Weibo is one of the most popular social media platforms in China. It provides an effective platform in terms of advertising opportunities for foreign brands. You can use Weibo to build a loyal following, create brand awareness, and engage with a large and active community of potential customers. However, due to the complexity of the platform, Weibo Advertising (adstochina.westwin.com/weibo-advertising) can be difficult to execute.

Here are the top four advertising options that will help you build a rapport with Chinese consumers on Weibo:

1. Display Advertisements

2. Search Engine Promotion

3. Fan Headline (also called ‘Fanstop’)

4. Fan Tunnel

1. Display Advertisements

A display ad is an ad that every Weibo user sees when opening the app. This means that these ads cannot be avoided and therefore are very suitable for brand promotion.

When users click on your display ad, they are taken to your website. Display ads are found on different Weibo pages as well and their pricing depends on page placement, size of the banner, and keyword association.

2. Search Engine Promotion

Weibo search engine promotion focuses on increasing the visibility of your corporate account. The Weibo search engine allows for browsing of accounts, posts, and fan pages. It pre-loads the search bar and displays your account at the top of search results when the suggested keywords are searched. Pricing depends on the popularity and competitiveness of the keywords chosen.

3. Fan Headline (Fanstop)

Fan Headline is another popular option for advertising on Weibo. It offers quick and efficient ways of promoting your account or posts on Weibo based on daily updates and social networks of targeted users.

There are three types of Fan Headline on Weibo:

● Fan Headline for Posts

● Fan Headline for Others’ posts

● Fan Headline for Accounts

Fan Headline for Posts

This option is commonly used when you want a Weibo post to be seen by people within your existing fan base and their connections. A Fan Headline Weibo post would appear at or near the top of users’ feed within 24 hours.

You can reach out to potential followers based on different industries and interests. For example, if you wish to promote a certain post related to travel, Fan Headline will select users who follow or are interested in travel-related news.

Also, you can select 1 to 5 Weibo accounts and promote your post to users who are similar to users of these accounts. The price of a ‘Fan headline for Posts’ varies with your follower base-the the more followers you have, the more expensive it is.

Fan Headline for Others’ Posts

This is similar to the previous one. The difference is that here, it is used to promote another user’s post which will appear at or near the top of their followers’ feeds instead of yours.

If you tie-up with a KOL who releases a post related to your brand, then you can use ‘Fan Headline for Others’ Posts’ to pay and promote that post with the hope that followers of the KOL will be influenced to buy your product or service.

Fan Headline for Accounts

This is another effective form of Weibo advertising. If you pay for a Fan Headline for your corporate account, it would be recommended to Weibo users for a limited time, say, 72 hours and will target those who are the most likely to follow you.

4. Fan Tunnel

This advertising option would be suitable for you if you are looking to gain additional followers and reach new customers. Fan Tunnel functions much like a ‘Fan Headline’ as it also promotes Weibo posts or a Weibo account but it can help you reach a much larger group of Weibo users as it sources the entire Weibo user base.

It provides you with more targeting options as you can choose users by specifying age, gender, region, interests, and even the type of device used. For new brands that don’t have a following, this is the best way to build one.

Conclusion

Information on the Weibo platform changes frequently and has the potential to spread exponentially. So, if you are looking to sell your products and services in China, you cannot ignore Weibo advertising. Do you’ve any questions? Please feel free to leave your comments below, we’d love hearing from you.