CIM046: Douyin in 2019 – Fabian Bern Brings You Up to Speed on the Latest Features and Trends

May 20, 2019

Last spring, I had Fabian Bern on the podcast to give an overview of Douyin, which, at the time, was still an emerging social media platform in China. A lot has changed since then and I wanted to bring Fabian back on the podcast to bring us up to speed on Douyin, share what has changed over the past year and where does he see the platform going in the future.

We discuss user demographics, new features on the platform, and how content is evolving, specifically the increase in mini-series and vlogs. I also ask him what industries he thinks can benefit the most from Douyin, and whether they should be focusing on using Douyin to raise brand awareness or drive sales.

Over the past year, Douyin has introduced the Starmap KOL marketing platform and encouraged many of its content creators to sign with MCNs, and we talk about how that works and the pros and cons of that system.

***Upcoming Event ****

I will be speaking at the upcoming Marketing 2 China London event in June 5^th and 6^th.

Website: https://marketingtochinaconference.com/ . Hope to see you there!

To learn more about influencer marketing in China, sign up for our new newsletter: The China Influencer Update!

Additional Notes:

How Douyin has evolved:

Userbase – now more than 500 million users
1^st tier & 3^rd tier cities are two main user groups
1^st tier users interested in brands and celebrities
3^rd tier city users:
- Social commerce on Douyin big in those cities
- Live streams popular among 3^rd tier cities
Strategic partnerships – CNY gala

New features since last Spring:

Users can post photos too (as opposed to just video)
Tmall & JD testing native stores
Wallets, red packets
Improved AR filters
Duoshan messaging app integrated with Douyin
In-video shopping
Mini-programs, most popular so far are mini- games
Stories feature (seems to still be in Beta)

Shift in Content:

Short web series
Micro vlogging popular, real and relatable
Douyin seems to be shifting to promote more series-type content, which keeps users coming back, and is more sustainable. People get bored of little skit videos after a while.

Brands on Douyin:

150k official brand accounts
China government does a great job
Local companies generally do much better than foreign ones
Foreign companies often use existing content and cut a piece out and put it on Douyin, which really does not work
While there are a lot of brands on the platform, most of them aren’t making good enough content for it to organically spread on the platform

Industries most suitable for Douyin:

Auto industry has done very well
Electronics
Web series use Douyin to spread awareness
Cosmetics & fashion easiest to drive sales
Gaming, F&B growing
Education – Douyin now has “child accounts” where parents can filter out content

Thoughts on TikTok:

Douyin one year ahead of TikTok
Can guess what features will come soon to TikTok
Content is a bit different with localization, create virality in country itself; Indonesia good example
Thinks TikTok will generally follow Douyin’s path
Young audience and people struggle to learn how to use it

KOL marketing on Douyin:

MCNs and the Starmap platform
Douyin KOLs getting more mature
Many KOLs started their own MCNs and they are doing well because they understand the platform
Platform pays more attention to users with 500K+ fans; smaller accounts less regulated
Still a couple independent KOLs but don’t get much support from the platform
A cut of the KOL fee will go to the MCN and Douyin
Approx. price = 20-30 RMB/1000 fans

Vlogging:

Videos can now be up to 60 seconds for all users
Recent campaigns to promote vlogging; Fabian believes that since they specifically used the word vlog means they are putting resources behind it

Opportunity for music industry: