Social Media in China:What You Know & What You May Not Know

YUN XU (RING)

Internet in China

(Source: CNNIC (2012) http://www.cnnic.net.cn/en/index/0O/index.htm)

Population of Netizen

Popularisation Rate of Internet

2

Up to December 2011, the number of net citizens in China has reached 513 million, with an increase of 56 million compared to the end of 2010.

3 Source: Free Software Foundation (2010)http://www.fsf.org/facebook

Something about China

4

Something Else about China

Social Media in China

(Source: TechinAsia, 2012, http://www.techinasia.com/techinasia/wp-content/uploads/2012/03/CIC-2012-China-Social-Media-Landscape.pdf)

5

6

Thinking about the Number Now

Source: Smartling (2012) http://www.smartling.com/globalweb#people-online

24% of Global Internet Content

is in Chinese

Source: Hitwise (2012) http://thenextweb.com/asia/2011/05/27/sina-weibo-more-dominant-in-china-than-twitter-is-in-the-us/

7

Source: CICC (2011): http://www.howvc.com/Html/ipo/ibank/analyzer-opinion/089061.html

Sina Weibo!

8 Source: ChinaMedia360 http://chinamedia360.com/News/NewsDetail.aspx?nid=F108FF3B95BA64A7

Fast Lane

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Sina Weibo?

Evolution? Revolution? Profitable?

The Netizens in China

Comparison on Age Structure of Net Citizens from December 2009 to June 2010Source: CNNIC (2010)

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What do they do online?

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PARTICIPATING

Influential Media

56.3% of users admitted that they know brands through online

channels;

58.7% actually made purchase decisions based on user-generated

online info;

When making a purchase, 89.9% of users pay attention to online

WOM

Source: Making sense of Internet World of Mouth, CIC 200912

Source: ChinaMedia360 http://chinamedia360.com/News/NewsDetail.aspx?nid=F108FF3B95BA64A7 13

Source: ChinaMedia360 http://chinamedia360.com/News/NewsDetail.aspx?nid=F108FF3B95BA64A7

Commercialization

Numbers and Facts about Weibo

• Sina Weibo accounted for one out of 106 Internet visits in China;

• Twitter accounted for one out of 227 Internet visits in the UK;

• Twitter accounted for one out of 434 Internet visits in the US;

• Sina Weibo has about 450,000 users in the United States as of late November 2011.

14 Source: Experian Hitwise (2012) Source: the Economic Times (2012)

• NO.1 Rio Ferdinand http://www.weibo.com/rioferdinand

• No.6 Emma Watson http://www.weibo.com/emmawatson

• No.7 Burberry http://www.weibo.com/burberry

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Top Users in the UK

Consumer WoM in China’s Social Media Part1

British Discount Broadcasting Station :

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British Shopping Station Number of Followers: 52300

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Consumer WoM in China Social Media Part2

International Brands on China Weibo

• Brand: Coach New York• Number of Followers: 359,564• Number of posts: 1344• Youku embedded into Weibo Page

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Consumer WoM in China Social Media Part3

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Consumer WoM in China Social Media Part4

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Consumer WoM in China Social Media Part5

Successful Example of Weibo Marketing

Summary

China’s social media landscape is constantly growing, innovating, evolving.

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Consumers are adopting new technologies and

interacting with them in different ways.

By the time you see this presentation, the facts may have already changed.

What you can get?—Weibo Opportunities

• Huge Consumer Base• 24/7 business opportunities• Mobile app services• Multi-media promotion• Fast WOM effect• Easy to monitor• Better than Facebook and Twitter to approach

Chinese customers

What am I Looking for?

• Case studies• Effective ways of approaching consumers• Managerial Implications in using Weibo as the

primary SNS and mobile app in serving Chinese consumers

• THANK YOU!