Socialize B2B with WeChat
By Martha Peterson on 04/25/2014
In China, the social scene is different, and that’s not necessarily a bad thing. Generally speaking, the Chinese accept brand participation and dialogue, so each major social platform has great functionality to facilitate this. To achieve the same experience in the West, you would need to use a combination of platforms ranging across Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and YouTube.
Sina Weibo, the leading microblogging site for China, is best described as a hybrid of Twitter and Facebook—“Weibo” literally means microblog in Mandarin. Sina Weibo boasts a highly-educated, professional audience, making it a natural fit for B2B advertisers. Most multi-national companies use Sin Weibo to manage brand reputation and provide educational business content.
WeChat, the other leading social platform in Asia, has over 300 million users in China alone and is the 5th most downloaded application worldwide. Many compare WeChat to Whatsapp. At its core, WeChat is a mobile, cloud-based text and voice messaging app, but true to its Chinese roots, it has steroid-like functionality that has turned it into something much greater than Whatsapp: Messaging; photo/video and location sharing; contact information exchange; streaming content feeds; payment transactions; data mobile sharing.
There are many examples of great B2C companies like socially savvy Coca-Cola and Starbucks cultivating its fan base via WeChat. But the new trend involves many Chinese B2B marketers taking advantage of WeChat’s ability to engage the Chinese business audience in a personalized, real-time and convenient manner. B2B brands can leverage WeChat to increase awareness, build reputation, educate, generate leads, support sales, manage customer relationships and guide customers through what complex e-commerce transactions. With WeChat, companies can respond to issues and requests raised by subscribers and followers in real-time, making the service an extremely valuable tool to develop leads, support sales and conduct CRM. WeChat is a global app with servers based in China. Unfortunately, potential government censorship deters marketers from using WeChat in this manner beyond the borders China. Nonetheless, more Multi-national B2B marketers should take advantage of this a new opportunity to cultivate customer relationships in China with WeChat.
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