WeChat may seem like a whole new world to those who have not used it before or are just beginning to familiarise themselves with its capabilities. If you are interested in learning about the potential of WeChat for your company and how to get started using it, we developed this series for you. In our first article, we provide an introduction to the application and discuss its relevance when doing business in China.

WeChat – China's ‘super app’ for communication, content, and commerce – is the centre of China’s social media landscape. It is the country’s most popular mobile application, with over 1.2 billion active monthly users and is often described as an ‘app for everything’. If there is a single lesson to take away from this series on WeChat, it is this: WeChat matters. In China, it matters to your business and it matters to your audience, more than you might think. At Paradigm, through our on the ground experts, we work with clients who are looking to use this powerful tool to manage their brand and reputation.

WeChat is a lifestyle application

The ever changing and evolving Chinese social media landscape can be described as comprising two kinds of applications: content-focused apps and relationship-focused ones. Examples of the former include Douyin (TikTok), Xiaohongshu (RED) and Kuaishou, while examples of relationship-focused apps are Sina Weibo and QQ.

WeChat uniquely brings together the best of both of these kinds of apps (content and relationship-focused). It can be used for business communications, ordering food, paying bills, calling transportation, shopping, entertainment and multiple other functions. This is why it is best described as a lifestyle application – one that allows users to communicate and build relationships with other users and companies while also doing daily life activities. WeChat has already become a convenient way of life for over a billion people using it in China and around the world.

For foreign brands looking to enter the China market, this ability to both publish content for consumption and interact directly with users is what makes the use of WeChat so attractive. Although this may require an adjustment in strategy to accommodate the way Chinese audiences browse WeChat, it is worth the effort to get right.

WeChat powers a remarkable amount of commerce

In 2017, WeChat launched WeChat Mini Programs – ‘sub-applications’ that support different functionalities. Companies can create tailored Mini Programs to support their business operations. For example, electric carmaker Tesla has developed a Mini Program that allows WeChat users to schedule test drives and find their nearest charging station.

Much of the importance of WeChat Mini Programs comes from the ecosystem in which they exist. This ecosystem is a fundamental part of WeChat’s appeal as a lifestyle application as it brings together consumers with product and service providers. Users can not only read the news and communicate amongst themselves, but also buy electronics, shop for clothes, view livestreams and explore other services – all from within the application itself.

The implications of this are significant. WeChat is powering the development of a range of industries through these Mini Programs, allowing companies to embed functionality into the app that adds value for users. The growth of this feature has been immense, with over 400 million daily active users spread across more than a million Mini Programs.

As a result, Mini Programs are evolving the way brands promote themselves, allowing for the creation of self-contained social media pushes within the Mini Program itself. This provides an additional channel for companies to reach a large and dedicated audience through their content campaigns.

WeChat offers a dedicated channel for content creators

Brands seeking to generate and distribute content can create a WeChat Official Account, of which there are now more than 20 million. These Official Accounts, which we will explain further in part two of this series, can be considered company accounts, or accounts for use by enterprises. The ability to share content and interact directly with customers is essential to building a presence in China, making the creation of an Official Account a vital first step for foreign brands.

The set-up of an Official Account, paired with the size of WeChat’s user base, provides company content creators with the basic tools needed to engage with their customers and stand out from the crowd. Businesses can create a wide variety of content for WeChat: long and short-form articles, videos, photos, stickers and QR codes.

Official Accounts also enable what is called 'private traffic' – the ability to reach customers and drive sales via closed channels. For example, if you are looking to sell a product in China, you might promote your goods on popular e-commerce marketplaces such as Taobao or Mogujie. The users who frequent these platforms would be considered 'public traffic'.

However, to have more control over your communications with these customers, you might create a WeChat Mini Program (as described above) associated with your Official Account to sell your products. Users who subscribe to your brand's e-commerce Mini Program – by scanning a QR code, say – would then be considered 'private traffic', allowing you to engage with them directly from that point on. This engagement functionality helps WeChat to stand out from traditional media and other social media platforms in the value it adds to brand communications.

Additionally, having an Official Account helps to substantiate your content by showing that it comes from a verified company. This contrasts with personal accounts, which do not provide the same kind of due diligence. You might think of it as the difference between reading an article from an online newspaper and one from a blog.

All of this reinforces WeChat as the preferred channel for foreign brands looking to reach a Chinese audience. Building a WeChat presence not only provides an opportunity to create your own customised services to attract and build loyalty with Chinese consumers, but also offers a way to advertise your brand and position yourself amidst an entire ecosystem of WeChat users.

For more on the power of WeChat, check out these statistics.

If you would like to chat about how to begin using WeChat for your business, please contact us here.

Stay tuned for part two of our WeChat series, where we delve into the app's account functions, content strategies and types of Official Accounts.

First steps into the world of WeChat