Harnessing Chinese social media and accelerating Australian wine exports

Abstract

With unparalleled exponential growth in China, Sina Weibo and WeChat have become the two major social media platforms used by Chinese consumers. While many wine business actors including Chinese wine brands, wine retailers, wine distributors, and restaurant businesses are already taking advantage of these applications little evidence exists concerning the activity of foreign wine brands in this space.

Aiming to enhance understanding of the current activities that take place on the two dominant social media platforms in the context of wine business in China, this project uses netnography and interviews to explore and identify new channels for Australian wines and new ways to educate Chinese consumers concerning Australian wine brands.

Summary

Australian wines businesses can, and should, capitalise on Chinese social media to both create a presence and a recognised brand in China. While some Australian businesses are operating in this space, many have not fully appreciated the enormous potential that these channels offer.

This report provides an outline that enhances current understanding of the activities that take place across two dominant social media platforms in the context of wine business in China, namely, WeChat and Sina Weibo. Furthermore, it also explores new channels for Australian wines and new ways to educate Chinese consumers concerning Australian wine brands.

While WeChat and Sina Weibo are presently being used by wineries in similar ways, they have key differences. WeChat accounts have the capability to offer built-in payment options, whereas Sina Weibo accounts do not have this capability.
The key reason behind wineries’ use of these platforms is to enhance and strengthen engagement with consumers and other partners in the supply chain.

Potential benefits of these platforms include:

• opportunities for innovation that leads to stronger engagement with both consumers and business partners; both platforms offer the opportunities for ‘Guanxii’, that is, for replicating the unique Chinese network approach to doing business in online settings.
• advertising and promotion of products and services
• leveraging reputation to strengthen brands
• providing customers with assurance of product authenticity and combatting ‘fake’ brands.

While the uptake for Chinese social media by Australian wineries might be low, there is growing awareness of the role that these platforms can play for wine businesses that are keen to penetrate and increase trade with China.

There are opportunities for Australian wine businesses to develop innovative engagement strategies using both platforms. To do this well use of Chinese social media platforms needs to be integrated and aligned with the broader business strategy. In addition, since Chinese social media use Chinese as a medium of communication, adequate budgets and culturally-aware personnel with appropriate command of the Chinese language is needed for the use of these channels to deliver effective outcomes.

Specific guidelines in relation to account set up, communication of high quality content, consumer engagement, building network and converting them into communities are included in the report.