Reaching Chinese Americans via Weibo And WeChat Advertising

There is no doubt, that the Chinese demographic presents a massive opportunity to any Western brand. However most brands are not leveraging the top social media channels that are popular with the Chinese. When looking at Chinese audiences, two social media channels need to be considered and they are WeChat and Weibo. Each of these channels have advertising platforms that can be leveraged, but can be intimidating if you don’t speak Chinese or are not familiar with the Chinese landscape.

The experts at the digital marketing agency, Sheng Li Digital, have created PDF advertising guides that are available as a free download for Multicultural Marketing News readers. Sheng Li Digital is a marketing and advertising agency, with offices in New York, Toronto and Vancouver, that helps Western brands connect with Chinese customers both internationally and domestically.

WeChat is the most used messaging app with a Chinese audience Worldwide. With more than 600 million daily active users across the globe, WeChat is a wildly popular app that is almost as popular as Facebook. However, most Western brands are not leveraging WeChat. For Chinese living abroad, WeChat is more popular than phone or email for keeping in touch with friends, family, and colleagues. For example, if you are Chinese and living in New York City, you use WeChat as your primary communication tool. This presents a massive opportunity for progressive companies that want to enter this marketplace and leverage the diverse WeChat advertising options. Download the WeChat Advertising Guide.

Weibo is like the Chinese equivalent of Twitter and is most popular with a younger Chinese audience worldwide. Many American celebrities are leveraging Weibo and are building massive fan bases. Sports are big too and the NBA’s profile on Weibo has 31 million followers. Weibo advertising has been established in-market longer than any other tool, and has unique functionality that should be considered with any Chinese digital advertising campaign. Download the Weibo Advertising Guide.

Facebook and Google are channels that can also be used to reach the Chinese living in the USA. Each of these popular channels allow you to target users based on their language settings and whether their profiles are set to read Chinese characters. You can then combine this targeting with geographic, age, sex, interest targeting to really define your audience, which is both extremely powerful and cost-effective.

In Mainland China Google is blocked by the ‘Great Firewall of China’. Because Google is blocked in Mainland China, the most popular search engine is called Baidu. Baidu, whose literal meaning is “hundreds of times”, represents a persistent search for the ideal. If your target audience is in Mainland China, then Baidu advertising must be part of the marketing mix and they have a variety of different advertising options that go beyond search and PPC advertising, including a vast display advertising network. Download the Baidu Advertising Guide.

For more information on how to ‘Reach Chinese Americans via Weibo And WeChat Advertising‘ please visit http://shenglidigital.com.