Top 10 Chinese Social Media and Western Equivalents

Top 10 Chinese Social Media and Western Equivalents


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You have a product that is sure to sweep customers in China off their feet. Your Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter have always helped you reach out to customers everywhere else in the world, but if you think you can pull the same tricks again, think again. The social media market in China is a completely different digital landscape. To start with, Facebook, YouTube and Twitter are not available in the country. It is wise to equip yourself with the latest social media strategies in China before launching your product.

1. WeChat

WeChat is an all-in-one messaging app that is like a combination of Facebook, Whatsapp, Google News and more. Businesses can create accounts for promotions and implement CRM functionality. WeChat is so big in China that many businesses don’t even have traditional websites and choose to focus on maintaining their WeChat accounts only.

2. Sina Weibo

China’s answer to Twitter, Sina Weibo is a micro-blogging platform particularly popular among young white-collar workers and KOLs. Businesses can communicate directly with followers and can even sell their products through Weibo.

3. Tencent QQ

QQ is an instant messaging app particularly popular among the younger generation in 3rd and 4th tier cities. Businesses can pay to have marketing content created and published for them. QQ is great for businesses selling non-luxury products.

4. Youku Tudou

Dubbed Chinese Youtube, Youku offers an online viewing analytics tool, making it possible for businesses to identify audience by demographics, location, and other information. Paid advertisement is also available.

5. Baidu Tieba

Similar to Reddit, Baidu Tieba is a keyword-based discussion forum where discussions on any and every topic can be found. It makes a great social media marketing tool for new businesses.

6. Douban

Douban used to be a film and series rating platform like IMDB. As it scales, it has turned into an interest-oriented social networking platform expanding into paid learning content, podcast channel and more. Users use the platform for reviews, ratings and discussions, and for that very reason, it’s a great place for word-of-mouth marketing.

7. Zhihu

Quora-like question-and-answer site Zhihu often sees lengthy posts that cover very specific questions and has outstanding trust rankings on search engines. Businesses can raise brand awareness by answering questions and providing content on Zhihu.

8. Meituan-Dianping

Similar to Yelp, Meituan-Dianping provides a platform for users to share reviews of restaurants, except Meituan-Dianping reviews businesses like beauty salons, hotels, and gyms as well. Being the largest review service provider in China, Meituan-Dianping is an excellent channel to advertise and offer location-based promotions.

9. Momo

Seen as a clone of Tinder, Momo is the largest dating app in China that offers advanced targeting for its advertisers based on location, interest, demographics, etc.

10. Meitu

Meitu is an image-editing app and has recently announced its plan to become a social media platform as well. Currently, the new social media features are in beta and have been receiving encouraging responses. It is set to become a powerful advertising tool, especially for businesses with a focus on women.

Understand the social media tools available in China is crucial to building connections with your target customers. Our team based in Shanghai is ready to help if you need any advice for the mainland market. On a further note, some of our clients work closely with our Hong Kong team for China marketing service.

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