When marketing in the Netherlands you need to get Hyves

While in the Netherlands conducting a full-day seminar and presenting at several other events last week, I had an opportunity to learn a bit about Hyves.

The reach of Hyves is amazing.

Radio Netherlands says one in three Dutch are on the social networking site. It is the second most visited site in the Netherlands after Google, but in terms of time spent, it is certainly tops. And Hyves has more users in the Netherlands than the other major social networking sites Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter combined.

If you do business in the Netherlands, you need to consider Hyves in your marketing mix.

To learn more about Hyves, I spoke with Remco Janssen, a journalist and PR 2.0 expert. We spoke in a beautiful cafe in Amsterdam and I captured part of the conversation on my Flip video camera.

Direct link to the video here.

I'm always amazed at how marketing in different parts of the world requires adaptation. I lived in Asia for nearly ten years, most of that time as Asia Marketing Director for Knight-Ridder. When working in Indonesia, Japan, Singapore, Thailand, Honk Kong, Australia, and the other countries in the Asia-Pac region, it always required going local in some way.

If you're in the global markets, localization is important. Yet many marketers assume that one size fits all.

Do you have any other examples of localization to share?

Comments

[Remco Janssen]

Oops. 5 million Dutch users, I said. Make that 7... Out of 16.5 million people living in the Netherlands! And they have 9.3 million users in general (the site is in Spanish as well and has some adoption in S-America).

Nice talking to you, David!

[Edo van Santen]

Marc de Vries, CEO of Hyves, gave a presentation on the business and entrepreneurial aspects of Hyves. Unfortunaltely for our international readers, in Dutch language. However, is was a very impressive talk. The video can be seen at Talk&Do.TV, http://www.talkedo.tv/index.php?videoid=hyves. Enjoy!

[Edo van Santen]

edit link: http://www.talkedo.tv/index.php?videoid=hyves

[David Meerman Scott]

Thanks again for the information, Remco. Edo - I'm fascinated with what Hyves has created. David

[Benjamin Spall]

The HSBC campaign instantly springs to mind. They've been working with the tagline 'the worlds local bank' for sometime now with fantastic advertisements such as Eels (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6_WAmt3cMdk) and Washing Machine (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I42fxNIjMsI).

Great article as always.

[twitter.com/marcdevries]

David,

Nice to read your article. We really believe that our local roots will continue to be one of our unique assets.

Sorry I missed you when you where in the Netherlands. Please let me know when you are around next time, so that we can hook up.

Regards,
Marc
Hyves

[David Meerman Scott]

Thanks for stopping by Marc. Always great when a CEO takes the time to engage. Keep up the great work at Hyves.

[Anna]

Well, talking about the local social media tools, I need to mention the Polish Twitter - Blip.pl, a microblog platform. It is very popular in Poland, even more popular than Twitter. Politicians, musicians, some celebrities have their profiles here. Recently some corporations and brands (like KFC) started communicating through this channel. We're all eager to see how it will develop in the next couple of years.
Regards,
Anna

[David Meerman Scott]

Anna - Great. Thanks for sharing the Polish microblogging platform with us. David

[Carmella Manges]

Hi David. Love your recent note on the "Flip" camcorder and your comments on localization in a global marketing effort.

We recognize the need to localize with microsites (or in other ways) outside the US, and are learning along the way. Here is one example...

http://www.formationstedwards.fr/