CMOs: 3 Keys to Successful Digital Marketing in China

China is a big market and everyone wants to get a piece of this large cake; However, the dynamics and rules to succeed and survive are quite different from what make things happen over here in the western media world. As a graduate student in Northwestern Medill IMC program with an interest in digital marketing, I have found two articles you might be interested in.

“How Western Companies Use Weibo to Seize Market Opportunities in China” from MavSocial, it introduces one of the main social medias in China, Sina Weibo and why it is important to use. It has about 160 million monthly active users so businesses across the Asia-Pacific region have been tailoring their social media marketing campaigns to reach and engage with this vast audience. The article then talks about why some multinational companies like Durex, Unilever, Lancôme can do online marketing successful in China. For example, by providing useful information to users, such as beauty tips or health related information, followers are more likely to interact with the brand.  

Image Source: http://mavsocial.com/how-western-companies-use-weibo-to-seize-market-opportunities-in-china/

“WeChat testing ads in its News Feed” written by Rocky Fu on China Internet Watch, mainly talks about how WeChat is finding new ways for advertising on its platform. WeChat has become one of the largest fast growing social media apps that Chinese use in the past 4 years. It has more than 468 million monthly active users as of the Q3 2014. Despite using the social communications function of WeChat, each user on average reads 5.86 articles per day with 80% on WeChat Moments, a place where each user can personalize and share articles, music or post photos that your friends can see.  And now, besides being able to have ads in WeChat official accounts, WeChat is now testing ads in its Moments starting in January 2015. But for the first phase, only Fortune 500 brands will be accepted for the first phase Moments ad testing in WeChat.

After reviewing these two great articles, here are three key parts that I recommend you keep in mind when doing digital marketing in China:

• Develop Deep Consumer Insights - Knowing what users like & their preferences helps determine messaging and communication channel preferences

• Generate High Quality Content - Generating localized content with graphics or videos that is interesting or has deep thought in it is more likely to be shared among users

• Keep Consumers Engaged - Developing a social media strategy that interacts with users on a daily basis can increase traffic and visibility

Today, being customer-centric is the key to growing market share and profits. In planning your marketing programs, develop the insights which allow you to create content and use channels that will best connect with your high value markets. You will definitely grab a decent share in the dynamic and complex Chinese market.

Phebe Shi studies Integrated Marketing Communications at Medill in Northwestern University. She has done internship in Ogilvy & Mather for almost a year. Phebe is particularly interested in digital marketing, branding and content strategy. She is expected to graduate in December 2015. Phebe also holds a B.A. in Advertising from Peking University. You can connect with her on LinkedIn.

B2B Marketing: 3 Simple Steps to Successful Social Media Marketing in China

Three Internet giant, BAT (Baidu, Alibaba, Tencent) has further extended their footprint in social media industry. As B2B marketer, you need to be aware of the opportunities herein just as B2C marketers do. And the basic reason is that P2P (person to person) is the core in the integrated marketing communication in a digitized world now and in the future. Currently studying IMC at Northwestern University, I have a deep understanding of consumer-centric and data-driven marketing theory in digital marketing. Also, with two-year working experience in B2B marketing and digital marketing at OgilvyOne and Waggener Edstrom, I have accumulated experience in how to successfully implement social media strategy in real marketing world.

Why social media is at the start-up phase in marketing? Steve Olenski gives out the root cause. According to the creative content strategist at Responsys Oracle, “there is an inherent belief among B2B marketers that social media networks other than LinkedIn are more on the “personal” side, AKA the consumer side of the marketing aisle and as such are best left to the B2C folks”. The ‘confident gap’ picture from Content Marketing Institute (CMI) clearly explains B2B marketers’ concern. However, such concerns could be dampened in the near future since marketers nowadays could not only talk to clients in a business environment. Instead, a further step could be made to treat them as an individual personal. Due to social media, we can easily tell the ‘personality’ or even ‘interest’ of the customers with social monitoring tools. For example, sentiment analysis could tell what tone is most suitable and effective in communicating with the individual customer so as to increase the chance of business opportunity. And that’s what ‘P2P’ (person to person) marketing means.

There are increasing opportunities for online P2P marketing in China. According to John Russel, Sina Weibo, for instance, has continuously encouraged users to apply for the ‘verification’ mark, making the social profile like a business name card and personal life snapshot. Surely ‘V’ marks are used in Twitter as well. Bestselling author Amber Mac concludes five simple ways B2B marketers could leverage in social media based on the marketing landscape in the United States. Mac believes that everything starts with the right team with the right use of tools (platforms) and the implementation of content marketing strategy. And it is also vital to embrace the relationship with your partners.

After reviewing these two articles, I integrate my studies at Northwestern  and my professional working experiences to give out three simple steps you need to take to focus your B2B social strategies in the P2P marketplace:

1.     Know what your assets and needs - Organize and categorize all the digital assets, including customer social profiles if possible. Special attention should be paid to WeChat, LinkedIn (Chinese version) and Weibo.

2.     Establish Base Camp-Start with one to two social platforms by creating consistent content for two-way communication.

3.     Remember to measure outcomes - Keep track of performance and set KPI and benchmark for next round of social media marketing.

As B2B marketers, you had better first embrace social media platforms and try to establish their base camps on some particular platforms (i.e. WeChat, Weibo, LinkedIn etc.) While not all platforms are suitable for each single brand, you should consider starting from consumers and figure out which platforms are most effective and efficient to communicate with their target audience. Finally, the measurement mechanism should be established as well for long-term development.

Gweneth 'Mengye Luo' is currently a graduate student at Medill School of Journalism, Northwestern University, majoring in Integrated Marketing Communication. She has strong professional knowledge and skills in digital marketing, social media marketing and marketing analytics. Prior to her study, her working experience include B2B marketing and digital marketing at OgilvyOne, Hill&Knowlton,  Wagger Edstrom and Mercedes Benz.

Follow Gweneth ‘Mengye Luo’ on Twitter for more social media and digital trends! @gwenethluo

LinkedIn: Mengye "Gweneth" Luo