Top China Platforms for Influence Marketing

China has the most prominent social media market in the world, and it's very different from its Western equivalent. Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube, along with most other Western social media sites, are all blocked in China. Instead, China society has its social media ecosystem that may be more developed than its western counterparts. If you want your digital marketing initiatives in China to have more impact, you might look into influencers marketing on popular China social media platforms. In this article, you will learn about the most popular sites in China for influencers marketing.

With over 1.2 billion monthly active users, WeChat has become China de facto social commerce platform. The average daily usage time for the social app in China is above 70 minutes. As a result of all this incredible information, the platform has quickly become one of the most popular options for firms looking to launch their social media marketing in China.

Since WeChat is a one-on-one messaging platform, influencers and brands can have direct, individualized conversations. Using the platform, businesses can build official accounts with influencers to share content that boosts brand awareness and reputation, create Mini-Programs to get customers more involved with the social brand, upload videos to a dedicated WeChat Channel, and have one-on-one conversations with customers to increase brand loyalty through private traffic pools. There is still no platform that can compete with the WeChat social ecosystem regarding the depth of its user base and the potential for advertising revenue.

WeChat Channels' recommendation method can make full use of the China user's acquaintance relationship chain and network resources to increase private traffic and the brand's overall influence. Channels provide a valuable venue for direct-to-consumer influencers to reach and interact with their target audiences. Influencers video films from the Channel can be shared via chats, articles, and Moments.

There has been an uptick in the popularity of short-form videos, and videos uploaded to WeChat Channels can be quickly and simply forwarded between friends. By connecting WeChat Channels with China Official Accounts and Mini Programs, the conversion rate from content seeding to purchasing can be increased.

Often compared to Twitter, Weibo is widely regarded as one of China's most visited websites. Like WeChat, brands often utilize Weibo for social media marketing in China. Weibo has around 520 million monthly active users and over 230 million daily active users as of November 2020. Weibo is an excellent place for influential people (KOLs) to establish an online following and share their material with the world.

With Tom Ford's crossover marketing in the program "Sisters Who Make Waves," brands with influencers can leverage Weibo for IP marketing and content marketing to increase brand influence. Capitalizing on the show's success, Tom Ford released a new lipstick with a similar look to that worn by the sisters, which caused a stir online and successfully reached the show's core audience.

Brands now have a crucial and efficient influencers tool in Weibo's IP marketing. It can save influencers marketing expenses while increasing brand awareness, user engagement, and sales. Incomplete data suggests that in 2019-2020, more than ten brands worked with Weibo for IP promotion.

Short-form video-sharing platform TikTok (DouYin) has hit 1 billion downloads across iOS and Android. By August 2020, the number of people using Douyin daily had surpassed 600 million, and the average number of daily video searches had topped 400 million.

Influencers opportunities for brands in the China social market might be substantial due to the rise of Douyin marketing. Douyin allows influencers create and share high-quality, trend-focused mini-movies. Short videos, as opposed to longer ones, perform better in virality and overall viewer engagement.

As of recently, live streams on Douyin could only contain links to products sold by the company itself rather than those of external sites. Douyin Pay, the company's money transfer service, debuted in January 2021. As a China social media behemoth that has won over millennials and Gen Z, it might be an intriguing beta for international corporations and influencers looking to expand into cross-border e-commerce.

The popularity of live streaming on Douyin is skyrocketing at the moment. The platform relies heavily on influencers short videos, and its algorithm-driven curation ensures that only relevant content reaches its users. There is an excellent opportunity for virality and user loyalty with China Douyin's traffic strategy.

Douyin's unique short video + live streaming combination model has also become the marketing strategy for many firms, differentiating it from other platforms thanks to its focus on content ecology. Seeding and attracting China visitors for live streams can be accomplished with the help of short videos, increasing user demand and conversions' effectiveness.

Regarding uploading videos online in China, Bilibili is one of the most widely used social networking sites. With over 7,000 niche groups, this China platform has reached a diverse cross-section of society. The unique "Bullet culture," which centers on anime and video game material, facilitates influencers deep sense of social connection with the audience. 128 million Generation Z members utilize Bilibili, equivalent to 82% of the platform's overall audience.

The high-stick user interactions flourish in this community because of its youthful vibe. Influencers on Bilibili emphasize developing personal relationships with their audience more than their counterparts on competing platforms.

Many companies have successfully used the founders' original video influencers marketing format to attract new customers within the youth demographic. Viewers can express their opinions on the video's branding, merchandise, and content in real-time through Bullet's in-video chat. Many cosmetics companies, for instance, strategically plan the release of high-quality bullet screen remarks in conjunction with the debut of videos featuring product evaluations and makeup tutorials featuring those items' influencers.

Increasing numbers of companies are paying attention to Bilibili due to the platform's niche content ecology and devoted influencers base. When used early on, Bilibili can help fledgling firms establish a positive reputation and raise brand recognition among target demographics, resulting in long-term, sustainable value with influencers. Companies and organizations are catching on to Bilibili's popularity and financial benefits. Also included are the food industry, the mother and child market, the automotive market, etc.

Artificial intelligence has been a hot topic amongst professionals in various fields. A massive news and information content network driven by AI has been operational in China for seven years, while foreign giants like Facebook and Google develop their first AI-bots.

Literally, "Today's Headlines" (Toutiao) translates to "Jinri Toutiao". With 108.2 million DAUs, it is China's most popular platform app for making and sharing mobile content. A large majority of Toutiao's users (18–30) fall into that age range. About a third (37.2%) of adults in the United States live in first- or second-tier cities and work as freelancers, self-employed people, or business owners. Because of these features, Toutiao is a great place for business-to-business (B2B) advertisers to showcase their wares.

Influencers current targeting options for Toutiao ads include narrowing in on users based on their gender, age, interests, location, the time of day, the weather, their profession, the brand of phone they use, the carrier they are subscribed to, the operating system they use, the brand of phone they have, and the Internet service provider they use. There are currently 11 different Ad formats, such as full cover opening advertisements, feed Ads, local or category channels, and so on, and three different ways to bid on them (set time period, assured delivery, or the conventional programmatic bidding strategies).

The social media scene in China is always evolving, so it's important to stay abreast of the latest developments. You should know which platforms are gaining popularity, and what new developments have appeared.There are many advantages for firms to combine traditional marketing with working with China influencers.

You can use any of these strategies to expand your brand in China this year. All of them, it goes without saying, have a very competitive user interface. Any business that uses these channels to promote its wares must do so with strategy.