Despite reports of the various problems in China, the country’s economy continues to grow, serving as an enticing target to local and foreign entities wanting to expand there.
The country is positioned to surpass Japan as the world’s second largest economy (after the recession-stricken U.S. economy) at the end of this year, according to Tom Rauch of the Associated Press.
Although the use of the Internet and various forms of social media are heavily censored and monitored, Internet and mobile phone use in China is on the rise. This provides organizations willing to make some investment in social media as part of their strategy with plenty of opportunity to make inroads into the Chinese market.
Much like in the U.S. market, being informed, being authentic and engaging in conversation would serve a company well. But to successfully carry out a social media campaign in China, companies should also recognize the differences in the Chinese market, and tailor their strategies and choices of social media tools to the conditions of that market.
In a recent article, Forbes stated that Chinese Internet users, also known as netizens, spend nearly two billion hours online each week, compared to 129 million hours per week for users in the United States. These numbers reflect only a limited portion of the population, not a majority, so the growth could be significantly higher in years to come.
The 298 million people online only account for 23 percent of the Chinese population and may not offer the greatest reach cities beyond a certain tier, according to Sam Flemming, CEO and co-founder of CIC, a leading Internet Word of Mouth (IWOM) Research and Consulting firm in China.
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