Our guide to how your brand can use this platform.

1. SINA WEIBO
‘A VIRTUAL
TOWN SQUARE’
Our guide to how your brand
can use this platform.

2. “In a fast-changing and dynamic market
like China, having capability building strategies
on social media has become an imperative for
business – whether multinationals or locals.”
Booz & Co. – Impact of Social Media in China 2012

3. What is Sina Weibo?
Sina Weibo home page
— A Chinese microblogging website that was setup in response to
the censorship of Twitter and Facebook in China.
— It enables people to publicly discuss issues (e.g. politics) with a
level of freedom not available elsewhere in the country.
— However, there is still strict control with many words
and phrases blacklisted.
— There are over 500 million registered users, and an estimated
20 million new registrations per month.
— There are roughly 140 million posts per day.
— Interestingly, there are 500,000 users on Sina Weibo in Australia.
Source: Sina Corp Report 2012 & Sina Weibo 2012

4. Key features
Users can create questions and polls, post photos and videos, as well as creating events
and inviting friends. They are also able to upload directly via mobile.
There is a 140
character limit
per post, which is
roughly 70–80 words
in English.
Companies can create
badges that users can
be rewarded with
when users
complete tasks.
Celebrities can be
found on the
‘Hall of Celebrity’
(categorised to help
you find them easily).
The more hours
users spend
logged in, the
higher their level
becomes.
Ability to follow
trending topics &
emoticons by hour,
day or week in
‘Board of Fame’.

5. TiersTiers Read posts
Create
posts
Number of
users allowed
to follow
Number of users
allowed to
quietly^ follow
SMS Alerts~ Cost
Unregistered* Free
Registered 2,000 10 Free
VIP 3,000 30
10Y p/month
or 108Y p/year
Membership structure
There are three tiers of membership; unregistered, registered and VIP.
*Unregistered users have limited access to posts, they can only view trending topics and some celebrity’s posts.
^ ‘Quiet’ following means you can follow someone without them knowing.
~ SMS Alerts include birthdays, posts, and security (i.e. when your account is logged in from an unusual location).

6. Promotional opportunities
Advertising
Banners (homepage,
login), mobile banners,
app recommendations,
promoted ads (video,
eCommerce, event).
Campaign pages
Online campaign on
the Sina Weibo
platform for
interactive games,
voting or submission.
Event Collaboration
Event pages with live
broadcast and screen.
Great for events, parties,
conferences, fashion
shows or seminars.

7. Enterprise Weibo 2.0 – the dashboard for brands
— An analytics dashboard that allows brands to
communicate directly with consumers and track all
activity they do on Sina Weibo.
— Allows brands to install custom applications* on their
page, embed a map and provide contact hours/details,
promotional zone (rotational banner and video banner
for in-house promotion), custom background and design.
— The analytics dashboard allows brands to monitor page
and advertising performance, access learning resources
and manage applications.
* Types of apps: promotion page, video page, topic page, eCommerce & third party app development.

8. 4KEYRULES
TOUSINGSINAWEIBO

9. 4 key rules to using Sina Weibo
1. Listen
Listen to your audience
and competitors, as well
as understand social
trends and habits to
reduce the cultural hurdle.
2. Create
Include relevant content,
create conversations to
build a sustainable brand
community.
3. Engage
Continue to build brand
loyalty through, polls,
competitions, branded
events, product launches
and campaigns.
4. Analyse
Use Enterprise Weibo 2.0
to monitor and control all
marketing activities on
Sina Weibo.
Although strategies used for Facebook and Twitter can be applied when running a page on Sina Weibo,
it is important to find any cultural nuances your target audience may have.

10. 1. Listen
“A Weibo user posted a
few photos of him
using a few Durex
condoms as protection
of his shoes from the
rain. Minutes after the
post was published,
Durex’s official account
“retweeted” this post
to over 100K followers
and interacted with
people who replied.”
Rocky Fu - Entrepreneur &
Digital Strategist
Listen to your audience and
competitors, as well as understand
social trends and habits to reduce
the cultural hurdle.
Building a strong communication
foundation first requires you to
follow your fans social trends and
watch your competitors.
Think like your target audience.
Understanding what your target
audience like or dislike, how they
respond to different things will allow
you to post pictures, videos or
discussions that trend within your
brand’s community.

11. 2. Create
“Every midnight Durex post a
discussion topic and invite
followers to contribute their
relevant personal experience.”
Meng Shi - Durex Case Study on Sina WeiboInclude relevant content, create
conversations/discussions to build
a sustainable brand community.
Create conversation/discussion
that will resonate with your
target audience.
Build an online brand community.
When interacting with consumers,
it is important to have a tone that is
representative of your core values.
It is also important to keep
censorship top-of-mind.

12. Getting around the censorship
“During the London Olympics, Nike used
real-time “guerrila” commentary of Chinese
athletes and their performances on Sina
Weibo. Nike never directly mentioned the
athletes or events, but with their mix of
beautiful graphics and inspiring copy,
everybody got the hint.”
JEREMY WEBB - Digital Influence Strategist
Use puns, wordplay images or memes
to avoid the censors.
To get around topic or word censorships
you will have to get creative.

13. 3. Engage
“Clinique use their brand page to
promote products that will specifically
appeal to Chinese consumers,
such as skin whitening cream or full
protection sunscreen.”
Leonie Bulman - Research Manager, Wave Metix
Continue to build brand loyalty
through, polls, competitions,
branded events, product
launches and campaigns.
Use competitions, voting/polls,
discussions to aid in the development of
product design/launches and campaigns.
Create appeal with culturally
specific content.
Consumers build a strong positive bond
between brand and individual when they
feel they were part of the decision.

14. 4. Analyse
“The host of indexes integrated into
Sina Weibo’s new enterprise version
allows brand to have a much more
accurate and broader view of the true
impact of their Weibo presence.”
Lab Brand
Use Enterprise Weibo 2.0 to
monitor and control all marketing
activities on Sina Weibo.
Actively monitor how your content is
being received and what the ‘buzz’
around your brand is.
Understand your Weibo presence.
Adapt content depending on
responses from the Sina Weibo
community.

15. Summary
— China has a large, growing middle class, with Sina Weibo providing a platform
for more flexible freedom of speech.
— Brands can take advantage of Sina Weibo’s fast growth by following the 4 key
rules, and using Enterprise 2.0 to build, monitor and control their presence.
— Now is the time to make the most of this platform if your brand is considering
business in Asia.

16. THANKYOU!
For more information please email jackie.bowker@dtdigital.com.au or
tim.evans@dtdigital.com.au
dtdigital.com.au
facebook.com/dtdigital
twitter.com/dtdigital