Social Media in Belgium, 2013

1. The Social Media
Landscape in Belgium

2. Social Media Landscape 2013
2003 2004 2005 2006 2009 20102007 2008 2011 2012
• Social media is an ever-changing complex ecosystem
new services are created, other disappear, most evolve
• Picture-based sharing services like Instagram and Pinterest and mobile sharing/chating
applications like SnapChat and WhatsApp have been strongly growing worldwide last year
• Mobile is the name of the game
Sources: FredCavazza.net, InSites Consulting, comScore, Havas Media, Digimedia

3. The Social Media Landscape in Belgium
Warming up
• In Belgium, awareness of social network sites is very high. Facebook is close to 100%, Twitter
reaches 76% awareness and Google+ is known by more than 60%.
Awareness of new social networks like Instagram and Pinterest is picking up
• Almost 7 out of 10 Belgian internet users are member of at least 1 social network. It means more
than 5,2 millions users. Most often this is Facebook in combination with Twitter or LinkedIn.
• Mobile is the perfect accelerator for social media usage. 30% of Belgian internet users have a
smartphone. On average, they install 24 apps on their smartphone, 8 of which are used at least
weekly. Social network apps are the most popular ones.
• 1 out of 4 Belgian internet users post information about products, brands and/or companies on
social networks. More than half of their comments about brands are positive. Only a minority (less
than 10%) is negative.
• 44% of Belgian social network users are connected to brands. 7 is the average number of brands
followed actively.
Sources: FredCavazza.net, InSites Consulting, comScore, Havas Media, Digimedia

4. A complex Social Media landscape
In its latest social media landscape, Fred Cavazza
identifies four categories:
• Publishing with blogging platforms
(WordPress, Blogger, TypePad, …) and wikis
(Wikipedia, …)
• Sharing services for
pictures, links, videos, music, products…
(Tumblr, Instagram, Pinterest, YouTube, Vine, Sp
otify, Deezer, Slideshare…)
• Discussing with knowledge platforms
(Quora, Reddit, StackExchange…) and mobile
chat applications
(Skype, WhatsApp, SnapChat…)
• Networking for BtoC audiences
(Badoo, Tagged…) and professionals
(LinkedIn, Viadeo, Xing…)
Sources: FredCavazza.net

5. Facebook and YouTube are clearly dominant
0 1,000 2,000 3,000 4,000 5,000 6,000
Vine
Foursquare
Pinterest
Instagram
Twitter
Google +
LinkedIn
YouTube
Facebook
20,000 40,000 60,000 80,000 100,000 120,000 140,000 160,000
Vine
Foursquare
Pinterest
Google Plus
Instagram
Twitter
LinkedIn
YouTube
Facebook
TotalUniqueVisitors(000)TotalVisits(000)
Sources: comScore

6. Facebook
5.200.000 profiles (socialbakers June ‘13)
5.025.000 total unique visitors (comScore May ‘13)
80% of Belgian internet users are on Facebook
52% Women – 48% Men
Over 66% return daily, over 85% return at least once a week
But this dominant position begins to be problematic: since
everybody is on Facebook, it is harder and harder to grab users’
attention.
Sources: socialbakers, comScore

8. YouTube
4.195.000 total unique visitors (comScore May ‘13)
YouTube’s reach keeps on growing in Belgium:
• 2,3 m impressions / day
• 1 m users / day
• compared to a year ago +-480% increase in videos
Sources: comScore, Google, B.V.L.G.

10. LinkedIn
1.571.564 profiles (LinkedIn)
1.219.000 total unique visitors (comScore May’13)
35-54 are the most represented category (45,6%), followed by
25-34 (35,3%) (Digimedia)
Sources: LinkedIn, comScore, Digimedia
LinkedIn is currently the
fastest growing social
network in Belgium

12. Twitter
From 160.000 to 1.000.000 profiles
746.000 total unique visitors (comScore May ‘13)
Twitter is working hard to be considered as a media with all the
second screen initiatives, new cards system, the Vine mobile
app and the Music service which begins to surface
In Belgium, Twitter is suffering lack of advertising solutions
Twitter cards make it
possible to attach media
experiences to Tweets
that link to content
Sources: comScore, Digimedia

14. Vine
45.000 total unique visitors (comScore May ‘13)
• Launched in January, Vine has already surpassed Instagram
on Twitter and on the Google Play chart as Top Social App.
• Branded vines are four times more likely to be shared than
branded online videos.
Sources: comScore, SproutSocial, TechCrunch

15. But try vineroulette.com

16. Instagram
514.000 total unique visitors (comScore May ‘13)
In 2013, Instagram attracted lots of top brands in the world.
Next to using hashtags, Instagram can also tag
people/companies in photos.
Sources: comScore, SimplyMeasured

18. Google+
365.000 profiles according to estimate (Digimedia)
749.000 total unique visitors (comScore May ‘13)
Google is still stalking the others with a growing number of users
and a constant flow of new features.
Having a Google+ account allows you to claim authorship of your
original content. A strong presence also directly correlates to
stronger search engine recognition.
Sources: comScore, Digimedia, B.V.L.G.

20. Pinterest
177.000 total unique visitors (comScore May ‘13)
Pinterest recently launched rich pins which make it possible for
businesses to automatically add and update details to pins:
• Product pins include real time pricing, availability, and
where to buy.
• Recipe pins include ingredients, cooking times and serving
info.
• Movie pins include ratings, cast members and reviews.
Sources: comScore, Pinterest

22. Foursquare
162.000 total unique visitors (comScore May ‘13)
Apart from Foursquare Specials, Foursquare Local Updates is a
useful business tool. It will show updates you post to those who
have checked in or look at your business.
Sources: comScore, Digimedia, Foursquare
foursquare.com/timemachine

24. Micro-communities ?
Sources: comScore

25. Conclusions
• Social media’s force comes from its diversity. Facebook act as a catalyst for this complex
ecosystem, but it should have never been this successful without other platforms’ content and
conversations. Therefore, social media have to be addressed globally, and not only Facebook.
• Teen’s attention is very hard to capture and to retain. If opening a Facebook profile is the first thing
they do, teens are quickly moving to mobile apps which does not leave trails of their interactions
and where they can hang out together (without their parents or teachers).
• If the social media landscape appears to be stable, do not forget yesterday’s giant has fallen in a
couple of years (MySpace, Friendster…). Therefore, everything is still possible, one just have to be
creative.
• Spend a minimum amount of your time following the social media field and trying new services, to
better understand usage evolutions and to be able to identify trends and opportunities.
Sources: FredCavazza.net

26. THANK YOU