How to Use Weibo Marketing for Your Business Strategy

Weibo may not be named that’s popular in the Western world, but it is a huge success as a social media and microblogging platform in China.  Brands from across the world intending to sell to the Chinese audience must include Weibo in their business strategy. Like how you would use any social media account to create a brand persona and communicate releases, events, or simply interesting content with your audience, you can tailor Weibo marketing to build your presence in China and to capture the audience there. Here is a look at how you can put Weibo marketing to good use.

Create an appropriate account

Creating an account is the first step towards establishing your brand on Weibo. In order to do this, you should choose between personal and company accounts. The former is typically for individuals, celebrities, influencers, and the like. As a brand, you would typically need to register for a corporate account and also work towards getting a verified account.

Post good quality content

Typical posts on Weibo include images with text. Since you are catering to Chinese people, the text needs to be in Chinese and much more than just a translated version of your English ad text copy. Poorly translated content can be a big turn off for audiences or potential customers. So, ensure that you engage someone who understands the language, the people, and their mindset. To know what is trending and what content works best, you can refer to tagged accounts and topics. This can help keep your content stay fresh and encourage more users to read and share your content for a better reach.

Make use of videos

Videos today are one of the most preferred media for content consumption. Almost to the extent that it has surpassed images. However, when posting videos, remember to use a video hosting site that people can access. Websites like Youtube are inaccessible, but there are alternatives like Youku-Tudou. Videos, like text or image content, are a great way to market your product or service and to position your brand well in an otherwise crowded space. But, remember to make these posts more meaningful and less forced, so that the audience and potential customers can derive some value out of them.

Tie up with key opinion leaders

KOLs or key opinion leaders are to Chinese people what influencers are to the Western world. Since most potential buyers in China refer to word of mouth opinion when trying out something new, KOLs have a huge impact on buying decisions. Additionally, these people add a personal touch to your brand Reaching out to a KOL helps a great deal as it gives you direct access to the person’s follower base, which may be to the tune of millions. The KOL typically posts content related to your brand from his/her account, and in a way that looks more subtle and less-in-the-face than an advertisement. These could be reviews, video messages, and so on. Roping in KOLs is also a great way to announce new launches, offers, or even run a campaign or contest.

Use paid advertising

As with other social media platforms, Weibo marketing provides businesses ways to improve their sales through paid advertising to reach more potential consumers. One way to do this is by using Weibo fan headlines. This pushes your post to the top of the follower’s, helping them to see your content as soon as they log in. This method can be quite effective in improving clicks from existing brand followers. Another means is Weibo fans pass, which uses ad campaigns to reach potential customers. The is done through an ad account, which needs to be set up separately with a local ID. The third most common Weibo paid to advertise is micro-task, which links back to KOLs. This involves paying a deposit, choosing a KOL, and setting a promotional task for the person/company. This includes posting your content to the opinion leader’s account at the time you choose, and for a period set by you.

As with any other marketing campaign that you run on social media, timely analysis and fine-tuning are necessary to ensure success for your business using Weibo marketing.