Our digital world is changing at an unprecedented rate. Here we take a look at how these developments can impact on your business You can read summaries of a selection of our research papers below. For more information on any of these, or to find out about how we can commission bespoke research on your behalf, please contact us.
Research
-
People Talking About This
Volume of fans or level of engagement? Here we look at leading brands (as defined by Superbrands) to see who’s winning the engagement game.
-
Supermarket search
Our supermarkets are missing an opportunity to win new customers though search. We put the big 5 under the microscope.
-
International review: Russia
Russia, being one of the largest internet markets in the world, has a lot of untapped territory that western marketers are looking to exploit. The biggest success stories in the Russian search market have been the bigger name international brands who have utilized PPC campaigns and strategies catered to Russian audiences. Unlike most countries, Russia has a “home-field” advantage in which they prefer Yandex as the search engine of choice as opposed to Google. Despite fact that the majority of the population in Russia are not yet regular internet users, mobile internet and broadband penetration has been increasing rapidly in the past year. Although the trends are encouraging, Reform takes a deeper look into the stigmas attached to their search and internet market as a whole while also pointing out the vast amount of potential it offers if approached correctly.
-
International review: Japan
Japan is the third largest economy and the third largest web population after the US and China, making it a proven worthwhile investment market for companies seeking a global internet presence. However, due to language barrier and differences in culture, many online businesses such as MySpace and Facebook have all launched unsuccessful campaigns in Japan. Mixi, rather than Facebook, is the dominant social networking site due to unique features allowing users more anonymity and more transparency at the same time. Although Facebook has been regarded as unsuccessful in Japan, other online companies such as Twitter have had better luck. In terms of search, Google is supplying Yahoo! Japan with all their organic search results and therefore controlling a dominating share of all search results. Reform takes a close look into how SEO opportunities can be achieved despite the cultural and language differences.
-
International review: Indonesia
Indonesia is the fourth most populated country in the world with over 238 million residents. Of this large population, only 14.2% is penetrated with Internet users. Google commands the search market in Indonesia with 95% of the search market share, but the increasing use of internet capable mobile (cell) phones is changing search behaviour. In regards to social media, Indonesia is the second largest user of Facebook and has the highest number of Twitter and Foursquare users in Southeast Asia which has been linked to the rise in the use of smartphones and the link between smartphones and social media use. Many believe that Indonesia’s low internet penetration, combined with the rise of social media as a preferred method of communication will see online behaviour in this country leapfrog the trend of using the internet on a computer, straight to simply using it on their mobile phones.
-
International review: South Korea
South Korea is one of the biggest internet markets in the world, with the ninth largest population in terms of internet users. It is a market that Western companies have been eager to enter, however non-Korean search engines have so far failed to break through. The search market differs from others in that South Korean search engines, Naver and Daum, have no real search algorithm but rather a pre-set “push” for their own sites and those of their partners. These search engines favour social networks and blogs, with algorithms giving precedence to user-generated content over links from authoritative sites. Social networks have succeeded in this market where their western counterparts have failed in terms of monetising their offering through paid-for additions to users’ pages. Reform takes a close look into how South Korea may present the next significant challenge in terms of international search market expansion.
-
International review: China
In Asia, countries such as China and India are expanding rapidly, while markets like Japan and South Korea are already established as “online savvy”. The Chinese market has in fact expanded so fast in internet usage that there are more unique visitors from China than any other country in the world. Search marketing is becoming more ‘westernised’ in China and market leader Baidu is making significant changes to its PPC product which is developing into a significant business opportunity for Chinese companies. The market has moved quickly to place itself amongst the forefront of online innovators, becoming one of the leading markets in social networking, evolving this medium into what is now a very profitable industry in China.
-
International review: India
India is a nation with a rapidly growing population of digital media consumers served by entrepreneurial businesses and has a huge capacity for further growth. With the widespread use of English, its adoption of Google, and 81 Million internet users (which accounts for less than 7% of the population),India has become an increasingly attractive market that could one day be ahead of the US and China in terms of volumes. This low level of internet users is due to India being a step behind the West in terms of broadband development which has a massive opportunity to be increased. Whilst there is a negative perception of the Indian search market that involves outdated stereotypes of link builders and click fraud, Reform’s research takes a look into Indian mobile, search marketing markets and the social networking and media opportunities that the sub-continent can offer.