Chinese Factories Use TikTok to Find New Business Partners

“What’s up, mate? I’m Tony,” a young salesman wearing a hunting hat and holding a magnifying glass over one eye told the camera, speaking in British-accented English at a factory in China’s southern Guangdong province. “Let’s see if the killer left any clues on him.”

Tony Zhu focused his magnifying glass on the illuminated shop sign. “There are no fingerprints on the surface. It’s made of good acrylic!”

The 25-year-old sells light boxes to business customers, which are used as illuminated signs in retail stores. TikTok and Instagram may not sound like places to network, but Zhu’s videos with exaggerated South American, Mexican, Thai and Chinese accents are attracting real customers: Customers from the Americas, Europe and Africa have visited the factory in China after watching his videos.

As the domestic economy slows, Chinese manufacturers are trying harder to win orders in a competitive export market. While most users watch online videos for entertainment, factories now turn to the platforms to sell everything from electronics components to lighting products and industrial chemicals. The vast reach of short videos and recommendation algorithms has helped some find new business customers. Chinese sourcing agents, people who help foreign buyers find suppliers, and factories in countries like Vietnam and Cambodia have also promoted goods on TikTok.

It’s a delicate task to promote a factory product in a format designed for lip-sync videos, Zhu said. If a video is too commercial, he said, it will have low reach and bring in little business. But if the content is too funny, it will get a lot of views but turn off potential customers. “We strike a balance between entertainment and business in every piece of content,” Zhu said. Rest of the worldThe company receives an average of one business inquiry for every 1,000 views on TikTok, and about 3% to 10% of those inquiries convert into orders, he said.

Manufacturers in China have been connecting with overseas customers through trade shows, wholesale markets and sourcing agents. With the rise of e-commerce sites in the late 1990s, foreign importers and Chinese factories have been able to network through platforms such as Alibaba.com and Made-in-China.com. Factories sometimes invest tens of thousands of U.S. dollars a year in fees and advertising expenses on Alibaba.

Zhu said both e-commerce and social media sites were important to the company’s growth. As a business English major at university, he honed his language skills by watching Hollywood movies and playing the Grand Theft Auto video game. After working at an export services company, Zhu joined signage manufacturer LC Sign in 2022 as a salesman.

His accent imitation was inspired by comedians Russell Peters and Trevor Noah, who imitated Indian and South African accents in their shows. Since his videos went viral in late 2023, LC Sign has gained about 445,000 followers on Instagram and 148,200 on TikTok. Zhu’s boss made the star salesman a partner with the signage company. Other factories came to him for tips, and now he can make videos full-time.

Although most international social media networks are blocked in China, exporters commonly use virtual private networks (VPNs) to promote their products abroad. Timmy Tang, 27, who makes videos for her family’s paper box factory in Guangdong, said she recently sent samples to a TikTok user in South Africa and struck a deal with an Indian buyer who discovered her company through her WeChat videos. WeChat is used mostly by Chinese people, but many foreign traders focused on China also use the app.

Tang said that because short-video platforms have such large young user bases and powerful recommendation algorithms, her videos were discovered by people who actually needed paper boxes. “Business customers are getting younger,” Tang said. Rest of the world“They might come across these videos after work and think, ‘Oh, I might need this product.’”

Many small businesses are trying to copy the formula of comedic sales pitches. A sweet potato processing factory in Hongan County, Hubei Province, this year began posting videos on platforms like X, YouTube and WeChat channels to attract foreign traders. “To be or not to be, that’s the question,” factory boss Han Dexiao said in the clip. “To eat or not to eat, it’s quite simple. I choose to eat everything,” he continued, walking past racks of sweet potato noodles.

Han, 51, said Rest of the world that the company created an English website, opened a store on Alibaba and thought short videos could attract more customers. He said that young workers at his factory helped him prepare English scripts and taught him how to pronounce each word. “I was afraid that people wouldn’t understand me,” Han said. “But I think I could gradually learn to introduce my factory to foreign friends.”

“We strike a balance between entertainment and business in every piece of content.”

Some manufacturers have gained fame beyond their target audience in unexpected ways. One maker of the chemical glycine, Donghua Jinlong, went viral this year when Gen Z users created memes of its boring, AI-voiced marketing videos, mocking advertising lines boasting “high-quality, industrial-grade glycine.” Glycine is an ingredient used in food production, water treatment, and other industries.

Lin Zhang, an assistant professor at the University of New Hampshire who studies entrepreneurship in China, said that as China’s economic growth slows, companies are using multimedia marketing tactics popular in China’s domestic e-commerce industry, such as short videos and live streaming, to attract foreigners. By appealing directly to international audiences, influencers also give Chinese production a human touch, Zhang said.

Some importers are wary of multimedia marketing tactics. Bas van Rens, founder of Guangzhou-based Sino Import Solutions, which helps European companies import from China, said he prefers the traditional way of browsing e-commerce sites, where he can target specific products and verify business licenses. “I would never respond to a video,” he said. Rest of the world“It’s easy to find your products on Alibaba and 1688.”

During a recent Instagram livestream on a hot day, Zhu, a viral light box seller, wandered around a factory building to show viewers how workers were assembling the letter-shaped light boxes with fans on the side. Zhu also showed viewers a photo of his cat on his phone. Although many of his social media fans don’t need any light boxes, their involvement helps attract those who do, Zhu said. Rest of the world“The non-industry audience has made our site more alive. We’re showing the industry to everyone in a fun way,” including props and comic timing. He’s also sold store signs dressed as Batman, Mickey Mouse and Super Mario.