Social Media Strategy in the Chinese Market
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Social Media Strategy in the Chinese Market - Weibo Platform Case Study Anna Ivanova & Yunchun Wang Department of Business Studies Master thesis Spring 2014 Supervisors: Anna Bengtson & Susanne Åberg Abstract Problematisation Previous study has indicated that social media is an effective marketing tool. Moreover, Weibo, a Chinese social network contains large potential for the companies. However little theoretical guidance exists on what are the key features of Weibo marketing. Purpose and research question The purpose of this study contributes to a better understanding of the social media by analyzing the advantages and disadvantages of Weibo for Western companies that expect to launch a successful marketing strategy. Methodology This research is done through qualitative approach and is of an abductive nature . It uses a case-study methodology and relying on empirical data and theoretical conceptions. The main empirical findings are based on collection of 13 personal interviews. Results and conclusion The result of this paper contributed to deep understanding of Weibo marketing. Therefore, the theoretical guideline in form of model has been developed and includes 8 key features (4 advantages and 4 disadvantages) that should be considered by Western companies in order to apply successful marketing strategy on Weibo. Key words Web 2.0, Social media marketing, Sina Weibo, China, Digital marketing 2 Contents Abstract ..................................................................................................................................... 2 1. Introduction ........................................................................................................................... 5 1.1 Weibo. Notion & Concept ................................................................................................... 6 1.2 Problem Statement. ............................................................................................................ 7 1.3 Purpose and Research Question ......................................................................................... 7 2. Theoretical Background ......................................................................................................... 9 2.1 Advantages for Business ...................................................................................................... 9 2.1.1 Brand Awareness ............................................................................................................ 10 2.1.2 Lead Generation ............................................................................................................. 11 2.1.3 Competitor and Market Monitoring............................................................................... 13 2.1.4 Customer Engagement, Loyalty and Feedback. ............................................................. 14 2.1.5 Optimization of Costs and Marketing Expenses ............................................................. 15 2.2 Disadvantages of Social Media Marketing ........................................................................ 15 2.2.1 Data and People ............................................................................................................. 16 2.2.2 Organization, Technology and Publicity ......................................................................... 18 2. 3 Conceptual Model ............................................................................................................ 20 3. Methodology ....................................................................................................................... 22 3.1 Research Approach ............................................................................................................ 22 3.2 Research Design. ............................................................................................................... 22 3.3 Case Selection .................................................................................................................... 23 3.4 Data Collection .................................................................................................................. 24 3.4.1 Interviews ....................................................................................................................... 24 3.5 Data Analysis ..................................................................................................................... 26 3.6 Limitations ......................................................................................................................... 26 3.7 Reliability and Validity ....................................................................................................... 27 4. Interviews ........................................................................................................................... 28 5. Data Analysis ....................................................................................................................... 41 5.1 WEIBO Advantages for Companies in China ..................................................................... 41 5.1.1 Brand Awareness .......................................................................................................... 41 5.1.2 Lead and Traffic Generation ........................................................................................... 42 5.1.3 Competitor and Market Monitoring............................................................................... 43 5.1.4 Customer Engagement, Loyalty, Feedback. ................................................................... 44 5.1.5 Optimization of Costs and Marketing Expenses ............................................................. 45 3 5.2 WEIBO Disadvantages for companies in China ................................................................. 46 5.2.1 People and Data ............................................................................................................. 46 5.2.2 Organization, Technology and Publicity ......................................................................... 48 5.2.3 Overview of the Analytical Findings ............................................................................... 50 6. Discussion ............................................................................................................................ 52 6.1 Additional Findings ............................................................................................................ 52 6.1.3 Recruiting Opportunities ................................................................................................ 52 6.1.1 Censorship ...................................................................................................................... 52 6.1.2 Time Issue ....................................................................................................................... 53 6.1.4 Risks Concerning the Foundation ................................................................................... 53 6.1.5 Coping and Legal Borrowing of Content ........................................................................ 54 6.2 Integration of Findings into the Revised Model ................................................................ 54 7. Conclusion ........................................................................................................................... 56 8. Further Research ................................................................................................................. 57 Reference: ............................................................................................................................... 58 Other publications and websites: ............................................................................................ 61 Appendix A .............................................................................................................................. 64 4 1. Introduction For many years Western companies have been full of enthusiasm about the idea of penetrating and operating in the Chinese market. China offers tremendous opportunities for businesses and its growing importance is no secret. It is the most populous country in the world and with an average economical growth rate of 10 percent in the last two decades it is also the fastest growing economy (Johansson, 2010: 7). China has the world’s largest social media market potential and probably has more social media users than Facebook has in the entire world combined (Savitz, 2012: 1). With the rapid growth of the Internet, people tend to spend more time using the social media, creating, sharing and bookmarking content, and networking at progressively higher rates. This might be an increasingly influential factor, and companies working in the field of social media are compelled to focus their efforts mainly on marketing and opinion building activities (Strom in Gillholm, 2012:8). Realizing that Chinese people show relatively high levels of trust and dependence on social media channels as an information source (Jiang, 2013: 10), most businesses start venturing in social media expecting to see a big return on investments (Chander, 2014: 2). Social media can be viewed as a group of Internet-based applications that allow creation and exchange of user-generated content (Kaplan & Haenlein, 2010: 61) and have become a major factor in influencing various aspects of consumer behavior. It can take many different forms, including social networks: Internet forums, weblogs, social blogs,