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Influencer Marketing in China: what it is based on and what influencers can offer in the context of emergencies

Earlier, we talked about why ethnic languages ​​and PL are dying out , and how services like MNFST help them . This time, Victor Belogub, the co-founder of the project, talks about the experience of Chinese colleagues: from the basic description of social networks in this country to the role of influencers in the fight against the epidemic.


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Internet came to China in 1994, and within five years, the mega-corporations Tencent and Alibaba Group opened in the country. Both organizations initially transferred Western developments to Chinese soil - in Tencent they presented an analogue of the ICQ messenger, and in Alibaba they were inspired by the experience of Amazon and eBay. When authorities tightened control over web space, global services increasingly began to fall under locks, while Chinese ones were able to develop without problems with competitors.

For most Chinese, this situation isnot a problem.- from their point of view, the “great firewall” protects against Internet violence, pornography, shocking and inappropriate content. The generation of teenagers is not at all interested in Western services - local counterparts are often superior in capabilities to the social networks we know, messengers and marketplaces.

The most famous services of China


QQ - messenger, online portal, gaming platform . This is one of Tencent's first achievements. Messenger users can exchange messages, buy and send virtual goods to each other, and blog on the Qzone platform . The popularity of the virtual currency QQ Coin at one time made the Chinese Central Bank nervous , when the “money” began to be calculated offline, the regulator felt a threat to the renminbi. Things didn’t get to the block, and the payment technology was developed in another service - WeChat.

WeChat is a messenger, a means of mutual settlement . This resource appeared in 2011, and by 2018, a billion people have already registered there. The platform brings together hundreds of thousands of mini-applications: games, shops, user profiles. In it you can attach a card and forget about cash - through a messenger they pay both with large online sellers and with ordinary traders in the markets. Unlike QQ, WeChat uses the yuan, so the Central Bank has no objection. In 2018, for 80% of users, WeChat wallet became the main means of payment .


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YouKu - video hosting, telestreaming. As the name suggests, this service is designed with an eye on YouTube. At first, its content was composed of amateur videos and pirated copies of series. Over time, the business model has changed, and YouKu has become one of the largest licensed content platforms in the world. Custom videos have given way to TV shows, movies, TV shows, and entertainment shows. YouKu Story - The Way From YouTube To Netflix.

TikTok is a social network . This short video platform appeared shortly after the Vine service. Unlike other Chinese applications, the popularity of TikTok quickly went beyond the borders of the country - in 2019, it topped the App Store rating by the number of downloads. While experts are arguing why all over the world they suddenly fell in love with dancing in front of a smartphone, companiesreveal the marketing potential of the service. It’s enough to launch an interesting challenge for the viral mechanics of the application to use the multi-million army of “tickers”. Music labels are so unwinding their wards , film companies are promoting films . TikTok management does not hide global plans - the company has representative offices around the world, including Russia .

China as a platform for influencers


The Chinese Internet audience is not only the largest in number ( more than 20% of the world ), but also very peculiar in composition. Almost all social and demographic categories are present here, and the most active growth is shown by residents of small towns and villages . This state of affairs allows marketers to find contact with any target group, and an ordinary user of a social network can become an influencer (key opinion leader, KOL).

Scouts of KOL incubators pay more attention to the charisma of people, and not to the number of subscribers. Moreover, the size of the audience does not always guarantee the success of the promotion campaign. From our own experience, we at MNFST realized that a recognizable person is not so important as close psychological contact and trust in influencers. This approach opens up a new market for micro- and nano-influencers with several hundred subscribers.

The content of such people is more focused on personal experience. They tell stories instead of just posting advertisements. Such a feed increases the return, and as a result, in Asia, micro-influencers already account for up to 80% of advertising on social networks.

Influencers and coronavirus


The epidemic of the new coronavirus has shown that influencers become an important force in an emergency. Opinion leaders actively participate in the news agenda - give recommendations under their masked photos, give protective measures and share the news. Members of the Xiaohongshu social network, where you can see publications about fashion and a beautiful lifestyle, even share makeup recipes that will not be smeared due to the protective mask on the face.

There are also extreme cases when, on the basis of mass hysteria, it comes to KOL's accusations of wanting to collect views on a hot topic and even to arrests for misinformation . Therefore, at the end of February, the World Health Organization called on influencersresponsible in their publications: do not post unverified information, do not record all Asians in the ranks of patients, talk about real ways to deal with Covid-19. But the negative in this environment is an exception, and in general, the help of influencers greatly simplifies the work of the situation for doctors and authorities.

Technology community


As in 2002, when SARS was raging in Asia, the current situation has caused an explosive growth in services for distance shopping, training and work. Manufacturers of a variety of robotics also feel  pretty good - drones help deliver food to your home, spray decontaminants and carry orders in restaurants.


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A whole galaxy of online services can reduce the risk of infection. For example, a new applicationcan check the movements of a person in recent weeks by phone number. If during this period the user intersected with a citizen who later went to the hospital, the system would recommend that he stay at home and contact the doctors. In another similar application, travelers can enter their ticket information and check to see if they have had any dangerous travel companions on their recent trips. Those who do not wish to register with such systems can open a Baidu infection map . The developers claim that their product in real time shows the location of all confirmed patients and patients under suspicion. Here you can also clarify the list of closed cities and transport routes changed due to quarantine.

In public places, Chinese citizens are protected by video recognition systems with remote temperature measurement . Smart cameras not only identify a sick person in a crowd, but also establish their identity, even if they put on a mask.

In 2019, China announced it was pursuing an open and pragmatic Internet policy. Although critics still blame the authorities , - . , « », . TikTok, « » , , -.

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