Any Western brand or company succeeding at home (or internationally) will understand the power of social media marketing and advertising.
But to replicate that success in China, six social media platforms will be integral to any campaign.
Across these six platforms, I’ve helped Western companies sell over a billion dollars’ worth of goods and services in China, and I’ve published over three hundred of my own videos.
Beyond being a marketer and content creator, I’m also an everyday user of all of them.
Key Takeaways:
- WeChat is a must-have app for people in China.
- Short-video titan Douyin (TikTok’s sister app) has an entertainment tilt.
- WeChat also features its own short video app, known as WeChat Channels.
- Lifestyle app Rednote is helping users improve their lives with its short “notes” and videos.
- Younger audiences can be found on the long-video platform Bilibili.
- Q&A platform Zhihu is great for reaching academics and white-collar workers.
WeChat (微信)
With a staggering 1.41 billion monthly active users as of May 2025, WeChat remains the undisputed king of Chinese social media. What began as a messaging app similar to WhatsApp has evolved into an everything app.
For those living in China, it is an indispensable part of daily life, serving as the primary tool for communication and interaction with both personal and professional contacts.
Here are the key features:
Chat – The name should have given it away already. WeChat offers one-on-one and group chats, and there are no read receipts, which means the sender doesn’t know if the recipient has read the message (great if you want to politely ignore someone).
You can also send audio messages (voice notes) or make video and audio calls.
Official Account Posts – WeChat’s Official Accounts are brand or business accounts and post or publish information directly.
Moments – This separate newsfeed allows users to share content with, and view content (videos, photos, and text) from their friends, with the most recent post featured at the top of their feed.
Unfortunately, my personal Moments feed has a lot of spam from various business contacts, along with “sponsored” posts, so I probably should curate it a bit.
WeChat Pay – WeChat also has a feature that lets you hold money within the app and use it to pay for (almost) everything. Even the elderly vendors selling snacks on street corners accept WeChat payments.
Just out of curiosity, I polled 108 netizens on their daily WeChat usage.
In terms of the features they use daily:
- Chat
- WeChat Pay
- Moments
Only half of the respondents use WeChat Official Accounts daily; however, everyone uses it at least every week.
Now, there’s a lot more to WeChat outside of the main features I’ve just mentioned.
Signing up for and downloading mini-programs gives users access to more features. Within the WeChat app, users can pay their utility bills, order food, shop at their favorite store, and even call a taxi.
For example, on my most recent trip to China, I used the Didi mini-program to book cars (similar to Uber). I suppose I could’ve downloaded the original app, but the Didi mini-program within WeChat worked well enough.
Douyin (抖音)
Short-video platforms Douyin and TikTok are part of the same company, and they’re very similar in many ways. Douyin caters to Chinese users, whereas TikTok targets the rest of the world.
As of March 2025, Douyin has 1.01 billion monthly active users, firmly cementing its position as one of the world’s leading short-form video platforms.
Today, it offers a vast array of content. Much of it is entertainment, but my feed also contains content related to China-US trade/economics, insights from marketing experts, and more. Each person’s feed will be unique, and Douyin not only has plenty of videos to laugh at and drool over, but also plenty to learn from.
In terms of my own content, I share videos on language, culture, and marketing to 40K+ followers, and tend to receive more comments on Douyin than on the other three platforms I’m active on.
Compared to other major platforms, Douyin seems to be the most musical, with trending music and dance being core areas of interest.
Besides short videos, livestreaming is another popular feature. Creators and brands utilize it to connect with their audiences in real-time, showcasing products, hosting Q&A sessions, and more.
Users can also make purchases. Douyin’s shopping feature provides users with an integrated e-commerce experience, allowing them to browse and purchase products directly from influencers or brand accounts, without leaving the platform.
Douyin is a great place to go after you’ve exhausted your cognitive abilities and attention span for the day and don’t want anything too mentally taxing to read or watch.
Don’t like the video you’re currently watching? No worries. Users can move on to the next video with a simple swipe.
This easy transition means that successful and popular videos need to grab users’ attention within the first few seconds, which marketers in the US call “the hook”.
WeChat Channels
We have discussed WeChat, Douyin, and now it’s back to…WeChat again!
WeChat’s Channels feature is so unique that it can pretty much be considered its own app. It’s a Douyin-esque, short-video area within WeChat, which, as of 2025, has over 800 million monthly active users.
So, how does WeChat Channels differ from Douyin?
Unlike Douyin, which primarily appeals to younger audiences, WeChat Channels is especially popular among older users (middle-aged users will be on both).
WeChat Channels content is also more likely to spread through friend networks, as content that is “hearted” will become more visible to the network of the person who added the heart.
WeChat Channels is a good place for B2B content because middle-aged and professional audiences can find the content either via the Channels algorithm or by having it forwarded directly to them.
You might be wondering where to post short videos. The benefit of short-video content is that it is easy to publish on multiple platforms; the same video shared on Douyin, for example, can also be shared on WeChat Channels, Rednote, Bilibili, and elsewhere.
Therefore, the best approach for campaigns with a limited budget is to optimize for one platform but share on all of them.
Bilibili (哔哩哔哩)
Of all the Chinese platforms, Bilibili is the most similar to YouTube.
According to a report from March 2025, Bilibili had 368 million monthly active users, firmly establishing itself as the preferred video-sharing platform among China’s younger generations.
Unlike WeChat Channels, which cater to a broader age demographic, Bilibili holds particular appeal for young users. This group not only relies on the platform for social interaction and information consumption but also represents a highly active and valuable consumer market.
One of the coolest features on Bilibili is its “bullet comments”. Unlike regular comments, which are usually found below a video, bullet comments scroll across the screen. They’re timestamped too, meaning they appear on the video at the exact moment the commenter intends.
When a video features something rare or auspicious—such as good luck, winning a prize, or catching a glimpse of the aurora—viewers often flood the screen with messages like “I wish for the same!” or “Bring me good luck too!”
While Bilibili originated as a platform for videos in a horizontal format, it now also supports short videos. These appear alongside regular videos, but once you click one, you can start scrolling from one to the next.
You can also watch full-length films and productions, which is a common feature on video platforms in China.
Livestreaming is also popular on Bilibili. Hosts can organize livestreams on a variety of topics (e.g., gaming, education, or travel) and invite guests to join to discuss.
The gaming livestream above is covered with bullet comments, which can go a bit overboard sometimes, but it’s a feature you can disable.
Rednote (小红书)
With just 242 million monthly active users (May 2025), Rednote’s userbase is smaller than the other platforms discussed up until now. However, its influence and place in modern Chinese society — especially amongst a young female audience—means that it’s our second most-used social platform for marketing (after WeChat).
Rednote has firmly established itself as China’s leading lifestyle-focused platform, and is a place for users to view and share information about
- schools,
- fashion,
- beauty tips,
- food, travel,
- lifestyle trends,
- and more.
On my trip to Hawaii earlier this year, my wife (Chinese) found and planned all of our activities on Rednote, and found cheaper prices than I could find in English.
On Rednote, posts are called “notes” (笔记) because they’re meant to be kept short; therefore, you can think of Rednote as your own notebook of useful tips.
Image+text notes aren’t like the longer articles on WeChat Official Accounts, and to access them, you will need to select the note from your feed.
Clicking on the note will bring up the image, its description, and user comments.
Notes also come in the form of short videos, which are essentially the same format as those seen on Douyin, WeChat Channels, and Bilibili.
Similar to other platforms, Rednote’s livestreaming and shopping features are useful ways to reach more potential customers and even handle transactions directly within the platform.
Zhihu (知乎)
Zhihu is THE Q&A platform in China, and has 81.1 million monthly active users (as of 2024).
You might even call Zhihu, like its Western counterpart Quora, a “knowledge platform.”
Zhihu’s Q&A content attracts a diverse and educated userbase of students, academics, professionals, and industry experts.
Anyone can post a question or submit an answer, which users can vote answers up or down, meaning the best answers tend to rise to the top.
Now, I admit this platform probably wouldn’t make others’ lists, but Nanjing Marketing Group promotes many companies that sell high-priced services. To sell such services, it really helps to have plenty of educational materials online, and we often find the readers of such materials on Zhihu.
As a bonus, Zhihu content usually appears high in Baidu (China’s most popular search engine) search results.
One of our answers for Emory School of Law earned a total of 191 upvotes.
Here’s an example of a Zhihu article we published for S&P Global. At the time of writing, it’s still a very new account.
Simple Q&A posts on Zhihu can sometimes develop into lively back-and-forths, with threaded comments encouraging a deeper conversation and community engagement.
Zhihu has evolved into a modern knowledge hub, offering services that support education, career development, and community growth.
With that in mind, other popular features to mention are the professional courses (recorded in advance) and tutorials (livestreamed), which are led by industry experts and help students learn at their own pace.
Zhihu also offers certifications and badges to enhance resumes, along with resources like industry news and career advice. By encouraging knowledge sharing, Zhihu enables users to develop new skills, expand professional networks, and engage in China’s growing knowledge economy.
And there you have it—a brief overview of the six main Chinese social media platforms and their main features.
Where could you go next?
For blog and video guides on these platforms, check China Digital Marketing 101.
If you’re considering hiring a marketing agency to help with advertising or content marketing for any of these platforms, we’re here to help.