If you’re comfortable with reading Mandarin, then here’s the official Zhihu guide to business account setup. But I will explain it step-by-step in English below.
STEP ONE: EMAIL REGISTRATION
Start on this page and fill in your email address, a password (only letters and digits), and complete the CAPTCHA code. You can use your organisation’s email or a private one.
STEP TWO: CHOOSING THE ORGANISATION CATEGORY
Similar to other Chinese platforms, there are different malaysia number types of accounts available depending on your business. Whichever category you choose, make sure it is in line with the business scope on your licence. Otherwise, you will not get through the verification process.
Business acount types on Zhihu
The categories are:
Business (corporate) organisation – for most businesses, related brands, products and services, such as Google, Audi, or China Merchants Bank Credit Card Customer Service Center.
Government and public institutions – for domestic and foreign government agencies, public institutions, and other government-trusted organisations: The Beijing Municipal Public Security Bureau, China Science Expo, National Women’s Federation, etc.
Other institutions – for various public venues, associations, civil organisations and other institutions and groups: WWF, and Wild China (documentary).
STEP THREE: SUBMIT BUSINESS INFORMATION
Setting up account's administrator on Zhihu
In this step, you will be asked to submit your organisation’s full name. It should be 3–40 characters (no special characters), do not use unrecognised abbreviations and names of countries such as ‘NMG China’ instead of “Nanjing Marketing Group Ltd.”. Some other rules to pay attention to:
The account name must not include absolute language or extreme terms, such as “highest”, “best”, “first”, or “national level”.
The account name must not include advertising features such as slogans.
Do not include anything but the company name, for example, ‘McDonald’s Branch’ or ‘ICBC’s CEO’.
Do not include any institution, media agencies or government names if you’re not a certified agency (for example, IELTS/TOEFL, TV, newspaper).
Regular businesses will also need a certificate of incorporation, as well as the registration number on the certificate. Institutions, on the other hand, only need a social security number.
Last: upload a clear colour scan or photograph of the certificate.
P.S. Your brand/company name is unique, but if the name is already taken and you have a legitimate claim to that name (i.e. trademark registration), the claim should be submitted to [email protected]
STEP FOUR: SET UP ACCOUNT’S ADMIN
Setting up account's administrator on Zhihu