Our China Blog
WeChat Marketing Part II: Getting Followers Organically
In this post we are picking up from the last week article on how to grow your WeChat followers base organically.
In an earlier post on WeChat marketing we’ve discussed limitations of WeChat based advertising and its low ROI. Therefore, acquiring subscribers organically remains a much more cost effective way to grow your brand following.
WeChat marketing can be tricky but there are some ways to make it work. In addition to the list from the last week, here are five more tips: read more…
WeChat Marketing Part I: Getting Followers Organically
Continuing from the previous post on WeChat marketing, this time we are going to look into ways of getting WeChat followers organically.
One of the key distinctive characteristics of this platform is its private nature. This feature also makes the discovery difficult.
For example, if one is looking for a particular product on Facebook or Weibo, it is relatively easy to get relevant results quickly. With WeChat, searching for a particular product or event would most likely return nothing unless you know the exact name of the WeChat account, or, at least, the brand name. read more…
International Education in China
In the last few years, international education in China has been an exceptionally fast growing sector. According to the latest numbers from International School Consultancy (ISC) Group, China is currently in the second place (after UAE) by the number of international schools in the country. Globally, international education is a rapidly growing market where demand far outstrips supply. Between 2009 and 2013, international school enrollment grew by 42% to 3.4 million while the number of schools increased by a third to 6,734. read more…
Email Marketing Campaign in China, Part 2: Best Practices for Content Creation
Last week we looked at design rules for effective email marketing campaign in China. This time we are going to look into content.
Obviously, the content of an email marketing campaign in China is just as critical as its graphics and structure. Therefore, it is important to make sure that email’s content complies with the rules and regulations that may be different in China compared to other jurisdictions.
General rules about content for email marketing campaign in China
Headline is, by far, the most important part of an email. There is much better chance for a recipient to continue reading the email if the headline appears interesting or intriguing enough rather than generic and bland. Everything that follows afterwards should be presented in the order of decreasing level of importance. read more…
Chinese EDM Checklist, Part 1: Designing Emails That Work in China
When it comes to designing an email for Chinese EDM campaign, there are few rules to keep in mind. Let’s have a closer look at the main design elements of an email template.
Main design elements to use with Chinese EDM campaign
Images
The best eye catching email designs often include an image at the top. This would be the first and most visible part of the email, therefore it should always have a purpose. In some cases, a logo would do too as long as it reinforces an already familiar brand. read more…
China Cybersecurity Law: 5 Things You Should Know
Chinese internet overseeing authority has completed implementing China cybersecurity law which was first introduced at the end of 2016. The law was aimed at tightening state control over the internet by Chinese government. Although some of the practices that the law describes were not new and have already been implemented informally by many companies operating in China prior to the law taking effect, this act prescribed specific guidelines and punishments for non-compliance.
The latest China cybersecurity law have had broad implications to technology companies operating in the Mainland. It also covers wide range of areas which were not explicitly defined up until the enactment of the law. read more…
Overview of Baidu PPC Advertising, Best Practices
As long as Baidu remains the largest search engine in China, Baidu PPC advertising should always be the first choice among pay-per-click campaigns for businesses looking to reach Chinese audience.
In general, the reason Baidu PPC advertising can be highly effective is the fact that users who are actively searching for something already have a buying intent. It means that they are more likely to convert, in other words to become the actual customers compared to those who are passively looking at ads or are still in the process of discovery of a specific product or service. read more…
Banner Ads in China
Banner ads in China are still a fairly effective channel to advertise and, on average, Chinese are more receptive to this type of advertising compared to internet users in western countries. Ad blocking software and plugins have been, so far, more common in the West than in China where banner advertising is a rapidly growing business.
Also, the type of banners ads that are considered to be more effective in China tend to be flashier and more animated, something that Western users typically find most annoying. read more…
No More Cash: Chinese Payment Systems Usher New Era
Chinese digital payment systems are helping to create a true cashless society and it’s happening faster then anywhere else in the world.
The rapid adoption of digital payment systems continues to transform Chinese economy and society in unprecedented ways. Nowadays, handling cash seems like a thing of the past with nearly everyone in China using one of the two main payment systems: AliPay or WeChat Pay.
When is comes to digital payments, China is, undoubtedly, the technological leader. Once Chinese payment systems have become the primary payment method online, brick-and-mortar stores started to adopt them for offline payments as well.
read more…5 Unique Taobao App Features That Boost Sales On Mobile
More than half of the sales on China’s largest ecommerce platform, Taobao, are going through its mobile app. Browsing through Taobao products on a smartphone has become one of the most popular past times of Chinese mobile users after using WeChat. Here are the five top unique Taobao app features that are the largest contributors to its efficiency and popularity.
5 unique Taobao app features that drive its mobile sales
Picture search function read more…
Behind Douyin Success Story: How Did It Pull It Off?
Douyin (a.k.a. Tik Tok) is the most successful Chinese digital phenomenon that seems to spring out of nowhere to dominate the pastime of Chinese youth. According to the American research company Sensor Tower, the international version of the app was the most downloaded iPhone app worldwide, totaling 45.8 million and surpassing Facebook, YouTube, and Instagram. Let’s have a closer look at Douyin success story and the reasons behind it.
Douyin, which literally means “shaking sound” (or “vibrato”) in Chinese, has, without a doubt, created some major shockwaves in Chinese digital world and has become the top success story, particularly in short videos space. read more…
5 Reasons Why Chinese Sharing Economy Future Is Looking Promising
In this post we are going to have a closer look at five main drivers powering fast growing Chinese sharing economy.
In our earlier article, we have introduced six most innovative services that have developed around various concepts of Chinese sharing economy. Some of those companies, like DiDi, have grown enormous within record time, swallowing rivals and winning new markets. Others have recently achieved infamous “unicorn” status (Tujia, Huochebang) while more startups are still small but full of potential.
read more…
6 Bizarre Body Image Weibo Trends That Went Viral
Last few of years have seen the rise of several bizarre body image challenges that went viral on Weibo, one of the most popular Chinese social media networks. Those Weibo trends attracted millions of views, likes and retweets as well as great deal of criticism and mockery. Let’s have a look at some of the most popular ones.
Six most popular body image Weibo trends
Weibo trend #1: hairy armpits selfies
Guide to Baidu Baike, China’s Wikipedia Equivalent
Baidu Baike is the Chinese equivalent to Wikipedia and is one of the most visited websites in China. Baidu SERP prominently features Baidu Baike entries, therefore getting a page on this platform can propel brands to the top search results.
Here is our guide Baidu Baike.
Baidu Baike (百度 百科 in Chinese, translated as “Baidu Encyclopedia”) is a collaborative, web-based encyclopedia that is owned and produced by the Chinese search engine Baidu. The test version was released on April 20, 2006 and within three weeks the encyclopedia had grown to more than 90,000 articles and surpassing Chinese Wikipedia. In January 2018 Baidu Baike had more than 15.1 million articles. read more…
Baidu SERP: How to Take Advantage of Baidu Zhidao Marketing
Baidu Zhidao is China’s equivalent to Quora or Yahoo Answers and one of the most linked knowledge base sources. Baidu Zhidao Marketing is an alternative way to get to Baidu top search results.
What is Baidu Zhidao
Baidu Zhidao (百度知道) literally means Baidu Knows is a Chinese language collaborative Web-based collective intelligence by question and answer which is built and run by Baidu. read more…
China SEM: Getting to Know Baidu PPC Conversion Types
Tracking conversions should be the essential part of your China SEM strategy. This post will help you understand what types of Baidu PPC conversion can be tracked and how they can be set up.
If you are familiar with Google AdWords, Baidu PPC conversion types are quite similar. read more…
Understanding Baidu SERP: Increase Exposure with Baidu Baike Marketing
Baidu Baike is China’s answer to Wikipedia and one of the most trusted source for information. Baidu Baike Marketing offers brands a backdoor access to Baidu top search results.
As China’s largest search engine, Baidu handles approximately 3.3 billion queries per day. In comparison, Google is only slightly ahead with 3.5 billion queries per day globally. Unlike Google, vast majority of Baidu searches come from China. read more…
Choosing Between PPC vs. SEO for Chinese Market
SEO and PPC are the two basic options for boosting traffic to your website. Choosing between PPC vs. SEO for Chinese market is often a difficult decision to make.
Up until the middle of 2016, Chinese PPC, especially with Baidu, was, on average, delivering better returns than SEO. This was due to several factors:
- First, the search results, especially for popular terms, were dominated by paid ads. In some cases, hardly any organic results would be displayed in the first page;
- Second, there was little visual distinction in Baidu between paid and organic results and most people couldn’t even tell the difference.