Jiawei Li, Author at CACTUS

Using Weibo to Build Your Presence in China: An Introduction for Research Societies, Publishers, and Universities

Jiawei Li — Tue, 30 Jan 2024 03:16:59 +0000

As the world’s second-largest economy and a leading force in scientific research, China is an attractive market for Western publishers and societies. However, building a presence in China can be challenging, especially when navigating the country’s unique social media landscape. This article introduces Weibo, one of China’s most popular social media platforms, and provides tips for using it to build your brand and reach Chinese audiences.

Why Western Publishers & Societies Are Interested in China

China’s scientific research output has been growing rapidly in recent years, making it an important market for Western publishers and societies. According to the National Natural Science Foundation of China, the country’s research output has increased by more than 20% annually since 2016, with Chinese researchers now contributing more than one-tenth of all scientific papers published globally. In addition to its research output, China also has a large and rapidly growing market for academic publications. With a population of over 1.4 billion people and a strong focus on education and research, China represents a significant opportunity for Western publishers and societies looking to expand their reach and impact.

Weibo and Its Key Characteristics

Weibo is a Chinese microblogging platform similar to X (formerly Twitter), with over 500 million active users. It allows users to post short messages, share photos and videos, and follow other users. Weibo is highly interactive, with features such as hashtags, comments, and direct messaging allowing users to engage with each other and share content quickly and easily.

There are some key differences between Weibo and X:

User Base: Weibo is primarily used by Chinese speakers, while X is more popular among English speakers. This means that the user base, content, and discussions on these platforms can vary greatly.
Content Limit: X limits users to 280 characters per tweet, while Weibo allows users to post longer messages up to 2,000 characters. This gives Weibo users more room to express themselves and share detailed information.
Multimedia: Weibo places a stronger emphasis on multimedia content such as photos, videos, and live streaming. Users can share multiple images or videos in a single post, which is not the case with X.
Hashtags: Both platforms use hashtags to categorize and promote content, but Weibo has a more extensive and complex hashtag system. Hashtags on Weibo are often used to reflect trends, topics, and discussions that are specific to China.
Censorship: Due to strict internet regulations in China, Weibo is subject to heavier censorship than X. This means that certain topics or keywords may be restricted or blocked on Weibo, while they may be freely discussed on X.
Integration with other platforms: Weibo is deeply integrated with other Chinese social media platforms such as WeChat and Douyin (Chinese version of TikTok), allowing content to be easily shared across multiple platforms. X does not currently offer such integration but instead operates fairly independently from other social media platforms.

Using Weibo for B2B & B2C Brand Building in China

Weibo is a crucial platform for Western publishers for B2B and B2C brand building in China because of its massive user base and significant influence in the country’s digital landscape. With over 500 million monthly active users, Weibo offers a vast potential audience for publishers to engage with and share their content. Weibo allows publishers to distribute their content effectively. The platform’s built-in sharing features enable users to easily repost and share content, which can significantly increase the visibility and reach of a publisher’s brand. For example, a publisher specializing in medical research can leverage Weibo’s sharing capabilities to have their content circulated among relevant communities and attract new followers. Finally, Weibo provides Western publishers with an opportunity to gain valuable insights into the Chinese market and consumer preferences. By analyzing user engagement and feedback on Weibo, publishers can gain a better understanding of what resonates with Chinese audiences and adjust their content strategy accordingly. This market intelligence can help publishers tailor their brand messaging and content to better suit the local market, ultimately leading to increased relevance and appeal among Chinese researchers.

Tips for Creating Content for Weibo

Understand your audience: Learn about the demographics, interests, and online behaviors of Weibo users. This information will help you tailor your content strategy to better engage with your target audience.
Localize your content: Ensure that your content is relevant and accessible to a Chinese audience. Translate your content into Chinese and adapt images, videos, and other media to resonate with local tastes and preferences.
Utilize multimedia: Weibo is a multimedia platform, so take advantage of images, videos, live streaming, and other formats to make your content more engaging and shareable.
Keep it concise: Weibo has a character limit for each post, so make sure to get your message across clearly and concisely. This will help grab users’ attention and make your content easier to digest.
Interact in real-time: Weibo is a real-time platform, so be responsive and engage with your audience as much as possible. Answer questions, participate in discussions, and respond to feedback promptly.
Collaborate with influencers: Identify thought leaders and influencers in your niche and collaborate with them to amplify your content’s reach and impact.
Use hashtags: Hashtags are a popular way to categorize and discover content on Weibo. Use relevant hashtags to increase your content’s visibility and attract users interested in specific topics.
Analyze and optimize: Regularly review your content performance data to see what’s working and what’s not. Use this information to refine your content strategy and improve engagement metrics over time.
Follow platform rules: Ensure that all your content complies with Weibo’s community rules and guidelines. Violating these can result in penalties such as reduced visibility or account suspension.
Foster consistency and habit-forming: Aim to publish content on a consistent schedule and at optimal times to encourage audience engagement and build habits. Consistency helps build trust and keeps your audience coming back for more.

China represents a significant opportunity for Western publishers and societies looking to expand their impact and reach. Weibo, with its focus on user-generated content and integration with other Chinese social media platforms, can be an effective tool for building your brand and engaging with Chinese audiences. By following the tips outlined in this article and tailoring your content to your target audience, you can successfully navigate the Chinese social media landscape and build a strong presence in this important market.

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Five Key Digital Marketing Trends in China That Western Academic Publishers Need to Know

Jiawei Li — Mon, 04 Dec 2023 08:24:17 +0000

China has become the world’s largest producer of research papers, accounting for almost a fifth of the global share, and accounts for more than 25% of the world’s most cited papers. International publishers are keen to enter the Chinese market early and understand that utilizing digital marketing resources is essential to their success. According to Christian Juhl, CEO of GroupM, the largest player in China’s digital market: “China plays a crucial role in the global advertising market and the growth strategies of many of the world’s leading marketers.” Hence, publishers aiming to build or extend their presence in China need to take into account the prevailing trends in digital marketing in China, in order to successfully engage with their audiences.

Digital marketing trends in China

Below are some of the key digital marketing trends and practices in China that academic publishers need to know:

Increasing Investment in Mobile Internet Marketing

According to the 2023 Digital Marketing Trend Report in China, overall digital marketing investment is showing a promising increasing trend, recovering quickly from the past three years’ disruption by COVID-19. Mobile internet has the highest proportion of increased digital marketing investment, with 77% of advertisers planning to increase mobile internet marketing investment. Additional resources invested in the internet are mainly reflected in social networking, short video, and live broadcast. Social marketing expenses are expected to be higher than the overall investment level, and social marketing expenses are expected to increase by 17%.

Use of Big Data

With the rapid development of big data and artificial intelligence, automation has become the predominant practice in Chinese digital marketing. Publishers can automate marketing to increase work efficiency and reduce demands on their workforce. This includes automating social media campaigns, email distribution, and targeted advertising. Additionally, as a result of growing emphasis on “brandformance,” Chinese companies are increasingly using big data to for comprehensive brand monitoring.

Social Customer Relationship Management (SCRM)

sSCRM systems are the most commonly used digital marketing product in China, helping publishers develop close relationships with potential customers through digital social channels. One of China’s most popular SCRM systems is Tencent Qidian, which includes social media functions for QQ, WeChat, WeCom, and Tencent Cloud.

WeChat Engagement

Livestreaming, private traffic, and community marketing have gained importance as marketing tools in China. Publishers can leverage WeChat, China’s most popular social media platform, to engage with users. For example, Wiley has provided an online learning platform that integrates with WeChat, allowing users to access over 100 videos, including live-stream events for interacting with leading scholars and editors. Elsevier uses its WeChat official subscriptive account to develop original articles and share content through the auto-pushing function. The use of KOLs and short videos as part of marketing campaigns continues to gain importance in China.

Use of Artificial Intelligence

Artificial intelligence (AI) is gaining a prominent role in marketing efforts by Chinese companies. The SCRM system can analyze and generate user labels according to their behavior and chat records to quickly identify user needs. Publishers can communicate effectively with different users because the WeChat AI assistant can help to categorize new customers automatically. All the user chat data and digital footprints are collected and analyzed for decision-making in marketing.

Furthermore, AI generated content is becoming increasingly popular for marketing. For example, Baidu Inc released an AI-powered art generation platform called Wenxin Yige in August 2022. ByteDance has released an AI-powered short-video editing app called Jianying, which enables users to create videos by merely inputting text.

Insights from digital marketing leaders in China

Given the rapid development of China’s digital ecosystem, it’s not surprising that marketers have to be on top of the latest advances in digitization as well as carefully consider which digital tools and channels they need to use. In the words of Jun Fang, General Manager, GroupM: “Different brands adopt different strategies. Many brands are strengthening the effect, bidding, and sales, which need to be more solid and stable through such a cycle. There are also many brands that will cut the budget and more carefully consider their own media delivery plan.”

According to Siyong Shen, CPO, Choiceform: “When the macro economy changes […], changes in the market and consumers require changes in the way enterprises/publishers operate. One of the changes is to refine the operation of customer experience and create a good reputation to promote the virtuous circle of enterprise growth.”

Conclusion

In conclusion, China’s digital landscape is rapidly evolving, and international publishers need to leverage China’s digital marketing systems and resources to establish a brand reputation and enlarge their impact. By developing a digital marketing strategy and keeping up with the rapid development of the Chinese market, publishers can stay ahead of competition and build a successful brand presence in China.

Are you aiming to build or extend your organization’s presence in China digitally? Download this whitepaper for a comprehensive overview of China’s digital landscape.

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China National Knowledge Infrastructure (CNKI): A Vital Player in China’s Research Landscape

Jiawei Li — Mon, 06 Nov 2023 06:12:55 +0000

Lately, China has been making significant strides across various research domains, catching the eye of Western publishers and academic societies. However, grasping the intricacies of China’s research environment and its key players can be a bit of a challenge. In this article, we’re here to introduce you to CNKI (China National Knowledge Infrastructure), an integral part of China’s research scene, and chat about why it’s crucial for Western publishers and academic groups.

China, the new battleground for Western publishers

The 2023 Nature Index annual list, released on June 15, reveals that Chinese research institutions have taken the lead in the natural sciences, surpassing the United States. In fact, the Chinese Academy of Sciences has maintained its top spot for 11 consecutive years, with an impressive 2022 score of 2,054, outshining second-placed Harvard University at 813. China’s emergence as a global research powerhouse is impossible to overlook.

CNKI, The Chinese Counterpart to Web of Science

CNKI stands for China National Knowledge Infrastructure, was launched back in 1999 Tsing Hua University and Tongfang Co., Ltd. In China, CNKI holds a position just as vital as global databases like Web of Science. When it comes to conducting review studies in China, CNKI is a staple alongside other international databases. Among Chinese academic databases, including China Science and Technology Journal Database, Wanfang Data, Paperpass and paperfree, CNKI stands out as the go-to choice and the most authoritative anti-plagiarism platform. CNKI even offers a commercial plagiarism check service: any content submitted to this service is automatically included in its database for future plagiarism checks. This service is commonly used by public Chinese universities for checking student dissertations.

CNKI’s Mission

CNKI’s specific objectives are as follows:

Facilitating the large-scale integration of knowledge and information resources to enhance their comprehensive value.
Building a knowledge resource internet dissemination platform to promote resource sharing, digital learning, and knowledge innovation for society.
Developing a platform for deep knowledge resource utilization to offer knowledge management and services to various sectors.
Creating a market environment and business mechanism for internet publishing and distribution of knowledge resources to modernize cultural publishing endeavors.

Key Characteristics of CNKI

CNKI offers comprehensive coverage across diverse research fields, spanning science, technology, humanities, social sciences, and more. The CNKI web version includes features like literature search, knowledge meta-search, and citation search. It boasts a wide array of search resources, including academic journals, theses, conferences, newspapers, yearbooks, patents, standards, results, books, laws and regulations, government documents, and much more. Beyond this, it offers industry knowledge services through various platforms for research, learning, publishing, and evaluation.

The Significance of CNKI for Journals and Publishers

CNKI serves as a vital resource for journals and publishers, not just in China, but around the world. For starters, it provides access to a vast network of researchers and scholars in China through its 8,000+ indexed journals. This presents an excellent opportunity for journals and publishers to connect with a broad audience of potential readers and collaborators. Additionally, being indexed by CNKI can significantly boost a journal’s visibility due to its dominant position in China. Enhanced visibility can lead to more subscribers. Lastly, CNKI aids in disseminating research outputs within the Chinese research community.

The Need for a Sustainable Research Database Business Model

While CNKI plays a pivotal role in the Chinese research landscape, there have been concerns about its business practices. In 2022, the Chinese Academy of Sciences reduced its use of CNKI due to high subscription costs. Over the years, other universities have also questioned CNKI’s pricing policies. For instance, in 2016, Wuhan University of Technology suspended its use of CNKI, and Peking University considered a similar move. In December 2022, the State Administration of Market Regulation imposed penalties on CNKI for market dominance abuse. In response, CNKI accepted the penalties and announced 15 rectification measures. In September 2023, China National Knowledge Network launched an author service platform to better support authors’ rights and interests.

Conclusion

In summary, recognizing CNKI’s significance in China’s research landscape is vital for Western publishers and academic societies aiming to expand their presence in the Chinese market. By collaborating with Chinese journals or tapping into CNKI’s resources, these organizations can increase their visibility, outreach, and impact within the Chinese research community, laying the foundation for potential partnerships and business prospects down the road.

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How Culture Shapes Academia in China: A Guide for Western Publishers and Journals

Jiawei Li — Wed, 20 Sep 2023 06:03:27 +0000

With the continuous advancement of China’s scientific research capabilities in recent years, there’s been a growing interest, both domestically and abroad, in China’s scientific research landscape. Many Western publishers, academic journals, research societies, and universities are enthusiastic about forging connections and collaborations with the Chinese academic community. In this article, we’ll delve into the nuances of Chinese research culture and explore strategies for international organizations to effectively engage with Chinese researchers. Furthermore, we’ll illustrate successful instances of cooperation between Western and Chinese research initiatives, offering practical insights and recommendations.

Important Cultural Practices in Chinese Academia

The Chinese academic community possesses a rich cultural heritage and distinctive research practices, characterized by three key traits.

(1) Relationship Culture, or Guanxi

In China, personal relationships play a crucial role in all spheres, including scientific research. Cultivating strong relationships is paramount for securing resources and fostering collaboration.

(2) Collectivism

Chinese research culture places a strong emphasis on collectivism, reverence for academic authority, and teamwork. Individual accomplishments are often intertwined with the achievements of the broader research team.

(3) Emphasis on Practical Value

China’s scientific research culture prioritizes practicality and application, with a focus on addressing real-world problems. Consequently, many research endeavors exhibit a strong practical orientation and relevance.

How Publishers or Journals Have Successfully Leveraged Chinese Cultural Practices

Several international organizations successfully implemented effective collaboration with Chinese academics. Here we will list three examples.

Springer Nature

Springer Nature supports the Chinese research community through their locally run Chinese website, journals and broader global publishing portfolio, and thus be able to attract more engagement from Chinese researchers. The locally run Chinese journals specifically target Chinese researchers and provide them with a platform to publish their research results. By 2020, Springer Nature recruited 56 editorial and publishing employees across their offices in Beijing and Shanghai. In that way, the local staff members can closely engage with local partners to develop their world-class journals. In addition, they partner with Chinese research institutions to organize academic conferences and training activities to promote collaboration between Chinese and international researchers. Springer Nature provides financial and technical support for research projects of Chinese research institutions and researchers through its funding programs and support projects.

Elsevier

Elsevier has established a long-term and stable relationship with the Chinese research community by providing publication platforms, collaborative research, academic conferences and training, open access policies, and support for Chinese research projects. Elsevier has launched several initiatives to promote collaboration between Chinese and international researchers. Elsevier has also established many collaborative research projects with Chinese research institutions. For example, Elsevier and the Chinese Academy of Sciences have established the CAS – Elsevier Joint Laboratory to jointly explore and develop new research evaluation methods, and establish a research evaluation system that is more suitable for China’s academic environment.

Wiley

Wiley has collaborated with Chinese research institutions and published China-based academic journals, such as the Chinese Medical Journal and InfoMat. Wiley also works with Chinese research institutions to support collaborative research projects. These projects span multiple disciplines, such as life sciences and engineering. Additionally, Wiley has collaborated with Chinese research institutions to develop several digital platforms to provide academic resources and services. For example, Wiley has partnered with the Chinese Academy of Sciences to launch Wiley Online Library · China, a comprehensive academic resource platform for Chinese researchers. In addition, Wiley offers digital subscriptions and online learning solutions to meet the information needs of researchers.

Tips for Building a Relationship With Chinese Researchers

In order to build a strong relationship with the Chinese research community, publishers and journals need to consider these key factors:

Understand the Chinese concept of time and relationships

In China, time is often viewed as more flexible than rigid. So, it’s wise to be flexible with appointment times. Equally important is understanding and respecting the value of relationships within Chinese culture. Building strong interpersonal connections with Chinese researchers is essential. Long-term cooperation thrives on mutual understanding, trust, and open communication.

Embrace Chinese Collectivism

Chinese research culture places a high emphasis on teamwork and collective achievements. When collaborating with Chinese researchers, respect their collectivist values. Actively engage in team collaborations and cultivate positive working relationships with team members.

Focus on practicality

Chinese researchers prioritize the practical applications of research results and problem-solving capabilities. Therefore, be attentive to their practical needs, working together to address real-world issues and promote scientific and technological innovation.

Provide Localized Support

To facilitate productive collaboration with Chinese researchers, ensure you offer an appropriate local academic environment and resources tailored to their requirements. This includes advanced experimental equipment and technical support, a welcoming international academic setting, and a wealth of academic resources and services.

Encourage International Engagement

Chinese researchers highly value international exchanges and cooperation. By engaging in exchanges and collaborative ventures with foreign researchers, they gain access to a broader range of academic resources and research opportunities. Therefore, actively promote international exchanges and cooperation, offering diverse options and resources for Chinese researchers to expand their global collaborations.

Conclusion

Achieving a strong and fruitful collaboration with the Chinese research community hinges on a profound grasp of their cultural dynamics, such as the concept of guanxi, collectivism, and the practical orientation of Chinese researchers. To excel in such partnerships, international organizations should prioritize several key factors: respecting China’s flexible view of time and the significance of relationships, aligning with China’s values of teamwork and shared accomplishments, addressing the practical requirements of Chinese researchers, offering an appropriate academic environment and necessary resources, and actively fostering international exchanges and cooperation.

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The Digital Development of China’s Academic Publishing Industry

Jiawei Li — Fri, 23 Jun 2023 07:44:16 +0000

The academic publishing market in China is developing quickly but is still in a growth phase. This provides tremendous opportunities for international publishers and societies to expand their international presence, diversify their revenue streams, etc. Currently, the Chinese research ecosystem boasts an increasing number of internationally recognized scientists producing high-quality research. (For example, in 2022, China overtook the US in the number of most cited papers globally.) This has attracted many international academic publishers to the Chinese market, eager to engage with a growing base of highly talented researchers. Many leading international academic publishers and societies have established their brands in China, and are investing considerable effort into increasing their share of the academic publishing market in this country. This blogpost presents an overview of the digitization of China’s academic publishing industry, and its implications for the academia market in China.

The Chinese government’s views on the digitization of academic publishing

The Chinese government has been actively promoting the digitalization of the academic publishing industry and is in support of measures to improve the quality and quantity of academic publications in China. This provides more opportunities for international academic publishers to promote their publications in the Chinese market and build closer ties with the Chinese academic communities in this digital era.

For example, a document called the Opinions on Promoting the Prosperity and Development of Academic Journals came out in June 2021. It was put together by the Propaganda Department of the CPC Central Committee, the Ministry of Education, and the Ministry of Science and Technology. It lays out some important points, like the need to boost academic publishing quality and ethics, create a better environment for development, improve evaluation systems, and standardize publishing practices. The overall goal is to push for the healthy and robust growth of academic journal publishing.

Another important government publication is The Outline of the National Plan for Cultural Reform and Development during the 11th Five-Year Plan Period. It basically suggests that the publishing industry needs to speed up its transition from traditional paper-based publishing to a digital publishing industry with various media formats. The publishing industry is seen as a driving force for the growth of the digital economy. The document focuses on transforming and upgrading academic publishing, moving towards integrated publishing and ultimately achieving deep integration.

Current status of digitization in academic publishing in China

Digital development has really shaken things up in the world of academic publishing. It’s brought about highly efficient ways of communicating and has given a huge boost to scientific research and academic progress. China has fully embraced digitization too; the use of digital publications in China keeps growing year after year. According to one report, in 2019, digital publications made up 36.2 percent of the total, then it jumped to 39.6 percent in 2020, and in 2021, it hit a 44.4 percent.

There’s also considerable investment and financing going into China’s digitalization of academic publishing. In 2021 alone, China invested a staggering 1.17 billion yuan into this endeavor—a massive 42.9 percent increase compared to 2020.

When it comes to digital platforms for Chinese academic publishing, there are a few big players that come to mind. These are CNKI, Wanfang Database, and VIP Info, just to name a few. These platforms are making it easier than ever to access and share academic content in China’s digital landscape.

Key players in the digitization of academic publishing in China

The National Science Library of the Chinese Academy of Science has an impressive knowledge platform. They’ve gone ahead and digitized a whopping 400 million yuan worth of physical data, covering a wide range of types. Further, they’ve got over 200 specialized data sets across various fields, amounting to a value of 90 million yuan. They have also digitized 11 million yuan worth of personnel data, 6 million yuan of institutional data, 6.05 billion yuan of knowledge map relationship data, and even important national and regional projects valued at 6 million yuan. They also offer services like data processing, intelligence services, and network data capture.

In fact, the National Science Library is also collaborating with Clarivate, Springer, Elsevier, and other academic publishing giants across the globe. This means they’re not just collecting and storing data, but they’re also making sure that the metadata associated with it is well-organized and accessible.

The Science and Technology Big Data Knowledge Resource Center provides integral support for innovation in the field of science and technology. They’ve established a comprehensive system that includes a primary database, domain knowledge base, and knowledge graph. This system serves as a strong foundation to provide precise and tailored services, knowledge maps, intelligent computing, and information analysis.

Thanks to advancements in information technology, the publishing process of academic journals in China has become faster and more manageable. It’s now more flexible, allowing for greater adaptability. The digital development in this realm has truly amplified the functions of academic journals. To keep up with the growing needs of researchers, Chinese academic journals are expanding their communication channels and embracing new media platforms.

Conclusion

In sum, academic publishing is rapidly growing in China, and this growth is accelerated by digitalization. The aim is to meet the increasing demands and facilitate effective communication between Chinese researchers. It’s all about fostering collaboration and sharing knowledge through innovative means. By leveraging digital advancements, Chinese academic journals and platforms are stepping up their game to serve researchers better than ever before. These trends will continue to drive the development of academic publishing in China.

Interested in expanding your presence in China through digital and social media? Download the latest whitepaper from Impact Science!

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Creating and Promoting Relevant and Powerful Content on WeChat: A Comprehensive Guide for Research Publishers and Societies Trying to Build a Presence in China

Jiawei Li — Thu, 20 Apr 2023 11:34:35 +0000

As Western research publishers focus on building a presence in China, they are increasingly paying attention to Chinese social media platforms, especially WeChat. WeChat plays a critical role in the daily life of over 1.2 billion active users, including Chinese academics.

Researchers in China rely heavily on WeChat for two reasons. First, in the past 12 years, Chinese people (including academics) have gradually become habituated to using WeChat for instant communication, information acquisition and routine services, such as ordering food, taxis, and movie tickets. Chinese researchers might visit the website of a journal they are interested in occasionally, but they check WeChat almost every waking hour.

Second, WeChat articles are easy to share and view on mobile phones, for example, on a bus or subway during one’s daily commute or in the middle of a long and tedious meeting. Most Chinese academics subscribe to official WeChat accounts that share high-quality academic news and research information. In this way, they can automatically receive the latest articles and stay updated with their fields anywhere.

This article provides an overview of how to create a WeChat article, how to make it engaging, and how to attract readers to your articles and ultimately to your account.

Steps to create a WeChat article

Creating a basic WeChat article is straightforward. This section will introduce the basic steps of creating a WeChat article.

1. Log in to the WeChat official account platform, by scanning a QR code or by entering your password.

2. On the homepage of the official account platform, go to the “new creation” section in the middle of the web page. Select your content type, for example, “Article” as in the below screenshot. You can see more options on the right-hand side by clicking the “More” menu. Although most of the menu has been translated into English in the English version, some of the menus are still in Chinese.

3. On the content creation page, you can find the text edit toolbar on the top, similar to a Microsoft Word document. The system provides a default template that shows where to position the title, author, and main content. At the bottom of the page, you can choose to save your article as a draft or preview or distribute it to users by clicking the broadcast menu. The article setting menu is in the lower right corner (the red box in the below screenshot).

4. On the article setting page, you can set up a cover image and also create a short summary. You will need to confirm that the content is original (as highlighted in the screenshot), add source links (if any), enable users to send private messages to the official account, and indicate whether the article belongs to any collection.

5. Once you click on the statement of originality, you will get a pop-up window to review and confirm the statements. After ticking the check box and clicking “Next”, the system will show more settings (as the second screenshot shows). For example, you can enable the reward function to receive donations from readers. You can set the article type so that your target audience can quickly find your articles according to their interests. The last option allows you to add a whitelist for other official WeChat accounts that can republish your article.

6. Once all settings are chosen, you can publish your article. The publish button is hidden in the broadcast menu. You will need to click on the arrow beside “broadcast,” and the “publish” link will appear on top. Before publishing, you will get a confirmation page. The system will not automatically send the article to subscribers. Instead, you need to copy the URL of the published article and add it to related functions for sharing, such as the customized menu, autoreply, collection and webpage content.

7. After publishing the article, you can click on “broadcast”, and the system provides two options: timed broadcast and grouped broadcast. There are two types of official accounts: subscription and service. A subscription account can only broadcast one message every day. A service account can broadcast four messages a day.

8. If the creator of the article does not have admin permission, the system requires verification from the official account administrator. The account admin needs to scan a QR code and use their WeChat for verification. The second screenshot shows the admin view while confirming an article broadcast.

9. After the broadcast verification, the system automatically sends the article to the subscribers’ message channel.

Crafting an Effective WeChat Article

Let’s take a look at what makes a WeChat article attractive and engaging for users, especially researchers.

Language

Although most Chinese academics are able to read and understand articles in English, articles in Chinese are more popular. Some international WeChat official accounts provide multilingual content to meet personalized needs.

Title

The article title is the first vital hook to attract the audience to read more. Usually, a good WeChat article has a short title, and all the keywords are self-explanatory.

Novelty

The most attractive WeChat articles are usually trendy and provide valuable new knowledge and information. Novelty is one of the essential aspects of research. Therefore, articles about new research findings and funding resources are particularly popular among Chinese researchers.

Originality

Chinese academia are becoming increasingly aware of academic integrity issues, and value originality in WeChat articles. If researchers read similar content across different WeChat articles, they will lose trust in your official account and may even cancel their subscription.

Authenticity

Chinese researchers check whether an article contains authentic scientific information. If the article lacks scientific evidence to support the argument, Chinese researchers might doubt its authenticity and consider you a provider of superficial news articles rather than a credible source of scientific information.

Mode

In the digital era, we are surrounded by multimedia content everywhere. An article with only lengthy text lacks appeal to a WeChat audience. WeChat articles with multimedia content, such as audio, video, gifs, and images are more popular.

Structure and attention to detail

Chinese researchers are trained to be rigid and critical in developing and evaluating research-related content, even if it is just a WeChat article. Format, structure, logic, and language are essential for your articles to be perceived as high quality.

How to promote WeChat articles

Many analytics platforms provide data regarding WeChat article engagement, for example, TopSocial and Jzi.com. From their reports, you can find the most popular WeChat official accounts and articles in your field or target market for benchmarking and comparison. It is essential to know yourself and your competitors. Further, many third-party companies provide customized services that promote your WeChat articles and accounts, for example, Daizhangmen and Qianhu. However, such services have limited effectiveness if your WeChat articles themselves are low-quality or if your WeChat account is not well managed. Apart from the commercial approaches, here are some practical tips for increasing the number of article reads and account subscribers.

Build a social network in China and invite reputed individual WeChat users (not just famous researchers) to share your WeChat articles in their personal WeChat moments and groups.
Create attractive digital and paper-based posters with the QR code of your WeChat articles or official account, and circulate them through the Internet and in-person promotion events. Invite users to subscribe to the official account by offering small gifts.
Insert hyperlinks to previously published relevant articles to attract readers to learn more about the topic and subscribe to the official account.
Enable the autoreply feature so that users can type keywords and receive auto recommendations of relevant articles.
Highlight the featured articles in the customized menu of your WeChat official account for easier access.
Insert links to the WeChat articles on other social media platforms, such as Zhihu and Little Red Book.
Develop a good strategy for setting article keywords for the WeChat search engine to show your articles easily.

Conclusion

The Chinese research publishing market is unique with its specific cultural background and socioeconomic-political context. WeChat is an important part of the Chinese digital ecosystem, and WeChat services play a dominant role in Chinese academics’ daily life and work. Therefore, creating reputed WeChat official accounts with a continuous flow of good-quality WeChat articles is the foundation for building trust in your brand among Chinese academia.

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WeChat’s Business Version WeCom: An Introduction for Societies, Journals, and Publishers Entering China

Jiawei Li — Tue, 07 Feb 2023 12:25:08 +0000

China will be one of the most active markets for the scientific research industry in the next five years, according to the Report on Market Foresight Analysis and Future Investment Strategy of China’s Scientific Research Industry (2022-2027). Consequently, many international publishers and societies are making efforts to expand their presence in China. However, it is not easy to achieve this goal because of unique digital behaviors and communication cultural practices among Chinese academia, such as “Guanxi”¹ and “Quanzi”². A large amount of day-to-day digital communication and information-sharing takes place on the WeChat social media platform, which had over 10 billion active users in 2022. One of the most common ways for Chinese researchers to access research-related information is to read the latest WeChat articles “pushed” by the WeChat official accounts they subscribe to or those recommended by their WeChat friends.

Chinese enterprises are changing quickly, stimulating the systematic digitalization of different industries, including the research publishing industry. For Western publishers and journals, knowing how their Chinese counterparts manage daily operations can be helpful to understand the Chinese market better. Moreover, it is useful for international publishers and societies to learn about the unique Chinese digital ecosystem from different angles, including the perspectives of consumers, employees and partners.

What is WeCom?

WeChat is not merely a social media platform. Its provider, Tencent, has established a digital empire that includes almost every daily service for individuals and organizations. Among these, WeCom (WeChat work) is a software designed to provide organizational communication for work purposes. Before the launch of WeCom, many employees complained bout lack of work-life balance because the managers kept sending them WeChat messages for work whereas they considered WeChat to be their personal social media.

Because WeCom is limited to business purposes, it has far fewer active users than WeChat, but still a very impressive number: more than 1.8 billion in 2022. Every hour, 1.15 million employees of various businesses interact 140 million times with other users on WeCom. Currently, the number of WeCom service providers (i.e., companies with WeCom accounts) has reached 120,000, among which the number of service providers rated as “excellent” has exceeded 6,000. WeCom service providers cover 97 industries, with 1,232 unique interfaces that seamlessly integrate WeCom and 1,900 third-party applications.

Why is WeCom better than WeChat for businesses?

With regard to functions, WeCom provides the same communication features as WeChat but with more applications to support business-related automation. For example, WeChat allows an individual account to create a group with up to 500 members, while WeCom allows up to 10,000 group members for an organizational group and up to 2000 members for other groups. The organization can use WeCom to invite customers, vendors, suppliers, and partners to join its WeCom groups for more accessible communication. Similarly, a WeChat account can add up to 5000 “friends,” but an individual WeCom account can add up to 50,000 “friends.” Besides, a WeChat account can send up to 200 messages to friends, while a WeCom account has no limit for bulk messages. Another feature that makes it more business-friendly than WeChat is that WeCom accounts can share the information of their “friends” (e.g., customers) with other WeCom members, which makes for seamless work handover or workflow support. These powerful features of WeCom can be beneficial for business networking as well as operations management. Additionally, WeCom provides various APIs to allow organizations to access and integrate WeCom with other applications, including applications of the WeChat ecosystem and third-party partners.

Many leading publishers and societies have started using WeChat for brand promotion and market expansion, but not many have used WeCom, perhaps because WeCom has been designed for enterprise management rather than marketing. However, as the WeCom product team leader Tieming Huang said, “The most exciting part is not the numbers, but the changes in the way the enterprises operate behind the numbers, which makes WeCom more determined to connect and create value.” As larger organizations like publishers set up local offices in China, WeCom may prove valuable in streamlining communications and operations.

Footnote:

¹ Guanxi refers to a cultural characteristic and a system of social networks and influential relationships that can benefit business and other dealings. Although networking and Guanxi are similar regarding their linguistic meaning, they are still different. Guanxi has specific implications for interpersonal and inter-organizational behaviors in Chinese society.

² Quanzi and social circle have similar linguistic meanings but are contextually different. From a research perspective, Quanzi is a unique feature of Chinese society and refers to a “differential pattern”. The starting point of Quanzi in Chinese society is blood and geographical relationship. Regarding the trust structure of Quanzi, it is mainly a trust relationship with a closed network with a mixture of work relationships, emotional relationships, and identity relationships.

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The Chinese Academy of Sciences: Its Importance in China’s Research Ecosystem

Jiawei Li — Tue, 24 Jan 2023 10:43:40 +0000

When building a presence in a new country, it is important to understand local, social, and cultural norms around the research community. As mentioned in our previous posts, China is emerging as a market of interest to a number of international players in the research ecosystem. China’s own complex research ecosystem can be challenging for outsiders to navigate. This article introduces the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS), the country’s national scientific think tank and academic governing body, and outlines its contributions to China’s research capacity as well as its importance for publishers, societies, and journals trying to engage with Chinese academia.

What is CAS?

CAS was established in 1949 as the highest academic institution of natural science, the highest advisory institution of science and technology, and a comprehensive research and development center for natural sciences and high technology in China. Currently, CAS has established 11 sub-academies, over 100 research institutes, 3 top universities (University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, University Of Science And Technology Of China, and ShanghaiTech University), over 130 national key laboratories and engineering centers, 68 national field observation and research stations, and 20 national science and technology resource sharing service platforms.

Since 2012, CAS has developed a globalization strategy to significantly enhance internationalization, improve China’s ability to absorb and utilize international scientific and technological resources effectively, and significantly enhance China’s international influence, attractiveness, and competitiveness in the global research market. China’s long-term strategy is to make CAS

the leading representative of China in the international science and technology community,
a research institution that plays an essential role in addressing global science and technology challenges,
a leader in promoting regional science and technology development,
a crucial member of international science and technology organizations, and
a global center of excellence in science, education, and innovation.

As you can see, CAS wields a tremendous influence over the Chinese research community and CAS academicians too are looked upon as thought leaders and KOLs in China.

CAS and Thought Leadership in China

For researchers in China, becoming an academician of CAS is the ultimate honor they could receive in their careers. Influenced by the Confucianism hierarchical culture, CAS academicians exert a tremendous influence not only within their disciplines but also on society and people. In fact, Chinese K12 education textbooks feature many stories about CAS academicians, for example, the mathematicians Luogeng Hua and Jingrun Chen, and Xuesen Qian, known as “the father of Chinese aerospace.” They are heroes for multiple generations of Chinese people. CAS academicians are thought leaders and key opinion leaders (KOLs) in Chinese academia, and any information released by CAS has high credibility and trustworthiness among Chinese researchers.

CAS as an Evaluator of Journals

CAS Journal Ranking System

Most universities and research institutes in China utilize the CAS Journal Ranking system in evaluating their staff members’ performance. Therefore, almost every researcher in China refers to the CAS Journal Ranking system when selecting a journal to submit their paper. The CAS Journal Rankings are created through research from the World Science Frontier Analysis Center of CAS’ Literature and Information Center. All academic journals are divided into 13 significant disciplines and 176 sub-disciplines, and the journals of each discipline are divided into four regions according to their impact factors: Region 1 (top 5%), Region 2 (5%-20%), Region 3 (20%-50%) and Region 4 (bottom 50%). These divisions were originally created in order to facilitate library management, field research in library science, and journal evaluation. Subsequently, this system was gradually used to evaluate the quality of papers. The rankings are regularly released in October every year.

CAS Early Warning List of International Journals

In response to various pain points faced by Chinese researchers as well as research institutes, CAS releases the annual CAS Early Warning List of International Journals, which again helps researchers during journal selection. The Early Warning List is based on objective data and criteria determined through expert consultation. Journal risk is classified as high, medium, and low. These criteria include volume of articles published (e.g., a journal is considered “high-risk” if it appears to be involved in a paper mill), unreasonable or excessive article processing fees, and a sudden drop in journal performance metrics.

CAS and China-based Journals

Since 2019, CAS has also focused on supporting the internationalization of China-based journals and has set up the “Chinese SCI Journal Evaluation Program.” The main aim of this program is to improve the quality of Chinese journals, especially those from disadvantaged regions.

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Building an Academic Brand in China: The Importance of Baidu

Jiawei Li — Mon, 21 Nov 2022 03:40:15 +0000

China has been actively integrated into the global scientific community and is a critical player in the world research market, overtaking even the US in research output. Consequently, many international publishers and journals are interested in expanding their presence in this country. As one of China’s digital giants, Baidu has grown to be not just a search engine, but a vital medium for journals, publishers, and societies, and an integral component of any strategy to successfully penetrate the Chinese research market.

What is Baidu?

Although Google has dominated the search engine market in many countries, it is not the case in China. Since Google pulled out of the Chinese market in 2010, local search engines have been quickly developed to fit the Chinese language and culture better. Baidu is the most popular search engine in China, with a market share of 70% (across devices). As of September 2022, Baidu dominated the Chinese search engine market for mobile users in particular (market share of 79.65%). Baidu has more than 1.1 billion users. According to the QuestMobile report, only three companies have achieved such a milestone: Baidu, Alibaba and Tencent.

Baidu Ecosystem

Baidu is one of the world’s largest AI and Internet companies. Over the years, it has grown far beyond a search engine and has set up a massive ecosystem. This ecosystem has components that are similar to their western competitors, with some important differences. Let’s look at these in detail below.

Baidu Baike

Baidu Baike, the Chinese version of Wikipedia, serves as a collaborative Chinese encyclopaedia for over 800 million internet users in China. As an essential part of the Baidu ecosystem, the entries of Baidu Baike predominate in Baidu search results. Therefore, all brands make an effort to set up quality pages on Baidu Baike for better visibility (see, for example, the pages by Elsevier and IOP). Anyone can create and maintain entries on Baidu Baike by following their content approval principles, such as canonical term names, objective facts, verifiable content sources and complete term structure.

Baidu Scholar

Baidu Scholar is the equivalent of Google Scholar. It was launched in June 2014 as a free academic resource search platform. Baidu Scholar aims to be China’s most extensive research platform, including acquiring English-language resources and publications. By 2021, it had covered more than 1.2 million domestic and international academic sites, such as those from Wanfang, Elsevier, Wiley, and Springer, through license agreements with these publishers. It offers not just literature search services but also citation management and plagiarism check services, among others.

Baidu News Feed

Baidu News Feed has several features that support effective market promotion and advertising. For example, the mobile Baidu homepage provides user-friendly rich formats for ad placements with massive daily internet traffic. With advanced AI algorithm support from Baidu, the Baidu News Feed can enable marketers to customize promotions for specific target segments, based on user search records, personal interests, and internet behavioural records. Charges for advertising are based on user clicks, known as the Baidu PPC (Pay Per Click). The minimum click fee for each advertisement is 0.3 yuan. When the daily click volume reaches the limit of the pre-set budget, the system will automatically stop displaying the advertisement.

Baidu Tieba

Baidu Tieba, the largest interest-based online community in China, was established in 2003. It is generally similar to Reddit and allows for a wide variety of posts; users share posts related to their own hobbies and interests, their views on current events, or just their daily lives. Thus, the platform can support brand storytelling and story building efforts. Baidu Tieba has almost 45 million users per month and is popular among younger generations. It has high user stickiness and significant social network influence. Being an online community forum, it provides a centralized network for different brands to create promotions for a targeted market. For example, promotions for a conference can be customized to the Tieba on that specific subfield or area. Baidu Tieba is a valuable alternative branding platform in addition to Weibo (equivalent to Twitter) and Zhihu (equivalent to Quora).

Baidu Wenku

Baidu Wenku is Baidu’s online interactive document-sharing platform, launched in 2009. It provides an official certification logo to safeguard the reputation of quality content. In 2021, the Thieme Group was the first international publishing group to sign a comprehensive agreement with Baidu Wenku. Baidu Wenku provides an online submission service for researchers by which they can upload articles with “one-click” convenience. Additionally, Baidu’s AI marketing feature enhances the precision of personalized information retrieval. Baidu Wenku’s total traffic has exceeded 20 billion users as of September 2021.

How to use Baidu to build a Presence in China

A Baidu Trust Certificate is the most important consideration for any journal or publisher in order to safely build a sustainable presence in China. It is Baidu’s own SSL certificate brand, which provides globally trusted server verification and data transmission encryption services. With regard to advertising strategy, journals and publishers need to pay attention to the e-Baidu platform, which is designed to provide search engine marketing services in Chinese, while the Baidu Brand Zone and Baidu SEM on AdChina.io provide international collaboration platforms for English speakers. For example, the Baidu Brand Zone advertising service can display a large section of text, images, and other multi-media advertisements when the user searches for the brand name. Baidu Brand Zone offers a higher conversion rate than traditional Baidu PPC advertising. China Internet Watch estimated that using the Brand Zone can result in a 78% increase in purchase intent.

Get in-depth insights on how to build a presence in China by understanding the country’s research agenda and ecosystem. Download this whitepaper.

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WeChat for Academia: Mini-programs and how to use them

Jiawei Li — Tue, 27 Sep 2022 13:06:00 +0000

WeChat is indisputably a powerful tool for both publishers and scientific organizations to improve their outreach in China. Beyond its basic functions, WeChat offers mini-programs, “sub-applications” in the WeChat ecosystem that can be leveraged to attract and engage users to a brand. According to iimedia, by 2020, WeChat mini-programs had more than 4 billion daily active users. Since their launch in 2017, the number of per capita users has increased by 25%, the transaction amount per mini-program has increased by 67%, the number of active mini-programs has increased by 75%, and the number of trading mini-programs has increased by 68%. In 2020, the annual transaction volume of mini-programs increased by more than 100%. This article provides a brief overview of mini-programs and how publishers and societies can make use of them to expand their WeChat presence.

What are mini-programs?

WeChat mini-programs are sub-applications that can be accessed by scanning a QR code or searching within WeChat. This reduces the time of download and installation, thereby meeting the demand for easier, quicker, and smarter applications.

Why mini-programs are popular

WeChat mini-programs have been widely adopted across industries because of six powerful features:

First, the name of the mini-program is unique; it is the same as the domain name and the network real name (whoever registers first owns the name). This feature allows the publisher or society to maintain its brand identity and image.

Second, the “all-in-one” design of mini-programs provides great convenience for users. They do not need to spend time in download and installation, mini-programs are easily searchable, and users can interact with other applications. As academic researchers are typically hard-pressed for time, a mini-program that helps them save time is likely to appeal to this audience.

Third, mini-programs can integrate with online shopping systems seamlessly, both for mobile devices and PCs. Fourth, mini-programs have multiple access pathways, such as by scanning a QR code, searching within WeChat, and hyperlinking in WeChat articles. This makes it comparatively easier for a publisher or society to promote their mini-program. Fifth, mini-programs have strong transmission ability. Finally, mini-programs support various APIs, enabling easier customer service and improving customer communication.

Differences between a WeChat account and mini-program

Several of the world’s leading publishers have started using WeChat accounts for outreach in China, but not many have explored the full potential of WeChat mini-programs. There are some differences between accounts and mini-programs. First, a mini-program is an application: once the function or settings have been changed, the application needs to go through the app approval procedure, and this procedure is more rigid than the procedure for just a WeChat account. Second, mini-programs can be developed only by using the WeChat development tool, while WeChat account functions can be developed using any development tools. However, mini-programs are more powerful than WeChat accounts in supporting user interactions, as described earlier.

How can scientific organizations or publishers use mini-programs?

The Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) WeChat account has a mini-program named Periodical Division Table of the Center for Documentation and Information, Chinese Academy of Sciences. This mini-program provides three main services: searching for journal rankings, institutional account login, and information navigation. In a WeChat account, this level of user interaction and information exchange is not possible. Mini-programs enable publishers and research societies to increase user stickiness, reduce application development and operation costs, improve the accuracy of user data statistics, and facilitate multi-channel sharing for better publicity and to reach more end users. Through mini-programs, publishers can offer specific services or solutions to meet the needs of their WeChat audiences.

Below are some screenshots for how CAS uses WeChat mini-programs.

How to set up a mini-program

Setting up a mini-program is not as complex as it seems, if you follow the below steps.

Ascertain what functions of mini-programs you need.
Scan the QR code in the screenshot below and register the name of your mini-program.
Ask your experts in HTML+CSS+JS to develop the mini-program by following the developer framework. Check the developer forum for details.
Submit the code of your mini-program to the WeChat approval panel for approval.

Conclusion

As journals, publishers, and scientific societies attempt to engage more and more with the Chinese research community, it will become increasingly necessary for them to not just adopt but also fully optimize their use of local communication channels like WeChat. Mini-programs are a valuable feature that can complement and enhance a publisher’s or society’s WeChat strategy by making it easier, faster, and more convenient for users to obtain the information they want.

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