Explaining WeChat, Weibo and China’s online consumers
Written by Jay Kim and published by Tech in Asia. This post has been partially edited, if you want to read the full article go here.
This is a conversation between investor and entrepreneur Jay Kim and Hong Kong-based vlogger, professional speaker and social media manger Ashley Galina Dudarenok.
Dudarenok just wrote a book called Unlocking the World’s Largest E-Market: A Guide to Selling on Chinese Social Media. She was back on the show to discuss some of the insights she shared in the book. Here are the highlights.
How do WeChat and Weibo integrate into a Chinese person’s life?
They are extremely different because WeChat is more like an operating system for life. It’s something you cannot survive without in China. You use it when you want to book something, hail a taxi, pay for something, and communicate with somebody. If you’re at a business meeting in the West, you exchange business cards. In China, they’d say, “Can I scan your ID?” so they can connect with you through WeChat.
The WeChat that most Westerners have on their phones is not the real Chinese version. That’s the stripped, international version. When foreigners look through that app, they say, “I don’t see anything extraordinary.” It’s because they are not looking at the right app.
Weibo, on the other hand, is a great platform for marketing. Think about it as a news platform where a lot of bloggers, media outfits, government departments, and ordinary users share stuff. It’s like Facebook plus Twitter plus a lot of other things like SlideShare, etc. There are Instagram-like features, so you can also create stories. It’s a great platform to track what’s hot in China right now, and you can sort those hot topics by region or city.
In the West, we primarily use social media to send instant messages to each other, connect with our friends, stalk people, and share a couple of pictures. In China, there is e-commerce in social media — you can buy directly through WeChat, Weibo, and live streaming platforms. You can follow celebrities, use it as a news platform, participate in campaigns, and use it as your CRM (because nobody in a million years would ever go to complain and call some hotline or send an email).
Do you think there’s still room for one or more players amid Alibaba and Tencent’s domination?
I definitely believe that as we progress, the younger generation will need their own social media platforms and completely new ways to connect and share their lives.
The other question is, who is going to own them? If you don’t look deeper right now, you will probably not know that Alibaba is investing in a lot of social platforms. WeChat is investing in others too. But it’s just like in the rest of the world where big companies always try to add allies into their camps.
So there might be a rise of another company or two, but eventually, I think they will still ally with one or the other. Remember when there were three players in the market, i.e. BAT (Baidu, Alibaba, and Tencent)?
Baidu is not part of the social media wars (which drives China’s whole digital landscape), which is why it is now losing its grip. It is still powerful in search and location-based services but we have yet to see what’s going to come of it.
What are some hot areas for Chinese people now?
Entrepreneurship is hot, especially in the first- and second-tier cities (basically Beijing, Shanghai, Shenzhen, and Guangzhou). A lot of Chinese people go and set up companies straight after school. They even have a term for the startup entrepreneur lifestyle: 9–9–6. It means that they work from 9 am to 9 pm, six days a week. It’s always good to launch products that support entrepreneurs.
Self-development is another thing. Almost everybody in China is into developing skills — communication, speed reading, programming, etc. China is a very pragmatic, fast-paced, and competitive market. Everybody wants to succeed at something. So if you can help them get closer to their goal, you have a huge opportunity.
Baby and food products are also hot throughout China. There’s also cosmetics and personal care. Right now, the hottest thing in China is skincare products for young males, those who are aged between 14 and 25!
Traveling is another thing. Chinese people from first-tier cities all go to unique destinations like Madagascar, Russia, or something crazy. They go on private tours and spend a lot of money on experiences.
Lastly, any technology that is fun and usable is in. They always want to try something they haven’t seen before. China is a great market for all these things.
How does the rising middle class spend?
Second-tier cities are driving more online consumption than first-tier cities by far. In general, those guys have the money.
Traditionally, Chinese people save a lot, but right now they are spending. A great indicator is the amount of transactions on WeChat. In the past few years, the amount that people are comfortable paying through mobile payments has increased significantly.
There are many reasons behind that, but WeChat also ran a series of campaigns to encourage people to spend more money, feel more comfortable with that, and establish trust.
But all that indicates that people have the money, and they’re willing to spend it for something of high quality and something that will give them the experience they’re looking for.
What would be your advice for entrepreneurs in Asia?
Start investing in your brand. No matter what kind of ventures you start, you’re definitely going to change directions throughout your life. So, you need to invest in yourself. If you have a person that you look up to, see what they have done well. What was their journey? And then copy that journey.
The second piece of advice would be to constantly upgrade your peer group. I see that here in Asia it’s absolutely not happening. People stick with the people they worked with five or 10 years ago. I’m not saying that you should ditch your old friends, but you need to constantly upgrade.
Reach out to people two or three levels above you. Nothing in life will propel you faster and further than genuine personal relationships with exciting and powerful people.
Source: Tech In Asia
MOST 2414 is a digital marketing agency and consulting firm based in Bangkok. Discover more about our services dedicated to Chinese social media management and marketing, WeChat, WeChat Pay, Weibo and Baidu.
