This article was written by Yiling Pan for Jing Daily Douyin, a hip short video app that is popular among China’s young social media users, has hit the radar of luxury marketers. Despite some critics’ concerns that the app’s mass-facing content could diminish the prestigious image of luxury brands, that hasn’t stopped leading players such as Christian Dior, Louis Vuitton and Chanel from placing advertisements on the platform. Weibo vs WeChat: KOL report reveals what Chinese travellers use to pick holidays Christian Dior, one of the earliest adopters from the luxury sector, is highly bullish about using Douyin. “Douyin has the user base, who are young, female-oriented with high-spending power,” a spokesperson for the French luxury brand’s China division said. “They are the right people who luxury brands must acquire and retain in the longer term.” The latest statistics released by Zhang Nan (张楠), Douyin’s CEO, on January 15 showed the number of daily active users (DAU) of the app had reached 250 million, and the number of monthly active users exceeding 500 million. Previous data also showed about 60 per cent of Douyin users are female and about 70 per cent of them live in China’s top-tier cities. Paris Fashion Week: Dior helps well-tailored suits make a comeback The user volume and demographic composition is certainly alluring to digital marketers. And, for an app that was launched only in September 2016, it signals great growth potential. Beyond placing advertisements, Christian Dior has an official account on Douyin, where the posting schedule is in sync with the brand’s movements in China. Since its launch last August, the French luxury powerhouse has attracted about 282,700 followers and received more 1.3 million “hearts” on its posts, after posting 114 videos with 10 hashtags. The KOL bubble: how brands can earn the trust of China’s affluent demographic The performance of Christian Dior videos is quite uneven though. Its best-performing video, featuring Chinese actresses including Angelababy, Wang Ziwen and Wang Luodan posing with Dior Saddle bags, was liked 183,500 times and commented on by 4,100 users. Videos introducing the brand’s “Lady Dior” bags in collaboration with artists last December also, on average, reached 100,000 likes. But it is quite common to see the engagement level of many posts fall below 1,000 or even 100. Paris Fashion Week: Dior helps well-tailored suits make a comeback “The video format on Douyin is vertical, so the right content and format is the key in determining if a video can go viral on Douyin,” said Jason Yu, general manager of Kantar Worldpanel China, a consumer research company. “[A good video should] motivate followers to regenerate secondary content for secondary communication.” Other luxury brands’ approach to Douyin has been much more cautious. A few weeks ago, French luxury giant Louis Vuitton tested the water. The brand launched a Christmas campaign that lasted for two days from December 18 to 19. Some targeted users were able to view the ad in their feeds and click through to land on the sales page to place orders. Chinese media outlet Jiemian reported that the click-through rate of the Louis Vuitton ad was higher than the industry average. Last July, Chanel’s advertisement on Douyin attracted criticism from industry professionals after the campaign failed to live up to the expectations of impressions and sales. Chanel advertised its J12 watch collection on a Douyin’s official account named “meihaoyingwuzhi (美好映物志)” which showcases arty lifestyle content. The account directly posted Chanel’s campaign videos for J12 Watches. [A good video should] motivate followers to regenerate secondary content for secondary communication Jason Yu, general manager, Kantar Worldpanel China To Ashley Galina Dudarenok, author of the Amazon bestselling book, Digital China: Working with Bloggers, Influencers and KOLs , it was a typical example illustrating how luxury brands over-cater to fashion and digital trends in China. We review 4 of 2019’s hottest it-bags for millennial fashionistas An Qianni, senior account executive of CuriosityChina, a social media marketing company owned by Farfetch, an e-commerce start-up working with high-end boutiques and brands, said: “What can really go viral on Douyin is always content that is down-to-earth and even sometimes ‘distasteful’.” In other words, there is a mismatch issue between Douyin’s audience and luxury clients. Christian Dior seems to disagree. “The logic of Douyin’s content is algorithm-driven: that means, readers’ viewing habits shape the content they will be receiving on their feeds,” the company said. “Therefore, we believe [our marketing messages] are capable of reaching our targeted users who exist on the platform.” Another concern is whether its targeted audience has the purchasing power to buy luxury goods. “As it turns out, most of the Douyin users cannot afford luxury goods,” Dudarenok said. Yu, who is in agreement, said: “Given the premium and exclusive nature of luxury goods, the sales-conversion rate generated from marketing on Douyin will be relatively low. “In other words, there will be more people viewing the content but [far fewer] people purchasing products.” 5 nutrition experts on Instagram with real health and fitness advice In recent months, Douyin has also started to expand its e-commerce functionality to further help brands and retailers to capitalise on their social media traffic. Christian Dior, for example, added a store on it, allowing app users to place orders there. In Chanel’s advertisement campaign, that account also added purchase links within videos to facilitate consumption. “Douyin adding an e-commerce feature is in line with the general trend of convergence between e-commerce and digital content that spell sales opportunities for brands,” Yu said. On whether it poses a threat to WeChat, the current social media marketing king, Yu said “WeChat has a complete ecosystem, from social, videos, to mini-program[s] and payment. Douyin is far from a threat to it yet.” Want more stories like this? Sign up here . Follow STYLE on Facebook , Instagram and Twitter