Our China Blog
Infographic: Online Video Market in China
Following on my previous post about online video marketing campaigning in China, I’d like to share this impressive infographic produced by GoGlobal which shows the scale, the growth and the features of China’s online video market. China now has 450 million online video users who collectively spend 5.7 billion hours per month watching online video content. By 2016, there will be an estimated 700 million viewers.
Astonishingly, 76.3% of surveyed users have indicated that they prefer the freedom and interactivity of online videos over China’s state television. Here are some more facts: read more…
8 Key Factors to Consider with Online Video Marketing in China
When it comes to marketing media, nothing beats video in efficiency and the level of impact. While until a decade or so ago, TV ruled supreme in video advertising, today, services like YouTube have changed the landscape and the rules of the game entirely. Now, practically anyone with a camcorder can produce and post a video practically for free, potentially reaching millions of users.
Things in China are no different with one exception – YouTube has been blocked here since 2012. The “Chinese Youtube” is called Youku and while it is no YouTube clone, it operates along the same lines. After merging with another video hosting provider, Tudou, in March 2012, Youku Tudou became number one video site with well over 50% market share and growing. read more…
10 Unique Features of Branding for Chinese Market
When approaching branding for Chinese market, companies should be aware of certain unique ways in which this market differs from the more familiar Western ones. When it comes to marketing Western brands in China, simple copy & paste of traditional approaches would almost certainly be much less effective, while, on the other hand, there are plenty of opportunities which Westerners often overlook.
I’ve tried to consolidate the most important features that characterize branding for Chinese market as opposed to what are considered to be the most common Western practices: read more…
8 Reasons Why WeChat is Winning Over Weibo
It seems that few now doubt the fact that WeChat is emerging victorious in its battle with Weibo over China’s social media users. As a relative newcomer in Chinese social media landscape, WeChat has completely changed the rules of the game. Moreover, Tancent, the company behind this popular chat app, has managed to achieve such unprecedented success without copying other apps or using pirated technology like it was common in the past.
WeChat is truly an innovative platform and in terms of features it is way ahead of other equivalent services, like Viber, Line, WhatsApp etc. read more…
10 Features of Chinese Social Media User
It is essential to account for the crucial differences in China’s social media users’ behaviour and preferences in order to build more effective online marketing strategy for this market.
Some of the traditional strategies and approaches to online marketing which are typical to the West have to be adjusted in order to stay effective in China. Chinese social media users do differ for Western ones in a number of important ways. read more…
Wearable Electronics in China
Wearable electronics is considered by many to be the next big thing after smartphones and tablet computers. However, recently there has been some negative buzz about Google glass, Samsung Galaxy Gear smart watch and other new gadgets in the media. The recent CNN report has also suggested that the demand for wearable electronics in China is going to be weak based on the fact that Chinese pirates have been reluctant to produce counterfeit products for the local market. read more…
IBM Research: The Future of Online vs. Traditional Shopping
An interesting research concerning the future of shopping has been recently published by IBM. The authors came to a surprising conclusion that the online shopping is reaching its peak and within 5 years from now the traditional brick-and-mortar stores will claim back its top spot.
The research predicts that we are going to see the traditional shopping experience looking more and more like the online one. IBM’s Watson app development platform is already moving into this physical-virtual space. An app called Fluid is a part of that same ecosystem. It builds online shopping experiences for retail businesses to drive customer engagement and conversion read more…
China’s Social Media Evolution
The most popular social media platforms in China today were not the first ones. In fact, before 2009, microblogging didn’t gain a lot of traction in China at all, even though BBS (Bulletin Board Services ) was much more popular in China than in the West (curiously, it’s still quite popular in Taiwan).
First Weibos launched in 2008 and were practically Twitter clones. Services like TaoTao by Tencent, Jiwai, Fanfou were all short lived. Fanfou was shut down by Chinese government in July 2009 after Urumqi riots. Facebook and Twitter were blocked at about the same time which also created a type of a vacuum in the society that was getting a taste of the social media for the first time. read more…
Weibo’s Marketing Strategic Direction
Sina Weibo has been one of the principal platforms for social networking in China since its launch in August 2009. The word “weibo” (微博) itself means “microblog” in Chinese and there are several microblog platforms in China. Sina Weibo and Tancent Weibo have the largest subscription base while others, such as Sohu, Netease, Shanda and Baidu, are still lagging far behind.
Two most popular Weibo platforms share a lot of similarities and both are run by two giants of Chinese internet:
- Tancent, the company behind hugely successful QQ IM service and QZone social media service;
- Sina Corp. with its principal microblog product and a few spin-offs such as Tumblr-like Sina Qing and location based service, WeiLingDi; read more…
China’s Social Media Reach
Chinese social media growth shows no signs of slowing down. It has been embraced by the Chinese of almost all walks of life despite the new government requirement to have a verified identity associated with a microblogging account. In fact, the March 16th 2013 deadline for microblog users to have their identities verified by the state, seemed not to bother an average Chinese too much. One of the reasons, perhaps, was the fact that the vast majority of China’s microbloggers aren’t focused on the current events to the same degree as Twitter users do. read more…
Personalized Health Care in China – The Growing Industry
In the most recent report by Hurun Research Institute on China’s Millionaires, it was found that the state of health is the number one concern of Chinese wealthiest citizens. The report noted that one quarter of Chinese Millionaires were not satisfied with their overall well being, while another third were worried that they don’t get enough exercise. Another curious but hardly surprising details is the fact that the younger those people are – more concern they have over their health.
Changes in the lifestyle, rapid urbanization resulted in more crowded cities have contributed to the situation where non-communicable diseases have replaced infectious diseases as the main type of illness affecting people’s health. read more…
Beats Headphones – Goldmine for Chinese Knockoff Industry
Dr. Dre’s Beats headphones have been steadily growing in popularity to become one of the most successful brands worldwide. The genius behind Beats success is the realization by its creators of the fact that increasing capacity of modern MP3 players would eventually lead to demand for better audio quality. Listening to larger lossless audio files on a portable player only makes sense in a combination with higher quality headphones, this is what essentially jump started the whole headphones market. read more…
How B2B Selling Is Changing In China
How to be successful in B2B selling in China? What should you know to optimize your sales and marketing strategy for B2B channel? Here is my take on B2B product selling in China.
First of all, B2B product selling can be classified into 3 main categories:
- Selling of raw materials;
- Selling of capital equipment;
- Selling of machine components; read more…
China’s ‘Cyber Monday’ Online Sales Record
On Nov 12th, CNN has reported the record amount of internet sales in China that registered at $5.7 billion in just one day. This was nearly double last year’s total of $3.1 billion. The day, that came to be known as ‘Cyber Monday’, is actually Chinese singles day since it falls on Nov 11th, or 11-11. It is often referred to as Chinese Valentine’s day when people, not only singles, exchange gifts and go out. read more…
How To Win Over China’s E-shoppers
As more Chinese shift toward e-commerce and away from traditional brick and mortar stores, putting together a robust online selling strategy is becoming one of the crucial aspects of company’s marketing strategy. There are several factors that set apart Chinese online consumers from their counterparts in the West. Those differences and subtleties would require certain adjustments in your approach, both from marketing and technical standpoints.
The most important of those factors are listed below: read more…
Unique Challenges of Social Media Marketing in China
Marketing via thriving Chinese social media remains very efficient way to reach customers locally but companies should be aware of unique challenges that come with it.
In my previous post, I have discussed which platforms are the must for social media marketing in China. As China’s online population has reached half a billion, vast majority of them uses at least one or more social network account. Reaching your customers via those channels is becoming increasingly attractive to marketers. read more…
4 Must Have Chinese Social Media Channels for Marketing to Consumers
Every company who is serious about maximizing potential of social media in reaching Chinese consumers must take advantage of at least 4 most popular services. Those services are Sina Weibo, Tancent Weibo, Wechat and Renren. Of course, there are more social media sites in China with large subscription base and strong appeal and, depending on a specific product, they also can also serve as very effective channels. However, presence on the big four, at least as of the end of 2013 is essential for every brand. read more…
QR Codes in China – Alive And Kicking
QR codes have been around ever since cameras became a standard feature of virtually every cell phone. On the other hand, even today, their usage didn’t become as common as one would expect considering the fact that every one of us is carrying a portable camera in our pockets.
There have been consistent talk in the media about the “death of QR code” with some observers concluding that the technology is going nowhere and is soon to disappear entirely. A couple of weeks ago I’ve also responded to a blog post by Misha about his take on the issue of QRs from the standpoint of its usage in China, here is his original post. read more…
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