Don Crowther
Don Crowther

Proven Strategies and Techniques To Build YOUR Business

Proven Strategies and Techniques To Build YOUR Business

How much do you know about China and the state of social media there? Let’s put it this way, if you think that North Americans dominate social media, you’re wrong.

The first thing you need to know about Chinese Social Media is that it is big. As in, big big!  Think one billion registered users big.

China social media

Not only are these billion Chinese folks online a lot, they’re on social media a lot. Studies reveal that roughly 92% of them use some form of Chinese social media.  What kind of social media?

Well, it’s sure not Twitter! Did you know that the Chinese government actually blocks Twitter from its citizens? So you could have the world’s most savvy, popular Twitter campaign and still never reach 400 million of your potential customers.  (The same goes for Facebook, btw. The Powers That Be over there aren’t big fans of Zuckerburg’s little blue powerhouse and have blocked it too. That said, their alternative to FB is called QQ and it is incredibly popular. It’s currently got one billion registered accounts and 500 million monthly active users!)

So what elso do they use? Some of the top Chinese social media sites include douban.com and t.sina.com.cn (You can find a bigger list and more info here.) And they’re not just using one network. The average Chinese Social Mediaphile has 2.78 different accounts. And a full 50% of them actually have their own blogs! That’s 200 million plus blogs in China alone!

Starting to realize how net-savvy and available these potential customers are?

But, people in China, even though there are a lot of them, don’t have any money, so it’s impossible to actually do business with them right?

Yet another misconception dashed to pieces by the facts. Let’s take just one company, Tencent, the creators of QQ.com, instant messaging, a multi-media networking service called Qzone, and a number of SMS games.  Before I mention this, remember that Facebook is now “on their way to profitability” and that Twitter is believed to have made enough money to do better than breakeven in 2009.

Tencent, on the other hand, which trades on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange, so is required to make regular, authoritative reports, just announced that they made $264 million in after-tax profits.

And did I mention that those profits were just from the first quarter of 2010?  And that only 13% of their revenue came from advertising (the primary source for US social networking profits)?

Yes, there’s money to be made in Chinese social media, you just have to think Chinese, learn their market, and build content that Chinese surfers want to view.

baiduBy the way – I’m saying that you should definitely pay attention to  Chinese social media. But it doesn’t end there. You should keep  your SEO eye on them as well. China’s leading search engine “Baidu” has a 75% market share in China and it’s growing by leaps and bounds every single year.  Oh and don’t neglect that mobile marketing thing either. Why? Because mobile is HOT in China.  233 million use mobile devices when they go online.

Finally, you need to know that when Chinese citizens want to travel (and 50 million of them do, each year) a full 70% of them use the internet to research their trip. Wouldn’t it be great if even a tiny percentage of that 50 million found YOU and your company?

What are you doing to capitalize on the huge Chinese social media marketplace? Share your thoughts by writing a comment below.

Related Posts

Leave a comment

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked

  1. Hi Don, I’m Chinese and I have to admit you’ve really done a great job! I’d like to update a figure, according to China Internet Network Information Centre (CNNIC) , up to July 2011, the number of t.sina (it has changed its name to “weibo” means “miniblog”) users is 195 million. And several days earlier, this figure was once again updated by 250 million, according to the public annoucement from Sina. I think you must be very interested to investigate weibo, this “tweeter like” Social Media Network, because it’s really HOT now!

    Thanks & Regards,
    Eliya

  2. Great Timing Don!!

    I am an newbie internet marketer out in Hong Kong and have been waiting for the western IM gurus to come up with innovative ways to capture the Chinese audience. Now thaat you have written about it, I am sure you will grab the attention of all the right people who can get the ball rolling on Chinese IM domination.

    Thanks,
    Pratik

  3. Wow. Great post by you Don. China Social Media is really BIG, it is one market hugely dominated by the Chinese. Don, do you have any advice on how people can tap into the Social Media World in China?

    1. I suggest that you hire or partner with someone who speaks and writes the language and who actively participates in that social media world

  4. I would like to hear more about how China’s social media looks at present for small companies. Do you have any pieces on that? What are some networks that you have joined?

  5. Great article Don!

    We in the West have for so long thought that the center of the Internet Marketing Universe rested with us that we have neglected to engage with our biggest potential markets.

    Of course language has been a barrier also. That’s why I predict a tsunami in the emergence of freelance coders and translators to address this very area. Of course the test is going to be to separate the wheat from the chaff in partnering with ethical, experienced and productive freelancers.

    A new chapter begins!

    Love your work.

{"email":"Email address invalid","url":"Website address invalid","required":"Required field missing"}

Want to know the exact tools and technology I personally use and recommend?