Social networks must localize to enter China, DMG says

By Han Manman

While the economic recession may have taken a bite out of world industries, the digital market and new media have seen substantial growth in China, Paul Beckley, vice president of DMG World Media Asia, said in advance of next month’s Ad:tech forum.

Encouraged by that growth, international exhibition and publishing company DMG is launching a global forum in Beijing to discuss the latest online techniques, other new platforms, and to educate marketers and agencies about opportunities in the domestic market.

“China’s digital and new media market is still developi – if you compare it tomature markets in Japan, the US and Europe. But it’s developing very fast,” Beckley said.

The 3G revolution and social media are driving growth in China and around the world, he said.

“The world is watching social medi. While Facebook has been doing quite well with building a good revenue model, MySpace is still struggling. I have also seen rapid growth  in China’s social media like Kaixin001,” Beckley said.

His optimistic attitude is due in part to China’s netizen population, which grows dramatically every year.

That population has already surged to 338 million, with 155 million using mobile Internet, according to the latest report released by the China Internet Network Information Center (CNNIC) in July.

“It’s predicted that China’s Qzone will surpass the growth of Facebook within the next 12 month,” Beckley said. There are 60 million photographs uploaded tone every day in China. The video upload rate is growing as well.

“The fast growth and huge number of netizens pose another question for social media companies in China: how to find and reach the target market,” Becklesaid. “The biggest challenge they have is segmentation  reaching the right people.”

As for the international social media entering the Chinese market, Beckley said localization is key.

“Many international social media sits want to enter China. Some have tried, many have failed,” he said. He said international social media has met similar resistance in other Asian countries.

“Coming out on top will be hard in China, Japan, Korea and in he Middle East. Most Japanese have never even heard of famous international social media sites like Facebook, so very few use it,” Beckley said.

Yahoo! was the most exemplary company for localization, he said. “Yahoo! haslong been eager to enter the Middle East. By buying Maktoob, the largest social networking site in Middle East, they finally found an inroad,” he said. “That model can work for social media sites trying to enter China.”

Ad:tech Beijing will be held at the Beijing International Conference Center from November 17 to 18. The forum expects many international companies to join including HP and L’Oreal.