Lead Generation and Internet Marketing in Turkey

The Turkish Internet

Turkey is a Eurasian country that spans across parts of Western Asia and South Eastern Europe. It has a population of 77.3 million people and an internet population of 35 million which represents an internet penetration of 45%. There are 62.8 million mobile phone users and an internet advertising market size of $US244 million. Turkey is fourth in the world in terms of the absolute number of Facebook members at over 29 million members. Facebook average CPC is $US0.22, which represents an option of a cheaper than average entry into the paid Facebook section for new internet marketing campaigns. Search engine market share in Turkey follows the average trend in so far as Google being the dominant search engine with 98.84% of the market. Bing comes in far behind with 0.94% and Ask with 0.97%. Yahoo trails even further down with 0.13% and AOL just about there with a 0.05% share of the search engine market. Google is obviously the engine of choice when it comes to natural search in Turkey and Google search behaviour should be carefully monitored.

Social Media in Turkey

Judging by the most popular search terms in Turkey it would appear that social networking sites are the prime internet properties. By far the most popular and searched for terms are “facebook” and “face” the latter, one assumes, is the lazy attempt at “facebook”. These are followed by “mynet”, “youtube” and “e-okul”. “E-okul” translates into “e-school”. Facebook is the most popular social media site and Mynet is the most popular portal in Turkey with 26 million members. Understanding the similarities and differences between their user bases, will arm internet marketers with useful information on how best, to use the respective sites in terms of internet market penetration. Facebook has 29 million members in Turkey who generate 39 billion page views a month and spend an average of 30 minutes on the site each visit. The worldwide average is 25 minutes. Among the most popular interest categories are Parenting, Online Video, Rock Music and Beauty & Fitness. These are all potential areas for lead generation or internet marketing in general and indicate the likely positive reaction to using video marketing for these purposes.

Linkedin and Mynet

Linkedin only receives 1.5 million page views a month and is primarily used by those searching for business information, educational resources and human resources. The one interest that appears to stand out in terms of popularity is the category of “Ohio”. Further investigation revealed that a high interest in Ohio State University is present on Linkedin and on Google. These insights suggest a ready audience for internet marketing campaigns involving visa and immigration services to the US and entry into Ohio State University. Furthermore, that Linkedin is useful to use as a medium to attract business internet users within Turkey that may be looking for the latest company information and perhaps the download of company and market reports. Mynet is a popular portal in Turkey that receives 1.3 billion page views a month and indicates audience category interests of Gossip & Tabloid News, Bluetooth Accessories, Mobile & Wireless Accessories and Beauty Pageants. Internet marketers have an ideal opportunity to promote a theme that appears to appear all across Turkish internet life; Beauty & Fitness. It is also interesting to note that Email and Messaging appears to be of equal interest to Turkish Mynet users as Hunting & Shooting, although the value of such insights should be considered carefully prior to involving oneself in an internet marketing campaign involving both.

Mobile Internet

According to the European Interactive Advertising Association or EIAA, on average 14% of Europeans access the internet from mobile phones or PDA devices. This figure is substantially exceeded in Turkey where 21% of people access the internet via mobile phones. The UK and Sweden come second with 20% of the respectively populations using a mobile device to access the internet. The 3g penetration in Turkey is also reported as having increased above the European average and this has increased the sales of smartphones. This suggests that the mobile internet is essential to the exponential growth of brand awareness in Turkey and internet marketers should do all that they can to ensure that mobile users are able to access lead generation content. For more information on the internet marketing industry in Turkey go to the Interactive Advertising Bureau of Turkey.