Chinese social media marketing offers Western brands the opportunity to engage with one of the largest audiences of online consumers anywhere in the world. The variety and engagement options of the platforms make it incredibly useful to target just the right target audience for your products and services.
YIVA Digital helps you adopt a winning Chinese social media marketing strategy with these 8 tips on how to effectively pinpoint your most ideal platforms and optimize their use for the best lead generation.
Understanding the Different Markets
Many Western businesses are already very familiar with social media platforms for digital marketing such as Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter. However, when trying to enter into the Chinese consumer market, the strategies and platforms are not as simple as copy-and-paste onto similar Eastern platforms.
Chinese social media marketing is ahead of the curve in comparison to Western platforms, and for digital marketers, this means a greater opportunity to access the large consumer base in China.
Tencent’s WeChat, Sina Weibo, and ByteDance’s Douyin are among the top-performing platforms in the Chinese social media market. In 2020, WeChat alone claimed 73.2% of digital use among online users, which accounted for approximately 1 billion active users each month and more than half spending at least 10-30 minutes a day on the app.
Of the American companies already using WeChat for conducting business, over 40% indicated that without access to WeChat they would suffer a significant loss in revenue.
Continue reading to find out how your Western business can harness the networking and advertising power of Chinese social media marketing on some of the leading platforms。
Adopt These 7 Strategies for Chinese Social Media Marketing
Reach the Chinese market with these foolproof Chinese social media marketing strategies that instantly connect you with the largest user base in the world! Unlock your digital marketing potential by adapting them for the Chinese consumers found on each social media platform in China.
Start with a Great Website
Before you can start seeing results with Chinese social media marketing, the first step is to create a localized website for Chinese consumers. When you begin to implement lead generation strategies, you will need a website to funnel these leads back to and the same website you use for Western platforms may not be optimized to convert leads into loyal customers and sales.
Read more about the best practices for preparing the perfect website for an online Chinese audience.
Optimize Content on a Variety of Platforms
The number of social media platforms in China is endless and the Chinese market is filled with many popular options that see more than several million monthly active users engage with brands across the various platforms.
Sina Weibo and WeChat official accounts put media marketers in China in front of 530 million and 1.24 billion monthly active users, respectively, and these numbers continue to rapidly increase each quarter.
This means that your Chinese social media marketing approach can utilize all sorts of avenues such as instant messaging, live streaming, mini programs, and short videos to build an engaging social network between you and Chinese internet users.
Find Creative Solutions to Funnel Marketing
Digital marketing doesn’t just have to rely on traditional methods of search advertising or content writing to grow your conversion rate. Platforms such as WeChat have plenty of integration options and useful tools marketers can use to generate innovative solutions for lead generation and engagement among Chinese users. QR codes are especially popular as well as surveys and live polling during online events.
Check out these 6 tools you can use to make your brand stand out in the social media market.
Consider Shopping Platforms and Integration with Social Media
Another effective tool is to integrate social media platforms with your e commerce platform. Social commerce generated $186.04 billion in 2019 thanks to the rise of a new type of consumer base that is highly connected and sophisticated. The commerce revolution accounts for more than 11% of online sales.
Tencent’s WeChat is ahead of many Western platforms when it comes to developing e commerce integration into social platforms. Its Mini Programs allow online brands to directly sell products on the platform and registered a total transaction value of $115 billion in 2019.
Dive into Live Streaming or Short-Video Production
E commerce is also taking hold in the live streaming market. As brands utilize live steaming options on social platforms to execute highly effective campaigns and events for Chinese social media marketing.
Beyond live streaming options, short-video platforms such as Douyin, TikTok, provide digital marketers the opportunity to directly promote their products and services or work with KOLs and influencers to reach new subcultures of Chinese social media users. The platform allows Western brands to link to the Taobao e commerce platform, pay for ads, set up a Douyin Store, or harness the purchasing power of KOL marketing.
Invest in Ads
Of course, there are also options on all the major Chinese social media platforms to invest money into advertising campaigns. These can help grow your influence on the sites and expand your lead generation.
One particular example of this is Sina Weibo, where digital marketers can target users for their location, age, interests, or even hashtags. The platform allows Chinese social media marketing options of CPM (cost-per-impression) or CPC (cost-per-click) as well as traditional display ads. With more than 600 million users, paying for ad space on Weibo can be an effective solution to reaching the right type of consumers.
Hire a Digital Marketing Agency for Better Results
Finally, one of the most important investments you can make to help drive your business goals further with Chinese social media marketing is to partner with a digital marketing agency. These experts, such as YIVA Digital, assist you in conducting market research and analyzing the latest trends.
The greatest approach to digital marketing is to understand who your ideal consumers are in China and which platforms will provide you the most in terms of Chinese social media marketing success. As China’s social media market is rapidly evolving, it pays to enlist the help of agencies that follow the latest developments and can tailor your approach to the ever-changing market.
Tapping into a Winning Plan
From video streaming to e commerce integration, digital marketing in China has diverse methods and tools so that you can achieve lead generation and sales conversion. An effective Chinese social media marketing plan is just a few taps away with these 7 solutions to social networking.
Consult with the professional digital marketers at YIVA Digital to get access to the most effective social media marketing strategies and get plugged into the powerful social network of Chinese consumers.