theceomagazine.com | 79START SMALL, AIM BIG
Another way for foreign companies to establish a
robust social media presence is to target cities other
than Beijing and Shanghai. China Connex’s Lewis Jones
says this can help businesses test their social media
strategy and build a local base from which to grow their
presence. Jones, who founded the Chinese digital and
social media company with Chinese-born collaborator
Minwen Huang, says rolling out a social 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’s also a director at
China consultancy Orient Partners. “If you can find
that right demographic of followers, 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 just doubled your potential market from the
entire nation of Australia.”
Jones says, like in the West, central to many social
media successes are the influencers. In China, they are
known as KOLs (key opinion leaders).
A common issue, according to Jones, is that many
foreign companies rush the rollout of their social push
into China. He says this takes time to get it right, even
with the most appropriate KOL attached.
“You can go there with one influencer who’s got 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 market feedback on what’s
working with your brand.”
THE RIGHT PARTNER
Businesses should also be wary of consultants who
promise to help their firm break into China 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
Chinese 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 social channels with
other marketing tools. “Managing a Chinese social
media channel inevitably requires a cross-functional
team that includes expertise from marketing, digital,
creative, retail and possibly more,” Ferguson adds.
“Building an in-house team to execute this is often
a big challenge for businesses and another reason
why working with a partner with the right expertise
and experience is a more cost-efficient and
effective option.”CENSORSHIP IS REAL
Meow Media Managing Director Lindsey Sun notes
that any discussion of social media in China has to take
censorship into account. Sun, whose digital marketing
agency specialises in helping Australian entrepreneurs
do business in China, says setting up on a platform, and
publishing content, are both impacted by strict
government rules.
For instance, in relation to the popular Tencent
Video channel, 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 the
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 on social media, especially relating to topics
that could damage the “honour of China” or disturb
the social order. Sun says care should also be taken
to avoid using social channels to incite “illegal assembly,
association, procession or demonstrations” –
the penalty for such things can be far more severe
than in the West.WeChat has hundreds of millions of users.Online in Asia | INNOVATE