Bysoft China's Blog > Your e-commerce partner

Currently, Chinese Internet users are actively engaging in social media. YouTube, Facebook, and Twitter are blocked in China, but their Chinese equivalents are expanding. By some measures, usage of Chinese social media is some of the most intense in the world.

A Boston Consulting Group study found that Chinese Internet users are online for an average of 2.7 hours per day, considerably more than other developing countries and more on par with usage patterns in Japan and the United States. Numerous factors help drive Chinese, more than other populations, to engage in social media. These include rural-to-urban migration that has separated families, the loneliness of the one-child generation, and a distrust of information from government-controlled media.

Chinese netizens actively engage in discussions that could directly affect companies. A recent study by OgilvyOne in China found that 55 percent of China’s netizens had initiated or participated in online discussions about companies. Understanding social media is no longer a luxury for companies, operating in China—it is an imperative. Domestic social media platforms differ in various ways from Western platforms. Companies should learn how Chinese consumers use social media and take advantage of the platforms to conduct consumer research, launch products, manage public relations crises, and more.

What should companies do about social media in China?

At first, understand local netizens. Monitor the channels they’re using. What are their motivations for using social media? How to they interact with each other across these channels? What drives them to participate and spread messages and etc.? Based on these informations, we can start our social media marketing.

Secondly, be visible on the right channels. We cannot simply jump on the social media bandwagon. Which one is the best for us? Blog? Forum? Or Social networking? We must choose them based on ourselves. We must understand the netizens’ kinds and their interest in the channel. Then, we can broadcast our brand to them and also we will get their spread.

Thirdly, update the content timely. Support some useful and compelling contents to the netizens. And then, we can keep our current audiences and get more and more audiences.

Lastly, gain and maintain trust. Spread our contents to the people who need those messages. Try to add legitimate value to netizens’ online experiences. . Most importantly, don’t try to deceive netizens – it will only lead to backlash and reputational damage.
China’s social media landscape is constantly growing, innovating, evolving. Companies must study how to use it.