Lead Generation and Internet Marketing in Greece

The Internet in Greece

Greece is a country located in the south eastern part of Europe and is officially known as the Hellenic Republic. Greece has an estimated population of 11.3 million people, of which at least 4.9 million are internet users. Internet speeds in Greece have always been comparable to the UK’s with the UK download speed being just 7.89Mbps as compared with 7.59Mbps in Greece. The Greek labour force is estimated at 4.9 million and reports from 2007 show that the average worker then produced $20 an hour, more than half of the US worker’s average hourly output rate. Greece has a GDP per capita of $28,833 and 15% of Greece’s total GDP originates from tourism or a related industry. Broadband speeds have increased over the last 5 years and broadband prices in Greece have reduced allowing the average internet user to spend more time online for less money. Internet marketing can utilize the ever popular Facebook with more than 3.4 million members or 86.7% of the internet population or Twitter with 9 million page views per month, to generate leads for a variety of niche markets.

Search Engines in Greece

The leading search engine in Greece is Google which represents 98.7% of the search engine market share and reports suggest that 60% to 70% of Greeks research online using Google before purchasing offline and more than 45% of Greek consumers change their mind about what to purchase as a result of online research with Google. This presents ample opportunities for lead generation campaigns to capture consumers during their intense research before making a buying decision. Between 20% and 30% of Greek Google searchers use a price comparison website before deciding on which product to buy which is another huge potential for lead generation by targeting price comparison related keywords. Bing is the search engine with the second biggest share of only 1.5% but should not be ruled out as CPC rates may be competitive and compliment a Google search campaign.

Social Bookmarking

Facebook is the most popular social network in Greece and the major interest categories of users is reported to be Urban & Hip-Hop and Indie & Alternative, which suggests that a large majority of Facebook users in Greece are music focused. Monitoring the behaviour of social bookmarking audiences can help guide lead generation campaigns with regards to the types of media channels to use for internet marketing. YouTube receives 2 million unique visitors every month which is 41% of Greek internet users and suggests that utilizing You Tube video marketing to attract visitors using Hip-Hop and/or Indie music via Facebook, could be a possible marketing angle. Twitter receives around 9 million page views a month and reports show trends relating to Gossip & Tabloid News, Blogging Resources and SEO & marketing, in order of popularity.

Mobile Internet

There are more sim card registrations in Greece than there are people. This suggests that everybody owns a mobile phone or mobile device and many own more than one. As 3G coverage and data packages have increased in availability and decreased in price due to healthy competition, it is likely that more people are using mobile devices to access the internet and possibly replacing fixed broadband services with 3G. By 2009 Greece had already reached 88% broadband coverage which was only 3% behind the UK. This presents a good opportunity for internet marketers to reach Greek consumers on the move possibly through social bookmarking sites that tend to have a variety of mobile apps to keep mobile internet users connected. Any lead generation efforts in Greece should be implemented using mobile browser compatible websites, in order to take full advantage of the additional reach offered by mobile internet users and an internet advertising market size of $88 million.

Internet Usage in Greece

Internet Population: 4,970,000
GDP Per Capita: $28,833
Internet Market Potential (GDP*Users/million): $143,300 million
Internet Advertising Market Size: $88 million

Search Engine Market Share in Greece

Search Engine Market Share: Google 97.58%, Bing 1.5%, Yahoo 0.66%, Ask Jeeves 0.19%, AVG Search 0.05%

Mobile Users in Greece

Mobile Users: 13.295 million

Social Media in Greece

Facebook Users: 3,294,180
Facebook Penetration: 30.64%
Average CPC on Facebook: $0.31
Worldwide share of Twitter Users: 0%

10 Most Popular Sites in Greece

1. Facebook.com
2. Google.gr
3. Google.com
4. Youtube.com
5. Blogspot.com
6. Yahoo.com
7. Live.com
8. Wikipedia.org
9. Sport-fm.gr
10. Twitter.com

Online Marketing Resources in Greece

http://www.iab.gr/