Five Steps to Creating Engaging & High-Converting Contents for Chinese Audience

Step 1: Put yourself in your Audiences' Shoes

In China, with a much faster pace of life-style compared to the west, even though people spend more time on the mobile phone, their attention is fragmented. When they take out their mobile phone, they might be in the metro station commuting to work, or they might be going to bed and try to blank their mind for a while before falling asleep, or even having a fast lunch alone.

Imagine you are going to start a day or going home from a tiring day? What kind of content do you want to read? Do you want to know the coffee is roasted and grounded? How many new features does Huawei P40 have? For the product owner, they might be necessary, but for someone at the train station looking for fun content? Not so much.

So understanding who your audience is, when they will read the content, what they expect to see can't be overemphasised.

Step 2: Create a Conversation-like and Eye-Catching Title

The title is the most crucial part of an article. Here are some titles of the articles that have more than 100k views in Wechat:

1. 84-year-old Grandma becomes the oldest programmer in Apple: How wonderful your life can be if you don't care about how old you are? (84岁老奶奶成为苹果年级最大的程序员：如果你不care年龄，你的人生可以有多爽？)
2. One Cells Collagen Booster Injection is better than 1000 masks? I found the answer after spending 1 million RMB... (1支水光针真的抵1000张面膜？我花了100万知道了结果...)
3. The fastest ways for ordinary girls to become prettier (普通女孩提升颜值最快的方法)
4. The best drama of the year is just released, it made me cry in only two episodes (年度最强国剧来了，两集就把我弄哭)

These titles are like your friends talking to you directly, a little bit exaggerated, a bit gossip like, but it makes you curious to know more...

Step 3: Trigger Emotional Connections

In the content part, it's essential to let the users see how this can be relevant to them. Below are the ways: 

1. Comparison: The well-known product A VS the new product B ? “I have been using product A, maybe it's time to try something new and something better
2. Collection: A collection of representative brands in the same category in the market and their differences ? “The author seems to know a lot and is an expert in the area.”
3. Descriptions of difference Senses: how it feels to use the product, the smell, the taste, how the friends of the users react to it ? “Wow, I can imagine myself using it! I can feel that this product belongs to me!” (btw, this is how I fell into the trap of buying my very first and only BVLGARI Serpenti bag.)
4. Best-Seller Products: it's the best-seller in the US & EU ? “The quality must be excellent.”

Step 4: Social Proof 

Even though e-commerce and online course are popular these days, most of the people are still concerned when it comes to using new products, especially expensive ones, so the social proof is vital at this stage. 

There are usually two types of testimonial:

(1) Testimonial from Authority: Professional Institution or Famous People to show that the product is trustworthy. (2) Testimonial from the Users: Real and straightforward comments on the product 

Step 5: Encourage Impulsive Purchase

So far, the audience thinks that the product looks nice, and they have considered purchasing the product, but will they buy it? The answer is No. (You should have a look at my Taobao Cart, I don't usually buy things but I picture myself buying them when I added them to cart.)

After all, losing money is painful unless we feel that the benefit is larger than the pain. So there are a few ways:

1. Set a point of reference ? La Perla cost ￥10,000, but this 100% silk pyjama with the same quality only costs ￥1,000.=> “Even though I can’t afford La Perla, at least I can afford this.” 
2. Highlight the cost of the production, and the actual price of the product ? The product is made with unique material sourced from Japan. The brand owner invested millions of RMB in developing this unique product. Still, he wants to it be affordable, so the price is only ￥129 => “Hmm, it seems that it's a value for money.”
3. Highlight the benefit for the Family=> It’s not only for you, but your kids will also love this product. => “My kid deserves the best thing in the world.” 
4. Set a special discount and bundle price that is time-limited ? "If I don't buy it now, I might have to spend more money later."

The above five steps usually apply to Articles in Wechat Official Accounts. As I mentioned in the previous article, Wechat ecosystem is still one of the most important tools for brand owners to keep their connection with their users and high-engaging content is definitely one of the keys. 

#contentmarketing #marketinginChina #ecommerce