Lead Generation and Internet Marketing in Switzerland

The Swiss Internet

Switzerland is officially known as the Swiss Federation and is located in Western Europe. Covering an area of 15,940 square miles and with a population of 7.9 million people, 72% or 5.7 million Swiss people are internet users. Search engine market share in Switzerland sees Google in the lead with 92% market share, followed by Bluewin with a 2% share, although Bluewin uses Google for natural search and a number of affiliate networks for advertising. MSN, Yahoo and Ask represent 1.1%, 1% and 0.1% respectively. According to Google Insights for Search the top two search terms in Switzerland over the 12 months up until June 2011 are “facebook” and “youtube”.

Social Networking Sites

The most popular social networking site in Switzerland is Facebook which has more than 2.6 million members, 4.6 million unique visitors and 4.4 billion page views each month. Members are 52% male and 48% female and the top interest category for Facebook users in Switzerland is Mobile Apps & Add-ons. This interest is closely followed by Reggae & Caribbean Music, Rap & Hip-Hop. The majority of Facebook members in Switzerland are aged between 18 and 34 years old with 18 to 24 year olds representing 24% of Facebook members and the 25 to 34 year olds representing 28%.Netlog is a popular social media site for those under 18 with 350,000 unique visitors and 34 million page views a month. The top interest category by far on Netlog is “Harare” which is the capital of Zimbabwe. Further investigation reveals that there is a substantial Zimbabwean population in Switzerland and its popularity on Netlog amongst the under 18s suggest that these may be second generation Zimbabweans keeping up to date with their homeland. These discoveries may be useful to internet marketers looking for an angle to use when planning an entrance into the Swiss internet industry using social media.

Twitter

Twitter receives 6.1 million page views a month from 430,000 unique visitors and appears to attract those in the web design, development and search engine optimization industry. As twitter is a micro-blogging platform which tends to provide announcement type updates it could be very useful in raising awareness and possibly drive traffic to a website with web design, SEO or development tools that may be offered for free. Free tool giveaways are a great way to attract attention to a product or service.

Top Internet Properties

The most visited websites in Switzerland are Google, Facebook, YouTube and Wikipedia. Swiss users of Wikipedia seem to be using it as an educational resource and for reference material. An inventive internet marketer could take a lead on the Facebook mobile app interest and combine it with the interest in Wikipedia to develop a mobile app. This app could be for the download of educational and reference material that is provided free but is intended to introduce related services and/or products. Video marketing via YouTube could be accessed with this app and present academic material whilst placing ads at the beginning or the end of the video.

Ecommerce in Switzerland

A report has shown that ecommerce has become one of the strongest growth sectors in Switzerland at the same time as more and more of the over 55 year olds or “silver surfers” become engaged in online shopping. A recent study reported a 48% increase in online sales compared to 2008 and revealed a $9.48 billion online consumer spend during 2010. This figure is expected rise at a greater rate as only 5% of total retail revenue is accounted for by online purchases. Internet marketers should now be looking at innovative ways to attract online consumers using original and unique content presented using a variety of media channels and closing the loop by making all content mobile browser friendly and sharable via mobile apps. To learn more about internet marketing in Switzerland visit the Interactive Advertising Bureau of Switzerland.