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 Clients are losing out on opportunities to engage consumers through digital channels, thanks to misinformed ideas about “emerging” markets, suggests Universal McCann’s digital boss for EMEA.
According to a study by the media agency, many international clients are using a one-size-fits-all approach to classifying markets, whereas the reality on the ground in terms of the use of digital and social media may be very different, says Rick Corteville, head of digital media for EMEA at UM.
“What clients tend to do is they break out countries in their mind, based on how mature, or moderate, or emerging they view them. Often times it may just be from a subjective perspective. The amount of investment, especially from a digital realm, that they put into markets that they see as more ‘emerging’ is something that doesn’t really mimic what’s actually happening,” said Corteville on a recent visit to the region.
“What we did is we looked at the digital behaviour of markets that clients have told us are in that ‘emerging’ category, and what we saw was that the preponderance of downloading video, uploading video, writing and reading blogs, joining social networks and using them to manage their communities, was the same – if not higher – than those mature markets such as the UK, France or Germany,” he added.
The study didn’t include the Middle East, but Corteville suggested it could also apply to the region. Given the popularity of sites such as Facebook, and the ever-growing numbers of regional blogs, we would echo this idea.
“It was a great piece of physical evidence that we could put in front of clients and say, look, when you’re going into these markets, not only are they ripe for investment, don’t just do some display ads and say you’ve ‘done digital’ in that market ,” Corteville said.
“The people that are using the internet on a consistent basis are able to consume, and are willing to consume, a much more engaging overall environment. If we can supply that, I think a lot of clients will be ahead of the game, especially compared to their competitors.”
Corteville’s comments came in response to the suggestion – which we’ve heard a lot, lately – that multinational companies often have surprisingly poor digital setups and spending levels here in the region, despite leading digital marketing usage elsewhere in the world.
When it comes to social media marketing, the UM digital headman also said clients are missing out thanks to the way their businesses are shaped.
“The main challenge around using social media effectively is that it needs to be an ‘always-on’ effort. A lot of clients work, just based on how their businesses are structured, in a quarterly-budget way. That right there is one of the biggest hurdles we see with clients,” explained Corteville.
“I used to work with some of the movie studios, and they’d put together a MySpace or Facebook page, they’d get a ton of friends – and then the movie would launch... and they’d go away. None of those fans or friends would ever hear from the movie again, until maybe the DVD came out: ‘Hey, remember this? We want you to buy this now...’” he added wryly.
This is rather a shame, as, suggests Corteville, these self-selected fans are potentially a brand’s most valuable customers: “I see social media as an extension of your CRM programme – someone has opted in and signed up to be part of your community. Don’t ignore them – continue to speak to them and involve them. They can become hugely loyal ambassadors to a brand, if they’re treated correctly.
“That’s one where, if you’re going to get ROI out of social media, it’s taking into account those two things: continue to speak to the community, and using it in the right way, not just treating it like a newspaper site you can run display ads on,” he said.
Corteville has definite opinions about a lot of things in the digital space, such as the myth of the digital guru – “if anyone ever tells you they’re an expert in digital, they’re lying” – and the desirability of running social media campaigns from media agencies, not creative or PR divisions: “We’re running other marketing activities, and we have all that data that we’re sitting on. How do you optimise a social media campaign if you don’t know what’s happening with search, if you don’t know what’s happening with your TV campaign, or print?”
(There’s a little bit of “he would say that, wouldn’t he?” to the last point, and Corteville does say that social media needs to be a collaborative effort, and is surrounded by a lively debate at the moment. Which is always fun.)
But it’s nice to know that, while the Middle East may be somewhat neglected by big global spenders when it comes to digital, it’s nothing personal – it’s just that they’re a bit thick haven’t sat down and thought about it properly yet.
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