumer reviews and star ratings for the products listed has a much higher conversion rates than shops that have only product data. Products with many reviews and ratings are considered popular and worth buying than products without any user experience comments.

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Social networks:
Facebook and social networks are a big hype, but when it comes to your online marketing mix you should priorize what can have a big impact and what not. Social networks should certainly be part of your online activity but expectations should be realistc. Remember that only a low percentage of Facebook pages have more than a thousand fans. And to get in the area of 100,000 fans you already must have a strong brand awareness in public life. Before you engage in Facebook be sure where your fans are and what content you can provide to them. Be sure that you have the resources to communicate with them on a daily basis.

Source: The pictures are taken from a globalwebindex presentation and  you can find them on slideshare.

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iProspect, a search-engine marketing agency under Isobar, studied the behaviour of visitors to ad-supported sites. It found that nearly as many netizens who click on banner ads will conduct searches for brands associated with the ad, and nearly half of all audiences on an ad-supported site will eventually perform a search that is relevant to the ad they saw.

According to the agency, the study aims to highlight the connection between display ads and search engine marketing, based on a pool of 1,575 American internet users.

“This new iProspect study goes beyond previous studies about the importance of integrating the offline and online marketing mix,” said Antony Yiu, search director, wwwins Consulting Hong Kong and iProspect Hong Kong. “Marketers should shed the old dotcom era mentality of using only display ads for their online campaigns and instead utilise a more synergistic approach of integrating both search and display ads to earn exponential returns on their advertising investment.”

The survey further found that 31 per cent of netizens respond to display ads by clicking on them, compared to the 27 per cent who respond by conducting a search for the brand, product or company.

Twenty-one per cent instead choose to type the company’s URL into their browser and nine per cent find relevant information from social media sites.

According to iProspect, a total of 52 per cent of internet users actively respond to display ads.

Additionally, the survey found that 33 per cent of respondents to an online display ad go on to purchase from a company with which they are familiar, compared to the 14 per cent who learn about a company for the first time from a digital display ad.

So far, this information resulted from some studies and personal observations and discussions. Now, this news: “Alibaba pulls ads from ‘low-quality’ Baidu“.

According to this press release, Alibaba ended its search engine advertising contract with Baidu due to unsatisfying marketing results. Alibaba says that they get too much low-quality traffic from Baidu which doesn’t convert into business. Besides, click fraud rates are on the rise.

So, again, consider this when doing or planning Baidu SEM campaigns:

a) Start your Baidu SEM campaign on a low level, include a test phase to figure out what works and what doesn’t.

b) You can still get a lot of eyeballs through Baidu, so it depends on your online marketing strategy: awareness vs. conversion. What counts more?

c) Clear and good ad text copywriting. Make it clear what the user will get when he clicks on the text ad.

d) Perfect landing page. No confusion or user losses allowed here.

e) Tracking and daily campaign optimization

Here are a few typical Baidu SEO questions and my answers to them:

Which are the relevant SEO factors for Baidu search engine optimization?
Page titles, keyword density, amount of inbound links (not relevancy and quality), and as you can hear, some luck and/or connections into the Baidu organisation.

If I optimize for G, do I automatically optimize for Baidu?
Yes and no. In terms of onsite SEO (titles and content) it would fit, but in terms of offsite SEO (i.e. amount and quality of incoming links) it doesn’t.

How sophisticated are Baidus SEO ranking and paid search bidding algorythms?
Baidu’s paid search factors are basically all about the CPC. Higher price, higher ranking. SEO algorythms can be compared with those of G a few years ago, I’d say.

Can you explain the structure of the Baidu search engine result page?
There is a large left column and a smaller sized right column. In the left column you’ll find the paid search results and underneath, the natural search results. Baidu’s paid search results show a 推广 next to the displayed URL. Natural results can be identified by a 百度快照. The paid search results always come first, the natural results always follow.

The right column looks like paid search as well (like G) but it’s not. These slots can be booked for one whole year and if the desired keyword is already taken you have to reserve it. Position 1 to 3 cost an equal annual fee and rotate among each other. The same is for position 4 to 6 and position 7 to 10.

Baidu SEO, necessary at all?

Well, on the first glimpse: No, because of the strange paid search listings. In the long term: Yes! Why? Because already now many Chinese are unsatisfied with the search results of Baidu. Especially the educated people and white-collar worker use G to find relevant information in the Internet. This is not just a perception, that’s a fact (read this post about Baidu’s and Google’s user demographics and search behaviour).

So, sooner or later, Baidu will have to refine their search and bidding rules and also revise the display of natural search results and text ads on their search result pages. Then, that’s what I believe, the effort that is invested now into Baidu SEO will pay off even greater.

• Low divergence-losses, the searcher already knows what he wants. Desire doesn’t need to be created, the user already has it. The result is that the budget can be allocated much more exactly and thus return on investment is increased.
• Campaign reports are very detailed, conversions can be broken down to a single keyword. It is always very clear how much you earn with the PPC campaign.
• No need to predefine a marketing budget at the beginning of the year. As long as you know your product margin, your keywords and your conversion rate, you can use a floating budget because you know that you will earn with every conversion.

Possible ways for brand marketers to adopt search

But also for brand marketers, search engines are an important advertising channel. Many people who get aware of your advertising campaigns on TV, in magazines, radio or outdoor will sooner or later go to the search engines to search either your product or company. Or they will use search terms that are related to your business and do a general search and thus also search for your competitors. They will compare their findings as that’s especially convenient with search engines.

So, how can search engines be used by brand marketers for awareness creation?

• The user has to find you! That means, you have to book your brand/product keywords and all keywords that are related to you and your products and the user might associate you with.
• You should use the wording from the offline campaigns to give the user a familiar feeling and still have a click-animating text ad.
• You must have a great landing page which continues the story of the campaign and goes even further to more interaction with your brand and product and optimally results in a conversion, so you can use this contact again in the future, e.g. for newsletter campaigns or cross-selling.
• You have to find the best position in the search engine result pages (SERPs). That is not necessarily the top position.
• You have to differentiate from competitors because the competitor is only one click away.

By Brian Asmus, Special to the China Post
Stefan Schneider, Managing Director of 3digitalminds, spoke to the American Chamber of Commerce Marketing & Distribution Committee June 12 during a luncheon held at the Howard Plaza Hotel in Taipei. Schneider pointed out that Internet Penetration in Taiwan, Japan, Hong Kong and South Korea is approximately 70 percent, while it is only 12 percent in China and 5 percent in India.In China, Schneider explained, 90 percent of consumers do research online but purchase offline when shopping for mobile phones. Similarly, 70 percent do so for purchases of consumer electronics and 50 percent each for financial and automotive.

Chinese consumers begin by searching e-commerce sites such as eBay and taobao, said Schneider, before going to search engines like Google and Baidu. Finally, they may look to word-of-mouth sources such as BBS and blogs.

Schneider recommended that companies that wish to market online first conduct Web-site analysis, including keyword research, structure, linking and duplicate content to optimize the Web site.

Christopher Fay, Co-Chairman of the AmCham Marketing & Distribution Committee and Stefan Schneider, 3digitalminds

In Phase 2, he suggested that they look at Web-site enlargement, adding fresh content, developing blogs and setting up forums. This involves linkbait and reputation buildup, and requires constant tracking and optimization, he said.

According to Schneider blogs are “everybody’s own newspaper.” In South Korea, he said, 92 percent of Internet users read blogs with 72 percent writing them. In China, the figures are 88 percent and 70 percent; in Taiwan, there are 86 percent and 71 percent and; in Japan, they are 84 percent and 47 percent.

When it comes to topics, said Schneider, 64 percent write about their private lives, and 34 percent write their opinion about brands and products.

“How should companies use blogs to further their business objectives?” asked Schneider. “These,” he said, “can be used to advertise, establish relationships within your company’s niche and market products.”

There are several important dos and don’ts when setting up blogs, he stressed. “The consumer is smarter than you think; alternative marketing tactics must be genuine and, in today’s world, transparent.” That means companies should forget about setting up fake blogs. “You will always be found out,” said Schneider.

Blogs, he added, should not contradict, but rather explain the company, its products and services. “It has to live the concept,” emphasized Schneider. “That is why blogs are not suitable for every kind of business.”

Finally, Schneider examined branded communities. The purpose of branded communities,” he said, “is to engage in a conversation with stakeholders and customers.
This enhances product development, while enabling designers to hear consumer voices, particularly creative consumers, while develop brand ambassadors, fans and influencers.

“These individuals,” he continued, “create trust around a brand for new site visitors by the quality of the comments that they make. They act like a host rather than a policeman.”

The incentive is to propel mouth-to-mouth marketing. Schneider cited the Dell Ideastorm campaign by way of an example. “The target group was its customers. Dell executives wanted to come up with new idea. The branded community ended up delivering 8,000 suggestions, 600,000 votes and 64,000 comments.”

If you think differently, i.e. comprehensive, strategically, user-centric, and understand SEO as a key part of your online marketing mix, then you might be interested in our understanding of search engine optimization and SEO outsourcing:

1. SEO is an investment into a business model
2. Long-term, strategic growing
3. SEO concept development
4. SEO content growing
5. Creative link building

So, now you might think: That doesn’t sound like offshore SEO, this is a high-quality approach and will cost me a lot, so outsourcing a project wouldn’t leave me any profit.

Wrong. We are able to deliver high-quality SEO services for affordable prices. SEO outsourcing = SEO + outsourcing. That is, we do not compromise on the quality of our services, SEO is good SEO, but the term outsourcing is about the money part.

As we just touched the topic of SEO costs, just one thing to make clear: We don’t accept fee models like “pay-per-link” or pay-per-page, because then we would reduce ourselves down to disclaimer at the top of the page. Instead our fee model would sound more like “pay for SEO strategy and implementation” or “pay for a striving online business and targeted clients.”

If you feel that sounds good, you should contact us.

• A lot of education is necessary, as experiences and understanding of search engine marketing is pretty low. Many Chinese customers don’t understand the difference between SEO and SEM yet. The value of qualified traffic is not appreciated yet, a conversion rate either unknown or often unimportant. Quantity (i.e. website visitors) counts, not matter if relevant or not.
• Chinese SEO agencies promise things that can’t be kept, customers believe it. Often heard potential clients say: “your competitor promised me to be among the top 5 in Google. If you don’t, you’re out…”
• Quality SEO has its price, also from Chinese SEO agencies. For quality SEO in China, experts are required. They are not cheap, but hard to find. Labor costs in this area are far above average.
• SEO is cheap because it is just about adding some things here and there. In fact, good SEO is a strategic approach and has to be planned and implemented thoroughly.
• Long-tail SEO (reverse search) is hardly understood. Customers want to be on position no. 1 with their most competitive keyword. Convincing them that long-tail SEO can deliver much quicker and more converting results is not understood or not wanted.

Parts of the header and meta tags

Title tag (importance: ++)
The title tag belongs to the header but is no meta tag. It will appear in the reverse bar of the browser and is also often used in the search engine result pages as the link to the respective website. Moreover, it will be shown if you choose to bookmark the webpage in your browser. Take a look at this website here, the title tag is Header and Meta Tag optimization. The title is placed between TITLE and /TITLE.

Meta description (importance: +)
The meta description tag is used to describe the content of this website. Years ago the search engines used it heavily, in the meantime it doesn’t have too much influence anymore, at least not with the big search engines. Smaller ones might still rely on the meta description tag. Still this tag should be used because sometimes it will be shown in the search engine result pages (SERPs), instead of the usual text snippets. So a good meta description is important to increase the click-rate for your webpage in the SERPs.

Meta keywords (importance: -)
Meta keywords have become more or less unimportant. You should evaluate carefully if your effort you put into meta keyword creation will pay off. They provide additional text for crawler-based search engines, but as these don’t have a relevant market share, meta keywords can be neglected.

Meta robots (importance: +-)
With the meta robots text you can exclude search engine spiders. It lets you specify that a particular page should NOT be indexed by the search engine. If you want your pages to be indexed, no special input is necessary, just leave the meta robots tag away in your source code.
Internet Webkatalog

The users honor your good content as well. They will come back and recommend the site, moreover, you will more likely get links from other websites. Of course, writing unique content is a tough job. But you will get rewarded. Whereas those who do only keyword inclusion in a standard text will be punished. Not too long ago, webmaster uploaded thousands of webpages with the same text, just the keywords were automatically exchanged. No chance for them to get good rankings any more!

So actually the right term should be content creation instead of content optimization.

Vice versa, duplicate content will reduce your ranking. If done heavily we talk about text spam and that can have serious effects – even an exclusion of the SERPs can be thinkable.

Good content goes closely along with a good text amount. A reasonable text amount is considered to be 300 to 400 words at least. 200 words and less will be hardly recognized by search engines. The keyword density in the SEO text should not exceed 5 to 8%, else it could be keyword spamming.

Last but not least, good content and information will more likely draw links to your website which will boost your rankings even more.

Good content attributes

1. Unique information
   As mentioned before the content needs to be unique. No-one likes to read the same content again and again on different webpages or categories on one website.
2. Scannable structure
   The text should have good structure for the eyes, so you can fly over the text and right away get the most important information. Highlighting the keywords is very efficient as well.
3. An answer to a question
   A website is worth reading when you get an answer to the question you entered in the search slot of a search engine, for instance. Still happens often enough, that you have to scan 10 different websites to get a solution.
4. Quality of grammar, punctuation and spelling
   If you stumble upon mistakes all the time, you’ll lose patience and attention and thus even a professional text will become annoying.

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