Tired of looking for an original way to reach your consumers on wechat or weibo only? You are right! While it is essential to fit the Chinese market standards by setting a strong wechat and/or weibo strategy, you do not have to stick to what is expected for your brand. Be INNOVATIVE! What about digging into live stream & the new Douyin app? 

Live streaming trend in China

Live stream is a real trend in the Chinese market since the last couple of years that gives a new way of entertainment. The sector expects a revenue of more than 43 billion yuan in 2017, doubling the one of 2016. So naturally, more and more brands are tapping into this trend to create awareness but also sell products.  While major live streaming app follow on their success such as kuaishou 快手, Miaopai 秒拍,  yizhibo 一直播… However, one platform stood out in 2017.

What is Douyin 抖音?

Let me present to you…. DOUYIN, a trending music video social network that could help your brand reach post-millennials.

A trendy video & live stream app

Douyin, aka Tik Tok on the international scene, is an app that enable its users to create 15 seconds videos with great effects and then share it around. There is a really wide range of effects allowing users to create funny, original and good quality videos through stickers, change of appearance, frames, slow motions or music… and many more! The app is very popular for lip syncing to the major hits or even dancing like a super star!

Douyin is part of the ByteDance which also owns the famous news aggregator Toutiao. First launched in September 2016, Douyin was called A.me. The name changed quickly before Toutiao invested into the app which was the start of its big success. After KOL took over the platforms, the user number went off the roof to more than 1 million users at the end of 2017. The social network is now taking over the international scene, with Toutiao buying musical.ly, its competition popular in the US market. It is also trending across Asia such as Thailand. 

Few numbers to have in mind

15-second lip-syncing videos full of filters and stop-motion effects

1.73 million users in September 2017

1 billion videos viewed every day

#1 free video app of the Apple Chinese App store in November 2017

A quick success

The quick success of the app was off the charts! Let’s review what it was about?

As said earlier, the video social network grew with the interest that some KOLs took in the app, which accelerated its popularity immediately.

Moreover, Douyin collaborated with iQIYI, another video platform, in 2017 to present the first hip-hop talent show in China. That was a great strategy has the targeted audience of the app is Gen Z which has a strong pop culture.

The app is now know for some viral content that gain popularity overseas as well, such as the “Karma’s a bitch” makeover videos.

Douyin in Marketing

While this app sounds great you might be wondering how to use it for your brand? This is a few tips on how to succeed on Douyin.

Understand the target

The core audience of the app is Gen Z with 85% of users under 24. Women are the most represented gender but due to the strong pop culture on the platform men are also strong viewers. In terms of geographical location, it is clear that first second-tier cities are most of Douyin’s users with a higher education and searching for funny and original content videos.

Leverage the app’s advantages

• As the editing capabilities of Douyin are amazing and intuitive, as a brand your need to think of how you will add value to users’ videos. The content on the platform is already great so really figure out your strong point in the game!
• Your obsession should be to create engagement. Videos created on Douyin can be shared on major social media such as QQ, Weibo or WeChat. And that is what you need to aim for! Follow the line of the app and what users are really looking for to trigger an interest.
• Finally, don’t mess up your hashtags! The platform uses # to create engagement on topics or challenges. Make your research and get your hashtags right to trend!

Vary your content

• The app offers to create challenges, either with lip sync or dance, which are very popular. This is a good way to engage with your consumers and let them share their own message. Brand can use it during campaign to have engagement, reaction and content from their audience. But make sure to have thought about the key points in “Leveraging the advantages of the app” to gain momentum.
• The short videos can also be used alternatively. Brands could create series of short videos on the app that add value to their consumers. For instance, instructional videos such as short tutorial can be featured. Think about using KOLs that make the videos go off the charts! The advantage is that it might involve a smaller budget that using influencers on major Chinese social media. Right now, “individual influencers currently costs between 5-20krmb per video” (according to Parklu) on Douyin.
• Douyin also allows to live stream. If you want to reach generation Z think about using the app instead of other popular one that may not fit your target as well.
• The social network recently released a live Q&A feature. Users have to pay for asking questions but the price is very low, around 3rmb, compared to other apps. This could be use in all sorts of ways to engage with consumers on topics or values close to the brand as well as their products. It would also be great to have live Q&A during brand events, tapping on the O2O trend, to make your audience play a more active role.