CEO's Tips · Overseas Expansion Season | With Higher Traffic Costs, How to Generate Buzz on Overseas Social Media?

Why do some brands sell millions with a single video, while others see their investments sink without a trace? Which platform should you bet on: TikTok, Instagram, or Reddit? How can brands break through the "anti-influencer sentiment" with a more human touch?

At 7 PM on Friday, April 11th, the Overseas Season of CEO Insights invites Dr. Xu Yabo, the founder and CEO of DataStory, and Luo Weizhe, the founder of Douying Media, to discuss with us: With the rising cost of traffic, how can we "plant the seeds" on overseas social media?

This live stream will mainly focus on the following questions:

1. What changes have occurred in the overseas marketing environment in the past two years? At what stage of going global should companies start social media marketing?
2. In the AI era, what are the new trends in marketing? What are the things that current AI still struggles with?
3. With the changing landscape of global social platforms, what are the characteristics of platforms like TikTok, Instagram, and YouTube? How can we choose the optimal advertising strategy?
4. Many marketers get a headache when mentioning Reddit. Why? What other niche social media platforms have you found useful?
5. What do you think of the trend that traditional niche influencers are losing their effectiveness, and ordinary KOCs are on the rise? How can we avoid failures in current overseas influencer marketing?
6. As brands are increasingly pursuing a more humanized marketing approach, how can we create a "human touch" for brands? Are there any successful cases?
7. With the waning traffic bonus and higher advertising costs, how can companies do well in overseas social media marketing? Please share three tips each.

The following is a conversation between the two guests and 36Kr, with some content edited:

36Kr: What changes have occurred in the overseas marketing environment in the past two years? At what stage of going global should companies start social media marketing?

Xu Yabo: First, from a data perspective, we can observe several significant changes:

Firstly, data-driven decision-making has become more prevalent. Nowadays, brands pay more attention to data analysis. They no longer make decisions based on intuition but track the user journey and analyze the ROI of each stage through detailed data. This shift makes marketing decisions more accurate and advertising more effective. We often see brands tracking the entire process from the user's first contact to the final conversion, which was rare in the past.

Secondly, evaluation metrics have become more comprehensive and in-depth. Instead of simply focusing on likes and followers, brands have started to pay attention to the full-funnel effect. They systematically analyze key metrics such as overall return on investment (ROI), customer acquisition cost, customer lifetime value (LTV), and actual sales conversion rate. This shift indicates that brands have a more mature understanding of social media marketing and no longer pursue superficial data.

Thirdly, the budget allocation strategy has changed significantly. Brands no longer concentrate their budgets on a single platform but allocate them flexibly across multiple platforms. At the same time, the strategy for influencer marketing has become more diversified, and they no longer overly rely on top influencers. I've seen many brands distributing their budgets among top, mid-tier, and long-tail influencers, which often yields better overall results.

Secondly, there are obvious differences between the domestic and overseas markets. For example, in the domestic market, industries that were less active in the past (such as auto insurance) are gradually increasing their advertising investment. In the overseas market, the following characteristics are prominent: Firstly, consumer electronics products have shown the most significant growth, largely due to the active layout of Chinese companies in this field in the past two years. Secondly, the traditional gaming industry still maintains a large amount of marketing investment. Thirdly, industries such as beauty, health products, and clothing also maintain a considerable advertising scale. However, the entire industry is currently in an important period of change. Against this background, all parties are becoming more cautious, and the market as a whole shows a certain contraction trend.

Finally, regarding when overseas companies should start social media marketing. In my opinion, companies should attach importance to social media marketing at any stage. Firstly, the domestic market has witnessed the entire process of platforms like Douyin and Xiaohongshu from their inception to development, and we have accumulated rich experience in social media operation, including content creation, user interaction, and data analysis, which can be well transferred to the overseas market. Secondly, for Chinese brands, social media is the most suitable channel to interact with local users. Finally, compared with offline activities or other local marketing methods, social media marketing is more cost-effective for Chinese companies.

Luo Weizhe: In my opinion, there have indeed been several notable changes recently:

Firstly, brands are more willing to "try new things" in their advertising strategies this year, which gives more room for creative teams to play and shows that Chinese brands are more mature in overseas marketing. For example, I recently came across a case of an elderly mobile game app. They are considering collaborating with a second-tier Hollywood actor to attract older, heavy users.

Secondly, brands are more diversified and cautious in platform selection. For example, they are no longer limited to a few traditional mainstream platforms but are spreading across all platforms. Additionally, due to the particularity of the TikTok platform, many brands are turning to more stable platforms like Instagram and YouTube. Especially for mid-tier sellers, they are worried that if they invest a large amount of resources in creating exclusive TikTok content and the platform suddenly faces risks, all their previous investments may go to waste.

Finally, I believe that social media marketing is important for different types of companies, but the focus may vary. For brands that mainly make sales through independent websites, social media can help increase brand premium and drive traffic to the independent website. These brands usually pay more attention to building brand image, cultivating user awareness through social media content, and ultimately guiding users to their independent website to complete the purchase. For top Amazon sellers and startup teams of TikTok Shop, they can find suitable marketing methods on social media, but their advertising strategies will be different. For example, these companies pay more attention to short-term sales conversion and will make more use of the e-commerce and advertising functions of social media.

36Kr: In the AI era, what are the new trends in marketing? What are the things that current AI still struggles with?

Xu Yabo: From the perspective of the overall transformation of the marketing landscape, the changes brought about by AI are all-encompassing.

Firstly, AI is reshaping the entire traffic landscape. This is why the new concept of GEO (Generative Engine Optimization) has emerged, and everyone is studying how to optimize a brand's performance in these searches. Currently, if we combine the traffic of the four major platforms, it has reached about 150 million. This is a very large traffic channel in China. The same is true in the overseas market. For example, ChatGPT has hundreds of millions of daily active users, and this scale cannot be ignored. From the perspective of brand owners, this is a change that must be actively addressed.

Secondly, AI has brought innovation to content production. In the context of the highly developed global social media, how to effectively collect and utilize this data, and combine human personalized creativity with hot topics and AI, is a direction worthy of in-depth exploration. However, when people realize this is a new trend, they often only scratch the surface. For example, there are many AI copywriting tools now, but what we really need to think about is how to deepen creative ability and how to train AI to become a more professional creative assistant through more data. The gap between an ordinary creative worker and an excellent one is huge. At the same time, AI has also brought about the popularization of creation. In the past, everyone wanted to make personalized expressions, but were limited by production ability. Now, with AI tools, the creativity of ordinary people has been greatly amplified, making creative expressions more diverse.

Thirdly, from a business perspective, there is a lot of room for AI to optimize the marketing field. This is why the stock price of AppLovin in the United States has risen so high. How to integrate AI into the entire advertising process and continuously optimize the results is the goal that every brand owner is pursuing.

Secondly, there are also some issues to note regarding the application of AI. Firstly, testing junk content multiple times will still result in junk. Only testing good content can produce high efficiency. Secondly, as long as we respect basic common sense, we can do well. Due to the frequent exaggeration of industry effects and the marketing people's ability to tell stories, we tend to ignore these basic common sense. For example, in the domestic situation, if we think a certain selling point is effective, we directly use AI to create ten similar scripts. If we create based on wrong ideas, no matter how much we produce, it will be ineffective.

How to return to basic common sense? Firstly, truly understand the target market. For example, the US market is not a single entity but a fusion of diverse groups such as Asians, Latinos, and Irish. We must conduct in-depth research on the characteristics of different groups and find suitable selling points based on our own products. Secondly, the North American market is relatively "clean" compared to the Southeast Asian market. I hope everyone can get back to the fundamentals and not bring some bad marketing practices from the domestic market there. Although it may be effective in the short term, it will damage the entire ecological environment in the long run. Finally, use AI correctly. Drive creativity with data and actual experience, and then use AI to amplify the effect, rather than completely replacing creativity. At the same time, pay attention to process tracking, which is easier to achieve in the overseas market because overseas customers are more willing to pay for professional marketing analysis tools compared to the Chinese market. Only by doing all these basic aspects well can AI truly play its value and help us improve marketing effectiveness.

Luo Weizhe: From a practical perspective, the application of AI in marketing presents both opportunities and challenges.

Firstly, the trace of AI copywriting is quite obvious. I scroll through TikTok every day and often see users in the comment section directly pointing out, "This smells too much like AI." Even if a Chinese person writes an English copy using a translation software, although the grammar and word - usage may not be very native, at least the context is natural. However, AI copywriting tends to be over - embellished and doesn't seem like a real user making a normal comment.

Secondly, in specific applications, there are several issues worth noting: Firstly, it's difficult for AI to grasp platform characteristics. For example, on the TikTok platform, young users especially like to use internet memes and often use text abbreviations and specific emoji combinations. These platform - specific sub - cultural expressions are still difficult for current AI to accurately capture, and the content they generate still tends to be more general and standardized. Secondly, there are still limitations at the practical operation level. I previously made some attempts in the influencer marketing field, such as using AI to assist in screening suitable influencers for cooperation. After testing, about 70 - 80% of the suggestions given by AI are reasonable, but it cannot solve practical problems such as how to establish contact with influencers and how to implement cooperation specifically. This is also a common problem faced by many influencer marketing SaaS tools.

36Kr: With the changing landscape of global social platforms, what are the characteristics of platforms like TikTok, Instagram, and YouTube? How can we choose the optimal advertising strategy?

Xu Yabo: Firstly, each of the mainstream foreign platforms has its own characteristics and unique user groups. Instagram is characterized by "beauty," and all content should focus on visual effects. The user group is relatively refined, making it suitable for displaying beautiful content or creative works. This platform is particularly suitable for showcasing products with high aesthetic value or content that can inspire ideas. TikTok's user group is constantly expanding and is no longer limited to Generation Z. The platform is becoming more diverse and is especially popular among Latino users. The overall atmosphere is more about entertainment and trends, and users pay more attention to authenticity and interactivity. Facebook's user group is relatively older and pays more attention to community relationships, and the content style is more formal. In the North American market, Facebook's advertising efficiency is still relatively high, which is an important reason why many brands can't give up this platform. YouTube emphasizes in - depth content and is particularly suitable for unboxing videos of consumer electronics products and educational content. There is also Reddit, which is similar to Zhihu in China. Users like in - depth discussions, and it is also suitable for B2B marketing. I suggest that brands not be limited to a single platform but flexibly utilize the advantages of each platform according to product characteristics and target audiences to achieve cross - marketing.

Secondly, regarding traffic costs, I have a more general observation: Whether in the Chinese or overseas markets, the key lies in whether you rely more on directly purchasing traffic or on content marketing. If the content is well - produced and meets the platform's tone and consumer needs, the cost of obtaining traffic on any platform will be relatively low. For today's brand owners, it is increasingly necessary to regard content as the foundation and use it as the basis for expanding traffic. Otherwise, no matter which platform you advertise on, it will seem costly because there is no premium space. According to our data, the categories that have performed well recently are: household daily necessities (such as cleaning products), health products, and mobile digital products. By observing the videos of these successful cases, we can find several common characteristics: Compared with the Chinese market, overseas video production is relatively rough, but this precisely reflects a sense of authenticity. They usually put the product's efficacy and comparison tests at the beginning of the video, and the overall style is very direct and natural.

Finally, simply meeting these conditions does not guarantee success. I suggest that brands not overly rely on a single viral video but establish a matrix - style operation system. Firstly, build your own influencer library. First, recognize that influencers in North America are more independent than Chinese KOLs and are not easy to manage. Secondly, you need to understand the characteristics of each influencer through multiple collaborations. Finally, continuously study their past collaborations to improve the results. Secondly, build a material library. On the one hand, accumulate self - produced brand materials. On the other hand, collect content from influencer collaborations and continuously test and optimize. Thirdly, conduct systematic operations. First, follow a data - driven methodology. Secondly, focus on the steady improvement of the overall ROI. Most importantly, avoid over - relying on viral content because this method is too risky, similar to gambling. Although this matrix - style operation requires a large investment, it can effectively disperse risks because platform algorithms and content hotspots are constantly changing, and we cannot overly rely on a single channel or content form.

Luo Weizhe: Firstly, from the perspective of advertising, each platform does have its unique characteristics. For example, although Facebook's user group is relatively older (over 40 - 45 years old), these users generally have strong consumption ability and are mostly middle - class Americans. My in - laws, for example, are often recommended other platforms but still mainly use Facebook to maintain social relationships, which is very similar to the WeChat ecosystem in China. A significant feature of Facebook ads is a high conversion rate, and the ad format is very direct, such as using large fonts, which is very in line with the usage habits of middle - aged users. In addition, Instagram and YouTube are mature platforms that have developed over 10 - 15 years, and their main users are from the 85s to the 00s. These two platforms have a strong product endorsement attribute. For example, if I want to buy LED lights in the United States, I will first search for reviews on these two platforms. If multiple reviews recommend the same brand (such as Anker), this endorsement effect will greatly influence the purchase decision. There is also TikTok. The content on this platform is indeed more entertainment - oriented, but the user group is more extensive. The platform is characterized by short attention spans, and you need to capture users within 3 - 10 seconds. Although the traffic is relatively cheap and there are various gameplay methods, it still feels similar to the stage of Douyin in China 4 - 5 years ago and is not as mature.

Secondly, from the perspective of category characteristics, different platforms do have their advantageous fields: Firstly, YouTube is particularly suitable for 3C products because these products require detailed parameter explanations, and users may need 10 minutes to fully understand the product characteristics. Secondly, TikTok is more suitable for products such as beauty or clothing that can be quickly displayed, and users can understand the product's selling points within 3 seconds. For example, quickly showing multiple sets of clothing combinations and allowing users to click and buy directly after being interested. Finally, Instagram performs well in clothing and home products because the platform has a strong sense of picture and is particularly suitable for creating scene - based displays.

For example, I recently managed a domestic makeup remover oil brand. It is already a leading brand on Douyin and has recently started its overseas business. We just completed a round of advertising, mainly on TikTok and Instagram. The main selling point of this product is the automatic - dispensing makeup remover oil, and the packaging design is very beautiful. Although the product itself has many functional selling points, it is difficult to visually present them through content on TikTok. We found a breakthrough, which was also very successful in China: Put a large number of small glass bottles in a big bucket to create an exaggerated visual effect. We required each influencer, whether KOC or KOL, to show a specific action: tear open the product packaging and pour the product into a glass, creating a clear visual and sound effect. In addition, when choosing collaborating influencers, we didn't choose traditional beauty influencers but those bloggers with a delicate home environment who often shoot morning routines. Their dressing rooms are beautifully decorated, which can better reach the pain points of the target user group. Although the pre - test cost was high, we finally achieved good results from Black Friday to Christmas.

36Kr: Many marketers get a headache when mentioning Reddit. Why? What other niche social media platforms have you found useful?

Luo Weizhe: The Reddit platform is similar to Zhihu in China but has its own uniqueness. First, understand the characteristics of its user group: