Six most popular body image Weibo trends

Weibo trend #1: hairy armpits selfies

This trend was started by Xiao Meili (first from left), women’s rights advocate, who encouraged women to take selfies of their unshaven armpits and post them on Weibo. Her idea was to challenge common stereotypes of female beauty that pressure women to shave their armpits. Original contest that was viewed almost 2 million times, was followed by selection of 3 winners. The first place winner (third from the left) got a hundred condoms, second place received a vibrator and the third ten winners were awarded with female urination device.

The contest participants have received quite a bit of support from other social media Chinese users and even from those outside of China. Critics, however, were quick to point out that shaving armpits doesn’t have much to do with feminism but a matter of personal hygiene. Others noted the fact is that shaving armpits for women didn’t become widespread in China until the 90s, one of many western trends that took root in Chinese society at the time.

Weibo trend #2: belly button challenge

Participants in this challenge were asked to reach their belly button from around the waist and post the picture of their success. It was mentioned 130 million times and spawned 104,000 active discussions threads on Weibo. Apparently, being able to do so demonstrated one’s skinny figure, the ideal to strive for.

As it later turned out, ability to accomplish this feat had nothing to do with fitness but more with the length and flexibility of one’s arms. The trend was also mercilessly mocked by people uploading their humorous take on the challenge. It also exposed more serious issues related to promoting eating disorder in never ending quest of already thin people to lose even more weight.

Weibo trend #3: coins on the collarbone

This new social media craze took over Weibo just after a week following the original belly button challenge. In order to demonstrate their skinny figures, young Chinese females were taking selfies with stacks of coins standing upright on their collarbones. Some people were able to balance as many as 20 coins on a collarbone.

A well-known Chinese actress, Lu Jiarong, was even able to fit 80 coins (40 on each side) while still managing to take a selfie. Although not as big as other trends, it still attracted over 30 million views and was followed by usual mockery with people balancing everyday objects, such as coffee mugs, eggs and cellphones on their shoulders.

Weibo trend #4: underboob pen challenge

This viral trend has started in Japan and quickly gained popularity among Weibo users in China. It was tweeted with hashtags #carrypenunderbreast or #UnderBoobChallenge which is pretty self-explanatory. Most troubling was the fact that it was often accompanied by caption “pass the challenge to prove you are a real woman”.

Perhaps not surprisingly, the challenge has seen its fair share of mockery too. Few overweight men took humorous selfies with stationary stuck under their “manboobs” while some fit male participants demonstrated their ability to hold pens between their sculpted pectorals.

Weibo trend #5: A4 waist

This challenge that started in February this year required women to take selfies with a piece of A4 printer paper in front of their waists. Being able to completely hide one’s waist behind it was the proof of successfully meeting the test. The width of A4 paper is 8.3 inches which means that a woman waist had to be no bigger than 25 inches.

This trend quickly became as controversial as the previous Weibo trends and was criticized for promoting unhealthy lifestyles. Some women went on to take photos of themselves behind their diplomas to make the point on the superficial nature of this challenge while others covered their faces with A4 sheet.

Weibo trend #6: iPhone 6 knees

The latest of the viral Weibo trends from last month was about being able to hide one’s knees behind iPhone 6 placed on top of kneecaps. This trend was all about promoting pencil-skinny legs – the latest standard of beauty in China. “iPhone6 legs” has already accumulated over 90 million views and 80,000 comments on Weibo.

Although the challenge was supposed to involve standard iPhone, it still isn’t clear whether using iPhone Plus models was considered “cheating”. Some even suggested the next challenge such as being able to completely hide one’s body behind iPad Pro… In China, anything is possible!

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In terms of monthly users, Weibo is the second largest Chinese social media platform after WeChat. However, unlike WeChat, it is still primarily PC based. Weibo is one of the most powerful marketing tools in China offering wide range of possibilities for reaching people across various demographics and psychographics.

Weibo offers to marketers a powerful Weibo Index tool to learn more about what platform users are searching for. Compared to previously covered Baidu and Qihoo tools, it is structured in sig
nificantly different way allowing generating other types of data.

It is important to note that social media platforms like Weibo could be quite similar to search engines in many ways. Platform users search for terms in a similar way as they do using Baidu or Qihoo. This allows Weibo to generate wealth of information that could be indispensable for marketers looking to customize their message for this particular audience.

Weibo Index into four main tabs: historic keyword trends, real time trends, geographical interpretation and user attributes analysis.

Let’s examine what Weibo Index shows for the same keyword we used for Baidu and Qihoo tools covered earlier.

The first graph shows search volumes for a keyword on PC and mobile. It is quite clear that there is a certain correlation with the search results we have seen with the search engines: both types of data show a sharp peak in the second half of March:

Looking at both PC based and mobile searches reveals the fact that most searches have been done from mobile Weibo app rather than PC based website:

Next tab displays search volumes in the past 24 hours. Here, peaks occur in different times compared to results from the search engines. Apparently, Weibo searches for iPhone 8 have peaked at around noon and then again at 23:00:

Such information can be particularly useful for social media marketing. It can allow marketers to figure out optimal timing for posts to receive maximum exposure on the network. In fact, the data can even be reduced down to an hour level in order to identify search volumes of every single minute within a particular hour!

The location tab shows geographic distribution of the searches:

Here the situation is also a bit different from the results we have seen with Baidu and Qihoo. It seems that people in Hebei and Zhejiang provinces were the ones most interested in iPhone 8.

Last tab, audience attributes, shows even less correlation with the search engines data for this particular term. This time, women represented the vast majority of the audience (80%) vs. only 20% of men. Also, the audience is significantly much younger on Weibo: most people searching for iPhone 8 were between ages 19-24.

This information could lead to a different approach for marketing this specific product. On Weibo, marketers could be tailoring the ad to a largely young female audience while Baidu and Qihoo ads should cater to older male crowd. Optimizing marketing approach across different platforms would be much more difficult without having such data.

Last section of the audience attributes tab relates to user persona that seems quite irrelevant for this particular keyword. Also, Weibo shows the data on zodiac signs of the users searching for a particular term:

Apparently, Libra born users were more active in their search for iPhone 8. Why was that the case? I guess we will never know.

In any case, Weibo seems to be the only network out there that enables marketers to incorporate astrology into their marketing…

Continue to WeChat Index tutorial >>>

Here are our tutorials on China keyword research tools:

Keyword research on Baidu: Baidu Index

Keyword research on Qihoo: Qihoo Index

Keyword research on Weibo: Weibo Index

Keyword research on WeChat: WeChat Index

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Qihoo, also known as 360Search and So.com, is the second largest Chinese search engine. By various estimates, it holds between 15 to 25% of the search market share and is fairly popular among younger users.

It is also often noted that Qihoo search results tend to be more accurate than Baidu’s and advertising with Qihoo is also a bit cheaper. Despite once posing a real threat to Baidu’s dominance, Qihoo is still trailing Baidu in terms of overall popularity.

Qihoo Index is the keyword research tool that can be used to complement Baidu’s. Also, it doesn’t require registering an account which makes it a bit easier. Other than that, the functionality and the type of data Qihoo Index generates is quite similar to Baidu Index which was covered earlier.

Here we are using the same keyword “iPhone8” to see the results. The first panel presents the total number of searches and the trends overtime. Just like with Baidu Index, the data can be displayed for the last 7, 30 or 90 days as well as for custom date ranges.

The top panel shows 5,340 searches for iPhone 8 over the last 30 days which is about 5 times less searches on Baidu for the same period.

Similar to Baidu, Qihoo index indicates various kinks, peaks and valleys of the curve with a letter corresponding to a specific media mention. Hovering over those letters opens a pop-up with more details on the source linked to an article:

Another Qihoo Index graph specifically focuses on media mentions. Just like with Baidu, each change in the curve can be further examined for more details related to a specific news source.

The graph above displays search activity in the last 24 hours. Quite predictably, the search reaches two of its peaks in the morning and afternoon with a dip in between (a lunch break?) before flattening out during the night hours.

Next diagram shows related keywords in key phrase surrounding the main keyword. Analogous to Baidu, the keywords are grouped based on search volumes and relevant position:

Related searches data displays the keywords searched by users before or after that specific search term. In this case, “iPhone 8 price” was the strongest related key phrase. Also, users seem to be often searching for iPhone 8 pictures:

Also like Baidu, Qihoo Index also shows geographic distribution of searches. It seems that most iPhone 8 related searches were coming from the richest Chinese provinces and cities which reflects traditional popularity of Apple products in those areas.

Insights into audience are largely similar to the results we have seen with Baidu for the same term: men represent the majority (70% vs. 30%). The age brackets used by Qihoo are a bit different with Baidu: almost half of the people interested in iPhone 8 were aged between 25 and 34.

Another dimension that is available only with Qihoo Index is classification of the users by attributes. Apparently, Qihoo uses other search terms attributed to the same user in order to build what is called “persona” in marketing. Learning more about customer profiles through this method can provide further useful insights for a marketer.

Continue to Weibo Index tutorial >>>

Here are our tutorials on China keyword research tools:

Keyword research on Baidu: Baidu Index

Keyword research on Qihoo: Qihoo Index

Keyword research on Weibo: Weibo Index

Keyword research on WeChat: WeChat Index

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All of the major Chinese search engines, as well social media platforms, offer some type of basic tools for China keyword research and trends measurement. The latest launch of WeChat Index feature holds a lot of promise. With nearly 890 million monthly active users, it has the potential to offer the most accurate picture of online searches. Unfortunately, it is still severely limited compared to the tools from Baidu, Qihoo and Weibo.

Another missing component in the overall China digital landscape is the absence of shopping trends measuring tool from Taobao, the largest ecommerce platform in China. After launching the beta of Taobao Index at the end of 2011, it was discontinued last year. Alibaba promises to relaunch a better tool in the future but it has already been a year since the original Taobao index went offline.

The first tool we are going to look at is Baidu Index.

Continue to Baidu Index tutorial >>>

Here are our tutorials on China keyword research tools:

Keyword research on Baidu: Baidu Index

Keyword research on Qihoo: Qihoo Index

Keyword research on Weibo: Weibo Index

Keyword research on WeChat: WeChat Index

The post Basics of China Keyword Research: Measuring Search Trends first appeared on Sampi.co.

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Just one year after its launch in China in 2013, Evernote was already claiming 4 million users. Last year, China has become its second largest market with reported 20 million users. Yinxiang Biji, it’s Chinese company, has recently announced its plans to go public in China.

In fact, Evernote has succeeded where many famous Western tech giants, such as Google or Facebook, have failed miserably. So, what was it that they were doing right? Let us break down main factors of Evernote’s remarkable success in China.

Navigating around Chinese censorship

Evernote has always stressed its main functionality as a private data storage for individuals, not a social platform and broadcasting service. Although, the original version does include some social functions such as note sharing, they have been either removed or played down in the Chinese product. This enabled Evernote to stay away from troubles with China’s powerful internet censors.

Speed and functionality

The company has realized that the key to good usability in China is the speed of synchronization and access – the core of its functionality. Keeping data centers in US would severely impact connection speed and turn away potential users, making it impossible to acquire critical mass of local early adopters. Hence the decision to setup local data center, which was also its first one outside of US.

Privacy assurance

Company’s CEO, Phil Libin, has published a letter assuring subscribers that Evernote takes securing the privacy of user data in China very seriously. The letter emphasized Evernote’s adherence to its three laws of handling user data by making it personal, protected, and portable.

Employing social media

Evernote quickly embraced Weibo and WeChat, two most popular Chinese social media platforms. The company has also been publishing its own blog filled with useful tips about efficient usage of its services while tailoring the message for the local audience. The blog was encouraging users to write about their personal travel experience with connection to Evernote apps – another good example of user engagement.

Localized customer service

When it comes to Chinese users, Evernote quickly understood the importance of speedy and high quality customer service . The company has been recognized for its efficient response to issues and complaints, both through social media, like WeChat channel, as well via chat on their website.

Successful choice of brand name

Evernote has made a smart choice in picking its Chinese brand name that proved to be an excellent fit on many levels. Evernote’s Chinese name is Yinxiang Biji (印象笔记) and can be translated as “memory notes”. Incidentally, the name also incorporates character 象, an elephant, that is used as Evernote’s logo. The name is both memorable and descriptive of the core functionality of the service.

Integration with local services

Part of Evernote’s China localization strategy was releasing API for integration with local apps. As a result, along with its support for traditional services like IFTTT and Pocket, its Chinese product integrates local services such as WeChat, Weibo, Duoguo (a restaurant guide website) UC browsers and others.

Localized Evernote Market

Most recently, Yinxiang Biji has launched its local version of Evernote Market store with products specifically selected and marketed for Chinese customers. Evernote’s fully functional web-based outlet was noted for its good user experience and original offers. It also itegrates Alipay as its online payment solution.

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In this post, we are going to review the primary routes for promotion and advertising on Sina Weibo. There are three basic ways to promote a brand on Weibo:

• Weibo Fans headlines (粉丝头条)
• Weibo Fans pass (粉丝通)
• Weibo Micro task (微任务)

Weibo Fans Headlines

This is the simplest way to promote a post by pushing it to the top of followers’ feed. At present, Weibo charges 2.37 RMB per post to be displayed above others in the feed for 24 hours. There is 40% discount for any posts that mention anything related to Weibo itself.

Making a post more prominently displayed can be an effective way to attract clicks from brand followers by having them notice the content as soon as they log in. The obvious disadvantage is the fact that it only improves your content’s visibility with your existing followers and does little to acquire new ones. On the other hand, the price for this type of promotion is fairly affordable.

Fans Pass

This type of promotion involves an ad campaign and can be initiated and managed with an ad account. The ad account opening process requires local ID and usually takes about 3 days to complete the approval process.

There are two pricing models: CPM (cost per thousand impressions) and CPE (cost per engagement) which are determined by automated bidding process, similar to the familiar Google Adwords.

CPM prices start at 5 RMB per CPM and can be increased by bidding up with 0.1 RMB increments.

“E” in CPE type of Weibo advertising stands for “engagement” that can be either click, a forward, a like or a follow. The initial price is set to minimum 0.5 RMB per CPE and can be increased at 0.01 RMB increment. The final price will be ultimately determined by quality of the content and competitive offers. If the price is set too low and the content is not engaging enough, the ad may not receive enough exposure, so setting the right bid and making adjustment to the content takes a bit of tweaking.

Weibo ad account provides some analytics tool to judge the effectiveness of an ad campaign but finding the right combination of all the parameters takes some skills and experience.

Micro task

The third type of promotion, which is also unique to Weibo, is called Micro Task and involves engaging KOLs, or Key Opinion Leaders.

KOLs are basically people with a lot of followers and are considered to be authority figures in their areas of expertise. Some KOLs have millions of followers which enables them to broadcast a targeted message to a very large audiences.

Depending on a specific industry, Weibo offers a range of KOLs to choose from. Typically, those with the largest following are more expensive to engage.

Working with KOLs requires opening an account and paying a deposit that is currently set to 2,000 RMB for companies. Once a suitable KOL is chosen, you can set a task (hence the name of this feature – “micro-task”) that normally involves posting your content in KOLs account that should appear at the time of your choosing and remain visible for a set period.

Depending on a specific KOL and the type of promotion task he/she receives, the price is set by Weibo automatically.

Individuals (as opposed to companies) can also use micro-task to promote posts. There is no deposit for individual account and you pay as you go per each task. On the other hand, individuals can’t pick KOLs that will be assigned by Weibo automatically.

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For the second part of our list of 30 Ways of How To Get WeChat Followers go to Part II and here is the Part I.

30 ways of how to get WeChat followers – part 3:

#21: Displays at trade shows

Trade shows provide ample opportunities to place QR codes on any flat surface such as walls, stands, reception counters etc.. And by any surface we mean “any surface”:

#22: Video

If you use a promotional video for your products, consider placing QR code in a still frame at the end while giving enough time for a viewer to scan it. Alternatively, QR code could also remain visible during video playback if placed in the frame corner but it should be large enough and in high resolution to be scannable.

#23: Company cars

If your company owns cars, vans or buses, consider placing QR code along with your branding such as company name or telephone number.

#24: Website

Last but certainly not least, QR code should be displayed on your website. Most commonly it goes in the footer along with other social media and contact info, however, some sites choose to move it up top to a more prominent position.

#25: Trade shows campaigns

Another method that works well at trade shows is distributing giveaways to those visitors who scan your QR. Since you give away hundreds of pens and other useless souvenirs anyway, why not to at least get WeChat followers out of it?

#26: Email marketing

Run email marketing campaigns targeting specific audiences and centered on WeChat account. For any other email marketing such as periodic newsletters, make sure to include WeChat QR code as well.

#27: Targeted WeChat posts

One way to increase chances that a WeChat post will be shared is to make it as relevant as possible to a specific audience. WeChat allows some limited message targeting by recipients’ gender and location which can be further enhanced by manual grouping of the followers. By targeting specific group with such customized posts, it is more likely to be shared among people with similar interests.

#28: Creative QR codes

Traditional black and white QR codes have just one drawback – they look ugly. Luckily, now they don’t have to be! There are ways to design perfectly scannable QR codes that blend with the brand design and look much more visually appealing than just a bunch of black and white pixels.

Another example is the one of an Israeli company Visualead that has developed unique technology that overlays graphics with QR codes. Those can be scanned just as reliably as the traditional type.

#29: Interactive account

Adding interactivity to WeChat accounts makes them more functional as well as visually appealing. Such accounts are more likely to be shared and recommended by existing followers to their friends.

Instead of settling for standard menu type account, consider developing so called mini-site that can be customized to better reflect your brand image.

#30: Posting in Weibo groups

We talked about using social media such as Weibo to promote WeChat account. Posting in Weibo groups which are dedicated to specific and relevant interests is another way to get WeChat followers. Keep in mind however, that Weibo doesn’t allow posting QR codes directly – doing that can get you banned from that group.

For the previous part of our list of 30 Ways of How To Get WeChat Followers go to Part II and Part I.

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For the first part of our list of 30 Ways of Getting WeChat Subscribers go to Part I.

30 ways of getting WeChat subscribers – part 2:

#11: PPC campaigns focused on WeChat account

Just like Weibo, major Chinese search engines like Baidu view WeChat as a completion. This means that you can’t directly advertise WeChat account using Chinese search engines. However, it is still possible to run search or display ads which would direct visitors to a dedicated landing page featuring WeChat account details and QR code.

#12: WeChat advertising

WeChat offers its own in-platform advertising in both user Moments as a sponsored content as well as ads in participating accounts. Unfortunately, at least for the now, WeChat own ads are very expensive. The high price and the lack of accurate targeting makes WeChat advertising notoriously ineffective. Presently, only big brands looking for blanket advertising are the main users of WeChat ads.

The good news is that the prices are slowly getting lower and some new changes to WeChat advertising are rumored to be introduced this year.

#13: Offering free Wi-Fi

This method of getting WeChat subscribers works well for restaurants, coffee shops and other businesses with physical location where patrons tend to spend their time at. If setup correctly with WeChat, free Wi-Fi option would appear at the top of the chat session. Selecting free WeChat would require a user to follow the account first, making him/her a subscriber.

#14: On the spot discount or a freebie for following WeChat account

Another trick that is often used by restaurants and coffee shops is asking customers to follow their WeChat account to get X percent discount off the bill or a free item such as a drink or desert. This one should be used carefully to prevent abuse.

#15: WeChat based menu and food ordering system

In one of our earlier posts we covered the new WeChat-only coffee shops in China that have moved menus along with the entire food ordering system online. Using such system would give another incentive for patrons to follow the account.

Posting QR wherever possible is another effective way of getting WeChat subscribers. Here are some ideas on where QRs could be displayed:

#16: Email signatures

This simply means including QR code along with a signature at the bottom of every email that goes out to clients.

#17: Invoices and receipts

Printing QR code on invoices and receipts that customers keep gives them another chance to scan it.

#18: Product packaging

Include QR code on product packaging. It works even better for products that require after sale service which can be delivered via WeChat too (see item #7).

#19: Business cards

Make sure that every employee’s name card has your WeChat account QR code printed on it as prominently as possible (some companies dedicate the entire flip side to it).

#20: Every other printed material

Consider placing QR codes on company prospectus, brochures, datasheets etc. Every QR code placement is another opportunity for someone to scan it giving you another way of getting WeChat subscribers.

Here is the Part III of the list.

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Since WeChat, unlike most other social media platforms, is not a discovery network, getting WeChat followers doesn’t work in the same way either. On the other hand, what really matters is not the quantity but the quality of followers which is the main strength of WeChat as a marketing tool.

In general, WeChat followers tend to be more interested in actually following the updates, consuming posted content and using account’s other features. In other words, the higher engagement level with the followers is what makes WeChat marketing so effective.

Currently, there are only 3 primary ways to subscribe (follow) a WeChat account:

1. Follow the account from the link when it is shared by WeChat friends;
2. Scan its QR with a smartphone;
3. Search for the exact WeChat account name from within the app;

The 3rd method of following the account is not something that is often used as it is somewhat cumbersome to users. Although it is always a good idea to pick a memorable account name, it is unlikely to be contributing to getting WeChat followers.

Essentially, acquiring WeChat followers comes down to the first two methods.

30 ways of getting WeChat followers – part 1:

#1: Creating shareable content

Easier said than done, sharing content is what can potentially get you the most followers. Writing volumes of standard content that doesn’t get shared isn’t worth much. However, just one post that goes viral has the potential of bringing hundreds of followers virtually within hours.

The best approach is to invest in a research and learning about people in the niche that you are targeting. Once you can figure out what they really care about – stay focus just on that.

#2: Getting KOLs (key opinion leaders) to share your content

There are thousands of KOLs on WeChat that would distribute your content (for a fee) to their followers which often reach tens of hundreds of thousands. More followers they have – higher price they charge: top KOLs with millions of followers can be very expensive to engage.

KOLs promotions are mostly effective in fashion, cosmetics, entertainment and similar areas. This is why this channels is not suitable for everyone.

#3: Integrating with WeChat Pay

WeChat Pay is quickly becoming one of the primary payment methods in China, both online and offline. Integrating WeChat Pay with WeChat account not only enables receiving payments but also automatically connects every paying customer to your WeChat account unless they specifically choose to unsubscribe.

#4: Promoting via other WeChat accounts

If your business owns multiple WeChat accounts, you can use them to promote a new one. This way you can get some of the existing followers to subscribe to a new WeChat channel, especially if it offers related but different content.

The same way can be used to cross-promote WeChat accounts through accounts of your partners – they post links to your content and you reciprocate.

#5: Leveraging employees networks

One of the simplest ways to get followers quickly is to encourage your Chinese employees to follow the account and periodically share the content with their friends. This method, at least at the beginning, can get your account a quick boost in the number of followers, some of whom may one day contribute to getting your message to a wider audience.

#6: Develop loyalty program

Loyalty programs are increasingly getting incorporated into WeChat accounts. They often come complete with points accumulation system and a virtual membership card. Running such function with WeChat will help attract new followers as well as retain the existing ones.

#7: Offer customer service on WeChat

If you sell a product or service that requires customer service, why not to use WeChat as one of such channels? Some of the responses to standard inquiries can even be pre-programmed into the system while other may require an actual human interaction.

Getting customers to communicate with you via WeChat offers another opportunity to engage with them and even capture their exact location to gain better insight. Several 3rd party platforms offer powerful platform extensions that enhance its functionality as a customer service channel.

#8: Leveraging other social media platforms

Other social media platforms can also go a long way in getting WeChat followers. While straight up publishing WeChat QR code on Weibo is not allowed (they are competitors), you still can post WeChat account name, so visitors can search for it.

Also, sometimes you can even get away with incorporating WeChat QR code into graphic background design.

Keep in mind however that simply duplicating the content between the platforms wouldn’t give enough incentives to your Weibo followers to go to another network. Therefore you should consider offering something different on both channels.

#9: Offering practical value in terms of discounts and coupons

This is another way to make WeChat content more relevant, practical and shareable. Coupons and discounts could be time limited to create a sense of urgency – an effective marketing trick. They can also be designed to be used online or within the same WeChat account as a part of O2O campaign.

#10: Lucky draws and quizzes

People love winning prizes which makes lucky draws and quizzes an effective strategy of getting WeChat followers. WeChat account’s basic functionality can be enhanced with 3rd party extensions that are designed to handle such promotional campaigns.

Stay tuned for our second part of the list coming next week.

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In the second part we are going to look at each of the remaining communication channels:

Email

Email communication is one of the preferred ways to communicate with your customers in China, also being the most convenient method to maintain contact with your existing clients. While many Chinese may feel embarrassed of the low level of their oral English communication abilities, they would feel quite comfortable discussing the same issues in the written communication.

In fact, most business people in China today have a very decent level of written English making it preferable to direct phone calls. Email is a great way to follow up on meetings and provide more details after initial contact. Make sure to write your emails in plain language and avoid long sentences to keep it more readable.

Websites

Having a localized website is essential for promoting your business in China, a country with the estimated 400 million email users. Localization of your website requires a well planned effort with the most important aspect of it, translation, discussed in our previous post.

 92% of Chinese internet users use some sort of social media platform making it essential to maintain your presence there as well.

Having professionally designed, modern looking website may also set you apart from most Chinese based competitors that tend to have messy and cluttered sites. Remember, that your website is probably the first place an interested client will go to after meeting your for the first time.

Social Media

92% of Chinese internet users use some sort of social media platform making it essential to maintain your presence there as well. Sina Weibo, Chinese micro blogging platform and WeChat, mobile network, are by far the most popular of those services. The great thing about Weibo and WeChat is the ability to spread your message instantly and directly to your followers’ mobile devices.

Once you’ve setup your Weibo account, make sure to put its URL and QR code on your printed and digital marketing material and encourage your customers to connect (WeChat is different from Weibo in that way).

LinkedIn is currently not as popular in China as the alternative professional networks, we will review those services in subsequent posts.

Face-to-face meetings

Personal connection still rules in Chinese business environment. Taking time to personally visit your customers is one of the best investments you can make.

Insist on accompanying your sales people, your agent or distributor on their visits even if you don’t speak any Chinese. If you make a presentation, make sure that someone from your company, who knows the material, provides proper translation.

Phone calls

While phone calls can be of limited use if your clients have a difficulty understanding your English (or your accent) they still can be an efficient way to keep in touch with those who do speak it well enough. However, with the proliferation of instant messaging, where one can control his/her availability, calling someone’s cell phone directly may seem less considerate.

Great mobile instant messaging services, such as WeChat, could be a great way not only to communicate but also to spread your marketing message as well.

Post (Regular Mail)

Mailing printed material is one of the least efficient ways to communicate in modern times and China is no exception. In B2B marketing settings, mailing information by post is quickly losing its value and I’d advise to avoid it;

Relationship and Networking

Chinese guanxi remains important in Chinese business environment, although the whole concept can be alien to many foreigners. Guanxi refers to one’s network of personal relationships in a business context. The concept of guanxi also implies that business relationships can often transform into personal friendships, and indeed many Chinese business people consciously spend a great deal of time and energy nurturing such relationships. This can take the form of banqueting, evening entertainment or gift-giving – activities that can seem onerous and unnecessary to many Westerners.

As Matthew Harrison and Mark Hedley of B2B International write in their white paper: “Although such networking and relationship-building is clearly important to the sales process in China, there is a tendency among some commentators to overemphasize its importance when trying to penetrate the Chinese market.

As in any market, building strong relationships is extremely important to achieving market success, although guanxi is no substitute for a strong product offering or a trustworthy supplier. What Western companies sometimes have difficulty coming to terms with is the way in which this trust is gained, and the time it often takes to convince the customer that yours is the product or service that meets their needs. The overriding piece of advice for Western companies would be to understand the importance of establishing relationships when targeting Chinese companies, and to be prepared for the patience required for this.”

The post Targeting Chinese Companies: Part 2: Communication Channels first appeared on Sampi.co.

The post Targeting Chinese Companies: Part 2: Communication Channels appeared first on Sampi.co.