Social media is the current worldwide trend. This is especially true in China now. With the rise of SNS like Weibo, WeChat and other platforms, social media has reached almost every corner of people’s everyday life, education, business, health, science, arts, sports… There’s nothing you cannot find using social media.

However, due to various culture or regulation factors, Chinese social media is very much different from the Western style. Therefore, it is very important for foreigners, especially those who wish to develop their business in China, to understand how social media works, and how can it benefits their business.

On 26th June, swissnex China welcomed EPFL EMBA MoT (Management of Technology) students to our social media workshop. It started with Chinese social media expert WANG Jing giving an introduction about the general situation and some background information. Then the students were divided into small groups of 5-6 to do the case study. Topics for the case study include ‘help a foreign brand with their digital marketing campaign’, or ‘advise one of the Swiss startups on their China digital marketing strategy’. Each group was joined by one Chinese swissnex China member to help them out with the discussion. After almost two hours of discussing, planning, or even drawing, all participants gathered around for the group presentations to see what other groups have come up with. One group even started ahead, and created its own Weibo account already. Talking about speed and efficiency in the digital era!

Reported by Lan Xiao, Academic Intern