5 Reasons to Do Marketing on WeChat

Are you looking for a large population of users who will actively search for your brands? Is your business targeting the Chinese audience? If yes, this article can be your best guide for reaching out to 1 billion daily active users on WeChat! There are five good reasons you should set up an account on China’s most popular app. Let us get to know more about WeChat before moving on to our main topic.

What is WeChat?

Created on January 21, 2011, WeChat is a Chinese social media platform initially used for messaging purposes. It has become an all-around mobile app that provides users with almost everything they can think of: shopping, entertainment, booking flights, finding accommodation, and more.

WeChat is owned by Tencent, China’s most prominent game company founded by Pony Ma (马化腾). However, you may not know that the true father of WeChat is Allen Zhang (张小龙). Let us see why a company should consider investing in WeChat Marketing.

WeChat is big

Let us tell you that WeChat is the first most popular social media platform in China, ranking fifth worldwide when compared with Facebook’s three platforms and YouTube. Thus, it is an attractive gold mine for ventures to attain Chinese consumers.

WeChat is not only user-friendly to Chinese speakers but also foreigners. It supports 20 languages and permits foreigners to set up an account outside China. You can expect that the total number of WeChat users will continue to rise as it expands into newer markets.

WeChat is necessary for every one’s life in China

WeChat is an indispensable tool for those who live in China. Here, people do not use physical cash for payment, but digital money in WeChat. This digital money is called ‘WeChat Pay,’ where you can settle your bills, and anything like food orders, movie tickets, taxi fares, you name it. WeChat can save people’s time, which can be spent doing something more productive.

WeChat is a place to practice your Chinese skills by interacting with the local communities. People love posting social events on their ‘Moments’ (Like Facebook feed) or messaging their friends (Like Facebook messenger). Individuals can also exchange name cards by scanning each other’s QR code and adding WeChat ID. All these activities can be done on a single application!

Furthermore, WeChat has launched a mini-app nested within the app called ‘Mini-Programs.’ Users can now search for nearby stores on the Mini-Programs or follow a firm’s official account to find its location and further information.

WeChat is a perfect solution for Word-Of-Mouth (WOM) marketing

Over 71% of Chinese buyers trust their bloggers and read discussion forums before making a purchase. Creating a story of your brand and spicing it up with motivational languages will help them spread more positive words. There are many case studies whose brand stories have successfully gained Chinese consumers’ attention.

WeChat provides paid advertising for marketers

We want to set foot in the market, but WeChat is not a startup anymore. Many players exist in the same niche. They have enjoyed the privilege of being the early entrants. WeChat sees this coming, so it gives you a fair opportunity to introduce your brand through paid advertisements.

There are five main goals you can achieve through WeChat paid advertisement:

Downloading apps
An increasing number of followers
Driving traffics
Increasing sales
Collecting sales information

Since companies prefer combining multiple promotional tactics such as distributing coupons and membership cards, different types of ads allow marketers to be more flexible in marketing. You can advertise your products in WeChat’s three distinct sections:

WeChat Moment Ads
WeChat Official Account Ads
WeChat Mini-Program Ads

WeChat has many interactive features for B2B and B2C

The world has changed our lifestyle from a slow to fast pace. We are living in a hectic society. While it feels great to live a convenient life, this comes with a drawback: As a business, you will have to deliver your products or services as fast as possible.

No wonder enterprises are competitive in providing quick and satisfying services. To ensure you will not miss your customers’ feedback and vice versa, WeChat sets up an automated customer inquiry response, booking/cancellation of orders, a customer service hotline, etc. In this way, you will have less stress and respond faster at the same time. No more negative comments regarding delayed replies!

Most importantly, you can announce promotions and update the information to your followers on WeChat! Followers will get notified in the ‘Subscriptions’ folder, ‘Service Notifications’ folder, and the official account’s chat box itself.

Conclusions

WeChat marketing is like a running maze. There are twists and turns, but eventually, you will find a way out. This maze is not as convoluted as others, and there is no winner in this competition. Everybody will receive the same rewards once they exit the labyrinth: the Chinese fan base.

The founder of WeChat, Allen Zhang, insists on following his fundamental principle to “make sure our products adapt to the era we are in, rather than failing to adopt it out of fear that users will complain.” If WeChat remained merely a messaging app, many enterprises would have a hard time penetrating the Chinese market, and there would be no such “5 Reasons to Do Marketing on WeChat”.

We at EhaiTech can help you enter the Chinese market and promote your business on WeChat. Contact us now to get started!

Author’s Bio

Katie is a Thai Bachelor’s graduate who used to live in China for four years before she began her college life at the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology. Recently, she came back to China to start a new chapter of her life. As China leaps forward in innovation, she is intrigued by the technological advancement the country has to offer. Thus, she becomes motivated to share some knowledge about Chinese marketing!

3 Interesting facts about Katie: