Time intensive, a specialised hi tech, software driven and dependent industry, rapidly changing and evolving, with a jargon all its own demanding skill, experience and technology to be truly effective. Working in a foreign language is an added challenge.
It also breads cheats and scams with fake claims about SEO, and many unethical agents or consultants taking advantage of inexperienced business. The viral nature of China Social Media means bad news can also spread very quickly. You need a professional, honest studio working for you.
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Digital Marketing is INTERACTIVE, vibrant, effective, no longer cold, sterile and impersonalChallenges: an overview
If you grew up around FORD or GM or the 70's or 80'S you were probably proficient at dropping the sump, lifting the head or removing the block for repairs, cleaning the carburettor and resetting the points.
But lift the bonnet on today's TOYOTA; there isn't room to swing a Crescent, and you'll probably damage the on board computer system.
Even the factory trained technicians [not mechanics any more!] need software so the vehicle can tell them what is wrong, and seem to speak a language that a decade ago didn't exist.
So it is with Marketing, especially the fields of PR and Communication. Once a survey or panel test with TV and press ads were standard and fairly well within the realm of "do it yourself" business people and multi nationals had their own departments.
Today it has become a specialised hi tech, software driven and dependent industry, rapidly changing and evolving, with a jargon all its own and, so far, in China the skills and knowledge rest with a select few.
Everything has been turned on its head with a more level playing field as large and small firms look to communication companies such as Active Digital for support.
Lastly, for non Chinese businesses there is also the tricky area of communication, language problems, even with those consultancies who have "English Speaking" customer service officers, there is still an enormous amount of room for mis-information, either unintentional or not and misunderstanding.
However, by and large, the advantages of WOM Marketing in China, or anywhere outweigh the challenges, and just as we said for advantages, the challenges are similar to those elsewhere but, again with China Social Media, there are certain less favourable aspects of Chinese culture that need to be kept in mind, especially if you are trying to go it alone. We will look at some of these in detail below.
Just as SEO brought out the cheats and scammers making unsubstantiated claims, [see opposite] so the Chinese Social Media has brought out some of the worse side of Chinese culture. It is perhaps indicative of human nature, but there are aspects that small business need to be aware of.
Unlike mainstream, traditional marketing, it is very easy to get left behind in the race for Digital Supremacy in China so some consultancies cut corners in the ethics or morality areas leaving you open to unwanted attention from the authorities, others exaggerate their claims and abilities or are simly "agents" who have no real interest in you or your businesses.
We mentioned "anti marketing" with Chinese Social Media, and it is very easy to find your business the target of malicious "tweets" that can have a very devastating effect.
You need to chose your co branding partner carefully and ensure your sensitive information and Intellectual property is well protected. Active Digital's only interest in your busines is seeing it grow and prosper.
This is the "flip side" of an advantage, by Word Of Mouth, customers can exchange information on products and services, so any small slip is suddenly magnified and amplified.
In the previous chapter: "Advantages of Social Media Marketing in China" we mentioned the aspect of "Real Time" and "Virality" [not to be confused with Virility!]
Hand in hand with this is another aspect;
The Internet doesn't die, what you [or your customers] put on the web today is very likely to still be there, somewhere, long after you have gone, even if you close your biz and take your site down.
Once, we said: "Any publicity is good publicity".
Well maybe when it was tomorrow's fish and chip wrapper, but it's not anymore - now, digital PR and Social Media means it can quickly become viral, 1 person = a million+.
The digital age means PR blunders stick around for a lot longer, and in fact, multiply as some companies have found out to their cost.
Today via China Social Media, any interaction between you and a customer can no longer be guaranteed to stay that way. What may have began with a call or email between the two of you at 10 AM can involve several million people by dinner time. It goes viral, spreads rapidly, beyond your control.
This is great if what they are saying is positive, but........
Lets look at two case studies.
Beware the old SEO Scam
Just as with SEO where alleged "Experts" promised you top ranking on Google, there are those who sensing the desperation and ignorance of SME's are exploiting the Social Media scene.
Now you would expect that anyone promising you to outplay Google at their own game on their home turf would raise alarm, bells, but many businesses fell for these claims, even today, on any Business forums there are still those making claims that can not be realised or substantiated.
Of course, there are many honest, professional SEO experts, but largely it is unquantifiable and so businesses have to invest a huge amount of trust.
So to a very large extend the situation regarding Social Media Marketing in China today is very similar, it is, as we have said very new, largely not fully understood and as anywhere, there are the cheats and sharks cruising waiting for unsuspecting targets.
Interestingly, China bypassed the SEO hype, largely because Google never really got a look in whilst the number one search engine, Baido, had a completely different system to Google.
Why bother with the cost and time of SEO and anything more than a simple flash template when one could buy ones's ranking?
But in China today, things are changing, Google is still insignificant but Baidu has twice changed its algorithms to be closer to Google and is set to emulate the Google search engine soon.
Meaning web design, SEO and accurate, honest copy is going to be important in China.
So, do the challenges outweigh the advantages?
Business is always a risk, risks increase in China for sure but with an honest, professional Digital Marketing studio like Active Digital working beside you those risks are significantly lessened.
Another "flip side," it can work for or against you. You can no longer "push" clients to your site or product, you need to "pull" them, you need to be more seductive and skilled at building a "relationship." They are engaged, they can equally become "disengaged," power has shifted to the consumer, they chose when and if to communicate with you, they also chose when to end it and like many relationships, it has the ability to become acrimonious if not handled well.
Their comments, posted via the China Social Media, on how they saw your product or service and the impression they formed during this relationship can make or break a company.
It is no longer a "one size fits all " medium controlled by you.
This can be difficult for smaller companies unless they have full time staff to produce fresh, attention getting copy who are also highly skilled in PR.,
Being able to infinitely target and generate detailed data is fine, but the quantity of data can sometimes overwhelm, especially smaller companies. However, many small to medium business fond that they simply didn't have time to maintain their Social Media full time and either let it slide or looked to the services of "professional" Social Media experts.
What we are tactfully trying to say is there seems to be a lack of understanding of the media by many businesses.
This was demonstrated during the Twitter et al hype where everyone rushed out to open an account, bombarded customers then lost interest.
Businesses were soon questioning the effectiveness of the channel.
At the same time there was a lot of criticism on BBS of the way business, especially big multi nationals, used Social Media, especially Twitter to continue their old "push, push" techniques without really listening to their fans or relating with them.
The buying public quickly saw through this as a cynical attempt to manipulate the channel to suit their own needs, and were not really interested in customers.
Many businesses had failed to predict the long term effect of social media and the huge advantage of changing the way they "related" to their customers so were unwilling or unable to change.
Challenges of China Social Media: Summary
To be effective Social Media Marketing MUST:
1/ Be continuous
2/ Be relevant TO CUSTOMERS NEEDS AND WANTS and be receptive to their fans feedback. Listening is just half the battle, you also need to talk, pay attention to what fans are saying and reply and act in a timely manner.... all extremely time demanding for even large businesses.
However many businesses, especially smaller ones run into problems from lack of knowledge, time, language or being caught up with a "black hat" agent.
It takes skill, hard work and time to build a strong, loyal fan base but very little time or skill to destroy it. It is probably best left to professional studios, but you need to chose them wisely.
On the whole, the benefits far out way the disadvantages especially if you are teamed up with a reliable, experienced and trustworthy Digital Marketing Studio such as Active Digital.
So, why use Active Digital Social Media in your China marketing campaign?
We will look at this in the next chapter.