As an agency working with both Japanese and global brands to grow their share in Japan, below are our key insights.
Twitter is known as the most popular social platform in Japan, growing in popularity when many Japanese found it to be a faster way to keep up with information following the earthquake in 2011. As of 2019, there are over 25 million active Twitter users in Japan, with Japanese known to often have more than one Twitter account – each for a different purpose or interest.
For our hotel clients: Hotels can leverage this platform, perhaps to deliver relevant news and updates from their area, whilst at the same time driving awareness of their brand amongst the Japanese.
It is very common to hear the Japanese saying something is “Kawaii”. Japanese have long been obsessed with cute and pretty things, and Instagram gave them the perfect platform to both share, store and search these things. Active users even created a hashtag called #インスタ映え which has a similar meaning as “instagrammable” and there are almost 7 million results. This implies that customer behaviour is heavily influenced by whether a product or experience is “instagrammable.”
For our hotel clients: Hoteliers can make use of this platform to share aesthetic and instagrammable shots of their hotel and its special experiences with corresponding hashtags to attract and engage Japanese customers.
It is very common to hear the Japanese saying something is “Kawaii”. Japanese have long been obsessed with cute and pretty things, and Instagram gave them the perfect platform to both share, store and search these things. Active users even created a hashtag called #インスタ映え which has a similar meaning as “instagrammable” and there are almost 7 million results. This implies that customer behaviour is heavily influenced by whether a product or experience is “instagrammable.”
For our hotel clients: Hoteliers can make use of this platform to share aesthetic and instagrammable shots of their hotel and its special experiences with corresponding hashtags to attract and engage Japanese customers.
Facebook is not as widely used in Japan in comparison to other countries, as Japanese prefer staying anonymous on social media. However, it is still common for companies to use Facebook Ads to promote their brands as a way to reach its older and more affluent user base audience – despite its costly CPC (cost per click). A survey recorded that nearly 75% of the Facebook users in Japan are over the age of 30. It should be noted that this platform is also very developed, and includes various targeting methods to choose from.
For our hotel clients: If your hotel positions itself as more luxurious and targets a more mature audience in Japan, you should consider using Facebook ads for promotion.
LINE
LINE is similar to Whatsapp, and is one of the most influential social networking applications in Japan. Due to its larger reach, it has recently become one of the key marketing tools for luxury brands to connect with customers. There are several functions on LINE that enable interaction with customers, for example, to conduct surveys and track data, and to share coupons and new offers through one-on-one messaging. LINE points are another creative promotion method where users can gain the LINE points for multiple purposes by watching an ad or adding an account. The interactiveness of LINE functions can help foster brand visibility and even establish long-term relationships with Japanese customers through one-on-one messages.
Online Travel Agencies (OTAs)
Online travel agencies have made it easy for people to quickly see what hotels are available and compare rates and availability. In Japan, top OTAs include Rakuten Travel, Jalan, Ikyu and Relux. Japanese look for travel related products and services on these OTAs and make reservations directly from there. In 2019, the number of Rakuten members has risen to 107 million.
For our hotel clients: Hoteliers should make sure hotel information is up to date on the platforms in order to attract Japanese customers and drive online bookings.
Destination Content and blogs
Another strong channel for brands to gain exposure is through features in popular blog posts or articles. Approaches to this could include making use of KOL marketing, inviting bloggers to have complimentary use of products or services or more directly paying editors to write about you in their articles.
For our hotel client: Famous travel blog websites included 4Travel and Blogmura. For travel related articles, Tripper is also a popular site for Japanese looking for travelling tips.
