Chinese Social Media: A Must for China Digital Marketing

You might think of Facebook and Twitter as being the key platforms worldwide to market your products or services, unfortunately in China they are blocked. When it comes to Chinese marketing plan, you must use different tones to communicate with your Chinese audience on their own social media platforms, such as Weibo (equivalent of Facebook and Twitter in China), especially Sina Weibo, Tencent Qzone (equivalent of Facebook and Twitter in China), Tencent QQ (Instant Message tools), Tencent Wechat (mobile communication and private social networking app), Renren (equivalent of Facebook in China) and Youku & Tudou (equivalent of YouTube in China).

Wechat and Weibo currently dominate Chinese social media landscape. In the last year or so, Wechat has surpassed Weibo in size and popularity, although, with its enormous user base, Weibo still remains a formidable force in the social media. While there are significant differences between the platforms, both Wechat and Weibo offer attractive opportunities for China’s marketing.

Similar as Twitter, Weibo has an identification policy, which can verify the identity of celebrities, public figures, companies, etc. Once a user gets through the official verification, a colorful V will be added next to the username. As millions of people use Weibo to access news and information every day, Weibo becomes the most powerful tool to engage mass audiences. For international companies, creating content that is attractive and interactive on Weibo is a must to Weibo marketing. Currently, more than 130,000 international brands are active on Weibo with their own accounts, such as Coca-Cola, Lancôme and LVMH.

Wechat is more personal than Weibo, and is often used to keep in touch with family members, friends and colleagues. So when it comes to digital marketing, Wechat is more about engaging loyal customers through direct messages. Companies with subscription accounts or service accounts on Wechat are allowed to send direct messages, including sales information, company news, and feature stories, to their subscribers. Wechat messages don’t have the same viral potential of Weibo posts, but they can be much more targeted and are almost guaranteed to be read, which is essential for Wechat marketing to increase engagement and build customer loyalty.