Why Asia Should Matter to Marketers

Up to 43 percent of the world’s online population will reside in Asia by 2013, according to projections from Forrester Research. And China will account for 17 percent of the global online population.

In mobile, eMarketer forecasts China will have 1.3 billion subscribers and 957 million mobile Web users by 2014. The consultancy projects there will be more people accessing the Web on their cell phones in the country than the entire population of the U.S. in 2010.

Other digital marketing facts in Asia include:

• Internet users in Asia Pacific spent more than 5.6 trillion minutes online in 2009, and bought $7 billion in virtual goods, according to the Asia Pacific Digital Marketing Yearbook.
• Nearly half of all search activity (44.1 percent) across the region in September 2009 took place on Google; representing 17 billion searches. (comScore)
• India’s Internet population grew to 71 million, a year-on-year increase of 42 percent in 2009; 51 million of them are active users. (Economic Times)
• Japan has around 21.8 million social network users. Around half of them actively manage their profiles, according to Universal McCann.
• The Philippines has more than 10.6 million Facebook users and is ranked eighth in the world in terms of countries with highest number of using the social networking site, reports Inside Facebook.

With the myriad of online marketing developments coming out of Asia, it’s critical to cover this important region by providing commentary, how to’s, and case studies by and for digital marketers here.

Under my role as Asia bureau editor, we will launch ClickZ Asia with the goal to serve marketers in the region by providing you with up-to-date insights and share best practices about digital marketing trends, including search, mobile, social media, e-mail marketing, and analytics.

Express Your Interest as a ClickZ Asia Columnist

We are recruiting experienced marketing practitioners in the region to write for us. We are looking for fresh information, viewpoints, and experiences from people in the trenches of the Internet marketing and advertising industry.

These stories should be told in the first person, representing real situations you or your company encountered. We also welcome advice you have for other marketers, including tips and tricks for doing their jobs better, and other resources to help guide them.

We are initially seeking marketing practitioners with expertise in these areas: search, mobile marketing, e-mail marketing, emerging marketing, and media planning and buying.

Please include a brief bio, contact details, such as e-mail and phone number, and send them to me.

Call for Speakers: SES Hong Kong

In September 13-14, 2010, SES Hong Kong, ClickZ’s sister brand, will be holding a search marketing conference covering topics such as search marketing, analytics best practices, and the business value of social media.

If you would like to speak at this event attended by C-level marketers, brand managers, and agency professionals, please refer to the speaker guidelines. Or if you would like to attend, you can find more information, including the lineup of speakers and programs, on the SES website.

With your support, we hope to build ClickZ Asia as the voice for digital marketers in Asia Pacific and fulfill ClickZ’s mission to help online marketers and advertisers do their jobs better.