Travel enthusiasts visit China to see The Great Wall, to enter The Forbidden City from where emperors ruled the vast land and to experience real Chinese cuisine. Economist admit that China is an economic superpower, still experiencing more than 6,5% annual growth.
In International SEO circles, China is known as the world’s leading e-commerce market. In 2017 it’s expected that online sales will reach more than $5,000.00 billions. Its infamous e-commerce rivalry with US might eventually be won in China’s favour, as the share of online vs. non-online sales is steadily rising. Ebay has failed to conquer the Chinese market. The local Alibaba Group with B2B, B2C and C2C e-commerce websites generates more gross merchandise volume than Amazon.com and eBay combined.
Source: Lazure2.com
The local search engine winer is Baidu which covers 84% of all online searches. Following Google’s example, the company’s goal is not just to be a search engine, but a future all-inclusive digital force.
Because many Western social media companies are banned, there exist similar local versions. Renren use to be China’s Facebook, but in the past years its popularity has rapidly decreased. The main reason is the rise and transformation of WeChat – China’s most popular social media with 889 million monthly active users. It is a combination of Facebook, WhatsApp and includes useful service features such as online payment and taxi ordering. Another powerful marketing tool is China’s favourite “microblog” – Sina Weibo, a combination of Twitter and Facebook. Even Western celebrities and public personas like David Beckham and Bill Gates have their own profile.
“One minute on #WeChat ” — @Chatbotcom https://t.co/76fPCAH3V6 #Bots #ChatBot #Chatbots #Bot #makeyourownlane #defstar5 #App pic.twitter.com/ORfC7dDS4v
— Amit Asthana (@asthanakamit) April 17, 2017
Snapshots from the other side: #SinaWeibo, China’s Twitter: this one translates #Trump‘s tweet & adds “Pentagon is completely dumbfounded”. pic.twitter.com/c1qiSJCE5Z
— Matt M. 凱安 (@Semeiotickled) December 19, 2016
When launching your marketing campaign in China, it’s not only necessary to know the local social marketing channels, but also how to communicate the message. AirBnb adjusted its name in Chinese to “Aibiying” – “Welcome each other with love”, to get better accepted. When creating CTA button content in Chinese don’t be afraid if it sounds long. Chinese wish to know exactly what’s going on, be clear and explicit.