SNS Marketing’s Future in China 社交網絡營銷在中國

摘要:隨著網絡越來越深入中國人的日常生活中，社交網絡的崛起，正改變著公司的營銷策略與方式。進入Web2.0時代，傳統的網絡營銷手段，諸如搜索引擎競價排名，門戶網站廣告等方式所起到的營銷效果已經大不如前。隨著Facebook、twitter等國外的社交網絡媒體在網絡營銷上的優勢日益體現，以及社交網絡媒體在中國的蓬勃發展，越來越多的中國企業，看到了SNS營銷的潛力，意識到了利用了SNS網站進行營銷的重要性。SNS在中國起步較晚，近幾年卻發展迅速，對于中國企業，如何利用SNS達到期望營銷效果，已經成為重要的話題。

本文希望，通過參考國內外成功的SNS營銷案例，借助菲利普·科特勒的市場營銷模型，為中國企業的SNS營銷方式提供參考。

關鍵詞:SNS營銷 菲利普·科特勒 中國企業

Introduction:

As internet involves more and more in Chinese people’s ordinary life， the emergence of social media has been changing the companies’ marketing strategies and tactics. After entering the era of Web 2.0， traditional internet marketing methods， such as bidding ranking in Search Engines， advertizing on portal websites and so on， can no longer achieve the same marketing effects as before. With the advantages of marketing through SNS websites such as Facebook， Twitter， etc showing up， and the good development of SNS media in China， more and more Chinese companies have found out the potential of marketing by SNS websites. SNS started relative late while in recent years， it is in a rapid development. For Chinese companies， how to take advantage of SNS to achieve marketing objectives has become a heated issue.

Based on the successful cases home and abroad， the thesis will provide Chinese companies reference to market through SNS， relying on Philip Kotler’s model of marketing process.

Key words: SNS marketing Philip Kotler Chinese companies

1 the concept of SNS marketing

SNS mentioned in the thesis will mainly focus on those sites which mean to help people to establish social networking， to bring relationship in real life into visual network， and have the characteristic of interaction， mainly including renren.com， kaixin001.com， Sina microblog， Tencent microblog， etc.

SNS marketing is a series of marketing activities based on Six Degree of Separation theory. Companies do marketing through SNS websites， relying on the communitization of networks， taking advantage of sharing function of SNS websites.

2 The importance of SNS marketing

SNS websites rise in North American and it is western companies that first adopt SNS marketing. Through the practice of the past few years， more and more companies have accepted the marketing method， and have confirmed that this form of marketing is effective. According to IResearch， among top500 American online retailers， about 3/4 of them have at least chosen one SNS website as their online marketing platform. Experts in IResearch hold the idea that SNS websites have become important online marketing platform for American online retailers. Netizens share and communicate with their friends about shopping experience through SNS website. The information has great influence on retailers’ effort to increase sales volume.

Compared with western countries， SNS marketing starts in China relatively late but it could bring companies greater profits. Research from Analysis shows that number of registers of SNS websites is estimated to reach 510 million in 2011 and revenues of SNS will reach 979 million yuan. On one hand， the year 2010 is only the first year for microblog in China. On the other hand， microblog has developed greatly in China. According to recently published data， the number of users of microblog has reached 140 million for Sina and 160 million for Tencent. However， American famous microblog service provider， Twitter has only reached 200 million users since it was established in 2006. We may find that SNS websites may develop quickly and SNS marketing is quite potential.

What’s more， costs for SNS marketing is relatively lower. It is estimated that costs for online advertising have been generally raised 30%， costs for advertisement on major online media such as portal websites have even increased 40%-50%.However， companies cannot neglect online marketing. Taking advantage of SNS websites has provided such a low cost marketing method. According to figures of Letao.com， among the traditional promotion method， ROI of promotion through search engine is 1:2 and promotion through Promotion Alliance is 1:3 while promotion through microblog rebate policy is 1:10.

Last but not least， more and more companies have noticed that it is easy to tell public products but it is hard to let consumer to understand the product deeply， interact with it， form the topic of the product proactively and then recommend it. However， these elements are right the key point in modern marketing. Compared with traditional advertisement， SNS marketing is more attractive because customers are more willing to trust other users and friends’ comments about the product， which can also motivate people to learn more about products. Besides， the role SNS marketing plays is more than traditional advertisements. It can play an important role in the whole process of marketing.

3 Model of SNS marketing

As is mentioned before， taking advantage of SNS websites can not only help to promote products. With the help of Philip Kotler’s model of marketing process， we may find that SNS marketing could be an instrument to apply in many processes.

3.1 Understand the marketplace and customer needs and wants through SNS

The most common way for companies to understand marketplace and customer needs and wants is to do market research. The rise of SNS websites in China has provided a new way to do market survey.

Because SNS websites mean to bring relationship in real life into visual network， the service operators therefore have users’ personal information such as age， gender， region， education， hobbies and so on， which is companies need when they study marketplace. Besides， users of SNS websites interact a lot and are loyal to the website. Consequently， information can spread quite widely. The application of SNS websites， such as vote function in renren.com make it possible for companies to cooperate with SNS operators to do market research. Also， employees can use their own account， taking advantage of sharing and inviting function of SNS websites to collect survey information. Compared with using traditional contact method such as email， telephone， interview， using SNS websites cost low and have a higher response rate and lower dissatisfactory.

Companies cannot only use existed SNS websites， but also build SNS platform by themselves to gain more consumer information. In March， 2008， Starbucks made its first social media website online. The website is composed of four parts， share， vote， discuss and see. The website is warmly welcomed since it was put online. The company also gets some valuable innovations and conceptions to develop its products and to improve its service experience.

3.2 Construct an integrated marketing program that delivers superior value through SNS websites

3.2.1 Products and service: Establish strong brand through SNS

Brand is a key element between companies and customer relationship. The establishment of brand image and the spread of product culture not only rely on the customer satisfactory and loyalty generated after customers experience the products， but also win through constructing brand culture and delivering brand value. The process often needs consumers to know the brand deeply， to interact with it， to agree its culture and value and therefore to feel interested in it. Traditional marketing generally cannot spread brand culture widely but SNS websites can build a bridge between companies and customers. DCCI research shows that users are willing to exchange brand information online and about nine out of ten users of SNS websites will do this. And， users of SNS websites have a higher acceptance of brand information. 74% of users won’t mind to accept visual gifts with brand information and 77% of users consider that brands’ appearing in SNS websites will increase the attractiveness of brands.

Some big companies have realized the positive effects of using SNS to build brand. For instance， Starbucks China will deliver some brand information through microblog to establish relationship with customers. Contents in Starbucks China’s Sina microblog account include recent activities， new products， coffee knowledge and so on. By this method， Starbucks China has successfully delivered its concept that Starbucks is the third choice for you besides your work and home to Chinese consumers. Meanwhile， it has established brand preference and customer loyalty among consumers.

3.2.2 Distribution: Make SNS as one of distribution channel

Companies， especially e-commerce companies can also make SNS as one of distribution channel. Compared with traditional distribution channels， SNS websites have large amounts of users， page views and great user loyalty. Through strong word-of-mouth effects of SNS websites users， companies can precisely find out target customers to increase sales volumes and bring profits. Recently， statistics from Tencent microblog shows that reflux ration of sharing in Tencent microblog is more than 28 times. That is to say， if you share a link in your website to Tencent microblog， about 28 new users will be brought to your website and they will take 6 to 8 browses in your website on average.

For e-commerce business， it is hard for B2C platform to generate strong users’ loyalty and to expand channel width when it has reached certain extent. Therefore， it is more necessary for e-commerce business to rely on SNS websites to develop new distribution channels.

3.2.3 Promotion: communicate the value proposition through SNS

The most common way to promote is advertising. Even we have entered internet era， traditional advertisement is still widely accepted. However， it is still a “hard-sell” form of promotion. Its effects and coverage cannot satisfy today’s company needs. Compared with traditional advertisements， SNS websites enrich the method of delivering value proposition and have obvious effects. There are various methods for companies to take advantage of SNS websites to deliver value proposition， including inserting advertisements， words-of-mouth and so on.

Inserting advertisements is popular in Chinese SNS websites. Companies will cooperate with SNS websites operators to develop application or games， inserting brand and products information to put forward new products. For example， the promotion of Lohas (a beverage brand of COFCO) relies on the platform of the application game “happy farm” of kaixin001.com. In only several months， about 22.8 million people participate in the activity and number of fans of Lohas reached 580 thousand. According to research paper of SD Marketing Service Co.， Ltd， the recognition of Lohas has been increased from 0 to 50%， showing the power of inserting advertisements on SNS websites.

Words-of-mouth marketing based on SNS websites also shows great effectiveness because of characteristics of SNS websites. SNS websites is the reflection of real social relationship on internet. It attracts users by people and by relationship. When friends， colleagues and family members all assemble on SNS websites， it is hard for people to be reluctant to SNS websites. Friends on SNS websites are all acquaintances in real life. Though the information spread in a relative small scope， it is easier to do deep communicate and interaction. When Nana’s Green Tea entered Chinese market， it caught lots of people’s attention because of PR promotion materials and consumers’ personal experience sharing on kaixin001.com and renren.com， which also laid foundation of later operation in China.

4 CRM: Take advantage of SNS websites to communicate with customers and provide value-added service

Customer relationship management is an important element in modern marketing theories. It refers to the overall process of building and maintaining profitable customer relationships by delivering superior customer values and satisfaction. Forms of CRM in the past are simple and single， mainly involving in providing customer service by hotline or service stores. The coverage is narrow and is limited by working time and costs. Because SNS websites have the service characteristics such as 24 hours， face to face， immediate， one to all and so on， SNS websites provide companies’ customer service new and effective method.

For instance， B2C website Zappos first took microblog as instrument of CRM in the era of Web2.0. From CEO Xie Jiahua to every customer service representative all have their own microblog. And Zappos requires that ever employees should use Twitter. The company provides specific training for using Twitter. The training includes how to establish relationship with customers， how to strengthen communication， how to improve customers’ attention and how to serve well to improve users experience， etc. The advantages of doing this lie in many aspects. Customer service representative will share own ideas with customers and customer will follow his/ her favorite customer service representative. Through microblog， company and customers (or to say it is real people rather than the software) can keep closer relationship. Now， Zappos official account has 1.7 million followers.

Conclusion:

SNS websites start from North America and now is widely accepted by companies as one way to do marketing. Under the background of SNS’s good development in China， and foreign companies’ successful cases， more and more Chinese companies also start to pay attention to SNS marketing. The advantages of SNS marketing are quite obvious: SNS websites have large amounts of users， views and strong users’ loyalty; SNS websites’ real users’ information can help companies to do precision marketing; SNS websites help to build real social relationship online， which benefits viral marketing; SNS marketing costs low， which makes SNS not only suit for promotion but also suit for many processes of marketing mentioned before.

For Chinese companies， it is essential to find out what is needed in marketing， and then choose to take advantage of SNS websites to enter one or more processes of marketing.In turn， companies may gain profits from customers finally.

（責任編輯：劉璐）