The Rules of Social Media Marketing in China Contents

Home , Renren

2 Three Characteristics of the Chinese Market

3 Fragmented Social Media Landscape

4 Success Factors for Social Media Marketing in China

5 About Aperto

6 Sources & Imprint

2 China – A Social Media Country

The internet in China is exploding, fast transforming the country into a ravenous digital consumer society. As social media becomes an increasingly crucial marketing tool, so western companies must understand the key success factors to assert their own position.

Of the roughly 618 million internet users in China, at This Chinese boom takes on increasing importance least 91% have a social media account and spend an for western companies within the country, as it is average of 46 minutes on social networks, daily. This deemed by many as one of the most important future rapid development and the profusion of cheap smart- markets. Whether for car manufacturers such as phones have enabled millions of Chinese consumers Volkswagen and BMW, or smaller machine production to use innovative social, localized and mobile companies, the significance of the Chinese market is (SoLoMo) services — often months before comparab- escalating — and with it, the need for a strong social le services are available with western brands. As a re- network presence. sult, there is a growing culture of product awareness and exchange of brand experiences and preferences.

This Chinese boom takes on increasing importance for western companies within the country.

3 Three Characteristics of the Chinese Market

Apart from the vast reach and intense usage, there are three primary aspects of social media in China that make it an essential part of every marketing plan:

1 The Decision to Purchase is 3 User Engagement More Socially Influenced The Chinese are highly active internet users, creating For Chinese consumers, personal reviews and recom- and sharing more content than their western peers. mendations have a 28% higher influence over the The internet in China is for the most part a ‘participa- decision to purchase than for American consumers. tory internet’ which, especially in a state-controlled And these recommendations are increasingly found media landscape, offers a new outlet for exchanging on social media which, despite censorship, is a more opinions and self-expression. Which, in turn, makes trusted source than other, even more heavily censo- the much-hyped ‘brand engagement’ — the interacti- red, media outlets. on with a brand’s image, values and products — much easier to achieve.

2 Brands Are Welcomed

Chinese users are particularly receptive to offers and interaction with brands. Users of SinaWeibo — an enhanced, Twitter-like platform with a user base of roughly 560 million — typically track the profiles of up to eight brands. Within the digital sphere, brands are seen as welcome points of contact, especially if they offer entertaining and relevant content.

4 Fragmented Social Media Landscape

But even if the use of social media as a marketing Most of these networks are clones, adapting western tool becomes a vital success factor, many western business models to the Chinese market: Renren and companies still struggle to manage their social media Kaixin mimic Facebook; YouKu takes after Youtube; presence in China. One reason for this is the fragmen- SinaWeibo and Tencent Weibo are advanced versi- ted digital media landscape, where the multitude of ons of Twitter, and WeChat the advanced version of service providers, niche user groups and profiles pro- WhatsApp. Interestingly, the fundamental interaction ve overwhelming. Consequently, none of the global models and marketing mechanisms of China’s social internet companies are able to get a firm foothold in media are practically identical to those of western the Chinese market. As the nationally controlled brands. Relevant content, reward systems and gamifi- internet’s ‘Great Firewall’ prevents access to cation elements in China are all comparable — and Facebook, Youtube and Twitter, so it has ensured the equally popular — making a complete overhaul of the ascent of national services such as SinaWeibo, Qzone, planning and social media marketing policy unneces- Renren, Kaixin and WeChat. sary.

A complete overhaul of the planning and social media marketing policy is unnecessary.

5 Success Factors for Social Media Marketing in China

Marketers should take into account several key points when it comes to social media marketing in China:

The Goal Determines the Choice of Media Clear objectives for a social media marketing project profile, the content and interactions must be designa- vastly increase the likelihood of success, particularly ted accordingly. The micro-blog network, SinaWeibo, in a market whose breakneck development causes for example, provides an ideal stage for brands to regular and unforeseen changes of course. Every present themselves on and run campaigns. Other net- marketing activity within social media should pursue works, such as the messaging service WeChat — that very distinct and quantifiable goals that will ultimately has evolved from a WhatsApp clone to a full-blown, define the best approach. multi-service social network — lend themselves to newer mobile services and customer retention mea- The chosen social media marketing strategy must sures. Even the geographic coverage of the various then be implemented within the relevant social media social networks has to be considered. channels. As each of the bigger social networks has its own characteristics, in terms of audience and user

Every marketing activity within social media should pursue very distinct and quantifiable goals that will ultimately define the best approach.

6 Using KOLs to Guarantee Reach Endorsement deals play a big role in China’s social whether or not a brand wants to position itself as part media with so-called Key Opinion Leaders (KOL) — of the ‘new generation’ or in line with a more confor- celebrities and prominent internet personalities — mist representative. emerging as the equivalent of small media outlets with a wide reach. Chinese actor, Chen Kun, for Beware of the Zombies example has a following of over 70 million SinaWeibo China’s social media is riddled with fake profiles users. The involvement and assured visibility of KOLs and bought user activity, with an estimated 50% of has proven essential, particularly in the seeding phase individual networks being made up of ‘zombie ac- of social media campaigns. counts’ used to artificially inflate audience numbers. Not only does this put companies’ claimed reach into The selection of the right KOL, however, should not perspective, it also underlines the importance of di- be made purely on an exposure or cost-per-impres- scerning real users from fake users. In order to obtain sion basis. The deciding factor is ultimately the fit of more qualitative data, it’s imperative to scrutinize all a brand to the figure’s following, in terms of gender, monitorings and evaluations — especially those from age, income and location. The political stance of the service providers — and to establish a multi-tiered KPI KOL is also a point of consideration, especially as system that tracks the outcome of user behavior in many KOLs came to prominence through their wil- relation to the output numbers. Without the knowled- lingness to address controversial topics and, to some ge of the broader context, a superficially successful degree, defy the communist party. campaign may prove itself to be nothing more than a Potemkin village without any added brand value. The desirability of an association with a more rebel- lious image differs from case to case, depending on

B2C Casestudy: The Volkswagen People’s Car Project

Volkswagen initiated the People’s Car Project — so integrally connected to social media, formed the core far the company’s largest digital marketing project — of an almost two year campaign that provided multip- to establish the broader impact of innovation within le digital tools with which one could create and share the digital sphere, while also gaining insights into the one’s own submissions. While the tools were fun to automobile preferences of potential clients. Users, use, and reinforced Volkswagen’s image as an inno- together with Volkswagen, were invited to develop vative brand, the company was able to find out what their own ideas for a car of the future. A digital hub, future car features Chinese customers would value.

7 Digital since 1995

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8 Sources & Imprint

Sources

• CNNIC

• McKinsey

• WSJ

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Text: Jan Pilhar