Introducing Sina Weibo for digital and social media marketing 

In a nutshell, Sina Weibo is a social media platform with over 500 million monthly active users. Today, Chinese use Sina Weibo to stay informed about the latest news, follow celebrities and key opinion leaders, and share public content through short public posts called “weibos”.

In fact, the platform is mainly used by young people with 80% of users being under 35. Up to date, Weibo users are very active on the platform with an average time spent of 35 minutes per day and around 150 million publications every day! 

Sina Weibo for social listening, benchmarking & competitors analysis

First, Sina Weibo is a great tool to measure the pulse of China and understand what the Chinese are discussing and which topics are trending. You can compare it with Twitter on that aspect.

So, Sina Weibo is a great digital marketing tool to understand the Chinese market and which topics are relevant.

Even before launching your brand on Sina Weibo, research the trending topics of your industry. Then, review your competitors, and analyze how your brand is perceived on the platform.

As such, market research and competitors analysis on Weibo is a must for every brand with ambition in China.

Social media marketing: sharing content and engaging with the Chinese audience

As a company or brand, you can create a Sina Weibo Official account. 

How to create a Sina Weibo Official company account?

First to create an official Sina Weibo account for your company, you have to click on the following link (https://e.weibo.com/register/register). Fill out the information about your company and admin. Then you will be able to upload and share your Chinese company documents to verify you are a business. It includes your company business license. Finally, it will take around 5 days until your account is officially set up.

How to create a Sina Weibo Official company account without a business in China and a business license?

Even if you do not have an official business in China; you can still use Sina Weibo for digital marketing and attract Chinese customers. However, the process will have to be done through a Sina Weibo Official agent. The cost for the process is around 1,000 USD. To help you, Next Ren Shanghai can refer you to an official agent depending on where your business is located.

Once your Sina Weibo company account is established you can start recruiting fans on your page. Then, start sharing content, and engaging with your community.

In terms of format, Sina Weibo offers a wide range of options to create content, including images, videos, articles, polls, etc.

How to recruit fans on Sina Weibo?

To start building your community and recruit fans on Sina Weibo, here are some key tactics to implement:

1. First, use hashtags and mentions to give visibility to your post beyond your current audience.
2. Second, engage on with key opinion leaders (KOL) and key opinion consumers (KOC) to give visibility to your account
3. Third, use Sina Weibo ads to target your Chinese audience 
4. Fourth, build collaboration and partnership with influencers in your industry. Then, your content can be repost and see from those experts’ fans 

How to recruit fans on WeChat ?

Sina Weibo Advertising - Building awareness and traffic with Sina Weibo ads

As such, Sina Weibo ads are a cost-effective way to give visibility to your brand and products rapidly in China.

Which digital marketing goals can you achieve with Sina Weibo?

Before using Sina Weibo ads for your digital marketing, you must define your goals to use the right format efficiently. Here are some of the goals you can achieve with Sina Weibo ads:

1. Gain awareness and visibility - Sina Weibo ads can achieve very large impressions for your brand. Leverage ads on the Opening Screen and in the Newsfeed.
2. Recruit fans and increase your community - You can recruit fans and drive traffic to your account. Leverage the Discover Section and dedicated call to action button “Follow the brand”
3. Increase engagement - Give more visibility to your post and boost discussion with ads in Hot Topics section
4. Generate sales - Drive traffic to your e-commerce website or your Weibo shops; with dedicated call to action button like “Add to cart”

What are the different Sina Weibo ads placements and formats?

Sina Weibo advertisement environment quite mature and reliable. The cost will vary depending on the ads place.

1. Open Screen Full Page Ad - When you open the Sina Weibo mobile APP; a full-screen ad is displayed to all users accessing the app.
2. News Feed Ad - Sponsored posts - The ad is displayed as a post in the user Feeds.
3. Hot Search - Promote a dedicated hot topic in this section to drive conversation
4. Video Ad - Promote a video in the dedicated to video stream 
5. Search Ad - Create a banner ad in the search section of Sina Weibo

Over the different ads placement and format, the Newsfeed ads are the most effective with good money for value; and the capability to fully customized the target audience and the call to action of the ad.

How to prepare, launch, and monitor your first ad on Sina Weibo?

Now, it’s time to launch your first advertising campaign on Sina Weibo!

Here is the process and the different steps to prepare for:

1. Select your content - What is your message? Prepare multiple formats for your content; including different copywriting and visuals to proceed with an A/B testing approach and invest in the most performant format.
2. Select an objective depending on your message and the call to action you expect from the user
3. Chose your ad placement
4. Define your target audience based on multiple criteria like fans or existing customers, competitors audience, users behaviors, demographics…
5.  Upload your content
6. Sina Weibo Verification
7. Monitor your campaign and review the performance

Looking for help you on Sina Weibo and with your social media marketing in China? Reach out to Next Ren Shanghai.

Next Ren is a digital marketing agency in Shanghai. We are experts in social media marketing (WeChat, Sina Weibo, RED, Douyin...). Every day, our team builds digital content and campaigns for international and local brands.

Follow us on LinkedIn and WeChat to stay updated on WeChat trends.

The post How to promote your brand in China with Sina Weibo marketing? appeared first on Next 人.

Read about the impact of COVID-19 on Chinese consumption and habits

What does this means for brands and digital marketers around the world ? How will they deal with this “New Normal” ? 

First, we will define what is going to be the “New Normal” based on consumers new habits and trends we see developing in China and around the world. Second, we will see what are the challenges of this situation from a marketing and communication perspective. Last, we will discuss and suggest best practices.

What is the “New Normal” following the COVID-19 crisis ?

First, as we can see in China and some countries in Europe, quarantine and lock down is only a temporary situation and on a relatively short period of time (around 1-2 months). However, the COVID-19 will have long lasting effects that will continue beyond lock downs this year and until we get an effective vaccine. This situation will create a “new normal” and here are some of the key characteristics.

Review how brands communicate during the COVID-19 crisis

Wearing masks - A new habit even outside Asia

In Asia, wearing masks was already common when sick or as a protection from pollution. However, the Covid-19 has made it a new norm especially in China where it’s mandatory. In Europe and America, despite some initial resistance, the value of wearing mask is now recognize and will become a norm. Consumers will make masks part of their daily accessories.

No or little travel outside home country

Outside governmental restrictions, people will fear getting sick abroad. The stress of a medical environment they are not familiar with, and the risk of getting “stuck”, will discourage people to travel far from home during the new normal. However, consumers will crave for travel and will escape by day dreaming their future trip online.

Focus on family and intimate friends

During lockdown, people have missed their family and friends. In reality, they might have spent more time talking with them than in usual, but the distanciation will push people to focus on their most meaningful relationships. Also, in the “New Normal” you will be more likely to “trust” your close ones to spend time physically close too.

Social and environmental responsibility mindset 

The crisis has shown some of the weaknesses of our actual global liberal system. Topics like “Local Consumption and production”, “Wild Habitat Protection”, or “Essential Workers and duties” became more relevant with the crisis. Also, during the crisis, a willingness to make a positive impact and “help” society has risen. This trend will remain lively. And it will probably increase the social and environmental responsibility of consumers after the crisis.

More time spend online 

The crisis and lockdown push us to spend more time online. First, to get information, then to settle new in-house routines (cooking, entertainment, fitness) and finally to prepare the next steps (future travels, shopping). These online habits and new usage will remain post crisis and will push companies to accelerate their digital transformation.

What are the digital marketing challenges of the Post-COVID 19 “New Normal” ?

Communicating and pushing digital marketing campaigns to consumers who are leaving and adjusting to new life is a real challenge. Let’s discuss the key aspects digital marketers have to keep in mind.

Manage optimistic tone

After the rain comes the sun, right ? Well, not always true. In this situation, it will be cloudy at best. So, avoid adopting a “super positive” tone that would be out of touch with the reality and might even backfire. By being too positive, you might end up being irresponsible.

Be creative to contextualize the “New Normal” 

How your products or services fits in the new normal ? Are there new ways people are using ? During the crisis, people have shown an incredible amount of creativity to adapt. 

Use creativity to rethink your digital marketing communication and make sure to match the new context.

Keep reassuring people and help with crisis outcomes

Health will remain a key concern for people for a while. Illustrating how you keep the consumers but also your staff safe and healthy should be part of your digital marketing discussion.

Furthermore, showing how your company keeps helping and having a positive impact both socially and responsibly will make your client part the fight.

Be humble and respectful 

After the crisis, tensions and challenges will remains. Working, moving with public transportation, or dealing with kids and schedules will be more difficult than usual. Even as a company, fulfilling your client expectations might be more difficult.

Be genuine and humble with those challenges and in the way you approach your digital marketing communication. 

Accept a delayed impact of marketing efforts

Across all industries, digital marketing efforts will have strong impacts (more time spent online by consumers and less competition as some marketing budgets have been cut). However, the impact of those efforts will be delayed. For example, for travel, people will be more likely to be interested in your digital marketing content, but they will act on it later on.

Digital Marketing: Best Practices Post COVID-19 New Normal

KFC - Using brand elements to make fun of the “New Normal”

As mentioned before, giving context and being relatable will be the key challenge of your digital marketing communications post covid. Social distancing and spending more at home will become a new norm, how can you build your content around it ?

BrewDog Beer - Keep helping 

Like LVMH or Pernod Ricard, smaller companies like BrewDog Beer made efforts to participate in the fight against COVID-19. Those initiatives will remain critical in the new normal and should be included in your digital marketing strategy.

AirBnb - Adapt and stay humble

AirBnb management of the crisis might not have been perfect, but they have shown their clients and partners their consideration. First, they adapt to the situation by providing apartments to first line responders and when their cancellation policy was criticized by hosts, they apologized saying:

“However, while I believe we did the right thing in prioritizing health and safety, I am sorry we communicated this decision to guests without consulting you — like partners should,” Chesky wrote. “We have heard from you and we know we could have been better partners.”

To discuss your "New Normal" digital marketing strategy and content in or outside China, reach out to Next Ren Digital Marketing Agency.

Next Ren is a digital marketing agency in Shanghai.

Follow us on LinkedIn and WeChat to stay updated on WeChat trends.

The post COVID-19: Impacts of the “New Normal” on digital marketing appeared first on Next 人.

So, in this article we will review which Chinese digital platforms are getting the most attention and spending from marketers. 

• Which platforms are hot and get the most attention ?
• How does it reflect Chinese consumers behaviors online ?
• Which digital marketing strategy you should adopt for advertising in China ?

Digital Marketing Spending in China: The Trends 

Before diving into the details, let’s have a look at the overall digital advertising spending in China.

In 2019, digital advertising spendings value will grow over 90 billions of USD with a growth rate of 18%. Today, digital represents almost 70% of the total media spendings in China.

Even if the market speed of growth will decrease in the coming years, we can see the large domination of digital marketing over traditional media in China.

E-commerce in China - A key focus of digital advertising spending.

Today, promotion and media buying in China are directed more and more to e-commerce platforms. The focus on e-commerce is a lasting trend in term of digital marketing. Over the last years, brands have been focusing their marketing spending on e-commerce platforms to impact online sales directly and efficiently. 

As a matter of fact, Alibaba has seen its market share of digital spending growing over the last five years from 21% in 2015 to 29% in 2019. Today, Alibaba is generating 50 RMB by quarter for each daily active user.

Discover the best e-commerce to sale your product in China

Digital marketing video platforms on the rise - Douyin, Kuaishou and Bilibili 

Short video platforms have captured more and more time from Chinese internet users.

As so, Douyin (also known as TikTok outside of China) is on the rise and is attracting more and more money from digital marketing agencies. 

In fact, Bytedance, the owner of Douyin and the news related platform Toutiao, is now the second largest ads platform in China with 18% of the Digital Spending. It quickly rose from only 2% back in 2016.

The popularity of video platforms among advertisers is directly related to the time spent by internet users. Everyday, Douyin users spend 88 minutes on the APP. With 83 minutes, Bilibili is not far behind and even beats the time spent on WeChat (82 minutes).

Chinese Social Media marketing: still an easy way to reach massive audiences

While Tencent (WeChat owner) has seen a slight decrease of 1% of its market share, Sina Weibo remains stable.

Most marketers consider those two platforms to be mature now and will maintain their level of spending as social media allow them to reach very easily massive audiences.

With 765 millions of daily users (DAU) for WeChat and 188 millions DAU for Sina Weibo, both platforms are still very performant to reach audiences from multiple demographics and profiles very easily. Also, the cost of digital advertising can be attractive, especially on Sina Weibo.

Learn how to buy media on WeChat

How to define your advertising strategy for digital marketing in China ?

Deciding where, when and how you should invest your advertising budget is not an easy task. This is especially true in China where the platforms are diverse, versatile with advertising systems not always easy to understand.

As a digital marketing agency in China, Next Ren Shanghai will be looking at those key aspects to help your decision:

• Brand Maturity in China. If you are new to the market, your investment will be strongly different from a more mature brand. As a matter of fact, you should focus your advertising budget on one or two platforms to maximize your impact and build an audience in China.

• Target audience in China. Who are you targeting ? The location and profile of your target audience will have a strong impact on the platforms you will select. Platform will have different targeting system and tools that will impact your advertising campaign. If you are targeting a very narrow audience, you will favor multiple platforms and collaboration with specialized KOL to make sure to reach out this specific target.

How to find KOL in China to promote your brand ?

• Industry specificities in China. Your industry and business will of course be another determining factor. If you are in the travel/ tourism industry, you will need to consider some specific platforms like Fliggy or Qunar.

As you can see, they are a wide range of aspects to consider and discuss. Our digital marketing agency will help you make well informed decisions to grow your digital presence in China. 

Next Ren is a digital marketing agency in Shanghai.

Follow us on LinkedIn and WeChat to stay updated on WeChat trends.

The post Which digital marketing platforms to choose for advertising in China ? appeared first on Next 人.

In this article, we will review:

• Why influence and KOL should be part of your digital marketing in China  ?
• How to define the right influence marketing strategy ?
• Where to find the key opinion leaders ?
• How to reach out and negotiate with KOL ?

Digital marketing in China: Why your brand need the influence of KOL ?

The first question you may ask yourself is why do I need to work with influencers in China ? 

In China, netizens have highly rely on the opinion of their peers to make decisions. Those social recommendations have grown in popularity and are often perceived as more reliable than media or advertising.

Building brand credibility in China with influencer marketing

As such working with influencers is first a way to gain credibility and trust among your Chinese audience. So, it’s important to select influencers you feel comfortable working with. You need to see them as trustworthy people yourself as they are endorsing your brand.

Bad endorsements is also a risk for brands. And, there are multiple examples of brands having faced backlash in China because of their ambassadors. For example, NARS, the cosmetic company was badly hit in 2018. The backlash happened after working with a KOL, who was detained for using marijuana back in 2014. As such you need to make sure your collaboration with a KOL do not turn into a PR nightmare.

Creating brand awareness in China with influencer (KOL) marketing

The second key reason to collaborate with influencers is to increase brand awareness in China. With large community on social media platforms like WeChat, Sina Weibo or XiaHongShu, KOL can give visibility to your product instantly.

However, you need to keep in mind that visibility is only a short term gain, and that your investment will be negative if your collaboration does not have a long term impact and make your brand memorable. 

A short term campaign with a KOL can have significant cost for a brand when you add up the influencer fee, the discounted pricing on product, the campaign production… If this is not done with a long term approach, the impact on the brand visibility will not be optimal.

In interview with Next Ren Shanghai, an influencer reminded brands that they need to have a long term approach of their relationship they develop with KOL to maximise the impact on the audience.

Read the interview of a French Food Influencer in China

How to make influencer part of your digital marketing strategy in China ?

Digital Marketing Campaigns in China

When you launch a new product, or want to celebrate a special occasion like Chinese New Year or 11.11, your brand will need to create a special campaign including digital content and interactive web experiences like games.

Working with KOL can give a genuine twist to your campaign and you should leverage KOL to create content like videos that will engage their audience with more impact. You might even decide to make the collaboration with this KOL the centerpiece of your digital marketing  with a co-creation.

Social Media Marketing in China

Social media platforms are the playground of influencer. They know the platforms inside out and might even give your brand visibility outside your brand social media presence in China. As such you need to integrate influencer in your social media strategy and leverage KOL support to:

• Gain visibility on your brand accounts, for example by reposting or commenting on your brand post on Sina Weibo
• Recruit followers and build your community on WeChat
• Explore new territories on platforms your brand might not be on yet like XiaoHongShu or Douyin

Keep in mind social media is about interacting with different communities, especially on public platforms like Sina Weibo. As such, social media listening is key in China to identify who is already talking about your brand including KOL as well as KOC (Key Opinion Consumers). As a brand you should have genuine interaction with their content, it will help you get some exposure and a positive image in those communities.

E-commerce Marketing in China

E-commerce is a key area of KOL collaboration as they can maximise sale and have a direct impact on your revenue online. KOL can help you demonstrate the value of your product to your Chinese customers with live streaming videos directly on e-commerce platforms like TMall or JD.

In the meantime, it is common for KOL and KOC to sell product directly to their audience on WeChat. As such WeChat has demonstrated over the year its capabilities to become a online e-commerce platform.

A successful way, brands have been collaborating with KOL on e-commerce in China is through flash sales on a limited amount of unique and exclusive product. For example, thanks to the promotion of a limited edition of 80 bags with a KOL, Givenchy manage to sell 1.2 million worth of products in less than 12 minutes.

Discover the best plaforms for e-commerce in China

How to identify, reach out and negotiate with KOL for your digital marketing in China ?

Work with a digital marketing agency in China

Part of the job of your digital marketing or social media agency like Next Ren in China is to help identify KOL and KOC for brands. They value added of an agency is to provide the client with an integrated comprehensive digital marketing strategy and planning.

As discussed in the previous points, KOL should not be approached ex nihilo and must be part of your digital campaigns, social media, and e-commerce effort. As such a digital marketing agency in China will make sure all the pieces fit together.

Use existing Chinese KOL platforms to recruit influencers

Today, multiple platforms will let you browse through KOL profiles for free or with a subscription model, like KOLStore.com.

If those platforms can be useful to reach out easily to KOL, collaboration will mostly be money oriented and evaluating the performance of each KOL can be a challenge.

Reach out to KOL and KOC directly on social media

This genuine research and reach out is our favorite method. As mentioned above, KOL research should be part of your pro-active social listening effort in China. If you are truly serious about being successful you need to know and keep identifying who is talking about your industry on social media; follow them and interact with them.

This methodology will give you the opportunity to build stronger and more long term relationships with KOL in China.

Negotiating and compensating influencer (KOL) for digital marketing support in China

Most influencers (KOL) in China collaborate with brands as a business. As such financial compensation is more and more standard. In this situation, many KOL will work with an agent that will directly bill you for the influencer service.

However, financially compensating influencers is not the only option. Providing product or experience for KOL to share and give away to their community can be beneficial for both. You must never underestimate the value of your brand and the positive impact you can have on them. This is especially true with smaller KOL or KOC who can gain legitimacy by collaborating with international or local brands.

Collaborating with influencers is a two way street. For example, giving access to professional resources can be highly valued (video production).

Like in all aspect of digital marketing in China, keep in mind you must be creative. Always think outside the box to find the best win-win deals for your brand and influencers. 

Pricing - How much does influencer (KOL) marketing cost in China ?

In China, KOL pricing will mostly be a function of the size of the community; and the number of fans they can reach . However, you should definitely factor the level of engagement; or the creative implication of the KOL to get the right price.

Here some references for brand to use in future KOL negociation:

For Sina Weibo, an influencer with a reach of 1-2 million people will cost around 30,000 CNY for one post. On another hand, on WeChat, for a reach of 50,000 people, the cost can rise up to 40,000 CNY.

As such, to build your network of KOL in China; you can reach to a digital marketing agency like Next Ren Shanghai !

Next Ren is a digital marketing agency in Shanghai.

Follow us on LinkedIn and WeChat to stay updated on WeChat trends.

The post How to work with influencers (KOL) in China for your digital marketing ? appeared first on Next 人.