Social media has a black eye with far too many business professionals in North America. That’s too bad. It’s too bad because the misuse of social media has produced a misconception of its potential for businesses. It’s also sad, because those who thumb their noses at social media, like those who originally thumbed their noses at the e-commerce potential of the internet, are making a huge mistake and missing more opportunities than have ever been placed in front of them at one time. If as a Regional Center, attorney, developer, financial advisor, or businessman, you have misgivings about marketing on social media, why don’t you pause at this point, bookmark this page, and take a few hours to study how social media is capable of driving business to you? It’s OK. We’ll wait …
Now that we’re all on the same page, let’s figure out how to use the internet, social media, and mobile marketing to advance your EB-5 business.
Perhaps the best place to start is with the fact that there are about 170 cities in China with a population over 1,000,000.[i] Just in case that number doesn’t resonate with you, the United States has nine. The cities in China are more often separated into tiers, based on population and per-capita GDP. Shanghai, Shenzhen, Guangzhou and Beijing are the only cities that are considered to be Tier One.
Now, your first impulse will probably be to direct your marketing activities toward those four cities. It is a natural mistake, first evidenced by the fact that China has 166 other cities whose total population exceeds 160 million. That is approximately 135 million more people than the total population of the nine American cities with populations in excess of one million.[ii] Think with me for just a minute. If you were marketing your services in the United States, would you neglect New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, Houston, Philadelphia, Phoenix, San Antonio, San Diego, and Dallas?
Here is another point to consider: current luxury spending in Tier 1 cities is reported to be in decline, even as it rises in Tier 2 and Tier 3 cities. The simple point is that all of the gold in China is not located in the four largest cities.
The first presence you need to develop is a website. But it has to be a website that is accessible and understandable in China. It does not have to be written in Chinese, but that certainly helps. The next thing is that its URL needs to be searchable--not so much in the U.S. as in China, where your potential investors reside.
Almost 90% of Chinese do their web searches on Baidu, so it doesn’t matter what analytics you get on Google. What matters is what kind of responses you get on Baidu, from its 400 million-plus users. This is where advertising on the Internet is going to become extremely difficult, unless you establish a solid working relationship with an experienced Chinese advertising Agency that specializes in digital media. Such Agencies can tailor your message to fit Chinese regulations and make it inviting to viewers, and also take care of the search engine optimization (SEO) that is most effective with Baidu.
A Chinese advertising Agency can also help you establish a social media presence on Weibo, a site similar to Facebook. Weibo has more than a half-billion users, and the numbers are increasing daily. Don’t think for a minute that high net-worth Chinese are not using Weibo as their social media access. The beauty of social media is to catch users’ attention and drive them to your website. And it is a very effective tool.
IT IS ESTIMATED THAT CHINESE PEOPLE SPEND MORE THAN A BILLION HOURS ON THE INTERNET EVERY DAY![iii]
You may be able to extend your reach with far greater effectiveness by partnering with a Chinese advertising Agency and do it at far less cost than by using an EB-5 Agency to find clients. In addition, since EB-5 Agencies admittedly seek to work with Americans who are willing to pay the largest commission, you may save a great deal of money by establishing a powerful online presence in China.
Once you have one or more websites up and running and you have your social media sites active, you can bring greater credibility to your website by blogging on the site, to share insights and information that will help you attract additional customers.
Smart phone technology and use have been growing at a rate faster than any other consumer technology. With more than 1.1 BILLION mobile devices, China is the largest smart phone market in the world.[iv] It won’t be long before the marketing opportunities on mobile devices will be greater than on the good old Internet.
Your specially designed phone app can link directly to your digital marketing and social media sites. In addition, mobile apps can be “localized” for use in selected areas of China. Banner ads and pay-per-click ads are already becoming as popular on mobile apps as they are on websites. This is an opportunity that should not be ignored.
Fortunately, Agencies that provide these specific China-oriented services have locations in both North America and Asia, so they are easily accessible. The digital concept may seem inscrutable to you, but experts are available to help you take advantage of the most powerful advertising forces in human history to reach the greatest number of qualified candidates directly.
This is an extract from the book “How to Find Chinese Investors, Agents & Clients for Your EB-5 Projects & Services: A Practical Guide for Regional Centers, Attorneys, Developers and Businessmen”
More information: http://www.business-visa-usa.com/Book.html
[i] Joe Mullich, “Chinese Second-Tier Cities Take Off”, published by the Wall Street Journal in “Doing Business is China,” 2011
[ii] List of United States Cities by Population, Wikipedia
[iii] Online Advertising in China, Wikipedia
[iv] Mobile Marketing in China, How?, published by Glogou at http://mobile-marketing-in-china.glogou.com/