Vkontakte, the Russian social network

Globally, the undisputed champion of social networks is Facebook. However, it is far from being the most popular in Russia, where another national network is preferred: Vkontakte. If you have ever been on Vkontakte, you will have noticed that it looks a lot like Facebook. However, there are differences.

 This social network leads in the number of users in Russia. Also present in Belarus, Ukraine, and even Kazakhstan, Vkontakte has been for many years one of the most visited sites on Runet (the Russian Internet), with more than 90 million active users per month.

1. History of Vkontakte in Russia

Vkontakte, also called VK, means "in contact" in Russian. The platform was founded in 2006, two years after Facebook. Its creator is Pavel Durov, who is also the co-founder of Telegram.

Pavel Durov resigned in 2014 following conflicts between the owners, amid accusations of using Vkontakte's resources to finance the creation of Telegram and his own claims of a growing lack of freedom in his role. In fact, he had rejected a request from the Russian government to share user data.

2. Features of Vkontakte

Vkontakte, like Facebook or any other social network, allows you to post and share content. You can communicate with other people, search in various categories (such as friends, groups, music) and also play games.

But what makes Vkontakte exceptional for users is the possibility of adding audio files, listening to music and watching entire filmsfor free (although they are mostly pirated).

Of course, this act is punishable by law, but no significant measures have been taken against this feature, at least so far. It is clear that they do not want to upset the users.

What also differentiates Vkontakte from Facebook is its interface, which is much simpler and more intuitive. Its use has been simplified to the maximum, with few overly technical features, allowing users to easily find their way around — a key factor behind its strong user appeal.

3. Why is the Vkontakte interesting for businesses?

The Russian market has growing appeal and potential that can offer business development opportunities. Using the largest social network in the region will greatly increase your company's reach, visibility and sales.

Thanks to its features, Vkontakte is a solid platform for attracting customers and increasing sales through targeted marketing, content marketing and advertising.

Vkontakte users spend an average of 4.8 hours a day on the Internet. In Russia, 40% of their time is dedicated to using social networks.

For example, brand pages on Vkontakte have twice as much engagement than those on Facebook. Moreover, Vkontakte collects considerable demographic information about its users. These factors make VKontakte a very effective marketing tool for brands and businesses.

Pages are convenient for communicating news and information about your brand. Product launches and demonstrations, company events, etc., are shared here.

VK has a robust advertising platform available to brands, offering video ads and premium banners based on a cost-per-click or cost-per-impression model.

There are also paid posts in Communities. Posts can be either new or existing.

Beyond a company and/or brand page, groups can help increase engagement or attract potential customers. These gather customers around a common interest related to the brand or sector.

Finally, contests can attract VKontakte users who do not belong to your target demographic, making users across the site interested in your brand.

It is very important to note that the vast majority of this social network is in Russian. As a result, you will need to communicate in Russian to reach its audience. You can turn to a translation agency specialised in marketing translation to translate all your content published on your social networks.