Mobile and social media key to reaching Chinese consumers

Tnooz is an interesting travel technology site providing news and analysis in the tourism and hospitality space. In a recent guest post on the site, Jens Thraenhart, president of Dragon Tail, a digital marketing consultancy for the travel industry, provided some interesting insights on media platforms and consumer behaviour for China's booming travel market. The piece is oriented to tourism marketing, and to reaching affluent Chinese travellers in particular, but it contains some interesting takeaways for educational marketers as well. Some of the key points include: 1. Continued, massive growth in outbound tourism. "Sixty-six million Chinese will travel overseas this year, a 15% increase over last year, and 100 million will be global travelers by 2020, according to the United Nations World Tourism Organization." 2. The need for multi-channel campaigns in China. "Offline and online channels converge in China, and various mediums need to be used in tandem with a consistent message." 3. Mobile is huge. "Mobile is growing rapidly, and 30% of the 950 million mobile users access the internet on their mobile devices, according to the Chinese Internet Network Information Center...Forrester Research predicts that in 2014, 1.3 billion people will have mobile devices, and 75% of them will access the internet via their mobile devices." 4. Social media plays an important role, and has a greater impact in China than in other world markets. "Digital and social media is the most influential medium in China, and even more influential in China than in Europe, Australia, or North America...92% of Chinese online online users are engaged in social media in some kind of form, and the percentage of active creators (people that write blogs, upload photos and videos, etc.) is double to the percentage of active social media participants in European or North American countries, which makes it the most engaged country online in the world." Sources: Tnooz, Dragon Tail