Lead Generation and Internet Marketing in Belgium

Belgium Internet Market

Belgium is a federal state in Western Europe and is officially referred to as the Kingdom of Belgium, home to the EU headquarters. Covering an area of 30,528 sq kilometres or 11,787 sq miles it is bordered by Germany, France Luxemburg and the Netherlands. With an estimated population of 11 million people and 8.1 million internet users Belgium enjoys an internet penetration percentage of 74. There are 4.1 million Facebook users in Belgium and Facebook penetration is 33.3 percent with the average Facebook CPC being very low for Western Europe at only $0.54. Internet speeds are amongst the top in the world (8th) at 5.26Mbps compared with the UK and US at 3.93Mbps and 4.6Mbps respectively. Java script based interactive content and video marketing material would be much quicker to download and view in Belgium suggesting these technologies are all viable possibilities within lead generation campaigns and other types of internet marketing. The top sites in Belgium are Google.be, Facebook and YouTube.

Mobile Internet Market

There are 12.4 million mobile phone users in Belgium and 35.2 percent of mobile internet traffic is from iphone handsets. Access to the internet from mobile devices in Belgium was topped by iphone in the first quarter of 2010 with iphone responsible for 56.5 percent of internet traffic followed by other mobile internet devices at 22.2 percent, the ipod at 17.7 percent and the Google Android was barely in the picture. In the first quarter of 2011 the iphones dominance was reduced to 35.2 percent as the ipad was introduced and gained a close second at 33.8 percent. The Android increased to 16.3 percent, squeezing the ipod down to a mere 8.9 percent. The iphone 4 has been available in Belgium since January 2011. Apple devices are now responsible for 78 percent of mobile internet traffic in Belgium. This may present the opportunity for those interested in entering the Belgian internet market, to invest in the development of iphone and ipad apps in Belgium. These bespoke apps would be used to integrate with social media networks such as Facebook, which has a relatively low CPC, and help to virally spread content and marketing campaigns.

Social Media Usage

Facebook users account for 50.79 percent of the Belgian online population and the majority of Facebook users (31%) are between the age range of 18 and 24. The gender spread is fairly even with males only 2 percent higher than females. Lesser used social networks in Belgium include Netlog and MySpace with Netlog users in Belgium being 1.6 million and MySpace just 390,000 users. Twitter is the least common with not much more than 240,000 users in Belgium. Facebook is the most popular social network in Belgium and probably be the most popular for spending advertising revenue on. The less popular social networks in Belgium may be good for free commenting and brand awareness campaigns but they may also offer competitive advertising rates. These rates may be able to help internet entrepreneurs break into the Belgian internet market. This would be a good way to use Netlog where Belgian visitors spend an average of 16 minutes per visit, which is more than the worldwide average of 14 minutes.

Ripe Economy for Internet marketing

With a GDP per capita of $36,274, a labour force of over 5 million people and 74 percent of the population online, Belgium is full of lead generation potential. Lead generation potential can be found in supply of raw materials or semi-finished goods as Belgium has little or no raw materials of her own. Belgium depends on international trade to survive and exports two thirds of its GNP with a highly skilled workforce and industrial economy. Internet marketing should be carried out with the knowledge that Belgium wants to export their finished products, especially outside of the EU and needs to import in order to manufacture and re-export. Also, social networking across the internet is big in Belgium and internet speeds are increasing all of the time. G4 mobile internet has already landed and Apple has the majority of the market share regarding mobile internet. All internet marketing endeavours should be undertaken by maximizing all of these factors and forgetting none. More information regarding internet standards and advertising methods can be found at the Interactive Advertising Bureau.