The Chinese social media landscape is rapidly growing and changing, but if you live outside of China, you might not know much about it. To take a closer look at how digital marketing works in China, we’re going to cover six of the top Chinese social media/digital platforms making waves in China right now.

1. WeChat (Attention + Interest + Desire + Action)

Arguably the number one important social platform for ANY businesses that are trying to position themselves into the Chinese media consumption journey. WeChat is a multi-purpose messaging, social media and mobile payment app developed by the Chinese tech giant- Tencent. It is currently one of the world’s largest standalone apps with over 1.2 billion monthly active users.

Should I use WeChat for my business & what is it good for?

The short answer is Yes. If your business has any slight interest in the Chinese market or the Chinese community, it doesn’t matter what type of business you are running, you should without a doubt be using WeChat.

For small, local businesses like bakeries and florists, WeChat helps to increase your exposure and provides you a personal channel to reach out and communicate with your customer. It even allows you to induce purchase and can be used as an online store.

For big well-known brands like L’Oreal, Nike and Westpac, WeChat is a great avenue to share news, business information, and promotion directly with their followers, increasing loyalty and brand perception in the long run.

Looking at the conversion funnel, WeChat is great for every step of the way, bringing attention, interest and desire and even action to your brand.

2. Weibo (Attention + Interest + Desire)

The biggest micro-blogging platform in China and works similar to Twitter and Facebook.

It has 462 million active users, 68k posts every second, and over 2 million video views per day.

Weibo is the information centre for the latest topics and social issues in China. Allows users to share content and follow others for their latest posts. Chinese celebrities and Ket Opinion Leaders (KOLs) are also very active on Weibo as a medium to interact with their followers

Many international brands have Weibo accounts to promote their branding in China. It is a highly effective tool for companies to utilise when deploying marketing campaigns and boosting their exposure in China.

Is Weibo good for my brand?

Like WeChat, the pros of using Weibo as a touchpoint for your brand can be highly beneficial. Firstly, by having an account on Weibo, your brand will automatically be more credible, which is very important especially if you are a new or overseas brand. You can use Weibo to understand and fit in with the current social trends, engage with your followers through Fan connect ads, draws and KOL engagements. Weibo is a powerful tool that can significantly boost your exposure in China if utilized correctly. Looking at the conversion funnel, Weibo is great for bringing attention, interest and even desire to your brand.

However, there may be some considerations you might want to take into account.

Only verified Weibo accounts can advertise. This is a safety protocol to protect customers and minimise fraud. This may seem simple, but the process may differ depending on where your business is located. For businesses registered in China, or who have a Chinese business licence, this process is very quick. If your trademark is registered in China, you can also get verified with the help of a distributor. However, for overseas business accounts, the process of verification will take much longer and a lot more expensive.
Nature of your business. While there is no specific distinction between what kind of business benefits more from Weibo, it is important to keep in mind that the majority of users are in China. So if your goal is to target the domestic Chinese audience then Weibo can be a great, impactful tool, but if you are a local brand looking to target a particular overseas Chinese community, it can still be a useful platform but not likely to be as effective.

3. Red (Attention + Interest + Desire + Action)

RED is one of the fastest-growing social e-commerce apps in China.

A community based social e-commerce platform that combines online shopping with user-generated product reviews and shopping know-how. Similar to a combination of Instagram, Pinterest and Amazon. Individual users as well as businesses or even celebrities, can all create their own social accounts to create content and share it on their page. Red is a popular and highly effective platform for KOL marketing and creating organic word of mouth.

Red is also a search engine, where users can search keywords or topics to discover content created by other users like reviews or “know-how”. In addition, it also integrates an online shopping service, where there is an online store within the app and users can seamlessly transition from the review of the product to the sale of the item.

Is RED good for my brand?

RED is arguably the most “trusted” social media platform in China, as most of its content is user-generated and are from word of mouth. As such, you don’t have to be a big international corporation to be recognised on RED, in fact, the more niche or unique your product/services are, the more likely you are to generate exposure on RED.

RED is suitable for small, niche businesses. A great channel for users to explore new brands and find new content. However, it is also worth keeping in mind that over 70-80% of RED users are middle to upper-class women, so some industries like beauty & Cosmetics as well as fashion are more likely to create interest through RED. On the other hand, major global brands can also benefit from RED, brands like Chanel, Gucci and Dior all have their own RED account and are partnering with Chinese KOLs to take advantage of their influence.

Again referring back to the funnel, RED is great for creating Attention and Interest for your brand, it also has the capability to encourage purchase decisions through its own e-commerce store or external links to 3rd party online retailers.

4. ZhiHu (Awareness + Interest)

Zhihu meaning “Do you know” in Chinese is the go-to Q&A platform in China with over 220 million registered users and around 30,000 official brand accounts. Similar to Quora, Zhihu provides authoritative and credible answers to questions raised by the public. Answers on Zhihu are mostly submitted by verified subject experts and professionals and are therefore highly trusted and respected. Users of Zhihu are highly educated and 30% of users make more than 10,000RMB (AUD$2126.50) per month.

Is Zhihu marketing for me?

Depending on the nature of your business and industry, Zhihu is definitely a worthy addition to your marketing channels. There are many benefits of promoting your product/services on Zhihu. Firstly, as readers are actively searching for an answer, they are more likely to be further down the conversion funnel, this means that you will be more likely to convert them through persuasion. Content marketing on Zhihu will also increase your SEO on Baidu and it is a great way to shape your brand perception and brand image.

Marketing on Zhihu is slightly different to the other platforms, though you can still have paid banners or pop up ads that can help you target different audiences, the more effective way of using Zhihu advertising is through content marketing. If your business is an expert in a field like IT, Education or medical, you can create quality content and answer questions that are relevant to your field, the more detailed and valuable your content is, the more organic exposure you will get. However, if you are not in an industry that requires a lot of expertise, you can still use Zhihhu’s paid advertisement functions to include your CTA in others’ posts.

Overall, Zhihu targets more educated and knowledgeable audiences, quality and shareable content can help your brand attract high attention, interests and even desire.

5. Tmall (Desire + Action)

Tmall is a subsidiary of the e-commerce giant Taobao and is the biggest B2C platform in China with over 500 million active users and is the world’s 9th most visited website. Tmall welcomes brands from various industries ranging from fashion to household goods, to wine and food. It is the go-to platform for both domestic and international retailers to sell their products directly to the Chinese audience.

Is Tmall for me and what are the challenges of Tmall?

Tmall provides you with the opportunity to directly offer your product or services to Chinese consumers. For international brands that are trying to enter the Chinese market, Tmall also offers “Tmall Global”, a platform only for overseas brands. A great gateway to see how your brand is received and can be used as a testing ground before moving on to the regular Tmall or if planning to open a business in China.

However, it is crucial to understand that Tmall is not an activation platform, you are competing with over 10 million sellers. So, it is important to reflect on whether or not you have already established a brand presence in China prior. Companies with little or no brand awareness will have a hard time earning the trust of Chinese consumers and will likely experience low conversion rates. To be successful on Tmall, brands will have to create an Omnichannel marketing strategy with the intention of building brand familiarity and awareness before creating an account and advertising on Tmall.

6. Douyin/Tik Tok (Attention + Interest + Desire)

Douyin or TikTok for international users, is the number one short video platform in China, with monthly active users of around 800 million and 600 million daily active users. Douyin allows users to create and share short videos that can express their creativity and participate in challenges or trends created by brands or influencers.

Douyin is very, very popular among the younger demographic in China. Almost 60% of Douyin users are between 24 and 40 and the proportion of users under 24 is around 25%. This presents a significant opportunity for brands to target the Gen Z audience, a sector that is becoming the largest consumer group in China.

Different from TikTok, Douyin offers a lot more in-app features that include an integrated e-commerce function for users to buy products that are featured in the video through links to online stores like Taobao or JD.

Who is Douyin marketing for?

If you are looking to increase exposure and target the younger demographics in China, then Douyin is definitely a key platform for you to utilise. As one of the biggest consumers of media and content, the millennials and Gen Z are very easily influenced and at the same time are very influential themselves. As a brand, in order to be successful on Douyin, you will need to make content that is engaging for them or has the ability to invite them to engage with the brand.

Here are a few common ways to improve your Douyin marketing.

Douyin KOL marketing. KOLs are very influential in China, especially among the younger audience. Having a partnership with a KOL that aligns with your brand can be very beneficial to your success on Douyin. You can invite them to participate in events or just have them make some creative content for you to promote your product.
Hashtags & Challenges. Another way to create brand awareness is through launching challenges that may become viral. By coming up with a creative and unique challenge that is relevant to your brand, you can drive the engagement of your brand and create a memorable connection between the brand and the user.
Paid Ads. Douyin also offers paid ads options such as open screen ads, feed ads that are integrated into the Douyin feed or sticker ads which are custom or branded stickers that users can add to their clips. These paid ad options are all great for building that initial attention to your brand and strengthening your brand awareness.

Overall, Douyin is a great platform to build brand awareness, interest and desire. It is also a key platform to market your brand to the younger demographics of China. It doesn’t matter what industry you are in or how big the organisation is, as long as you can be creative and deliver engaging content, you will be able to do well on Douyin.

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Top 6 Chinese digital platforms making waves