In today’s technology-driven world, social media platforms have become avenues for businesses to extend their marketing campaigns to a wide range of customers. Though Chinese Internet censorship is extensive and advanced, social media platforms are still popular with the Chinese audience.

Social networks like Weibo, WeChat contain large marketing potential for companies that want to do social media marketing in China (adstochina.westwin.com/social-media-marketing-in-china). Here are a few reasons that show why your business needs to go for social media marketing.

Chinese Consumers Are Heavily Influenced by Social Media

China has a rich and diverse online landscape with several social media platforms offering a mix of services. After all, more than 800 million Chinese users are looking for a place to ask for product recommendations, share opinions, and connect with others. China has some innovative social platforms like Douyin, a video sharing platform, and shopping communities like Xiaohongshu.

According to a Chinese government study, around 802 million Chinese people are active Internet users. This means you can reach 57.7% of China’s population through social media platforms. One more interesting fact is 98% of the Chinese users access the internet through their mobile devices. This makes Chinese social media platforms more immediate and dynamic.

Chinese mobile users use social media platforms like Weibo and WeChat for tips, testimonials, and recommendations. If you want to build a strong presence in the Chinese market, you need to partner with a leading agency offering social media marketing in China to achieve success.

Helps in Brand Awareness

Brand awareness is the first step to capture any market, including China. It defines how the brand is recognized by customers and at what level. Weibo is a leading micro-blog in China which is a mix of Facebook and Twitter. It is a more open and public platform that has great potential for exposure and outreach.

Weibo is a popular social media platform that is particularly used by Chinese people for entertainment and trend-spotting. The microblogging platform offers a great tool for increasing brand awareness by using KOLs or celebrities. Weibo can be a great tool to collect information about Chinese consumers and know about popular trends.

WeChat is another popular social media platform, with more than 170 million daily users. The platform offers a comment section for social interaction. A social media marketing strategy involving both Weibo and WeChat can help you interact with Chinese consumers and keep discussing the brand. Social media marketing can be a perfect tool to reach all types of audiences and give them a 360° view of your brand.

Lead Generation

Inbound marketing is the most effective way to generate leads. The social media accounts on Weibo and WeChat platforms can act as service referrals to your business. Social media platforms can play a big role in sales for companies in China.

 The B2B sales cycles are particularly long in China, and social media marketing can be used to build strong relationships, awareness, and visibility. In the long run, these efforts might pay in the conversion of leads into recurring sales for the core business.

Social media marketing can be a great tool to gain viral spread for the content by urging followers and fans to share the company’s content across social media. A successful social media marketing strategy can be a major traffic generator bringing a high volume of traffic to the corporate webpage.

Competitor and Marker Monitoring

There is one famous quote- “Keep your friends close and enemies closer”. To cut through the competition, you should learn about competitor’s activities, which would also give an insight into what works and what does not. Social media platforms offer a lot of information about your competitors which is public. Not only their strategy is public, but the consumer reaction to their strategy is also public.

A good social media marketing strategy would monitor a variety of activities and campaigns competitors are undertaking and give you a clear picture of competitors in China marketplace. This would help your business to navigate much easier and reach a targeted Chinese audience.

Long story short, the importance of social media marketing in China cannot be underestimated. Do you’ve any questions? Please feel free to leave your comments below.

If you’re looking to expand your business into the vast lands of China, you’re going to need a search engine marketing agency to help you! Is that a tough task: definitely not. There are plenty of SEM companies that would be willing to help. But how does one differentiate one from another? What are the factors to keep in mind while looking for the most ideal search engine marketing agency in China for you?

Before we dive into that, keep in mind that Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is basically comprised of three activities:

• Create content
• Build high-quality links
• Analyze results and make necessary changes
• SEM- building on SEO techniques by using paid advertising

Why Even Hire A Search Engine Marketing Agency?

Navigating the new, murky waters of keywords and search engine marketing is no piece of cake: it could be the deciding factor to determine whether you succeed or fail! Instead of taking the risk and responsibility solely on yourself, it’s best you hire a good SEM agency that will help you fight the battle. Keep in mind that there’s no shame in hiring an agency to do this work for you: in fact, SEM can become extremely overwhelming to those unaware of its many intricacies.

However, this means you will need to keep certain things in mind while looking out for the most ideal search engine marketing agency in China! In this article, we will steer clear of the obvious questions you need to ask before hiring them and focus on the key factors one often forgets!

1. Keep Your Eye on the Objective

It is very easy to lose focus from your goals. Before even considering hiring an SEM agency in China that caters to your needs, you must define these “needs” specifically. Take a look at your goals, and define them; once you have defined the required results, ensure the agencies offer strategies that are similar to your goals.

2. Do Your Research

Needless to say, as soon as the offers come pouring in, do a thorough background check. Take a deep dive into the history of the agency’s work, the clients they’ve worked with, and relevant testimonials. Find out if they have a defined track record of success (vis-a-vis) search engine marketing! Don’t forget to ask them for case studies- throw that in the list and then evaluate.

3. Agency Ranking in Google

The best part about choosing a Search Engine Marketing agency in China is that it’s all about SEM- therefore, this is the opportune moment for you to find out if they are capable enough to put their money where their mouth is! If it does not possess a decent Google ranking, you’ll know that there is only little truth to their success stories.

4. Ask for Referrals

A common mistake many companies make is that they believe the agency blindly. You cannot solely rely on the information given out by them, even if it is accurate information. But since there are various resources available for you to use (such as customer referrals, testimonials, etc.), you can ensure they truly deliver.

5. How They Quantify Success

Some SEM agencies in China consider a successful campaign to be based on the number of clicks or solely on the Return on Investment! You’ll want to ensure that improvements in the ranking are not the only way they measure success. In fact, more efficient ways to quantify success are increasing website traffic, conversion rates and leads!

And more importantly, find out if their notion of success stands parallely with yours! Remember the first point listed out: keep your eye on the objective! Remember this goal and understand what the SEM agency is ready to deliver. You’d be surprised how many companies end up finding out the SEM agencies focused on matters, not on the client’s top priority.

6. Their Communication Channels & Overall Transparency

A search engine marketing agency in China that is willing to share their strategies with you openly might be a good sign: one that is transparent in their ways. While you’re at it, take a peek at their keyword list as well! Always remember that a reputable agency doesn’t have anything to hide. But this isn’t the only important matter; also, ensure the communication efforts made by the agency are proofread thoroughly: this includes the web pages, social media channels, and email!

In the Chinese digital ecosystem, apps that are popular around the world are typically banned. But there exist indigenous counterparts who are making quite an impressive show with their ever-growing user base and wide reach. One such social media platform that is used in China is Sina Weibo. A microblogging platform, Weibo, can be effectively used as a communication medium as well as one for trend-spotting and entertainment. Any organization that invests in digital marketing in China should include Weibo ads to their strategy because there are many rewards to be earned.

Weibo advertising formats

● Display advertisements, also popularly known as banner advertisements, show up on the top of the Weibo website and mobile app pages. When clicked, they typically open up a home page or a specifically designed landing page of the advertiser. This is the most traditional format and can be used to display ads over featured accounts as well, thus improving the reach.

● Search engine promotions, which make use of the search tool on the Weibo discover page. This tool allows users to browse posts, fan pages, and accounts they like. It also allows you to bring in more traffic to your account by means of targeted keywords. The cost incurred here depends on the competitiveness and popularity of the keywords used, but the result is always better visibility and an improved reputation for your account.

● Fan headlines, which allows you to target existing followers or their connections. In this type of Weibo advertising (adstochina.westwin.com/weibo-advertising), your post or accounts get highlighted on your follower’s news feeds or that of their connections. This format is especially helpful when you want people to reshare your content and make your account visible to people who may not be aware of it. You can employ Fan Headlines to promote your own posts or get KOLs (key opinion leaders) to do it for you, thus reaching out to a larger audience at a fraction of the cost and without being considered spam. Fan Headlines can also be used to promote an entire account, but for a limited time.

● Fan Tunnel works in a manner similar to Fan Headlines but is used to promote accounts or apps. Because it focuses on the entire Weibo user base and not just your followers, Fan Tunnel can be extremely useful when you are starting out on Weibo and need to gain followers quickly.

The difference that Weibo advertising brings to online businesses

Help establish a brand image

In the digital era, netizens expect brands to be present on all social media platforms. A powerful social media presence through Weibo advertising can build and improve the reputation of your brand manifold. By running advertisements on a routine basis, not only do you catch the attention of potential new customers but also remind existing ones of your presence, thus urging them to talk about your brand to their friends and family.

Interact with prospects and customers on a routine basis

Weibo advertising, when planned carefully, can augment other marketing activities to give you the results you desire. Through Weibo ads, you can send out not just routine communication but also specific ones aimed at making business decisions. For instance, you may have a product that is gearing up for launch or a new app feature that you would like to test. There may even be an end of season sale that you want customers to make the most of. Communication regarding all such activities can be announced through Weibo ads, and the feedback on them gained on a real-time basis.

Improve sales

Routine communication plus a loyal fan base builds up the formula for better sales. Weibo advertising serves as a social commerce platform that lets you connect with new and existing customers and engage with them continually, thus encouraging them to come back to you for new and repeated purchases.

To make the most of Weibo advertising, it is important that you identify your business or marketing goal before you set out to create an account and gain followers. Also, the positive impact gained from Weibo advertising needs to be supplemented with proper branding, visibility, and sales infrastructure so that you can reap the maximum benefits and gain a better return on investment.

Baidu is essential if you want to attract Chinese customers and grow its business in the Chinese market. Though SEO can help you attract organic traffic, it takes time, and you might get limited success due to intense competition. On the other hand, search engine marketing can get you faster results.

To make things easy for you, we have tried to understand Baidu SEM in detail and how different Badu Search Engine Marketing strategies can help you win Chinese customers.

What is Baidu Search Engine Marketing?

There is a lot of confusion between SEO and SEM, and many people think they are the same which is not true. Baidu SEO and SEM are two distinct perspectives. Baidu search engine marketing refers to search marketing that is achieved through paid marketing tactics. The paid marketing platform on Baidu starts with Baidu PPC. Let’s understand the different elements of Baidu PPC.

Baidu’s Customer Reach

Baidu is the largest search engine in China, covering 95% of Chinese Internet users. It has more than 60 million alliance websites and holds an 80% search engine market share. It has more than a billion Chinese website pages database and can instantly provide information to Chinese consumers.

Baidu PPC- Improve Lead and Conversion Potential

One of the biggest benefits of Baidu PPC is the short time frame of your campaign. Unlike Baidu SEO, Baidu SEM (adstochina.westwin.com/Baidu-SEM) is tailored to give almost instant exposure to your brand. If you want to speed up your marketing campaign, Baidu PPC is the way ahead. Here are different ways Baidu PPC helps you reach Chinese consumers.

Baidu Tuiguang

Baidu Tuiguang is equivalent to Google Ads. In Baidu PPC, you bid on selected keywords related to your business niche, and your brand advertisement is listed on the search results page whenever any Chinese consumer uses a specific keyword to search for information/products/services on Baidu.

In Baidu Tuiguang, you can have ads with the title having a maximum of 50 characters and 80 lines of text. Baidu may display both lines of the ad in the SERP, which affects the click rate of your ad. Your ad can appear on top-left and bottom of the search results page or appear on the top-left of the search results page.

Baidu Pay for Placement

Also known as Baidu P4P, it allows you to reach Chinese customers through relevant searches. You can purchase priority placement of your related keyword permanents for permanent tagging to the first page of search results. Baidu P4P can give your brand a significant advantage over your competitors in the Chinese market.

Baidu Pro Theme

This Baidu Tool allows businesses to display ads on desktop apps and other search engine marketing tools. This Baidu marketing tool is more suitable for brands with a specific audience.

Here are some of the advantages of Baidu search engine marketing

Reaching Potential Customers

· Baidu Search engine marketing allows brands to lock the needs of the customers through keywords. The Baidu PPC tool gives more flexibility in targeting that helps in the accurate locking of customers with demand. You can select a region and time to display your ads.

· Baidu PPC allows brands to register product keywords that are specific to their products and services. This ensures their product page will appear at the top position whenever Chinese consumers use particular keywords to search for information on Baidu.

Pay By Click

● Baidu promotion brings brands closer to their potential customers. This means only customers interested in your product would be clicking the ads. With Baidu PPC, there is no clickless billing.

● Baidu PPC provides you statistical report that helps brands get a clear idea about the response and lead conversion rate.

Flexible and Controllable Promotion

Baidu SEM offers you several tools for flexible and controllable promotion. Some of them are.

● Businesses can select region, time to display ads. The tools also allow companies to set daily and weekly promotional line for reasonable budget management.

● The promotional plan can be formulated to meet the demands for promotion.

● The management background tool provides you with keywords daily search analysis reports and also provides keywords recommendation. This helps brands to reduce costs and improve conversion rates.

Do you’ve any questions about Baidu SEM?