One of my favorite forms of marketing is social media marketing. Of course, with anything relating to business in the global setting, practices look different from country to country. As far as social media is concerned in Vietnam, none reigned higher in the world of social media than “Zing.” From 2005 to 2007, Zing rampaged across the country. Think of Zing as a form of Facebook, but add in video-gaming into the equation. The result is a platform that allows its users to find other gamers with similar interests in the country. Since Zing only helped connect others to those in its home country, the result was a massive takeover of the market-share by Facebook, now with over 12 million users in the country. In addition, many global advertisers like Coca-Cola and Samsung mad the decision to pull ads from Zing after discovering that the app allowed users to illegally download music for free. Keep in mind that this activity is not considered illegal in Vietnam. All of these factors have lead to the demise of Zing in Vietnam. As Facebook leads the way in Vietnam, only time will tell how marketers effectively use the platform in the foreign country and market.
Philip Woods says
I n my entertainment management majors we discuss the value of social media a lot and how important it is to be flexible and use a wide range of social media networks. I had never heard of “Zing” before but does go to show how important it is to understand what the market in your area is using and what you may or may not be allowed to use in different countries.
Mengyao Wang says
I have never heard “Zing” before. Since Facebook is banned in China, we have a similar thing called “RenRen Web”. It looks exactly like Facebook. However, there is rumor about Facebook is entering Chinese Market in the very near future. Let’s see how that will go.