The Chinese social media landscape is unique and evolving rapidly. Since the publication of our first report on benchmarking social marketing in China, marketers have continued to invest in social marketing. My latest report, Benchmarking Social Marketing Efforts In China In 2015, tells how their social marketing efforts now stack up against the competition.

The key findings are:

  • WeChat is marketers’ social darling; LinkedIn is stepping into a market dominated by local players. WeChat has replaced Weibo and dominates both marketers’ adoption and satisfaction: A whopping 92% of the marketers we surveyed use WeChat, and two-thirds report being satisfied or very satisfied with it. And for the first time, a Western social platform is gaining popularity in China; LinkedIn has become an essential platform for social marketers there.
  • Effort and satisfaction vary among four types of social tactics and platforms. Based on marketers’ adoption and satisfaction ratings, we have categorized the social tactics and platforms into four groups: essential, optional, undervalued, and overvalued (see the figure). Focus your efforts on essential ones, such as WeChat, and undervalued ones, such as placing ads in online communities.

  • Marketers’ social strategy maturity lags their investment in social. While marketers in China have more ambitious plans to increase their social marketing budgets than their Western counterparts, they are struggling to craft effective social marketing strategies. A good strategy, not additional spending, should be the focus for marketers and the social agencies that want to help them.

The report gives guidance on what marketers should do to optimize their social marketing strategies by examining how their peers use key social platforms and tactics. To learn more, Forrester clients can read the full report.