Referred to as ‘Twitter of China’ Weibo is the strongest digital marketing tool that every business must learn about. It also some features of Facebook which makes it the most popular social media platform in China. Therefore, Weibo marketing is the first thing that businesses in China want to know about. With more than 300 million active users, this micro-blogging site was launched in 2009 and has a presence of its users across 190 countries. It not just the number but the variety of users as well makes the Weibo most sought after platform by the businesses:

• There are individual users using Weibo for entertainment.

• Business professional looking for connections that are beneficial for their business.

• Both Chinese and international celebrities who interact with their fans in China use Weibo.

• Media uses Weibo every day to watch the trend and to get the ideas about their articles and reports on different matters.

Weibo for brand positioning in China

A business must follow the given steps to use Weibo marketing in their favor and brand positioning:

• A business must create the official account on Weibo which should be verified because every internet activity in China is closely monitored by the government.

• The account than must have videos, images, and written content to present the idea of the business.

• The target audience must be understood so that the right users can be approached by the business promotion.

• Genuine and engaging content on the account always attracts comments from the users because the Chinese audience reacts better to the ads and promotions than their counterparts in the rest of the world.

Challenges with Weibo

Like any other social media platform, Weibo has similar challenges:

• There is a regular need to attract potential followers which needs a lot of new content in a different form every day.

• Despite of new content every day, not all of it is seen by the followers.

• The potential followers are first difficult to attract and even difficult to earn their loyalty.

Types of advertising on Weibo

Weibo marketing uses different types of advertising:

Banner advertising: As the name suggests, it is the banner on the top of the business website, and the homepage is like a backlink that leads to the homepage of the business. This technique works in China because Chinese audience doesn’t mind being forwarded to another link as far as the product or the business interests them.

Weibo search engine promotion: It is based on the keywords and reaches many users the single point of time creating a healthy awareness about the business. It uses the search tool on the discover page of Weibo and business needs to be very careful about the selection of keyword. If a business uses the trending keyword, it needs to pay less for the promotion otherwise there is a lot of money that needs to be spent to use this feature.
Fan Headline: This is the most popular form of advertising on Weibo that appears in the form of a headline. It is the most effective way of promoting the business on Weibo. It needs daily updates depending upon the type of target users and can use the owner’s account and other famous accounts in Weibo. There can be followers on daily posts; a business can ask other users to share its posts or find some other accounts that can post the business feeds on their account.

Fan tunnel: Fan tunnel is similar to the fan headline with the only difference that fan tunnel uses the links of the existing users. The business asks its existing users to share their ads and posts on their timeline so that it can reach their followers and then their followers.

Benefits of Weibo

While in China, a business has many benefits of using Weibo marketing for its business promotion and brand positioning:

• Weibo reaches more than 70% of internet users which means a business can target a large audience at a time.

• Chinese audience responds well to advertising, and hence the business develops a kind of personal relationship with the user if the content is effective.

• A business that is active on social media also gains popularity among its users and the media, which means more awareness about the business.