Index of Overseas Social Media Influence for 150 Chinese Cities Released: Sanya Ranks Second Nationwide

Recently, Reference Think Tank and World Research Index released the “China City Overseas Social Media Influence Index (March 2026 Edition).” Covering the monitoring period from February 1 to 28, 2026, this index provides a professional assessment of the overseas social media outreach performance of 150 cities nationwide, with data spanning five major overseas social media platforms: Facebook, X, Instagram, YouTube, and TikTok.

In this highly authoritative ranking, Sanya secured the fourth place nationwide in the comprehensive influence index thanks to its impressive engagement metrics and distinctive content strategy. It also ranked among the top ten nationwide across four individual platforms—Facebook, X, Instagram, and TikTok—with its TikTok influence index ranking second nationwide! During the Lunar New Year of the Horse, Sanya continued to dominate overseas social media feeds, emerging as a standout showcase for China’s international city branding.

Seven major platforms have joined forces to establish a global presence that makes Sanya instantly recognizable with a single swipe. As this monitoring period coincided with the traditional Chinese Lunar New Year (Year of the Horse), overseas social media accounts for Chinese cities capitalized on the festive occasion to enhance the international promotion of traditional Chinese culture. They curated a series of distinctive content centered on the Spring Festival theme, continuously strengthening their city branding through differentiated content strategies. Sanya ranked fourth in the aforementioned metrics, marking a significant rise from seventh place in the previous monitoring period, with its upward momentum particularly striking.

During the first Spring Festival following the launch of the Hainan Free Trade Port’s closed-border operation, Sanya’s overseas social media campaigns closely aligned with the festive atmosphere and the city’s distinctive openness. Centered on cultural and tourism activities, with cultural outreach as the core and diverse creativity as the driving force, the city leveraged authoritative media and national-level communication platforms to achieve breakthroughs in both media reach and brand reputation. The spokesperson for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs recommended Sanya three times; *Global Times* dedicated two full-page features within a fortnight, showcasing Sanya’s vitality and new cultural and tourism landscape following the closure of its borders; Central media outlets such as the People’s Daily and China Media Group also vied to showcase Sanya’s warm winter scenery, projecting the city’s charm to the world. Special campaigns like the Ctrip Influencer Tour of Sanya and the Haitang Art Festival precisely reached overseas audiences, while Spring Festival-themed content and a creative visual campaign matrix garnered widespread acclaim.

TikTok was the standout feature of Sanya’s overseas social media campaign. With the second-highest reach index in the country, it emerged as the core platform for engaging young international users and served as the primary channel for Sanya’s overseas short-video outreach. Leveraging visually striking, immersive, and viral content, the platform effectively showcased the allure of Sanya’s cultural and tourism offerings. In February, video views exceeded 1.6 million, making TikTok a key vehicle for Sanya to reach young international audiences and establish its brand as an international coastal destination.

In February, Sanya’s TikTok campaign closely aligned with the core concept of “Tropical Seaside + Immersive Experiences.” By leveraging striking visual contrasts and scenario-based content to create viral moments, the campaign released distinctive videos such as the debut opera performance at the Dadonghai Seaside Bistro, explorations of the alleys in Tianya Town, and a Sanya culinary tour. These videos combined high art with seaside leisure, local cuisine with island scenery, and precisely conveyed the “relaxed vibe” of Sanya’s warm winter; Through striking visual contrasts and immersive experiences, the campaign successfully ignited overseas users’ desire for a “warm winter getaway in Sanya,” further reinforcing the destination’s “tropical seaside + high-quality lifestyle” brand identity.

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Facebook:

The Core Channel for Sanya’s Overseas Brand Image Promotion

As Sanya’s core platform for overseas outreach, Facebook ranked among the top ten nationwide in this list, with 2.412 million impressions in February. It serves as the primary channel for reaching Sanya’s global audience and acts as a hub for disseminating authoritative information and promoting key events.

Leveraging authoritative traffic to achieve cross-demographic reach, the Facebook account of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokesperson reposted the platform’s content three times, showcasing Sanya’s Spring Festival charm and brand events to the world. At the same time, the platform created creative visual content tailored to the Spring Festival, launching original New Year wallpapers that blended Sanya landmarks, “Fu” characters, Spring Festival couplets, and Maritime Silk Road elements. It also collaborated with celebrity “Malfo” to create a creative New Year wallpaper, with a single post garnering over 140,000 interactions. This diverse creativity and fresh visual expression sparked widespread interaction and sharing among overseas netizens; Using #GoChinaInSanya as the central theme, the campaign collaborated with Ctrip’s official account and overseas influencers to promote Sanya travel content. It simultaneously developed a series of content around the Haitang Art Festival and Sanya’s Spring Festival themes, achieving a comprehensive showcase of the city’s brand and cultural tourism highlights.

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Instagram:

Visual Aesthetics Attract Overseas Young and Fashion-Conscious Audiences

Instagram has ranked among the top ten platforms nationwide thanks to its visually stunning content, making it a key channel for Sanya to reach young, fashion-conscious audiences aged 18–24 overseas. Aligning closely with the “island-inspired lifestyle” positioning, the platform effectively conveys Sanya’s coastal charm and cultural distinctiveness through its visually appealing content.

Leveraging its visual and fashion-forward platform positioning, Instagram created a themed video for the Haitang Fantasy Night “Snowflake Show,” blending tropical coastal scenery with artificial snow and light art to craft a uniquely romantic atmosphere for Sanya’s Spring Festival, delivering a special holiday surprise to international users. Simultaneously, the platform released visually stunning photos, articles, and short videos featuring the Haitang Art Festival, the Intangible Cultural Heritage Market, and the Beer & Burger Festival. This deeply integrated Sanya’s international artistic flair with Hainan’s intangible cultural heritage, achieving a dual enhancement of visual aesthetics and cultural outreach. Additionally, the platform published high-definition photos, articles, and short videos showcasing Sanya’s bay scenery, using exquisite visual aesthetics to present the city’s international artistic charm and tropical coastal allure.

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X Platform: Top 10 Nationwide!

Contextual content precisely reaches high-net-worth overseas audiences

Platform X serves as an in-depth interactive channel for Sanya’s international outreach. With its strong social engagement and high content targeting accuracy, a single post about the Haitang GOOD Market in February garnered 38,000 views. By featuring immersive, culturally rich content, the platform achieved high engagement and deep reach.

Tailored to the cultural and tourism needs of high-net-worth audiences, the X platform launched premium photo-text content for Haitang GOOD City’s “Beer and Burger Festival.” By creatively blending Hainan’s local intangible cultural heritage crafts and traditional snacks with innovative burgers and craft beer in immersive settings, it cultivated a uniquely “relaxed social atmosphere” along Sanya’s coastline, This precisely met the dual needs of overseas audiences for “deep cultural experiences + leisurely socializing,” showcasing Sanya’s new tourism image that blends “international flair” with “cultural charm.” Simultaneously, the platform promoted Sanya’s Spring Festival events endorsed by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Sanya’s branded activities, and highlights of Sanya’s border closure development featured in the Global Times. By leveraging the buzz surrounding these authoritative topics, the platform increased content exposure. The distinctive content centered on Sanya’s Spring Festival cuisine and intangible cultural heritage experiences also sparked in-depth engagement among overseas netizens, further strengthening Sanya’s appeal as a high-end international cultural and tourism destination.

In addition to the four core platforms, Sanya’s overseas social media presence has expanded to platforms such as YouTube. By creating high-quality video content centered on themes like the Spring Festival in Sanya and cultural and tourism events, the city simultaneously promotes the highlights of Sanya as featured by authoritative media outlets. Leveraging long-form video formats to facilitate in-depth dissemination of Sanya’s cultural and tourism content, this approach complements the four core platforms, thereby establishing a comprehensive, multi-dimensional overseas social media communication matrix. During the Spring Festival of the Year of the Horse, Sanya achieved a comprehensive breakthrough in overseas communication through distinctive content strategies and precise platform targeting, allowing the city’s charm—following the closure of the Free Trade Port—to continue to shine on overseas social media platforms. Moving forward, Sanya will continue to deepen its “one platform, one strategy” communication approach. By closely aligning with Sanya’s coastal charm, cultural heritage, and vacation experiences, the city will create more heartfelt, creative, and impactful international content, ensuring that the allure of Sanya at 18° north latitude continues to shine brightly overseas.