The Rules of Social Media Marketing

in China

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Contents

1 China – A Social Media Country

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

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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

least 91% have a social media account and spend an

average of 46 minutes on social networks, daily. This

rapid development and the profusion of cheap smart-

phones have enabled millions of Chinese consumers

to use innovative social, localized and mobile

(SoLoMo) services — often months before comparab-

le services are available with western brands. As a re-

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, as it is

deemed by many as one of the most important future

markets. Whether for car manufacturers such as

Volkswagen and BMW, or smaller machine production

companies, the significance of the Chinese market is

escalating — and with it, the need for a strong social

network presence.

China – A Social Media Country

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

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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 More Socially Influenced

For Chinese consumers, personal reviews and recom-

mendations have a 28% higher influence over the

decision to purchase than for American consumers.

And these recommendations are increasingly found

on social media which, despite censorship, is a more

trusted source than other, even more heavily censo-

red, media outlets.

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.

3 User Engagement

The Chinese are highly active internet users, creating

and sharing more content than their western peers.

The internet in China is for the most part a ‘participa-

tory internet’ which, especially in a state-controlled

media landscape, offers a new outlet for exchanging

opinions and self-expression. Which, in turn, makes

the much-hyped ‘brand engagement’ — the interacti-

on with a brand’s image, values and products — much

easier to achieve.

Three Characteristics of the Chinese Market

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But even if the use of social media as a marketing

tool becomes a vital success factor, many western

companies still struggle to manage their social media

presence in China. One reason for this is the fragmen-

ted digital media landscape, where the multitude of

service providers, niche user groups and profiles pro-

ve overwhelming. Consequently, none of the global

internet companies are able to get a firm foothold in

the Chinese market. As the nationally controlled

internet’s ‘Great Firewall’ prevents access to

Facebook, Youtube and Twitter, so it has ensured the

ascent of national services such as SinaWeibo, Qzone,

Renren, Kaixin and WeChat.

Most of these networks are clones, adapting western

business models to the Chinese market: Renren and

Kaixin mimic Facebook; YouKu takes after Youtube;

SinaWeibo and Tencent Weibo are advanced versi-

ons of Twitter, and WeChat the advanced version of

WhatsApp. Interestingly, the fundamental interaction

models and marketing mechanisms of China’s social

media are practically identical to those of western

brands. Relevant content, reward systems and gamifi-

cation elements in China are all comparable — and

equally popular — making a complete overhaul of the

planning and social media marketing policy unneces-

sary.

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

Fragmented Social Media Landscape

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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

vastly increase the likelihood of success, particularly

in a market whose breakneck development causes

regular and unforeseen changes of course. Every

marketing activity within social media should pursue

very distinct and quantifiable goals that will ultimately

define the best approach.

The chosen social media marketing strategy must

then be implemented within the relevant social media

channels. As each of the bigger social networks has

its own characteristics, in terms of audience and user

profile, the content and interactions must be designa-

ted accordingly. The micro-blog network, SinaWeibo,

for example, provides an ideal stage for brands to

present themselves on and run campaigns. Other net-

works, such as the messaging service WeChat — that

has evolved from a WhatsApp clone to a full-blown,

multi-service social network — lend themselves to

newer mobile services and customer retention mea-

sures. Even the geographic coverage of the various

social networks has to be considered.

Every marketing activity within social media should pursue very distinct and quantifiable goals that

will ultimately define the best approach.

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Using KOLs to Guarantee Reach

Endorsement deals play a big role in China’s social

media with so-called Key Opinion Leaders (KOL) —

celebrities and prominent internet personalities —

emerging as the equivalent of small media outlets

with a wide reach. Chinese actor, Chen Kun, for

example has a following of over 70 million SinaWeibo

users. The involvement and assured visibility of KOLs

has proven essential, particularly in the seeding phase

of social media campaigns.

The selection of the right KOL, however, should not

be made purely on an exposure or cost-per-impres-

sion basis. The deciding factor is ultimately the fit of

a brand to the figure’s following, in terms of gender,

age, income and location. The political stance of the

KOL is also a point of consideration, especially as

many KOLs came to prominence through their wil-

lingness to address controversial topics and, to some

degree, defy the communist party.

The desirability of an association with a more rebel-

lious image differs from case to case, depending on

whether or not a brand wants to position itself as part

of the ‘new generation’ or in line with a more confor-

mist representative.

Beware of the Zombies

China’s social media is riddled with fake profiles

and bought user activity, with an estimated 50% of

individual networks being made up of ‘zombie ac-

counts’ used to artificially inflate audience numbers.

Not only does this put companies’ claimed reach into

perspective, it also underlines the importance of di-

scerning real users from fake users. In order to obtain

more qualitative data, it’s imperative to scrutinize all

monitorings and evaluations — especially those from

service providers — and to establish a multi-tiered KPI

system that tracks the outcome of user behavior in

relation to the output numbers. Without the knowled-

ge of the broader context, a superficially successful

campaign may prove itself to be nothing more than a

Potemkin village without any added brand value.

B2C Casestudy: The Volkswagen People’s Car Project

Volkswagen initiated the People’s Car Project — so

far the company’s largest digital marketing project —

to establish the broader impact of innovation within

the digital sphere, while also gaining insights into the

automobile preferences of potential clients. Users,

together with Volkswagen, were invited to develop

their own ideas for a car of the future. A digital hub,

integrally connected to social media, formed the core

of an almost two year campaign that provided multip-

le digital tools with which one could create and share

one’s own submissions. While the tools were fun to

use, and reinforced Volkswagen’s image as an inno-

vative brand, the company was able to find out what

future car features Chinese customers would value.

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Digital since 1995

We are Aperto. A progressive communications agen-

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As fusionsts, we combine strategy, technology and

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partner. Focusing on three primary areas—

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info@aperto.com

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Sources & Imprint

Sources

•CNNIC

•McKinsey

•WSJ

Copyright

An Aperto AG Whitepaper

Text: Jan Pilhar

www.aperto.com