You can find experts tips written by real marketers that works on Daily campaign. Strategies to WIN , not old boring Stuff 😉
- User Experience : Brands are focusing on creating meaningful experiences for their customers by engaging them in creative ways. Focus on Products market to get non stop improvement and explanation is the KEY to seduce and make Chinese clients repurchase
- Customization : Customize, Co Brand, and partner with KOL . This innovative strategy includes turning consumers into brand ambassador and offering customized products to appeal to young consumers who seek uniqueness in their purchases.
- Maximum investment of Social Media: Social media continues to be crucial for marketing in China in 2024…. and probably for the next 5years . Popular platforms like Xiaohongshu, and Douyin are essential for promoting products, collaborating with KOL, and engaging directly with consumers.
- User-Generated Content (UGC) on Xiaohongshu (RED): Xiaohongshu (also known as RED) has established itself as a key platform for product discovery, particularly for boutique and high-end brands. Its user base mainly consists of affluent, educated women who actively seek new products and share experiences. The platform combines e-commerce with UGC, creating a unique environment for brand exposure and consumer engagement.
- Douyin’s E-commerce Integration: Douyin (the Chinese version of TikTok) has successfully integrated e-commerce into its platform. It’s not just a social media platform but also a thriving e-commerce marketplace, with live-stream shopping sessions attracting millions of viewers. The seamless integration allows users to make purchases without leaving the app, contributing to its effectiveness as a sales-driving platform.
- Livestreaming: Livestreaming has become a critical part of e-commerce in China. Entertainement via Host that are funny etc. Platforms like Douyin, Kuaishou, Taobao, and others have capitalized on this trend, enabling brands to engage with consumers in real-time, showcase products, and drive sales.
- Building Super Positive Reviews: Positive reviews and recommendations are vital, especially on platforms like Xiaohongshu tmall and Douyin. we like to leverage influencers and user reviews to build trust and encourage purchases (growth hacking i know 😉 )
- Go Niche: This doesn’t necessarily mean changing your products to fit local tastes but understanding customer needs and adapting your product while maintaining core product strategies. If you sell Vitamins, sell Kids supplements.
- PR, Forums, and Content: Leveraging forums for marketing is still significant in China. Brands can use forums like Baidu Tieba and Zhihu for seeding content strategies, gaining insights, and promoting a positive reputation. This approach is also beneficial for SEO, as forum posts often rank highly on Baidu. content is still base of community
- Photos , Videos : you already know
Digital strategy for winners in China
Top Winning digital strategies in China 2024
China, with more than 999 million of Internet users is one of the biggest web communities in the world. If you are a company looking to expand its business in China,
Digital strategy in China
1: Be mobile focused
Official data about Chinese Internet usage says that 90% of Chinese Internet users actually access the Internet through their mobile phone.
Consequently, your strategy should mainly focus on tailoring your current tools to cell phones. If you already have your own Chinese website, make sure that it’s responsive and won’t get all distorted when viewed on a mobile phone.
Entertainement is the KEY
marketing in China : full mobile
To take this strategy even further, you can create specific tools dedicated to mobile phone usage such as: a mobile app, or even a full mobile marketing strategy.
There is also a growth of M-commerce in China, with the emerging of new features and partnerships on social media platforms such as WeChat. T-Mall is one of the biggest stores and it has adapted its platform to mobile devices.
Douyin-commerce
Douyin, the Chinese version of TikTok, has made significant strides in e-commerce. Here are five key aspects of Douyin’s e-commerce landscape:
- High User Engagement and Spending: Douyin’s success in e-commerce is largely due to its engaging short-form video content and influencer marketing. The platform has managed to create a highly engaging shopping experience, leading to higher average spending among its users compared to global users on other social media platforms. This blend of entertainment, trust, and convenience has made Douyin an effective sales-driving platform.
- Integrated E-commerce Features: Douyin has expanded its commerce component to include features akin to traditional e-commerce marketplaces. This includes elements like in-app stores, product categories, search functions, and promotional vouchers. Users can purchase products featured in videos or live streams directly within the app, offering a seamless shopping experience.
- Algorithm-Driven Product Discovery: Douyin uses sophisticated algorithms to tailor content to user preferences, enhancing product discovery and purchase likelihood. For instance, if a user frequently watches beauty-related videos, the algorithm will likely show them more content and ads related to beauty products, thereby increasing the chances of conversion and repurchase.
- Livestream Shopping Popularity: Livestream shopping sessions on Douyin are incredibly popular, attracting millions of viewers. These sessions allow for real-time interaction between the audience and the sellers, offering a dynamic and engaging shopping experience. In 2022, live-streaming commerce on Douyin alone generated significant revenue, highlighting its importance in the platform’s e-commerce strategy.
- Social Media as a Primary Discovery Channel: In China, social media platforms like Douyin have become the primary channels for discovering high-quality products. A large proportion of consumers prefer to gather information about new products through social media, with Douyin playing a crucial role in this trend. This underscores the importance of social media integration in modern e-commerce strategies.
Diversify your content
You may already have a blog or a website, and be publishing regular contents. If until now you have been posting only written articles paired with couple of images, I eagerly suggest you to go professional
Online Video in China
The online video market in China is very profitable. Its revenues exceeded 150 billion USD in 2023 . The same year, it was estimated that there were about 600 million douyin users in China.
Video marketing strategy will definitely serve your Brand exposure and awareness well. Use storytelling strategies to communicate with your viewers by creating compelling and attractive videos.
That is actually what several luxury brands did by creating their official page on Youku. In 2011, Cartier, luxury jewel brand, didn’t hesitate, and opened an exclusive video channel on Youku. Others have been seen on Youku such as : Louis Vuitton , Guerlain or Burberry.
Entertainement Via Livestreaming can be Super Efficient
3: WeChat : your newsletter (no more)
Wechat called Weixin in Chinese is a text and audio messaging mobile app. It’s the most widely used social media in China with more than 950 millions active users in China, China being the most dominant market
4: Optimise your SEO in the B2B industry or health
If you already have a website with great articles, relevant information, high-quality pictures, what you need know is to make it more visible to the eye of your future visitors. Chinese people are huge online searchers. Either to look for feedback on a product, general information or to shop online
Baidu Search Engine in China ONLY forget they other, they copy the algorythm
Baidu is the most famous search engine in China with more than 70% of market share since 10 years
Most of the searches undertaken by Chinese go through Baidu.
Baidu doesn’t work like Google, thus, you have to create a whole new SEO strategy to respect Baidu’s requirements.
Some information may also not be published on your website because of Chinese government rules. Some other tips to have an SEO friendly website are: to include the right key words, publish great and a diversity of contents, a website in Chinese, a locally hosted website, abide to the Chinese government rules and finally make sure that you have backlinks.
5: A good e-reputation helps! 🙂
Sales in China all start with being visible, known and most importantly having a good reputation. If we could only use one word to define the notion of Face in China it would be « honour » or « reputation ».
Another important thing is the fact that Chinese people values information shared by their social marketing, and more specifically online social media. That is why having a good reputation and positive feedback about your company online is critical.
Little red book offer options for consumers to check customers reviews in 2024
If negative comments were spread all over Chinese main social media and on the web, visitors would tend to trust these findings (even if they may be false).
Manage your e-reputation to ensure that you are gaining whether than losing. There are several ways to go around it: Share high quality and amazing content on social media platforms like WeChat and WeiBo, have people talk positively about you by engaging them and offering them value, use offers, promotions or coupons to attract new followers. Final food for thought, take your online activity back to reality by inviting your WeChat followers to attend an event like for example Mont Blanc with its black and white event, or offer special services to be booked online but delivered onsite.
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2 comments
Marc
Great article, but do not understand why mont blanc do not sell more in China?