Papi Jiang’s Personal Branding Strategy on Sina Weibo

Jiayu+Xu

【Abstract】This research examines how Papi Jiang， the web celebrity who stands out from the crowd on Sina Weibo， develops her person-brand. Based on Kellers brand resonance pyramid， Papi Jiangs person-brand pyramid is proposed：establishing the brand identity， creating the appropriate brand meaning， sustains appropriate brand relationships with the audience. This study serves as a contribution to personal branding on Social media both theoretically and practically.

【Key words】Papi Jiang； Sina Weibo； personal branding； web celebrity

Introduction

One of the reasons behinds web celebrity production is to attract endorsement. Khatri states that “endorsement celebrities usually lend their names to advertisements for product or services for which they may or may not be the experts” （cited in Kansu & Mamuti， 2013）. Many web celebrities face the problem of how to sustain their competence of attracting fans and endorsement on social media. This study investigates and further conceptualizes the key elements needed to be effective with personal branding on social media.

Literature Review

Brands can also be human because they 1） can be strategically managed and 2） have additional associations and features of a brand （Khedher， 2015）. People may be engaging in personal branding on social media through setting element and codes to establish person brand imagery （Hou， 2013）. Marwick studies celebrity practice on Twitter and focuses on the content as a method to develop a personal brand on social media.

Biel （1997， cited in Fill， 2005） uses the term brand relationship to explain the importance of brands interacting with consumers. Labrecque， Markos and Milne （2011） suggest that personal brand identity relies on self-presentation as identities are created while using social networking profiles， blogs and personal Web pages. Douglas Holt （2016） emphasizes that promoting crowdscultures is an alternative approach for branding， because a brand breaks through in culture will be easier to obtain support from crowds than those who just promote product information.

Kellers （2013） brand resonance model puts forth four steps to build a brand， including ensuring identification of the brand with customers；establishing the totality of the brand meaning；eliciting and converting brand responses to create brand resonance between customers and the brand.

Methodology

Forty pieces of original videos of Papi Jiang are selected in random to conduct a qualitative content analysis. Selecting every 5th video from the first video posted and counting upwards is to ensure bias-free and to ensure that the data collected included videos that were both old and recent. Then， selecting video according to the highest hit rate on Sina Weibo. Also， a pilot study is set to observe the different time period of the development of the person-brand.endprint

First stage：creating the brand identity

Papi Jiangs videos achieve the objective of creating brand salience with her audiences via presenting brand name， logo and symbol， and slogan.

The name “Papi Jiang”， shows up 37 times out of 40 （92.5%） and it usually is repeated for times throughout one video， encourages word of mouth exposure that helps build strong memory links， reveals the regularity of videos， and the viewers have to do less learning to understand the meanings as brand name.

Papi Jiangs visual figure and face are component parts at every video. Her face shows up 39 times （97.5%）. From 2012 to 2017， the format of content is changed， while the elements （Papi Jiang herself and her cats） of the content that compose the brand “Papi Jiang” and the fact of being loved by the fans， are remained.

The slogan “I am Papi Jiang， a woman who combines beauty and talent”， is applied in a very flexible and diverse method. For example， “I am Papi Jiang， a slim woman who combines beauty and talent” （“The whole process of a persons weight loss”）. Being exposed and covered in many videos of Papi Jiangs， and being utilized as a basic phrase of “I am Papi Jiang， a woman who...” to create contents that matching a very topic， the slogan achieves a high level of recognition and acceptance.

Second stage：developing the brand meanings

Appears without make-up or special hair styling；wearing casual clothing；messy house；using a self-deprecation tone to say herself flat-chested and poor， Papi Jiang portray herself is the same kind of person as many viewers.

Videos are made of creative original content as usual， the other primary feature is to give her viewers a promise that “I am here when I am being needed”， and the approach to realize promise is to record and publish a video to say something in time， which actually takes the responsibility of being a public figure （“Teacher Cosplay”， “I Think Everyones Mothers Are the Same”， 2016；“To Some Nasty Relatives”， 2017）.

Videos runs around 3 to 5 minutes， covers everyday topics including entertainment news， dating， family relationship， social relationship， losing weight， studying， working， travel， and hot issues happened online.

Papi Jiang practices to be a video blogger who has the capacity to understand or feel what other persons are experiencing from within the other persons frame of reference. Then presenting emotional expressions and rational thinking via her videos. For example， she lists many personal real experiences to convince people give up bias on any fans groups， because “if worshiping a star gave you any positive influence， that is worthy” （“Everyone Needs an Idol”， 2016） She sarcastically reveals the problems behind the situation that many people understand and dislike too. Meanwhile， presenting advice and solutions balances Papi Jiangs imagery of a sharp tongue and positive influential web celebrity.endprint

Third stage：maintaining relationships with audience

Interaction tactics is observed from three perspectives：uncovering information， offering interaction channels， and encouraging co-creation.

Moderately exposing privacy and sharing first-hand personal experience increases persuasive that effects and infectious of the person-brand “Papi Jiang” and her product “original video”.

Fans Q&A is a plot on Papi Jiangs videos for replying viewers questions. Organizing lottery on Sina Weibo with small money and gifts to realize self-promoting and branding marketing.

Adverts are promoted including four types of pre-display ads， product placement， oral advertising and online engagement activity. “Popularize the Knowledge of Olympic Game” （2016）， is the first video that is produced with the commercial pre-display adverts， which just presents the brand name “MG facial mask” at the beginning of the video.

Fans are encouraged co-creation by video submission to @papitube， an official Sina Weibo account created by Papi Jiang. The required contents reflect that Papi Jiang focuses on attracting the group of people who like her video style of comedy presenting and has the same features of telling the fact by a tone of sarcasm， enjoying on producing comedy video， and producing the content that filled with positive power. Papi Jiang utilizes her fame to promote the personal branding platform.

Conclusion

This study concludes four steps for building the strong person-brand “Papi Jiang”， （1） establishing the brand identity—an original video maker on Sina Weibo；（2） creating the appropriate brand meaning—a grass-root web celebrity who produce original video content；（3） eliciting the right brand responses—except for being critical via satire and funny， “Papi Jiang” is a web celebrity with positive energy and unique value；（4） forging appropriate brand relationships with the viewers—for endorser， Papi Jiang is a web celebrity who has professional competence for the promotion of creative products and brands with advertising contents；for the fans， Papi Jiang is a web celebrity who concentrates on making video.

References：

[1]Fill，C.（2005）.Marketing communications：engagements，strategies and practice.Pearson Education.

[2]Holt，D.（2016）.Branding in the age of social media.Harvard business review，ISSN 0017-8012，Vol.94.

[3]Hou，M.（2013）.The Semiotics of Internet Celebrity：Gangnam Style Case.

[4]Keller，K.L.（2013）.Strategic brand management：Building，measuring，and managing brand equity.Pearson Education Global Edition.

[5]Khedher，M.（2015）.A brand for everyone：Guidelines for personal brand managing.Journal of Global Business Issues，9（1）， 19.

[6]Labrecque，L.I.，Markos，E.，& Milne，G.R.（2011）.Online personal branding：processes，challenges，and implications.Journal of Interactive Marketing，25（1），37-50.

作者簡介：徐佳瑜（1991-），女，广西南宁人，汉族，品牌监制，在读硕士研究生，研究方向：全球传媒，广告与品牌整合营销。endprint