Chinese internet identity

Use your existing brand (the simplest solution)

The simplest solution is to use your existing business/brand online identity.

This will work.

• Your trademark(s), brand in this case, are available in China. i.e., A Chinese / international business has not already registered your trademark in China
• Your trademarks, i.e. brand, product names, etc, are known in the international / Chinese market.
• Appropriate domain, social media, etc, names are available.
• Your brand/product name does not have an appropriate meaning/translation in spoken or written Chinese. For example, Google had this problem in China; the English pronunciation of Google in Chinese means “rice framer.”

If you need a new identity for the Chinese market

If you are having problems in any of these areas above, or you wish to create a new identity for the Chinese market, here are a few points for your consideration;

1) The brand is not known in China

Internet search functions in search engines, social media, and e-malls are complex, but the data they process is straightforward. A search will only compare the words you have given with the words in the search. If you are using a brand name not known in China, it will not appear in search results.

The way around this is to connect your brand name to words that are searched for, e.g.,

• Baby food by Access to China - English only
• 婴儿食品 Access to China - keeping your brand in English and the rest in China

Keeping the brand in your local language is recommended, provided it is not misspelt and is pronounceable in Chinese. An international company/product is expected to have an overseas name.

If you use a Chinese name, you may confuse the local Chinese market, leading local people to think you are selling “copy” products. When using a Chinese name, please reference our international credentials.

2) The brand is known in China

This is a great starting point if you own your brand in China.

Ensure your brand is registered as a Chinese trademark in your company name. Having your trademarks registered directly in China gives you far better protection; otherwise, you will have to rely on international copyright protection, which is very hard to enforce in China.

Once you have legal control over your trademarks in China, you can start establishing your business identity on the Internet in China.

Under Chinese law, you can stop the use of your trademarks, brand names, logos, etc.; this must be done proactively.

3) Need a new brand for the Chinese market

This is often the case if you have lost control of your brand in China.

An overseas name is always appropriate when exporting a product from an overseas brand to China.

• If you need to use a Chinese name, two written systems are available: Madeiran and Pinyin—most significant internet brands use Pinyin, e.g., Baidu, Taobao, Shenma, Dangdang.
• Another group of Chinese with strong internet identities uses familiar English words and sayings, such as Tmall, JD Buy, VIP, and WeChat.
• The other important thing is that Chinese words typically end with an upward tone. All the above Chinese names have a downward followed by an upward tone. Words that follow this format are positive.

Chinese domain names

Chinese domain names

Domain names with many words become more burdensome to spell correctly—a maximum of two words is recommended.

• Do not use hyphens and dashes. They can confuse. The Chinese language does use these characters.
• Having a Chinese name spelt in Chinese characters is not usually used by Chinese people in browsers. However, having a secondary domain name in Chinese characters can improve SEO for search engines.
• Chinese Social Media
• Your company's identity on Chinese social media greatly helps me understand the meaning of the account name.

Chinese social media

Each social media search tool works differently. Please read up, take advice, and test before creating your business social media accounts. Often, it is not easy to change the name once it has been made.

More information available

Please look at the following cover in more detail, and the points raised above.