HomeBlogBlogTop 5 social media platforms for doing business in China—and top tips for using them

Top 5 social media platforms for doing business in China—and top tips for using them

Unlike many Western markets, China’s social media ecosystem is diverse and specialized, reflecting the country’s distinct digital culture and regulatory environment. This complexity presents both challenges and opportunities for businesses looking to do business in China.

This landscape is increasingly crucial for businesses as China experiences rapid growth in demand for urban consumer goods and mobile shopping, with social media platforms serving as key drivers of these trends.

Social media is pivotal in shaping consumer behavior and brand interactions in China. Five key platforms – WeChat, Weibo, Douyin, Xiaohongshu, and Bilibili – each offer unique features and cater to specific demographics.

This article introduces you to the characteristics of these important platforms. While each platform presents its challenges, Go-Click China offers a comprehensive solution to help you conquer them.

WeChat

WeChat is an all-in-one ecosystem that caters to the general public’s daily needs. According to Tech Report, WeChat has 1.13 billion active monthly users and WeChat Pay ranked second on the list of payment platforms in China in 2023.

WeChat offers several important business features that are crucial for companies operating in the Chinese market:

  • Official accounts: Mini-websites for content marketing and customer engagement.
  • Mini Programs: Lightweight in-app applications for e-commerce and services.
  • WeChat Pay: Integrated payment system essential for online and offline transactions.

To effectively reach Chinese users on WeChat, focus on content strategy, advertising, and engagement. WeChat ads are a powerful tool for quickly building brand recognition, as these native-looking ads seamlessly integrate into users’ social feeds.

Additionally, creating engaging content, utilizing interactive features like polls or contests, and collaborating with influencers can significantly help in fostering a community around your brand.

China's 5G leadership and the rise of WeChat commerce

China’s 5G dominance has significantly impacted WeChat usage and mobile shopping. Faster loading times facilitated by 5G enable the creation of engaging video-based marketing on WeChat, ultimately creating a more convenient mobile shopping experience.

Problem

Many businesses, especially the new entrants, find it challenging to set up and optimize their WeChat Official Accounts productively. This is due to language barriers, unfamiliarity with the platform, and the complexity of WeChat’s features.

GoClick solution

Our solution involves providing consulting services to guide businesses through this process:

  • Account setup and optimization: Assisting with the registration and verification process for Official Accounts and advising on the best use of WeChat’s features.
  • Engagement tactics and performance analysis: Guiding businesses on how to effectively increase interactions and assisting in interpreting WeChat’s analytics into actionable insights.
  • Integration: Advising on integrating your Official Account into a holistic strategy, ensuring seamless alignment of your WeChat advertising with campaigns on other leading Chinese platforms.

Weibo

Weibo, a popular Chinese microblogging platform often compared to X, boasts over 605 million monthly active users. Featuring short posts, multimedia sharing, trending topics, and hashtags, it’s a popular hub for celebrity gossip and interactive marketing campaigns.

Weibo is particularly valuable for brands targeting young, urban Chinese consumers, especially for viral marketing and real-time engagement. Major events and posts by influencers can spark significant engagement spikes.

The best practices for utilizing Weibo when doing business in China

To best utilize the platform to boost business, crafting shareable content is crucial as Weibo’s structure facilitates rapid content sharing. Shareable content can quickly reach beyond your follower base.

For advertising, utilize various formats like Promoted Posts, Fan Headline, and Stories to target users at various touch points within the platform. It’s also important to align campaigns with Chinese holidays and shopping seasons, such as Chinese New Year, Singles’ Day, 618 Shopping Festival, and Double 12.

Collaborating with influencers can be cost-effective for building brand awareness. Content from influencers typically sees higher engagement than brand-created content, and influencers can lend credibility to foreign brands entering the market.

Weibo plays a crucial role in providing product information and user reviews, especially for younger consumers. User-generated content is seen as more trustworthy than traditional advertising, while the interactive nature allows potential customers to directly engage with brands and other users.

Problem

Weibo offers multiple ad formats and targeting options, which can be overwhelming. Moreover, the platform’s metrics and analytics can be complex to interpret, especially for those unfamiliar with Chinese social media.

GoClick solution

GoClick uses a combined approach of synthetic and manual testing. Synthetic testing allows for testing multiple ad variations without real-world spend. This is useful for identifying optimal ad formats, copy, and visuals before live deployment.

We can then refine our approach through manual testing. Through real user interactions, you can gain insight such as cultural nuances or how your ad performs alongside competitors’ content.

Douyin

Launched in 2016, Douyin quickly became one of China’s most popular apps, ranking only after WeChat. The platform is particularly popular among users aged under 30 and is primarily used for entertainment rather than social networking.

Douyin’s core features include short-form video content (15-60 seconds) and easy-to-use built-in editing features such as filters, effects, and music. Users often participate in popular challenges or create their own.

The platform offers various advertising formats and ways to work with influencers, such as:

  • In-feed ads: Native-looking video ads that appear on users’ For You Page.
  • Branded effects: Custom AR filters or stickers for users.
  • Hashtag challenges: Sponsored hashtags encouraging user participation.
  • Branded takeovers: Static or dynamic full-screen ads shown around 3-5 seconds at app launch.
  • TopView ads: Full-screen ads that are shown to users upon opening the app.

Other than creating ads on your own, collaborating with influencers through sponsored content, product placements, or establishing long-term partnerships with popular creators can be a highly effective strategy to expand reach and boost engagement on Douyin.

Gaming trends and short videos on Douyin

Gaming is a major part of youth culture in China, and game-related content is prevalent on Douyin, including gameplay clips, tips, and reviews. This is because the short video format of Douyin is perfectly suited for quick gaming moments and brief tutorials, and Douyin’s primary audience aligns well with gaming content.

Problem

Creating content that resonates with Douyin’s young user base is a common challenge for brands and marketers as Douyin’s audience, primarily Gen Z, has unique preferences and behaviors.

GoClick solution

Our manual testing solution enables a data-driven, user-centric content strategy. By deploying content to actual Douyin users, you can gather genuine insights and direct feedback from specific age groups or interests. Analyzing real engagement data allows for continuous content optimization.

Xiaohongshu (Little Red Book)

Xiaohongshu is a hybrid platform combining social media, content sharing, and e-commerce. Its contents mainly focused on lifestyle-oriented topics like beauty, fashion, travel, and food. With high-quality images and short videos, the platform is a trend incubator for lifestyle and products in China.

Users of Xiaohongshu share honest, detailed reviews of products and experiences. While honest reviews build user trust, gamification elements like user levels and badges further encourage engagement.

Leveraging Xiaohongshu for brand promotion and sales

With Xiaohongshu’s integration of content and e-commerce, users can discover products and make purchases within the app. The user base of the platform is primarily young, urban Chinese consumers with strong purchasing power, making it ideal for brand promotion and sales.

Problem

Xiaohongshu’s community values authenticity and is often skeptical of overly promotional content. Striking the right balance between brand promotion and genuine community interaction is crucial yet tricky.

GoClick solution

We use synthetic testing to analyze community responses and manual testing to refine engagement strategies. By simulating various types of content and strategies, synthetic testing allows for testing multiple approaches without real-world risks, whereas manual testing focuses on direct community interaction.

Bilibili

Bilibili is similar to YouTube, but it’s specifically popular for its gaming and ACG (Animation, Comics, and Games) content. It is known for its passionate and highly engaged niche community, which caters to various subcultures popular among Gen Z.

The platform’s signature feature is “Danmu”, a bullet comment system where viewers can post real-time comments that appear directly overlaid on the video.

When advertising on Bilibili, traditional tactics won’t suffice. Gen Z users trust user-generated content and opinions from netizens they follow. Sponsoring events or programs that align with your brand and target audience’s interests is a viable strategy.

Insights into how gaming and video content appeal to Gen Z

For Gen Z, gaming and video content are key forms of social interaction. Bilibili’s focus on niche communities, bullet points strategy, and live streaming aligns perfectly with this, fostering a strong sense of engagement and appealing to mainstream customers.

Problem

Without cultural and linguistic fluency, it can be challenging to understand community norms, unique memes, and inside jokes. Building trust in a tight-knit society also requires time and consistent effort.

GoClick solution

GoClick’s manual testing allows crowdtesters to engage directly with Bilibili communities, understand their content preferences, and tailor content to specific niches. By directly interacting on the platform, Goclick can develop marketing strategies that resonate with the audience.

Other considerations when doing business in China

While the five platforms we introduced are powerful tools, success in China requires a deeper understanding of the market’s unique characteristics.

Independent technology solutions

Despite being easier to set up and use initially, proprietary solutions tie you to a specific vendor and their platform. In comparison, open-source solutions allow businesses to adapt quickly to local requirements and scale as needed while reducing dependency on specific vendors.

Evolving regulatory landscape

New regulations are constantly emerging. Businesses need to ensure their algorithms and data practices comply with these new rules, which may require significant adjustments to existing systems.

Stricter regulatory environment

Enhanced data and algorithm security, antitrust measures, fintech regulation, and ‘gig economy’ rights are under intense regulatory focus and can significantly impact business operations in China.

The power of tech titans

Companies like Alibaba and Tencent have broad influence across various aspects of daily life in China, impacting various aspects of daily life. Understanding these ecosystems is crucial as they often serve as gateways to reaching Chinese consumers.

Leveraging existing infrastructure

Alibaba’s cloud computing services and Alipay’s digital tool can provide reliable infrastructure and access to a large user base. While beneficial, reliance on these platforms should be balanced with the need for independence.

Conclusion

No single platform dominates Chinese social media as Facebook or Instagram might in other markets. Adopting a diversified approach ensures reaching a broader target audience.

Open-source solutions offer flexibility, customization, and legal compliance, building trust with Chinese consumers and authorities.

Partnering with Go-Click China allows you to have access to a comprehensive strategy and target marketing across multiple platforms. Contact us today to learn how we can help you maximize your brand’s potential in the Chinese market.

GoClick China

Subscribe to our Newsletter

Subscribe and get a great takeaway for building your organization’s Chinese web presence!

Ready to improve your website in China?

Contact us today to schedule your free assessment.

Your eyes behind the wall.

Goclick China specializes in testing websites and web applications in China and monitoring their performance so that operators can optimize their content delivery efficiency to target users in China. We have deployed servers all across China and have boots-on-the-ground dedicated QA testers to carry out specific test tasks in strategic locations in China. We also develop customized website testing and monitoring solutions for your specific needs and on your budget. You can contact us to request sample China website testing reports. Want to check if a website is blocked in China? Our website monitoring services can keep you updated if a website is accessible in China. Or do you need web hosting in China to keep your site performance at its best? We can offer you the best Chinese hosting options based on our benchmark data resulted from our years of testing websites in China in the thousands. Depending on your requirements and needs, we can assist you in your ICP license application, marketing campaigns and website SEO for your websites and online properties. When it comes to website building, testing and marketing, regardless it is e-commerce China websites or informational portals, we have a series of solutions to help you succeed in the unique Chinese digital economy.