2.6 Utilizing New Media to Communicate With Chinese Consumers

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En provenance du cours de The Chinese University of Hong Kong

Selling to Chinese Consumers

26 notes

The Chinese University of Hong Kong

Selling to Chinese Consumers

26 notes

Cours 1 sur 4 dans Specialization Doing Business in China

This course is designed to help learners sell their products, goods and services to Chinese consumers. To achieve this goal, the course will use evidence-based research in psychology, economics, legal studies and marketing to help learners understand the historical, economic and legal contexts of doing business in China and the behavioral characteristics of Chinese consumers. The course will cover topics in Chinese and global marketing, Chinese consumers, institutional and cultural influence on consumer motivation and behaviors in Chinese markets, and brand management in China.

À partir de la leçon

Digital Marketing and Relationship Management

The Internet has created plenty of business opportunities in China. The current module highlights how you can manage relationship with Chinese consumers in the digital era.

2.1 Xiaoling and Lingnan: A Life Example of Chinese Consumers' Online Shopping Behaviour5:23

2.2 The Online Shopping Behaviour of Chinese Consumers4:37

2.3 Relationship Building in China1:29

2.4 What Is Guanxi Management, and Why Is It Important?5:10

2.5 Renqing, and the Cultivation of Guanxi with Chinese Consumers Online5:41

2.6 Utilizing New Media to Communicate With Chinese Consumers6:48

2.7 Dialogue with Practitioner: Stewart Li10:02

2.8 Dialogue with Scholar: Professor He Lingnan6:47

Rencontrer les enseignants

Prof. Letty Kwan
Assistant Professor
Department of Psychology

By now, you have learned the importance of

<i>guanxi</i> management when you do

business in China.

And we have showed you earlier the rapid

increase in Internet usage in China.

How can you leverage on the information

highway offered by the Internet to build

<i>guanxi</i> between your brand and the

Chinese customers, even if you are not

doing online marketing in China?

WeChat is a champion

in China’s digital world.

Its app-in-app function allows Chinese

consumers to do a lot with its embedded

functions like talking to friends, paying

your utility bills, sending your friends

money, and getting a cab.

The list will grow, and is only limited

by the imagination of the app writers.

Taking advantage of the widespread

influence of WeChat in the daily life of

Chinese consumers, some companies

have set up pages within the app

to promote relationship with

the consumers.

Indeed, many companies soft launched

their companies or products exclusively on

WeChat first to build up a user community.

Social media has shifted the playing field

of traditional marketing from

product-centric to consumer-centric.

Businesses that use the new media

in marketing should pay attention to

the following points.

First, the Internet offers very powerful

media for corporate communication,

particularly for companies that try to

establish longer relationship

with the Chinese consumers.

Companies can use the new media to

communicate their commitment and

promises to the consumers.

In general, communication on social

media should serve four main purposes.

They offer and communicate in a clear,

relevant customer promise.

They build trust by delivering

on that promise.

They drive the market by continually

improving the promise.

They seek further advantage

by innovating beyond the familiar.

Second, companies can engage the

consumers in sharing information and

experiences with your products and

services to other consumers in an

extended relationship network.

However, it is also important to manage

the word-of-mouth reputation of your

brand in the online discussion forums.

These concerns are particularly relevant

to companies doing business in China.

Why?

Compared to American consumers,

Chinese consumers tend to have stronger

and tighter social network ties.

Consumer views and perceptions,

including rumors, tend to spread faster

among consumers in their extended

social networks.

Again, compared to American consumers,

Chinese consumers are more inclined to

share their consumption experiences

with their friends and families.

Chinese consumers are more brand conscious.

They are more likely to tell their close

friends their experiences with a certain

brand, or introduce their friends

to the new brand.

In short, for the Chinese more than

for Americans, the new media is not a

channel for product or brand exposure.

It is social forum for building or

destroying relationships between

the brand and the consumers.

Nonetheless, in social media, consumers

can give unmediated feedback

immediately to others or to the brand.

Statistics like number of “Likes” are

shown at a glance. Negative comments

from a few vocal consumers can bias

perceptions and dissuade new consumers

from trying out new brands.

Therefore, if not carefully managed,

marketing on social media

can easily backfire.

Third, Chinese consumers tend to trust

the informal social information, including

information from the WeChat groups,

more than they do information

from formal institutional sources.

The tendency of the Chinese consumers

to trust the information and opinion from

informal WeChat groups more is a reflection

of the stronger collectivist values

in Chinese culture.

Research shows that collectivism

is highly valued in Chinese culture.

Collectivist culture, according to

Hofstede, has a preference for

a tightly-knit framework in society

in which individuals can expect their

relatives or members of a particular

in-group to look after them

in exchange for unquestioning loyalty.

A society that is more collectivist

will define their self-image

as “we” and not “I”.

Another reason for the Chinese consumers'

tendency to trust informal groups more

is the lack of relational mobility

in Chinese societies.

Most Chinese people belong to relatively

stable social groups.

Their relationships with others in the

social groups are built on long-term

exchanges of favors and in some cases

positive affect.

Compared to the faceless institutions,

the informal groups are more trustworthy.

Thus, the use of WeChat groups to

promote trust with a consumer brand

can be particularly effective

in Chinese markets.

Let’s recap what you have learned

in this segment.

Even if you are not doing online

marketing in China, you can still leverage

on the information highway offered by

the Internet to build <i>guanxi</i> between

your brand and the Chinese consumers.

Companies have set up pages within the

popular WeChat app or other similar

platforms to promote relationship

with their customers and

build user communities.

Companies can try to establish longer

relationship with the Chinese consumers

by trying new media to communicate

their commitment and promises

to the consumers.

Companies can engage the consumers

in sharing information and experiences

with your products and services to other

consumers in an extended

relationship network.

In social media, several unmediated

hostile comments from a few vocal

consumers can bias perceptions

and ruin brand reputation.

Therefore, companies should carefully

manage online forums

for customer sharing.

Chinese consumers tend to trust informal

social information more.

Companies can leverage on this

characteristic and build consumer trusts

through informal social media groups.

In the next segment, you will hear from

an expert who will tell you how research

in social media can help understand

Chinese consumers.

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