A round up of key takeaways from the WeChat series
Our introduction to WeChat series covered the essentials for businesses interested in using the app to build their brand and resonate with their target audience in China. This article is a roundup of the series’ key takeaways.
If you would like to learn more about how to use WeChat for your business, please contact us.
A lifestyle application – WeChat can be used for business and communications with friends, while also supporting functions such as ordering food, paying bills, calling transportation, shopping and entertainment. For foreign brands looking to enter the China market, this ability to both publish content and interact directly with users is what makes WeChat a go-to platform.
An e-commerce engine – In 2017, WeChat Mini Programs were launched – ‘sub-applications’ that support functionalities such as creating customised shopfronts or livestreaming. By using Mini Programs, users can purchase goods, read content and participate in events – all from within the application itself. By the end of 2020, over 400 million daily active users were using more than a million Mini Programs.
A dedicated channel for content creators – Brands seeking to generate and distribute content can create a WeChat Official Account, which is the equivalent of a company account. Businesses can distribute a wide variety of content through their Official Accounts on WeChat: long and short-form articles, videos, photos, stickers and QR codes.
WeChat Official Accounts and their functions
Subscription Accounts – These accounts are best suited for companies that are focused on using WeChat primarily for content marketing. Importantly, a Subscription Account allows companies to push one message per day to their followers, which acts as a notification that can contain up to eight articles.
Service Accounts – This option is best suited for companies interested in using WeChat for e-commerce and customer support. A Service Account also comes with access to WeChat’s API library, which can be used to build in additional functionality to its service offerings. The trade-off is only being allowed to push four messages per month, each containing up to eight articles, to their followers.
Avoid cultural mistakes – Brands should take care to understand the cultural implications of their content and messaging on WeChat. To avoid missteps, brand can engage consultants who understand Chinese culture well or run content ideas by local teams to identify any potentially problematic elements.
Resonate with the audience – Brands should take care to understand the cultural implications of their content and messaging on WeChat. To avoid missteps, brand can engage consultants who understand Chinese culture well or run content ideas by local teams to identify any potentially problematic elements.
Understand cultural symbols – Content creators should familiarise themselves with symbolic numbers and colours. For example, the number four is considered unlucky as it sounds like the Chinese word for death, while eight is seen as lucky because it is similar to the word for wealth. Likewise for colours – red symbolises happiness, while white, green and black have a more negative connotation.
Use WeChat’s functions for both article and video stories – Businesses can leverage WeChat to create video series, thought leadership campaigns and related content. To attract the attention of Chinese audiences, articles should make bold claims in their headings and tell a great story throughout.
Plan ‘cross-over collaborations’ and engage influencers – Chinese audiences are often attracted to ‘cross-over collaborations’ between brands that have no apparent linkage – for example a gaming-focused Key Opinion Leader (KOL) on WeChat promoting cosmetics. This provides opportunities for companies to creatively promote themselves through unexpected channels.
Drive traffic to your WeChat Official Account – WeChat has native tools to help drive traffic to Official Accounts. For example, scanning QR codes can take users directly to company pages. WeChat also supports HTML coding, which is helpful for creating brochures and customer surveys as well as driving engagement through promotional campaigns and event registrations.
We hope this series was helpful in building your understanding of WeChat and how it can be used to reach audiences in China.
If you would like to chat about how to begin using WeChat for your business, please contact us.