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Social Media Marketing- Why it is Powerful Weapon to Get Website Success
Out of the growing number of Chinese internet users, a large percentage have at least one account on the leading Chinese social media platforms like WeChat and Weibo. If you want to get the attention of these potential consumers for your business, you need to be on social media as well.
Social media marketing in China can help drive online traffic to your website and make more people aware of your products and services. And if you are offering what they want, it will increase your sales and bring your business success.
Here are some reasons why social media marketing in China (adstochina.westwin.com/social-media-marketing-in-china) is such a powerful weapon for website success in China:
It leverages social media trends
Social media trends are a good indicator of what people find fascinating and what they are talking about on local, national, and international levels. As these trends tend to capture public attention and drive online traffic, leveraging them for marketing purposes can turn the limelight on your products and services too. You can use the top trending themes to create attention-grabbing advertising campaigns and make your website better known to your target audience.
Additionally, you can assess what the current public sentiment is and use that to modify and improve your website and business services.
It builds social relationships
To achieve business success on social media, you will need to build relationships with your potential customers. If you are accustomed to traditional marketing modes, many of them won’t work as well on social media. For instance, unless you are a renowned company, people may disregard repeated calls to action to buy your products or services. They have become too used to such advertising tactics.
You will need to give them a good reason to care about your brand and visit your website. By engaging with them on a real level on things that interest them, you may be able to position yourself and your business as something they can relate to and trust. They may then become interested in checking out what you have to offer and may become loyal brand customers.
It fosters better customer service
By embedding social media applications on your website, you open up better communication channels with current and potential customers. You can keep track of what they are saying about your brand. You can respond quickly to queries, concerns, and complaints. Most people will appreciate the effort on your part, and that can improve your brand’s public image and get you more customers.
It is effective for promotional purposes
By taking advantage of paid advertising on the top social media platforms like WeChat, Weibo, Tencent QQ, and Baidu, you can get your products and services before more people around China. As users consider these platforms to be trustworthy, they will not hesitate to check out the advertisements and promotional content that appear on them. If you create attention-grabbing marketing campaigns, you can potentially get over a million views, and your business may correspondingly prosper.
In addition to paid promotion, you can also use images, videos, blogs, articles, and other free promotional modes to boost your online profile. You can create original content on Baidu Tieba and focus on engaging with specific groups to promote your brand. As long as your content interests the target group and you post regularly, You can gain a lot of organic following in this manner, and there is always a chance that some of your followers will transform into buyers.
It is useful for demographic targeting
Although millions of Chinese people use social media, they are not all necessarily going to become your customers. So, publishing marketing posts without any prior plan probably won’t work out too well. You might even end up wasting your marketing budget. To avoid that, you should carry out in-depth market research and pinpoint potential buyers by age, buying habits, interests, location, and income. The next step is to use this data to customize your advertising campaigns to attract these different segments to your website and convince them that using your products and services will benefit them.
As you see, if judiciously used, social media marketing in China can be extremely powerful in determining your website and business success.
Essential Things to Consider When Hiring A Digital Marketing Agency
When looking for a China digital marketing agency to pull off marketing campaigns in China, one of the toughest markets to tackle, you may run across many companies offering you heaven and earth, and everything in between. They will offer to get you millions of hits on Baidu, to get you trending on Weibo, and much, much more. How do you decide between the legitimate claims and the ones which are nothing more than smoke and mirrors? Here are some tips to help you decide:
Top Tips to Find Digital Marketing Agencies
You can search online to find the best digital marketing agencies that offer campaigns for China. Contact at least three or four and inquire about their operation methods. Here are a few things you would want to keep an eye out for:
Take on marketers who can handle China’s social media ecosystem
Digital marketing in China works very differently from digital marketing in the US, UK, or elsewhere in the world. This is because China’s social media needs are broadly met by WeChat and Weibo, as compared to the wide range of social platforms available in other countries. So, when you choose a marketing agency, make sure that they are intimately familiar with the Chinese digital ecosystem. You must also go through the undoctored results and metrics from their previous campaigns to judge their capability in tackling the challenging tasks you might throw at them. Another important thing to keep an eye out for is if the agency has other clients who are in your field, thus demonstrating that they have knowledge on how to market your product.
Don’t just focus on keywords while hiring
Many digital marketing companies these days focus entirely on keywords and putting together long lists of SEO search phrases. But keywords often have little impact on the success of your marketing campaigns. What really works is using those keywords, plus a lot of secondary research, to create ads, landing pages and content that turns those clicks into sales leads. Make sure your marketing agency is not just focused on generating lists of keywords, but also on following up those keywords with the hard work that comes after.
Have a method ready to measure ROI
Reliable digital marketing agencies will prove the return on investment of their efforts, putting in place tools and analytics that will tell you everything relevant to your business growth in China. Some of the common things you can expect to see are:
● Analytics showing metrics and tracking the growth over time of your website traffic and ad effectiveness.
● Call tracking systems to measure how many sales leads you’re getting and closing every day.
● Suggestions on how to reduce your advertising cost per new customer and increase your profit margins.
Approach your marketing goals holistically
Digital marketing agencies often make the misstep of focussing purely on ads and social media sponsored posts. However, in order to reach greater levels of success on digital media, it is important to look at your entire digital footprint and to work on all aspects of your web presence. If you come across an agency that does not just this but also works with you to improve your offline marketing efforts and helps you build your place in the local Chinese community, you can rest assured of quick and stable growth over time.
Last but not least, have a clear plan in mind
Always ask the agency you hire to give you a high-level overview of the marketing plan before they begin any work. Check that the agency has a detailed process to follow and can explain how exactly it all works for you. Here are some things to keep an eye out for:
● They should start with a discussion about your goals, needs, and objectives, as well as developing a good understanding of your business situation.
● They should then let you know of the baseline measurements and analytic data, so you can measure the ROI and track improvements over time.
● They must develop good-looking and effective landing pages to send your ad-traffic to.
● They must improve the SEO and content on your website, revamping if necessary, so as to turn more visitors into sales leads.
● They must work closely with your Chinese social media and email marketing accounts to improve your online visibility and traffic.
The Advantages of Advertising on Weibo
Weibo is often considered to be China’s own version of Twitter and this micro-blogging platform is also a way into the Chinese market to sell your products or services with interesting content and campaigns. The platform has many advantages as can be seen with other social media platforms. Weibo advertising can give your business a huge boost when done right. Here is how paid promotions on the platform help.
# 1 – A huge reach
There are over 400 million active users present on Sina Weibo. This large a number presents you with the opportunity to reach out to many customers and even potential buyers by simply placing ads that pop up when through the course of the day when these users interact with their family, friends, and colleagues. The user base is not limited to specific parts of China but all across the country, thus enabling you to target larger geography and build a large fan following with minimum spends.
# 2 – Targeted advertisements
When you advertise through traditional means, there is very little control you have over who views them. Most times, they are delivered to people who hardly care about your product or service and show and yet, you still have to shell out huge amounts of money in the name of marketing. Sina Weibo brings digital advantage to marketing. By allowing for targeting people with specific interests or demographics, this platform helps you make your products or services to people who will genuinely be interested in them. This is a boon as interested prospects are more likely to convert into well-paying customers than random users who have displayed ads through traditional means.
# 3 – Increased website traffic
You may just advertise on Weibo but the platform can direct visitors to your website when tuned accordingly. This can complement your search engine optimization efforts and work like pay per click search result ads, making your business website more discoverable. Better traffic to the website also means better chances of conversions. Given that your website has content and interfaces that appeal to Chinese folk, you improve your chances that these visitors will explore your offering and make a purchase. Thus a social media ad that you post on Weibo can result in actual sales on your website.
# 4 – Improved brand awareness
If you are a brand that is looking to test waters fresh in China and have very little recall among customers, Weibo advertising can help you. Targeted ads, when they appear repeatedly in customer’s social media feeds, can make your brand more easily recognizable among prospects. They may not necessarily take action on your post, but over time, they will remember your name and your offering more easily in a crowded space. What’s more, when interested people share your content among their circle or discuss your offering among their friends and family, your brand becomes more popular and well-known to your target audience.
# 5 – Better value for money
Weibo advertising can give you better results for the same amount of money as compared to other traditional marketing techniques. The search engine provides multiple formats of advertisement with different options for placement. While it may seem daunting at first, a little patience and effort can help you understand and choose the best one for your goals. Also, there is greater flexibility as you can work with minimal budgets and adjust them based on how each ad is performing. There is always the choice to pump in more money or tweak budgets from time to time as you measure the results of these campaigns on a real-time basis. Unlike traditional ad formats where you need to earmark a specific budget and commit to it, advertising on Sina Weibo gives you more flexibility, and thus, more value for money, even on shoestring budgets.
Weibo advertising is an important component of digital marketing, especially for businesses who want to tap into the Chinese market. Established and professional Chinese digital marketing agencies can get your brand established on Weibo in an effective manner, especially when you have constraints with resources in new geography.
WeChat Marketing Guide for B2B
WeChat was launched as a messaging app. Even though it still serves this function; WeChat developed into a much larger application with plenty to offer to the users. You can make payments, shop, book flights, and even look for other people on WeChat in nearby locations.
The app has really robust m-commerce capabilities. It allows businesses to leverage it and connect directly with consumers. WeChat offers different features enabling businesses to market their brands really well through the platform.
Here’s more information on how to go about WeChat marketing for B2B.
Open WeChat Account
For B2B WeChat marketing, you will first need to open your company’s official account on the app. Your options are to choose from subscription, service, and enterprise accounts. Depending on the nature of your business, you can choose any one of these to get started with WeChat marketing.
Create and Post Useful Content
You will need useful content to connect with your direct customers on WeChat. The content you create must be original and relevant to your customer base. If your content is worthy of sharing with others, it will gain more traction as more WeChat users will find their way to your business through it.
Initially, it is a good idea to gear content towards establishing your brand authority with product insights, industry knowledge, and useful blogs that can help your consumers in some way. It is also important to post content on your official account related to the company’s founder/s, history, and interesting tidbits related to your business. Such posts humanize a brand and help consumers connect better with them. It can also be helpful for you to share images or videos of social events celebrated in your company.
The content needs to be varied, updated regularly, and really needs to be engaging for your consumers and prospects.
QR Code It
WeChat platform heavily utilizes QR codes for businesses. WeChat users use QR codes to buy goods, services, and book tickets for a flight, movies, etc. Businesses need to integrate QR codes in all promotional materials across the WeChat platform.
Engage and Communicate with Customers
WeChat offers numerous ways to engage directly with your customers. You can use instant messaging and group chat features to communicate with your customers or followers.
For B2B companies, it is more essential to engage with their customers as the actual sales may occur only after the prospects visit their websites and gather more information about their products. B2B purchasing decisions often also require longer time periods than B2C.
Active Participation
There is no fixed time period for WeChat marketing. It has to be an ongoing effort. B2B companies not only face competition from other brands in the same space but also from B2C companies on WeChat that are more easily able to gather a following on the app simply due to the nature of their business.
For instance, it is easier to make a decision about buying a pair of shoes, a bag, or a toy than to purchase software just by looking at its description on a social page. Consumers are more likely to take their time to mull over their software buying decision, compare similar ones available in the market for pricing and features, and analyze its utility before buying it.
So, it is important to continuously offer your followers fresh content in a variety of forms and keep your account updated.
Be in Analytic Mode
WeChat marketing requires businesses to be in an analytic mode always. Yes, the platform offers access to billions of users in the competitive Chinese market. But this also means immense competition from thousands of brands in your business category alone if not more. Then there are other distractions for WeChat users (including your consumers) on the app.
So, for effective B2B WeChat marketing, companies need to not only measure the success of their campaigns and efforts. But they also need to be vigilant about their competitors’ marketing efforts on the platform and their effectiveness.
You will need to check the users’ pages to know more about them and understand their requirements. You will then need to provide them with the content they are looking for and actually need.
The Importance of Search Engine Marketing
Search engine marketing is an integral part of business promotion nowadays. In today’s world where consumers are willing to shop for everything online; businesses need to mark their presence on the Web with clever and useful marketing strategies.
Search engine marketing is a way for businesses and brands to promote their services and products. It is also a way for them to connect with their consumers and prospects.
Search Engine Marketing – a Business Necessity
Search engine marketing is now necessary for optimum business success. Even if your business consists of a brick-and-mortar shop, you can use search engine marketing to help your prospects find their way to you.
Whether you are a small business owner or run a corporation, it can be immensely helpful to leverage the power of search engine marketing for greater visibility in new markets. For instance, you can gain greater visibility through search engine marketing in China in case you are launching a new business in this vast country or simply opening a new standalone store.
Search engine marketing involves practices that enable your website to rank higher on search engine result pages (SERPs). These practices come under search engine optimization (SEO) work. When people looking for a product or service in your business category will search online for it then SEO techniques will aid your search engine marketing efforts.
It is simply not possible to remain visible in the crowded online space without SEO. Without a robust search engine ranking and online visibility, it is difficult to remain at the forefront of the mind of your customers and prospects.
Search Engine Marketing – Lending a Helping Hand to Businesses
Search engine marketing is a worthwhile business investment. The return on investment (ROI) on it can be manifold depending on the job done. If search engine marketing is done well, you are definitely going to benefit from it without a doubt.
Depending on your business needs and marketing budget, you can hire experts to perform all the tasks related to search engine marketing. For instance, if you are launching your clothing brand in China then you will need experts to perform search engine marketing tasks using resources relevant for the Chinese territory. There are different search engines and social networks in China not present elsewhere in the world. Your search engine marketing team will need to possess the knowledge of the Chinese market and the way to utilize SEO for the work. Without search engine marketing, it is difficult to experience business success in any territory especially new ones.
A big component of search engine marketing is the distribution of content on different social platforms that are relevant to a business. It helps businesses connect with their existing and prospective customers in a meaningful way. It helps them to form deeper business partnerships with their customers. It is a way to develop trust between customers and brands.
When people connect with a brand or trust a company to offer them the best of products or services; it can have a lasting impact on a business. Your satisfied customers can spread the good word about your business through their interaction with your brand, which will be visible to their entire network or beyond depending on their privacy settings on a social channel.
Search Engine Marketing – Solid Efforts Leading to Solid Results
Search engine marketing is not a magic trick. It requires work on your part. But every effort you put in it is guaranteed to produce solid results if done well.
Merely creating content and distributing it on every social channel is futile when it comes to search engine marketing. Everything needs to be relevant to your business category and the needs of your customers.
SEO involves a lot of technical work other than content creation and distribution. Search engine marketing experts conduct thorough research before starting any work related to it. Research helps them to identify the key areas and tasks required for a successful search engine marketing strategy. They also continue to analyze the results of their work to measure the performance of all the activities related to search engine marketing.
With the aid of such dedicated search engine marketing efforts, you can witness robust results for your business.
