In this blog post, we will explore the changes that the marketing industry has undergone in the aftermath of the pandemic and how it will impact various sectors.

Work Environment: Remote vs. Office-based

(source)

Following the reclassification, many companies in Japan have transitioned back to working from the office, resembling pre-pandemic routines. However, remote work remains a preferred option for some individuals. Consequently, Japanese companies will need to adopt flexible work arrangements, including hybrid models, to accommodate their employees’ preferences. This shift creates opportunities for businesses offering gadgets, services, smartphone apps, and other solutions that facilitate comfortable home working and efficient commuting.

Desire for Outbound Travel

(source)

Traditionally, Japanese people, particularly women in their 20s and 30s, have had a strong inclination to travel abroad. However, due to border closures over the past three years, international travel has been significantly restricted. As travel restrictions ease, many individuals within this demographic are expected to seize the opportunity to explore foreign destinations this year. However, the weakened yen may pose challenges for some travelers. Therefore, destinations offering excellent photo opportunities and affordable attractions are likely to be preferred. If you are in the travel industry, such as a travel agency or hotel management company, 2023 presents an excellent opportunity to promote your services to the Japanese market.

By adapting to the evolving landscape and understanding the shifting needs and desires of consumers, businesses can effectively navigate the post-pandemic marketing landscape in Japan. Stay tuned for more insights on how to thrive in this changing environment or contact us if you’re interested in starting marketing activities in Japan!

According to data from Google Brandcast, the number of YouTube users in Japan increased dramatically in 2020, and 74% of users said viewing time has also increased. 

The biggest reason for this is COVID-19 as people tended to watch YouTube to kill time while staying at home. Another reason is that their popularity could be attributed to a cultural shift from blogging to vlogging.

Breaking down users by age group: the age group of 10s to 29 are at over 90%, 30s at 85%, 40s at 80%, 50s at 75% and 60s at 45%. From this data, it is clear that YouTube is a great platform to reach a wide range of generations. 

According to a survey by Trenders, which interviewed 800 Japanese social media users aged from 15 to 49, 62% of them use YouTube to kill time, 40.7% to gain updates on topics of interest, and 39.8% for discovering something new.

What kind of channels are the most popular in Japan? 

There are many kinds of channels on YouTube recently, but what is the most popular topic on YouTube in Japan? 

Usually, entertainment channels take up most of the top YouTubers chart every year and gameplay videos are also enjoyed by all generations. Most YouTube users don’t have their own channel.They log in to it just for watching videos and to deepen their understanding of what they like such as topics and hobbies they are interested in.

That’s why YouTube is easier to reach core fans and business targets than other social media platforms. Moreover, young people are likely to use YouTube instead of watching traditional TV. 

What products and businesses are great for using YouTube in Japan?

According to data from Cyber Agent, one of Japan’s biggest online advertising companies, the YouTube advertising market will be expand more in the future. 

The biggest strength is that videos can show content with voice and movement which is effective for products such as cosmetics, skincare, games, and many other genres that need explanation and practice. 

Recently, many companies also started their own YouTtube channels to promote their products to make a great impression of their company. For example, Japanese the variety store , “Hokuohkurashi no Dogutenn” has their official channel which is very popular among people aged 30 to 40. It provides not only product introductionsand company informationbut also documentaries and dramas. Creating interesting content for their core target is also great for making loyal customers for their stores. 

Furthermore,  the funeral company’s official YouTube channel, “Sougi Channel” has 910,000 subscribers, despite the fact that funerals are a very niche subject. 

They provide useful information about funerals which increases their popularity. 

The style differences between Japan and other countries

There is no big difference about the content but regarding the visuals, Japanese YouTube channels tend to be more complicated than other countries. It is because Japanese YouTube channels use  subtitles more often. This culture came from Japanese television. 

Also compared to the other countries, Japanese people have a tendency to prefer colorful thumbnails. 

Concluding remarks 

As a result, YouTube has gained a lot of popularity as a platform for personal video viewing, but it has also been a valuable tool for businesses. 

YouTube also gives brands the possibility to customize how their channel looks, so it is important for any kind of marketer to update their YouTube channel to reflect their brand identity in order to stand out among the competition. 

Technology and advertising have evolved a lot in recent years, becoming one of the most influential aspects of doing business in a modern and fast moving world.  Nowadays, mobile advertising has become the most efficient way to approach customers to market different types of commodities. 

Mobile advertising can be understood as, according to Techopedia,  “the communication of products or services to mobile device and smartphone consumers”. From this definition, the mobile advertising spectrum can then range from short message service (SMS) text to interactive advertisements. This makes mobile advertising a component of mobile marketing, and therefore part of a specific digital marketing strategy. 

Mobile advertising trends in 2019 onwards

While predicting trends of digital advertising, a report sourced from emarketer, cited by MobileAds last year,  said that: “In 2019, worldwide digital ad spending was going to rise by 17.6% to $333.25 billion. That means that, for the first time, digital will account for roughly half of the global ad market.” 

* Source: 

• https://www.mobileads.com/blog/mobile-advertising 

According to Global Digital Ad Spending 2019, digital marketing has already become the dominant ad medium in some countries, including the UK, China, Norway and Canada. In Russia for instance, half of the total advertising budget would go to digital.  However, the situation is not yet the case in other regions, namely southeast Asia and Japan which are now catching up.  

※ The situation in Japan

Currently, in-app advertising is growing in popularity in Japan, but concerns remain over media quality, according to a new report by digital marketing experts. In fact, Digital InFact surveyed 100 media buyers (brand advertisers and advertising agencies, including trading desks) and findings are showing that Japanese ads buyers embrace in-app ads despite a few quality concerns. 

* Source:  

• https://www.warc.com/newsandopinion/news/japanese-buyers-embrace-in-app-ads-despite-quality-concerns/42972 

Here are some of the key findings from the research :

• Excluding walled garden apps such as Facebook and LINE (*), the most popular app verticals among media buyers are News (71.4%), Health/Lifestyle (50%) and Gaming (40.5%); 

• While 50% of media buyers say that they buy in-app ads on Facebook, Twitter, LINE and Google APP Campaigns, only 16% use a DSP to buy in-app ads programmatically.

—————————————————–

(*) LINE is an instant messaging, voice and video calling application developed by the LINE Corporation. It allows people to exchange text messages and make toll-free calls with family and friends by transmitting information in the form of data. LINE is the most popular messaging app in Japan.  

In addition to the above, another data from Statista shows that the ad production expenses in Japan has been significantly increasing since the past 10 years.  

* Source: Published by Statista Research Department, Sep 17, 2020

• https://www.statista.com/statistics/918466/japan-internet-advertising-production-cost/

The production cost of internet advertisements in Japan reached a new high of more than 335 billion Japanese yen in 2019. The value doubled since 2010, indicating an increasing importance of the internet as an advertising medium.

Here is a more detailed figure from Dentsu, the largest advertising company in Japan, showing how internet advertising costs have evolved in the past 5 years. 

* Source: 

• https://www.slideshare.net/JenniferGuevara5/marketing-in-japan-section-1-part-1-of-3 

The image above shows an update from 2016. It is clear that there has been a significant increase in internet – therefore mobile – advertising expenditures in Japan. The Dentsu 2019 report shows a breakthrough in  internet advertising costs, as explained below:

“ Internet advertising expenditures, driven mainly by major platformers and the additional estimation of advertising expenditures for Merchandise-related EC Platforms within Advertising Expenditures in Japan (106.4 billion yen in 2019), resulted in expenditures of 2,104.8 billion yen (up 19.7% and accounting for 30.3% of spending in all media), achieving the sixth consecutive year of double-digit growth…

* Source: 

• https://www.dentsu.co.jp/en/news/sp/release/2020/0311-010026.html 

This is the first time spending has surpassed the 2,000-billion-yen mark, exceeding Television expenditures. Internet advertising media expenditures were 1,663.0 billion (up 14.8%), including expenditures on digital advertising carried by traditional media companies of 71.5 billion yen (up 22.9%), an increase of 215.0 billion yen compared with the previous year. ” 

※ A note on mobile advertising agencies in Japan 

The following figure (in Japanese) show Japan’s ranking of mobile advertising agencies in considering their sales (updated in May 2020): 

* Source: 

• https://proten.jp/magazine/knowledge/19 

The above chart does not show it, but Dentsu is certainly the largest agency in the advertising industry  reaching over 1 trillion yen in sales on its own.  

Referring to the above, another big agency is CyberAgent, which is ranked first (see the above chart) as it has been growing by more than 20 billion yen every year since 2010. It is ranked third in the advertising industry as a whole after Hakuhodo.

The 2nd place is occupied by D.A. Consortium Holdings, a subsidiary of Hakuhodo dealing with the internet advertising system. It is important to mention that Dentsu and Hakuhodo DY Media Partners announced their investment in AbemaTV which was  a big topic recently.  (*)

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(*) AbemaTV is a Japanese video streaming website owned by the entertainment company AbemaTV, Inc. which provides multimedia services to customers in Japan.

Future perspectives 

Mobile advertising is growing to become the most powerful marketing tool  as almost 4 billion people are now using mobile devices i.e. smartphones, according to Statista. This trend is causing more business owners in Japan to shift from traditional advertising methods to digital advertising to adapt to a new way of doing business. As changes keep occurring in the digital marketing industry broadly speaking, the industry integration and restructuring movement is not over yet; therefore laying out the possibility that the rankings will change significantly next year. 

The concept of webinar

Since the beginning of the current coronavirus crisis, Japan and the world in general have seen more and more webinars being promoted not only by people working in public sectors but in private sectors as well. In Japan, people specifically like to go to events such as business seminars and press conferences because meeting physically and connecting in person is a very important part of Japanese business culture. However, COVID-19 has forced people to change, not only the way they do business, but also in the way they learn. That is why most companies are now migrating everything online, including webinars. 

A webinar stands for web seminar or simply a seminar conducted over the internet. It is a content marketing and lead management tool mainly used in B-to-B for product / service presentations or customer issues.

True purpose of a webinar 

When conducting a webinar, many companies aim at strengthening their clientele. Therefore, lead nurturing becomes, according to marketing specialists,  “the process of developing relationships with buyers at every stage of the sales funnel, and through every step of the buyer’s journey.” From this perspective, webinars’ organizers emphasize marketing and communication strategies, by understanding the needs of potential customers, while providing them with needed information and answers.

Types of webinar software platforms used in Japan 

There are many webinar software platforms that are being used today, more than before, due to the spread of COVID-19 in Japan as well as in other countries. A few of the most popular among them are as follows:

• FRESHVOICE

As its name suggests, FreshVoice is a tool designed from the beginning to be used as a webinar.  There is no need to install the application; giving even people who are not familiar with PCs the possibility to easily operate it. In addition, a simultaneous two-way call for up to 3 people and simultaneous delivery for up to 50 people are possible.

Moreover, it is easy to see who is speaking using the hand-raising function. Functions used in conventional video conferencing such as recording function and chat are covered. The platform supports Japanese and English, and its support system is quite efficient and perfect.  

• ZOOM

Zoom is a tool with worldwide support as a standard tool for free video conferencing. Easy to operate for everyone from the beginning and can support a wide range of environments from desktop to mobile.

This platform allows users to connect up to 1,000 people. Additionally, it has good security measures and is easy to use. Finally, the platform provides the possibility to link with many mail applications and calendar applications.

• Cocripo 

Cocripo is a webinar tool that focuses on the ease of connection and high quality. Since it can be basically used on a browser,  the event organizer only needs to prepare a chrome browser. Participants can join regardless of the device being used (PC or mobile). Currently, the platform is seemingly operated in Japanese only for now. However, since it is a major webinar software in Japan, there might be a possibility for an English version to be hopefully  released in a near future.    

At last, this platform has measures to minimize disconnection during communication and the function to reconnect even if disconnected. Therefore, users can be at ease while communicating via the system.   

* Source: 

• https://kigyolog.com/service.php?id=184

The above only explains about a few webinar software platforms used by Japanese organizations. However, there are plenty of other platforms such as CiscoWebex, GoToWebinar, Live Stream, BigMarker, Airmeet and so on. 

Examples of webinars (events) implemented in Japan 

There have been several webinars since the outbreak of the novel coronavirus. And there will be more to be conducted from now on. Here are a few examples: 

• Webinar by International Association of Business Communicators (IABC), a global network of communication professionals committed to improving organizational effectiveness through strategic communication:

This webinar focused on how effective diversity & inclusion helps businesses achieve breakthroughs impacting APAC. The main question discussed was: “Does diversity & inclusion reform corporate activities? – Can diversity and inclusion drive innovation?”.

* Source: https://iabc.jp/2020/05/08/3581/

• Webinar by APCO Worldwide, an independent global public affairs and strategic communications consultancy:

This webinar held by public relations specialists was dealing with the Impact of COVID-19 on conducting public affairs in Japan. 

* Source: https://apcoworldwide.com/blog/webinar-recap-the-impact-of-covid-19-on-conducting-public-affairs-in-japan/ 

• Webinar by Empowered JAPAN Executive Steering Committee: 

This webinar was conducted in the academic field to help students keep learning during the pandemic. For workers, another webinar was carried out to teach them about  the mindset and technology needed for telework. 

* Source: 

• For students: https://www.empoweredjapan.com/pdf/20200401EmpoweredJAPANWebinerReport_AkiraInoue_EN.pdf 

• For workers:  https://www.empoweredjapan.com/pdf/20200317EmpoweredJAPANWebinerReport_MotoakiNishiwaki_EN.pdf

Conclusion: Future Perspectives 
Webinars are now becoming part of the training in Japanese companies and probably the way of promoting  businesses. In fact, webinars can be a powerful tool to empower businesses, both in B-to-B and B-to-C interactions. Japan has the reputation of using high tech systems. Hopefully, the culture of using webinars will continue to spread, as many people are shifting their businesses online.

In the past, consumers would use print advertisements and billboards to get details about a product. Should they be interested in purchasing it, they would request a quote from the product’s company, and upon receiving that quote, decide to purchase. Although all companies could participate in the old purchasing system fairly, it took a long time to purchase products for consumers.

On the other hand, in recent years, digital marketing has become mainstream, and the consumer decision-making process has completely changed. User behavior has been streamlined, and the current business model is much faster than it used to be. If you want to buy something, you can easily look it up on the internet, and as soon as you find what you are looking for, you can buy it. 

Old parts of the purchasing process which used to take days such as going around in a store or contacting a supplier, can now be done in hours or even minutes thanks to online search. Within a few clicks, you can read through buyer reviews and watch product demo videos. This high accessibility has a huge impact on our current business model. 

This article will provide the details of the impact of digital marketing on the consumer decision-making process in Japan.

Recognition of  needs

In the old business model, it was assumed that consumers were already aware of the need for a product or service. Today however, businesses can appeal to consumers to show them the products/services they did not know they needed/wanted. Here are some representative examples of ways Japanese businesses appeal to consumers:

• Social media has a strong influence, and millions of advertisers rely on social media as a way to reach their consumers because they can target the most relevant audience.

• E-newsletters are used to reach out to interested consumers and existing customers to promote the latest products/services and campaigns with the goal to motivate them to buy.
• Banner advertisements are also used to get the attention of those who are surfing the internet.

Information Gathering

Consumers who understand their wants and needs will use that as a base for their research. It is in this time where digital marketing shines.

Nearly 90% of consumers use the Internet to search for information, and by combining powerful SEO strategies such as sponsored ads and pay-per-click ads, companies can improve their search engine rankings and reach a wider audience. 

With this, the days of relying solely on regionally limited flyers are over. 

Evaluation 

In the old days, if you could reach the consumer, you would be able to make sales. This is not true today because the internet makes it easier to compare prices of competing products and services.

Therefore, companies should counter this by incorporating price comparison indicators on their sites. By doing this, users do not have to visit other sites, which also increases the time spent on your site leading to higher sales possibilities.

Evidence assessment 

Online reviews play an important role in the Japanese consumer decision making process. It is said that two-thirds of Japanese users who made some purchases checked the reviews prior. 

Therefore, it is effective to respond proactively to customer reviews. It creates a positive brand image of outstanding customer service, and gives consumers a positive impression, even if negative reviews are posted.

Making a decision 

Following the above, consumers will have all the information they would need prior to purchasing. It is at this point where digital marketing has fulfilled its role in the process. 

At this point, the important thing to remember is whether the payment page is displayed clearly and is user-friendly and secure.

You can see that regardless of the size or type of business, digital marketing has become an essential engine in Japan’s competitive marketplace today. Therefore, companies need to consider digital marketing to make the most of their potential to acquire leads and secure sales.

Some of the most common questions coming from those in charge of BtoB PR are:

Are BtoC measures completely different from BtoB measures?

Because we are a BtoC company, is PR right for us?

For BtoB companies, is conducting BtoC activities not effective?

The simple answer to all these questions is NO!

Certainly, BtoC and BtoB PR methodologies are not exactly the same, but it is necessary to devise various methods and approaches regarding the two. BtoB in a word can either be something very niche or not. There are many types of industries, yet everyone says the same thing in that they have the number one ranking regarding their product/service. If that were the case, there would be no story material for PR.

It seems there are a lot of people who are most worried about this. The reason for this is that there are not so many new products/services and campaign information as in BtoC PR. In addition, the target media is limited as well, so there is little PR material to work with. Therefore, even if you were to actively conduct PR activities, they tend to not be very effective.

However, even if there is limited PR material to work with, one could always make it themselves. The basic elements of PR are:

people, things, and places

and this is the same for both BtoC and BtoB.

So, what kind of BtoB PR measures should companies consider?

1. The Press Conference

First, directly give out all product/service related information. It is particularly important to approach media outlets related to the industry of the product/service. Press releases are a common way to do this, but physical press conference events are just as important. When thinking about press conferences, it is easy to imagine some kind of luxurious hotel one would see on TV. However, it is also possible to conduct smaller scaled events within a meeting room as well. Recently, webinars are also quite useful.

2. People PR

Have someone like the company representative or employees with unique backgrounds appeal to target media that match them.

Example:
Representative; CEO, Development Team, Product Manager – Someone who has a business/market philosophy, business operation secrets and hardships to share

Target media – Economics, business media outlets

Including this kind of person within a profile sheet may increase the chances of acquiring interviews.

3. In-house efforts

Provide information regarding your company’s system, benefits, and employment conditions to show the uniqueness of your company. If there are currently no materials to share as press, you can also consider to create them specifically for that occasion as well.

4. Survey PR

Periodically send out data that your company researches. The Japanese media is always looking for numerical figures regarding information for evidence. If your company has those figures, and if your company periodically creates content to release those figures, naturally your company may be known as a valid source of information for the Japanese media sphere, which may also lead to higher coverage all throughout. Even if you do not have data currently, you can always conduct surveys through the internet and use those results as a press release. This is often done by Japanese BtoB companies when there is no new information.

5. Public and Social Media Events/Campaigns/Contests

Social media and public campaigns are a great way to get the public involved in your company. Although this can often become a  mid to long term endeavor, it is possible that such public activities could lead to something unique for your company. There are many types of public activities, one example among others is holding a contest relative to your company.

Ex: Contest format: Poem contest

Applicant process

Application → Follow company official social media accounts → Submit poem via post → Get a chance to win prize

Conducting such a contest allows the public to recognize your company name, and your company will be able to obtain a following in doing so. 

In addition, it is in that time where you can consider the various special characteristics of your company for future content and measures. The important thing to consider is that establishing connections with the media should not take an excessive number of steps. Try to think about what measures worked and did not work for improvement.

Also, it is important to place value on specialized media. In Japan, there are specialized media outlets for various industries. Of course, general internet searching is fundamental for research, but these specialized media outlets contain information for specialized research. Furthermore, to increase your company’s reputation in that industry, it is important for those media outlets to recognize your company.

We at Kartz Media Works do PR for a diverse range of industries including IT, food, beauty/cosmetics, real estate, tourism, educational/governmental institutions, start up businesses, stock exchange listed companies, etc.

Within these industries we not only worked with BtoC companies, we also worked with BtoB companies as well. From product PR to corporate PR, we have an established track record, so if you are looking to begin your PR activities in Japan, please feel free to contact us for a consultation!

Store Chains

Major convenience store chain, Lawson, conducted a hybrid press conference to announce their new food product which was a brown rice dal curry dish as well as a coconut chicken curry dish made without added salts or artificial flavoring. The chef who created the dish participated through a video call from France while company representatives attended physically. The press conference was broadcast through YouTube Live.

Influencers

Major Japanese influencer, model, and singer, Kemio, announced his new Spotify podcast. Kemio conducted the online announcement in his New York City residence and broadcast it through YouTube Live as well. The overall structure of the online press conference was simple as it used minimal equipment, a simple backdrop, and a simple set of questions from a Japanese interviewer. The seemingly effortless conference lasted for 5 minutes.

IT

Introducing the latest updates to their Cisco Designed portfolio for small and medium sized businesses, Cisco conducted a live digital event through their own platform “Cisco Live!”. The press conference was also conducted with an interpreter for the Japanese audience. The overall event lasted a little over 30 minutes, and multiple representatives and interpreters were involved making it a slightly larger-scaled online press conference compared to the previous two examples.

Overall

Looking at the above three examples, one could see that virtual press conferences span a diverse range of industries. This is largely due to COVID-19, but Japanese entities have endeavored to become more adaptable in these times more than ever. For those overseas, these changes can also act as a great opportunity to virtually participate in the Japanese market as well. From large to smaller-scale events, all industries nationwide are increasingly participating in virtual events consisting of press conferences, webinars, and even live concerts and sports games. Virtual event support services are also increasing more than ever including our own service, so those approaching Japan from overseas can confidently enter the Japanese market as effortlessly as possible.  

Media has taken various forms as new technologies and the way of communication, information exchange and business attraction keep emerging in the world. Among them, social media has demonstrated today that companies can reach out to many potential customers or leads worldwide in a matter of seconds. Therefore, it is important to understand how social media is used in digital marketing today. 

Understanding social media marketing  

Simply defined, social media marketing is a type of business marketing through one or more social media platforms. In some cases, it might lead to actually advertising products or services on social media. But for other businesses, it could mean generating traffic and creating brand awareness. 

Social media has a very strong influence on how businesses are being marketed these days. Even science has demonstrated this evidence. In fact, as discussed in a research paper  on the “Foundations of Social Media Marketing”, it is true that: “social media has revolutionized the power structures in the marketplace, becoming points of evidence to a major power migration taking place and to emergence of a new breed of powerful and sophisticated customer, difficult to influence, persuade and retain”. Moreover, social media gave customers more sophisticated tools and several options and helped them come up with new tactics so that they can search, evaluate, choose and buy goods and services they really want or need. This could be proof that new trends of customer behavior have roots in the use of social media nowadays;  and Japan is not an exception.

A look into social media marketing trends in Japan 

In Japan alone, most people possess a smartphone, and young adults or millennials in particular spend a considerable amount of time each day scrolling through different online pages, either to socialize with their connections or to look for something to buy, a place to go to, and so on. This situation has created a need for companies to shift the way they market products and services to their current clients and also target many more. 

Moreover, a guide on “Social Media in Japan 2020” published early this year by Plus Alpha Digital, recommended that: “Social media has become a major part of digital marketing in Japan and should definitely be included within the brand’s overall marketing strategy for the country.” The author added that: “As of 2020, nearly 100% of Japanese are online, smartphone penetration is around 80%, and over half of the population is using some form of social media in Japan.”  

There are many Social Media(SNS) or social networking services used in Japan, and here is the classification suggested by digital marketing platforms in Japan:  

Top 5 Social  Media Platforms in Japan in 2019

(https://www.humblebunny.com/japans-top-social-media-networks-for-2019/)

• LINE :  90 million MAU
• Twitter :  45 million monthly active users (MAU)
• Instagram :  33 million MAU
• Facebook : 28 million MAU
• TikTok : 9.5 million MAU 

Surprisingly, Twitter is more popular than Facebook in Japan.

Apart from these 5, there are messaging apps and business networking platforms such as Snapchat & LinkedIn and SNS video/streaming platforms like YouTube, Nico Nico Douga, Abema. Except Linkedin which is not yet discovered by many young users, all these other platforms are massively popular and young Japanese people find delight in using them on a daily basis.  

Future perspectives 

In light of the above, while predicting Japan’s digital trends of the new decade (2020 onwards), The Japan Times reported last year that: “the  previous decade saw social media and internet culture in Japan go through major mutations en route to becoming a central part of daily life rather than a bizarre alternative world.” Nowadays, traditional media and PR techniques are still relevant and influential when promoting products and services. However, social media marketing has been occupying a big place in the arena of digital marketing. 

In conclusion, private companies as well as government institutions are now more than ever making use of  social media to either promote their businesses or simply activities directly targeting the population. Therefore, with the constant increase in the number of social media users from all generations in Japan, the use of social media will still be playing a major role in shaping strategies marketing will be conceived in years to come. 

Background 

In order to reach a large amount of prospects for new businesses or clients willing to buy products and services newly launched, there is a need to put together a serious marketing plan that should include social media marketing as well. This particular type of marketing can be carried by companies themselves through their own social media platforms. However, to accelerate spreading the word faster, more and more companies are casting “ social media influencers” as their targets. 

In fact, the “2019 We Are Social Global Digital Report” highlighted that global digital growth is showing no sign of slowing, as there are a million people across the world navigating online every single day. Social media use is being absolutely fueled by this growth and there are 3.5 billion people using social media now, making 45% of the world’s population. So, there is definitely a need for social media to be more and more used by companies, and the people who actually give meaning to this type of marketing tool are called “influencers”.  

Defining an influencer

According to Influencer Marketing Hub, an influencer is defined as “someone who has the power to affect the purchasing decisions of others because of his or her authority, knowledge, position, or relationship with his or her audience.” From this perspective, influencers are individuals considered as, not simply marketing tools, but rather social relationship assets that collaborate with brands to assist them achieve specific marketing goals. 

There are many categories of influencers focusing on specific areas such as fashion, game, beauty, cosmetics, lifestyle, food and drink. And more and more, there are many people of all ages who are becoming social media influencers to conquer the hearts of Japanese audience. 

In Japan, it seems like influencers are playing a very influential role in digital marketing today; their particularities being the fact that most are “talents” i.e. TV personalities, models, music band members and so on. Here is a look on top Japanese social media influencers. 

Influencer market Japan 

Out of about 126 millions people that make Japanese population, there are about 31 millions users on Instagram. This is a big market share for the social media industry alone. For illustration, the results of a study carried out by Digital In Fact (a Japanese market research firm), the influencer marketing industry in Japan in 2018 exceeded 200 million US dollars in value and this is projected to double in size by 2023 with more than over 500 million US dollars.  This means that most companies are considering incorporating social media marketing into their overall marketing strategy.  

On the other hand, in order to reach a wide majority of their fans, who are actually potential customers of the companies they do promotion for, most popular influencers can demand very high fees. And generally, companies are usually willing to pay because those influencers have the potential to reach larger audiences. This could be explained by the fact that in Japan, most Japanese Influencers operate as talents belonging to management agencies which handle contracts and other matters on behalf of the influencers. This actually makes it harder  for independent influencers to get more jobs.   

Moreover, in online articles published by influencer marketing specialists, it was argued that in Japan, there are no official watchdog state organizations like the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) in the US  and Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) in the UK. In the absence of such state bodies, digital marketing and advertising organizations like The Word of Mouth Japan Marketing Association (WOMJ) and Japan Interactive Advertising Association (JIAA) provide guidelines that social media agencies and influencers can follow and abide by. Indeed, the aforementioned organizations don’t possess any legal binding power in Japan. However, most advertisers follow their rules. It seems like they are important organizations because consumers would get angry and criticize sponsors that wouldn’t  show any transparency in their influencer campaigns. In fact, sponsoring companies have to use the hashtag for transparency which is not #AD or #sponsored, but instead  #PR  in most cases. 

At last, it is indispensable to point out that most influencers can only speak Japanese and almost all publicity activities are carried out in Japanese. It could be better to hire a local bilingual agency that could bridge the influencers and the non-Japanese companies, considering the fact that Japanese influencers are a representative subset of the Japanese population. This would require finding an agency with a sound knowledge in the area of social media marketing and of influencer marketing as well, including data related to targeted or desired influencers.         

Concluding remarks  

Utilizing social media influencers mainly Youtubers, Podcasters, and Instagramers is almost becoming a common thing for brands to promote their image as there is an increase in the amount of money spent every year on influencers. This fact is the driving force of influencer marketing today in a country where consumer behavior is portrayed and put forward in virtue of social media usage.   

Therefore, foreign companies seeking opportunities to enter the Japanese market will definitely need to partner with Japanese influencers who can provide them with additional reach and help them build brand awareness among Japanese public.