We come from a promising but specific market. Russia’s landscape is a huge surface area of 17 million km2 spanning 11 time zones. It is also enormous when it comes to its digital landscape with local social networks not familiar abroad.
As you know, the picture is worth a thousand words. WeAreSocial did a great job and incorporated the whole idea about Russian social media activity in one pic. Thus, we will thoroughly discuss each of them for you to decide where the game is worth the candles when you aim Russian speaking audiences.
What is VK and what does it go with?
Vk.com (Vkontakte) beats popularity index in Russia and CIS. The official report (will be useful for media planning and buying) says that its audience equals to audience number of federal TV channels (over 80 m monthly) and mainly consists of young people. The demographic cohort mostly represents millennials (people born between 1980-2000). Trends in millennial marketing are massively discussed: the way they buy and their affinity to technology. It is also a great revenue-driven channel to attract consumers to your product if you work in retail (not luxury stuff though). However, some claim that Vkontakte is a Russian clone of Facebook – there is even a joke on this:
Zuckerberg and Durov (VK founder) meets at a café. – A cup of latte and a cake, please. - says Zuckerberg. – The same for me, answers Durov.
So some brands ignore VK, but those who don’t gain more benefits: VK was much alike at the very start, but soon offered different functionality (like placing audio & video that was much criticized for) and today it has quite a different audience that is often less carping and more loyal.
In fact, both networks share the shades of blue colour but differ from each other in features for business. The desire not to be left behind motivates VK to put a lot of effort in its improvement. Rumours are about 2016 to be full of innovations: the plan to present new interface design, ‘instant articles’ feature, finally to use Gifs and embedded videos player and much more.
Facebook has gained its leading position among Russian audience over the last years because of more convenient and good-looking interface. Russian Facebook ardent fans are more exquisite so to say. While VK requires a funnier content with lots of jokes and competitions, FB tends to discuss the current affairs from more mature, often even professional and business stance.
Next time we will start with Odnoklassniki (‘classmates’), the second most popular and authentic Russian social media.
If you are looking for more channels to expand the influence of your brand, give us a hint and we provide you with a localized strategy of digital presence in Russia. This country is a huge electronic commerce market with a great potential.