When your favorite artist has a concert, it’s irresistible to buy a ticket and go to the show, right? But, have you ever experienced heavy traffic on the way to the concert? Or have you been disappointed when all the good seats sold out in the first 30 seconds? Or perhaps the gig was held in another country and the flights there were too expensive? We’re sure many of you have experienced these and other concert-related mishaps.

Fast forward to 2020 and the spread of Covid-19 has transformed many things, including the entertainment industry. Due to closures and social distancing rules, many bands and soloists have not been able to perform large concerts and smaller gigs. That is where technology steps in. Now, instead of organizing physical concerts, these same musicians and singers are holding live music shows through social media sites Facebook, Instagram, YouTube and Zoom, to name a few. Some of them are even using Twitch, a platform previously only utilized by serious gamers for online streaming. 

And it’s not just artists getting in on the new technology action, talks shows, podcasts and news outlets are also starting to take advantage of technological innovation to assist with their remote work. For example, Miley Cyrus has been live-streaming a series called Bright Minded on her Instagram feed, wherein she and special guests discuss how to stay LIT during dark times. Indeed, many top international and local artists are live-streaming free concerts and events to raise donations for Covid-19 related charity projects. 

To avoid total cancellation, many major events are also moving from the physical to the virtual. One such example is the biggest EDM festival in the world – Tomorrowland. They recently announced that their summer 2020 event, Around the World – the digital festival, will be solely online but still feature the world’s best 3D design, video production, and special effects. 

From the artist’s side, live streaming can be hard though as there is no actual audience participation or interaction, they are merely singing on their own into a camera. There are not excited fans singing and waving at them. With this problem in mind, Mr Samkwan “Moy” Tonsompong, the managing director of Bangkok-based record label What the Duck, set about to organize the first live, interactive online concert in Thailand. 

Named as the Whal & Dolph Online Market Concert, the event is a step up from live streaming to live interactive online concert, allowing bands/artists and fans to interact with each other. They are achieving this via the video conferencing tool Zoom, which has launched a special application specifically for the concert. The idea is so unique and attractive that all 1,000 tickets for the event sold out as soon as they went on sale!

To make the event genuinely interactive, Zoom has developed a range of new features, for example, participants can change their background for each song; when the song is about rain, they can have a rainy background. Moreover, convert-goers can send text messages directly to the performers and change the color of their mobile phone screen to turn it into a light to wave about, just like a lighter or glow stick at a real live gig. 

Believe it or not, this could turn into a “new normal” for performers in the entertainment industry. This is just one of the hundreds, if not thousands, of examples of how the Covid-19 pandemic has brought about technological and societal change. Nowadays, the key to survival is adaptability and flexibility. The good news for lovers of the arts is that in due course we may be able to join any concert, Broadway show or gallery opening we like without leaving the comfort of our own home!

Commonly referred to as China’s own Twitter, Weibo quickly established itself as one of the pillars of Chinese digital marketing early in the teens decade. News of its imminent demise have circulated almost since the beginning, but now here in 2020, Weibo is still going strong, despite competitors like WeChat and the more recent Douyin (TikTok). Weibo still has a vital role to play and this is especially true in the case of foreign businesses that are looking to enter or expand in China.

Why Weibo?
For more than a decade, Sina Corp, which is a Chinese technology company, has pulled out all the stops towards making Weibo the most powerful digital communications and marketing channel in all of China while reinforcing its inherent value as a microblogging platform. This is especially true given Alibaba’s stake in Sina, adding another layer to keep users within its family of products. With the use of real-time updates, a wide range of functions, and the ability to provide its users with an outlet to share news, reviews and experiences, Weibo continues to see millions of daily active users.

For foreign businesses looking to expand their operations into the opportunity-abundant Chinese consumer market, Weibo provides a far more convenient and effective way to engage with audiences in China. No matter what your product is—be it adult diapers, skin care items, or shoes—it’s safe to say that you’ll always have a target market on Weibo as it covers a significant range of China’s overall Internet population.

How Weibo works
Generally speaking, Weibo is primarily used to upload text posts, videos, pictures, gifs, and other shareable materials that are of value to other users on the platform or open up avenues for engagement or discussion. Aside from being able to post content on one’s profile and broadcast content to a large audience, however, the platform can also be used to host Weibo Stories (which work the same way as its western counterparts) and live streams.

Weibo, in essence, works the same as the biggest western social media platforms. This is except for the fact that it provides a highly-valuable opportunity to broadcast any message to the Chinese market and unroll a cohesive marketing strategy for any Western brand, product, or service.

Effective Weibo marketing for western businesses made easy
If you’ve been looking to take your business’s growth efforts to a higher level and capitalize on a wide range of available opportunities in the Chinese consumer market with effective Weibo marketing, here are three tips to consider:

Tip #1: Use hashtags to your advantage

As an effective tool of Weibo marketing, it should go without saying that hashtags should be included in your strategy if you’re looking to see the best results with lower efforts.

Now, before you start firing away and posting keywords, however, it is worth noting that Weibo hashtags work differently from western hashtags as they’re used to capture phrases, titles, and news lines (because of the Chinese language itself). Aside from the mechanics of the content to be included in creating hashtags, it is also important to note that Weibo hashtags start with a pound sign and end with one— making them look something like this: “#hashtag#” or “#Weibo marketing strategy#”

When used correctly, Weibo hashtags can put your content on the map and in the feeds of potential long-term Chinese customers who can make your business much more successful.

Tip #2: Put your profile on the map with Chaohua 超话 (Super topics)

For the uninitiated, the supertopic function may seem quite troublesome to deal with at first because of all the mechanics. However, it’s been shown to generate even more desirable results for even the tightest of marketing strategies.

Super Topic, to put it simply, is a feature on Weibo that’s used to gather related pots on a certain topic and keep them all in one area for future reference while creating more opportunities to engage with other users. For the most part, super topics are generally used by celebrities to collect posts created by fans about them.

By creating a post that gets included in a Super Topic, you’ll be able to keep your content in extended relevancy and make it far easier to find for potential customers who seek products and services like yours!

Tip #3: Grow your online presence with 互粉大厅 Hufendatin

If you’re looking to gain greater results with your Weibo marketing efforts, then it’s important that you use Hufendatin to generate more followers in a short amount of time. Similar to the common practice of asking for a “follow back” or “follow for follow,” Hufendatin provides a more effective way to cultivate the practice of mutual following, mutual liking, and mutual commenting— all of which can slingshot your profile towards success on Weibo!

Final words
Running a successful Weibo marketing campaign is an endeavor that entails taking all the right steps towards growing your presence and boosting your reach while keeping and using the best tools in your arsenal. By following the three tips mentioned in this article, you’ll be able to begin the climb towards achieving the highest levels of success on Weibo in the shortest amount of time!

If you want to know more about Sina Weibo marketing, get in touch with us to see how we can help.

Due to its sheer size, Chinese tourism is one of the most coveted markets to capture. While Chinese tourists do indeed travel far and wide, the majority of their hotel bookings are made through Chinese platforms rather than directly with hotels. OTAs like Ctrip take a large chunk of a booking as a commission, leaving hotels with few other options for selling their rooms in China. Alibaba, however, now provides an alternative to OTAs in its travel marketplace, Fliggy. Not only are users offered more choice in booking their hotels, they also have more choice in booking their holiday activities as well. The best part for hotels is that with Fliggy’s flagship stores, guests can book direct with the hotels. Fliggy makes it easy for Chinese holiday-goers to discover, book, and pay for their upcoming trips.

Fliggy, with more than 200 million users, enables international sellers/businesses to easily access Chinese customers looking to make a hotel booking. It has on offer the full traveling experience, including food, hotel, transportation, touring, shopping, and activities, all in one platform.

Looking to expand your hotel into the Chinese market, talk to us today for a consultation.