theceomagazine.com | 83verified by social platforms, and this a concept that’s
entirely foreign to Western investors.
The danger for a company trying to gain a following
if it does not get official verification, he says, is that it
risks being viewed as a fake. “Some international
businesses that I work with underestimate the need for
it, but then find it difficult to get engagement because
no-one believes there’s a real brand behind the name.”
START SMALL, AIM BIG
Another way foreign companies try to establish a
robust social presence is to target cities other than
Beijing and Shanghai. China Connex’s Lewis Jones says
this can help businesses test their strategy and build a
local base from which to grow their presence. Jones,
who founded the digital and social media company
with Minwen Huang, says rolling out a strategy in Tier 2
or Tier 3 cities often pays dividends, for less spend.
“It might be a place where you can get a brand
name established,” says Jones, who is also a director
at consultancy Orient Partners. “If you can find the
right demographic, then you can go and find someone
who’s a big deal in, say, Chengdu in Sichuan, and
engage with them. In the greater Chengdu area alone,
there are 25 million people, so you’ve doubled your
potential market from the entire nation of Australia.”
Jones says that while KOLs (key opinion leaders)
are central to many social media successes, foreign
companies shouldn’t rush to roll out across social
platforms, even with appropriate influencers on board.
“You might have an influencer with a decent
following in one major city, and then you might be able
to start using people who are more influential in the
bigger cities, which are more saturated. But first you
want that feedback on what’s working with your brand.”THE RIGHT PARTNER
Foreign businesses should also be wary of consultants
who promise to help their firm break into the region
with quick fixes, says ThoughtWorks’ Ange Ferguson.
Ferguson, who’s the software development
company’s Asia–Pacific managing director, says such
one-size-fits-all packages usually lead to ineffective
social strategies because they lack adequate creativity.
“Many businesses with ambitions to crack the
market quickly and easily are trapped by one of the
many offers out in the market, such as ‘one week to
have your website translated into Chinese’, or ‘get onto
Alibaba and start selling’.”
A better approach, Ange says, is a social media
strategy that manages what she describes as the entire
“customer loop”. This involves supporting your Weibo,
WeChat and other channels with other marketing tools.
“Managing a local social media channel inevitably
requires a cross-functional team that includes expertise
from marketing, digital, creative, retail and more,”
Ferguson adds. “Building an in-house team to execute
this is a challenge for businesses and another reason
why working with a partner with the right expertise and
experience is more cost-efficient and effective.”CENSORSHIP IS REAL
Meow Media Managing Director Lindsey Sun notes
that any discussion of global brands engaging with
social media in China has to take censorship into
account. Sun, whose digital marketing agency
specialises in helping Australian entrepreneurs do
business in the region, says setting up on a platform,
and publishing content, are both impacted by strict
government rules.
For instance, in relation to Tencent Video, she says
firms must provide a raft of documentation before they
can get access. “[It] requires the submission of
comprehensive personal details, including a photo of
the creator holding their national identity card. The
creator’s face and the National ID card number must be
clearly visible in the photo submitted.”
Companies should also be smart about what they
publish, especially relating to topics that could damage
the “honour of China” or disturb social order. Sun says
care should also be taken to avoid using social channels
to incite “illegal assembly, association, procession or
demonstrations” – the penalty can be severe.WeChat has hundreds of millions of users.Online in Asia | INNOVATE