How other digital marketing methodologies can be used to build a successful Chinese online PR strategy? Whether you are a Western brand with an existing presence in the lucrative Chinese market or looking to break into China with your product offer, the right approach will greatly enhance your marketing efforts and provide measurable results.

Things to know about Chinese online PR

It’s inevitable that Chinese online PR will have some differences with PR in Western markets. Some valuable points to keep in mind are:

1. Chinese customers naturally trust authoritative voices and peer-to-peer recommendations, perhaps more so than in the West.
2. For successful Chinese online PR campaigns, factors such as Chinese online behaviour and cultural differences need to be taken into account; both for user journeys and for content planning.
3. There are 800+ million Chinese internet users and the audience is highly-sophisticated, increasingly middle-class and active on their smartphones. Again, these facts must be considered within your strategic PR plan.

Taking your online PR in China forward

These steps will be of use as you plan your approach.

1. Define your key messages and brand tone of voice

These may need testing with your target Chinese audience, especially to ensure that regionalism, cultural values and other localised factors are taken into account. Key messages that work with a Western audience may not automatically translate as successfully with a Chinese audience.

2. Define your objectives

Chinese online PR can be used to build brand recognition, to grow a reputation in the Chinese market and to support Word of Mouth (WOM) marketing in China. It helps to be clear on your objectives before you begin to deliver work; in order to best measure success.

3. Create content

Yes, you can translate existing content, but it runs the risk of failing to engage with the Chinese audience and falling foul of socio-cultural variables. Just look at beauty products as an example. Many Western customers value a golden tan; but in China, women aspire to have bright, light skin. This type of knowledge makes all the difference between a successful online PR campaign and one that falls flat. There are two recommended ways to approach your content, depending on time, aspiration, resource and budget:

a) Website localisation

Where content already exists in English, some Western brands will seek to translate it for their Chinese audience. Website localisation is an approach that translates and localises a website by ensuring that text, images and videos are correctly translated in a way that is culturally and technically sound, as well as being correct. At Market Me China, we carry this service out for our clients by providing three benchmarks for the best possible localisation results (cultural customisation of content, Chinese UX and translation quality). We can also provide benchmarking against competitors operating in a similar space, to give a more objective assessment of your website’s likely performance in the Chinese market.

b) New targeted content

Other Western brands will seek to create fresh, organic content that is completely bespoke to the Chinese target audience and optimised for Baidu SEO. At Market Me China, we create hot topics and branded press releases as two key examples. There are plenty of opportunities to create this content using trending topics, keywords, national holidays, Chinese events and value-adding subjects that Chinese readers are likely to share.

4. Place content accurately

With over 800+ million internet users in China and countless websites competing for their attention, it’s vital to place content on the right platforms where it will be seen by your target audience, such as portals, vertical media, forums, Q&A. This involves local research and analysis to ensure the best use of your budget and potential return. We also work with Key Opinion Leaders (KOLs) to ensure content is shared to the right networks.

5. Optimise content ranking

There are strategies that can be employed to optimise the ranking of published content on third-party platforms. This Baidu off-site SEO is typically delivered by experts in the field, with specific local knowledge about the algorithms that Chinese search engines such as Baidu employ to favour certain types of content over others.

Your Chinese PR content will need to be published carefully across a chosen mix of third-party platforms, primary portals, vertical media and industrial forums. Additionally, it will need to be placed onto Baidu word-of-mouth platforms such as Baidu Post Bar (Baidu Tieba) and Baidu Q&A.

Do this accurately and your efforts will gain measurable marketing value. The voice of your brand will become widely trusted, authoritative and influential amongst your target Chinese audience; gaining their respect and preference. As your audience searches online in China, it will then see your content and learn more about your brand as it engages with your content.

Planning your timing

When working with our Western clients on Chinese online PR campaigns, we recommend first building a Chinese website before launching the PR activity. This ensures that the brand messages you share across the internet are providing the right visitor experience and matching the brand tone of voice on your landing page with Chinese content that your reader can understand and engage with.

Building a Chinese website for your online PR campaign

The right website will allow you to become a digital hub for your Chinese PR and marketing campaigns. Things to consider include:

– Hosting your Chinese website in China or Hong Kong for local accessibility
– Arranging a Chinese domain for credibility (and considering the right hosting location for accessibility and regulations.)
– Testing for optimum Chinese user experience
– Ensuring that the website’s structure and content is Baidu-friendly for SEO gains

About WeChat apply

WeChat apply is an award winning China WeChat digital marketing agency based in Sydney.Working across all aspects of the marketing solutions like WeChat promotion, WeChat Official Account Registration, WeChat KOL, WeChat Mini Program Ad. and so on, we will ensure you have a solid marketing strategy together with perfectly delivered campaigns. Wechat apply  will transform your China online marketing to increase your lead generation, brand awareness and market engagement.

The post 5 ways to succeed at Chinese online PR appeared first on WeChat Official Agency.

Chinese celebrities, when attending overseas events, have become increasingly politically sensitive about certain issues including China’s position vis-a-vis Tibet (and the Dalai Lama), Japan and Taiwan. They have learnt lessons of their peers, either in China or overseas, who were blocked or boycotted due to their “inappropriate” comments unwelcomed by the Chinese authorities or Chinese consumers.

The same seems to go for luxury and fashion brands that operate and do marketing in the Chinese market. Lancôme, Hermès and the Italian luxury carmaker Fiat have all learned the hard way that “political correctness” is an absolute must if you’re doing business in China.

Even when issues arise that have little to do with the brands themselves, they still have to bear the brunt of the negative outcome not only from the Chinese government but from consumers as well.

Following are five times when the political positions or views of celebrities have had repercussions on the luxury and fashion brands they represent in China. Hopefully brands can learn—what not to do—from their examples

1. Dennis Ho and Lancôme

In mid-2016, the French cosmetics brand Lancôme was involved in a public relations (PR) battle after Dennis Ho, a Hong Kong singer who had publicly expressed anti-China remarks online, performed at a mini-concert hosted by the brand. The case even caught the attention of Global Times, the state-run newspaper, who wrote a critique of the collaboration. Meanwhile, Chinese consumers residing in the company’s home country, France, launched an online petition calling for a boycott of the brand. Even though Lancôme immediately cancelled Ho’s attendance and released a public apology to Chinese consumers, the brand lost many loyal customers for the issue.

2. Jane Birkin and Hermès

Created by the French luxury powerhouse Hermès in homage to British actress Jane Birkin, the classic Birkin bag was dragged into an unexpected spat in 2016， When Birkin’s personal involvement with Tibet and the human rights movements crossed a line. The actress was banned from getting Chinese visa to participate in a concert in Shanghai in 2016. Commenting on the issue, Global Times mentioned in an article that the actress participated in a protest against China in 2008 while carrying her namesake signature bag. To a certain extent, this put the spotlight on Hermès.

3. Sharon Stone and Christian Dior 

In 2008, Hollywood star Sharon Stone, who was at the time the face of Christian Dior’s beauty products, put the brand in a tailspin when she made a public statement that the 2008 earthquake in China’s Sichuan province on May 12 (which killed nearly 70,000 people) was the result of “karma” from Beijing’s Tibetan policy. Chinese consumers were so furious over the statement that they boycotted her and Dior. In the end, the brand issued an official apology and dropped the collaboration with the actress.

4.Richard Gere and Fiat

In 2008, the Italian luxury carmaker Fiat was attacked by Chinese consumers for featuring the Hollywood star Richard Gere in its commercial ad campaigns. Gere is a long-time friend of the Dalai Lama, and a vocal supporter of the independence of Tibet. The brand dropped Gere and apologized for its choice.

5. Vivian Xsu and Chando

The collaboration between Taiwanese actress Vivian Xsu and the local Chinese premium beauty brand Chando also ceased when Xsu’s inappropriate remarks on the Sino-Japanese relationship caught the public’s attention.  At the 2010 Tokyo International Film Festival, which Xsu attended on behalf of Taiwan, when the Chinese delegation at the festival requested the host country add “China” before “Taiwan” instead of listing Taiwan as a separate country, Xsu, who also was active as a celebrity in Japan in the 1990s replied, “Japan is like my stepmother…. I would never set foot in mainland China.”

She was completely blocked out at China’s Social Media Weibo. All existing ad were pulled off and all music and songs related to her were completed wiped out.

 “Sorry, there is no search result related to Vivan Xsu, QQ music recommends you whether you have input a correct keyword.”

The controversy is where brands have been always taking extreme cautions when choosing their brand ambassador in their advertising/marketing campaigns, however brands have got no control over what their comments would be in future. Some people may argue it is shameful to bend over to the new powerhouse. While from marketing perspective alone, any brand would have already done their homework of SWOT analysis and have been aware of macro risk assessment. It is a one of the key factors to take into account when chasing your china marketing goals.

About Wechatapply

Wechatapply is an award winning China WeChat digital marketing agency based in Sydney.Working across all aspects of the marketing solutions like WeChat promotion, WeChat Official Account Registration, WeChat KOL, WeChat Mini Program Ad. and so on, we will ensure you have a solid marketing strategy together with perfectly delivered campaigns. Wechatapply  will transform your China online marketing to increase your lead generation, brand awareness and market engagement.

The post 5 Deadly Celebrities Backfire Impacting Luxury Brands’ Marketing in China appeared first on WeChat Official Agency.