The Flanders-China Chamber of Commerce organized a webinar focused on “Digital Marketing in China: what you need to know and how to do it” on 17 September 2024.
Ms Gwenn Sonck, Executive Director, Flanders-China Chamber of Commerce/EU-China Business Association, introduced the topic of the webinar and the speakers. Digital marketing in China is constantly evolving because China is a very-fast changing environment. Keeping up with the latest trends is essential for success. It is important to understand that China's digital market is very different from all the other markets in the world. Chinese social media are entirely different and Chinese consumers have different shopping habits. Online advertising requires a separate search engine as Google is banned. If you are doing business in China it is important to adapt your digital marketing strategy to those latest trends so that Chinese consumers get attracted to your offer. The total number of internet users in China reached 1.09 billion in 2022-23 and the internet penetration rate reached 74%. China has the largest online retail market in the world since 2013. With an ever increasing internet penetration rate as well as an ever growing online market, digital marketing has become a priority for many businesses operating in China.
Ms. Ting Zhang, Founder & CEO at Crayfish.io, introduced the digital landscape and B2B in China. Crayfish is based in Cambridge, UK, and has an extensive network in China. Its three main services are consultancy, intellectual property and digital platform. In consultancy, it offers dedicated expertise for complex or ongoing work enabling its customers to succeed in China. In intellectual property, the company works with its clients to protect, manage and monetize their IP in China. The digital platform offers an extensive range of digital services covering all essential aspects of doing business in China.
Chinese people are on their phones all the time. There is so much information to stay on top in a very dynamic and fast-moving environment. Chinese people use various social media starting when they get up, go to work, at the company, during their lunch break, in the evening, and right before going to sleep. There is a huge information flow every day. For each internet function there are several social media different from those outside the country, which are mostly banned. The Chinese population is 1.4 billion, but there are 1.76 billion active cellular mobile connections. Some people in China have more than one mobile phone.
The dominant social media players in China are BAT+B, which refers to Baidu, Alibaba, Tencent + ByteDance. They are the equivalent of the likes of Amazon, Facebook, Google and YouTube in the West. WeChat is by far the most popular app for instant messaging. Each of the big players has their own ecosystem with vertical integration across all functions. So in e-commerce for example, you have several different apps competing with each other and blocking each other out, making it more difficult for people to use apps from different players. ByteDance with TikTok (Douyin in China) is becoming more well-known in the West.
WeChat is the super app for everything. Even officials in the Chinese government use WeChat while they might not use many other apps. WeChat offers many services, including shopping and mini programs. Weibo is Chinese for mini-blog and offers anything that's trendy. It is the Chinese version of X (formerly Twitter) used by celebrities and key opinion leaders (KOLs). Weibo is very good for visibility for SMEs due to the sheer number of users. Toutiao is a content-aggregation and distribution app which can be used for marketing. TikTok is known in China as Douyin and is the leader in China's short-video platforms market, expanded with live-streaming options and e-commerce tools. Little Red Book (Xiaohongshu in Chinese) is for the younger, female population and is the equivalent of Instagram. It is focussed on fashion, travel and lifestyle. It is an important platform for product discovery and e-commerce. Zhihu is a knowledge platform similar to Quora, providing authoritative answers to questions. Ms. Zhang briefly compared X with Weibo; and Google with Baidu.
Chinese B2B buyers are increasingly shopping online. B2B buyers are expecting the same experience as in B2C shopping. Social media has become the most popular marketing channel for B2B companies in 2023, and within that WeChat. In a survey of 50 MNCs, more than 80% of respondents said that WeChat will be their most important social media platform in the next three years.
Ms. Geyang Huang, Director of Growth & Operations at Crayfish.io, focused on why it is important to have a B2B digital marketing strategy in China and presented a few case studies. As China is transforming into the world's largest and most digitized economy, doing marketing in a digital way is essential for all companies, B2B or B2C. Building a multi-level digital marketing strategy is indispensable to help develop a strong foothold in the Chinese market. Included in the digital strategy are brand, communication, content and channel strategy, and the implementation plan. A good press release in Chinese is definitely a plus. Content is also at the center in B2B. Channel strategy is about identifying the right local channels. The case studies included:
• A British industrial product company, for which Crayfish.io provided website localization and PR support;
• A British industry publishing organization, for which initial consultation was provided and an official WeChat account was developed to engage with Chinese researchers;
• A Belgian magnetic solution company, for which services included setting up an official WeChat account and managing the content, developing a Chinese website, and other support services including translation.
On Crayfish.io's digital platform, you can find help and support for an extensive range of services covering all essential aspects of doing business in China, including a selection of digital marketing services. The company's modular menu-based business services provide a clear view of the scope and cost of each element. You can select the digital service that you need to suit your budget and requirements.
Website: www.crayfish.io
E-mail: Ms. Ting Zhang: ting@crayfish.io ; Ms. Geyang Huang: geyang@crayfish.io
A Q&A Session concluded the webinar. Q.: Is there a GDPR equivalent in China? A.: Ms. Ting: China is slow in this, but catching up. About two years ago, it launched the personal information protection law (PIPL), putting a lot of restrictions on sharing Chinese people's data outside China. Q.: Do you recommend to host a Chinese version of a website in China or abroad? A.: It is better to host it in China or Hong Kong, because you need to comply with the data rules in the market. Q.: Is live-streaming, KOL and short video useful for B2B companies? A.: Life-streaming is hugely popular in China. Some celebrities make hundreds of millions of dollars of income. For an SME, the budget becomes an issue, because you want a KOL with a lot of followers.
