How China's Social Media Industry Influences Platforms in the West

China has a very different social media landscape than we're accustomed to in the U.S. and Europe. The government blocks access to social networks like Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat, and Twitter, and as a result, WeChat, Weibo, Douyin, and many other Chinese social platforms dominate the market.

Many of the unique facets of China's social media industry are being directly replicated by social media companies in the West and in the case of TikTok, Chinese-owned platforms are becoming widely used on an international scale.

As a result, many of the major U.S. social media platforms are trying to duplicate the super-app approach, offering multiple services from a singular app acting as a "one-stop shop", that networks like WeChat have pioneered in China.

Live streaming is also a widely used format across Chinese social media to conduct e-commerce for businesses and key opinion leaders (creators) that U.S. companies have tried their best to tap into and it's yet to take off.

And of course, TikTok, owned by the Chinese company ByteDance, has continued to have a massive impact on the global social media industry. The platform has influenced its competitors to focus on short-form video, given users a destination to embrace authenticity, and helped emphasize sound as an important layer of social media. Even Google has felt the impact as its market share in search has been slightly reduced due to search behaviors on TikTok.

There are definitely major privacy concerns around the involvement of China's government in TikTok, as well as negative implications from these other shifts.

At the same time, it's important to be aware of how China is influencing social media marketing worldwide so your organization can thoughtfully adapt.

In this edition of Social Media Marketing Trends, we'll review the pros and cons of super-apps, how live streaming is changing in China, how to optimize for search on TikTok, and the ways brands can incorporate sonic branding on social media.

Super-apps dominate the market

Super-apps offer a wide range of services from one platform, acting as a primary gateway for consumer access to the internet and allowing third parties to run mini-apps from the network. Companies like Meta's Facebook and Uber wish to become a version of a super app, with Facebook offering video games, payment options, and a dating service, and Uber broadening its services from ride sharing to booking rental cars and delivering meals and groceries. However, there are potential downsides to super-apps, such as limiting choices for consumers and competition from rivals. Businesses should embrace some of these services and differentiate their presence on social media to future-proof themselves.

Live streaming in China evolves

Traditionally, brands would partner with key influencers in China to co-host live streaming shopping experiences to reach their massive audience. However, the influencer economy is going through a major fragmentation, with brands increasingly creating their own live streams or collaborating with smaller-scale influencers instead of working with the bigger celebrities. This shift has occurred for a few reasons, requiring companies to alter their approach to live shopping.

Optimize for TikTok SEO

TikTok has encroached on Google's market share in search, with 40% of young people using it for certain kinds of searches. Brands should take TikTok search engine optimization seriously, understanding their algorithm and making optimizations to increase visibility. Being consistent with the topics you cover on your account helps the algorithm more accurately pair your content with the right people. To optimize your own videos with relevant keywords, consider the keywords used in your video captions, hashtags, on-screen text, the words spoken in your videos, and the trending sounds you're using.

Adding sonic branding to social media content

Remember any of the jingles from your childhood? Sonic branding is the practice of using sounds and songs to build a positive, memorable connection between a brand, product, or service and its customers. It can be done by developing your own unique music, jingles, and voiceovers, purchasing stock music from services like Storyblocks or PremiumBeat, or using the audio features provided by select social networks like Instagram and TikTok.

This is a highlight reel of my LinkedIn Learning course on Social Media Marketing Trends, which has been taken by over 120,000+ students.