The entire process is quite different for Chinese consumers, starting with how they begin their brand or product research. Instead of using a search engine, Chinese consumers tend to search directly on social media or on e-commerce platforms for brand and product details. Having a strong presence on these platforms is essential when it comes to establishing brand credibility in the China market.
There are a number of platforms that Chinese users utilise for different purposes. Below are a few of the largest:
The answer to this is highly dependent on the brand category, the type of product or service, and the brand’s target audience. The user demographics on the different social platforms can be very different: for example, Xiaohongshu has a largely female user base, while Douyin has a very young user base. That being said, WeChat is a platform that all brands should take advantage of.
Xiaohongshu has a largely female user base, while Douyin has a very young user base
Additionally, platform connectivity is extremely important to take note of and is something that can change from month to month. Due to competition between each other, some social platforms do not allow for direct linkage to some e-commerce platforms, for example, WeChat does not allow for direct linkage to Tmall. Therefore, any marketing strategy and campaign to drive sales to online channels should take this into account.
When marketing online, brands should utilise both owned media and paid media. Owned media is content that is published through the brand’s own accounts, for example, through the brand’s official WeChat account. Content marketing through own media is great for building the brand reputation and developing a reliable touch point through which consumers can learn about the brand. However, it is more of a long-term process and is more about validation than immediate sales. Therefore, brands should use a combination of owned media and paid media. Paid media are paid forms of marketing that can include promotional tools built into the platforms, product seeding, key opinion leaders, and programmatic ads. Paid media allows for more immediate sales and exposure, but cannot build up the brand reputation alone in the long run.
Brands should utilise both owned media and paid media
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