Technology PR has always involved getting the client’s message into the relevant engineering, industrial, electronics and broader technology media around the world. Technical PR specialists were familiar with each country’s media but the rise of social networks has brought a host of new channels into the marketing communications mix. Engineering and electronics are global industries so the today’s technology PR expert needs to be familiar with social media worldwide. Orkut is much more popular than Facebook in Brazil while vkontakte is the go-to network for product promotion in Russia. Any communications campaign has to consider local social media.
So how do you stay on top of all these networks?
The global picture is changing daily with big tech nations, India and China, embracing mobile technology and social media at an incredible rate. Subscribing to a web intelligence service is a must for international marketers. There are several companies providing world internet usage stats. www.alexa.com and www.globalwebindex.net are two of the market leaders selling web intelligence but they also provide free stats and reports. http://gs.statcounter.com/ offers free information with a live chart of global statistics for browser choice, mobile versus desktop usage, and social network dominance.
It is not enough to know which networks dominate in each market. Online marketers need to understand how social media is used around the world. The social media statistics for China are particularly fascinating when you look at online behavior.
They reveal that the Chinese are much more likely to produce online content and engage with brands than their western counterparts. Digital campaigns in China should be adapted to exploit this behaviour.
For more information about the tech industry, developments and opportunities in India and China have a look at http://www.techinasia.com/ a blog that is actively seeking contributors from any one doing business in the tech sector in the Far East.
