Interviewed by Elaine WU, Demola participant of Electric Mobile Machines

Julia Li

Hi, Julia! Could you please briefly introduce yourself!

Hi there! I am Julia from Nantong University, China. My major is journalism. I started my business in my first year of bachelor study, with a mission to help foreign bloggers to increase impact in China market. And I took part in the Demola project Bird’s Eye View of Promotion to help the digital music distributor and promoter, Musicinfo, to improve their social media marketing performance in China.

You have founded your own company at a rather young age; can you please tell us more about it?

The reason why I run my own company Marvel Ushering Agency, is that I want to help promote cultural diversity and enhance global cooperation, which is also what Demola always has been doing. For me, the most crucial part for young people is the courage to think boldly and take action. I co-founded the company with my friends sharing the same dreams and passion. MUA is short for Marvel Ushering Agency, and sounds like “a little kiss” in Chinese, isn’t it cute? Our company aims to help foreign bloggers/companies to expand their influence in China. We try to assist them in entering Chinese social media platforms, such as video platform Bilibili, content sharing platforms WeChat, Weibo, etc. We can also help them to improve their social media strategies and contents. It is also what Musicinfo targets for our collaboration: expanding their influence in China market by implementing a variety of content management strategies on several Chinese social media platform

Julia Li and her teammates with Musicinfo management and Demola facilitators

How was your Demola experience?

The Demola project I participated is called Bird’s Eye View of Promotion. Together with other four Chinese young professionals, we made a comprehensive social media marketing plan for Musicinfo. We were supposed to help their musicians design some digital marketing strategies in China, such as their detailed promotion plans on WeChat and Weibo. However, it’s hard for us to do business planning because the scope is so enormous that we do not know how to start with. Initially, we felt lost but later we discussed it openly with the Demola facilitator, and the manager, Ms Han Zhang at Musicinfo. Then we changed our focus to digital marketing plans for some specific musician instead of a certain type of music genre. For example, the musician who I was responsible for is Cécile Corbel, I designed a variety of digital marketing package for promoting her music in China. The individualized social media marketing planning scheme helps our project proceed smoothly and successfully.

How did your company start the cooperation with Musicinfo after the Demola project?

It’s truly a lucky strike for me to have the chance to cooperate with Musicinfo and it has a lot to do with my Demola experience naturally. When we introduced ourselves at the beginning of the Demola project, the manager of Musicinfo, Han Zhang, had known that I had my own business in the Chinese digital marketing field. After I completed the Demola project, we kept in touch. Soon I started to make social media marketing planning for Musicinfo based on their current needs. The manager hopes to increase the subscription number in their official Chinese WeChat and Weibo. She is very open-minded, willing to give us a chance because she believes that our team has the knowledge and capabilities, especially the passion (we are all music lovers!) to help Musicinfo to grow in China.  Also, I guess my performance during the Demola project was satisfying to Muscinfo management, where she saw our potential.

Musicinfo Website: musicinfo.io

How about now? Do you still meet some challenges when your team attempt to promote international music?

We do still meet some challenges. Because some musicians of Musicinfo are niche, with a relatively small number of audiences in China compare to major artists. During the first planning phase of Musicinfo’s marketing campaign, we felt it might be hard to get the perfect results that please everyone. We felt frustrated in the beginning but now we are learning by doing, continuously adjust our strategies. We try not to focus on the result but more on the process.

Many of your company members are still students, how can you balance work and study?

It’s fortunate for me because what I study in my university is related to what I am doing for the company: Journalism is connected with new media and marketing/promotion. If I can do an excellent job in my company, this will be helpful for my study. I don’t think I have too many assignments, so I have much spare time to work. However, some teammates may not have enough time to work for the company. The most important is to maintain communication with them. If someone has difficulties in finishing the workload, we can assign it to others who are more available. To know everyone’s schedules and availability can help the operation of the company and keep our study and work routines at a reasonable pace.

What do you want to tell other potential Demola applicants?

Demola is such a great platform, and I learned a lot from it. For instance, when I still worked on Cécile Corbel’s online promotion strategies for the Demola project, I interviewed many of her fans in China. It’s an intriguing process because different fans have different suggestions and opinions, but with the same sincere hope, which is to help Cécile Corbel’s music widespread in the world. Interacting with them is such an enjoyable and exciting experience.

I encourage more and more students can take part in Demola projects and realize their dreams!

Contacts:

The Interviewee: Julia LI https://www.linkedin.com/in/%E6%B7%91%E5%AA%9B-%E6%9D%8E-766a101ba

The interviewer: Elaine WU https://www.linkedin.com/in/elaine-woo-289b4714a/