Building Digital Marketing Strategies in China With over 1.35 billion people and about 635 million internet users, China is a place with multitude of marketing opportunities. Despite the huge population and enormous internet young and adult users, marketing in china is not an easy task. With so many opportunities, there is a whole lot of competition. The basic problem of marketing in China is that the people of China does not and cannot interact on the internet as their western counterparts. Though, they like the same fashion brands, they cannot interact about their likes and dislikes with the brand itself. In China, a marketer cannot rely on the loyal social media platforms such as Twitter, YouTube, Instagram, Dailymotion and more, for they are blocked in the mainland China. However, to tap the available marketing opportunities, a marketer has to make sure that he uses the platforms that the individuals in the china use. Advertising and marketing is a fierce industry. All brands want to get the exposure and only a few can. It is upon the marketers to make sure that the platforms and the content they market over the digital platform is according to the Chinese customer needs. Digital marketing strategy in China has to be applied on the Chinese social media platforms. Just like Twitter, Instagram, YouTube and various blocked social media platforms have their own Chinese version. Weibo is the Chinese counterpart of Twitter, while Youku is used in place of YouTube. The more famous digital media platforms are WeChat, Douban and KOLs i.e. Key Opinion Leaders.
Along with the social media platforms, there are a few things that are required to be known while creating a digital marketing strategy China: 1. Google is banned and so are Google Plus, Google Maps, and all Google
apps and features. The focus search engine in China has to be 360 Search, Baidu and Yahoo China. 2. The number of mobile users in China is very high, hence it is important
that mobile marketing and mobile friendly websites are to be given a huge part in the digital marketing strategies. 3. It is to be kept in mind that Chinese population and viewpoint is quite
different from the world in general. The strategies which worked in the western world will not work here and hence it has to be changed accordingly. Make sure that you do A/B testing before deciding on a particular digital strategy. 4. In China, censorship plays a very important role. Don’t do anything stupid
that might ban the brand from the mainland itself. China is not the land of controversial marketing ideas. Digital marketing in China is an exhilarating new area for any Western brand or marketer. At Resonance China, we offer you an opportunity to create your brand’s image in the mainland with a new kind of digital marketing strategy. China is a new play area for the marketers, however, do not be controversial, be creative and make sure that you keep the interests of your audience at the forefront.