China Social Media Marketing

You must don’t know much about Chinese social media, endless to say China Social Media Marketing. Well, you’re in the right place. I’ll show you the must-know Chinese social medias and how to do social media marketing in China.

You can build your brands through social media, or sell products or services through e-commerce platforms.

NOTE: The mode like “Social media + E-commerce + Content” is a trending of China internet mode.

Why you need China Social Media Marketing?

Hey! do you know why Musk Elon set up factory in China? Do you know that Jim Roger‘s daughters speak excellent Mandarin. They’re all richest people in the world. The richest and smart like them, know how to seize the opportunity rather than miss. They just proof that China is a big market you should dive in.

1. Second-largest consumer market in the world

China has a population of 1.4 billion. The total China Household Wealth will reach $85.1T in 2022, the United States will reach $145.8T. That said, China is the second richest country in the world. It also means China is the world’s second-largest consumer market.

2. Size of internet users

According to the official report <The 50th Statistical Report on China’s Internet Development> from China Internet Network Information Center (CNNIC)

Up to June 2022, China had 1,051 million netizens, up by 19.19 million over December 2021,
and its Internet penetration had reached 74.4%, up 1.4 percentage points over December 2021.

And the number of mobile Internet users in China had reached 1.047 billion, up 17.85 million over December 2021. The proportion of China’s netizens accessing the Internet via mobile phones was 99.6%.

the size of rural Internet users in China was 293 million or 27.9% of the national total, while that of urban Internet users was 758 million, up 10.39 million from December 2021, making up 72.1% of the national total.

3. Online shopping and online payment

The data from CNNIC shows that the user size of online shopping in China was 841 million and the user size of online payment in China had reached 904 million.

The order of China’s online payment market was further standardized, the quality of payment services continued to improve, and the industry maintained a healthy development trend.

With the continuous integration of digital RMB into Internet platforms, the payment ecology has gradually taken shape.

First, life service platforms provided diversified consumption scenarios for digital RMB to attract users.

Second, third-party payment platforms actively participated in the digital RMB pilot program to seek new business opportunities.

4. Government Policy support

China supports online business (online shopping) in may ways. Like 5G network building, meet the old people’s need for internet, rural e-commerce building, digital RMB , financial support, etc.

China’s Internet infrastructure construction was sped up, digital and information barrier-free services continued to improve to cater for an aging society.

Internet development boosted rural revitalization and digital transformation in rural areas continued to deepen. First, the construction of rural Internet infrastructure has been comprehensively strengthened. Second, digital technology was widely used in agricultural production, helping rural digital transformation
and upgrading. Third, the rapid development of rural e-commerce opened up the urban-rural consumption cycle.

All those info indicate that how important the online business is in China. In other words, how important the social marketing in China. Now let me show you how to do China social media marketing in a proper way.

Chinese Social Medias For Marketing in China

As a boss, you must already know about What is your product? Who is your product’s target audience? How is your product different from what others offer? Right?

I’ll explain the most popular and powerful Chinese social medias and online store (e-commerce) platforms

Social media :

Like I said, Chinese social media are trying combine the “Social Media” and “e-commerce” together, so it’s a good news for foreign company/enterprise to marketing in China.

You may also need: Top 10 Chinese social media in China

The best Chinese social media for marketing in China : WeChat, Douyin, Xiaohongshu, Weibo, and Kuaishou.

The table below are the top five Chinese social media marketing platforms’ monthly active users(MAU).

WeChat

WeChat ( called Weixin in China) is owned by Tencent Group, Tencent group is a tech-giant company in China for decades. Because it owns the only two instant messaging app (WeChat and QQ) in China.

WeChat is the most powerful social media in China. It build-in instant messaging, payment(WeChat Pay), Official Account, Video feeds (WeChat Channels), and Mini program (like app store without installing). All in one App. That’s why Elon Musk said that he want Twitter to be another one WeChat. Sorry, I forgot to say, WeChat is also a search engine!

How to use WeChat to marketing in China?

1.WeChat Official Account(公众号):

WeChat Official Account is where you can post articles(blog), live streaming and provide subscription service. You can use it to build your brand and keep engagement with your audiences. Besides, you can use it to offer Promotion coupon.

2. WeChat Mini-Program(微信小程序):

I don’t know how to explain it to you. It’s like a app store without installing to your phone. It’s built in WeChat. Why I recommend it to you? Because you need to use it as a e-commerce platform. You can build an online store on mini-program to sell your products or services. Or just set up an app for your company on there. (It’s kind of like Shopify for you to build online store).

You may also need: How to sign up WeChat account

Can I use Shopify, Wix or Woocommerce to set up online store in China?

NO!
You may buy items from e-commerce platform site directly. But this is China, the shopping habit and culture are different from western countries. Basically we don’t believe that site at all. But you can consider setting up a online store site when you get enough audiences and buyers. That said, once you gain trust from potential buyers.

That’s why you should consider mini program as online store platform. I’ll show you the other online-store platforms suitable for foreign company later.

3. WeChat Moments(朋友圈)

WeChat Moments is where you can post text, image and video. It’s a way to build brands and engage in your audiences. However, your post only shows to your WeChat friend. If you don’t enough budget to advertise, then WeChat Moments is your marketing tool.

4. WeChat Group:

You must familiar with Facebook(Meta) group, or kind of like that to keep engagement with your audiences directly.

However, most Chinese social medias not allow you to talk freely regarding to other social media’s name, or some have some strict rules. So that’s why many companies will try to drive your audience to a group on WeChat or QQ. Keep that in mind!!!

5. Advertising on WeChat Official Account or WeChat Moments:

No matter you need Official Account or not, but you do need to consider advertising on WeChat Official Account or Moments.

Is QQ a good social media marketing tool?

If you do research online, you will find that qq is one of the popular social media platforms. But to be honest, QQ is not a good tool to gain traffic and brand building.

But QQ is a good tool for you to engage in your potential buyers or provide after-sales service.

Here is why:

1. There is only two instant messaging app in China. One is WeChat, the other one is QQ. So if you need instant messaging to do marketing in China. Then QQ is your choice.

2. You can set up QQ group and invite them to the group. Keep engagement with your audiences directly. Even QQ is better than WeChat at this point. Because QQ group can have up to 3,000 members.

I know you may think why need to invite them to a group. If you have questions about that, then it means you’re not familiar with Chinese social media marketing. Inviting potential customers to group is kind of a trick to gain traffic, to spread your products / brand awareness in China.

You may also need: How to sign up QQ account

Douyin

Douyin (Chinese TikTok) both owned and BiteDance group. You’re familiar with Tiktok, you know how popular it is. Douyin launched first then TikTok. As for TikTok, it is a social media. But Douyin is not a social media platform any more. Douyin is “E-commerce” + “Social media” platform. And TikTok will launch online store soon (TikTok has e-commerce feature in some countries already).

1. Advertising:

Due to it’s the one of the most popular short-video social media. And covered all generations range, urban region and rural region. So it’s a must-have Chinese social media for marketing in China. Which also means it’s a best social media for advertising and brand building.

No matter what kind of business, every Chinese company just want to gain traffic from Douyin. Because it’s crazy popular.

2. Live streaming selling products (直播带货):

This is another go viral business mode that TikTok does have. I know Tiktok has live streaming feature, but it is not go viral yet. Trust me, time will make it happen. If you’re running business outside of China. You should prepare for live streaming selling products.

there’s one couple, have a record of sales reached RMB 230 million just from one livestream. They’re not famous at the begging, not star, not singer, they are just ordinary people like you and me. They just keep posting video to gain followers. That’s their story get rich just from few livestream on Douyin.

You think just that one couple get rich from Douyin? No way, there are tons of people earn money from Douyin. You should prepare for that day.

Get back to the point, I know your company are not able to live streaming, but you can pay for someone or agent to stream, to promote, to sell your products and service. Actually that’s how Douyin livestream works.

You may also need: How to sign up Douyin account

3. Douyin global store (抖音全球购):

Highly recommended: Doyin global store is for overseas companies to sell products on Douyin. A channel on Douyin store sells foreign brands only.

So it’s suitable for foreign brands to marketing on Douyin and selling products on Douyin global store. Social media combines the e-commerce strongly which is not only good for buyers but also for sellers.

And Chinese people like to buy foreign brands products. Big platform like Bitedance, is highly trustworthy.

Xiaohongshu

Xiaohongshu(小红书) is a social media and e-commerce platform. It’s a Chinese Instagram but better UI design than Instagram. Instagram is focusing on image and video, you can also add texts there. But it’s not like Xiaohongshu which provides user-friendly text posting.

1. Item sharing:

This social media was created for foreign brands items sharing at the beginning. The products like makeup, bodycare, beauty products, dresses, luxury bags, etc. The community where you can share good items worth buying, and review foreign brands products.

2. Xiaohongshu store (Red Mall):

In October 2014, Xiaohongshu started focusing on connecting Chinese consumers with global retailers and established its own cross-border e-commerce platform, where Chinese consumers can buy products from overseas and order directly. That’s Xiaohongshu store (Red Mall).

As you can see, it’s born for foreign brands, and the best sharing community. So the design of Xiaohongshu is more fashionable, more easy to take notes. There are many free templates and filters for you to use without much complex editing.

Now people are use this platform to sharing everything not only for items/products. It’s like a “how-to” guide community like a search engine. You can go there to find what products you need, what tutorials you need.

Compare to other Chinese social media, Xiaohongshu is the best app for you to build brands, gain audiences. Because people trust the item renews and sharing note (种草) on Xiaohongshu.

NOTE: Xiaohongshu is females’ favorite social media!

You may also need: How to sign up Xiaohongshu account

“Social media + E-commerce” is the best choice for you. So I highly recommend Xiaohongshu to marketing in China.

Weibo

Weibo(微博) is a Chinese Twitter. It’s where things can go viral. It’s good for you to increase brand awareness, boost community engagement.

1. Trending topics

Weibo supports real-time trending topics. Keep eye on that would be good for you to create content. Well, content creation requires your writing skill or video editing skill.

2. Advertising on Weibo

You will see a lot ads on Weibo, especially Chinese Weibo. It has 584 million monthly active users, and wide range of ages users. Which means it’s a good social media marketing platform.

You may also need: How to sign up Weibo account

Kuaishou

Kuaishou(快手) is Chinese version of Kwai. It’s very similar to Douyin. A video social media and e-commerce platform.

1. Advertising on Kuaishou:

As the top 2 (Sorry top 3) short video Chinese social media in China. The benefits of using it is it’s tons of traffic. So it will help you to gain potential buyers and build your brand.

2. Kuaishou store:

No matter Douyin or Kuaishou, both has e-commerce feature allow you to set up a online store. These two short-vide platforms both has lots of users, traffic.

You may also need: How to sign up Kuaishou account

E-commerce platforms for marketing in China

I’ve shown you the social media platform combine e-commerce.

“social media” + “E-commerce” platforms

1. WeChat (Mini-program)
2. Douyin global store
3. Xiaohongshu store
4. Kuaishou global store

Now, let’s talk about what are the best e-commerce platforms for your online store marketing in China.

In China, there are many e-commerce online shopping store platforms, like Tmall(天猫), JD.com(京东), Taobao(淘宝), Pinduoduo(拼多多), 1688(B2B) ,etc.

However, not all of them suit your online business. Tmall, Taobao and 1688.com owned by Alibaba Group. If you want to do business with China wholesaler and retailer, then 1688.com is your first choice. If do business as “business-to-consumer” then Tmall and JD.com is your first choice.

So, the best e-commerce platform in China is: Tmall and JD.

Why use Tmall or JD for e-commerce platform?

Let me tell you why you should choose Tmall and JD.com.

1. First, People trust Tmall and JD.com more than other e-commerce platforms.
2. Second, Tmall and JD.com support foreign brands store. (Tmall global and JD global).
3. Brand protect.

Brand protection (Trademark protection) is exactly what foreign company needs to do online business in China. Right?

The good new is Trademark (Brand) is a necessary condition for opening online store on Tmall and JD.

The others like Taobao, Pinduoduo does not need that. Which means, individuals can open store easily and fake goods got more chances to be sold.

That’s why people are more trust in Tmall and JD.

Do I have to set up Tmall or JD store even I already have online store on other platform?

Although you’re considering open online store on “Social media”+ “E-commerce” platform. But I still recommend you open at least one online store on Tmall or JD. I mean, if you have enough budget.

Why?

1. Because Tmall, Taobao and JD are the most popular online shopping platforms in China.
2. Tmall products will also showing up on Taobao (So you don’t need to set up Taobao store at all).
3. Most people just find worth to buy items on social media (including Douyin, Xiaohongshu, Kuaishou, Weibo, etc.) and go to either Tmall or JD to complete the shopping.
4. You need to dive your potential buyers from other not popular social medias to your online store.

You can’t count on people who saw your marketing post or ads from social media and go to another social media platform to buy your product. That’s not gonna happen.

They prefer to search terms on Taobao or JD. (Don’t worry I said Tmall item will showing up Taobao search results).

I think you know what I mean, so either you choose Tmall or JD. No other options!

Get back to the social media. Some social medias might not popular but still need you to keep eye on it.

Other Social Media Marketing platforms in China

You need to write articles to build your brands or products on blog communities (or news feed). And you can do this as individual account, there is no need to do online marketing as a company.

Blog & Community & Discussion

1. Zhihu (知乎): Chinese Quora.
2. Toutiao (NOTE: Owned by Bitedance)
3. Baidu (Search engine)
4. Baidu baijiahao (blog/post/news/ own by Baidu)
5. Baidu zhidao (Baidu’s question-answer platform)
6. Baidu Tieba (Baidu’s community like Chinese Reddit) It’s was one of best community, but not anymore. Really poor bad user experience.

NOTE: Baidu search engine always show up their own platforms top on the search results.

News feeds

Those news platforms allow users to write articles (blog)

1. Tencent news
2. Sina news
3. Souhu news
4. Wangyi news (NetEase news)
etc.

Video platform

Except video platform like Douyin, Kuaishou. There are other video platform you should keep eye on it.

1. WeChat Channels (WeChat Channels built in WeChat)

WeChat Channels (视频号) is a short-video platform which has 800 million Monthly Active Users(MAU) 2022.

2. Bilibili

Bilibili was focusing on Animation, Comics, and Games (ACG) which helps it gain lots of target users and high engagement.

NOTE: Bilibili is Generation Z’s favorite platform.

3. Xigua video

Xiaogua video, Douyin, Toutiao all owned by Bitedance. Which means your post and video may show up on Douyin search results. (NOTE: only when you search something, the search results will show up Xigua videos and Toutiao posts).

Others video platform like IQIYI, Youku, Tencent video, etc. You can choose them as advertising marketing platform.

Do I need Chinese social media marketing agency?

Amazon is the biggest e-commerce platform in the world. It had 15 years business in China. Amazon had China B2C business market share from 15.4% decrease to 1%. And shut down completely. The thing happened to eBay. eBay had China C2C business market share from 80% decrease to 0.01% and shut down.

Why did Amazon and eBay fail in China?

You can google the answer. But I make it short here.

1. Chinese market and the business environment are very different from that of the West.
2. They don’t know users’ consumption habit.
3. Even the website design copied from the West style.
4. Strategy also copied from the West to China.
5. ego. You are the best today, but not forever you should move on. Especially in China.

I think you should meet at least these three requirements to do China social media marketing on your own.

1. Living experience in China.
2. Familiar with Chinese social media (how to use them to gain traffic or build brand).
3. Know Chinese language well.

To be honest, I don’t think you can do it all by your own. There are many tricky things for foreign company to do Chinese social media marketing, like Account registration, Company license, Brand protection, shipping, After-sales service, Store set-up, etc.

You need an agency or hiring someone to do that and marketing in China. I’m 100% sure about that.

By the way, if you do business with Chinese companies, you should be careful of cooperating with agency which neither provide service nor product product. All he is doing is, signing a contract with your company and then go to find another agency to do the work. The worse is agency’s agency’s agency.

That is what we called “外包” in Chinese. Especially in social media marketing field. Of curses, sometimes it’s good and effective for business. If work done well, it is ok. But if you just find a newbie and cost a lot of money. That would be a disaster.

If you need Marketing expert agency, provides one-stop China social media marketing and e-commerce services. Just contact me.

Chinese Social Media Marketing & E-commerce Business inquiries:
Email Address: chinahelp4u@outlook.com
WeChat ID: xsY7654321