On the evening of 18 October 2026, the NetFarmer team sat down for dinner in Shanghai with our client, HANS (大马撼世悠居). Their Marketing Director, who previously served as a Malaysian Counsellor in Beijing, made small talk about industry trends and also shared positive feedback on NetFarmer's multi-platform marketing strategy.
The conversation began on familiar ground: marketing, platforms and the work of reaching audiences across markets. But the discussion soon widened, moving towards China's domestic AI applications, the changing ways people discover brands, and a question increasingly relevant to businesses everywhere: How can brands balance between brand authenticity and efficiency while using AI tools to help us manage content creation across multiple platforms?
During the Shanghai discussion, HANS expressed interest in learning more about China's AI platforms and how they present information and recommendations.
Products such as Doubao (豆包), DeepSeek, Kimi and Qwen (通义千问) illustrate the range of AI applications available to Chinese users. Each has its own capabilities and information retrieval methods, so businesses should not assume that visibility on one platform will translate into visibility on another.
For international brands looking to enter China, understanding the local digital environment is an essential starting point.
Platforms such as WeChat, Douyin, Xiaohongshu and Baidu already play different roles in how businesses reach audiences, distribute content and build brand awareness. Alongside these established channels, China's domestic AI ecosystem is creating another dimension for businesses to consider.
Traditionally, a customer researching a product or service might enter keywords into a search engine, visit several websites and compare the available options.
AI-powered assistants introduce another way to approach that process. Rather than browsing through multiple search results, users may receive a consolidated response that summarises relevant information, mentions businesses or provides links to supporting sources.
The implications for brands are worth considering.
If potential customers increasingly use AI tools to research their options, businesses need to think beyond traditional search rankings. They also need to consider whether their public information is accurate, accessible and useful enough to be understood and represented correctly.
This does not mean AI recommendations will replace search engines or social media. Instead, AI-assisted discovery adds another consideration to an already diverse digital landscape.
01: Build clear and consistent brand information
A company's website explain what the business does, whom it serves, what it offers and where its expertise lies. These details should remain consistent across relevant public channels. Conflicting descriptions, outdated service information or unclear positioning can make it harder for prospective customers to understand the business.
02: Provide value with authentic information
Generic industry commentary can be easy to produce, but it does not always give readers a compelling reason to engage.
As AI-assisted content generation becomes common, real conversations, professional insight and hyper-specific industry experience can offer more distinctive value. Our conversations with the people from HANS sparked the article you're reading now. What began as a client meeting became an opportunity to examine broader questions about AI-powered discovery, multi-platform marketing and video content.
03 Website and Social Channels should complement each other
Your website acts as a central source of detailed company and service information. Social media can support brand awareness, audience engagement and professional discussion. Adapting content to different channels can help businesses address specific industry questions or reach particular audiences.
04 Monitor how AI tools represent your brand
Businesses can periodically test relevant customer questions across selected AI applications to see whether their brand appears, whether the information is accurate and which sources are cited when citations are available.
However, AI responses may change with the wording of a question, the product being used and the information available at the time. A single result does not establish consistent brand visibility.
Key takeaway: At NetFarmer, we believe that SEO, AEO and multi-platform marketing should support one another. Clear information, useful content and consistent brand positioning provide a stronger foundation for digital visibility than treating each tactic as a separate activity.
With more digital channels available, businesses often face a familiar question: should they concentrate on one platform or spread their efforts across several?
The answer depends on their audience, objectives and resources. Being present on more platforms does not automatically produce better results.
For NetFarmer, effective multi-platform marketing begins with understanding what each channel needs to achieve and how it contributes to the customer journey.
Different platforms can support different stages of the customer decision-making process.
The precise mix will vary by market, industry and target audience. A strategy that works for one country or customer segment may not translate directly to another.
Consistent brand positioning does not require identical content across every platform.
For example, a client exchange or industry insight could be adapted into several complementary formats:
Each piece should suit its audience and platform while contributing to the same broader message.
Views, impressions and follower growth can provide useful signals, but they do not tell the whole story.
Businesses should also consider whether their marketing attracts relevant audiences, generates qualified enquiries, supports lead nurturing and creates opportunities for meaningful customer relationships.
The real value of multi-platform marketing lies in how effectively different channels work together to support business objectives, not simply how often a brand appears online.
HANS's positive feedback on NetFarmer's multi-platform strategy reinforces the importance of this coordinated approach. The focus is not on adding more channels for the sake of it, but on making marketing activities work together with a clear purpose.
AI is also changing how businesses produce and distribute content.
During the Shanghai exchange, NetFarmer and HANS discussed the use of human presenters and AI-generated digital avatars in brand videos. Both approaches offer potential advantages, but their effectiveness depends on what the content needs to achieve.
During our conversations with HANS in Shanghai, we also dove into a hot topic currently reshaping content marketing: should brands feature real people, or switch to AI avatars in talking-head video content?
As AI tech advances, businesses have plenty of content creation options. But from a marketing standpoint, production efficiency isn't the only metric that matters.
Human presenters may be particularly suitable for:
In these situations, audiences are evaluating not only the information being shared, but also the experience and perspective behind it.
Where AI avatars can help:
AI avatars may be useful when businesses need to produce repeatable content efficiently, particularly across multiple languages or markets.
Potential applications include:
These uses may help streamline production, but they still require human oversight. Language accuracy, cultural context, factual correctness and brand consistency remain important.
However, it is important to note that human presenters and AI avatars do not have to be competing alternatives.
AI can improve efficiency and where human expression remains essential to the message. A business might use human-led videos for expert commentary and customer stories, while using AI-assisted production for standard explanations or localisation in different languages through AI dubbing.
The appropriate choice depends on the audience, the subject matter, the resources available and the level of personal credibility the content requires.
That is also what NetFarmer believes in. Technology should support the marketing outcome, not the other way round.
China and Southeast Asia are not uniform digital markets. Platform preferences, audience expectations, content formats and customer behaviours can vary between countries and industries. For Chinese businesses expanding into Southeast Asia, as well as international brands entering China, three questions are worth considering before committing to a marketing strategy.
Firstly: Is the target market actually the right fit for your current marketing mix?
Southeast Asia is far from a monolith when it comes to media consumption habits. Digital platform usage varies wildly across different countries, industries, and target demographics. Businesses must make decisions based on the realities of each local market rather than trying to copy-paste their domestic playbook.
Secondly: Does your content reflect local audience expectations?
Language translation is only one part of localisation. Businesses must also consider cultural context, terminology, communication styles and the questions customers need answered.
Content should help audiences understand the brand on their own terms, rather than simply reproduce messaging developed for another market.
Lastly: What problem should AI solve?
AI may help businesses streamline multilingual content production, improve certain workflows or explore new forms of information discovery.
However, if a business lacks clear positioning, credible content or an appropriate channel strategy, adding more AI tools will not necessarily solve the underlying problem.
The starting point should always be the business challenge. Once that is understood, companies can determine which technologies and marketing activities are most likely to help.
We greatly appreciated the positive feedback from HANS as part our catch up in Shanghai. More importantly, the conversation created an opportunity to explore how digital marketing is evolving and what those changes could mean for businesses operating across markets.
For NetFarmer, client recognition is more than just a source of encouragement—it is a constant reminder to keep our marketing strategies tightly aligned with actual business needs.
We believe that impactful digital marketing isn’t about being on every single platform or chasing every new tech trend. It’s about building synergy between the right channels, content, and technology to drive clear, measurable business goals.
We are incredibly grateful to HANS for their ongoing trust and for such a candid, inspiring exchange in Shanghai. From Singapore to Shanghai and now Malaysia, we look forward to staying closely connected and exploring the next frontiers of digital marketing together!
Translation of original Chinese article published 20 October 2026.