Weibo has +500 million active users

May 19, 2015|Chinese Social Media, Kols & Livestreaming

A very gratifying quarter

As the number of Weibo users continues to grow, marketing on this platform is becoming more and more popular. And it’s no surprise why – with over 500 million active users, Weibo offers businesses a vast potential customer base. But how can you make sure your Weibo marketing efforts are effective? Here are three tips to help you reach more people and boost your business’s visibility on Weibo!

Active users essentially connected to their mobile

Weibo reached 89 million users per day in March, up 34% compared to the same period in 2014. 86% of Weibo users access the site from their mobile phones. Mobile Internet users represent an increase of 57% compared to 2014.

A steady growth

Despite opponents, who want the death of Weibo, the monthly active user growth has doubled in the last quarter and increased 5.2% in the first quarter of 2015. The company also exceeded its objectives with earnings of $ 96.3 million, an increase of 43% compared to last year.
The company still lost $ 2.8 million but this loss has rapidly decreased from 47.4 million a year ago to 15.4 million last quarter. The company estimates earning $ 105 million in the next quarter.

The investment of Alibaba

Regarding the benefits of Weibo, a report announced that the company has planned some initiatives with the e-commerce leader Alibaba and the results are expected in the second quarter. Alibaba has invested $ 586 million in Weibo in 2013.

--FILE--A woman looks at her mobile phone in front of an advertisement of Alibaba.com in Shaoyang, central Chinas Hunan province, 2 May 2013. Alibaba Group Holding Ltd., Chinas largest e-commerce company, tripled its net income to $669 million in the first quarter, Yahoo! Inc. said in a presentation to investors after it reported earnings. The Hangzhou-based companys sales surged by 71 percent to $1.38 billion in the three months ended in March, Yahoo said. The Sunnyvale, California-based U.S. Web portal owns about a 24 percent stake in Alibaba. Alibaba, formed in 1999 as an online marketplace for Chinese companies, has grown as the wave of economic liberalization spurred a boom in manufacturing and trade. It expanded its workforce to more than 24,000 and added services including cloud computing, online payments and consumer auctions.

Moreover, during the last week, the social network has received a boost with the publication of Tim Cook on his Weibo account.

WeChat compete with Weibo

Weibo also has a growing pace, but still slower than the smartphone messaging app, WeChat’s top choice for most of the smartphone generation. WeChat has also reached 549 million monthly active users in its first quarter of 2015, an increase of 39% compared to the previous quarter.

Chinese social networks are part of the daily life of the population. Every day, more and more people are connected. Chinese consumers can find information about anything they wish and communicate in China mainly through social networks.