8 Takeaways from Chinese Social Media in 2020

According to the latest report published by the China Internet Network Information Center (CNNIC) on internet development, the internet population in China reached 900 million as of March 2020, 75 million more than the previous year. What is staggering, it's that 99.3% (897M) of these internet users are on mobile.

Chinese consumers spend as much as 44% of their time on social media apps, according to McKinsey Digital.

There is no doubt that China's social media and digital landscape is enormously vast, unique, exclusive and advanced. It's now becoming a must for any brands or professionals to understand the Chinese digital world and netizen behaviors to do business in China.

Here are 8 key takeaways of China's social media development in 2020. Bear in mind, things are changing every single minute.

1 ) WeChat Social Ecosystem is More Integrated than Any Other in the World

WeChat/WeiXin did not even exist ten years ago, but nowadays, it has more than 1.2 billion Monthly Active Users. In 2019, WeChat-driven employment contributed 29.63 million positions, directly creating 26.01 million employment opportunities.

You can not find any other benchmark anywhere in the world where one app can provide so many functionalities and with this load of active users. It has many frequently used functions, including direct messaging, group chat, news subscription, personal timeline, service application, meeting, gaming, live streaming, shopping, banking, housing, dating, trip booking, social credit system, sharing economy, charity donation… ALL IN ONE APP!

This app has totally changed Chinese people's lives and the business world in the past ten years and will continue to do so.

2) WeChat Official Account is the “New Official Website”

WeChat has two types of Official Account (OA) for brands and organizations, one is called "Service Account," which has better notification results and is easier to integrate with APIs. The other is a "Subscription Account," which is more content-oriented. For international brands, it's already possible to apply for a Service Account using a foreign business license.

To stand out with a WeChat official account has been very difficult: the choice is so broad that Chinese internet users have been quite picky about what accounts to follow. However, no matter if you wish to target consumers directly or the B2B industry, WeChat OA should be the first to consider when you plan to do social media marketing to China. A WeChat OA is more and more acting as the "new official website" of a brand in the WeChat ecosystem. It's challenging to make a dent, but it still worth it.

The key element to step into the Wechat ecosystem is to have a solid planning of the WeChat OA roadmap, including but limited to account expectation, action plan, targeted audience, content commitment, and year-long promotion calendar.

3) WeChat Mini-program has and will explode

Have you ever wondered what it would be like if all the apps on your phone can be deleted and replaced by one app only? WeChat is trying to do just that.

Tencent recently reported its 1Q20 financial results, with WeChat Mini-program daily active users (DAU) growing and surpassing 400 million. With a simple click, you can play games, go to an online store, make flight bookings… still within WeChat.

Since Chinese internet users are spending so much time on WeChat and so many other functions can be integrated into the program, the Mini-program will keep increasing its popularity. It's fast, small (size), and simple, so why shouldn’t?

4) Weibo is Still One Key Informational Sharing and Social Platform in China

Weibo Corporation just released its Q1 2020 Results, monthly active users(MAU) were 550 million in March 2020, a net addition of approximately 85 million users on a year-over-year basis. The average daily active users were 241 million in March 2020.

During the Covid-19 outbreak in Q1, Weibo also proved that it is still one of the most important public platforms for information sharing and brand communications in China, especially during a crisis.

For brands and commercials, Weibo is a key platform for B2C marketing and follower engagement: the platform is filled with leisure, entertainment, food, travel, fashion, beauty and other B2C industry brands. It's also crucial for KOL/Influencer marketing in China.

5) Invest on programmatic and precise Social Advertising

Rule #1 to do social media marketing in China is to know that you should never expect a well-written article to make a buzz driven by the content alone. Organic reach driven by content in China is a thing of the past. It's also essential to combine advertising and promotional tools with the account and content management to achieve the best results.

All major social media platforms in China, including Weibo and WeChat have precise advertising available, meaning you can choose the targeted audience based on their gender, age, location, and interest. Some platforms can even be more precise to include for example educational background or keyword searching habits.

Even for KOL/Influencer marketing, it's now possible to analyze their key fans group, age, gender, location, income or Android/iOS device using percentage. All these are becoming necessarily needed when making the selection and negotiation with Chinese MCN.

6) Short Video Rules

Many still don't know that the most downloaded app in recent months, Tik Tok, is originally from a Chinese company. Bytedance is a fast-growing technology firm in China (and globally) with Tiktok (outside China) and Douyin (in China) becoming a hit among users.

Humans are visual animals. It's becoming increasingly difficult to impress audiences with copy text + pictures alone. On the other hand, 30-minute long videos challenge a viewer's patience. Short videos have become a trend and will keep playing an important role in content communications today.

On Douyin (the Chinese Tik Tok), brands have been actively creating short videos, funny content, professional commercials and live streaming sessions, all aimed to gain more followers. Very soon, all brands will have to open their official accounts on the short video platform and adapt to this new content and social marketing format. At least on Douyin and Kuaishou, many Chinese brands are already doing so.

7) Go to Bilibili to understand China’s young generation

What's "Generation Z" in China? What's the "bullet subtitles" culture? Where to find and influence the younger generation in China? Bilibili might be the answer.

This video platform is extremely popular among young groups with a MAU of 172 million, helping to craft the Chinese pop culture of today. But please remember that you have to be honest, smart and down-to-earth when trying to communicate with Bilibili users since they might not like some impractical or unpractical commercials from a traditional business mindset.

8) Everything is Social and Connected.

Social media is "social" for sure, but how about other applications? In China, apps and platforms, including e-commerce, mobile payment, gym training booking, podcast, or even music streaming, are all socialized. People can chat with friends, share a discount coupon when browsing Pinduoduo (e-commerce), or add some products to the cart while watching a Douyin Livestream.

Content, network and services are all connected.