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A study on how companies communicate and market themselves on Sina Weibo
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A study on how companies communicate and market themselves on Sina Weibo
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A STUDY ON HOW COMPANIES COMMUNICATE AND MARKET THEMSELVES ON SINA WEIBO by Luyang Li A Thesis Presented to the FACULTY OF THE USC GRADUATE SCHOOL UNIVERSITY OF SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree MASTER OF ARTS (STRATEGIC PUBLIC RELATIONS) August 2012 Copyright 2012 Luyang Li ii Table of Contents List of Figures iii Abstract iv Chapter One: Overview of Weibo in China 1 1.1 History of Weibo in China 1 1.2 Sina Weibo Facts 3 1.3 Sina Weibo Features 5 Chapter Two: The Application of Weibo in Corporate Marketing 10 2.1 Broadcasting through Sina Weibo 11 2.2 Providing Customer Service on Sina Weibo 29 2.3 Sponsoring Advertisements on Sina Weibo 31 Chapter Three: Problems Facing Weibo Marketing 44 3.1 Communication Deficiencies of Weibo 44 3.2 Weibo Marketing Is Not for All Companies 45 Chapter Four: Suggestions on Weibo Marketing 46 Conclusions 49 Bibliography 50 iii List of Figures Figure 1: The Weibo Evolution Figure 2: Sina Weibo Market Share Figure 3: Activity Comparison Figure 4: Homepage of Bill Bishop’s Sina Weibo Figure 5: An example post on Bill Bishop’s Sina Weibo Figure 6: Sina Weibo plaza from Luyang Li’s Sina Weibo Figure 7: @nikesporswear profile page on Sina Weibo Figure 8: @nike profile page on Twitter Figure 9: An example post by @durex on Sina Weibo Figure 10: An example post by @starbucks on Sina Weibo Figure 11: An example post by @mcdonalds on Sina Weibo Figure 12: @fastbookbag profile page on Sina Weibo Figure 13: M-Comm homepage Figure 14: Three examples of advertisements on M-Comm Figure 15: A look at M-Comm’s member base Figure 16: Three examples of on-going advertisements on M-Comm Figure 17: Two examples of Sina Weibo user name sales on M-Comm Figure 18: “Create an Opp” page on sponsoredtweets.com iv Figure 19: Examples of celebrity twitters on sponsoredtweets.com Figure 20: Examples of recent sponsored tweets by Kim Kardashian v Abstract This paper examines how companies communicate and market themselves on Sina Weibo, which can be described as a Chinese Twitter-Facebook hybrid. “Weibo” literally means “micro-blog” in Chinese language. (“Wei”, in Chinese, means “micro”, and “bo” means “blog”.) For this study, a wide variety of corporate Weibo accounts were analyzed with regard to their messages, structure and consumers’ responses. As a result, corporate Weibo accounts were categorized into two types: broadcasters and conversationalists. The purpose of this study is to investigate different kinds of corporate Weibo accounts and to examine different Weibo marketing tools. Another aim is to study how effective these Weibo marketing tactics are for promoting sales, with the ultimate goal of developing recommendations on how to integrate this platform into a company’s marketing plan. The key issues discussed in this paper include the history and features of Sina Weibo; the application of micro-blogs in corporate marketing; and problems facing Sina Weibo marketing. Results reveal that a large majority of companies use Sina Weibo as a one-way broadcasting channel to reach audiences rather than engage in conversations. Most big brands have multiple Sina Weibo accounts but only a vi few have customer service accounts. It is difficult to evaluate how effective Sina Weibo marketing is for generating sales, but Weibo can be a good public relations platform that can help strengthen a brand’s reputation and indirectly increase sales. 1 Chapter One: Overview of Weibo in China Chinese Weibo services started as copycats of Twitter. “But as a trend, Weibo is now growing at an even more impressive rate than its Western counterpart.” a report from the official Global Times says. 1 1.1 History of Weibo in China From 2006 to 2009, micro-blog services grew rapidly in China. The earliest notable one was Fanfou, which was launched in Beijing on May 12, 2007. 2 Fanfou’s services and website design was very similar to Twitter, which was created in 2006. Fanfou's users increased from 300,000 to 1 million in the first half of 2009 alone. 3 Other micro-blogging services that started during that time period were Jiwai, Digu, Zuosha and Tencent's Taotao. After the July 2009 Ürümqi riots, concerned about the opposition could spread rumors through Weibo, the Chinese government shut down most of the domestic Weibo services. Foreign social media services like Twitter and Facebook have also been blocked since. 1 Chao, Charles. "Chinese Microblogs Growing Faster than Twitter." WantChinaTimes.com. N.p., 20 May 2011. Web. <http://www.wantchinatimes.com/news-subclass-cnt.aspx?cid=1503>. 2 Tian, Zhiling. "Twitter 时代: 人 人都可发新闻." Twitter 时代: 人 人都可发新闻. Nddaily.com, 12 July 2009. Web. 02 July 2012. <http://gcontent.oeeee.com/3/32/3323fe11e9595c09/Blog/198/dabe6f.html>. 3 Tian, Zhiling. "Twitter 时代: 人 人都可发新闻." Twitter 时代: 人 人都可发新闻. Nddaily.com, 12 July 2009. Web. 02 July 2012. <http://gcontent.oeeee.com/3/32/3323fe11e9595c09/Blog/198/dabe6f.html>. 2 However, large Chinese Internet companies began creating other Weibos, like Sina Weibo and Tencent Weibo. These large companies forged strong ties with Chinese government officials to avoid censorship, and they were considered by the authority easier to monitor and more cooperative. Sina Corp., the parent of Sina Weibo, was founded in 1999 and operates one of China’s largest web portals: Sina.com. Tencent, however, is the third largest Internet company in the world behind Google and Amazon by market capitalization. 4 Other big Internet companies that followed suit were Baidu, Sohu and Netease, all of which created Weibo services, one after another, in 2010. To avoid government censorship, all Chinese Weibo services today have instituted their own monitoring policies and methods. Blacklisted words are checked by weibo system automatically, and sometimes administrators check manually. 5 However, Weibo services are considered much less restrictive compared to other Chinese media formats. Li Gang scandal, Guo Meimei and the Beijing Red Cross scandal 6 were first publicly disclosed on Weibo. 4 Lacy, Sarah. "What Valley Companies Should Know About Tencent." TechCrunch. N.p., 20 June 2010. Web. <http://techcrunch.com/ 2010/ 06 / 20/what-valley-companies-should-know-about-tencent/>. 5 Buckley, Chris. "China's Sina to Step-up Censorship of Weibo." Reuters. N.p., 19 Sept. 2011. Web. 02 July 2012. <http://in.reuters.com/article/2011/09/19/idINIndia-59420220110919>. 6 Both Li Gang and Guo Meimei & Red Cross scandals involve government officials abusing powers. 3 Figure1: Chinese Weibo services timeline, Introducing Micro-Blogging in China, by Dr Matt McDougall on May 22, 2011. Edited by Luyang Li, Retrieved from http://www.slideshare.net/Jarrahbear/introducing-microblogging-in-china 1.2 Sina Weibo Facts Sina Weibo has dominated the Chinese Micro-blog market since 2009. Sina Weibo had 56.5 percent of the active users in China's micro-blogging market base and 86.6 percent of the browsing time, according to a 2011 iResearch's report. 7 7 Sina Commands 56% of China's Microblog Market." Resonance China. N.p., 30 May 2011. Web. <http://www.resonancechina.com/ 2011 / 03 / 30/sina-commands-56-of-chinas-microblog-market/>. 4 Figure 2: Sina leads others in terms of number of active users and time length spent. Investment Focus on Sina, by China International Capital Corporation Limited. Retrieved from http://wenku.baidu.com/view/8849253b580216fc700afdcf.html Sina Weibo has gained 324 million registered users in three years. 8 There are currently more than 130,000 enterprise accounts in Sina Weibo, and nearly thirty percent of the world’s top 500 businesses have an account with Sina Weibo, according to the “2012 Corporate Weibo White Paper”. 9 Sina Weibo has significantly more traffic and on-site time than Tencent Weibo, the second-largest Weibo service in China, according to the Baidu Index. It’s partly because Sina Weibo has a more diverse celebrity base, including Chinese movie stars, singers, athletes, scholars, artists, organizations, government 8 Xie, Lingning, and Xiaokun Zhu. " 新浪“孤注一掷” :成也微博 败也微博." Yicai.com. N.p., n.d. Web. 02 July 2012. <http://www.yicai.com/news/ 2012 / 07 /1862128.html>. 9 "Nearly 30% of Fortune 500 on China’s Sina Weibo." RESONANCE CHINA, 16 Apr. 2012. Web. <http://www.resonancechina.com/2012/04/16/nearly-30-of-fortune-500-on-chinas-sina-weibo/>. 5 officials. Figure 3: Data from Baidu Indext. Retrieved from http://www.slideshare.net/Jarrahbear/introducing-microblogging-in-china A report from the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences (CASS) showed that more than 70 percent of micro-bloggers use their Weibo account as their primary source of news, and some 60 percent say it is trustworthy. 10 1.3 Sina Weibo Features While Sina Weibo was launched as a clone of Twitter or the combination of Facebook and Twitter, it has created many useful features to improve the user experience. Twitter users can only post 140 characters, but Weibo users can also post pictures, videos, audios and emoticons besides 140 characters (see figure 4). 10 "Chinese Microblogs Growing Faster than Twitter." WantChinaTimes.com, 20 May 2011. Web. 02 July 2012. <http://www.wantchinatimes.com/news-subclass-cnt.aspx?id=20110520000007>. 6 In addition, there is a function called voicemail Weibo, allowing users to leave instant voicemail on each other’s Sina Weibo. Micro-blogging is also more social on Sina Weibo compared with Twitter. “To many people, Twitter is more about sharing and reading than conversing with other users. Twitter’s platform doesn’t encourage group conversations.” Willis Wee, founder of Tech in Asia, wrote in his blog. 11 But on Sina Weibo, all the comments for a same post are shown threaded. A popular message on Weibo can easily get a thread of hundreds of comments. (See Figure 5). Sina Weibo also provides micro-groups, mini polls and social game apps, which have greatly enriched user experience. 11 Willis Wee. "What Twitter Could Learn from China’s Sina Weibo." What Twitter Could Learn from China’ s Sina Weibo. Tech in Asia, 4 Jan. 2011. Web. <http://www.techinasia.com/twitter-could-learn-from-sina-weibo/>. 7 Figure 4: Inside Sina Weibo by Bill Bishop 12 , retrieved from http://www.doc88.com/p-57886756714.html 12 Bill Bishop, an internet analyst in Beijing 8 Figure 5: Inside Sina Weibo by Bill Bishop 13 , retrieved from http://www.doc88.com/p-57886756714.html Sina Weibo also categorizes its content into different fields, including TV, movies, beauty, handsome, football basketball and so on. Each category has its own trending topics ranking by the number of retweets and comments they have. (See figure 6) 13 Bill Bishop, an internet analyst in Beijing 9 Figure 6: Sina Weibo Plaza, retrieved from Luyang Li’s Sina Weibo account. As a Eastwei MSL 14 white paper points out, “Sina Weibo has effectively synthesized the most popular qualities from all of China’s existing social media services: the characteristics of Social Networking Services; the convenience and immediacy of instant messaging; the individual touch of blogs; and the variety of BBS discussions topics”. 15 14 EastWei MSL is a leading Chinese PR agency 15 Stephy Liu, Johan Björkstén and Charlotta Lagerdahl. Best Practices in Chinese Microblog Communications. http://www.eastweimsl.com/upFile/ 2011030405143653981.pdf 10 Chapter Two: The Application of Weibo in Corporate Marketing Sina Weibo’s popularity is forcing companies to think about how they communicate with consumers and the public. Micro-blog has been included into many marketing campaigns, and marketers are beginning to wonder how Sina Weibo could help or hurt their business. As a famous saying in the Weibo world goes, “If you have 100 Weibo followers, you are an internal newsletter; if you have 1,000 followers, you are a billboard; 10,000 followers, you are a magazine; 100,000 followers, you are a newspaper; 1,000,000 followers, you are a local TV station; 100,000,000 followers, you are CNN; if you have 1,000,000,000 followers, then you are CCTV (China Central TV).” It may be an exaggeration, but with 200 million subscribers, Sina Weibo certainly offers considerable reach, which drives marketers to rush into this young platform. Jason Falls, the founder and CEO of Social Media Explorer, has categorized Twitter marketing into four styles: conversationalist, conversational marketer, 11 salesman and broadcaster. 16 Due to the differences between Chinese and American marketing styles, the research conducted for this paper indicates that Sina Weibo marketers can be categorized into three major types: broadcasters conversationalists, and advertisers. Broadcasters are big companies that use Sina Weibo as a channel to reach audience in a one-way communication model. They post almost all promotional messages and seldom participate in two-way conversations. Conversationalists are those who are willing to participate in the daily chit-chat, while also having plans to use Weibo for promoting business. Advertisers are usually small companies that want to utilize the word of mouth power on Weibo and pay people for passing along their messages on Weibo. 2.1 Broadcasting through Sina Weibo Marketers can use Sina Weibo as a broadcasting channel to get their corporate messages out in a quick and timely manner, and keep their brands on the top of consumers’ minds. Since Sina launched its enterprise Weibo edition with more functions and modules to meet various needs, more and more companies have jumped on board. Companies can display pictures, videos, links and introductions in a customized way. 16 Falls, Jason. "Four Styles Of Marketing On Twitter." Social Media Explorer. N.p., 18 Jan. 2010. Web. 02 July 2012. <http://www.socialmediaexplorer.com/digital-marketing/four-styles-of-marketing-on-twitter/>. 12 In addition, news on Weibo breaks fast, so business can use Weibo to monitor what is being said about their brand. Weibo can also be a great environment for monitoring what the competition is doing: how they market their new products and how they communicate with customers. Moreover, setting up a corporate Weibo account helps drive traffic to the company’s own website. When there is great content, marketers can simply post the link on Sina Weibo and gain additional attention. In the same way, business can drive sales by promoting products on Weibo. Some companies have even set up accounts aiming to encourage online shopping: for example, Nike has @Nikestore, and Lenovo has @shoplenovo. The following pictures are from @NikeSportswear’s Sina Weibo profile page and @nike’s Twitter homepage. The layout and design are more attractive on Weibo compared to Twitter, since the company can upload pictures and videos much more easily and conduct polls on its profile page. 13 Figure 7: Retrieved from @Nikesportswear’s homepage, translated by Luyang Li. http://www.Weibo.com/nikesportswear Figure 8: Retrieved from @Nike’s Twitter account. https://twitter.com/#!/Nike 14 To find out how big brands utilize their Sina Weibo accounts, this thesis project analyzed 50 business organizations across a number of sectors with regard to their Sina Weibo messages, structure and consumers’ response. These organizations included cosmetic and fashion brands, consumer electronics firms and automobile manufacturers. The most recent 100 “tweets” from each account were studied and divided into promotional tweets, including new product releases, special offers, discounts and raffles; company news, including company events, and employee activities; and chit-chat, including jokes and stories about this particular company and its industry, lifestyle issues and trends. The most recent 100 customer comments left on each company’s Sina Weibo wall were also examined to find out how many of these messages got company responses. The following chart is the basic data from the research conducted for this paper: Account Name Followers Average Retweets Replies to 100 Customer Messages 17 Promo- tions Company News Chit- chat @Nikespor tswear 88,119 12.3 6 78% 12% 10% Table 1: The research statistics on 50 Sina Weibo corporate accounts. 17 It indicates, In the 100 customer messages studied, how many of them are replied by the company. 15 Table 1: Continued @adidasor iginal 332,800 254.4 5 80% 17% 3% @anta 11,291 9.2 3 14% 83% 4% @DellChin a 141,779 5.5 4 52% 33% 15% @Lenovo 187,427 31.7 2 18% 56% 26% @hpchina 20,235 3.6 2 49% 21% 30% @microsoft 12,749 56.4 3 50% 33% 17% @Durex 296,310 117.8 6 12% 21% 67% @IKEA 177,659 18.6 2 23% 14% 63% @proctorg amble 44,251 3.2 5 11% 71% 18% @Starbuck sChina 314,831 79.5 12 21% 10% 69% @LuoisVui tton 161,660 34.0 1 57% 26% 17% @chanel 44,441 15.0 3 56% 31% 13% @burberry 307,172 94.44 2 46% 48% 6% 16 Table 1: Continued @calvinkle in 18,609 34.1 0 67% 27% 6% @gucci 107,136 59.83 1 53% 29% 17% @iaudi 238,851 126 3 56% 39% 5% @nescafec hina 64,931 44.3 0 9% 9% 84% @yishiongr oupltd 155,226 59.48 0 15% 30% 55% @officialva ncl 51,519 29 4 26% 12% 62% @cokechin a 142,236 28.0 0 13% 17% 70% @poli 53,068 1.1 0 3% 85% 12% @pizzahut 231,509 317.8 2 43% 14% 43% @KFC 167,699 91.5 3 76% 5% 9% @mcdonal dsworlds 71802 231 7 37% 41% 22% @littelshee p 35,090 94.3 4 9% 41% 50% 17 Table 1: Continued @canon 79,095 104.4 2 71% 4% 25% @philips 167,308 43.5 0 45% 25% 30% @kingston 128,127 25 0 5% 86% 9% @Mecede sbenz 328,515 72.1 5 19% 35% 36% @bmw 339,710 195.2 6 46% 27% 27% @gmchina 54,220 34.2 1 53% 13% 34% @ferrari 170,095 196 2 48% 42% 10% @Lamborg hini 82,439 239.7 0 73% 7% 20% @cebbank 156,351 6.7 6 42% 5% 53% @crfchina 8,860 11 0 30% 23% 47% @cliniqueu 77,970 23 0 67% 17% 16% @shiseido china 51,538 3 1 39% 5% 56% @loreal 123,910 34 0 23% 52% 25% 18 Table 1: Continued @alipay 159,276 23 34 27% 41% 32% @kuaishub ao 41,897 37 97 31% 8% 61% @groupon 336,692 9 9 15% 7% 78% @wanreng ou 205,422 2 2 56% 21% 23% @siemens 14,087 11 0 34% 35% 31% @broadho me 1493,121 3 0 46% 21% 33% @huafang yicheng 134,842 2 0 21% 26% 53% @lkkgroup 140,934 7 0 33% 37% 30% @newplan 135,768 3 0 28% 25% 47% @olympus china 61,675 5 3 46% 15% 39% @crocs 167,592 23 2 67% 8% 25% Research findings: 1. Research conducted for this paper indicates that 41 out of 50 of the companies reply to less than 5 percent of the customer messages left on their 19 Weibo walls. Thus the majority of organizations are simply using Weibo as a broadcasting tool — to push news and other content, including product information, special offers, discounts and sales. They seldom engage in conversations with consumers. 2. Nine out of the 50 companies spend more than half of their broadcasting tweets on promotional messages including product information, special offers, discounts and sales. Eight companies spent more than 50 percent of their Weibo “tweets” on chit-chat. 3. Twenty-two out of the 50 companies have multiple accounts on Sina Weibo. These companies organize their multiple Weibo accounts in four different ways: a) Seven companies, such as L’Oreal, Shiseido and Coke set up Weibo accounts for each of its sub-brands. For example, L’Oreal has six different accounts including @lancome, @vichy, @carnie, etc. Each account focuses on a particular product line, but they are all coordinated under one main corporate account. b) Nine companies, organize their Weibo accounts by function, including Dell, 20 HP and Procter & Gamble. For example, @Dellchina has six sub-accounts including @dellfans, which is a place for fans to share their stories and participate in raffles on Sina Weibo; @dellcsr, an account that focuses on Dell’s corporate social responsibility programs; and @techsupportdell, which is an account dealing with technical problems customers may have. c) Three companies, Yishion, Lenovo and IKEA, set up sub-accounts by geographic locations. For example, Yishion has launched its business in eight different cities in China. Each branch office has its own Yishion Weibo account targeting customers in their respective cities. d) Three sportswear brands, Nike, Adidas and Anta, set up sub-accounts based on different product segments. For example, Nike has 10 different accounts, including @nikebasketball, @nikefootball and @nikewomen. The following data collected from the research shows main accounts and their sub-accounts : 21 Main Account Sub-Accounts Sub-Accounts set up according to @Nikesportsw ear @nikebasketball;@nikefootball; @nikewomen, @nikeid;@nikestore; @nikeaction;@justdoit @nikerunning;@niketraining Product segments @adidasorigina l @adidasfootball;@adidasbasketball;@ adidasrunning;@adidastrainning;@adi dasoutdoor;@adidasneo Product segments @anta @titanrenwu;@antabasketball;@antaki ds;@antawomen;@antamal@;antarun ning; Product segments @DellChina @OpenDell;@Dellsmb; @Dellfans;@Dellsolution; @techsupportdell;@dellcsr Functionalities @Lenovo @Shoplenovo,@Ideapadu @campusrecruiment @lenovomonitor @lenovoservicechannel And 28 @lenovo+provinces (for example:@lenovobeijing, @lenovoshanghai) Functionalities and Geographic Locations @hpchina @hppsg;@hpprint;@hpsoftware @hpBusinessCriticalSystems @hpworkstations;@hpstorage @hpsmb;@hpesupport Functionalities Table 2: the research statistics on 22 Sina Weibo accounts structures. 22 Table 2: Continued @microsoft @microsoftwindows7;@cnmsdn;@msr a;@chinatechnet;@msnchina;@micro softsmb;@msftoffice2010;@explorems ;@chinamvp;@bizspark;@imaginecup; @microsofthelps;@internetexplorer;@ mscloudcomputing;@enableenterprise Functionalities and Brands @Durex @dettolchina;@schollchina @veetchina brands @IKEA @IkeaHongKong Geographic Locations @proctorgambl e @pglivingartist;@pgchinacampus @pglifestyle;@pglaborunion @pgrecruiting Functionalities @iaudi @audia1;@audiq5;@audia3 Brands @shiseidochin a @shiseido; @dq; @ipsa; @pureandmild; @za;@joico; @uno Brands @loreal @lorealparis; @lancome; @vichy; @maybelline; @carnier; @biotherm Brands @cebbank @cebcardcenter Functionalities 23 Table 2: Continued @yishiongroupl td @yishionshandong;@yishionxibei;@yi shionjiangxi;@yishionyueqiong;@yishi onhenan;@yishionhuadong;@yishionh unan;@yishionyunnan Geographic Locations @officialvancl @vancl; @anclgz; @loveqa;@ vanclrufengda Functionalities @cokechina @livepositively,@minutemaidpulpy;@s pritespark;@fantaplaycrew;@meizhiyu an;@cokechina;@icokeclub Brands @kangshifu @kangshifumoli;@yinsimian;@shimia nbafang;@ksfmoli;@ksfmeiric;@u/206 1129285 Brands @canon @delightedimage Functionalities @philips @philipslighting;@phillipsgrooming;@ onesmallstep;@philipsighting;@philips avent Functionalities @Mecedesben z @benzsmart;@bbaccclass;@bbacecla ss;@mbstarfund;@u/2180303243 Functionalities @gmchina @sgmchevolet;@sgmbuick;@sgmcadi llac;@opelauto;@baojun630sgmw Brands 24 4. A good tweet is one that generates positive replies or re-tweets, for it suggests the tweet has resonated with someone. Creating valuable and sharable messages is the first step to generating re-tweets and replies. Some corporate Weibo accounts have shown strong momentum in gaining followers, such as @dellchina, @proctorgamble and @hpchina. However, they do not seem to have generated much interest among fans, since re-tweets and replies are very few. For example, @DellChina has 141,779 followers, but research for this thesis showed that, the average number of retweets for one tweet was just 5.5. Other accounts, such as @durex and @starbucks, were more successful in terms of generating re-tweets. The average number of re-tweets for one @durex tweet is 117.8, while @starbucks has 79.5. Research conducted for this paper indicates that accounts that have a high percentage of promotional tweets have fewer responses and re-tweets than those that have higher percentage of chit-chat tweets. It is because promotional messages are mostly one-way conversation in which the companies advertise their products, while chit-chat encourages two-way conversation by posting interesting questions and asking followers to share their thoughts. A research conducted by China Internet Network Information 25 Center (CNNIC) showed that people like to share three different types of Tweets: 1) breaking news 2) humors and 3) those that were posed as questions which make readers stop and think. 18 @durex is known for its humor and creativity. For example, @durex tweeted the following pictures on Sina Weibo on July 23 rd , 2011. Figure 9: Retrieved from @durex Sina Weibo homepage. http://www.Weibo.com/durexinchina, translated by Luyang Li. The tweet went viral and was retweeted 81,611 times within six hours. 19 It 18 " 什么微博最受欢迎." 什么微博最受欢迎. Donews.com, 30 Nov. 2011. Web. 03 July 2012. <http://www.donews.com/net/201111/952760.shtm>. 19 Jin, Pengyuan. " 微博营销案例 :杜蕾斯鞋套雨夜传奇." Alibuybuy.com, 31 Aug. 2011. Web. July 2012. 26 topped the hot topics list on Sina Weibo on the same day. @Starbucks has a different approach in gaining fans’ attention. Not only does the company post a large quantity of coupons and deals, but it also asks interesting questions that make people stop and think. The company reward fans and shows genuine gratitude to them. “@starbucks’ tone and manner are very much like a friendly neighborhood cafe instead of a brand talking to a mass of consumers.” said Mr. Chew in an interview on Thoughtful China. 20 @starbucks’ tweets read like lovely notes a caring old friend would write, accompanied by pictures of delicious coffee and food, which always make people feel good. <http://www.alibuybuy.com/posts/64422.html>. 20 Madden, Normandy. "Marketers Like Starbucks Are Learning to Use Microblog Sina Weibo in China." Ad Age Global, 28 Sept. 2011. Web. 03 July 2012. <http://adage.com/article/global-news/marketers-learning-microblog-sina-weibo-china/230074/>. 27 Figure 10: Retrieved from @starbucks Sina Weibo homepage. http://www.Weibo.com/starbucks ; translated by Luyang Li. In the study, McDonald’s had the highest average of re-tweets at 231. Forty-one percent @McDonald’s tweets talked about employees’ stories and activities, which gives the brand a human touch and brought the company much closer to customers. The following tweet was posted by @McDonald’s on March 8, 2012. 28 Figure 11: retrieved from @mcdonalds Sina Weibo homepage, http://www.Weibo.com/mcdonaldsworlds; translated by Luyang Li. In contrast with Durex, Starbucks and McDonald’s, Dell and HP have been posting mainly promotional tweets describing product functions and performances which have not generated many responses. If Dell and HP can reduce some of the technical words in their tweets and add more fun photos and eye-catching videos, followers will be more likely to share these tweets 29 and respond to them. 2.2 Providing Customer Services on Sina Weibo Besides using Weibo as a broadcasting tool to reach audiences, companies can also use it to enhance customer service. As social media provides businesses of all sizes an equal platform to interact directly with customers. Customer post complaints, questions, and concerns on Weibo. However, the majority of the companies studied in this research haven’t started providing customer services on Weibo; they don’t go beyond scanning and monitoring tweets. Only three companies have designated customer service Weibo accounts: Fast Book Bag, CEB Bank and Alipay. The following picture shows Fast Book Bag’s Sina Weibo profile page. Fast Book Bag is an online bookstore famous for delivering books within an hour after the order is placed. The company is growing quickly and has launched services in nine different cities in China. There are a total of 19 company representatives listed on Fast Book Bag’s Sina Weibo homepage, including the company’s chief executive officer, chief operating officer and two vice presidents, and 15 customer 30 service personnel. Customers can follow and contact each of them directly; they can also place orders by sending direct messages to @fastbookbag with their names, phone numbers, address and the book they would like to purchase. Figure 12: Retrieved from @kuaishubao Sina Weibo homepage. Edited by Luyang Li, http://e.Weibo.com/kuaishubao, translated by Luyang Li. Orders placed through Weibo account for 5 percent to 6 percent of Fast Book Bag’s total orders received daily. On the day the book Steve Jobs came out, the company received more than 2,000 orders on Weibo. 21 21 " 微博营销案例之快书包." 微博营销案例之快书包. Baidu.com, n.d. Web. 03 July 2012. <http://wenku.baidu.com/view/cd99e990daef5ef7ba0d3c68.html>. 31 Unlike Fast Book Bag, which integrates customer service function into its main Weibo account, @Alipay has a separate customer service account named @Alipaycs. Customers do not need to choose from different representatives, they leave a message on the wall and wait for the answers. While Sina Weibo provides a quick and easy way for customer service, “Micro-blogging is not yet an effective full-fledged customer service platform: it doesn’t allow for in depth interactions and thus, clear paths to a resolution.” according to J-P De Clerck, a customer-centric marketing consultant. 22 2.3 Sponsoring Advertisements on Weibo For big companies, broadcasting through Sina Weibo works well because they have tens of thousands of loyal fans. For medium-sized companies, providing customer service to a small but loyal customer base is a good choice. But what about small and anonymous companies who need to increase awareness and popularity? One option is to run sponsored posts. Numerous Weibo marketing agencies in China have sprung up to deal with the 22 CLECK, J-P DE. "How to Use Twitter for Customer Service." - Smart Insights Digital Marketing Advice. Smartinsights.com, 23 Dec. 2010. Web. 03 July 2012. <http://www.smartinsights.com/social-media-marketing/twitter-marketing/twitter-customer-service/>. 32 growing market demand, including: M-Comm 23 , Wo Tao 24 , and Zhu Bajie 25 . The following picture shows the homepage of M-Comm’s website. Figure 13: Retrieved from M-Comm homepage, http://www.weichuanbo.com, edited by Luyang Li. On M-Comm, advertisers allocate tasks to all the members of this website; they post ads, and pay for people to re-tweet or comment on the ad as required. Usually one ad has a pool of around ¥100 to ¥200 ($20-$40). A member can re-tweet the ad or comment on it no more than five times in exchange for money. The advertisement will not be taken down until the fund is used up. It is the digital equivalent of hiring several people to distribute flyers on different streets. Usually, ¥100 can hire at least 500 people to re-tweet the ad. If these people have an 23 http://www.weichuanbo.com/ 24 http://www.oootao.com/ 25 http://www.zhubajie.com/ 33 average of 100 followers on Weibo, then the ad has a potential exposure to 50,000 people. Anyone who has a Sina Weibo or Tencent Weibo account can sign up as a member and they can pick whatever advertisement they want to re-tweet. The following picture shows some examples of the ads listed on M-Comm: Figure 14: Retrieved from M-Comm “Tasks” page, http://www.weichuanbo.com/Task, translated by Luyang Li. The price varies depending on how many followers a member has on his or her Weibo account; the following picture shows the price: 34 Figure 15: retrieved from M-Comm “Help Center”, http://www.weichuanbo.com/html/help_cby_vip.html, translated by Luyang Li. Members who have 50 to 100 followers can only get ¥0.2 for re-tweeting one advertisement. But for those who have 50,000 to 60,000 followers, the price for one tweet is ¥20. Of all the accounts registered on M-Comm, 51 percent have fewer than 300 followers, 25 percent have 1,000 to 3,000 followers; 24 percent have 3000 to 5000 followers; 3 percent have 5,000 to 10,000 followers; and 2 percent have more than 10,000 followers. The advertisements are divided into five categories: e-commerce; digital products; fashion products; food & drugs; and group purchases. They can simply fall into two categories: consumer products and services. Of the 41 ongoing ads on M-Comm on Jan. 3, 2012, 16 aimed to promote online services, including three 35 dating service websites, six video gaming websites, one social network site, and so forth. The remaining 25 ads were posted by online stores that sell consumer products, including shoes, clothes, tea, handbags, cameras and iPhone cases. The following picture shows examples of the completed ad campaign listed on M-Comm. The first one is said to have been re-tweeted 389 times, reaching 834,330 people. The second one was re-tweeted by 2,333 people and communicated to their 1,139,950 followers. Figure 16: Retrieved from M-Comm “Tasks”,http://www.weichuanbo.com/Task, Translated by Luyang Li. M-Comm also sells user names. Since many owners have carefully cultivated their accounts since 2009 and gathered thousands of followers who share an 36 interest, these accounts are considered valuable marketing channels. The following picture shows two accounts that are listed for sale on M-Comm. The price for @Studentpodium, an account with 163,952 fans and 15,981 tweets, is ¥18,888 ($2,861). The price for @Cosmetic & Diet, which has 505,370 followers and 1,686 tweets, is ¥50,000 ($7,575). Figure 17: Retrieved from http://www.weichuanbo.com/html/Weibo_Reds.html, Translated by Luyang Li. For those who don’t have time to build a critical mass of followers from scratch, purchasing a popular account seems to be a viable choice. Weibo is a game of numbers; people tend to follow those who have thousands of fans. 37 Marketers can also turn to professional “Weibo big account builders” for help. An article on M.I.C Gadget 26 revealed the story behind many popular Weibo accounts: A Sina Weibo user (@red wine & blue ice) started a business collecting followers for Weibo accounts and selling them to prospective buyers. In about 40 days, @red wine & blue ice gathered more than 200,000 followers for a Weibo account and sold it for 95,000 in RMB (more than US$15,000). 27 In an interview, @red wine & blue ice said that her company has more than 100 Weibo accounts, totaling 2 million followers. Each account focuses on a different industry — cars, pets, shoes, etc. — and is kept in stealth mode until it is sold. This year alone, she planned to incubate 100 accounts with an average of 50,000 followers each. 28 The idea may seem absurd to many people, but it works great in China. A venture capitalist valued @red wine & blue ice’s company at about RMB 5 to 8 million 26 M.I.C. (like “made-in-china” — or M-I-C) Gadget is a blog about life in China and subculture which includes tech knockoffs, Chinese events and everything else that comes under the genre. M.I.C. 27 Lai, Herman. "How To Make Money Out Off Sina Weibo Or Even Twitter? » M.I.C. Gadget." How To Make Money Out Off Sina Weibo Or Even Twitter? » M.I.C. Gadget. N.p., 24 Feb. 2011. Web. 02 July 2012. <http://micgadget.com/11408 /how-to-make-money-out-off-sina-weibo-or-even-twitter/>. 28 Lai, Herman. "How To Make Money Out Off Sina Weibo Or Even Twitter? » M.I.C. Gadget." How To Make Money Out Off Sina Weibo Or Even Twitter? » M.I.C. Gadget. N.p., 24 Feb. 2011. Web. 02 July 2012. <http://micgadget.com/11408 /how-to-make-money-out-off-sina-weibo-or-even-twitter/>. 38 (US$750,000 to $1.2 million). 29 There are many firms in China that have tapped into this business, but it is hard to estimate how many. This business model currently does not exist in the United States, but it could work on Twitter as well. Research findings: Weibo advertisements are like flyers in cyberspace: instead of being handed out on the streets by strangers, they are distributed electronically by people we know, love and have great interest in. Since Sina Weibo can gather all comments into one threaded conversation, messages can spread faster than on Twitter. Advertisers on M-Comm or other crowd sourcing platforms are all Internet service providers, online shops or networking services. Most of them are start-ups, and cannot afford to run advertisements on major web portals or search engines. Weibo ads allow them to reach a larger audience at less cost. Advertisers allow micro-bloggers to write their own posts based on instructions. Those messages tend to be more authentic and personal, creating a deeper connection with the audience, which makes the difference between Weibo ads 29 Lai, Herman. "How To Make Money Out Off Sina Weibo Or Even Twitter? » M.I.C. Gadget." How To Make Money Out Off Sina Weibo Or Even Twitter? » M.I.C. Gadget. N.p., 24 Feb. 2011. Web. 02 July 2012. <http://micgadget.com/11408 /how-to-make-money-out-off-sina-weibo-or-even-twitter/>. 39 and email ads. If I see on my Weibo timeline that a friend has recommended a certain online shop where she bought her new purse, there’s a good chance that I will click on it and check it out. However, very few read every update from the people they follow on Weibo. With the high volume of posts on micro-blogs, it is easy for people to miss exciting news, let alone Weibo advertisements. This model work better when people who re-tweet the ad have thousands of followers. If most of them are in the same small tight-knit space, then the advertisers will only reach a small amount of the potential audiences. The way M-Comm works is “Micro-bloggers choose advertisers”, meaning: people choose which ad they want to tweet and get paid for it. However, I think it can learn from its U.S. counterparts in providing customized services. “Sponsored Tweets” 30 is a website run by IZEA, which has a similar business strategy with M-Comm. The following picture shows how advertisers pick the micro-bloggers they want to 30 http://sponsoredtweets.com 40 hire. I think the model will work better if it can allow advertisers to search by keywords. Every Twitter account has some keywords that describe the owner’s characteristics and interests, such as video games, and R&B music, etc. Enabling advertisers to search by keywords will lead to better matches. Figure 18: Retrieved from Sponsored Tweets, http://sponsoredtweets.com/twitter_advertising/how-it-works/ Celebrities are a major driving force on both Weibo and Twitter; their effective 41 influence, combined with personal touch, can result in a successful ad. One Twitter ad from Justin Bieber works better than thousands of re-tweets from ordinary users. Sponsored Tweets has celebrity members including the Kardashians, Mike Tyson, Kendra Wilkinson and others. Having celebrities sign up as members can greatly add to the credibility of young websites like M-Comm, and push membership growth. However, celebrities in China like to be approached privately. The problem is how to persuade them to come forward and admit to the public that they are open to take sponsored Weibo posts. The following picture shows examples of celebrity tweeters and their prices. 42 Figure 19: Retrieved from Sponsored Tweets “Celebrity Twitters” on January 17 th , 2012. http://sponsoredtweets.com/tweeters/celebrity-tweeters/ Here is an example of the sponsored tweets written by Kim Kardashian. Figure 20: Retrieved from Sponsored Tweets, http://sponsoredtweets.com/tweeters/celebrity-tweeters/ However, Weibo advertisements can be unethical and misleading sometimes. It is one thing if the ad says, “Hey, I found this cool store, click and check it out.” But it 43 is quite another if it says, “I’ve tried this diet pill and it really worked.” and in fact the person who re-tweeted the ad has never seen this pill before. Improved regulations may lead to the decline of this business in the future. 44 Chapter Three: Problems Facing Weibo Marketing Weibo marketing has emerged as a powerful new tool in recent years and continues to be integrated into companies marketing and communication plans. But Weibo marketing is relatively new, companies, agencies and consultants are still learning how to use this major platform. 3.1 Communication Deficiencies of Micro-blogging Weibo offers information overloads, and only a small fraction of information is useful to businesses. It is difficult to ensure that the company is reaching the right audience. It is also difficult for companies to create valuable tweets and catch the customers’ attention. In addition, it sometimes may not be able to convey the whole message in only 140 characters, which may cause confusion and misunderstanding. Another problem with Weibo marketing is that Internet use varies throughout China. In some rural areas, the Internet is considered a luxury. In addition, Weibo is mostly used by teenagers and young adults and therefore not suited for reaching other age groups. 45 3.2 Weibo Marketing is Not for All Companies Broadcasting through Sina Weibo only works well when this brand has millions of loyal fans who are glad to read the updates in order to get a coupon and don’t mind some spam messages. Small-to-mid-sized companies do not have this advantage. It takes a long time to gather a critical mass of followers and make broadcasting effective. Successful businesses on Weibo, such as McDonald’s and Starbucks are not using their tweets to focus on broadcasting news. Instead, they are generating good content and being social: chatting, being friendly. Good sales people make effort to get to know prospective new customers. They sat down with customers, chatted with them and asked them questions. So if a company is not going to take the time creating real relationships on Weibo, it is not going to see much improvement on sales or corporate reputation. 46 Chapter Four: Suggestions on Weibo Marketing “The opportunities for a business to communicate and build community, awareness, and sales potential through Micro-blogging are plentiful. Integrating Micro-blog into a marketing plan requires an understanding of how to engage people in meaningful ways.” Said Bernie Borges, Founder and CEO of Find and Convert. 31 First of all, companies should have content strategies. Among the 50 corporate Weibo accounts studied for this thesis, some have clear strategies, like L’Oreal and Shiseido. @L’Oreal has one main account focusing on company news and employee lives and activities, while its six sub-accounts focuses on promoting different product lines. Shiseido has a main account @Shiseidochina and seven sub-accounts. Its main account focuses on introducing Japanese culture and society to Chinese consumers, since Shiseido is a Japanese company. Both L’Oreal and Shiseido have seen a steady increase in the number of followers during the thesis research. There were seven companies in the study that had spent more than 60 percent of 31 Borges, Bernie. "Facebook and Twitter for Marketers: Philadelphia." Marketingpower.com, 1 Mar. 2011. Web. <http://www.marketingpower.com/Calendar/Pages/2011%20TS%20FacebookandTwitterforMarketersPhiladelphia.aspx >. 47 their tweets on “chit chat”. Of those companies, six companies have an average of more than 30 re-tweets. One company, Groupon, spent 78 percent of its tweets on chit-chat but only generated an average of nine re-tweets of each tweet it posted on Weibo. Further research showed that 68 percent of the company’s chit-chat tweets were re-tweeted messages on either lifestyle trends or jokes. It did not create many original tweets that made Groupon distinct from others. In this case, the key is to post content that provides value and fills a need. That’s the only way to survive in the vast sea of corporate Weibo accounts. Secondly, this research indicates that most companies are hiding behind a logo, and the people interacting with followers are nameless. However, the human touch will always encourage more interaction. McDonald’s, L’Oreal and Starbucks put their employees out there on Weibo. Employees’ pictures and funny stories are posted, which has made it easier for consumers to relate with the brands and created a large crowd of loyal fans. Finally, companies need to be as responsive as possible. A recent study found that 83 percent of the complainants that received a reply liked or loved the fact 48 that the company responded. 32 No matter the customer’s problem was solved or not. For those companies that set up customer service accounts, it is essential to respond to customer questions and solve problems as quickly as they can. For those that are simply doing broadcasting on Weibo, it is also beneficial to them to use Weibo to listen to customer requests or issues and to follow up on them. 32 "Maritz Research and Evolve 24: Twitter Study." Maritzresearch.com, Sept. 2011. Web. <http://www.maritzresearch.com/~/media/Files/MaritzResearch/e24/ExecutiveSummaryTwitterPoll.ashx>. 49 Conclusions This thesis studied how companies in China communicate and market themselves on Sina Weibo. The research indicated that there are mainly three different tactical approaches: broadcasting on Weibo to close the distance between the brand and the customer; providing customer service on Weibo to improve user experience; and sponsoring advertisements to raise brand awareness. Companies choose different tools based on their sizes, recourses and corporate cultures. Though it is difficult to evaluate how effective Weibo marketing is, in terms of generating profits and increasing sales, 78 percent of the companies studied in this thesis project have succeeded in increasing the number of followers on Sina Weibo, during the past three months of monitoring the platform. Sina Weibo continues to surge in popularity, according to the company’s data, it now has more than 327 million registered users 33 . Sina Weibo provides a public relations platform that can help strengthen brand reputation and has the potential to help increase sales indirectly. 33 Xie, Lingning, and Xiaokun Zhu. 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Abstract (if available)
Abstract
This paper examines how companies communicate and market themselves on Sina Weibo, which can be described as a Chinese Twitter-Facebook hybrid. “Weibo” literally means “micro-blog” in Chinese language. (“Wei”, in Chinese, means “micro”, and “bo” means “blog”.) For this study, a wide variety of corporate Weibo accounts were analyzed with regard to their messages, structure and consumers’ responses. As a result, corporate Weibo accounts were categorized into two types: broadcasters and conversationalists. The purpose of this study is to investigate different kinds of corporate Weibo accounts and to examine different Weibo marketing tools. Another aim is to study how effective these Weibo marketing tactics are for promoting sales, with the ultimate goal of developing recommendations on how to integrate this platform into a company’s marketing plan. ❧ The key issues discussed in this paper include the history and features of Sina Weibo
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Asset Metadata
Creator
Li, Luyang
(author)
Core Title
A study on how companies communicate and market themselves on Sina Weibo
School
Annenberg School for Communication
Degree
Master of Arts
Degree Program
Strategic Public Relations
Publication Date
08/06/2012
Defense Date
08/03/2012
Publisher
University of Southern California
(original),
University of Southern California. Libraries
(digital)
Tag
Marketing,OAI-PMH Harvest,Public Relations,Sina Weibo,social media,Twitter
Language
English
Contributor
Electronically uploaded by the author
(provenance)
Advisor
Tenderich, Burghardt (
committee chair
), Kotler, Jonathan (
committee member
), Swerling, Jerry (
committee member
)
Creator Email
liluyang727@yahoo.com,sunnyli727@gmail.com
Permanent Link (DOI)
https://doi.org/10.25549/usctheses-c3-87644
Unique identifier
UC11290309
Identifier
usctheses-c3-87644 (legacy record id)
Legacy Identifier
etd-LiLuyang-1138.pdf
Dmrecord
87644
Document Type
Thesis
Rights
Li, Luyang
Type
texts
Source
University of Southern California
(contributing entity),
University of Southern California Dissertations and Theses
(collection)
Access Conditions
The author retains rights to his/her dissertation, thesis or other graduate work according to U.S. copyright law. Electronic access is being provided by the USC Libraries in agreement with the a...
Repository Name
University of Southern California Digital Library
Repository Location
USC Digital Library, University of Southern California, University Park Campus MC 2810, 3434 South Grand Avenue, 2nd Floor, Los Angeles, California 90089-2810, USA
Tags
Sina Weibo
social media
Twitter