Going global in a social world White Paper

Going global in a social world: Promoting global brands using the Facebook page structure
Table of contents 1: Three primary Facebook structure options 2: Step 1: Audit your brands social presence and operational resources 3: Step 2: Establish a framework for your global presence 4: Step 3: Implement an enterprise-level social management platform 4: Step 4: Establish an internal check-in and audit process 5: Conclusion

Social networking is indisputably a global phenomenon. Its highly visible role in last years public uprisings around the world was only the latest example of a trend that has been steadily building for some time. A recent Forrester study of 95,000 Internet users in 18 countries showed that in addition to heavy social media usage in the U.S. and Europe, consumers in emerging markets are actually leading the world in social media usage and engagement. In fact, three-quarters of Facebook users are now outside the United States. In China, India, Mexico, and Brazil, the study found that 93% of those who are online use social media at least once a month. And participants in these emerging markets tend to be more active in creating social content than their counterparts in the United States and Europe (http://bits.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/01/04/some-countries-aremore-social-than-others-survey-finds). The imperative for global brands is clear: Its no longer enough to focus social efforts on English-speaking consumers in the United States and Europe through a one-size-fits-all approach. If this is your current strategy, your brand is missing an opportunity to effectively engage some of its most active customers through social media. But the right solution for your global brand is not always obvious. Many seemingly similar brands have adopted different structures. Weve identified three primary Facebook page structure options for global brands:

A global page that reaches all social users, primarily in one language. Skittles provides a good example of this page structure.

A global page that reaches all social users but emphasizes content targeted by region or language. For example, Levis does an excellent job of serving different content to local audiences, depending on the country, region, or even city.

Country or regional pages that offer unique content for each national or regional audience.

If youre asking yourself, Whats the right structure for my brand?, youre in good company. Many global brands face challenges in determining how best to create an effective presence on Facebook, such as how community managers should handle the language and cultural differences within a fan base, and how to best capitalize on the local knowledge and expertise of regional resources while maintaining corporate oversight. Most importantly, brands need to decide whether one global Facebook page or multiple regional pages makes the most sense. After implementing Facebook pages for dozens of customers with international audiences, weve identified four steps that are critical to developing a successful, sustainable social presence.

Step 1: Audit your brands social presence and operational resources

The most efficient social model for your brand is likely the one that best maps to your current organizational structure and leverages social resources in a thoughtful way. Consider these aspects of your company: Organizational structure. Determine whether your brands marketing activities and budget are centralized (controlled by one central corprate team), or decentralized (controlled by country-based or regional teams with separate budgets and distinct audience segments). Available resources for Facebook page management. Evaluate your brands social marketing resources, weighing location, bandwidth, and level of experience. Are these resources sufficient to manage social media activity in your companys various markets? Current Facebook page structure and performance. Conduct a detailed review of your current Facebook presence. How many pages exist? Who controls those pages? How is each page performing in terms of total fan base and engaged users? The results of your audit may surprise you. An Altimeter Group report published in January 2012 revealed that enterprise-level corporations are managing an average of 178 company-owned social media accounts across various networks, and that only 48% of these companies had a coordinated approach to managing all of them (http://marketingland.com/enterprise-companies-average-178-company-owned-accounts-2644).

Going global in a social world White Paper

Step 2: Establish a framework for your global presence

Whether youre surprised by your companys current Facebook page structure or simply striving to achieve a manageable global presence, below are two viable page structures to help you determine what makes the most sense for your brand and prepare you for the potential page management challenges you may encounter as you advance your global rollout:

Centralized Facebook presence

Best for brands with a highly centralized organizational structure and a strong single-brand identity, such as consumer packaged goods (CPG) brands like Coca-Cola and Skittles. In this scenario, brands operate a primary page where the vast majority of their total Facebook fans reside. While there may be regional or product-specific pages, its likely that those pages are either operated outside of the organization (created by fans) or have too few fans or too little engagement to be considered impactful. Advantages Strong corporate control Single page to tell your brand story Geo-targeting capabilities for wall posts, ads, and applications Centralized, easy-to-find location for customers to interact with your brand on Facebook Centralized content distribution channel that reaches and connects all fans Larger consolidated fan base Disadvantages Occasional language and cultural misunderstandings that can result from one global Facebook wall Limited country-level engagement data, which might be necessary for many brands Challenges moderating multilingual, multinational fan comments If regional resources do exist, granting them the access and control they want can be more challenging

Regional brand presence

Best for brands with a decentralized organizational structure and unique external brand identities at the regional level, such as retail and hospitality brands with specific local tastes and preferences, like Starbucks or Hyatt. In this scenario, brands typically operate a primary brand page as well as numerous regional or property pages with healthy Like counts and high levels of engagement. These brands generally have local resources in place to manage these pages and relate to the audience segments, which is key to social success in those markets. The combination of a primary corporate page and individually managed local pages is often referred to as the hub-and-spoke model. Advantages Increased control and responsibility for local marketing resources and less responsibility for the corporate team (required degrees of corporate oversight can be maintained by controlling all pages through one social media management platform) Simplified moderation and customer service responses Robust country-level engagement data Simplified content targeting for locally relevant brand messaging Ability to publish corporate or globally relevant content to multiple pages at once through a social media management platform Locally relevant cover photos for different regions or countries

Going global in a social world White Paper

Disadvantages Fragmented fan base can make it harder to reach all fans with globally relevant messages Distributed page structure may confuse fans and potentially dilute the brand story for regional pages If fans like your primary English-language page rather than their regional page, they might miss some regionally relevant content This does not need to be an all or nothing approach. Many brands have one primary page with unique pages for some, but not all, countries or regions.

Step 3: Implement an enterprise-level social management platform

Adopting a social media management platform and implementing a strong social strategy can alleviate many of the disadvantages outlined above. Your primary goal is to enable the best resources to manage your brands pages in the most effective way. Social management platforms, particularly those designed for enterprise-level organizations, provide additional levels of workflow and governance support than are delivered through Facebooks native structure. To address these disadvantages, Adobe Social: Delivers data on wall posts and applications geo-targeted to specific countries, effectively eliminating segmentation analysis challenges Segments user posts and comments by language or pre-established audiences, such as a specific region or country Provides a robust roles and permissions structure, allowing brand administrators to coordinate workflow processes and empower local managers to distribute relevant content to their regional markets A social management platform gives your brands marketers and multinational customers the richest, most authentic opportunities to engage, which is the goal of having a brand presence on Facebook in the first place.

Step 4: Establish an internal check-in and audit process

Regardless of the structure you deem best for your brand, creating a standard for quality is essential to the ultimate success of your regional communications and international brand presence. Establish a list of social marketing best practices for your brand and industry, distribute this list internally, and regularly check in with global team members and review Facebook pages to ensure that best practices are followed. While the components of this list will vary based on your brand goals and industry, initial elements to consider include: Frequency of posts Percentage of posts that are direct marketing messages versus engagement or fan-centric posts Moderation strategy (respond to all user comments and complaints or select ones) Escalation strategy (whether customer complaints will be handled by community managers or escalated to customer service representatives) Use of applications, prizes, and other incentives to engage fans

Conclusion
Global brands have a tremendous opportunity to capitalize on growing and engaged audiences in emerging markets. As you weigh options for an optimal brand structure, remember that reaching your audience in an authentic way is the best path to converting Facebook fans into customers. So take a step back, and think about the ways that your brand successfully reaches and talks to consumers today, through both offline and online media. Then implement a corresponding structure designed to achieve brand success, not only on Facebook but across all social platforms.

For more information www.adobe.com

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