Macau can integrate Chinese and Western digitalmarketing, expert says
Lug Giroud
At an industry event organized by the France Macau Business Association last Friday, Wild At Heart founder Lug Giroud said that Macau’s digital marketing is very different from the rest of the world.
“Usually, you don’t have such a big number of people that are going to use all the western tools and such a big proportion of people that are going to use all the Chinese tools,” said Giroud, a digital marketing expert.
“This is [usually] going to be the main difference: if you are in Europe, you just use western tools, and when you are in China, you use Chinese tools,” he said. “Here [in Macau], you should really do market studies and know exactly who your clients are, because efforts, resources and money are going to be expended if you choose the wrong channel.”
“For example, let’s say that you are trying to target China. You are going to need WeChat. But we also need to use western tools because there are very rich people, typically from Hong Kong, that don’t use WeChat so much, and will be using Facebook […] so you should really know who your clients are, and then you use the proper channels and tools.”
WeChat has been criticized for poor protection of its customers’ privacy, but Giroud expressed his confidence in the platform.
“I would say that I am pretty confident that WeChat is going to improve in this area, and sadly I think that there are not many things that you can do about it. I mean, if you are [in] business you really need to use WeChat [but it] does breach confidentiality.”
Giroud noted that no company can be blamed for WeChat’s flaws in protecting customer confidentiality, adding that if a company uses WeChat as part of its digital marketing strategy, that company should safeguard its own interests. He said that WeChat has many good qualities even if the service is fundamentally flawed.
Giroud also shared his opinion on application preferences in Macau.
“In Macau, yes, I think you should [use WeChat] but in Hong Kong, not so much. Now it’s a personal preference. If you will spend two hours per day on social media, you have enough time for WeChat; if you spend ten minutes, then Facebook is fine. It also depends who are going to be your colleagues, and your circle of friends,” finished Giroud.
“For business, we are getting back to my first answer – basically, you need to identify […] your target market. If it’s Chinese people, you must use WeChat.”
