What does Baidu 2020 data tell us about this year consumers trends:

WHY IS BAIDU STILL CRITICAL TO THE SUCCESS OF YOUR CHINA MARKETING STRATEGY?

Baidu is China’s main search engine.  Baidu has over 1.1 billion mobile users and processes almost 4 billion queries daily.  China has blocked Google, making Baidu the only game in town for SEM and SEO.  Baidu is the worlds 4th most visited website. It has around 800 million web pages, 80 million images, and 10 million multimedia files. It accounts for 12.3$ of the world’s search (second only to Google) and 70% of China’s search engine market.

So what do you need to know.

Baidu SEM is an important part of any Strategy

According to recent data released by Baidu there are 4 interesting new trends happening in China for search.

• There is an increase in consumption in low-tier markets. There was an increase in Baidu use in 3^rd tier cities Industries including Healthcare, entertainment, and finance.
• Consumers are getting younger.  It is this block of Millennials and younger that are the most active.
• Luxury goods, health and environment are the main areas of interest in search.
• With so much time spent online, the consumer is becoming more cautious when shopping.

These trends point to the fact that Millennials now have purchasing power, they are interested in high ticket items but are trying to be smart about purchasing

While once the king of all search and web in China, the landscape has shifted, but Baidu is still a critical component of the landscape.  Despite the younger age of the internet user and the prevalence of live streaming as well as popularity of social media, Baidu has shifted from a search to buy model, towards the go to place for getting information. Baidu is where the consumer is going to look thing up and check reference information and continues to be an important platform.

Branding is a MUST

Research is the first step in the purchase process and Baidu is the platform where that research is done.  The consumer first looks for information about what he is going to buy on the internet, gathers as much information as possible and then, once they are 100% certain of their decision, based on the research, they will proceed to the purchase.

According to statistics, the number of Chinese Internet users reached 1 billion with an incredibly high penetration rate. This makes for extremely connected users.  With the maturing of Social Media in China and the online Ecommerce platform, competition is becoming fierce.  Sellers can no longer only sell online without doing digital marketing through both Social Media and Baidu.

The Chinese consumer is unlikely to buy unknown brands. In the wake of many scandals, there is a distrust of products and lack of consumer faith. The consumer wants to be sure of the quality and reliability of the products they buy and the companies supplying them

Foreign companies have to Localize

China has a huge population, but also a complex and diverse cultural and linguistic landscape. The Chinese internet is also subject to censorship and government controls.  Companies need to understand and follow the cultural and social subtleties of doing business within the market.  It is also important to research and understand your competition and the landscape of your specific market.

Only when a company has a clear picture of the market should they begin developing a digital strategy tailored for the Chinese market. This would include PR, news, Weibo and WeChat, but pivotal to this initial phase is the development of a Chinese website that has been tailored to the China market, adapted to local tastes and expectations.  Then a company is ready to start their SEO strategy.

Other key information

Organic results though SEO are seen as real and reliable rather than ads

Hosting in China is a must, as Baidu gives priority to Chinese sites and loading speeds from out of China are slow

Content must be in Chinese to be indexed by Baidu

Home Page and Landing Page Design is key.  Baidu emphasizes design and content of these pages, rather than key word relevance

Content Marketing and Community Management on Social Media are important to get engagement