Top 10 China Digital Marketing Trends in 2019

Top 10 China Digital Marketing Trends in 2019

Now that we have passed 2019, social media in China is changing rapidly, and this year is also the case, so take a look at the latest trends in digital marketing in China.

With multiple social media platforms with hundreds of millions of user bases, it becomes increasingly difficult for brands to formulate marketing strategies for China. Launched in 2016, Tik Tok now has more than 500 million active users per month, which is an example of how fast the landscape changes.

1. The Emerging Impact of 3rd and 4th Tier Cities

In the past decade, China has experienced tremendous regional changes, most notably the scale of urbanization and population growth in first-tier cities. These metropolises have been the main driving force for China’s economic growth in the past decade, but experts predict that the new driving force for economic growth will be third- and fourth-tier cities throughout China. Certain populations in these cities can compete with the populations of certain European countries, so naturally becoming the target of international brands wishing to expand their business.

In the past few years, the rapid GDP growth of cities such as Chengdu, Hefei, Wuhan and other large cities has resulted in higher disposable incomes for residents and a desire for higher levels of goods and services.

In general, China’s second-tier cities account for about 59% of China’s total GDP and 73% of the total population. It is expected that the growth of these two regions will increase further in the next few years. In a blue book written by Morgan Stanley, private consumption in China is expected to increase from 4.4 trillion to 9.7 trillion by 2030, with growth mainly coming from these low-end cities.

The population growth rate of first-tier cities is one of the key indicators reflecting the increasing importance of first-tier cities. Due to government measures and rising living costs, the growth rate has been slowing sharply in recent years, while Shanghai has actually been shrinking since 2015. Although the urbanization process is expected to continue, it has the largest increase in second-tier cities.

The company that truly reflects the value of targeting lower-tier cities is China’s second most popular e-commerce application. Pinduoduo is an e-commerce platform that provides group buying quotes and bargaining on its platform. By strategically avoiding first-tier cities and avoiding competition with JD.com and Taobao, Pinduoduo can build itself into a platform with more than 385 million monthly active users in just 3 years.

Leveraging platforms like Pinduoduo and other platforms popular in these offline cities can help your company gain a foothold in China. In addition, JD.com will shift its focus to third- and lower-tier cities in 2019, and has launched JD.com’s group purchase to attract users in lower-tier cities. Alibaba’s annual user activity in low-end cities has also increased by more than 70%!

It is clear that Chinese e-commerce brands have huge opportunities in these emerging cities. SCMP’s China Internet Report recently pointed out that 128 million Internet users in cities below the third tier have never bought goods online!

All these data clearly show that investing in marketing in low-end cities is a good investment in 2019 and beyond.

2. An Aging Population goes Digital

Economists and politicians are talking about China’s population, but this is not bad news. Recently, the Chinese government has introduced new measures to bring the elderly into the digital age! As of April 2018, only 10% of Internet users are over 50 years old, but as these new plans and experienced Internet users enter the golden age, this number is expected to grow steadily.

By 2020, China’s elderly population is expected to exceed 255 million, so more and more measures are being formulated to bring the elderly into the digital economy. Many of China’s largest companies are seeing this opportunity and have begun launching new programs and products to capture this so-called “silver economy.”

In January 2018, Alibaba’s Taobao even opened a new channel specifically for the elderly on its platform, with features designed to make it easier to use. The channel allows users to link their accounts to their children / spouse’s accounts, share purchases / items in group chats, and pay each other using the “pay as you go” option.

Providing value that can improve the lives of older people has the potential to drive business growth. With this goal in mind, think of Alibaba’s “New Retail” plan and the drone delivery system proposed by JD. Alibaba has even started hiring seniors to consult on how to improve the user experience of seniors on its various products.

In recent years, with the introduction of mobile payment and the emergence of various other features, the number of elderly smartphone users has increased dramatically, which can improve the quality of life in China. WeChat reports that in 2017, the number of users in its 55-70 age group increased from about 8 million to more than 50 million.

The functions provided to the elderly through platforms such as WeChat are already amazing. “Nikkei Asian Review” interviewed a Shanghai man who said he not only used the payment function provided by WeChat, but also arranged hospital visits and vacations through the app.

Another enabler in the industry is an app called Tangdou, which aims to connect middle-aged / senior women who like to dance on public squares to other like-minded people. (According to Crunchbase, the app has raised $ 32 million as of January 2019).

Tangdou also provides dance lessons and other features for its users. Quaker Oats recently partnered with the app to introduce seniors to their healthy cereal breakfast. The application has been evolving and now offers a range of services specifically for the elderly. The company claims to have more than 200 million users and has hosted more than 4,000 offline events, attracting more than 500,000 participants.

Advertising on such applications is a good example of how digital marketers can take advantage of China’s emerging “silver economy.” The “silver economy” entering China is one of the digital marketing trends in China, and we expect that both international and domestic brands will take advantage of this in 2019.

 3. The Dominance of Short-Video Content

Although this trend started in 2018, we are confident that it will continue into 2019 and beyond. Initially, real-time streaming was originally expected to become the main content format for Chinese brands in early 2018, but users soon showed their preference for short video content. This is an ad format you must not miss for a brand that is starting digital marketing in China.

Short videos have become all videos in China, with many applications focusing on this particular form of content, including Tik Tok, Paipai, Kuaishou and Folk Songs. Douyin is one of the most popular applications. As of January 2019, it has a user base of more than 500 million and spends an average of 52 minutes on the platform every day.

Back to the trend, short video content is expected to dramatically change the way users consume content. 2017 and 2018 are the first years that Chinese digital marketers have begun to take advantage of this advantage. Users report that this popularity is due to the increasingly fragmented lifestyle of Chinese citizens, as ordinary users have only time to read bite-sized content.

“The short video is rich in content and short in time, which is ideal for killing fragmented spare time,” Jiang Yige, an analyst at Fenghe Fund Management Singapore, wrote in an email.

As we can’t see the slowdown, we expect that short video content will become the main content form regardless of brand size. To show the importance of short videos, we just need to look at the numbers. In a survey conducted by PHD Media China, only 22% of marketers responded that short videos were used in 2017, and that number jumped to 62% in 2018.

So what does this mean for China digital marketers? With this new form of content dominating, text- and picture-based content may become less important. However, there are a few things to consider when trying to take advantage of this trend.

First, short video content is not easy to create, especially for advertising purposes. While sharing with users, trying to integrate brand information into a 15-second video is very difficult. The content must be short enough to catch the user’s attention and still make an impact. However, this challenge also creates huge opportunities for more creative marketers.

When it comes to short videos, KOL is still an important part of marketing. Although involving them in content production may be effective in itself, even having them share your content can lead to a larger audience, which can lead to content becoming viral. Adapting to evolving trends can also be very effective. For example, Dou Yin posted the challenges that users face every day, and the platform will then promote them to other users through its recommendation algorithm. Participating in these challenges can be a great way to attract a large number of users at very little cost.

However, the government has been cracking down on short video content. Many companies in the industry have received severe warnings from government officials calling for self-censorship. The government may take further steps to manage these platforms. Whether it’s a short film or digital marketing throughout China, it must be consistent with government regulations to ensure you don’t suffer any setbacks in new areas. This will be the biggest trend of digital marketing in China in 2019. We look forward to seeing how brands take advantage of this new form of content.

4. Bigger Digital Advertising Budgets

Almost all marketers use some form of digital advertising and know the important role they play. Digital marketing in China is expected to achieve outstanding growth, and budgets are expected to increase significantly.

In a study conducted by Admaster, they spoke with 110 advertisers and 130 digital marketing professionals, and 79% of corporate advertisers said they intend to increase their digital marketing budget in 2019. Despite economic resistance and a host of other issues, all of them are in the Chinese market.

China Internet Network Information Center (CNNIC) found in its semi-annual report that as of August 2018, there were 800 million Internet users in China, 98% of whom accessed the Internet through mobile phones. This explains why 81% of advertisers say they will specifically increase their ad spend on mobile devices compared to 11% for PCs. According to China Internet Watch, mobile advertising accounts for 70% of China’s online advertising market and is expected to grow to 77.8% by 2019.

In 2018, spending on native advertising also increased significantly, accounting for nearly 50% of China’s total online advertising market. Although it is distributed across various channels, it shows the development of China’s Internet platform and its increasingly powerful local advertising capabilities. For Chinese companies engaged in digital marketing, these ad formats are taking an increasing proportion of the budget.

Respondents also stated that they plan to increase spending on social media marketing and content production. With average spending on social media growing by an average of 21% per year, advertisers think it’s only natural that they also need to increase their budgets, with 89% of respondents saying they will increase spending in 2019.

With the rise of short video platforms, it is not surprising that more than 38% of respondents said they intend to invest in producing original videos / videos. With all these spending increases, China’s digital marketing landscape may become increasingly competitive.

5. The Surprising Emergence of Long-Form/Misdirectional Content  

Considering the popularity of Yikou Content in China, this surprised me. This can be seen from the rise of Douyin and the dominance of the short video we mentioned above. However, in the text- and image-based world, long-form content seems to have become the trend.

One such example was shown by Adage in a recent article in which an advertisement was made by McDonald’s. In this absolutely huge ad (152 inches), a story is told to the user, a story about an explorer landing on a planet that seems to be a foreign body.

Users follow their stories and show them educational content as they explore the volcanic planet. Towards the end of the story, a big discovery was finally made. We saw that the fiery planet the explorer landed on was not a planet, but McDonald’s chicken wings.

 Fred and Farid co-founder Frederic Raillard called this form of content “misleading content.” User-created content often has nothing to do with the brand or product being sold, but instead focuses on providing highly interesting stories. This type of content is already popular on Chinese social media, and many brands are experimenting with this new format.

Angela Doland shows another example in her Adage article, where Chinese skincare brand Pechoin tells the story of the Shanghai Assassin in the 1930s with an incredible series of comics. At the end of the comic, a big message indicates that Assassin’s goal is the passage of time and the process of aging, and Pechoin products are designed to prevent this from happening. You can see ads here.

Honestly, I think this content is amazing and I hope the rest of the world will notice it. Although this kind of advertisement is expensive to produce, it is unforgettable, and it gives content creators a great freedom to create powerful works. I hope to see more in the future. Of all the digital marketing trends in China, I have to say this is my favorite!

6. Voice Recognition Technology

The Chinese obviously take the trouble! With 49% of phone users browsing the Internet using voice search, this is likely to be the most exciting trend for digital marketing in China in 2019. By 2022, it is estimated that global voice-based shopping will be worth $ 40 billion. 52% of the total is driven by Chinese consumers.

“Voice assistants will become an increasingly important player in our lives. I believe that in the next decade, it will use voice commands to control our houses, vehicles, and personal devices, connect with more devices, and become our lives Connection point for different scenarios in the world. “

–Miffy Chen, General Manager of Alibaba

What is voice search?

Voice search is a voice recognition technology that enables people to search for anything on the internet by speaking into their phones.

The benefits of voice search include:

• Being faster and easier to type (2.8xs faster to dictate Mandarin, 63.4% lower error rate versus typing);
• Easier to multitask; and
• Utilizes natural search queries.

By getting rid of traditional typing (which feels very limited), phone users can feel more free and relaxed, resulting in a more simplified user experience. The ageing population has also joined voice search. 9% of young people aged 55-64 use voice search every day, and this percentage will only increase as more brands and apps optimize their touchpoints for voice search.

China’s leading voice recognition company iFlytek will be a key player in increasing the number of users using voice search. It has partnered with China Mobile, China Unicom and China Telecom to bring voice-activated smartphones to the Asian market. With more than 1.4 billion mobile users across the three mobile networks, this partnership will have a huge impact on how customers spend and interact with brands.

When using voice search, the top 25 words include: best, where, new words and good-all words that link to products and purchases. 52% of voice-activated speaker owners are open to promotions and transaction information, while 62% are likely to buy items through the device-the numbers look good.

The voice shopping market is growing fast and becoming a brand-you don’t want to miss this year’s investment. With only 4% of U.S. companies using voice search technology, you have the opportunity to become one of the leading Chinese brands using that technology.

7. Chinese Consumers Going Green

As Kermit the Frog said, going green is not easy, but it should not stop your business from becoming more environmentally friendly and sustainable.

In the rapid economic growth of China as a whole, the problem often overlooked is its impact on the environment, because per capita GDP has increased by more than 40 times in the past 40 years, and the environment has been hit. The expansion has made China the largest emitter of greenhouse gases, with 1/5 of its land being polluted and 40% of its land area degraded. The country faces a number of ecological problems.

However, everyone is not lost because they are trying to reduce damage and reverse existing problems through various green initiatives, such as green bonds, and plan to invest more than 6 trillion in green power and clean technology in the next 20 years US dollars.

What does this have to do with customers in 2019 and beyond? Well, actually a lot-it has changed consumer perceptions. Ongoing initiatives (such as green bonds) and public discussions about the effectiveness of such initiatives and investments are affecting their purchases, and many brands have launched sustainable collections to attract more savvy buyers.

The Council of the Ministry of Trade of Hong Kong found that more than 71% of households have increased their spending on sustainable goods. In addition, JD.com ’s Green Consumption Development Trend Report found that millennials accounted for 51.8% of JD. ’S total green sales. These numbers will only increase as people become more aware of the issues of integration with everyday life and social media.

The China Post Office recently issued a guide designed to reduce waste and encourage green packaging and recycling. They found that the express industry used approximately 17.9 billion bags and 330 million rolls of tape!

As pressure from government officials and Chinese consumers grows, their spending becomes more discerning, and now is the best time to evaluate your green strategy and align it with your practices.

8. The Rising Power of Micro-influencers

China has more than 1 million influencers and more than 10,000 followers on social media. The market is saturated, and 54% of the Chinese population under the age of 21 want to be influential and will only get worse. Many influences penetrate into news sources and social media streams, leading to increased distrust among Chinese consumers.

Customer fatigue is becoming more common, and brands must be wise when investing in KOL (key opinion leader / influencer). Consumers are sensitive to promotional content that does not resonate with their beliefs, and their acceptance of this content has decreased. Despite the steady growth in users, Weibo (the Chinese version of Twitter) has seen a decline in individual user activity over the past few years.

Chinese audiences are looking for small, influential influencers to build stronger connections. Micro influencers can respond directly to comments and interact with fans to create a sense of community and belonging.

Micro-influencers often invest in a major passion-building strong trust for followers. Their areas of expertise include product influencers, “share” or “parenting”, fitness, diet, travel, fashion and even plastic surgery. These influencers have tremendous power in influencing consumers’ shopping decisions and behaviors.

With the average motor participation of micro-influencers hovering around 60%, this is a huge benefit because they are also more cost-effective. Because micro-influencers are most interested in building their own brand and follower base, they usually don’t charge a premium and often can generate a better return on investment.

The key to success is finding the right influencers? The main things to consider when choosing influential people are their interest in your brand and the niche markets in which they operate. To get the strong participation of their followers, you should only work with influential people who post content related to your industry. Influencers can be found through agencies or through the use of labels.

The decrease in celebrity KOLs and the increasing power of these micro influencers are one of the digital marketing trends in China, and it will have a huge impact on influencer marketing in the coming years.

9. Women Empowerment As A Marketing Theme

Every year, China celebrates International Women’s Day on March 8. Although this is not a new trend in itself, the ideas surrounding it have changed and will continue to evolve in 2019 and beyond. Usually, on International Women’s Day, women take half a day off from work and receive gifts from male colleagues, fathers, husbands and sons.

This festival has been celebrated in China since the 1920s-a day seen as a symbol of women’s rights. However, these rights are inconsistent with Western women’s movements such as #MeToo. Instead, the Chinese are more focused on financial independence and creating an autonomous self-awareness than being treated equally as Western neighbors.

Although this day used to revolve around Chinese mothers and elderly people, today it has become an e-commerce holiday in China, just like the more famous Double 11. As a result, the brand has the opportunity to open its doors to a large female customer base. . This proved to be extremely successful. To understand the absolute scale of success, compare it to the U.S. Black Friday holiday. On Alibaba’s website alone, 2018 International Women’s Day sales reached $ 30.8 billion: Total online sales for Black Friday and Cyber ​​Monday were only $ 14.12 billion.

Alibaba renamed it “Queen’s Day”, JD.com named it “Butterfly Festival”, and Secoo used “Goddess Day” to loosely associate its marketing strategy with International Women’s Day. The head is focusing on “her economy”, and Chinese company Cathay Pacific estimates that its potential will reach $ 700 billion by the end of 2019. The term “her economy” was coined by the Chinese Ministry of Education in 2007 to describe the phenomenon of economic female consumption.

As a result of these marketing campaigns, “ her economy ” is booming, and a 2019 report by Tmall found that more and more women are spending money to please themselves and not others. The survey results show a significant increase in women’s purchases: books, flats, flowers and books.

Calvin Klein’s recent campaign is a good example of International Women’s Day marketing. “My Statement #MyCalvin” features Chinese people who do not meet stereotyped gender norms. Each model tells in a monologue how their challenge turns into a personal victory. The move has helped bring women’s issues to the forefront of 2019.

To succeed, brands must be sensitive to the cultural values ​​and issues of current Chinese women. Attempting to introduce Western movement ideals into your Chinese campaign is wrong because they simply cannot be unified.

In a recent study, LinkedIn and L’Oreal China found that the most important thing for young Chinese women is to become financially independent and to break social norms. In order to take advantage of this holiday through digital marketing in China, brands need to create a way to respect and support this narrative-just like Calvin Klein.

10. The Increasing Importance of Experiential Marketing

Experience marketing is a term that many marketers worry about, because creating a truly immersive experience for a target audience can be difficult and expensive. However, more and more brands are realizing that this is a very important aspect for positioning a young audience in China. These young people have grown up and have been bombarded by traditional and digital advertising.

For a long time, marketers have always believed that Chinese consumers value convenience most, so many Chinese companies have launched mini programs, so users don’t even need to change the application! Although convenience is important, many brands find that they need to use a combination of digital and offline marketing to really affect brand awareness and loyalty.

80% of Chinese customers are willing to make purchases via mobile applications, and 49% of global customers are willing to make purchases via mobile applications, so it is wise for any business trying to enter the Chinese market to invest in microapps. However, many brands find this insufficient. Brands need to focus on creating unique experiences for consumers to make a lasting impression.

Back to Trend 9 and the creation of Queen’s Day, Alibaba hosted a celebration to celebrate the event. It combines digital and traditional marketing channels to make the event a success. During the event, it launched several games that users can play as if they participated in the event and played an eight-hour fashion show, with Chinese and Western singers performing live music performances.

The whole spectacle caused excitement, which in turn attracted more online and offline word-of-mouth marketing, thus achieving the best sales year. At Queens, the key to success is a combination approach rather than a purely digital strategy, and many other activities use this immersive approach to success.

This method is very effective because it has a circular effect-people participate in immersive events, participate in and record and share on social media. These events have great potential to create viral content that can greatly expand your reach and attract new customers.

“There is a difference between shopping in the West and China. In the West, in China, it’s even more tedious: a Sports. Games, music, comics and events will be the driving force for China marketing in the coming years. “

More and more brands will create this seamless online-to-offline experience for Chinese consumers in 2019 to expand their reach, increase engagement and have a lasting impact on their target audience.

Resource from : https://www.dragonsocial.net/blog/top-5-china-digital-marketing-trends-2019/