Development of Social Media Marketing in China

It is no secret there are certain "controls" on information transfer in China but with slowly relaxing regulations and new technology Chinese have been quick to capitalise on this. Although, in theory, Twitter and Facebook are unavailable in China, the home grown versions have exploded in popularity giving Chinese a new found freedom of expression and a means to vent dissatisfaction and criticism in a way never before possible under media restrictions.
Political issues aside, this has meant a huge challenge for businesses, as we mentioned, Weiboa [Chinese Twitter] is now the default standard in China with businesses clambering to get on board.

If we think back to pre Digital, traditional marketing in China, really only yesterday, it was structured, organised, regulated. Multi national companies had in house marketing departments, but for most Chinese SME's Marketing translated simply to SALES, long term brand development was not a focus.
Multi nationals had a cash and resource advantage, difficult for smaller SME's to break into the China market
How ever the cosmic explosion of Digital Marketing in China seems to have caught everyone off guard and as it develops along "Chinese lines" one of the key issues is finding skilled, experienced people to run it.

So knowledge, skills and experience have shifted and a new era of Digital Marketers are emerging in China. Experienced, mature, battle hardened professionals mixed with Internet savvy young people, generation X who "live on-line" carrying their world in their hip pocket via smart phones. A new breed of marketers, a mere handful, active, dynamic and Digitally connected with an innate knowledge of Social Media and skills of applying and analysing Digital data predominately working with active, dynamic, specialist Digital Marketing studios.
Such is the team at Active Digital- China

Today the scramble to join the confused, changing Digital Marketing scene is everywhere, from multi nationals such as BMW, VW, Mercedes, Toyota, Guandong Bank, to name drop just a few of the clients handled by Ms Yu in the past 4 months to mainstream Chinese business. For now at least, this newness, this confusion and skill shortage presents a more level playing field as everyone tries to learn and get ahead at the same time. However the pace of change, the lack of regulations and Chinese cultural influence can make it a perilous experience for the unwitting.

Shifting the Power balance

We have already explained that the rapid development of Digital Marketing and Social media in particular has for now, seen everyone learning so there is now a shift in that power is more evenly spread across the business spectrum, small and large companies face the same issues with both the bigger players, and SME's all now looking for expert professionals to help with the technical aspects of this white hot phenomenon.

However this is relatively minor and probably short lived, the biggest change that faces EVERY business in China from no on is the shift in power of the consumer, the customer.
In simple terms, pre Digital Marketing Era in China was "passive," you gave the information, your customers received it, a one way street, power and control rested with you. Digital Marketing in China now is active, or interactive the street is now a multi laned high speed motorway, power has most definitely switched to the consumer, which can be a double edged sword.

The next chapter looks at some of the advantages from using Social Media in China.