If you intend to succeed in china, you cannot ignore WeChat. 80% of Chinese people have downloaded WeChat, and 1 billion use it actively. WeChat is more than a messaging app; it meets most day-to-day needs of the user. You can make video calls with a friend or a group, you can hail a taxi, you can pay your bills, and listen to the latest songs. It is a whole ecosystem.
Why WeChat?
- WeChat 1 billion active users
- WeChat pay has around 40% of the Chinese retail pay market share
- WeChat users spend a third of their time online on the app
- 75% of WeChat users share WeChat Moments with their friends and relatives
A Chinese customer interacting with a business is likely to first view the profile of the business on WeChat. Creating a successful WeChat marketing strategy is the first step if you are looking for business success in china. It will help you define your audience in china, pick the right WeChat marketing tools, and do promotion and marketing in a way likely to resonate with the Chinese market. Working with a WeChat marketing agency will help make a more successful strategy.
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Setup WeChat Official Account
Your first step to establishing credibility in the Chinese audience is having a WeChat official account. It is a basic necessity for a business like having a website. An official WeChat account gives you a platform to create a business profile, send and receive messages, and post content. It is a big part of your brand building in china.
An official WeChat account lends credibility to your brand. Most Chinese rely on what they see on WeChat rather than visit business websites. Search engines are censored by the authorities, which makes WeChat’s social nature easier to trust among its users.
WeChat has three types of official accounts: service, subscription, and enterprise. Service accounts allow posting content only once per week. Subscription accounts allow posting once per day. Enterprise accounts are best suited for creating mini-programs. Work with a WeChat marketing agency to see the account that suits your business needs the best.
Define Your Target Audience
Defining your target will help you create content that resonates with your audience. Your potential audience is in the hundreds of millions, but narrow it down. It works better when you define your target by the content they engage. What do they view? Which brands do they like? What purchases do they make?
Pick the Right Marketing Tools
Your WeChat marketing strategy must identify suitable tools to match your business needs. All the popular tools in the west are ineffective in china. WeChat provides tools that take the place of SMS, email, and social media. Some basic tools you need are:
Customer Relationship Management (CRM)
WeChat CRMs will do most of what you expect the usual CRM functions, including customer data storage, customer service, lead management, marketing automation, communication campaigns, and loyalty programs. CRMs are also useful in segmenting your audience and creating more targeted content.
Social Media Monitoring and Listening
You need social media listening tools to monitor what your audience is saying on WeChat. The popular social media networks in the works: Facebook, Instagram and Twitter do not work in china. But there are homegrown Chinese social media apps alongside WeChat. There are several social media listening apps that work with WeChat and these Chinese social media apps. Setting up these tools is very crucial to understand the perceptions and attitudes towards your brand with the WeChat audience.
You can set up these tools to listen to certain keywords and phrases that are relevant in your industry. They will show the conversations around these keywords. You can also respond directly to individual WeChat users.
WeChat Index
This tool is perhaps the most useful, and it is also free. It shows you the trending conversations, including your brand’s popularity. You can see what is trending and create content to rise on these trends.
Promotion and Advertising on WeChat
Key Opinion Leaders (KOL) are the Chinese version of influencers. They work on all social media networks including WeChat, Weibo and Mafengwo. You will find them in WeChat on WeMedia accounts. There are thousands of KOLs in each industry, but you have to do your research carefully to get the right KOLs to work with.
You can use KOL analysis tools to see posting frequency, average likes per post, and engagement rates. A WeChat marketing agency works very well here to identify KOLs who can be effective for your business marketing needs.
Many businesses are apprehensive about the Chinese market because of the language barrier and differences in business culture. WeChat is probably the most effective tool right now in facilitating access to this market. Crafting a workable WeChat marketing strategy will give your business an easy path to this lucrative market.
