China’s social media platforms are growing at an incredible rate. And Chinese consumers, more than any other group in the world, are more likely to make purchasing decisions based on what gets shared on their networks. Maybe you would like to market to the increasingly crucial Chinese market, but do you know what sells? And what could get you banned?

Each Chinese social network performs differently from its western counterparts. Weibo may be China’s answer to Twitter, but performs differently from Twitter in several key areas (the biggest being that at least 13% of all posts are censored by the government). The other networks are ‘trolled’ (for lack of a better word), by “the 50 Cent Party” a group of thousands of government agents that basically drown  offensive/counterrevolutionary posts and photos in an ocean of pro-government sentiment.

Fortunately, you can avoid problems by simply avoiding hostile keywords and subjects. Verge.com is reporting that Weibo, (Chinese Twitter), might be patrolled by as over 4,000 censors, but they are looking for keywords like, “politician”, “sex scandal”, etc. And why wouldn’t you? But even the edgiest marketing campaigns can get by without referencing current political events. Furthermore, censorship dips at night, when the national news comes on in the evenings. That can be used to your advantage, not to post in a way to incite rebellion but to target the rebellious. Think about it. Are the independents and the disenchanted likely to be online during peak censorship hours? And don’t they also have money to spend?