Microblogs help promote pavilions
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USA Pavilion staffers greet their thousands of microblog followers every morning by publishing a daily weather forecast and a quote of the day.
Pavilion employees have set up official accounts on four Chinese microblog platforms and the international microblog site Twitter.
Along with the USA Pavilion, some other popular national pavilions, including the United Kingdom, Belgium, Finland, Chile, Sweden and Italy, have established official accounts on Sina.com, the largest Chinese microblog provider by number of users.
Netizens can easily access the latest news from the pavilions and learn countries' features from these microblogs.
Gao Ming, who works at the USA Pavilion's public relations agency, said pavilions may have some limitations, but cyberspace, with its huge influence and millions of users, can be a perfect way to promote a pavilion and a country.
"The synergized online-offline joint efforts do help us maximize the outcome," he said.
Releasing information is only part of the microblog's role. Interaction is also the focus of the new communications method, in which netizens can comment or forward entries and improve their online experience.
"Netizens often ask for basic information about Finland through microblogs and we will introduce as much information as possible to address their needs," said Zhang Hui, who works in public relations for the Finland Pavilion.
The microblog helps to promote Finland effectively, accurately, and with no cost, to people who are interested in the country, Zhang said.
Microblog staffers often actively discuss with their readers topics related to the pavilions and host online activities including guessing games and lucky draws.
"Through these interactions, you may find that the microblog is human-like rather than robot-like," Gao said.
The Belgium Pavilion's microblog is best known for its daily lucky draw for free diamond jewelry. Anyone can be a potential diamond winner by sending short messages to the number published on the microblog. Sometimes users can even vote to decide what jewelry will be that day's gift.
The microblog has attracted about 10,000 followers within two weeks.
"We are satisfied with the outcome," said Sun Xiaohui, an official from the Belgium Pavilion.
"A number of visitors came to the pavilion especially for Belgium chocolate after reading the introduction on the microblog," she said.
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