Weibo Marketing Guide: All You Need to Know

Moving ahead in the Chinese digital space needs careful analysis and planning. The rules are strict and the regulations can make it tough for outside businesses to reach local Chinese. Though social media marketing helps erase the boundaries elsewhere, it is not the same in China. But there is a ray of hope through Weibo marketing (adstochina.westwin.com/what_we_do/social_media_marketing).

Weibo blog is one of the popular social media channels in China. With its user base of around 500 million, this is one platform that any business cannot risk ignoring if it is keen to win the hearts of Chinese users. Though WeChat and Toutiao are racing ahead compared to Weibo, Weibo’s potential should be harnessed if you want to emerge a winner in China’s digital business space.

What is Weibo?

If you are new to Weibo, let us make an analogy with Instagram. You can consider Weibo as China’s Instagram. On Weibo, influencers and users share their ideas on many topics. In fact, Weibo is considered a social media platform where users talk freely about social issues.

Weibo witnessed many changes since its initial days. Today the platform is famous for its content consumption that includes short videos and lives streaming too. Many types of content such as pictures, videos, and texts traverse across this social media platform every day.

To proceed with Weibo Marketing, you need an account on this platform. Obtaining a license for outside businesses can be tough in China. If you are from other countries and looking for digital marketing in China, you should take the help of China digital marketing agency to get things to move faster. The verification of a business license costs $43 a year and may take anywhere around 5-7 working days. If your business is entirely new to China, then you are required to pay $1000 for one-time verification of your business that may take almost 10-15 working days.

Weibo Marketing Strategies

Like most other social media channels, Weibo marketing includes three main techniques: social search engine promotion, KOL marketing, and display ads. Weibo also comes with many tools and features that help marketers understand the success of their campaigns and calculate the return on investment periodically.

Social Search Engine Promotion

An advantage with Weibo search engine marketing is the posts published on Weibo are indexed by Baidu, the search engine giant in China. This means by crafting a good strategy on Weibo search engine marketing, you can gain exposure on Baidu too.

Search engine marketing on Weibo includes the purchase of keywords at the first and major step. Businesses keen on grabbing a top hand in their respective businesses tend to purchase keywords accordingly. By posting relevant optimized content, chances of falling into audience attention are good via Weibo search engine marketing.

KOL Marketing

This is akin to influencer marketing but on a lesser stage. KOL stands for Content backed by influencers, who are at the level of influencers with good reach and follower count. This strategy is backed by the popular belief that the Chinese value the opinion of tried and tested methods and products more compared to new ones. Thus, businesses pay for KOL marketing to reach their audience faster.

Display ads

Display ads have many regulations in China. A proven China digital marketing agency can help clarify your chances of winning the odds in the display ad stream. Apart from these, you can also focus on running campaigns and sharing free rewards to users to draw their attention. Chinese also love any promotion that is closer to their culture and traditions. That said, you can make the best use of festivals and occasions like Chinese New Year, Valentine’s day, Single’s day, etc. to widen your reach into Chinese digital users.

Conclusion

While it is true that digital marketing in China has many constraints, choosing the right platform with the right strategy will maximize your chances of success. Weibo has immense potential and a huge user base that can take a brand closer to the audience in the right way. The trick lies in choosing the right digital marketing agency that has enough prowess to run campaigns in your budget and that match your business goals.