Weibo is the microblogging site in China and was initially called Sina Weibo. It is like Facebook and Twitter in China has millions of active users which are increasing every year. No wonder why most brands are using it as a platform to grow their popularity and to increase their brand awareness. People in China also consider it as a source of news and information. Given below are some of the factors that should be considered by a business to maximize results using Weibo advertising;

The goal of the business: Like any other social networking site, advertising on Weibo also gets a business number of likes, shares, and comments which eventually increases its visibility on the internet. Therefore, it is important for a business to set a goal regarding the number of followers or shares their business would need to maximize results.

Budget: After the goal is clear, another important factor is to set the budget. Although marketing in China is comparatively less expensive but there are certain features that cost a little more and hence having a pre-decided budget in mind helps in successful marketing and advertising.

Weibo marketing agency: Everything that happens on the internet in China is censored by the government and therefore it is important for foreign businesses to hire a local agency to assist them in Weibo advertising.

Account registration and verification: To begin the advertising, the business needs to have an official account in the name of its business. The information required at the time of registration is the name of the company, URL of the website, email address, location of the local office or local assisting agency. The business is also required to have a local phone number which is used to send a verification code to verify the account. After verification, the business is allotted a username and a password for the Weibo account.

Account customization: Once the verification is done, the next thing required is the customization of the Weibo page. This includes setting up the company profile picture, cover picture, banner picture, setting up the background of the page and adding another brand related information on the home page.

The audience: Depending on the type of products and services, the audience of the business varies. What might interests the students or the youth of the country, might not be of any concern to the corporate class. Thus deciding the target audience is required while preparing the ads.

Suitable ad format: Weibo advertising has different formats of ads that are: display adverts, Weibo SEP, Fan tunnel and Fan headline. All these formats work in the slightly different manner in the way they appear on the screen and the audience that they target. The display ads are the traditional way of advertising available in both web and mobile versions. These are often placed on the search pages. Then comes the Weibo SEP which is the best way to improve the traffic by browsing through the user’s accounts, posts, and pages depending upon the keywords. Fan tunnel format displays the advertisement as the headline at the top of the user’s news feed and allows the brand to reach the new users. Fan headline also works like the fan tunnel with the only difference that it targets the already existing users and their connections with the aim to increase the sharing options.

The right content: After selecting ad format and sorting out the keyword and the target audience, the content of both the advertisement and the website matters to attract the right amount of traffic.

Consumer trend: China has been the fastest growing market for both the brands and the users, it is, therefore, important to keep a close watch with the changing trend while doing Weibo advertising. The penetration of the internet has increased the number of consumers in small cities also, and there has also been increased interest in luxury products and brands.

Analysis of past results: Even if the previous experience has not been able to pull the desired result, it is always good to always better to analyze it while deciding the new strategies.