What are the Facebook of China, Twitter of China and Whatsapp of China? When it comes to the most popular and used social media and networking platforms in China, there are three major players that you must know. They are WeChat, QQ and Weibo. They are so powerful and popular that knowing these three social media platforms alone would give you a good understanding of online social networking in China. If you’re interested, you can use this tool to check if a website is blocked in mainland China. If you would like to know how to sell into China, you can read this article here. It would be a lot easier if we could simply describe this all-in-one powerful app as the Facebook of China or the Whatsapp of China. However, it’s impossible to make any sort of comparison because no other apps or sites have the ecosystem and combination of features as WeChat (also known as Weixin in China).
WeChat Official Account: allows businesses and individuals to engage with their followers.
WeChat is extremely popular and it has reached 1 billion monthly active users after the 2018 Chinese New Year. Below is a chart showing the app’s user growth over the past few years. WeChat Official Account: allows businesses and individuals to engage with their followers. You can also link an e-commerce store to your WeChat Official Account. Services: for example, order takeaway, book a flight or rent a car by launching mini programs within the WeChat app. Below is a comparison between WeChat and WhatsApp to give a better idea of WeChat’s ecosystem. WeChat is increasingly used for work purposes. Over 57.2% of WeChat users (who were interviewed by Penguin Intelligence) said most of their new WeChat contacts are work-related. Over 80% of them have used WeChat for work-related matters, including meetings, transferring money, receiving/sending documents and liaising with colleagues. We’ll now look at how businesses can use WeChat to connect with their customers. Set up a WeChat official account to connect with your target customers with engaging content and information to build customer loyalty. You can set up an e-commerce store and integrate it with your WeChat official account to display your products or services and process payments.
Some small businesses don’t have an official WeChat account. It’s common for small businesses, especially the service sector, to use instant messaging to communicate with their Chinese clients. Some businesses set up WeChat chat groups as a marketing and sales tool. For example, if you’re a recruitment agency specializing in the tech industry, you might set up a WeChat group inviting people who work in the industry and those who might know other tech talents looking for a job. This way, your contacts can help invite other relevant contacts to the group and help you find the right talents for your clients. Businesses can place adverts in WeChat moments or at the bottom of WeChat articles. Weibo is a microblogging platform founded in 2009 by Sina. Weibo is well known outside of China because of its similarity with Twitter. As of June 2017, Weibo actually has more monthly active users than Twitter. However, the road for Weibo was not all smooth and successful because of fierce competition from other platforms. In Dec 2013, Weibo only had 129 million monthly active users. In an attempt to regain its relevance, it integrated short video and live streaming functions to boost user numbers.
It also formed a strategic partnership with Alibaba to explore social commerce and marketing solutions, and to facilitate interaction between merchants on Alibaba’s platforms and Weibo users. Set up a Weibo enterprise account to connect with your followers with engaging and interactive contents. Download Page apps on Weibo’s platform to carry out marketing and promotion activities, payment processing and ad campaigns. Companies can offer “red envelopes” and drawings to build customer loyalty. Use banners on top of your Weibo page to redirect users to your official website or e-commerce partners. Advertising: Social Display Ads (to redirect users to an advertiser’s Weibo page), Promoted Feeds, Promoted Accounts, and Promoted Trends. It can be expensive and time consuming to maintain a WeChat official account or Weibo account as you’ll need to create engaging content in Chinese to keep and attract new followers. This may involve hiring Chinese employees or working with an agency. There are 10 million WeChat official accounts out there (3.5 million monthly active ones as of Sept 2017) and countless Weibo accounts.
Simply setting up a social media account on WeChat or Weibo is not going to change much unless you are already popular in China. To stand out, you have to be prepared to do some marketing to advertise your social media accounts. One common way is to work with influencers (also called KOL in China) to promote your accounts. You can also use the adverting solutions of WeChat and Weibo to promote your account. It’s not a must to set up a Chinese social media account. You can complement the platform’s marketing effort with your own social media accounts or simply leave it to your e-commerce partners. Alternatively, you can work with a distributor and delegate the marketing work. To read more about how to sell into China, you can check out our detailed guide here. Instead of setting up your own social media account, you can work with influential WeChat or Weibo accounts that have an online store. For example, Yitiao WeChat account has an established e-commerce store.
They have a very large following that is keen to be introduced to higher quality products. Selling through influential social media accounts helps boost your reputation and build trust among customers. Some businesses choose to make use of all available channels. Australian brand Blackmores, for example, has an official WeChat account and a Weibo account. QQ is like WeChat’s elder brother. It has been widely used in China since 1999, 12 years before WeChat was founded. QQ is very popular among young users aged 21 years or below. Forums, chat groups, storage, entertainment-oriented content such as news feeds, literature, cartoons, live streaming, QQ music and short videos. Other features include beautifying tools, face swap effects, painting-styled photos, video chat filters and animated video stickers have been introduced to make chatting and sharing more fun. QQ Official Accounts: official accounts that allow you to publish new contents and connect with you followers. You need to own a mobile phone & phone number to use WeChat.
Not every young person, especially students, owns a mobile phone so it makes sense for them to use QQ instead. To avoid using the same social media tool, i.e. WeChat, as their parents. Some young users have both WeChat and QQ but they usually choose to share their updates, photos and videos on QQ only. QQ & Qzone have more playful and entertainment functions than WeChat. QQ supports animated selfie filters, personalised avatars, photo retouching and many other entertainment-oriented feature. A typical user may decorate their Qzone, check the numbers of visitors, play online games, read online books, follow interesting groups/topics, watch short and live videos, make use of the storage functions and show off their ‘diamond status’. Compared to WeChat, QQ is not as well known outside of China. However, it’s important not to ignore the potential of QQ’s huge user base. QQ can be used to keep track of the public opinion towards your brand. Posts by users, chat rooms and forums are all useful places to look for feedback.
Fresh thinking with a global outlook is vital for any business.
The below image, for example, shows the trending topics in China on a particular day. Ranked no. 1 is a news story about maggots being found in a MacDonald’s burger. Ranked no. 7 is about Apple’s battery problem. It would be a good idea for MacDonald’s and Apple to be aware of these trending posts shared by young people in China. WeChat is currently dominating the market with its strong ecosystem, which makes it a must-have to connect with the Chinese population. However, the social media landscape in China is changing rapidly. No social media platform can afford to be complacent in China as consumers are eager to try new things. Weibo’s recent strong performance is a good example. QQ remains popular among young users in China and it’d be interesting to see how it develops in the next few years. Fresh thinking with a global outlook is vital for any business. Our mission is to promote a long-term and global mindset in businesses of any size.
What's A New Social Network Site
Being a leading social media consulting firm in India, the Social media optimization (SMO) campaign that we undertake for our clients from India as well as from other parts of the world . When 93% of your target audience lives, eats and breathes social media, you cannot afford not to have a dedicated social media strategy that includes social media tools, networking sites and communities to create a buzz about your product. Social media optimization builds bridges between brands and customers, starts enduring conversations about brands in the Internet ecosystem to garner greater and more comprehensive brand visibility. We are iSMO, a social media agency specializing in social media optimization, strategy and social media marketing. We work as catalysts to push your message out into the social media stratosphere where it is appropriated and carried forward by the social media natives - the millions of users who rely upon social media to power their lives. Author's Bio: Gabblet offers Complete Internet Marketing Solutions for your online business. If you are really concerned about SEO Agency India and other details, you are welcome to the SEO Firm India site. Please Register or Login to post new comment. What are Cryptocurrency Exchanges? How Difficult Is It To Become A Professional Archer?
When the leading candidates for America's next presidency traded barbs this week during the first presidential debate, political operatives and energized voters were hard at work sharing opinions (and insults) on Facebook, Twitter and other social media sites. Much of today's political discourse starts on social media, and the medium often amplifies vitriol and slants information. The 2016 presidential election isn't the first event for which social media has been used as a political tool, but today it carries tremendous weight and influence over the electorate. Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump both use social to their advantages, but it's often the surrogates, supporters and influencers who shape perceptions, according to whatever views serve their preferred candidate's interests. Never before has a "like," retweet or otherwise mindless online activity been so reflective of the state of American politics. Social media acts as glue for like-minded people, and it can reinforce their confirmation biases.
Sign up for CIO newsletters.
Karen North, a clinical professor of communication and director of the digital social media program at the University of Southern California (USC). Beware the 9 warning signs of bad IT architecture and see why these 10 old-school IT principles still rule. Sign up for CIO newsletters. Many people seek out echo chambers on social media, according to Vincent Raynauld, assistant professor in communication studies at Emerson College in Boston. Social media democratizes information sharing, and it helps individuals with very narrow interests quickly and easily connect with others who share their beliefs, Raynauld says. Sensational headlines and memorable memes give rapid-fire politics momentum on social media, he says. Social is the "most important platform for the millennial generation," Raynauld says. According to a survey of 3,760 U.S. Pew Research Center, 35 percent of people 18 to 29 years old say social media is the most helpful source of information on the 2016 presidential election. Social media gives people the power to organize and inform, but it's also frequently used to exhibit narcissism and ignorance, according to Brian Solis, principal analyst at Altimeter Group, a research and advisory firm. Such behavior reflects the uglier side of political discourse, he says.
Many people simply haven't learned how to be civil on social sites, according to Solis. The Clinton and Trump campaigns also expand the power of social media beyond the people who regularly use it, according to Dave Marinaccio, CEO and cofounder of marketing communications firm LMO Agency. The average expectations of modern news and commentary also change as people gravitate toward more curated experiences, according to USC's North. The things that catch a person's attention on social media may seem serendipitous, but they often aren't random, she says. Political strategists can also seek out segmented audiences and feed them information in a way that is specialized to their own interests, North says. Today, the medium is often an "ugly soapbox" for politics because people can easily exert their opinions with a few keystrokes, according to Solis. Solis says the potential ramifications of social media on America's collective political psyche are disconcerting and worrisome.
In order to deliver millions to billions of impressions every month, a social networking site must not only amass a large number of users, but get users highly engaged. User growth and engagement is the very foundation when starting a social networking site and is the initial goal before creating revenue streams. Solid content is the key to your growth. If you are a company with your own products and services, as expected, focus on promoting them on your site. One important tip though is that you should not limit your earning potential to selling your own products. Sign up with an affiliate network (e.g. Affiliate Window, Avantlink, Clickbooth). This allows you to post links when your content is relevant to your affiliate. For instance, during Christmas, you can post a link to an affiliate deal for toys and gifts. It is very important that you choose a vertical with good potential.
Sponsored posting could be another way to go although this one is proven to be difficult. Every sponsored post must be clearly stated and an exceptionally significant investment in building your audience is required. Advertisers would only be interested in hundreds of thousands of page views. You can generate a lot of money through sponsored posts but be mindful of the downside (i.e. an exit from your page; or a distraction to users if not formatted distinctly). Native advertising can be a good monetization strategy as well. The fact that it’s organically integrated with the content makes it fairly easy to implement and manage. Having native ads typically delivered within the content stream dovetails particularly well with the mobile platform. Regular ad units may also be used in monetizing a social networking site. Some ad networks are picky and won’t work with publishers with high-quality content. Decide on the type of social networking site you’d like to invest in — dating, forums, blogs, etc. Just a tip, forums are generally low CTR performers.
Bottom line is, choose the one with good earning potential and of course, something you are passionate about. The advertising giant has access to the largest advertisers and offers a wide range of ad sizes a publisher can choose from. CPM performance is superb. Keep in mind Google’s strict guidelines when it comes to user-generated content. To keep your account in good standing, always keep an eye on pages where your ad code appears. We highly recommended that you set up moderation for every post. Works on a CPI model with their advertisers and back into an eCPM for the publishers, which you will be able to keep track of through a dashboard. Can potentially perform well and tags should be directly implemented in the source code. How much sponsored content would you like to show in your widget? Always display links to my internal content before links to outside content?
Show sponsored disclaimer on each sponsored post? What type of sponsored content do you want to allow? You might also want to try AdBlade, Taboola, Applift, Yellow Hammer. We recommend ad sizes that blend seamlessly with your site’s design. Very important is to avoid designs that could potentially be flagged for encouraging clicks. Always revisit the ad networks’ guidelines for implementation. Choose placements that allow visibility. Ads tend to perform poorly when not visible to users, which is usually the case for ‘below the fold’ placements or the absolute bottom ad units. Most ad networks would recommend implementing the code directly on the site’s source code, thus targeting all users. When allowed to run via an Ad Server (e.g. Google DFP), you may choose to target audience relevant to you, the geos recommended by the ad network, plus the platform/device — we recommend optimizing site for both desktop and mobile. Users carry their devices with them 24/7 so mobile is a good way to go. MonetizeMore is in the business of helping sites from different verticals earn more from their ad inventory. If you are a social networking site and you want to boost your revenue, contact us and we’re happy to help you! Social networking sites can be a goldmine for your ads if you have the right strategy in place. Let our ad ops experts help you get the most from social networking sites by grabbing your FREE consultation here.
If you have any type of inquiries concerning where and how you can make use of 56 Social Media Tools Business Infographic, you could call us at our web-site.
Topic title: The Hidden Truth on Corporate Social Media Exposed
Topic covered: most popular social networks, recent articles on social media, social media case study, what do you know about social media, what is social about social media
