Chinese companies such as Baidu are among the biggest advertising sellers in the world, and with the Chinese advertising market booming, mainly thanks to increased consumer demand and shoppers with more disposable income, there are more options than ever when it comes to marketing to Chinese customers. With that in mind, we thought we’d take a look at some of the best ways to advertise in China.

Baidu advertising

Baidu accounts for almost 80% of all online searches in China, so it stands to reason that you’re going to want to be where the majority of searchers are. Baidu is particularly popular because it’s results driven; users are already searching for products or services to fill a need they have, so you’re going to want to be there to match your products or services up to their search term. It may involve creating new advertising campaigns, as because of the cultural differences, Western advertisements may not work in China. It’s also a good idea to create Mandarin landing pages. Although it’s not essential, if a Chinese user clicks through to an English landing page, chances are that the bounce rate will be very high indeed. If you get your advert and landing page right, you’ll be putting your business in front of the biggest online audience in the world.

WeChat marketing

WeChat is the biggest social media platform in China, with 900 million users. WeChat marketing is a key for your social media marketing in China. WeChat previously had a history of keeping advertising away from the users, that has since changed and it’s open to ads. The change presents an excellent opportunity for marketers to reach their target market. Depending on your brand or budget, there are different options for advertising on WeChat. One of the most popular is WeChat moments, which works similarly to Facebook timeline ads. A moment ad includes your brand name, profile picture, a 40 character ad description, up to six pictures and a link to your landing page. What’s interesting about Moment ads is that marketers are able to target users by their location, age, gender, interest and even their device and phone network.

Weibo marketing

Weibo is a social media platform with 300 millions of users, so if you’re serious about advertising in China, you definitely need to feature on it. There are several different ways you can advertise on Weibo, with straightforward options such as banner ads and Weibo search engine promotion, to more Weibo specific advertising methods such as fan headline and fan tunnel. Fan headline has proved to be a particularly popular advertising method because it promotes your account, or your Weibo content, either directly or via famous accounts. The return you see from the ad is pretty instantaneous, and due to the fact you can specify your target audience, it’s a pretty effective method of reaching them.

Display ads in China

Display ads are great because they help to build brand awareness, which is ideal if you have a new product or service you’re about to launch. Display ads allow you to be found by your target audience on various top ranking sites in China. It works by using cookies to target your audience and is used by hundreds of well-known advertisers all over the world. The audience targeting means you’ll be speaking to your customers directly on some of the most visited sites in China, which can only mean more exposure and greater brand awareness for your business.

For help getting your campaign off the ground in China, be sure to contact us. We can advise you on the best way forward and ensure your campaign achieves its goals.