With more than 500 million registered users, Weibo is one of the popular local Chinese social media platforms offering huge marketing opportunities. If your social media marketing strategy does not include Weibo marketing, you are losing golden business opportunities.

To make things easy for you, we have listed vital steps to start social media marketing on the Weibo platform.

1. Account Registration and Verification

To start with Weibo marketing you need to register an official account for your business. Go to the Weibo website and input the following information in the designated fields on the registration page.

· Email or phone number

· Create a username and password

· Location

· Verification code

After your account is successfully verified, you will see a blue ”V” displayed beside your profile picture which indicates your account is verified. There are several advantages to verified accounts. Some of them are:

· Additional space for business information

· Advanced page customization options

· Own campaign management platform

· Additional services like mass messaging

Documents required for Weibo Verification

Companies need to provide business registration documents like the Chinese Business Registration Certificate. The verification process generally takes 5-7 days and costs 300 RMB.

For overseas companies, the required documents include company registration documents with a certified Chinese translation, a 3rd party authorization letter, and an application letter. The verification process is completed with 10-15 days and costs 1000 RMB.

2. Account Customization

After successful verification of your Weibo account, you have the liberty to customize your profile page as per your marketing needs. You can use a wide variety of images to customize your account which includes profile picture, banner picture, cover picture, background picture and adds brand-related information on your profile page.

3. Create a Solid Content Strategy

Weibo is a popular social media platform where several brands post marketing content almost every day. The best Weibo marketing strategy should focus on creating solid content that attracts the attention of Weibo users and also conveys your brand message simultaneously.

You can post four different types of content on Weibo platform which includes

· Product or brand-related information

· Interactive content

· Soft content( information related to your business niche)

· KOL content

4. Acquiring Initial Followers

Acquiring initial followers should be your next step. You will need a large follower base to increase brand awareness on the Weibo platform. Don’t expect the users to find your company account on their own. You need to use your pre-established connections to get followers in the initial stage.

You can ask your colleagues, family, friends, and relatives to follow your Weibo account and spread the news about your brand to their Weibo followers. Another way to get followers is by providing a Weibo account link on your website. You can also add your Weibo account information on your business card.

5. Rolling out Ads, Campaigns and KOLs

After acquiring a certain number of followers, you can move ahead to a higher level of Weibo marketing. The Weibo platform allows you to launch a wide variety of marketing campaigns. Weibo users are known to actively participate in marketing campaigns for the prizes offered by advertisers, as a form of social interaction, or just for fun.

Some popular types of marketing campaigns on Weibo are UGC collection campaigns and lucky draws. These marketing campaigns increase account exposure, encourage user-interaction, help add new followers, and also act a good word-of-mouth marketing.

Short video ads are quite popular on the Weibo platform and you can produce short video ads and do live streaming. You can create distinctive and creative ads that tell intriguing stories and invoke interest in users. You can invite celebrities and KOLs(key opinion leaders) during live shows and special events to attract a larger audience and get more exposure for your brand.

Online influencers like KOLs play an important role in affecting the buying behavior of their followers. KOLs are known to have millions of followers and leading brands involve KOLs in a variety of promotion activities like product launches, product trials, sponsored lick draws, promotional code distribution, and short video creation to name a few.

The involvement of KOLs helps brands attract more potential customers and create a buzz about the brand on social media.

Do you’ve any questions about Weibo marketing?