This study investigated the most effective commercial posts on Facebook in Japan. A focus group of college students was asked questions about their reactions to commercial posts. Key findings included: 1) Japanese users do not actively engage with commercial posts unless incentives are significant enough to outweigh reputational risks. 2) Preferred posts have intimate rather than polite messages, interesting images that are not overtly commercial, and celebrities. 3) Posts with pictures and 3 lines or less are most likely to generate reactions.

1. The Most Effective Commercial Posts on Facebook In Japan
Miyuki N.

2. This study was conducted...
to find the most effective commercial posts on facebook in Japan.
■A focus group session was held with college students around 20 years old who major in foreign
studies.
→ Japanese facebook users do not actively react toward commercial posts.
Some tips for an effective commercial post were also found in this study.
The most important finding:
Japanese people do not want others to see what they post and how they react on commercial posts.
This may be related to their cultural characteristics.
■Social networking services (SNS) have been increasingly popular around the world including
Japan. Among huge number of SNSs, facebook is said to be the most popular SNS as there are more
than 800 million users in the world. Increasing popularity of SNSs leads companies to change their
way of approaching to their customers.
■In order to see if the current commercial posts on facebook in Japan is effective or not and to find
the most effective commercial posts, this study was conducted. “The most effective commercial
posts” here means a post which many people will follow or react with commenting or pushing a
LIKE button on facebook.

3. The focus group session...
was held at a public university in the West part of Japan on December 20 th.
■The number of students is five (male: 3 female: 2).
■There was a moderator in the session. All of the conversation was recorded using iphone instead of
taking notes.
■There are printed cards with posted pictures and messages on facebook from different brands.
Participants are asked questions as to the use of facebook.
Questions are as followed;
1. What was the last message you posted on facebook?
2. What was the last message you commented on facebook?
3. What was the last message you pushed a like button (=Like) on facebook?
4. To what kind of message do you usually comment?
5. To what kind of message do you usually Like?
6. To what kind of message do you want to comment?
7. To what kind of message do you want to Like?
8. What do you think of messages posted on facebook?
9. Do you answer questions asked by your favorite brands on facebook?
10. Do you like or share the photos of your favorite brand's character in sifferent occasions?
11. Which message or picture is likely motivate you to comment, share or Like?
12. What are the risks of sharing a message on your facebook timeline?
13. Do you think text of the facebook is important?
14. Do you prefer long or short text messages from your favorite brands?

4. From this study...
I can conclude that
■Japanese do not actively react to commercial posts unless the incentives are huge enough to ignore
the risk of disgracing their reputations.
■The most preferable post, they prefer
-an intimate message rather than a polite message
-with an interesting picture that is not easily understood what the picture is about and let readers
think.
-The message should not have more than 3 lines nor an obvious commercial logo.
-People are likely to react when there is their favorite celebrities in the picture.

5. Conclusions
This study was conducted to investigate what kind of commercial posts are likely to be reacted
(=commented and LIKEd) on facebook in Japan. The results give us six findings.
1. Japanese people are not actively react on commercial posts because they think it is a waste of time
and troublesome unless there is a huge incentive such as 50% discount coupons.
2. They do not like others to see what they comment or LIKE on commercial posts since they are
afraid of other's thinking they are desperate to get discounts.
3. People prefer a casual and friendly message rather than a polite message with keigo (=honorifics).
They like a casual message because they feel more close to the message. The more they feel
close, the more they want to react back on the post.
4. The picture that is not easy to understand at sight is favored. Because easy ones do not need to
stop and take time to see what they are about. Hence people are likely to skip such kind of
pictures. If the picture is complicated, people tend to take time to see what is inside the picture.
5. Most of people skip a message without pictures since a picture is one that catch their eyes. A
message with less than 3 lines with a complicated picture are likely to be reacted by Japanese.
6. Celebrities such as singers, actors and actress are the huge incentives for Japanese to follow a
post. This is seen in many occasions such as TV commercial in Japan. Most of TV commercial
have famous celebrities. It is not often seen in American commercial.

6. I believe that the second reason is the most important fact because...
■it reflects the Japanese characteristic and is a main reason why people do not actively react on
commercial posts. They are always worried about what others think of them rather than what they
want to do. They do not want others to see what they comment or LIKE because some people
may see them as a desperate qupon-person nor active commenter to spread commercial posts.
There are some words indicating such characteristics; kechi and mittomonai. Those words are
often used to describe a person negatively. Hence, people mostly just look at commercial posts
but they do not really show how they react.
※This study shows how Japanese people react on commercial posts on facebook. As the viral
marketing is getting common day bay day, it is important to see how users think about
commercial posts on facebook. However, it is not yet seen the right answer for an effective
commercial posts. This study is the first step to seek the answer. Further study should be
conducted near future.