Lead Generation and Internet Marketing in Taiwan

The Internet in Taiwan

Taiwan is an East Asian island located in the western Pacific Ocean. Located just off the south eastern coast of mainland China, Taiwan has an estimated population of more than 23 million people. Lead generation and internet marketing entrepreneurs can be highly successful in Taiwan if they try to understand the preference of Taiwanese internet users and how they spend their time online. The longest amount of time is spent online searching or collecting information which represents 57.2% of time spent online by Taiwanese internet users. This is followed by email, instant messenger and online shopping which account for 46.4%, 36.8% and 27.1% respectively. In a report looking at the online spending of internet users in Taiwan, mainland China, Thailand, India, Indonesia and Malaysia, Taiwan was top in terms of the amount of money spent online using a Visa card over a 12 month period. It reported that the average Taiwanese online shopper spent $4,041 during the same period compared to $2,577 in mainland China. The internet in Taiwan differs from most other parts of the world in terms of search engine market share with Yahoo having a greater percentage at 51.12% and Google controlling only 47.61%. Bing, Baidu and PC Home follow with 0.89%, 0.19% and 0.09% respectively. The two top search terms in Taiwan are “facebook” and “yahoo” even on Google search.

Mobile Internet in Taiwan

There are approximately 27 million mobile phone users in Taiwan, which represents a mobile penetration of 117%. There has always been a massive uptake of advanced mobile technology in Taiwan with 19 million 3g subscribers at the start of 2011 which represents 70% of the mobile population. These numbers are expected to increase since the two major operators in Taiwan and China, China Unicom and Taiwan Mobile, agreed to remove roaming charges between Taiwan and mainland China only last year. They also reduced mobile internet access while roaming by 50%. These allowances point to a country committed to promoting mobile internet technology and advanced in its consumption of interactive media.

The Future of Mobile Internet

It was reported that Samsung expect smartphone sales to double in Taiwan during 2011 allowing internet marketers to utilize mobile apps to spread content via social media such as Facebook, twitter and Linkedin. This prediction is based on the fact that a whole new range of Samsung mobiles that run Google’s Android software are being introduced in 2011. The following two years from June 2011 years will see Taiwan spend more than $219.3 million dollars on developing the latest 4G technology as approved by the Council for Economic Planning and Development of Taiwan. This presents a good prospect for internet marketers who will be able to utilize rich media content viewable by mobile.

Social Media

Taiwan has an unregulated media environment which is reported to have led to newspapers preferring sensationalism to attract readers in an ever increasingly competitive environment. Many Taiwanese readers have turned to social media as it represents more diverse and truthful opinions and sentiments in their minds. Reports are likely to be more realistic and the variety of choice is huge. Users are able to share their thoughts and voice their opinions unlike anything possible in the tabloids. A recent report revealed that 4 out of the top ten sites in Taiwan were social networking sites and Facebook clearly stands in first position. There are 9.6 million Facebook users in Taiwan and 12 million unique visitors generating 14 billion page views every month. Top Facebook user interests include the categories Mobile & Wireless, Mobile Apps & Add-ons, Online Video, Music and Computers & Electronics. This suggests that Facebook users may search Facebook for product reviews and user experience information which offers internet marketers the opportunity to create UGC (user generated content) websites and have a regular Facebook presence. This could drive Facebook visitors to UGC websites for the purpose of lead generation or affiliate marketing, or both. Mobile browser compatibility is a must for lead generation websites in Taiwan and developing mobile apps that can attract more mobile visitors back to the site via social media sites would create an added advantage.

Wretch.cc

Wretch is a huge Taiwanese community website that allows photo and video sharing and provides various blogging resources. It is the third most visited site in Taiwan behind Yahoo and Facebook and has 9.8 million unique visitors every month generating 3.4 billion page views and staying online for an average of 14 minutes per visit. The highest Wretch user interest is Skin & Nail Care followed by Online Videos, Parenting and Holiday & Seasonal Events. These audience interest suggest quite a range of lead generation possibilities for internet marketers in Taiwan that could utilize instructional videos on skin and nail care regimes (or related topics), parenting and holiday planning, across Facebook and Wretch. With a highly developed economy and as one of the “Four Asian Tigers” Taiwan has one of the highest GDP per capita in East Asia, behind Singapore and Hong Kong, in terms of purchasing power and has a GDP per capita of $34,743. Taiwan is ready for business online and ready for internet marketers with an understanding and unique approach to lead generation.