SINA WEIBO‘A VIRTUAL TOWN SQUARE’Our guide to how your brand can use this platform.

“In a fast-changing and dynamic market like China, having capability building strategies on social media has become an imperative for business – whether multinationals or locals.”Booz & Co. – Impact of Social Media in China 2012

What is Sina Weibo?

Sina Weibo home page

— A Chinese microblogging website that was setup in response to the censorship of Twitter and Facebook in China.

— It enables people to publicly discuss issues (e.g. politics) with a level of freedom not available elsewhere in the country.

— However, there is still strict control with many words and phrases blacklisted.

— There are over 500 million registered users, and an estimated 20 million new registrations per month.

— There are roughly 140 million posts per day.

— Interestingly, there are 500,000 users on Sina Weibo in Australia.

Source: Sina Corp Report 2012 & Sina Weibo 2012

Key features

Users can create questions and polls, post photos and videos, as well as creating events and inviting friends. They are also able to upload directly via mobile.

There is a 140 character limit

per post, which is roughly 70–80 words

in English.

Companies can create badges that users can

be rewarded with when users

complete tasks.

Celebrities can be found on the

‘Hall of Celebrity’(categorised to help

you find them easily).

The more hours users spend

logged in, the higher their level

becomes.

Ability to follow trending topics &

emoticons by hour, day or week in

‘Board of Fame’.

TiersTiers Read posts Create posts

Number of users allowed

to follow

Number of users allowed to

quietly^ followSMS Alerts~ Cost

Unregistered* Free

Registered 2,000 10 Free

VIP 3,000 30 10Y p/month or 108Y p/year

Membership structure

There are three tiers of membership; unregistered, registered and VIP.

*Unregistered users have limited access to posts, they can only view trending topics and some celebrity’s posts.^ ‘Quiet’ following means you can follow someone without them knowing.~ SMS Alerts include birthdays, posts, and security (i.e. when your account is logged in from an unusual location).

Promotional opportunities

Advertising

Banners (homepage, login), mobile banners, app recommendations, promoted ads (video, eCommerce, event).

Campaign pages

Online campaign on the Sina Weibo platform for interactive games, voting or submission.

Event Collaboration

Event pages with live broadcast and screen. Great for events, parties, conferences, fashion shows or seminars.

Enterprise Weibo 2.0 – the dashboard for brands

— An analytics dashboard that allows brands to communicate directly with consumers and track all activity they do on Sina Weibo.

— Allows brands to install custom applications* on their page, embed a map and provide contact hours/details, promotional zone (rotational banner and video banner for in-house promotion), custom background and design.

— The analytics dashboard allows brands to monitor page and advertising performance, access learning resources and manage applications.

* Types of apps: promotion page, video page, topic page, eCommerce & third party app development.

4 KEY RULES TO USING SINA WEIBO

4 key rules to using Sina Weibo

1. Listen

Listen to your audience and competitors, as well as understand social trends and habits to reduce the cultural hurdle.

2. Create

Include relevant content, create conversations to build a sustainable brand community.

3. Engage

Continue to build brand loyalty through, polls, competitions, branded events, product launches and campaigns.

4. Analyse

Use Enterprise Weibo 2.0 to monitor and control all marketing activities on Sina Weibo.

Although strategies used for Facebook and Twitter can be applied when running a page on Sina Weibo, it is important to find any cultural nuances your target audience may have.

1. Listen“A Weibo user posted a few photos of him using a few Durex condoms as protection of his shoes from the rain. Minutes after the post was published, Durex’s official account “retweeted” this post to over 100K followers and interacted with people who replied.”Rocky Fu - Entrepreneur & Digital Strategist

Listen to your audience and competitors, as well as understand social trends and habits to reduce the cultural hurdle.

Building a strong communication foundation first requires you to

follow your fans social trends and watch your competitors.

Think like your target audience.

Understanding what your target audience like or dislike, how they

respond to different things will allow you to post pictures, videos or

discussions that trend within your brand’s community.

2. Create

“Every midnight Durex post a discussion topic and invite followers to contribute their relevant personal experience.”Meng Shi - Durex Case Study on Sina WeiboInclude relevant content, create

conversations/discussions to build a sustainable brand community.

Create conversation/discussion that will resonate with your

target audience.

Build an online brand community.

When interacting with consumers, it is important to have a tone that is representative of your core values.

It is also important to keep censorship top-of-mind.

Getting around the censorship

“During the London Olympics, Nike used real-time “guerrila” commentary of Chinese

athletes and their performances on Sina Weibo. Nike never directly mentioned the athletes or events, but with their mix of beautiful graphics and inspiring copy,

everybody got the hint.”JEREMY WEBB - Digital Influence Strategist

Use puns, wordplay images or memes to avoid the censors.

To get around topic or word censorships you will have to get creative.

3. Engage

“Clinique use their brand page to promote products that will specifically appeal to Chinese consumers, such as skin whitening cream or full protection sunscreen.”Leonie Bulman - Research Manager, Wave Metix

Continue to build brand loyalty through, polls, competitions, branded events, product launches and campaigns.

Use competitions, voting/polls, discussions to aid in the development of product design/launches and campaigns.

Create appeal with culturally specific content.

Consumers build a strong positive bond between brand and individual when they

feel they were part of the decision.

4. Analyse

“The host of indexes integrated into Sina Weibo’s new enterprise version allows brand to have a much more accurate and broader view of the true impact of their Weibo presence.”Lab Brand

Use Enterprise Weibo 2.0 to monitor and control all marketing activities on Sina Weibo.

Actively monitor how your content is being received and what the ‘buzz’

around your brand is.

Understand your Weibo presence.

Adapt content depending on responses from the Sina Weibo

community.

Summary

— China has a large, growing middle class, with Sina Weibo providing a platform for more flexible freedom of speech.

— Brands can take advantage of Sina Weibo’s fast growth by following the 4 key rules, and using Enterprise 2.0 to build, monitor and control their presence.

— Now is the time to make the most of this platform if your brand is considering business in Asia.

THANK YOU!For more information please email jackie.bowker@dtdigital.com.au or tim.evans@dtdigital.com.au

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