Bilibili is a major social media platform in China, especially popular among young Gen-Z users. It has its own unique culture and community that we should respect. However, marketing on Bilibili can be challenging. It takes time to build an engaging and friendly brand image that fits in with the platform's vibe. Unfortunately, there aren't many straightforward guides available to help us do it right.
In this article, we've looked at 5 brand accounts on Bilibili and studied how they create interesting content. Some of their content helped them gain lots of attention and followers, while others might have sparked some controversial results. We'll go through each one in detail, hoping that these examples will give you some great ideas for your own marketing efforts.
Is the Creative Legend Fading on Bilibili?
Durex, a prominent condom brand, who gained fame on Weibo with over 3 million followers. They were known for our creative content, similar to what you find on Xiaohongshu.
Typically, Durex's brand accounts on Weibo and Xiaohongshu share celebrity endorsements, product launches, usage tips, collaborations, and informative content, all with a touch of entertainment to engage our users.
However, when Durex brings similar content to Bilibili, it doesn't quite hit the mark. Their recent posts mainly focus on educational facts and interviews related to the League of Legends Pro League. While they hope to capture the attention of Bilibili's gaming and esports enthusiasts, with over 500,000 followers, the content doesn't receive as much attention, often getting fewer than 10,000 views.
In our search for brand accounts that consistently produce popular content on Bilibili, we identified four successful examples: @洛克王国手游 (Roco Kingdom Official Mobile Game), @元气森林 (Chi Forest), @中国联通 (China Unicom), and @钉钉DingTalk (DingTalk).
ROCO KINGDOM
Attract Game Lovers with High-Quality Visuals
The brand account of the mobile game Roco Kingdom consistently attracts hundreds of thousands to millions of views. It primarily offers original animations, delivering engaging storylines, game tips, and character designs for user entertainment.
▲ Image via @洛克王国官方手游 (Bilibili)
This content strategy nicely fits the mobile gaming genre and resonates with Bilibili's extensive gaming community. Their content creation stands out for its exceptional quality, and the charming cartoon characters receive praise from users for the official game's design and content excellence.
▲ Video via @洛克王国官方手游 (Bilibili)
CHI FOREST
Engage with Gen-Z with a Fit Female Image
Chi Forest, an emerging Chinese beverage brand, took a unique approach. They chose a fit young lady as the face of their brand. Their content aligns closely with Bilibili's special content and trending discussions. This includes activities like dancing, food reviews, insights into the modern work environment, and fashion trends. The energetic and beautiful image continuously generates a lot of engagement and sharing for Chi Forest.
▲ Image via @元气森林 (Bilibili)
However, the effectiveness of Chi Forest's content strategy is still under discussion. Despite offering zero sugar, zero calorie drinks targeted towards health-conscious women, we observed that 93% of their brand account followers on Bilibili are male. This hints at a possible mismatch between the intended audience and the actual consumers of their products. Is this deliberate, aiming to broaden their customer base, or could it lead to an uneven marketing outcome?
▲ Video via @元气森林 (Bilibili)
CHINA UNICOM
Build An Entertaining Image with Funny Dances
China Unicom, one of China's three state-owned telecom companies, used to have a formal and serious image. However, since 2019, they've undergone a big change in how they present themselves. They've become leaders in creating fun brand accounts that feature dance videos. China Unicom started a practice where their employees wear uniforms and dance to popular songs like "Pure Land of Bliss (极乐净土)", "Shoulder Dance (抖肩舞)", and "New Treasure Island (新宝岛)". This added a burst of energy to dance videos on Bilibili, which were starting to lose popularity.
▲ Image via @中国联通客服官方 (Bilibili)
Nowadays, when people talk about China Unicom, young users, especially Gen-Z, think of them as both professional and entertaining. The funny dances get a lot of engagement from the audience. Their content is so relatable that it even led to collaborative dance videos with the other two state-owned telecom companies - China Telecom and China Mobile.
▲ Video via @中国联通客服官方 (Bilibili)
DINGTALK
Connect Students with Bilibili's Autotune-Remix (鬼畜)
The office software DingTalk provides another successful example. In 2020, when students faced extra academic pressure due to online learning during the pandemic, DingTalk received some initial criticism.
▲ Image via @钉钉DingTalk (Bilibili)
However, they swiftly responded with an autotune-remix video, kindly asking users not to give them one-star ratings to protect the product's reputation and App Store ranking. This video gained over 30 million views and more than 5 million engagement, effectively earning the trust and favor of users. It also established the foundation for their viral content type, which involves using their little black bird mascot image along with autotune-remix and trending topics. This type of content has consistently brought high views, engagement, and sharing for the brand over three years.
▲ Video via @钉钉DingTalk (Bilibili)
BRAND ACCOUNT STRATEGY ON BILIBILI
Comparing Durex with Roco Kingdom, Chi Forest, China Unicom, and DingTalk, we've found that on Bilibili, content like TV commercials, celebrity endorsements, brand collaborations, and educational content may occasionally get attention due to great creativity. But doing this consistently may not bring steady traffic. It's because this kind of content is more of a one-way message and doesn't lead to high engagement. It also requires a high level of expertise in writing, shooting, editing, and content creation, which can be costly.
Bilibili is unique with its Bullet Chat feature, allowing users to comment in real-time while watching videos. This makes Bilibili highly engaging. Brands need to communicate in a friendly, funny, and direct way on Bilibili. So, having a unique personal image with emotions and combining it with Bilibili's special content like ACG, games, tech, knowledge, dance, autotune-remix, and food can win users' favor.
Double V Consulting has six years of experience in creating tailored social media strategies for international brands in China. Contact us if you want to learn more about how to engage Gen-Z on Bilibili!