Where will Weibo ultimately fit in all of China’s online marketing efforts? Will it hold the same sway over China’s citizens as Friendster has for Google? The fate of Weibo and other Chinese social networking sites such as QQiand Tudor is currently in the air. Will the new China Social Media Management Act of 2021 resolve the growing dilemma for Chinese Internet users? Weibo has done extremely well within the past, could it overcome this latest challenge? While Weibo no longer completely dominates China s virtual space, it’s growing rapidly (see sections below and for now, Weibo marketing is a crucial tool for businesses wishing to gain an online presence in China.
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How to Create Success With Weibo Marketing
Where will Weibo ultimately fit in all of China’s online marketing efforts? Will it hold the same sway over China’s citizens as Friendster has for Google? The fate of Weibo and other Chinese social networking sites such as QQiand Tudor is currently in the air. Will the new China Social Media Management Act of 2021 resolve the growing dilemma for Chinese Internet users? Weibo has done extremely well within the past, could it overcome this latest challenge? While Weibo no longer completely dominates China s virtual space, it’s growing rapidly (see sections below} and for now, Weibo marketing is a crucial tool for businesses wishing to gain an online presence in China.
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Weibo was originally created as a micro-blogging platform, similar to Twitter or Facebook; however, following its successful beta release, Weibo quickly blossomed into a prolific content aggregator. As its popularity increased, Weibo’s development team strived to expand its functionality, and eventually launched the “Weibo Search” function, allowing users to search for content across the whole web, from blogs, images, videos, articles – the platform is truly limitless. One Weibo Marketing strategy that is working quite well is creating the “Chinese Social Media Management Act” which basically acts as an alternative to the Chinese Wikipedia (i.e. the authoritative source on information for China).
Weibo now allows users to search for content based on the keyword ‘xia’ or ‘banzai’, allowing the user to tailor their Weibo content to their own personal needs, such as trending content, entertainment, news, and product reviews. The great thing about this is that the content is not truly personalised (there are no profiles or linked lists), and as such, can be seen by any user. However, this is great for branding purposes – Weibo allows your business to target a specific audience, regardless of age, gender, location, and even marital status – great for international marketing campaigns, as well as local marketing in your target market. Also, one aspect to note about using Weibo for your Weibo campaign is that you must be able to speak Chinese in order to attract a large audience.
Many local businesses have found Weibo to be extremely helpful in promoting and maintaining their brand awareness in China. A recent Weibo search for one of China’s most popular celebrities resulted in over eight million results, all of which had links to Weibo itself. Weibo’s current search function enables users to type in keywords related to their product/service and will then present a list of related websites. This provides a unique opportunity to build your own brand by associating with a celebrity who is popular in China, but without the associated high profile publicity.
Another strategy used by many Weibo users is the ability to post a web advertisement for free. Weibo allows businesses to post advertisements and receive feedback from customers in real time – it’s a simple to use tool for promoting and marketing your business, but one that could potentially have a massive impact. Many Chinese users are increasingly becoming savvy when it comes to internet privacy and will be quick to report problematic or spammy Weibo advertisers. This means that if you wish to engage in online marketing through your Weibo account, you need to ensure that your advertising has a reasonable level of credibility with the Chinese audience.
Finally, one aspect of Weibo Marketing that should not be ignored is the use of local knowledge – something that Weibo does very well. If you are running a marketing campaign in China, one of the easiest and most effective ways of targeting your audience is to use your local knowledge. Whether it be your city’s name, its cuisine, your city’s unique architecture, or your company’s main office, using local knowledge is one of the best ways of attracting local consumers to your campaign. You can use this knowledge to create content for your Weibo campaign, which you can then direct towards your target audience. Using local content in addition to traditional forms of internet marketing will help to drive a significant amount of targeted traffic to your Weibo page, which will translate into increased customer interest and potential revenue for your business.