Social Media Marketing in China

Social media usage continues to grow across the world, and China is no exception. With an Internet user population of 650 million (nearly twice the population of the entire U.S.) and Chinese censorship laws that prohibit domestic users from participating in the social networks that dominate the rest of the world, China did the inevitable thing and created their own social platforms and networks, like Tencent and Weibo, boasting user bases that exceed half a billion accounts. In China, 70% of social media users are under the age of 35 (30% are between 26 and 30), Internet users spend five to six more hours online per week than Americans and an average of almost 90 minutes per day on social networks, and 38% of consumers make product purchase decisions based on recommendations they read on social networks.

Without a China-specific social strategy, all of those painstakingly crafted hashtags and carefully curated content go unseen and unheard by a population with extraordinary buying power and a propensity for brand-hopping. If brands don’t keep an eye on where Chinese users are spending their time, they will miss a critical opportunity to connect with consumers and influence their purchase decisions. While some US-based multinational brands like Coca-Cola have established a presence on these networks, with limited time, social media marketing budgets and proficiency in the native language (only Tencent Weibo offers a full English interface), it can be a challenge even for large organizations to manage active and meaningful conversations across China’s entirely separate social platforms. Now, Social Media marketing in China has 3 different approaches:

1. SOCIAL BRANDING

In western countries and China, social media has taken a very important place in our everyday life and in companies’ development strategy. However, using social media to promote does not necessarily guarantee a success. As a marketing weapon, it needs to be mastered in a more efficient way. So, just using social media is not enough, it’s important to build a social media strategy with an editorial line and a brand image that we want to build and promote. It needs to be coherent with the expected objectives in the market.

2. COMMUNITY MANAGEMENT

Social media also helps to better know the customers. By understanding them, business can target them more efficiently and satisfy their needs through building a trust relation with them. As a result of this customer’s satisfaction and interaction process, companies’ value is built in social media. Social media helps to create a customer community with the updates of company’s activities, and this method is expected to become essential in the social media field.

3. SOCIAL SELLING

Internet has an important effect on the sells and companies’ selling skills. The web has, to some degree, changed the selling ways and its practices, because the buyer has easier access to information about the seller and its products, and can more easily compare the products to get the best price, the best quality product and goods delivery in the market. The web provides a huge information base, which comes from providers, prescribers, media, bloggers, satisfied or unsatisfied customers. Then, companies have to deal with more potential buyers and listen to their demand. They need to approach them in a more transparent way while answering customers’ questions more quickly to keep brands’ reputation. Social selling means to use social media as a promotional channel to sell its goods.