International Business and Technology Blog

This infographic is designed to be a helpful tool for someone who doesn’t know where to start with international social media. 

Social media is huge. There is no denying the power and amplitude of social media sites such as Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and LinkedIn (among many others). Which is why it can be intimidating - especially for an exporter that is more concerned with keeping up with their products and services than how to fit a message in X amount of characters.

Social media is a fantastic way to boost your brand awareness and grow your sales in Mexico. Mexican consumers and businesses are reactive and engaged online: post great relevant content and watch it ricochet around your target prospect base! On top of that, online marketing prices are reasonable compared to many other large markets. So, if you get your social media and online marketing right, the return on investment for brand awareness and the sales that can go with it, are rapid. Below we share some of our insights to the Mexican online world that we use as international marketers to help our clients build their brand, sales and business in Mexico. 

How can Facebook groups increase your conversion rate?

Recently, I was lucky enough to attend the INBOUND 2019 conference in Boston! This was a great opportunity to learn about emerging trends in digital marketing. One session which really stuck with me was focused on the role of Facebook groups and how they’re gaining influence as user’s seek new ways to cut through the "noise" and find solutions. This makes FB groups a potent tool for companies looking to develop brand awareness in international markets and grow their exports. With the correct engagement, solving real issues for your potential clients, FB groups can act as a platform to engage honestly with your prospects, building brand awareness and the long-term trust needed to turn leads into revenue.

Why Instagram?

Instagram is huge! With over 1 billion active users monthly, it is the second largest social media platform worldwide. Only Facebook is bigger. But that could change, as Instagram's rise shows no sign of slacking. Why is that important for businesses? Because in today's world businesses need to reach their clients and prospective clients on the platforms of their choice. And Instagram is a great choice for businesses.

New to China and wondering how to get brand recognition? One of the fastest and most cost-efficient ways of building brand awareness in China, particularly for B2B companies, is to use SINA Weibo. The name Weibo means microblog in Chinese and the app is sometimes likened to a Chinese version of Twitter. But that comparison undermines one of its key attributes: from an online marketing perspective Weibo is more like Facebook. Weibo allows companies to post content to specific targeted audiences in China. It gives you a segmented audience base to grow page likes, create social buzz and to drive traffic to your website. This is the main reason why Chinese businesses are increasingly using Weibo for their online marketing and why savvy non-Chinese companies are joining in. 

Online global social media business development is here. Jump on board! Social media presents a host of new opportunities for online savvy businesses to grow their sales, brand and business. That growth is not confined in any geographic or national sense; the only limitation is access to the internet.

Social media is proving to be the ultimate route for business globalization. This is the paradigm shift that has been understood, harnessed and embraced by the accolade-winning unicorns that operate globally (think Uber, Airbnb…) currently numbering some >200 companies with a combined market valuation of >$650billion. Their record breaking business growth (speed, size, scope…) and leadership demonstrate that social media platforms represent the greatest rising tide upon which successful businesses can float their respective international boats.

The social media online phenomenon now has  unparalleled scale, in which billions of netizens communicate and much, much mullah (dollars, euros, renminbi, yen, pounds, …) is transacted. And know this: those numbers are only going one way and that is up.

Social media, that is websites and applications that enable users to create and share content or to participate in social networking, is at the least an oversized noisy teenager that you can't ignore, or more probably a robust mid-twenties adult to engage with fully. Either way, every business must now know that you ignore social media at your peril.

Successful companies are using social media channels to engage with their target business and consumer audiences and collecting serious money. Just look at the top 100 companies in the Fortune Global ranking: 93% have Facebook pages (updated weekly), 79% have a YouTube channel (average 2 million views of their corporate content) and a Twitter profile. How is your business doing?

Over 30,000 trade shows each year are managed by thousands of organisers (who employ tens of thousands of people), mobilise millions of exhibitors, entice hundreds of millions of visitors and generate >US$26Bn in revenues.

From a fringe techy activity, social media at trade fairs has exploded and today is an obligation if you wish to achieve successful trade show metrics.

We are continuously looking to see how effective our online marketing is, and one of the great benefits of digital marketing is that there are some excellent tools to tell you just that. We are running a series of webinars which are very popular, with over 50 people registered for the last one. Now, my challenge is to set about doubling that number. We share some of our own online marketing activities to help you improve your marketing return on investment.

Last week I spent four days attending the Paris Air Show, supporting Business Oregon and their three companies exhibiting, as well as Northeast Pennsylvania and their five companies attending the show. If you have not been, it is an enormous seven day event. This year there were 2,260 exhibitions from 47 countries. The USA had 320 exhibitors, 230-plus in the US International Pavilion where I was based. Around the show itself there were many side events, receptions and evening networking parties.