Social media is crucial to any advertising campaign in China—it is the primary platform in which consumers engage with brands. In this week’s episode of Thoughtful China, Vincent Digonnet, executive chairman of digital agency Razorfish Asia-Pacific, discusses why he believes the development of social marketing in China has progressed far beyond that of any of the countries in the West.
“China was actually 10 years ahead of the rest of the world in both e-commerce and social media,” he says. “The main reason why it’s ahead is… there is a perfect overlap between the population on social media and the consumer with purchasing power in China—overlap that doesn’t exist that much in the West.” Digonnet explains that unlike in the West, people on social media in China are older and have greater purchasing power.
“Chinese people are massive creators of content,” Digonnet says, arguing that Chinese users of social media are more likely to create original content and curate them compared to the West. “In China, it’s more thoughtful,” Digonnet says, talking about content creation. “They took social media as a means of taking some form of power when it comes to consumption, and therefore sharing their views on where to buy, what to buy… it’s become a very utilitarian element.”