Countries shape cultures. And cultures shape countries!
This is increasingly true of the online world as it is of the physical world. For example, if you want to use a peer-to-peer messaging service in the USA, you’ll most likely be on iMessage. If you’re in Saudi Arabia, you’ll be using WhatsApp. China is all about WeChat. And if you’re in Egypt, if you’re not on Facebook, you’ll be chatting with yourself.
Each region is very much its own microcosm online.
Often the brands that are the fastest to engage with and react to the public are home-grown; they understand their audience, they know which channels to use, and they lean into the topical issues of the day.
One of the strengths of global brands was their ability to leverage their resources to expand rapidly, both offline and online. That worked when there were fewer digital channels available –two decades ago, Facebook was taking shape, Twitter was only just founded, and LinkedIn was beginning to redefine thought leadership. Today, there are more than 35 platforms with over 100 million users, and in countries like China and India, there are several national champions that are not often known abroad.
As a brand, how do you build your digital communications at a national level?
Firstly, the simplest approach is to start with your audience(s). Where are they in terms of their online presence? What platforms are they using, and what are they doing there?
It’s always easier to go where your audience is than to get them to come to you.
Following your digital stakeholder audit, you will know where you need to be present and what resources you will need to invest. Just as importantly, you will be in a position to judge if you have to pivot in terms of your channels.
For example, a European brand may be more used to pushing out content on a mass social networking service like Facebook or Instagram than a messaging service like WhatsApp or a combined platform for instant messaging, social media, and mobile payment like WeChat. In other words, are brands familiar with how to engage through these different platforms?
There’s not just the “where”, but also the “how”. Each platform has its USP, so to speak. While Instagram is often seen as the place to tell visual stories, WhatsApp, for example, is often seen as a place for customer service, to resolve complaints or to know someone’s address. The experience differs from platform to platform. Brands and organisations need to be mindful of how this experience fits into their goals and objectives.
For example, to build a brand in China for consumer products, you’d have to be on Xiaohongshu, and for sales, you’d be on both Douyin and WeChat.
Influencer Marketing and Local Realities
And then there’s the influencer element, with each market offering a differing range of dynamics and laws around how influencers can be engaged. While a global figure may help cut through some of this as part of a brand-building campaign, a selection of influencers on a national level is a must to drive engagement and sell products.
While we’ve talked about relatively mature markets, others have developed in completely different ways than what we are often used to. For example, in East Africa, 74% of internet usage was via mobile in 2024, which is much higher than the rest of the world.
And yet, challenges persist due to affordability and coverage. Here, if organisations are going to succeed online, they need to make information accessible and at much lower data rates than in other markets. That means less video, lower resolution imagery, and more text and audio options.
For any self-respecting marketer and communications professional, we always begin with our audience and work backwards from there. We look at the channels as the means to connect what we want to say to and how we want to influence our audience in ways that will make them more favourable to our brand or organization. To do that most effectively, we must think about how we best localise what we do. That is the secret to effective communications, namely knowing your audience and what they want from you.
And that is why we need our own digital communications playbook for every major emerging market.
Read more: Gaming Livestreaming In The MENA: The New Frontier For Brand Engagement
