In this week's issue:
    
A View from Europe: Trends in Adoption, Strategy and Execution
Last week, TechCrunch covered a study conducted by German think-tank, Brand Science Institute (BSI), which claims to shed some light on the barriers to executing successful social media projects across Europe. We asked Pierre Le Leannec, Social Media Specialist, Text 100 France, to weigh in with his thoughts on the BSI findings and the state of social media across Europe:
It’s always hard to step back to look at a study filled with facts and figures and compare it to the rest of the market. While the BSI study doesn’t unveil much hard data to create any strong conclusions, it does underline some strong trends we’re seeing around social media adoption and the resulting effects on brand execution across the Europe.
Adoption Speed & Path
Social media adoption varies throughout the world, Europe is vastly different than the US, Asia, etc. Furthermore, a closer look would likely show that even the countries within Europe vary widely in both adoption and sophistication of social media strategies. Cultural differences still play a big role here regarding approach. There’s no denying that European countries are behind the US in terms of social media adoption. But we also have a different adoption rate, a different focus and a different media landscape, generally, so this shouldn’t come as much of a surprise. For more on this, check out this presentation from our friends at We Are Social about the nuance in usage of social media in Europe and also Social Media Trends in Europe.
ROI Resistance
The data specific to initial investment and ROI are not surprising. Although, BSI doesn’t specify whether it focused solely on EU companies or EU subsidiary of International companies, as whole, European brands are certainly encountering measurement and buy-in issues, which are key to successful execution. Social media projects are often still considered as experimental or too dangerous to be involved in, much like the US a few years ago. The lack of maturity in the market causes European companies to have a rather narrow vision of
social media projects - and as a result won’t take into account the customization and localization needed to achieve success in different countries. Also, many won’t dedicate the necessary resources and teams to develop a specific strategy and will tend to neglect it over other media investments, or will simply try to replicate a campaign done in US without looking at the differences in the markets and target audiences.
Yet, it’s not all dark in Europe - in fact, it’s far from it. Many of the issues listed here are the same any company in any part of the world encounters when they engage for first time. That said, there is some outstanding work being done in listening, creating buzz and engaging. Here are just a few examples of European brands that are getting it right in social media:
Got Talent? Evaluating Social Media Presence Before Aligning Your Brand
It’s just the beginning of entertainment award season and Text 100 has been trend-spotting. Not who’s wearing what, but the smart pick of hosts who are social media power users. Both the Emmy’s (Jimmy Fallon) and MTV VMA’s (Chelsea Handler) emcee choices show the importance of evaluating the overall presence of any high profile participant (be it a famous host ornon-celebrity third-party endorser, partner or customer) before booking them for your next event, product launch or thought-leadership campaign. Check out our most recent Hypertext blog post for guidance on getting smart about aligning talent with your events.
Germany Proposes Law Forbidding Facebook 'Spying'
 A draft German law may make it illegal for prospective employers to spy on applicants’ private Facebook postings – but that doesn’t mean candidates should let their guard down online.
The proposed law would prevent employers from becoming a Facebook friend with an applicant during the hiring process, but will still allow them to run a basic Web search to obtain details posted in the public, such as LinkedIn profiles.
This legislation comes on the heels of Germany’s plans to address privacy concerns online and in response to news that corporations are checking employee emails and filming sales clerks during coffee breaks – a story that outraged the public.
While the German government is making this a matter of policy and there is potential for this to ignite discussion across the globe, responsibility should remain with users to manage their reputation online and pay attention to privacy settings.
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