This set of FAQs can help answer the most common queries, and any questions you may have about the services we offer.

a) How does the Chinese digital landscape differ from the West?

Access to popular western sites such as Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, and Google is prohibited in China. Internet users spend their time on Chinese digital platforms, several of which have gained international acclaim, such as Tik Tok, a renamed version of the Chinese app Douyin.

Personal Information Security Specification – China’s data-privacy law, governs the acquisition and use of personal data of Chinese residents by ‘network operators.’ The law was highly influenced by EU’s GDPR (General Data Protection Regulation).

While the GDPR served as the major model, there are significant distinctions, particularly around what is meant by consent. The result is a framework for personal data protection in China that resembles GDPR, more than the approach in the United States or the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) forum’s Cross Border Privacy Rules (CBPR). It differs from GDPR in a number of ways intended to make it less stringent.

b) Want to Launch A Chinese Website? Here’s A Checklist.

Step #1

To begin, you need to open a hosting account that has data centers and CDN points of presence on the Chinese mainland. At Digital Crew, we leverage Alibaba Cloud’s services and, often, serve customer marketing assets via a public IP address.

Step #2

After creating an account, your Chinese host will most likely require you to perform the following steps:

– Real-Name Verification

– Apply for an ICP License

– Set Up a Chinese Business Entity

– Register a .cn TLD

Step #3

Remove Non-Chinese Links & Examine the Website for Sensitive Content.

Remove any outbound links to non-Chinese websites from your mainland site. Even if a Western site isn’t explicitly restricted, your mainland Chinese audience may frequently encounter performance and loading issues when attempting to connect out to sites located elsewhere in the world.

If your website contains specific keywords or other sorts of sensitive information, such as offensive statements, political content, gambling, or pornography, the Chinese Ministry of Industry and Information Technology is more likely to limit access to it (MIIT). Before establishing your website on a Chinese server, you should thoroughly review it to ensure that it does not include any banned content.

Step #4

After you’ve deployed your site to your Chinese server, test the site forms, chat applications, and any other third-party integrations to confirm they’re working properly. Furthermore, you should check these on a regular basis to verify that they haven’t abruptly ceased working. Marketing automation systems, data tracking solutions, custom fonts and icon sets, embedded maps and videos, API connections – all of these can increase site load time. And, if the connection is eventually banned, it can cause your site to render wrongly or not load at all.

Step #5 (Post Launch)

We’ll be able to execute paid marketing efforts targeted towards your audience in China once we’ve established our fundamental marketing infrastructure behind the great firewall. Running sponsored digital campaigns in China, in many ways, is similar to running them anywhere else in the world. We want to raise awareness, generate lead flow, convert new customers, and maximize ROI. However, while running ads in China, we must consider a few unique aspects and collaborate with ad vendors that many non-Chinese businesses are unfamiliar with.

To assist customers in quantifying results, maximizing ROI, and achieving their Chinese marketing objectives, Digital Crew implements the following:

-Audience Modeling
-Content Strategy
-Lead Generation and Nurturing
-Measuring, Analyzing, Reporting, Learning, and Fine Tuning

c)What are the top digital platforms in China?

1)WeChat:

This is a multi-purpose messaging, social media, and payment app; in scale, similar to Facebook or Whatsapp. Because of its vast features, the app provides a multitude of marketing, advertising, and e-commerce opportunities for businesses to take advantage of. It now boasts more than 1.2 billion monthly active users, making it the most popular social networking site in China’s digital landscape.

At Digital Crew we help brands setup and grow on WeChat.

2)Xiaohongshu (RED, Little Red Book)

Also known as Red, this is a content-sharing platform that focuses mostly on product reviews. Users can use the app to browse and purchase products, as well as discuss their own experiences with the community.

It’s a popular site for key opinion leaders (KOLs), who may directly impact sales by leaving good reviews. Xiao Hong Shu’s user demographic is younger and primarily female, making it perfect for marketing fashion and cosmetic products.

Little Red Book, like Instagram, is an excellent tool for marketing and brand awareness. Click here to learn more about how we can help your company thrive on this platform.

3)Weibo

With 600 million monthly active users, Weibo is the most popular microblogging network in the Chinese digital landscape. Weibo is widely used by KOLs and enterprises.

At Digital Crew, we steer the targeting funnels towards an audience that interacts with your brand on Weibo, resulting in a long-term customer connection. Click here to know more.

4) Baidu (SEO and PPC)

This is the #1 search engine in China, with a market share of more than 70%. It makes Baidu a critical component of any company’s strategy to enter the Chinese market. Ranking on Baidu is not the same as ranking on Google and will necessitate a different set of SEO approaches and tactics. Here’s how Digital Crew can help you.

Baidu PPC (Pay Per Click) assists brands in driving quick, quality, focused traffic to their websites, increasing traffic, leads, sales, and revenue. It is also one of the most efficient methods of driving paid traffic. Click here to know more.

5) Tmall

Tmall is one of the most popular shopping apps in China, with over 800 million users. Alibaba (including Tmall) accounts for 53.3% of all e-commerce sales in China, and over 180,000 brands are present on Tmall.

At Digital Crew we assist you in opening your TMall Global store – from the registration process through the design and launch of the store, as well as taking care of payment options (Alipay and WeChat Pay). We also conduct market research and competitive analysis, as well as category research. Once the store is operational, we will assist you with store management, promotions, advertisements, and so on. Click here to know more about our TMall services.

6) JD.com

JD.com was China’s top electrical household appliance retailer in 2020, accounting for approximately 30 % of the total market. JD.com has recently expanded into cross-border e-commerce and new retail categories. JD.com imported around 310 billion yuan in goods in the two years leading up to 2021.

Sell and promote your brand on JD.com using our China e-commerce solutions, which include:

-JD Store Opening

-JD Store Design

-JD Store Management

-Content Marketing

-Off-Site Promotion

-KOL Marketing

d) How Much Does It Cost To Enter Chinese Social Media?

You can get started on WeChat or Weibo for around $2000. However, additional effort is required to build a comprehensive and consistent Chinese digital strategy.

We at Digital Crew take care of:

Account creation and validation – We set up your verified brand accounts on WeChat and Weibo to kickstart your Chinese digital journey.

Content production and management — After you’ve set up your account, it’s time to start creating a following by providing relevant content and interacting with your target audience.

Advertising and key opinion leaders (KOLs) – Our WeChat advertising services encompass media buying, scheduling, and KOL involvement throughout the life of your campaign.

e) Is the set-up process for WeChat & Weibo Complicated?

Setting up certified brand accounts on WeChat and Weibo takes longer and involves more effort than setting up profiles on western social media sites like Facebook & Instagram. You must provide a signed application letter along with supporting documentation detailing the account holder and business. We at Digital Crew will walk you through the process to make it as simple as possible.

f) What are your targeting options for social media?

On Chinese social media, you may target an audience in two ways. Some paid advertising placements, such as WeChat moment ads or automatic banners, will automatically display your ad to your target audience at the appropriate times and locations.

You can also select appropriate KOLs for article buyouts and in-article banner placements to target a specific audience. Our team of Chinese social specialists at Digital Crew can assist you in developing a strategy that uses a variety of marketing techniques and advertising placements to reach your target demographic.

g) What are KOLs & how can they boost your business?

KOLs (key opinion leaders) are a broad category of media outlets and influencers that comprise the Chinese digital ecosystem.

Local news media sites, specialty blogs, industry journals, and digital celebrities with millions of followers are all examples of KOLs. Engaging key opinion leaders (KOLs) is a terrific method to get your brand noticed and heard, and it may help enhance your reputation and online following.

KOLs can be hired to endorse your products, submit articles or favorable reviews about your company on the internet, demonstrate and display products through live stream, organize events via live stream, and even participate in offline activations such as public appearances, brand events, or product launches.

Digital Crew has a wide network of KOLs and can help you find the right ambassador to represent your business.

h) What are your e-commerce options as far as the Chinese market Is concerned?

When establishing an e-commerce store for the Chinese market, we propose using WeChat’s dynamic mini-program feature to create a WeChat shop. Setting up a WeChat store is less expensive than setting up a TMall store and can provide comparable or even greater results when done correctly.

Customers may explore and purchase your products on WeChat shops completely within the app using WeChat Pay. The aesthetic and layout of your store can also be customized to optimize the user journey and match the look and feel of your brand.

i) Why choose Digital Crew to manage your media buying?

The Chinese market’s digital media landscape is unusually complex. We’ll highlight your message with the appropriate wording, tone, and calls to action.

We offer the best in Chinese display advertising and online media buying, including RTB, programmatic retargeting, and video ads, among other services. We’ll select the most effective media channels for establishing your brand and increasing your visibility in the Chinese market while handling all campaign planning and purchase.

There are many local media channels in different regions that you should not miss out on. We conduct research to fine-tune and build the most effective Chinese media buying strategies for your company. Text ads, banner and video creative design, analytics integration, translation, and the creation of landing pages or microsites are all handled by us.

j) Custom Competitive Marketplace Research

Understand your brand’s current market position and how it compares to your competitors. Competitive benchmarking provides you with real-time data on the consumer experience your brand provides, compared to your competitors. It assists you in identifying areas for improvement and keeping track of your competition. This helps you to recognize chances to optimize your strategy and stay ahead of them. Partner with us to create a brand strategy that reflects consumer needs, and identifies key areas of improvement.

Panda Metrics can help you identify your brand’s health and track your competition on WeChat and Weibo. It is a solution designed for Global Marketers who want to unlock China!

k) Here is a portfolio of Digital Crew’s previous campaigns

Digital Crew has handled a wide range of projects for a variety of brands and clients. Check out some of our case studies to get a sense of the work we can do together.