Weibo Marketing: Vital Steps to Start Social Media Marketing in China

Weibo is one of the most popular social media platforms available in the Chinese marketplace, with over 550 million registered users to date. While you can use many marketing strategies to break into the Chinese marketplace, if you ignore social media, especially Weibo, you are missing out on a huge audience and many opportunities. But what exactly are the vital steps needed to run a successful Weibo marketing campaign in China?

Registering an Account and Gaining Verified Status

The starting place for Weibo marketing in China is to create an account on their platform. Almost every user and company on the platform has an account, but if you want to be able to unlock the full potential of the platform for your company, you'll need to get your account verified status. Your initial setup will include questions for inputting information, such as username, email, password, your company location, and verification code. For the added features from being a verified account (such as additional space for business information, campaign management platform, mass messaging, etc.), you'll need to submit additional documents to Weibo. Verification for international companies requires a copy of your company registration documents with certified Chinese translation, a 3rd party authorization letter, and an application letter as well as a 1000 RMB fee. Verification will take up to 10-15 days for international companies.

Customizing Your Account

With your new Weibo marketing account verified and in place, now you need to ensure that it is customized in a way that shows off your brand's styles and looks. Various parts of your account page can be customized, and images are one of the first things you'll likely set for your profile icon, background, cover, and banner. Your account homepage should have all the relevant and important information about your company and brand that users need to know. If you use WeChat for connecting to customers, you can include a QR code to connect Weibo followers to your WeChat. 

Put into Place a Quality Content Strategy

Your Weibo marketing account will thrive best if you have quality content that engages with customers and makes them want to come back to check out what you have to share or say. One of your key types of content is going to be directly related to your brand, showing off the products and services that you have. Additionally, you want soft content that can show how customers can use what you offer. Interactive content gives your customers a way to interact directly with your company; for example, you can show off action shots of customers using your products by running a contest or by allowing them to submit their images. Lastly, you will want to have content that is shared in affiliation with key opinion leaders (KOLs) or influencers that are creating content about your brand form part of your Weibo marketing strategy.

Gathering a Following

You'll need a following in order to be successful in your Weibo marketing. This means you need to get out there and connect with consumers, and through your posts and various contests or other events, you need to get them to bring in more people to follow you. You should start adding your Weibo account to any advertising or directories as well. You can also start reaching out to KOLs and running ads to start building up your visibility.

Settings up Ads, Campaigns, and KOLs

With a verified Weibo marketing account, your ads can be run through the built-in campaign management platform. You can start getting display ads going, as well as search engine promotions, to extend your brand's visibility on the platform. You should also be starting to post the content that is being created through your quality content strategy, including interactive content. KOLs can be a huge benefit early on, and through them, you can offer discount codes, giveaways, and product trials for their user base to bring them to you.

If you are interested in expanding your marketing in China to include a verified Weibo marketing account, then contact Westwin today and get their expert assistance in starting your next successful marketing campaign.