Aiwenda Doctor Aims to Mass-Produce 'Doctor Influencers' Leveraging Sina Weibo's Traffic

Liu Haoling and Song Donglei

Sina Weibo (hereinafter referred to as “Weibo”), once overshadowed by WeChat and surrounded by widespread pessimism, staged a dramatic turnaround after its resilient IPO in 2014. Its user base, which had previously declined, resumed rapid growth—unexpectedly gaining favor among users in third- and fourth-tier cities, a key factor in its remarkable comeback—and the company successfully returned to profitability.

In the third quarter of 2016, Weibo’s performance far exceeded Wall Street analysts’ expectations. Its monthly active users reached 297 million, a year-on-year increase of 34%, marking the largest growth rate within the year. Total revenue for the third quarter amounted to RMB 1.18 billion, up 49% year on year, while net profit surged by 156% year on year. At the time of its IPO, Weibo had a market capitalization of only USD 3 billion; however, by February 6, 2017, when this article was written, its market cap had climbed to USD 10.8 billion.

Leveraging the platform’s massive traffic and monetizing it through advertising constitutes Weibo’s primary revenue source. The second-quarter financial report reveals that advertising revenue accounted for 85% of Weibo’s total revenue. As the marketing value of the Weibo platform is further tapped, its “traffic economy” is exerting an increasingly significant impact on numerous vertical industries.

Among Weibo’s approximately 50 vertical industry categories, such as e-commerce, travel, and food, the healthcare sector has authorized “iAsk Doctor” as its official operator. Notably, against the backdrop of widespread monetization challenges in the internet healthcare industry, it quickly achieved a favorable market position.

After graduating from university, Liu Haoling went to Japan for further studies and later joined NTT DoCoMo—once the world’s most valuable wireless carrier by market capitalization, as well as a pioneer and leader in wireless data services. Having had no deep prior engagement with the healthcare industry, he was relatively unfamiliar with and cautious about medical resources. He stated, “Our caution helped us avoid many detours; for instance, we did not pursue services such as FenDa (a paid Q&A platform), appointment registration, add-on appointments, or telephone consultations.”

From the company’s incorporation in January 2016, through discussions in March and the formation of a marketing team in July, its monthly sales had reached several million yuan by the end of 2016.

Its core business is to help physicians build their social brands and monetize through these brands.

Liu Haoling stated, “For instance, a physician formerly employed at Peking Union Medical College Hospital (PUMCH) who leaves the public healthcare system may find that patients do not recognize them despite the hospital’s outpatient clinics being consistently overcrowded. This is due to the lack of a social brand and an established audience. Physicians undoubtedly need to build a social brand, but how can this be achieved? Weibo represents a significant strength in this regard because it is a social media platform, and brands require substantial traffic for promotion. Sina Weibo is currently the largest social media platform in China, making it the most suitable channel for establishing a social brand. Therefore, our key differentiation from other platforms lies in our emphasis on leveraging brand advantages.”

The vehicle for this model is the “Personal Online Clinic” on the internet, established by iWenDoctor with full ownership and operational rights retained by the physician. The operational framework remains driven by high-quality content and activities, specifically including popular science articles, clinical practice diaries, case analyses, patient testimonials and comments, live-streamed and recorded educational videos, public welfare initiatives, interviews, thematic campaigns, and topic-based discussions.

Aiwen Doctor categorizes its customer base—namely, physicians—into three groups:

The first category comprises general physicians, primarily those practicing in public hospitals;

Second, collaborating physicians, primarily academicians, renowned experts, influential Weibo Key Opinion Leaders (KOLs), and benchmark physicians with significant influence;

Third, commercialized physicians, including those in private practice, physician groups, and private hospitals, who also constitute the primary paying customer base.

General physicians can use the platform free of charge and receive complimentary traffic support, while partner physicians benefit from additional traffic boosts. Paying clients, on the other hand, gain access to a broader range of value-added services. Aiwen Doctor publishes its articles and other content on Weibo, even pinning them to the top of individual followers’ profiles based on user personas. The company operates more than 20 specialized Weibo accounts focused on healthcare and medical topics, with a combined follower base exceeding 20 million, serving as a significant resource for physician brand exposure.

Furthermore, related articles are distributed to numerous professional health information platforms partnered with iAskDoctor, such as 39 Health Network. Each article page features an entry point to the “Doctor’s Personal Consultation Room,” thereby creating a complete closed loop that spans from the dissemination of popular science information and promotion of physicians’ personal brands to follower consultations and clinical visits.

In other words, patients can access physicians’ private consulting rooms across different platforms anytime and anywhere, whereas only physicians need to log in to the iAskDoctor backend via PC or mobile app to communicate with patients and utilize features such as patient profile management, notifications and reminders, service records, and data analytics.

It was revealed that a spine surgery specialist at a Grade A tertiary hospital in Guangzhou attracted dozens of patients through Aiwen Doctor’s branded services in less than two months, with the hospital expressing high satisfaction with the collaboration outcomes. Song Donglei, founder of the Donglei Brain Medical Group, also publicly praised the “Brain Health” channel launched in partnership with Aiwen Doctor on Weibo.

Beyond its physician branding services, Aiwen Doctor has, since September 2016, engaged in business collaborations with dozens of renowned domestic and international pharmaceutical companies and medical device manufacturers. These partnerships primarily leverage diverse content dissemination formats on the Weibo platform to deliver comprehensive, accurate, and scientifically grounded patient education, achieving substantial traffic exposure.

Regarding future development, Liu Haoling believes that as the medical profession becomes increasingly market-oriented, a significant number of China’s 2.8 million physicians will develop a need for building their personal brands. By leveraging their unique characteristics and specialties through diverse service offerings, these doctors can convert their brand equity into revenue, representing a substantial market opportunity.

Looking ahead, Aiwen is also planning to develop more in-depth services. “Our long-term goal is to become a market-oriented career development assistant for physicians,” said Liu Haoling.

Beyond the Socialized Brand Assistant, Liu Haoling also proposed adding multiple new “Assistant” services in the coming years. For instance, in 2017, the focus would be on helping physicians realize their brand value and marketing value; in 2018, the plan was to strengthen the “Market-Oriented Vocational Education Assistant,” offering professional medical education and market-oriented operational training, as well as the “Practice Matching Assistant,” facilitating business connections between physicians and clinical practice sites; in 2019, the company planned to introduce the “Practice and Clinic Launch Assistant,” providing physicians with services such as insurance, legal support, capital financing, and even management assistance.