Social Media in Japan, LinkedIn

There are already More than 10 books in Japan about how to use LinkedIn

Number of Facebook pages and Twitter Accounts

https://twitter.com/linkedinjapanhttps://twitter.com/LinkedIn_infohttps://twitter.com/LinkedIn_Labo

Interviews with Japanese Users

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=6MYHkJbxXKs

The interest peaked last year seems to be fading away

http://www.google.com/trends/explore#q=%E3%83%AA%E3%83%B3%E3%82%AF%E3%83%88%E3%82%A4%E3%83%B3&cmpt=q

According to a Social Media Consulting Company, Half a year ago the site had more active users

http://media.looops.net/naoto/2013/02/12/vri-sm3-2012-12/

Qualitative Assessment

• Looked at the last 25 comments by different users on the most active Japan related group (Business in Japan, has over 30K members).

• Only 4 out of the last 25 comments were from people with Japanese last names (ending with vowel and at least 2 or more syllabus, etc.)

• Seems like most of the content is generated by less than 5% of the members.

• Seems like most of the people who left a comment changed their jobs recently (strangely 72% of those who left a comment had a new job started within the past 3 years)

• The ones who posted a comment may not be typical users as 8 of those who posted a comment had more than 500 connections (30%). According to this source it is around 17%.

• Only 3 of the last 25 comments were from members affiliated with large corporations or organizations.

The Last 25 Members who left a message on BIJ’s LinkedIn GroupThe most recent Career

# of Contacts Company

2013 240 Independent Consultant2013 105 City Pass Guide2012 333 The American Radio Show2012 69 すずきまさよし2012 500 United States Patent and Trademark Office2012 500 Knowledge Bridge Inc.2012 162 Brush Research Manufacturing2012 500 CMO (Chief Marketing Officer) Council2012 26 TURTEKS TEKSTIL ETIKET A.S2012 500 Business in Japan Television BIJ.tv2011 500 Bandai Namco2011 72 Texas Workforce Commission2011 270 White Feather Solutions2010 81 Pro ESL - Professional English Skills and Language2010 500 Deschenes Production House Inc.2010 500 KEA Japan2010 73 Environmental Tectonics Corporation2008 45 Jolex Inc.2007 500 Sarkar Office Japan KK India camp office2006 240 Toyota Motor Corporation2005 311 Investor Networks Inc.2005 311 Japan Investor2003 269 Overseas Trading Support Inc.2001 500 Matsuzaki General Counsel Office1997 291 Success Stories Media, Inc.

Qualitative Assessment

• Also looked at 4 more Japan related groups. The ratio of comments to members was very low.

• Seemingly most of the members reside outside Japan.

Group members# Comments

% in Japan

# of posts by the top influencer

BIJ (Business in Japan) 36,592 228 12 20

Japan Intercultural Consulting 5,730 33 12 5

Expats in Japan 5,171 4 27Japanese Speaking Executives(JSE) 9,352 42 17 2

Kansai Business Cafe 686 4 29

Japanese Culture and LinkedIn• There are no job “swingers” in

Japan. “Generally speaking” people want life time employment and many Japanese don’t want to change their jobs EVEN if they are paid more or offered more incentives to work somewhere else.

• This table shows Japanese values that make it difficult for LinkedIn to penetrate the Japanese market.

JapanWestern countries

Small talk with colleagues & seniors low highPraise of good work low high

Selflessness and unhesitating sacrifice for one's company high low

Success and social power depends on personal achievements rather than ascribed social status high low

The prestige of any company is solely based on its size, paid capital, number of employees, overseas branches (rather than its technology or its recent popularity) high low

Self employment is encouraged, self employed people are respected (regardless of their income) low high

Amae : people should trust each other 100% before any simple business transaction high lowChokkan to ronri: Intuition is as important as logic high low

Honne/tatemae: Hiding true feelings to not to disturb harmony high lowDirect communication style (say as it is) low highSpeed of relationship development slow fasterRisk taking behavior low high

Interest in self improvement and lifetime learning relatively lowrelatively high

LinkedIn Can Actually Be Useful for Businesses

• An early Microsoft study suggested that LinkedIn is best for young professionals who may be interested in changing jobs. For students and people with established careers it may have low value.

• The study also suggested that LinkeIn can be good to keep in touch after meeting someone at a business exhibition, etc. (instead of becoming a FB friend I guess).

• The relationship is kept alive since people can see others' recent activities. And a simple note of "congratulations" may keep the relationship refreshed.

• Mid-age people are more likely to use linkedIn compared to people in their early twenties which is the opposite of Facebook usage among those age groups.

• Its good for recruiting, finding suppliers and getting information about someone's background before meeting that person for a business purpose.

• 30% Small business owners regularly use LinkedIn for business (compared with 22% who report using Facebook for business)

• 41% of small business owners think LinkedIn has the highest potential for building business followed by 16% who think Youtube is the best. Only 14% think Facebook has the highest potential and only a dismal 3% think Twitter is the best.

LinkedIn Can Actually Be Useful for Businesses

• 28% of the users generated new business opportunities• 38% build new relationships with potential customers• 50% built new relationships with people who may introduce

new business oppts.• 45% increased face-toface networking effectiveness• 69% reconnected with past colleagues and clients• 37% increased brand presence (online)• 38% found new job oportunities• 77% used to search for people and companies• Source: http://www.powerformula.net/?

p=2347&option=com_wordpress&Itemid=17

LinkedIn Can Actually Be Useful for Businesses

• There are more than 1 million groups and more than 2.6 million company pages and 75,000 APIs. 90% of the users think the site is useful. Most of the members are females 35%

• LinkedIn is 3 times more effective when it comes to generating sales leads (compared to Twitter and Facebook)

• According to Maccebbee PR these are things companies can do on LinkedIn – 1- Reach and interact with the most influential people in certain industries – 2- improve search engine rankings – 3-Do market research (e.g. search with certain keywords and see what ppl are

talking about those topics) – 4-Monitor potential customers – 5- Better represent the brand – 6-Find out about media organs that cover certain industries – 7- Represent the brand as an industry thought leader

Sources: http://visualoop.tumblr.com/post/41191748259/linkedin-facts-and-figureshttp://blog.hubspot.com/blog/tabid/6307/bid/30030/LinkedIn-277-More-Effective-for-Lead-Generation-Than-Facebook-Twitter-New-Data.aspxhttp://www.maccabee.com/a-cmos-guide-to-marketing-with-linkedin/

Social Media Has Limited Effects

• An eMarketer study found that 88% of B2B companies use social media

• BUT• only 18% of them report generating high

quality sales leads versus 40% email marketing, 36% SEO activities.

http://www.emarketer.com/Article/Mix-of-Digital-Offline-Tactics-Yields-High-Quality-B2B-Leads/1009664

lastly

• Japanese people have high social conformity.• Even though Facebook is against Japanese

values (early self disclosure, in/out group communication, etc.) it picked up.

• So, LinkedIn also may increase its user base one day…