Social Media in China

All businesses have to work on their social media presence. No exceptions even in China. Of course, there are differences by nature (relevant differences) between western and chinese social media. But what is the same, that social media has become essential also in Chinese lifestyle. Younger and older people are using social media platforms to share opinions, find information about other people, services and products.

If you are planning to enter the Chinese market with your products, your business has to have a social media strategy. In order to do that, you must understand the basics of the Chinese lifestyle and social media behavior, habits. Otherwise, you cannot find an effective way to engage with consumers. 

Ok, but where to start? Simple, in social media. It is useful to make customer research, present your product launch and start building your brand visibility.

We would like to introduce you to the basics of the Chinese social media, what is different and what’s the same as in western mainstream social world.

Here is a list of the most important chinese social media platforms:

• WeChat | 微信 (top used, it’s like Facebook) – 
• Sina Weibo | 新浪微博 (twitter of China)
• Tencent QQ | (instant messaging mobile platform)
• Tencent Video | (chinese youtube)
• Little Red Book | Xiao Hong Shu (community-eComerce platform)
• Douyin | (TikTok in China)
• Meituan – Dianping (Yelp in China)
• Zhihu Daily | (The Quora of China)
• Baidu Tieba | (often used search engine forum)
• Maimai | (similar to LinkedIn in China)
• Bilibili | ( Chinese video sharing website)

WeChat

– if you don’t have it, cannot connect with other Chinese young people in the digital era.

WeChat offers far more than any of the Western messaging apps. In terms of comparison, it can be likened to a combination of the Chinese Facebook, Whatsapp, Google News, Tinder, and Pinterest combined.   It also contains ten million third-party apps called WeChat mini-programs.

This multi-purpose messaging, social media and mobile payment app is developed by Tencent. Released in 2011, and in 2018 it was the world’s largest mobile app with 1bilion+ active users per month. 

The reason WeChat plays a very important role in the Chinese digital culture is that a wide range of functions are helping everyday users and there are so many integrations, the app was described as an “app for everything”. 

Source: hrw.org

Did you know that WeChat provides video conferencing and also video games, besides other usual functions like messaging, sharing photos etc.? Over and above is commonly used for payments, money transfer between young chinese people.

Another interesting function is that there is an app within an app (called: “Mini Program”). Business owners can create mini apps in the WeChat system, implemented using JavaScript plus a proprietary API.

These are just a few reasons WeChat is so Important to Businesses in China.

Sina Weibo

– a mini blogging platform for your brand.

If you are thinking about to start a blog in China, Sina Weibo, or Weibo, is the place you are searching. This is a micro-blogging platform in China released in 2009.

Weibo is a very popular site in China, it’s something like Twitter and Facebook together, but the character limit is much more as on Twitter. Weibo has over 500 million users in China, so brands are commonly using it for social media Marketing.

You can upload videos, images and gifs with Weibo. There is a follower system and of course share and like functions. What you should know is that on Weibo there are usually discussions about breaking news or cultural events in China.

An interesting feature in Weibo is that there is a Game Center, this makes users spend more and more time on the platform. 

Why is Weibo important for your business social media plan? 

Let’s compare a little bit with Twitter (which is blocked in China). Weibo has more users (around 523 millions, source )  than Twitter (which has 330 millions, according to Oberlo.com), these are monthly active users. But more than that, Twitter is much more internalized than Weibo. So you have a platform there, with a huge number of just Chinese users. This is a must to have for your company if you would like to grow.

Douyin

– your brand summary video platform

Douyin is the first Chinese social media platform which obtained popularity abroad. Of course, you may know that in western countries the app is named TikTok. 

This app is a big opportunity for your brand, because it has around 600 million monthly users…Can you imagine that??

This is a short-video platform, where you can introduce and make your products popular for chinese young people. It’s a kind of platform, where trends are born.

We must talk about that the whole platform has a kind of “challenge” feeling because there are many short videos responding to challenges. 

Why should you take the opportunity to represent your brand on Douyin? 

First of all, because it’s easy to capture user attention, because of just 15-sec clips. Douyin is one of the trendiest apps in China. Businesses can use it to post advertisements and create content, just you have to take the first challenge before all, to start shooting branded short-videos.

Bilibili

– a platform to share your (longer) branded videos

Nicknamed B site, is a Chinese video sharing website, where users can add, view, comment on videos. Bilibili also provides a live streaming service, so the streamers can connect with the audience and get easier interaction.

Okay, but why Bilibili if there’s Douyin? 

You don’t have to use both. It depends on your goals and mostly on your target audience and of course, on the product you are trying to popularize. 

If you have a good animation about your product and it’s a bit longer video, than 15 sec., you should use Bilibili, because there are more chances to get loyal users and early adaptors.

image source: techinasia.com

Bilibili has a number of users around 130 million, so we can’t put beside Weibo or Douyin, but the type of users make the difference. 

Of course, you should always know where your target audience is spending their time. That’s the point before starting with any of these social media platforms.