Hello, I’m Leo Sato (@slamdunk772), the CEO of applemint, a digital marketing agency in Taiwan!
Today, I’m going to give you an in-depth explanation of everything about SNS in Taiwan, including the internet use in Taiwan, popular SNS, Taiwanese local SNS, netizens’ trends, tips, and cautions!
Contents
The Internet Use in Taiwan
First of all, let’s compare the Internet use in Taiwan and the US.
Internet Usage Rate
As of 2021, the internet usage rate in Taiwan and the US are equal, both at 90.0% of the total population.
Source: Digital 2021: Taiwan, Digital 2021: US
SNS use: Taiwan vs. America
Next, let’s take a brief look at Internet usage in Taiwan and the US. The table below shows the average daily usage time for each media, based on a survey of 16- to 64-year-olds.
| Taiwan | US | |
|---|---|---|
| Internet | 8 hours 8 mins. | 7 hours 11 mins |
| SNS | 1 hour 56 mins. | 2 hours 7 mins |
| TV | 2 hours 28mins | 4 hours 42 mins |
| Broadcast radio | 27 mins | 1 hour 9 mins |
| Podcasts | 25 mins | 49 mins |
American people spend more time on most media than Taiwanese people on average. However, one media that Taiwanese spend more time on than Americans is the internet.
Popular Social Media in Taiwan
SNS in Taiwan
In Taiwan, 19.7 million people use social media, which is equivalent to 82.6% of the population. Of these, the distribution of the audience that can be reached by social media advertising by age group is as follows.
So let’s take a quick look at which SNS are popular and how each is being used!
Ranking of Popular SNS
The following ranking is based on the percentage of Internet users aged 16 to 64 who use each platform.
- Popular SNS in Taiwan
-
#1 YouTube (89.6%)
#2 Facebook (89.2%)
#3 LINE (88.0%)
#4 Instagram (59.5%)
#5 Facebook Messenger (59.3%)
Followed by WeChat (30.0%) in 6th place, Twitter (27.3%) in 7th place, TikTok (21.3%) in 8th place, Skype (18.7%) in 9th place, and Whatsapp (18.5%) came in 10th. This alone shows how popular Facebook Messenger is, with a large margin over WeChat.
Source: Digital 2021: Taiwan
Here is the same ranking for the US.
- Popular SNS in the US
-
#1 YouTube (81.9%)
#2 Facebook (73.4%)
#3 Instagram (56.6%)
#4 Facebook Messenger (55.7%)
#5 Twitter (43.2%)
Source: Digital 2021: US
The US and Taiwan are very different in terms of popular social media and the percentage of people using them.
In the following sections, I will explain these differences one by one.
Usage of the top 5 sns
YouTube
The reason for the popularity of the world’s largest video sharing platform is because of its convenience and the diversity of accounts and users.
The following table shows the ranking of keywords searched on Youtube in Taiwan in 2021.
This shows that in addition to entertainment such as music, movies, animation, etc., there are many people who use it for information gathering purposes such as news.
Also, the keyword “綜藝玩很大” is ranked 19th, which is a popular variety show in Taiwan, originally broadcast only on TV, but started streaming on YouTube on February 13, 2017.
It is not uncommon in Taiwan for TV shows to set up YouTube channels in this way. This shows just how big the presence of YouTube is in Taiwan.
Facebook & Facebook Messenger
Facebook is a social media platform that is popular among both men and women, with a 49.7% male to female ratio and a 50.3% female to male ratio.
In Taiwan, companies often use Facebook for business purposes. Almost 90% of the people in Taiwan are registered on Facebook, and the potential audience for advertising is as many as 18 million people. As a result, it continues to be a major information diffusion platform in Taiwan.
Source: Digital 2021: Taiwan
In recent years, not only corporations but also Taiwanese government agencies have been actively using Facebook for a wide range of purposes, such as explaining policies more clearly and refuting fake news.
LINE
While WeChat and Whatsapp are the main messenger applications in other countries, Line is still the main messenger application in Taiwan. Line is used not only for daily communication with family and friends, but also for obtaining information on official accounts of companies and government agencies.
I myself have added the Taiwanese government’s official account, “防疫家,” and find it very useuful. For example, “防疫家” sends me covid-related information every day, such as the number of infected people for the day, information about vaccines, and the schedule of press conferences. This is very convenient because it allows you to get accurate information quickly and easily.
For more information on the use of Line Ads in Taiwan, please refer to the following blog.
Instagram is very popular in both Taiwan and the US. The term “IG 網 美照” is used in the same way as “Insta-worthy” is used in the US, and posts of fashionable cafes and photogenic spots are also popular on Instagram.
Furthermore, the ratio of potential advertising audience to the population aged 13 and above is 42.0% in Taiwan, making it a platform that can be expected to have a greater advertising effect than in Japan.
Summary of Taiwan SNS Strategy
In this blog, I would like to conclude by writing about the strategy of SNS marketing in Taiwan. There are two main strategies for SNS in Taiwan.
- Youtube and Facebook (especially effective use of Instagram)
- Don’t let it go up in flame
I will explain one by one
Youtube Strategy
The best strategy for Youtube is to set up your own page. If you really want to attract Taiwanese people, you should set up a channel in traditional Chinese. At applemint, we have separate pages for Chinese and Japanese.
We’ve been running Youtube for 2 years now and we’ve gotten 4800 subscribers on our own. I’ve been shooting and editing the videos myself. My advice is as follows
- applemint’s Youtube hack
-
- 1. Do not give up in 6 months
- 2. if you don’t have subscribers or views yet, comment on your own post
Also, when you are sending out your message to Taiwanese people, please use traditional Chinese characters. Not the simplified characters used in mainland China. If you use simplified Chinese characters, you may get hates.
How to use Instagram
Next, let’s talk about Instagram. For example, let’s say you are a person who is involved in the inbound business of Hokkaido. Then, you should approach Taiwanese people who are posting about Hokkaido.
Instagram is not just about taking attractive pictures and adding hashtags. The most important thing on Instagram is to find potential fans and interact with them. Unfortunately, many people entrust the management of SNS to advertising agencies, which only post photos without interacting with fans.
For more information on how to use Instagram, please refer to our former staff member, illustrator and influencer Apple taught me the art of Instagram.
Thank you for reading! I hope this blog has given you some concrete ideas on how to use SNS to attract Taiwanese customers. If you have read this blog and would like applemint to help you with your SNS account management and web marketing needs, please contact us.
We are a startup with expertise and knowledge in web advertising that has already spent hundreds of millions of dollars in Taiwan despite being in business for only 5 years. As a CEO of applemint, I am featured in a famous magazine in Taiwan called “換日線“.
Click to contact applemint.
