Getting social in China
Using Chinese social media channels is a must if you want to increase your chances of being discovered by Chinese visitors while they’re planning their travel or once they arrive.
This is especially important for Chinese free independent travellers (FITs) who aren’t travelling as part of a guided tour group and are designing their own itinerary.
You’ll also be able to access and promote user generated content, which is of critical importance for gaining credibility and trust with the Chinese market. Key Opinion Leaders or KOLs (influencers in Western social media) can also be very useful for reaching people on Chinese social channels, but it pays to do your homework thoroughly before you commit to any spend or giveaway.
Using Chinese social media allows your Chinese visitors to continue to engage with your business after their trip by tagging or following your business, or sharing or liking something you post. This will increase your chances of being discovered by people on each Chinese visitor’s social network.
Benefits of using Chinese Social Media
- Improve brand recognition and brand loyalty for your business
- Gain valuable insights from potential visitors, who are interested in your business
- Increase inquiries and sales, both online and offline
- Improve customer service and social engagement.
China has a number of social media platforms, many of which target specific niche audiences. The four most popular Chinese social media channels are:
China’s most popular social channel (by user numbers). As at July 2017, WeChat had 963 million active monthly users, and this number is increasing. On average, 567 million people access their WeChat account daily, with more than 60% using WeChat more than 10 times per day.
WeChat goes well beyond offering the traditional social media messaging and sharing functions. It’s also a social commerce platform, incorporating WeChat Stores for online shopping and WeChat Pay and WeChat Wallet for payments to both online and brick and mortar stores. It even offers professional functions like expense tracking. It’s like Facebook, Skype, Slack, Amazon, PayPal, and Apple Wallet all rolled up into one.
It’s free and relatively easy to set-up a personal WeChat account after downloading the app from the Google Play store or App Store. Official accounts (the WeChat name for business and organisational accounts) are also free. However, businesses outside of China must complete an online application process and provide verified business information. Once the application form and business information has been submitted, it takes approx. two weeks to find out if you have been successful or not.
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WeChat offers businesses a range of advertising options, but these costs for many of these are significantly higher than advertising on Western social media channels such as Facebook.
Sina Weibo, or Weibo, is the most popular micro-blogging platform in China – think of it as a combination of Twitter and Facebook.
According to China Internet Watch, Weibo has 340 million monthly active users. It is particularly popular with young white-collar workers and the urban online population with mobile phones. Chinese people come to Weibo for information, sharing and to engage with other users.
Because Weibo is a blogging site, it contains a large source of informational and trending content. Companies, organisations, and celebrities in China have Weibo accounts to interact with their customers, fans, and followers.
Weibo also allows businesses to sell their products directly through their page.
QQ is an instant messaging app developed by Tencent (the makers of WeChat). Just like WeChat, it offers users multiple services like games, music, shopping, micro-blogging, movies, group chat, and voice chat.
According to FoxBusiness.com, QQ has more than 869 million users. It has a desktop version that is incredibly popular with white collar workers for corporate communications, and overall has a younger user base than on other platforms.
QQ allows you to open a business account, known as QZone and publish ads and links to your QZone friends and discussion groups.
YouKu
Youku is the top video sharing app in China – think of it as the Chinese YouTube.
Youku contains more professional content than individual user generated content. Users can even stream or download movies and TV shows directly on Youku.
Youku has 580 million active users, according to DMR Stats and can provide an effective way for your business to reach its target audience. Youku has an online viewing analytics tool, which enables businesses to identify their audience by providing information such as demographics, location, browsing technology and language.
Youku offers a range of ad styles including static and animated banners, text links, buttons, in-stream advertisements, branded viral videos, and pause ads.
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