Most Australian businesses that want Chinese-speaking customers start the same way. They translate the website, translate the captions on Instagram, and wait. Usually nothing happens.
The problem is not the quality of the translation. It is where the audience is looking.
The audience is concentrated
The 2021 Census counted 685,274 people in Australia who speak Mandarin at home and 295,281 who speak Cantonese. That is close to one million people.
English-speaking customers spread their attention across Google, Instagram, Facebook, TikTok and a long list of review sites. For many Chinese-speaking customers, particularly those from mainland China, the habits are far more concentrated. When they look for a restaurant, a clinic or a tutor, it very often comes down to two places: Douyin or RedNote (Xiaohongshu), or both.
WeChat is where people talk to each other. Douyin and RedNote are where they find businesses and decide between them.
What a translated post gets wrong
A translated English post sits on a channel the audience does not use, so it is not seen. Even when it is seen, it reads like a translation. Tone, references and what earns trust are different on these platforms.
RedNote works like a search engine for recommendations. People look for reviews, guides and first-hand accounts before they decide. Douyin is built around short video. A translated English advertisement on either platform misses what people came for.
What to do instead
Start with one platform, not both. Pick the one where your customers are already looking: RedNote if people research before they buy, Douyin if the decision is quick and visual.
Make content for that platform from the start. That means its format, its length and its tone, written in Chinese for Chinese readers, not adapted from an English original.
Then measure what happens: saves, comments and enquiries, not only views. Keep what works and drop what does not.
Census figures: Australian Bureau of Statistics, 2021 Census, as reported by SBS.
If you want to talk through where your business could start, get in touch.
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