Social Media in Japan in 2021
A look at the most popular social media apps in Japan in 2021 - user numbers, usage trends and more.
Whether you’re trying to market your business to Japanese consumers, make Japanese friends, or keep in touch with a Japanese person you met on a trip or on an exchange, being in the same “communication space” is very important.
You can download this “Social Media in Japan in 2021” deck
I put together for free.
It covers:
Media consumption trends by Japanese people
The shift of attention in Japan
Activities done in mobile devices
A breakdown of the most popular social media apps in Japan
If this looks interesting to you, download the full deck here:
Keep in touch
Share
Instagram in Japan in 2020
All about Instagram use in Japan in 2020. Information from the House of Instagram Japan online event held by Facebook Japan.
House of Instagram Japan was held in online on November 26, 2020
Instagram has over 33 million monthly active users in Japan
Users in Japan in particular use Instagram for search
Instagram remains one of the most significant social networks in the world and continues to be huge in Japan.
On November 26, 2020, Facebook Japan held their House of Instagram Japan, or インスタハウス in Japanese, online seminar event, going over the latest usage statistics and behaviors on the platform.
Globally, Instagram has 1 billion monthly active users, now 10 years after it first launched. It’s been a pretty big part of my daily life since I signed up in May 2011.
Anyways, here are some interesting facts about Instagram in Japan.
The Japan market
The Japanese market is said to have more than 33 million monthly active users. This number hasn’t been updated in a while as this was the same number announced last year at Instagram Day Tokyo 2019, so we can only speculate as to why.
Japan is an important and unique market for Instagram, Facebook Japan CEO Masahiro Amizawa said. In fact, Japan holds their only development team outside of the United States.
Instagram users in Japan have a high rate of searching via hashtags, says the Facebook Japan CEO.
In addition to browsing and discovery, users in Japan use Instagram for search purposes more than users in other markets. Compared to the global Instagram user average, users in Japan search via hashtags 5X more.
This makes Japanese hashtag strategy very important for brands.
Instagram users in Japan have a high rate of seeking shopping information
Another point of difference in Japanese usage is that Instagram users in Japan seek shopping information more.
Utilizing functions such as Instagram’s shopping tags, users in Japan are 3X more likely to look at product details compared to users in other countries.
Not utilizing shopping tags or having them link to a non-Japanese eCommerce site is a wasted opportunity.
Maintaining organic posts is important to provide further information
It’s also worth noting that advertising to Japan from a global account isn’t enough. 42% of users who become interested in a brand will visit the brand’s profile in search of more information.
I’ve seen many international brands in particular advertise in Japanese but from a single, global account, with all the posts written in a foreign language.
The truth is that English capability in Japan is notoriously low, and the type of social media content that they like is often very different. This potentially cuts off the interest cultivation in the Japanese user.
Japan-first Developments
Three functions that began in Japan were highlighted, developed due to behavior in the market.
Instagram’s account QR code
Account QR codes
This has been around for quite some time now, but it allows users to quickly connect to other people and businesses. Japanese were used to scanning QR codes from before, and you’ll likely see them around if you’re in the country.
Instagram’s event tagging
Event tagging in in-feed posts
It looks similar to shopping tags where you tap a post and information comes up. In addition to products, event information can also be tagged inside of in-feed posts. This let users set reminders to be notified 15 minutes before its start.
It was tied to high usage of the Instagram Live function after COVID-19/Coronavirus began to spread.
Instagram’s seasonal topics
Seasonal topics
A list of 10 hashtags around topics beginning to trend are curated. This is due to Japanese users’ searches by hashtags being 5X the global average, their cultural affinity for the seasons and trends that occur in them, and their strong desire to know what’s currently happening.
If you need help with Instagram or Instagram in Japan, send me an email and I’ll see if I can be of help!
KEEP IN TOUCH:
SHARE:
UNIQLO’s Initial Black Lives Matter Statement Highlights Japanese Marketing Struggles
UNIQLO’s initial Black Lives Matter post highlights the struggles Japanese brands sometimes have when marketing to an international audience.
Today, June 3rd, 2020, is a tumultuous time right now in the US as many Americans protest against the systemic racism that has plagued society for hundreds of years.
It's a time for us, at the very least, to listen, learn and reflect.
As an American working at an agency doing marketing in Japan, I’ve become aware of the differences in marketing strategies, brand communication, customer expectations, internal struggles, etc. in Japan versus the US.
UNIQLO recently posted a statement during these protests in which they got heat for. They were able to make up for it nicely, but it does highlight an issue Japanese brands face when marketing internationally.
On average, Americans care a lot more about than just if a product is good, affordable, or from a longstanding brand. In the social media era, where everyone has a camera, production studio and mass media broadcasting capabilities in their hands, people care about transparency.
What is the role you feel your company plays in society? What are its values? Sure, you make a good product but how do you treat your employees?
Research has even shown it to be good for customer loyalty.
64% of consumers who have a relationship with a brand cite “shared values” as the main reason.
77% of consumers say that they at least sometimes purchase products or services from a brand solely because they believe in the brand’s values/reputation and they want to support them. 2 out of 5 young people make purchases based on this regularly.
Because of this, we often see companies in America communicate about their actions and values. When the effects of COVID-19 began to take place, many were quick to communicate about the measures they were taking, even before government decisions to lockdown.
It's the same for Black Lives Matter. Here are some examples.
There are many more examples.
Each of these posts clearly state their values and their positions on the issues. It should also be mentioned that when some have asked if they're making donations, some brands (like Diamond Foundry) have responded to them saying exactly where they're donating.
Now let’s look at UNIQLO’s initial post:
Some of the popular comments:
This is so vague. If you're going to put up a support message, address the community that you intend to support, address them directly because they need the support. Posting an empty message like this is nothing short of following a trend....
U SAID NOTHING.
Fire your PR team. This is a pathetic collection of words at a time when words and action are everything. That's a whole lot of words to say absolutely nothing! Way to use your platform to take zero stance.
Is this the first AI-written PR message? Because it's so non-specific and feels like an imitation. Sorry, but a bunch of vague words in white on a black background isn't it.
When I first read the post, I also stopped and though, "Wait, what did they actually say?"
In the other examples, the brands clearly state their position on a specific matter, even released statements about which organizations they're donating to and what actions they are taking in order to support their position.
UNIQLO didn't initially do this. They did not define who is feeling the pain, what diversity means to them, what specific actions they're taking, etc.
The reluctance to take a firm stand or voice a strong opinion is a common shortcoming of many Japanese companies.
There is a fear of being disliked, especially due to being rooted in a group-oriented society with comparatively low diversity. There’s a lot of trying to stand out without disrupting, and the outcome is often vanilla messaging: “Cute!”, “The most popular!” “Great for everyone!”
That type messaging doesn't work in markets with greater ethnic, religious, sexual and intellectual diversity and individuality.
My guess is that there was probably an internal struggle between the UNIQLO US team and UNIQLO Japan office, and that's why the message became a diluted mess.
UNIQLO, to their credit, managed to respond to the situation quite well.
Here is UNIQLO’s follow-up:
They showed that they’re listening and got specific in explaining what actions they’re taking. So far, the response has been largely positive.
It's a good example for future Japanese brands with foreign aspirations to learn from.
KEEP IN TOUCH
SHARE
Instagram in Japan in 2019
All about Instagram use in Japan in 2019. Information from the Instagram Day Tokyo 2019 event.
Instagram Day Tokyo 2019 was held in Shibuya in October
Instagram has 33 million MAU in Japan that uploads 7 million Stories every day as of March 2019
Mobile usage outdoes TV for Japanese in their 10s-30s
Instagram is one of the largest social networks in the world as of 2019, and arguably the most impactful on modern day pop culture. It has been rapidly growing in Japan as well.
I attended Instagram Day Tokyo 2019 on October 29, 2019 at the Hikarie Building in Shibuya, Tokyo.
The event was open to mainly press, agencies and various companies using the platform. Company speakers from their global, Japan and APAC offices came to talk about the platform’s latest.
Instagram’s VP of Product, Vishal Shah, discuses Instagram’s mission.
The presentation began with some general information about Instagram as a whole:
500 million accounts use Stories every day
Instagram is very focused on furthering online shopping capabilities from in-app checkouts to new product launch methods
AR ads currently being tested will allow potential customers to engage with brands in ways such as “try-on” products (ex: lipstick)
The most used Sticker in Stories in 2018 was the Question Sticker, highlighting a desire to communicate
Shortly after, the talk centered around the Japan market. Here are a few highlights:
Instagram is “loved in Japan”
INSTAGRAM IN JAPAN
Since March 2016, Instagram has been exploding in Japan and has more than tripled its monthly user base. The latest numbers show that there are more than 33 million monthly active users in the country (as of March 2019).
As of March 2019, Instagram has 33 million monthly active users in Japan
Users in Japan upload 7 million Stories each day.
This is related to the overall trend of media usage in Japan.
Media contact between mobile vs TV in Japan for males (L) and females (R) in their 10s-30s
People under 40 in Japan are highly active smartphone users, so media reach is said to be better on mobile than through TV.
For males, mobile outdoes TV 40% to 27%, and 45% to 33% for females.
Instagram users in Japan between the ages of 18-29 spend more than 100 million hours using it each month
People in Japan in their 40s and up have been jumping onto Instagram more recently but it’s still looked at as a “young” platform overall.
Rightfully so, it was said that users in Japan between the ages of 18 and 29 spend more than 100 million hours in the app each month.
That’s an increase of +201% since 2017. The right side of the slide compares Instagram usage to 4 other services, however those services weren’t named.
When 18-29 year old Instagram users in Japan use the app throughout the day
The same demographic uses Instagram throughout their day, and the slide above breaks down their usage during the weekday.
From left to right: Wake up, early morning, breakfast time, late morning, lunch time, afternoon, early evening, dinner, late night, bed time.
83% of users in Japan “took action in the moment”
While the definition of “action” wasn’t clearly defined, according to research, 83% of Instagram users in Japan have taken action right after seeing something on Instagram.
I assume that it can mean anything from “click on website link” all the way to “make a purchase”.
INSTAGRAM IS CONSIDERED A SOURCE OF DISCOVERY
Instagram is widely thought of as a place of discovery, information and inspiration.
It’s said that:
83% of users discover a new product or service on Instagram.
61% of users feel that Instagram keeps them up to date on current trends.
50% of users consider Instagram a source of inspiration.
Elaborating further, the trend of people starting to utilize Instagram as a search engine instead of Google has increased.
While this isn’t for every type of search, there is an increase in exploring Instagram’s tags (location tags, hashtags) rather than Googling.
This theme that Instagram is a “source of discovery” was highlighted in usage by young women in Japan. Compared to other unnamed services, young women in Japan use Instagram as an information source for:
Fashion: 44% (Instagram) to 8% (other service)
Food spot: 36% (Instagram) to 17% (other service)
Leisure spot: 31% (Instagram) to 19% (other service)
In addition to various guest speakers from different companies and agencies, Japanese influencer Yukos was brought out to talk about her experience growing on Instagram.
Influencer Yukos livestreaming as she’s introduced on stage
Former Japanese “idol” from the group HKT48, Yukos (@yukos0520) gave some insight about growing on Instagram.
The influencer/business owner has 456k followers on Instagram with a 3.8% engagement rate as of Nov 2019.
A few key points that she made was how she realized that there’s only so much “influence” one can have by taking nice pictures and cute selfies. Working to consider what her audience cared about, searched, and then being able to address them in a quick manner helped play an important role in her growth.
Here’s a glimpse of the event: