Ultimate guide to China social media marketing

Due to Chinese internet regulations, social media channels in China are completely different to the rest of the world. Platforms we use daily, such as Facebook, YouTube, and Twitter are almost non-existent, simply because they can’t be accessed by Chinese internet users, making China social media marketing unique from the West.

But for every platform we have in the western society, there is likely an equivalent platform that is at least as well-developed (and in some cases even more powerful) in China. While many successful Chinese social media platforms started out by copying their western counterpart, they have long surpassed this phase and are now at the forefront of digital innovation. Douyin, the Chinese equivalent of TikTok, and Xiaohongshu, which can best be described as a combination of Instagram, Pinterest and Amazon, are examples Chinese technological ingenuity at work. 

These Chinese social media platforms only launched in the last few years, but their popularity with Chinese netizens has almost surpassed usage rates of their western counterpart in just one country alone. These emerging applications are redefining the way in which Chinese people navigate their daily lives.

For international brands and businesses who are looking to reach, engage with and sell to audiences via social media marketing in China, leveraging the right Chinese social media channels must therefore be part of their digital marketing strategy.

In this article, we will be touching on the different platforms that can be used to communicate with your targeted audience in China.

WeChat was first launched in China as a simple messaging app with functions comparable to WhatsApp. Arguably, WeChat today is one of the most innovative and intelligent Chinese social media network available. Due to the complexity of the application, companies using WeChat for social media advertising in China will need a deep understanding of the functions of this application for effective marketing purposes.

Along with messaging, WeChat marketing is a powerful tool to promote your company’s brand. The first step to WeChat marketing is deciding which account is best suited for your business. WeChat enables companies to create “WeChat Official Accounts. WeChat users can access and follow these accounts, similar to a Facebook page. Through active engagement with your branded WeChat content, you can generate awareness for your brand in China and eventually convert your followers into loyal customers. 

Deciding on which type of account your business needs can be complex. For more information on choosing the right account for your business, please visit our blog post on WeChat Official Account creation.

There are various ways a business can be successful in using WeChat as their main marketing tool to attract Chinese consumers. One of the most popular features with brands are WeChat posts which can be compared to blog post articles. Companies use them to talk about topics related to their products or services, launch new offers and engage with their target audience. But even simple techniques like integrating your WeChat account with your mobile-responsive Chinese website can make a huge difference for the user experience. 

WeChat advertising is a great option to reach your target audience faster and build an engaged following on the platform. We don’t usually recommend launching ads until you have produced at least a few months of content. Otherwise, you might be wasting your budget as WeChat users are unlikely to follow your account unless there’s information on there that they find interesting. 

We don’t have enough time here to go into detail for all the features that WeChat has to offer. If you want to learn more about this subject, you might find our WeChat 101 guide useful.

A great example of a highly successful campaign run on WeChat would be Oreo. A few years ago, Oreo created a highly interactive Chinese marketing campaign targeting parents wanting to feel closer to their children. After creating their WeChat Official Account, Oreo built their own WeChat mini program (these mini programs are essentially apps running with the WeChat environment) that allowed users to take pictures of themselves and their children and turn them into sticker. Stickers are animated emojis that can be shared with friends and family on WeChat. 

When purchasing packets of Oreos during the campaign, buyers received a code that allowed them to unlock new personalised stickers in the app. And the results of the campaign were impressive! Sales went up by 50% in the first five weeks after launch and over 75 million stickers were generated within 2 months. 

Tencent QQ, commonly known as QQ, is an instant messaging software service developed by Chinese tech giant Tencent (the same company that also owns WeChat). Functions include messaging, sending photos and playing online games. First released in 1999, QQ is regarded as the founding father of instant messaging in China. The app stood the test of time and its success was only surpassed by more powerful emerging applications such as WeChat. 

Although popularity in usage is slowly decreasing, QQ still reaches about 558 million monthly users and can be a powerful digital marketing tool. The platform remains popular with younger demographics, with 66% of QQ users being under 35 years old. If used in the right way, QQ can be a great platform for reaching audience groups with a shared interest.  

One common use case for QQ would be for universities who are looking to engage with potential Chinese students. As a university, you can set up a QQ group and invite potential students to join the group to learn more about studying at your institution. You can also invite current students to the conversation, giving prospective students a unique opportunity to ask direct questions to their peers. This personal level of engagement is much more powerful than any glossy brochure could ever be. What’s more, you can invite up to 200 people to a QQ group, making it much more efficient than answering questions in a one-on-one environment. 

This QQ group marketing strategy can also be applied in other industries where the target audience might benefit from asking questions in this type of setting. For instance, a tour company could set up groups for different destinations. 

Companies that are in a position to invest in some paid media activity in China, might also want to explore Qzone. QQ’s advertising platform allows organisations and brands to target users based on their interests. The ads appear in the user’s QQ newsfeed, similar to WeChat moments ads.

2017 was a big year for digital marketing on QQ. Successful award-winning campaigns were brought out by several global companies, including Nike. Nike’s Runner Radio campaign integrated the Nike+ Run Club App with QQ Music. They developed a new intelligent design of matching rhythm with the runner’s pace and monitored users running statistics. This campaign was highly successful with 387,000 daily users and an average usage time of 17 minutes per user.     

Weibo, previously Sina Weibo is a Chinese microblogging website, also sometimes dubbed China’s answer to Twitter. With over 500 million users, Weibo remains one of the biggest social networking platforms in China. Users post, share and interact within the community and are also able to receive updates on latest trends and news. There are several ways a business can successfully reach their target audience through Weibo. These include, owning a business account, having content backed by influencers (KOLs), and creating videos and livestreaming. is the top video-sharing app in China. Companies can create a video account and upload their marketing information to reach its target audience.

Like any other social media platform, posting content regularly and interacting with followers will drive traffic. Like Twitter, once a hashtag becomes popular and is interacted with a lot, it will be listed on the trending page. 

Furthermore, Key Opinion Leaders (KOLs) are key players in the success of your brand on Weibo. A KOL can be defined as someone whose opinion is respected by the general public because they regularly produce content about certain topics - such as fashion, travel or food – and have built an engaged community around their own brand. Because KOLs have the trust of their audience, a collaboration with a KOL can help generate awareness and credibility for your brand in China. 

Creating videos and livestreaming via your Weibo account can also be a smart way to promote your brand. These real-time interactions can make your brand feel more accessible and help you to attract a wider range of followers. 

One example of a successful campaign using the marketing strategies listed above would be Tourism New Zealand. In 2011, the company signed Chinese actress Yao Chen as their brand ambassador in China. At the time, Chen had over 40 million Weibo followers. As brand ambassador, Chen personally flew to New Zealand and posted regular updates about her trip to New Zealand. These updates piqued the interest of the Chinese community and led to over 20,000 referrals and raised the profile of New Zealand among Chinese people, encouraging them to book a visit.

Youku is often referred to as the Chinese equivalent of YouTube. The main purpose of Youku is to share and stream video content. In comparing the two streaming platforms, Youku is better at catering towards brand’s needs. Youku houses quality content created by professional companies while content on YouTube are usually created by at home influencers. On Youku, users can find a variety of movies and TV shows that are produced by large production companies. With all these professional productions on the platform, no wonder why Youku is synonymously linked to quality. 

You may be asking; how can I successfully market my brand on Youku then? As stated above, Youku does a great job at catering to brand needs, including the option to set up an online store under the official brand channel. This allows users to buy what they see in the video immediately giving users a unique viewing experience while boosting sales. Also, unlike YouTube, Youku does not allow users to skip ads before the video and when videos are paused, an ad will stay onscreen until the user continues watching. Youku is a media platform that drives high traffic and with Youku, your brand can gain exposure to the broader Chinese community. 

Luxury brand giant, Louis Vuitton was one of the first companies to add Youku to their digital marketing mix in China. With the success of their campaign, other luxury brands such as Guerlain, and Cartier followed and launched their own branded channels. The biggest factor to their success would be the targeted market in China. Digital marketing is significantly more important in China since luxury consumers in China tend to be far younger than their Western counterpart. The overlap in demographic between luxury brands and online streaming platforms like Youku, made it impossible for luxury brands to overlook this channel.

Check out the Cartier Video here.

Many are familiar with TikTok. But, did you know that TikTok was first released in China as Douyin before rebranding as TikTok in the West? Although both share similarities in the purpose of the app, they don’t exactly share the same features. In fact, Douyin is more advanced than its English counterpart. Using the Douyin platform, users can create and share 15 second videos ranging from comedy to talent videos. 

One of the great things about Douyin is the ability to customize and interact with content. Users continue to receive new content on their newsfeed that is related to the content they have previously watched.  

Although content created on the platform can only be 15 seconds long, the app presents a world of opportunities for brands looking to market to their target consumers in creative ways. Just as regular Douyin users can express their ideas and show their quirky side, brands can leverage the platform to reach a younger audience and evolve their brand messaging to hit the right notes with this demographic. What’s more, micro videos can boost your company’s organic growth.  

A great example of organic growth through Douyin would be Adidas Neo. A sub brand of Adidas targeting a younger audience, they created content that features local celebrities performing daily activities. These videos not only inspired their audience, it improved their daily life through videos relating to lifestyle, appearance and skill.      

Another option of digital marketing for brands would be integrating e-commerce into their Douyin account. This option is only available for brands with fan base of over 1 million, which means you will have to build your brand successfully before unlocking this feature. 

A lesser known but powerful app, Little Red Book also known as Xiaohongshu is making waves in the fashion world. Based in Shanghai, Little Red Book is a content sharing app where users can upload product photos and reviews. Users have described it as a product search engine and have compared it to a combination of Instagram and Pinterest in one application. E-commerce is highly trusted on this platform since qualified brands will need to apply before being accepted on the platform. Little Red Book identifies as a first-party distributor. Brands sell their products to Little Red Book without worrying about delivery and customer service for the customer. This platform also welcomes qualified brands to register and create their own shop but will charge commission fees per deal. 

Like other applications, Little Red Book focuses heavily on building trust between the platform and consumers. Little Red Book rewards users for posting suggestions and advice to other users. Users who post frequently can build a big following and even earn commission. As of September 2023, Little Red Book has a total of approximately 200 million monthly active users. Over 80% of users on this platform are female. These statistics aren’t surprising since females have a higher interest in product reviews when compared with their male counterpart. 

One technique brands can incorporate into their marketing campaign using Little Red Book would be basing marketing campaigns on Little Red Book events. From time to time, Little Red Book will host events to encourage users to post according to the event theme. Filters and hashtags relating to this event allow Little Red Book users to follow the event easily as new posts are generated and shared. If your brand can ride on the popularity of these events, you may be able to significantly improve your brand awareness among Little Red Books user base! 

In 2017, the Chinese beauty brand Pechoin was not popular amongst the younger generation. Using the date 11/11, known as Single’s day shopping festival in China, Pechoin worked closely with KOLs and the power of Little Red Book to rebrand their image and target a younger audience. One highly influential KOL posted content of her testing out a Pechoin beauty mask. This post garnered 1.7 million views and over 1000 comments. Overall, in the week of Single’s day, Pechoin was able to reach 143 million followers and generate over 160,000 engagements across Little Red Book and other platforms such as Weibo and WeChat    

As you can tell from this article, there’s a lot to learn about China’s social media platforms and it’s a field that is continuously evolving. These platforms are powerful and are redefining how Chinese consumers interact with brands online. Becoming familiar with China’s social media channels and selecting the ones that are most suitable for your brand and target audience is key to successfully build awareness for your brand in China. If you want to learn more about digital marketing in China and get the latest tips and trends delivered to your inbox, feel free to subscribe to our newsletter.