How Does Online Advertising in China Work?

Would you like to elevate your marketing strategies in China? There are different ways to leverage online advertising. It could be an organic or paid one, depending on your goals and aggressiveness.

As of this writing, there are more than 800 million internet users with 98% mobile penetration. It’s a huge number. But how can you connect with your audience in this noisy, cluttered space? First thing’s first: go mobile.

And second, hang out where your audience is: WeChat is your number go-to channel. However, how does this work?

We’ve divided this into two categories: paid and organic strategies.

#1 PAID ADS: On-point strategies, fast results but costly

Baidu Tiguang (PPC)

Baidu is the Google of China, which most netizen use for searching and browsing. The audience you can reach depends on what sector you are, and having the right keywords is crucial. It’s more complicated than Google when setting up an account. Better work with a Baidu PPC specialist to do it for you.

Youku (video ads)

See those ad banners and sponsored videos when watching a video on Youtube? You can also do that on Youku as paid ads. It has 60% of the video market, and so you have a huge audience. Prices are set for a 15 pre-roll ad per thousand impressions (CPM), $5-$150 for one day display of an animated banner.

WeChat (ads on Moments)

It only allows specific industries for ad placements on Moments. It includes F&B, catering, automotive, gaming, travel, internet services and among others. You can consult this with a Chinese social media marketer for the list of sectors allowed. There are 1 billion monthly active users here, but the price tag is quite hefty for paid ads. You can start at $7000, and they are on a CPM basis. Daily budget for Moment ads should be at least $150 per day.

#2 ORGANIC ADS: Plan the strategies but low cost

You can set up an official account, but you must provide business documents. It would be best if you had them for the registration process. You can use your account to push messages. Think of it as your newsletter blast with your followers. It can also function as a blog. The difference is that when you push content, they get to read your message via private messages. They will be under the “Subscriptions” of the users.

Weibo (microblogging)

It will be best if you work with a Chinese copywriter or social media marketer for publishing. Weibo is the homegrown version of Twitter. Netizens also share their opinions and experiences about anything. But it would help if you had a good strategy and hands-on SMM to moderate comments and interactions.

Baidu Baike (Chinese Wikipedia)

Have you heard of Wikipedia? China has one, too. But it’s connected to Baidu. Businesses can take advantage of the Chinese wiki if they’re not ranking well. Publishing one is free if you already have a Baidu account, so technically, you still need to pay a few bucks to set it up. It would help if you also had a Chinese writer or translator to draft the content for you. If you have the company page, your brand will be on top of the search results for branded keyword queries.

Takeaway action

There are other ways to maximize online advertising, whether paid or organic approach. However, if you’re serious to drive traffic on your website, here’s what you need. A well-optimized and localized Chinese site will unlock more opportunities and more exposure.