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Working in China? Thinking about it? Below are my top 5 China blogs worth reading on at least a weekly basis – they’ll tell you what’s really going on here, and not just the really really weird stuff, though there is plenty of that.

Shanghaiist

They say: Shanghaiist is part of Gothamist LLC, the most visited network of city blogs on the Internet today. Founded in 2005, Shanghaiist has emerged as one of the most popular English-language websites about China, covering local news, events, food, and entertainment for a diverse audience of young and affluent urbanites.

I say: it’s called Shanghaiist, but it’s China-wide and features the key news stories of the day. Some admiteddly less key than others, but always worth knowing about.

See also: Timeout Shanghai / Smart Shanghai

Foreign Policy

They say: Serious without being pompous, deep without being self-indulgent, Foreign Policy is an essential modern guide to global politics, economics, and ideas for people who want to know what’s really happening in an increasingly complicated world. Foreign Policy both simplifies and clarifies complex topics with crisp, insightful writing and clear design.

I say: it’s big, it’s meaty, it’s also very readable and gives you an international perspective on politics and culture in this fair city.

See also: The Guardian’s China Section

China Smack

They say: chinaSMACK is a daily-updated collection of news and content from the Chinese-language internet. These latest stories, pictures, videos, and topics have become very popular, spreading across China’s major BBS forums, social networking websites, or through email forwards sent between normal Chinese people everyday.

I say: It’s like reading The News of The World.

See also: HaoHao Report

Flamingo

They say: Flamingo Shanghai is a consumer enabled brand consultancy that uses qualitative research tools to provide inspired, clear and actionable recommendations. We call it Thinking That Works.

I say: thoroughly nice chaps with easily read blog, covering insights, research and of course the weekly weibo roundup.

See also: The World of Chinese

Thoughtful China

They say: Thoughtful Media Group’s advertising affairs weekly round-up covering the media industry in China.

I say: I’m waiting for my invitation to guest-star in one of their episodes.

See also: China Internet Watch

(BONUS! Red Luxury and Jing Daily - the likelihood is that you’re coming to China for some sort of luxury business thing… so it would be remiss of us to not post anything about Luxury. These two are definite go-to sites on the development of the Chinese luxury industry).

No Facebook. No Twitter. No YouTube. Listing the companies that don’t have access to China’s exploding social-media space underscores just how different it is from those of many Western markets. Understanding that space is vitally important for anyone trying to engage Chinese consumers: social media is a larger phenomenon in the world’s second-biggest economy than it is in other countries, including the United States. And it’s not indecipherable. Chinese consumers follow the same decision-making journey as their peers in other countries, and the basic rules for engaging with them effectively are reassuringly familiar.

Surveying the scene

In addition to having the world’s biggest Internet user base—513 million people, more than double the 245 million users in the United States¹—China also has the world’s most active environment for social media. More than 300 million people use it, from blogs to social-networking sites to microblogs and other online communities.² That’s roughly equivalent to the combined population of France, Germany, Italy, Spain, and the United Kingdom. In addition, China’s online users spend more than 40 percent of their time online on social media, a figure that continues to rise rapidly.

This appetite for all things social has spawned a dizzying array of companies, many with tools more advanced than those in the West: for example, Chinese users were able to embed multimedia content in social media more than 18 months before Twitter users could do so in the United States. Social media began in China in 1994 with online forums and communities and migrated to instant messaging in 1999. User review sites such as Dianping emerged around 2003. Blogging took off in 2004, followed a year later by social-networking sites with chatting capabilities such as Renren. Sina Weibo launched in 2009, offering microblogging with multimedia. Location-based player Jiepang appeared in 2010, offering services similar to foursquare’s.

This explosive growth shows few signs of abating, a trend that’s at least partially attributable to the fact that it’s harder for the government to censor social media than other information channels. That’s one critical way the Chinese market is unique. As you shape your own social-media strategy, it’s important to fully understand some other nuances of the country’s consumers, content, and platforms.

Consumers

China’s social-media users not only are more active than those of any other country but also, in more than 80 percent of all cases, have multiple social-media accounts, primarily with local players (compared with just 39 percent in Japan).³ The use of mobile technologies to access social media is also increasingly popular in China: there were more than 100 million mobile social users in 2010, a number that is forecast to grow by about 30 percent annually.⁴ Finally, because many Chinese are somewhat skeptical of formal institutions and authority, users disproportionately value the advice of opinion leaders in social networks. An independent survey of moisturizer purchasers, for example, observed that 66 percent of Chinese consumers relied on recommendations from friends and family, compared with 38 percent of their US counterparts.

Content

The competition for consumers is fierce in China’s social-media space. Many companies regularly employ “artificial writers” to seed positive content about themselves online and attack competitors with negative news they hope will go viral. In several instances, negative publicity about companies—such as allegations of product contamination—has prompted waves of microblog posts from competitors and disguised users. Businesses trying to manage social-media crises should carefully identify the source of negative posts and base countermeasures on whether they came from competitors or real consumers. Companies must also factor in the impact of artificial writers when mining for social-media consumer insights and comparing the performance of their brands against that of competitors. Otherwise, they risk drawing the wrong conclusions about consumer behavior and brand preferences.

Platforms

China’s social-media sector is very fragmented and local. Each social-media and e-commerce platform has at least two major local players: in microblogging (or weibo), for example, Sina Weibo and Tencent Weibo; in social networking, a number of companies, including Renren and Kaixin001. These players have different strengths, areas of focus, and, often, geographic priorities. For marketers, this fragmentation increases the complexity of the social-media landscape in China and requires significant resources and expertise, including a network of partners to help guide the way. Competition is evolving quickly—marketers looking for partners should closely monitor development of the sector’s platforms and players.

Crafting a winning strategy

While these unique Chinese market characteristics often create challenging wrinkles for marketers to contend with, they don’t invalidate the principles that underpin effective social-media strategy elsewhere (for more, see “Demystifying social media”). The following few examples illustrate how companies are applying some widespread social-media tenets in China.

Make content authentic and user oriented. Estée Lauder’s Clinique brand launched a drama series, Sufei’s Diary, with 40 episodes broadcast daily on a dedicated Web site. (Viewers also could watch segments on monitors located on buses, trains, and airplanes.) While skin care was part of the story line and products were prominently featured, Sufei’s Diary was seen as entertainment—not a Clinique advertisement—and has been viewed online more than 21 million times. Clinique’s online brand awareness is now 27 percent higher than that of its competitors, although social-media content costs significantly less than a traditional advertising campaign.

Adopt a test-and-learn approach. When Dove China first imported the Real Beauty social-media campaign to promote beauty among women of all looks and body types, Chinese consumers viewed the real women as overweight and unattractive. Dove switched tack and partnered with Ugly Wudi, the Chinese adaptation of the US television show Ugly Betty, to weave the Real Beauty message into story lines and mount a number of initiatives, including a blog by Wudi and live online chats. The effort generated millions of searches and blog entries, increased uptake of Dove body wash by 21 percent year over year after the show’s first season, and increased unaided awareness of Dove’s Real Beauty by 44 percent among target consumers. The estimated return on investment from this social-media campaign was four times that of a traditional TV media investment.

Support overarching brand goals with sustained social-media efforts. Starbucks China promotes the same message of quality, social responsibility, and community building across all of its social-media efforts, as well as in its stores. And Durex didn’t just establish a corporate account on Sina Weibo: it built a marketing team that both monitors online comments around the clock and collaborates closely with agency partners to create original, funny content. The company’s approach is designed to interact meaningfully with fans, generate buzz, and deepen customer engagement with the brand.

The sheer number of the more than 300 million social-media users in China creates unique challenges for effective consumer engagement. People expect responses to each and every post, for example, so companies must develop new models and processes for effectively engaging individuals in a way that communicates brand identity and values, satisfies consumer concerns, and doesn’t lead to a negative viral spiral. Another problem is the difficulty of developing and tracking reliable metrics to gauge a social-media strategy’s performance, given the size of the user base, a lack of analytical tools (such as those offered by Facebook and Google in other markets), and limited transparency into leading platforms. Yet these challenges should not deter companies. The similarity between the ingredients of success in China and in other markets makes it easier—and well worth the trouble—to cope with the country’s many peculiarities.

The cited authors are Cindy Chiu, Chris Ip, and Ari Silverman

DJ Spinna’s Marvin Gaye birthday tribute mixes, 2010 and 2012. Yes please.

Really interesting article by Piers Fawkes (PSFK) about Tyler Brule’s Monocle company. I cant even write “magazine” having read this thought piece!

I, like Piers have increasingly found the magazine impenetrable and have shifted my reading time towards publications such as Intelligent Life and Port…

Monocle’s macro and micro take on the world and happenings within are of interest (I have recently begun listening to Monocle 24, their online radio, more than reading the magazine) but Piers has shifted his perception of the publication from magazine to Luxury Brand.

Not without a touch of melancholy, or admiration, I feel.

Worth a read.

Engagement Citoyen: The Return of Dictator Ben Ali (Memac Ogilvy Tunisia)

This is the second year TED has had this category of awards. “Ads Worth Spreading” are those that change culture, shift mind sets, and have a “domino effect” among consumers. What’s interesting is that at least a couple of them are merely celebrations of existing behavior (Kinect and Sharpie).

Creatives should look to enhance existing behavior  in order to resonate with consumers.

Have a look, and be inspired.

Canal+: The Bear (BETC Euro RSCG Paris)

Chipotle: Back to the Start (Creative Artists Agency Los Angeles)

L’Oreal Paris: Aimee Mullins (R/GA New York)

Mazda: Defy Convention (Agency: Team Cosmos/JWT Germany/Team Mazda Europe)

Microsoft: Kinect Effect (twofifteenmccann San Francisco)

NTT Docomo: Xylophone (Drill Inc., Dentsu Inc. Tokyo)

Prudential Day One: Linda (Droga5 New York)

Rethink Breast Cancer: Your Man Reminder (john st. Toronto)

Sharpie: Start with Sharpie (Draftfcb Chicago)

it’s awards season in Ad-Land. In fact, when is it not…? But right now we’re all working towards Cannes submissions. Above is Faris Yakob’s useful guide to any case study video creation.

Thanks @Faris

But impressions give no sense of engagement. And that’s surely what brands should be working towards. Awareness is good – important certainly – but advocacy is the Holy Grail.

Word of mouth, referrals, recommendations, “likes”, comments, shares, re-posts, reviews, reactions and re-interpretations – this is what brands should be measuring. Coca Cola calls them “Expressions”.

Marketers should consider TV advertising as a trailer for the rest of the campaign – a highlights real, a treat, but fundamentally an element that refers to a broader narrative arch for the brand. Through TV advertising, brands point toward a more complete and interactive story, held elsewhere.

Consumers’ experience of a brand stretches ever-more beyond the 30 second advert. Marketers should look towards an engagement strategy measuring expressions, working with a series of creative ideas that are routed through different media channels.

60% of TV viewers use their mobile phones whilst watching the box, 33% have laptops open, and iPad owners spent more the most time in front of their TV, than they do any other simultaneous activity (Source: Business Insider). TV is but a part of the puzzle, and it’s not even close to being the most significant one anymore.

Marketers should place premiums on shows that have a high engagement component – and look to exploiting that. Consider increased location based marketing – as brands push to get stronger ROI from TV investment, these services can track the user all the way to the store as they respond to e.g: Pepsi’s Summer Time commercial at the beach where users can win FourSquare badges. If the advert works, consumers will be engaged.

Of course, there’s always place for passive, especially TV led, marketing. It undoubtedly builds brands on mass scale. But as technologies pinpoint how impressions cause expressions, the result is a network of cause-effect links and an engagement measurement tool. A feedback cycle between mass media and viewers. A way of optimizing impressions with expressions: which shows have the most affinity with target segments; which timeslots or networks lend the strongest response; which ads truly perform better or worse – and in terms of sales, not awareness.

I have been convinced of the power of  ”character based” content – sitting somewhere between one of your 500 “friends” on Facebook, and an admired celebrity you think you share values with – by Thoughtful Media. They are championing this engagement-led model, and place huge value on engaging fans not simply serving them with a message. A future of engagement, certainly.

(For more, read Joe Tripodi (Coca Cola Marketing Shifts from Impressions to Expressions), Shiv Singh (TV Ads’ New Digital Role) and Deb Roy (Mass Media’s New Engagement Measure) all at Harvard Business Review. Thank you for inspiring me to talk about this in every single one of my meetings since being introduced to your approach!)