This document summarizes a report on content marketing and ROI measurement in China in 2014. It discusses the cycles, frequencies, types and methods of news releases by Chinese enterprises. Regarding cycles, most companies release news continuously. On frequencies, over half of automotive and tech companies released over 50 and 100 news items respectively in the past year. As for types, releases on promotional events decreased while cooperation news increased. Finally, the document outlines key performance indicators (KPIs) companies use to measure news releases, such as reprints, search engine optimization, and social media visibility.

1. 2014 China New Media Content Marketing and ROI Measurement
News Release: Cycle, Frequencies, Types, Methods & KPIs

2. Introduction
This is the 3rd part of the PR Newswire report ‘2014 China New Media Content Marketing and
ROI Measurement’.
• The report is based on online surveys. All interviewees were invited through email, Weibo
and telephone so the statistics may have neglected companies that don’t often use
Internet.
• This survey only targets professionals in certain areas including branding, marketing and
company executives, professionals from other areas are not included.
• This survey consists of 4 parts and 31 questions, the interviewees answer all questions
according to current status of their companies. Based on the companies’ business type,
size, industry and business model, the report analyzes their content publication channels in
terms of frequency of use, current status, strategy, future trends, budget and future
challenges.

3. Legend
1. Cycles Of News Release
4
2. Frequencies Of News Release
6
3. Types Of News Release
8
4. Methods Of News Release
10
1. KPIs For News Release
12

4. 1. Cycle Of News Release
By publishing trustworthy, fresh and interesting content through traditional media, Internet
and social media, enterprises can increase their influences, raise the reputation of their
brands, gain public awareness, engage with their users, maintain lasting visibility on search
engines and acquire high-quality visits.

5. 1. Cycle Of News Release

6. 2. Frequencies Of News Release
In the last 12 months, number of news release by enterprises remains nearly the same
compared to the previous year. B2C enterprises have made more news releases with
56.7% of them making more than 20. Most number of news release is made by
companies in the automobile, exhibition and IT industry.
In the last 12 months, 56.5% of automobile companies made more than 50 news
releases, with 1/3 of them over 100. 17.2% of computer/software &
hardware/telecommunication companies made more than 100 news releases.

7. 2. Frequencies Of News Release

8. 3. Types Of News Release
In the last 12 months, news content on ‘promotion/marketing events’ made by
companies decreased markedly, the quality of news release has seen some
improvements over the previous year.
Most numbers of news release on ‘promotion/marketing events’ are made by
companies in food/beverage (75%), retailing/FMCG (72.7%), travel/hotel (71.4%) and
automobile (70.3%) industry.

9. 3. Types Of News Release

10. 4. Methods Of News Release
Most number of news release made by enterprises is for ‘new
products/services/businesses’. Compared with the year before, news releases on
‘promotion/marketing events’ decreases to 46.7% from 58.5%, news releases on
‘corporate business cooperation’ increases markedly to 41.18% from 27.33%.
B2B enterprises made more news releases on ‘research reports’ (33%), ‘corporate
business cooperation’ (45.3%), ‘corporate social responsibility’ (30.9%),
‘meetings/conferences/awards’ (53%) and etc., number of news release on
‘promotion/marketing events’ is much lower for B2C enterprises.
Compared with the previous year, the percentage of enterprises using professional services
such as PR agencies and professional news agencies increases by 3%, almost half (53.4%)
of foreign companies use PR or professional news agencies for news release.

11. 4. Methods Of News Release

12. 5. KPIs For News Release
About 56.7% of enterprises put most emphasis on ‘number of reprints for each
publication’ which is followed by ‘results of SEO’, ‘number of industry websites reached’
and ‘visibility on social media’ as the most important KPIs for news release. Least
attention is paid to ‘number of journalists/media reached’, ‘length of news articles on
media’ and ‘number of articles on print media’.
Print media is still the most emphasized channel for companies in the travel/hotel and
automobile industry, around 42.9% of travel/hotel companies and 44.4% of automobile
companies cite number of ‘number of articles on print media’ as important KPI, and over
60% (62.3%) of automobile companies list ‘number of news releases sent annually’ as a
key KPI.
About half of companies in the travel/hotel, Internet, e-commerce, education, retail/FMCG,
food/beverage industry put more emphasis on ‘visibility on social media’ for their news
release.
B2B enterprises put more emphasis on ‘number of reprints for each publication’ (60%)
and ‘number of industry websites reached’ (46.7%), the percentages for B2C enterprises
are 49.3% and 35.3% respectively. Nearly 40% of B2C enterprises agree that ‘corporate
social responsibility’ is one of an important KPIs for news release, however less than 1/3
(29.2%) of B2C enterprise share the same view.

13. 5. KPIs For News Release

14. A digital link to your business in China

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