Twitter is aiming to increase its sales operations in Japan as it focuses on developing its business Japan, as part of its efforts to grow revenue from overseas, Bloomberg reports.
Speaking during a visit to Japan, CEO Dick Costolo revealed that the company will “aggressively” hire more sales staff in the country as it looks to take advantage of the platform’s popularity in the country.
Twitter has taken some time to develop its monetisation strategies but advertising is very much a key part of that. Research from eMarketer predicts that its revenue from ads will triple to reach $540 million by 2014, and overseas markets are an important area of growth away from its home turf.
Japan became the first country in Asia to get Twitter’s brand pages after three of the country’s most prominent consumer companies introduced the feature, which requires $25,000 of advertiser spend, and the increased sales push is a logical next step.
The microblogging service is also catering to lesser budgets, with Facebook-style self-serve adverts, and these are likely to also be a focus for its growing sales network in the country.
The fact that Japan is the third market to get brand pages, behind the US and UK, demonstrates the emphasis the company is placing on the country, and equally the demand that it sees there. The service found popularity helping Tamogochi owners feed their virtual pets, and has gone on to establish itself as a key medium of communication.
Twitter’s growth in Japan has been like no other and it has become the first overseas social media site to find mainstream appeal there. Facebook is following in its footsteps, having seen its Japanese doubled its userbase to 10 million over the last 6 months, but it is still behind Twitter.
According to data from Semiocast, Japan is the third largest market for accounts on the service:
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