Picture yourself stepping into a marketplace so vast and fast-moving that success isn’t just about what you sell—it’s about how quickly you can adapt to the speed of platforms.

China’s digital marketplace is exactly that: a relentless, ever-evolving ecosystem where trends shift constantly and competition is measured not in years, but in moments.

In recent times, breaking into China as a global brand is no longer about finding the right physical or digital address to open a shopfront. With more and more competition from local brands and other well-known brands from abroad, success is now all about adapting to the cultural undercurrents that shape consumer behavior and leveraging digital platforms to seed and shape desire.

So, what effective brand building strategies can global brands adopt to build and strengthen their presence in China?

To answer this question, we’ll explore the best place to start, highlighting key strategies for successful brand building on social media and showcasing best practices from a viral Korean instant noodles campaign.

Essential brand building strategies for China

For China, Douyin has emerged as one of the most innovative tools for brand building and engaging consumers.

While it’s tempting to think of Douyin as another hot social media app, this type of thinking might lead to a missed business opportunity. Douyin is no longer just an entertaining video app but an entire shopping ecosystem and cultural force, reshaping how people in China discover, evaluate, and purchase products.

With over 600 million monthly active users, Douyin offers a unique combination of short-form videos, livestreaming, and e-commerce features, making it a goldmine for brands looking to build their presence in China. The platform’s success lies in its content-driven ecosystem. Unlike traditional advertising, where brands push scripted messages onto potential customers, Douyin thrives on user-generated content, viral trends, and community-driven engagement.

The success of Douyin’s content-driven ecosystem is no accident. It’s the result of an algorithm so sophisticated that it seems almost intuitive, learning user preferences with rapid precision. It doesn’t just show users what they like; it shows them what they might like, what they should like, and what, given the right nudge, they will like. This helps to create a digital marketplace powered by curiosity and serendipity, where a single viral video can catapult an unknown brand into an overnight success.

For example, a beauty influencer could go live to test a new skincare serum on behalf of a global brand they’ve partnered with. Within minutes, tens of thousands of viewers are tuning in and watching in real-time as the influencer demonstrates the product’s before-and-after effects. Suddenly, the on-screen comment window is buzzing with excitement, questions flood in, and with a single tap, anyone watching can instantly purchase the product—without ever leaving the app.

Unlike traditional retail, this scenario represents something entirely new: trust, compelling storytelling, social proof, and instant gratification wrapped into one short interactive journey.

How to tap into Douyin’s social commerce features

One of the standout features of Douyin is the powerful integration of social media and e-commerce, also known as social commerce. This unique combination enables users to shop directly from videos and livestreams, making it easier than ever for brands to convert attention and engagement into sales.

To maximize success in this unique marketplace, it’s crucial to tailor your content to align with Chinese culture, values, and trends. What works in your home market may not resonate with Chinese consumers, so understanding local preferences, humor, and aesthetics is essential.

Partnering with local influencers, or KOLs (Key Opinion Leaders), is an effective way to adapt your content to local tastes and build credibility. Through sponsored content, product reviews, or live shopping events, KOL partnerships can help showcase your products in authentic and creative ways to build trust with your followers.

Building community and brand loyalty on Douyin

After testing and selecting an effective mix of brand building channels, it’s important to begin building a community around your brand. This means moving beyond transactional interactions to creating long-term brand advocates.

Below are three critical components of a successful community building strategy.

1. Engage with your audience: Respond to comments, participate in discussions, and listen to your audience. Douyin’s interactive features like polls, challenges, and on-screen comments make it easy to engage with followers and create a sense of community. By listening and responding to consumer feedback and showing that you value their input, you can build stronger emotional connections with your audience.

2. Brand storytelling: Chinese consumers are increasingly looking for brands that offer more than just a product—they want a story. Use Douyin’s creative tools to tell your brand story in a compelling and visually engaging way. Whether it’s through behind-the-scenes footage, customer testimonials, or brand missions, storytelling can help create a deeper emotional bond with your audience.

3. Consistent and authentic presence: Consistency is key to building a loyal community. Post regularly, maintain an authentic brand voice, and stay true to your brand’s values. Chinese consumers are highly discerning and value authenticity, so it’s crucial to remain genuine in your messaging and engagement.

Brand building case study: Samyang Foods

Samyang Foods is a prime example of a company that effectively leveraged brand-building strategies to succeed online in China. While already popular in South Korea, the company faced challenges in China due to language barriers, localization issues, and cultural differences. As their 10th anniversary approached, Samyang seized the opportunity to enhance brand awareness and connect with Chinese consumers using a mix of innovative Douyin brand building strategies.

Hashtag Challenge

Samyang launched the “生而火辣无所畏惧” (Born Hot and Fearless) Hashtag Challenge to create an engaging, viral chicken dance movement. This allowed users to participate in a fun, brand-driven activity that increased organic reach and engagement around their official campaign hashtag.

KOL marketing

At the same time, the brand partnered with influential content creators to kickstart the Hashtag Challenge and amplify reach and credibility during its initial launch.

Branded Effect

To make their campaign interactive, Samyang released a customized Branded Effect that encouraged users to create personalized videos using their branded filters and stickers. This strategy tapped into Douyin’s user creativity, leading to high levels of participation, user-generated content, and word-of-mouth marketing.

Missions

The campaign included mission-based rewards, motivating users and influencers to take part and generate high-quality content. Incentivizing participation helped to sustain momentum and maximize engagement.

Paid advertising and promotion

Samyang invested in both online advertising on Douyin and offline promotions in Shanghai. For online advertising, Samyang leveraged a mix of paid ad strategies to maximize visibility. In-Feed Ads, for example, target users based on their interests, increasing brand exposure. Search Ads, meanwhile, allowed users actively searching for the trending hashtag or Samyang to find relevant content easily.

For offline promotion, Samyang hosted an event in Shanghai and coordinated offline advertisements on subway stations, bus exteriors, and roadshows to promote their online campaign.

Results

By leveraging interactive content and strategic ad placements, Samyang’s campaign amassed over 374 million total video views, more than 70,000 user-generated content posts, and 4.5 million mission engagements, elevating the brand to No. 2 on Douyin’s Branded Hashtag List.

This campaign not only strengthened brand recognition but also drove purchase intent, making it a model for successful market entry and brand building in China.

How Ocean Engine helps global brands reach their desired audience

Imagine you’re Samyang Foods—already a household name in South Korea, but you’re don’t know where to start in the Chinese market. What’s your first move? You can attempt to stitch a mix of Chinese social media and marketing tools into your own funnel, or you can start on a single platform that allows you to sync all of your marketing efforts into one cohesive marketing funnel using a platform like Ocean Engine.

Ocean Engine offers a powerful suite of tools designed not only to connect you with your audience but to also engage with them in an authentic and personalized way. For Samyang Foods, this meant using Ocean Engine to launch their Branded Hashtag Challenge and Branded Effect on Douyin.

Samyang Foods also utilized Ocean Engine’s advanced targeting and optimization tools to execute targeted advertising strategies. In-Feed Ads, for example, helped ensure the right audience discovered Samyang’s content, based on their interests. Search Ads and other advanced ad products from the platform then allowed Samyang to directly connect with users actively searching for relevant content.

Beyond its core advertising products, Ocean Engine helps brands with tracking and optimizing their campaign performance, allowing brands like Samyang Foods to assess real-time metrics and make adjustments to their marketing funnel for maximum impact.

Keys takeaways

Social commerce is both a challenge and an opportunity for global brands looking to break into the Chinese market. It demands a new way of thinking, one that prioritizes agility, authenticity, and engagement over traditional advertising.

Ultimately, the top brands on social commerce platforms like Douyin go beyond selling products—they create experiences, spark movements, and build communities. They know that success on Douyin is not just about creating eye-catching content, it’s about understanding the platform’s ecosystem, leveraging its features effectively, and continuously engaging with their audience in an authentic and meaningful way.

Finally, Ocean Engine provides the base to design and implement all your advertising and marketing campaigns, including Douyin and other popular Chinese social media apps such as Toutiao, Fanqie Novel, and Xigua Video.

Ready to take your brand to the next level? Learn more about what Ocean Engine and Douyin have to offer by contacting us directly via the Contact Us form on our website.

For further insights on brand building strategies in China, you may also like to read our deep dive into social commerce trends in China and China marketing calander.