VKontakte (VK) is a popular Russian social networking service launched in 2006, often referred to as the 'Russian Facebook,' with over 239 million accounts predominantly held by Russian speakers. The platform emphasizes community building, allowing users to interact through messages, group creation, and media sharing, while also serving as an effective marketing tool for businesses to engage with their audience. VK distinguishes itself from Facebook by focusing on entertaining content and emotional discussions among users.

1. What is VKontakte?
Mediatalo Toimelias Ltd
10.4.2014 Mediatalo Toimelias Ltd 1

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What is that?
• VKontakte, or VK, is a fast-growing Russian social
networking service which is also called “Russian
Facebook”.
• VK has many similar to Facebook features and
functionalities, but differences between these two
can be also found.
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What is that?
• VK was launched in the year 2006.
• In January 2014 it had at least 239 million accounts
(55 million daily users) mostly in Russia, CIS
countries and Eastern Europe region.
• VKontakte is available in 70 languages but popular
particularly among Russian-speaking users all
around the world.
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Community
• VKontakte is based on the sense of community.
• A user "collects" friends to communicate with. They
can send messages to each other, participate in
discussions in different chats, write posts on their
page walls, invite each other to events, etc.
• According to eBizMBA Rank, it is the 8th most popular
social networking site in the world.
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Special features
• Like other social networks, VKontakte allows
users to:
message contacts privately and publicly;
create groups, public pages and events;
share and tag images, video and audio;
share notes and documents;
play browser-based games.
• The maximum size of a file distributed is 200 MB,
and the system supports mostly common text,
image and media file types.
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How to join VK
• A private user creates an account on which a profile
page is based. After that, a user can manage personal
data and interface through the “Settings”.
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How to join VK
• VKontakte is a search robot which allows users to
find friends, groups and communities;
apply an advanced search by entering additional
information.
→Tip: This feature can be utilized in VKontakte marketing
activities as well. For instance, the segmentation process
can be based on age, gender, education or domicile.
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How to join VK
• In order to “become” friends, a friend request
should be sent first to another user who accepts or
declines this request.
• As for joining groups, there are two possible ways. If
a group is open, a user is free to join it. A closed
group requires a membership application that is
handled by a group administrator.
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VK as a marketing channel
• Different companies, organizations, and events may set up
their own VKontakte groups and pages to provide members
with interesting content, news, activities and platforms for
communication.
• These pages can be created in "My Groups" -> "Create a
Group".
• The group consists of the main page where users can find:
 the group's description
 images, audio and video files
 possible discussions
 surveys
 links
 the wall (where the communication mainly takes place).
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VK as a marketing channel
• VKontakte marketing is based on collecting group
members or event participants and communicating with
them.
• Members of the group make up a direct registry, so that
they can be informed about news, given with valuable
content and involved into different activities.
• At best, the group members are committed to the group
and begin to market it to their friends, and this is how
the whole idea of community service is realized through
viral marketing.
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VK as a marketing channel
• Groups and event pages
are quite popular in VK,
and the largest ones have
millions of members.
• Members usually visit
group pages on a regular
basis and participate in
group discussions and
activities diligently.
• The most successful way is
to increase the number of
fans is to produce
valuable content and ask
friends to spread a word
about it.
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VK as a marketing channel
• VKontakte provides users with an opportunity to
market their groups, products and services with the
use of premium banners.
• VK ads service allows you to create advertisements
directed to your target audience easily.
• Advertising costs vary due to the amount of times
your ad is displayed or clicked. As an example, you
can pay an advertising fee based on VK click-
/display auction.
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13. +Reasons to apply VK as a
marketing tool:
• VK is the second most visited website in Russia;
• VK allows companies to target marketing activities
more effectively than in keyword or banner marketing;
• VK marketing is affordable (often free of charge);
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14. +Reasons to apply VK as a
marketing tool:
• VK marketing is based on viral marketing.
Tip: Testimonials received from relatives and acquaintances
influence Russian consumers' purchasing decisions more
than in other countries;
• VK marketing is easier than, for example,
Yandex keyword marketing;
• VK is a young, dynamic and rapidly growing
channel!
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VKontakte vs. Facebook
According to Top 100 Facebook Pages, five biggest fan
pages are:
• Facebook
• Shakira
• Rihanna
• Eminem
• Coca-Cola (Coke)
Consequently, Facebook users are interested in brands,
entertainment and celebrities.
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VKontakte vs. Facebook
Five biggest fan pages in VK are the following:
• Epicentre of humour
• Ti ne poverish’!
• Kinomania
• iFace
• Korporatsia Zla
The content of this list consists of comedy, education and entertainment.
Epicentre of humour, iFace and Korporatsia Zla are popular fun pages (more than
4 million of followers). Kinomania is a group of movie funs. Ti ne poverish’! is a
page where different interesting facts are posted.
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VKontakte users want to laugh,
enjoy and share opinions and experiences
with other like-minded people.

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To sum up:
• While Facebook is focusing on factual information spreading, VK is
more entertaining. There are plenty of pictures and funny videos.
• In Facebook people have most of their attention focused on
famous people. At the moment, another popular phenomenon is
technology, and this is the reason why Facebook and YouTube are in
the TOP 10.
• The most popular VK pages are fun communities and pages where
link-minded people share their opinions and experiences.
• Discussions taking place in VK are more emotional than on
Facebook.
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Take the first step!
• VK is one of the most used Russian electronic
channels and a significant social networking
service.
• It is an important tool in positioning your e-
marketing strategy in Russia, and its utilization
should be taken seriously.
But does this channel seem challenging? Trust the
experts who will handle it for you!
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Contact us!
Mediatalo Toimelias Ltd
Laserkatu 6
53850 Lappeenranta
Finland
Teemu Hakolahti
teemu.hakolahti@toimelias.fi
Tel. +358 50 355 1370
www.toimelias.fi/en/
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