Chinese social media platforms are where most overseas brands feel the biggest knowledge gap, and understandably so. Social media is a core element of China’s larger digital ecosystem, but it’s notoriously siloed from the West. We intend to fix that.
In This Article
- Why Social Media Plays a Central Role in China
- WeChat: A Dominant, Self-Sufficient Ecosystem
- Douyin: Driving Discovery and Creating Demand
- Xiaohongshu (RedNote): Social Proof Personified
- Weibo: The Place to Start a Buzz
- Tips for Chinese Social Media
- Quick Social Media Platform Review for China
- ICJ: Your Social Passport to China
Today, we’ll review China’s most essential social media platforms—some you may have heard of already, others you should get familiar with. But first…
Why Social Media Plays a Central Role in China
To reiterate a crucial point from our previous post, the Chinese digital population is mostly app-centric. In China, many key touchpoints that occur in various places along the traditional Western funnel all take place in one central location.
Content, transactions, community engagement, and customer service are all integrated features in singular platforms. This means Chinese social media platforms are their own full-funnel environments, and will play a core part of your legitimacy as a brand in China’s market.
Without further ado, let’s break down the platforms you should know about.
WeChat: A Dominant, Self-Sufficient Ecosystem
As a messaging app, WeChat is China’s answer to Facebook Messenger or the LINE app in Japan, but it goes much deeper. WeChat hosts content feeds, mini-apps, and is a customer hub for eCommerce.
WeChat Use Cases: Who and How
Since WeChat is so dominant in China, nearly all smartphone users in the country across every age group and region are regular users. Luckily, this makes WeChat a perfect fit for virtually all industries, including luxury, healthcare, education and more.
For brands with a presence on WeChat, it’s typically used for:
- Content and announcements
- In-app customer service and post-purchase support
- Private community cultivation and engagement
WeChat is where you can create long-term value, so take advantage of this powerful platform to optimize relationship building and improve brand trust.
Douyin: Driving Discovery and Creating Demand
Douyin is China’s top short-form video platform, and is a sort of “sibling” to TikTok. Douyin’s key features include built-in e-commerce and advertising capabilities.
Who Uses Douyin, and How YOU Should Adapt
As expected for a platform of this type, Douyin’s strongest engagement comes from younger and middle-aged consumers. It’s great for top-of-funnel discovery and rapid conversion for the right industries. Most brands use this platform for:
- Video storytelling
- Livestream commerce
- Algorithm-driven ad placements
If you’re in the beauty, fashion or FMCG industries, this is a great arena to collaborate with popular creators for exposure via product demonstrations.
Xiaohongshu (RedNote): Social Proof Personified
Xiaohongshu, also known as RedNote or Little Red Book, is an Instagram-style, lifestyle user-generated platform in which users largely post product reviews. This is an ideal platform for discovery campaigns.
Xiaohongshu Demographics
Xiaohongshu’s user base skews heavily toward younger females in higher tax brackets. Because this is a UGC platform, the word-of-mouth aspect is what makes Xiaohongshu such a powerful social proof tool. These are just a few advantages of using the platform:
- Content optimized for search to match consumer product research
- Real user storytelling boosts discovery
- Community engagement helps convert real fans into organic ambassadors
Given its user demographics, we strongly recommend Xiaohongshu for beauty/wellness, fashion, luxury and parenting brands. Among the Chinese social media platforms listed here, Xiaohongshu is perhaps the most effective for accelerating validation and building trust in your brand.
Weibo: The Place to Start a Buzz
Imagine a social media platform that’s a mix of Twitter and Instagram. In China, that platform would be named Weibo. It’s a public, fast-moving social platform whose greatest strength is trend amplification.
Weibo’s Users and How Brands Capitalize
This is the central meeting place to keep up with entertainment, pop culture and general trending topics. Broad interest in these categories across all age and gender groups gives Weibo a wide-ranging audience to target. Here’s how brands take advantage:
- Campaign launches
- Hashtag challenges
- PR announcements
- Influencer/ambassador amplification
While Weibo is a great place to get your brand name out there, we advise that you make sure to keep it to increasing your visibility. Awareness is the play, not direct conversion. We recommend investing your time and efforts here if you’re in entertainment, fashion, or beauty. Consumer brands planning major product launches will also find good traction on Weibo.
Tips for Chinese Social Media
When entering the Chinese market via social media, choosing your preferred platform should be based on which best matches your distinct strategy. However, a couple rules of thumb apply across all platforms.
Content Localization is Critical
We’re talking more than simple translation here. Localization, when it applies to Chinese social media, cover format, tone, platform behaviors and buying psychology. Having a partner who has not only studied each platform, but also has first-hand experience as a regular user, can help guide you to better ‘fit in’ with the local crowd, so to speak.
Integrated Platform Strategies Will Always Outperform Isolated Campaigns
Chinese social media users move across ecosystems fluidly based on intent, so your presence on each platform should work synergistically with one another to keep your message harmonious.
For example, a consumer may become aware of your product on Douyin, then go to Xiaohongshu to research user experiences or check Weibo for brand legitimacy. If there are any missing or weak touchpoints in this process, don’t expect the conversions to come rolling in.
Quick Social Media Platform Review for China
Here’s a comprehensive cheat sheet to help you get a feel for each platform at a glance.
| Platform | Primary Role | Use Case | Best Industries |
| Brand ecosystem, Rentention | Content, eCommerce | Most industries | |
| Douyin | Discovery, Impulse buying | Short-form video, Livestream, Ads | FMCG, Beauty, Fashion |
| Xiaohongshu (RED) | Brand trust, Product research | Reviews and lifestyle content | Beauty/wellness, Luxury, Travel |
| Awareness, Trending topics | Brand amplification | Entertainment, Major product launches |
ICJ: Your Social Passport to China
At iCJ, we’re proud to have some of the most experienced and knowledgeable native Chinese staff located here in Tokyo, who can help advise and assist your Chinese social media strategy. With years of life and professional experience, we have no doubt we can help guide your social media marketing efforts in the right direction.
