The Top 10 Chinese Social Media Networks in 2021

Intro

There is no doubt that social media has become inseparable from Chinese people’s daily lives. According to Hootsuite ‘s We Are Social report, the total number of active social media users in China has reached 930.8 million in 2021, which is 64.6% of the total population. Therefore, understanding Chinese social media and having an effective social media strategy is essential for brands to be successful in the Chinese market.

In this article, we introduce ten popular social media networks in China, including marketing tips to look at in 2021.

Top Ten Chinese Social Media Networks

WeChat

As WeChat celebrates its tenth anniversary in 2021, it has become a daily necessity for its 1.2 billion users. In the last few years, this Chinese social media network has evolved from mobile messaging into a super-app that meets all the Chinese consumers’ needs in their daily lives. Without leaving the app, the users can browse “Moments” published by friends, make digital payments or transfer money to others via WeChat Pay, follow brands and influencers, read news and articles, play games, and shop on mini-programs.

WeChat marketing:

*WeChat subscription & service account

There are two types of WeChat accounts for businesses to choose from, subscription accounts and service accounts. A subscription account is a news feed service and can be posted to subscribers daily publicising several articles at a time. On the service accounts, the posts will be messages appearing in the follower’s chat logs. The content can have several articles up to four times monthly. Although you share fewer posts, there is a benefit, especially with visibility since it notifies the users directly.

*Mini-programs

Mini-programs enable brands to create small apps within WeChat to engage and sell without leaving the WeChat environment. As a key tool for brands to expand their online selling capabilities, mini-programs are more effective at driving conversions compared to standalone sites due to integrated WeChat Pay functionality and a streamlined checkout experience. WeChat reported that more than 100 million users purchased via a WeChat mini-program in 2020.

K11 malls in China launched its K11 GO mini-program during the pandemic lockdowns in 2020, which allowed customers to shop for different brands, engage in live stream events, and experience virtual art tours. The mall saw online sales grow by 50% YOY as a result, according to K11 founder Adrian Cheng.

*Video Channel

As live streaming and short-form videos explode in China, it drove WeChat to launch a video function within the app, WeChat Channels, in 2020. It has attracted top influencers, brands, and organisations to open accounts, such as Louis Vuitton and Dior.

Weibo

Weibo is considered the Chinese Twitter, but as the second-largest social media network in China, with more than 550 million monthly active users, it is now more than a microblogging platform. Weibo provides many advertising choices, including organic content marketing like short videos, live streams, and traditional micro-blogging; you can also invest in paid advertising such as trending hashtags and display advertising.

Weibo Marketing:

*KOL (Key Opinion Leader) marketing

The brands with a Weibo account can work with KOLs and celebrities to promote campaigns and products by sharing the brands’ posts or creating original advertising content for promoting the products.

*Paid marketing tools

If the brands have the budget for higher exposure, paying for a hashtag on the “Search Trending” list is the most efficient way to reach a wider audience. The brands with a limited budget can use Weibo’s inbuilt promoting tool to make the selected post display on potential followers’ news feeds. The targeted user number and types can be adjusted, depending on the budget.

Douyin & Kuaishou

As the Chinese original of the fast-growing short video app TikTok, Douyin has reached over 600 million daily active users by August 2020. With diversified content creators, this app attracts a massive population of younger individuals; nearly half of Douyin’s users in China are between the ages of nineteen-thirty.

Kuaishou is a competitor to Douyin. In the early years, the users and video creators were mostly from lower-tier cities and less-developed towns in China. The content style was aligned to people’s everyday lives, such as home cooking or square dancing. However, as video quality improved, the proportion of Kuaishou’s users in 1^st and 2^nd tier cities is nearly 50%. The number of its daily active users was close to 300 million in 2020.

Short-video Platform marketing:

*KOL marketing

Douyin is an ideal tool for brands trying to reach a younger segment. As a variety of KOLs started to open accounts on short video platforms, brands can collaborate with related influencers to create short video campaigns and sell products via live streaming.

*Inbuilt eCommerce platform

Both Douyin and Kuaishou have their own eCommerce section to allow brands to set up an online shop. Based on the platforms’ large user base, accurate algorithm as well as advantaged live-streaming commerce function, these online shops can attract significant numbers of targeted consumers’ attention efficiently.

Bilibili

Bilibili started as a niche video and streaming site for Chinese fans of ACG (anime, comics, and gaming) and has expanded its appeal, building up a fast-growing and highly engaged user base. The platform reported 55% YOY growth in monthly active users to 202 million in the Q4 of 2020. Also, 86% of its users are under thirty-five and spend an average of 75 minutes on the platform a day browsing Bilibili’s growing array of video and live stream content, with topics ranging from food, beauty, and fashion to education.

Bilibili Marketing:

*KOL marketing

Brands can work with top Uploaders to create an engaging onsite presence, also examine trending videos to understand cultural references and elements that resonate with Chinese Gen Z users for future on- and off-platform communications.

*ACG content

Based on the nature of the platform, brands can look to create opportunities to work with Bilibili content creators or licensed anime and popular game titles and localise by launching anime/game-inspired campaigns to resonate with China’s growing market of ACG fans.

Louis Vuitton partnered with Bilibili to develop an AR filter for users to transform themselves into a character from China’s hit video game League of Legends (LoL) in November 2019. It launched its capsule collection in collaboration with LoL in December 2019.

Xiaohongshu

Xiaohongshu is a user-generated content platform that focuses on fashion, beauty, and lifestyle. The users are mostly between eighteen -thirty-four years of age, and the proportion of female users reached 90.41% in 2021. Xiaohongshu has over 100 million monthly active users. The in-app e-commerce platform, Store, allows brands to sell their products to users directly.

Xiaohongshu Marketing:

*From KOL to KOC

Chinese consumers are placing increasing value on peer-to-peer product reviews before purchase. In addition to the KOL marketing as other social media networks, Xiaohongshu pioneered the emerging trend of KOCs (Key Opinion Consumers) in China, who build new consumer communities, and influenced other shoppers. Also, the younger Chinese consumers have strong interests to co-create with the brands they feel connected to, and it will attract more users to join. Longchamp’s Le Pliage tote is a popular DIY subject on Xiaohongshu. The bag owners are passionate about adding handmade decorations, such as floral embroidery and appliqué patches.

Zhihu

Zhihu is a question-and-answer platform edited and organised by the community of its users. Its focus is to educate people by answering their questions. Experts in specific areas also can start a column to create paid content. Zhihu has 420 million registered users in 2021. Most of them are the well-paid and educated middle class in 1st and 2nd tier cities in China.

Zhihu Marketing:

As a social media network focusing on knowledge sharing, content quality is key. To attract Zhihu users with strong spending power, the brands need to produce professional and informative content about their products. For organic marketing, a high-quality answer will stay on the top of the answer list so that more potential customers can see it.

Douban

Douban is the online hub where users can find short and detailed long reviews on music, books, movies, events, and activities. Young individuals who love culture and arts are its core users.

Douban Marketing:

Based on Douban’s user profile, its in-app marketplace is ideal for the niche independent designer brands.

Toutiao

Toutiao, owned by ByteDance as Douyin, is a content platform that shares informational articles and videos produced by registered publishers, including 138 thousand verified content creators. By January 2020, this fast-growing digital platform has reached 410 million monthly active users.

Toutiao Marketing:

Like Zhihu, content quality is essential. The brands should focus on creating insightful content on their official accounts to build a professional and positive image for the readers. Also, as the algorithm plays a key role when pushing the posts to the audience, highly relevant keywords are favourable in showing the right articles to the targeted potential consumers.

QQ

Before WeChat came around, QQ, also developed by Tencent, was the most used app for messaging. While used personally, this is now more commonly used for communication between co-workers and professionals in the office. Although QQ’s monthly active users have reduced to 606 million, being half of WeChat’s, the user base is still huge. QQ games, QQ shows, and Qzone constantly attract teenage users.

Conclusion

This article is only a quick view of the most popular social media in China 2021 on the market. There are still many other options with differing features, users, and types of content. To establish a strong presence within the market and among consumers overall, contact Enlybee. We will help you strategically utilise a variety of social media networks best suited to your needs. Schedule a call with us here: https://bit.ly/3ztetda