Franchise Update Magazine Issue II, 2014 | Page 57

Canada, and Singapore. While “only” 3 percent of India’s population use LinkedIn, this represents 33 million users! So what about China, where Facebook and YouTube are not allowed to operate? There are an estimated 370 million social media users in China on the Sina Weibo site. More than 80 percent were born after 1980, and their estimated income is as large as the total GDP of Italy ($260 billion). Weibo users purchase more than 50 percent of the goods and services in China. And while only 3 percent of China’s population uses LinkedIn, again 35 million people! These statistics indicate that social media has huge potential for U.S. franchisors doing business in China. Well-managed and carefully focused social media in high-Internet-user countries is an excellent way for franchisors to market in real time to the middle- and upper-class consumers who are likely to become customers. While this is an opportunity for social media–savvy U.S. franchisors to attract customers around the world where they are developing stores, it is extremely important to manage the content and message of local sites that relate to your franchise. Your sites must be “mobile friendly” and “local.” It can be a challenge to manage the content of local Facebook pages when you are 12 time zones away and do not speak the local language. But Brazil, China, India, and Indonesia have more than 600 million middle- and upper-class consumers waiting to buy what your franchise has to offer! n Grow Market Lead four percent of Indonesia’s population are Facebook users—62 million people. There are 240 million people in Indonesia and they have 290 million phones! Other countries that heavily use mobile social media sites to communicate with each other are Turkey, the Philippines, Chile, Malaysia, and Brazil. There are 328 million mobile phones in the U.S., 868 million in India, 268 million in Brazil, and 107 million in the Philippines. Tapping into this mobile social media phenomenon could result in a good ROI for franchisors as the way to reach a very fast-growing middle class with discretionary income. Twitter had approximately 310 million users worldwide as of March 2014. The top 10 Twitter markets hold 70 percent of its global users. In the top 10 are Indonesia, Brazil, Turkey, and Mexico. LinkedIn has a growing presence worldwide as a site/tool for doing business. With more than 250 million users worldwide, LinkedIn’s most active countries are the U.S., Brazil, Japan, the U.K., William G. Edwards, CEO of EGS, LLC, has 40 years of international business experience, and Heather Edwards is a research associate at EGS. He has lived in 7 countries and worked on projects in more than 60. He has been a master licensee in 5 countries, in charge of international operations and development for a U.S. franchise, and has advised more than 50 U.S. companies on international development. Contact him at 949-375-1896, [email protected], or read his blog at edwardsglobal.com/blog. We lOVe SUpplIeRS. We help SUpplIeRS and SeRVICe pROVIdeRS dO MORe BUSIneSS WIth FRanChISORS and FRanChISeeS. Franchise Update Media has been a leader and innovator in providing valuable information and intelligence to franchisors, franchisees and franchise prospects for 25 years. Our purpose is to help franchisors, multi-unit franchisees, prospective franchisees and franchise service providers improve and grow profitable enterprises. See how we can help you today at: franchiseupdatemedia.com [phone] ext. 202 | [email protected] Franchiseupdate I SSUE I I , 2014  55