Throughout their purchasing process, your potential customers will have a lot of questions on their minds. In China, the king of Question and Answer is Zhihu (知乎). It’s like the Quora of China, and it’s a must-know platform for B2B business marketing.
This post will mostly focus on:
What is Zhihu?
Why consider Zhihu for B2B marketing?
How to do Zhihu marketing?
What is Zhihu?
The brand name Zhihu (知乎) in Chinese means “do you know?” Zhihu is uk phone number database China’s largest Q&A platform that feels a lot like Quora. However, it is now more appropriate to say that Zhihu has evolved into a “knowledge-sharing platform for experts” with the addition of new features.
Got a question? Here comes Zhihu.
Zhihu is profoundly known for its high quality, credible, and professional Q&A content. This reputation is what makes Zhihu different from other Q&A services seen in and out of China. When launched in 2011, Zhihu began as an invitation-only platform. Only verified experts and professionals from various fields who were invited by referrals were allowed to join the closed community at first. Zhihu then opened-up the service to the general public in 2013 with a strict personal profile verification and badge system (a reward system where users earn badges based on their activity). This way, Zhihu grew its user base while being able to maintain a high-quality of content and a knowledgeable user base. At the same time, the platform also began to function a lot like LinkedIn, allowing expert users to connect with each other and post content on a regular basis.
In 2016, Zhihu began to build a base of “brand accounts” and drive initiatives in the pay-for-knowledge market in China. Many different subsections of the platform, such as Zhihu Column or Zhihu Live, allow users to create, acquire, and share in-depth insights on various topics. The platform also started a membership program to offer more exclusive and high-quality content for subscribed users.
Zhihu is continuously growing. As of January 2019, Zhihu had 220 million users and 30,000 official brand accounts. The platform has successfully raised a total of $889 million funding over 7 rounds, including the recent $434 million investment from Baidu, and is also awaiting its IPO.
Why Consider Zhihu for B2B Marketing?
Zhihu is a viable option for B2B marketers because it has a higher-end base of users that are in the mindset to research solutions for their problems. Plus, it is a tool that marketers can use for both branding and lead generation.
Partly influenced by its genesis with “invitation-only” access, Zhihu was able to acquire users that are highly educated, with lofty incomes and powerful purchasing power. Official data from Zhihu states that around 48% of its users are from first-tier cities, with 98% of users above 18. As for their background, 80% of users hold bachelor’s degrees or above (iResearch, 2017), and 76% make more than 10,000 RMB a month (c.f. average monthly salary in major cities nears 8,500 RMB). This type of user base is the main reason why the platform has accumulated such a vast amount of user-generated content in industry-specific topics. In fact, since Zhihu users are more keen on obtaining particular knowledge, brands in specific industries can expect a higher interaction rate from the audience as compared to Weibo or WeChat.
User distribution on Zhihu
Zhihu is also a great tool for both digital marketing and branding activity. Branding is often neglected by B2B companies. It can be considered a luxury due to the B2B companies’ habit of placing more focus on sales performance. Not to mention, the lack of effective B2B channels has always been a barrier for many. However, at least in China, Zhihu can be a solution to these marketing obstacles.
One of the many advantages of Zhihu is that you don’t need to worry about catchy banners or small budgets, because the knowledgeable answers and professional content speak for themselves. Of course, the right content strategy is necessary if you expect positive results.
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