Olivier Fleurot says transparency is a new law because people can have access to all kinds of information, so trying to hide something is the wrong strategy. Provided to China Daily

Embracing transformation throughout his career, Olivier Fleurot believes companies must do the same if they are to navigate China's social media maze

Olivier Fleurot has always been open to change. Trained as an engineer, he ended up managing newspapers and is now developing a global PR network and forging a path for his business in China.

"There's no longer such a thing as 'forever', and nor should there be. The world we live in is going through a radical transformation," he wrote in a recent article Don't Welcome Change, Be the Change.

Nowhere is that transformation more rapid or extensive than in China.

"The number of users of social media in China is very impressive," Fleurot says. "The Chinese approach to marketing and communication is very pragmatic and very efficient. When we had to start working for one of our Chinese clients in China and outside China, we were impressed by the speed of implementation that was requested."

The social media tools used in China are different to the West, adds Fleurot, who visits China at least once a year to meet clients.

"So it's not called Twitter; it is called Weibo. It's not called Facebook; it is called Renren. You have different platforms. I don't know the exact penetration, but Chinese people are using it more and more," he says.

And for marketing purposes is important to understand how the Chinese social media landscape of China differs from the West," he says.

Fleurot, CEO of MSLGROUP, a Publicis Group company, was in Beijing recently sharing his insights about communication and marketing on social media in the digital age.

"Asia in general, which is mainly China and India, will represent about 30 percent of our business, which is almost as much as the US. It is growing the most. It has seen about a 20 percent growth rate every year. It will become more and more important in the future," he says.

Three years ago his company had 50 staff in China, now the number is more than 800.

Born in France in 1952, Fleurot's father was a pilot in the French Air Force, which meant that the family moved home almost every two years.

"I had to learn quickly about the new environment, new schools, new teachers. I had to build relationships with new people all the time. It certainly opened my mind," he says.

In 1978, he resigned from his job and made first significant turn in his career by returning to Paris and becoming a journalist, covering the high-tech industry for leading French business newspaper Les Echos. That job gave him opportunities to meet pioneers in the second wave of the personal computer and software industry, including Bill Gates.

In 1984, he changed path again against the advice of family and friends, resigning from the newspaper to join Control X, a 10-person startup that produced software for the newly launched Macintosh 128K. Fleurot says it was the best choice he ever made.

From there Fleurot changed career yet again, moving into marketing, and progressing through a successful career that included stints as a CEO at Les Echos Group and later at the Financial Times Group from 1999 to 2006.

"That move in 1984 was very risky," he says. "But, although I really enjoyed being a journalist and I have a lot of respect for serious journalism, I was probably more of an entrepreneur than a commentator, and I was right to follow my instincts."

Fleurot says that a passion for technology has helped him to become an expert at adapting businesses to the digital era.

"I think you are good in your job when you are really interested in much of what you do, so when I have moved, it is because I lost my passion, I was trying to get a new challenge to rekindle my passion," he says.

Communication and marketing have changed dramatically since Fleurot's early days in the business and he has embraced new technology.

"My generation, when we started to work, we had no mobile phone, no web, nothing," he says. "Now we have a lot. I think we have to learn how to use these tools in an efficient way. I've been interested in technology all my life, it's natural for me to be interested in technology anyway."

Technology has reduced the power of traditional media and put it in the hands of different people and communication platforms, according to Fleurot.

"Now it is very different, because you can do it on the web and reach a large audience almost with no cost, if you have a very interesting blog or a lot of followers and fans. That's a huge difference," he says.

Companies have to engage their audience in a different way, he adds.

"Today you have less control, because people are having conversations, on your ground, on your brand, on your company," he says. "You have to engage with them, which means you have to be part of the conversation."

The first step is listening to these conversations and then deciding which are the most influential voices, Fleurot says. This used to be easy because it was limited to traditional media - television, newspapers and magazines - but today the options are far larger and more diverse.

Speed of communication has changed drastically too and companies have to react, adds Fleurot.

"I would say transparency is also a new law," he says. "People can have access to all kinds of information, so trying to hide something I think is the wrong strategy."

Companies should have a clear idea of what they will say and communicate it quickly in the event of a public relations problem, he adds.

Fleurot says he has been impressed by the relentless drive to grow he has seen at many Chinese companies and by the use of social media in the country.

According to Catherine Cao, general manager of MSLGROUP China, social media has a high penetration rate in China compared to many other parts of the world and users talk more about problems on it.

"The background of the macro social media environment in China is very different from Western countries," she says. "Chinese web users talk more about social problems on social media. Social media is a good platform for the Chinese general public to discuss, to illustrate opinion about social problems."

Marketing managers should be prepared for this use of social media if they are doing business in China, according to Fleurot.

"They have to know what exactly happens in the company and be well informed and aware if they are launching a new product," he says. "Otherwise when they start seeing tweets and conversations about the product they won't be in a very good position to answer."

To be truly prepared requires training, he adds. He recalls one instance when a company got the social media site YouTube to remove a video uploaded by an NGO only to see it reposted elsewhere and become widely downloaded as a result of the initial attempt to stop it circulating.

"It was a very wrong decision," he says. "Immediately the NGO put it on their website and then it became known on the Web. So as the company wanted to ban the video, more people wanted to see it. You need to be trained about this new behavior online.

"Online you don't try to ban something. It doesn't work because things will easily appear somewhere else, so you need to honestly engage with people in the conversation. You could say that you don't have the information right now, instead of giving a false response, which could be worse. You need to train these people, to make sure they have enough information, know the engagement rules online, and be as transparent as possible."

Fleurot adds that in this fast-changing world, it's hard to predict what new communication platforms will arise.

"But we know there will be new platforms for sure," he says.

"So we have to be a learning company, always ready to test new approaches, to use new tools, to learn lessons in this very fast-moving environment."

chenyingqun@chinadaily.com.cn

(China Daily European Weekly 08/09/2013 page28)