Breaking Down Misconceptions of WeChat to Effectively Leverage the App for Marketing
The views and opinions expressed in this article are solely my own.
The evolution of WeChat has been an amazing one — to now 650M monthly active users in over 200 countries around the world.
A mere two and half years ago, I joined the Tencent/WeChat international team working with brands and media to help demonstration exactly what WeChat is and how they can leverage the app to extend their reach. At that time, the landscape was quite different. And the ability for people to grasp the gravity and the transformative capability of the product was more challenging, given little was written about or known about the platform outside of China. Mobile messaging platforms had also yet to take center stage and SMS still held a majority of market share (US).
Fast forward to current day and I can feel the shift in landscape. Brands are ready to embrace the WeChat Lifestyle and tap into the base’s 570M users who log in each day (September 2015). WeChat has proven itself as a gateway to reach China consumers with 93% reach in China tier 1 cities alone. But exactly how brands do this is the key.
“People are looking at WeChat as their main decision-making platform,” said Jeremy Aniere, Sofitel Beijing GM in an interview with thebeijinger. “WeChat is actually a much better form of communication for us as it is two-way…Our challenge now is knowing how to best take advantage of the social media at our disposal.”
As western audiences may still be largely unfamiliar with WeChat’s ecosystem and offerings for brands, I am listing out four of the most common misconceptions I have witnessed when working with brands over the past few years. The hope is you will avoid the below when developing your future WeChat marketing strategy.
#1 Misconception: WeChat Marketing Strategies Should be Treated the Same as Those of WhatsApp, Facebook or Twitter
The primary pitfall I see western brands fall into is they do not differentiate their WeChat strategy from those of other international social channels.
The standard Facebook and Twitter approach is clear:
- Set up a brand page
- Understand your audience
- Push targeted content
- Drive followers and measure interaction
While these basic capabilities are also available through WeChat, being stuck in this push mindset hinders you to explore the larger potential of the platform and ignores the differences in how Chinese users interact with WeChat versus other apps.
The thought of WeChat as simply a “mobile messaging app,” is also detrimental. Traditional SMS marketing does not apply here as ‘blasting’ text messages to segments of the entire WeChat user base is not possible and regardless, engagement is short lived.
Instead WeChat’s biggest value is its open platform, which allows marketers to not only communicate with followers, but also build their own unique brand channels with an ecosystem of services that add value to users’ day-to-day lives. With third party integration into WeChat’s open API, valued added services include, but are not limited to:
- Mobile Payments/M-Commerce
- Location Based Services (LBS) for On-Demand Promotion
- 360 Degree Immersive Viewing
- Gamification
- CRM and Customer Service
- VIP/Membership and Loyalty Services
- Direct Booking and Ticket Reservations
- IOT Capabilities
- WIFI Pass
WeChat brand channels are called Official Accounts. There are two types — Subscription and Service Accounts (OAs).
The standard features of OAs include, the ability to broadcast rich media messages to followers, a customized menu, keyword auto-responses, audience targeting capabilities and backend performance analytics.
However, the most well-known marketing campaigns leverage this “app within an app” model leading to deeper and sustained engagement with the brand.
Burberry Autumn/Winter 2014 London to Shanghai Show
For Burberry’s Autumn/Winter 2014 London to Shanghai show, the brand gave all followers front row access with immersive 360 degree viewing of the show through rich media in the OA (akin to the feeling of VR). By users moving their phones through an H5 page, they could see a live capture around them. Other OA posts included rich media of each look in the collection with audio from the designers themselves. Followers were also able to personalize a signature e-plaque by chatting their name into the OA. The brand received global recognition for the campaign (ID: BURBERRY_OFFICIAL).
Location Based Promotion with Watsons China
Watsons, the largest personal care chain in Asia, has three WeChat OAs in China. By sending your location to (ID: Watsonscn), the user receives exclusive access to services and discounts at the nearest Watsons store. Talk about targeted marketing. Users can then purchase products directly through the e-store as well as create and use their own digital VIP membership card for loyalty perks and customer service all within WeChat (ID: Watsonsservice).
Kate Spade 2016 Chinese New Year Lucky Draw
Kate Spade, a brand that has been known for taking risks previously on WeChat, launched a new campaign within the app just in time for 2016 Chinese New Year. Users could access through the brand’s OA (ID: katespadenewyork). Once selecting a particular item of the collection, the user would be able to view the item on a model through an interactive display. Swiveling the phone back and forth would change the angle of the model and her pose. This ultimately took the user to an entry page to receive a special red envelope — a rewarding interactive display of their Chinese New Year collection.
InterContinental Hotels Group Full-Service Loyalty Program
The InterContinental Hotels Group, the largest hospitality group in the world, opened a WeChat OA for its IHG Priority Club Loyalty Program. The full concierge-type services included the ability to book hotels directly within the app, manage reservations, check points, answer queries and receive special offers. Periodically, the group has also released mini-games on the account as a channel to serve loyal guests (ID: IHGRewardsClub).
#2 Misconception: Mobile Payments and Social Should be Separate
In addition to brands being able to 1) Utilize the basic personal messaging and customer service capabilities of WeChat 2) Build their own apps within the platform and 3) Create creative daily value added experiences — they can also close the loop with WeChat Pay.
WeChat Pay is the platform’s solution for cashless payments available in China and in select overseas countries, including Hong Kong. The feature enables brands to conduct direct sales within their WeChat OA and facilitate innovative O2O experiences.
The key to success lies not only in the ability to make purchases over mobile, but also in the combination of mobile payments + a built in social sharing mechanism and network. The combination can lead to powerful sales driving campaigns.
Sa Sa Launches WeChat Pay in Hong Kong
Sa Sa, one of the largest cosmetic retail groups in Asia, was the first global retail partner for WeChat Pay, enabling WeChat Pay in a 100 Hong Kong stores. WeChat users who bound their credit cards to the service could check out fast in store by scanning the QR code on their phone to trigger the amount. The purchase receipt was then sent to the user via WeChat with a link to follow the Sa Sa Hong Kong OA. The brand could then leverage the loyalty channel to stimulate future in-app purchases.
WeChat Red Packet Chinese New Year Campaign
So exactly how powerful is WeChat Pay? The app’s success of it’s Red Packet mobile payments product is evidence. WeChat Red Packets are as they sound, digital cash that can be sent or received via WeChat in group or individual chats. Over 8M digital WeChat Red Packets were exchanged on Chinese New Years Eve alone this year by 420M users (sent/received). Brands are also able to leverage Red Packets for their customers.
#3 Misconception: QR Codes are Dead
In the US and most western countries, marketers react to QR codes with hesitance. However, in China, QR codes are the norm.
Since WeChat has a built in QR code scanner, users are accustomed to scanning on a daily basis. Brands include QR codes in their marketing collateral to acquire followers (scan-to-follow) and they are also used in interactive campaigns.
Coca-Cola — Lyric Coke Musicons
In 2014, Coca-Cola produced a series of QR code bottles that on scan would send the user a song clip. The user could share that song clip in WeChat directly in a chat or on their Moments timeline. As stickers are a popular feature in WeChat, the campaign leveraged the sharing nature of the app to increase brand awareness and loyalty through expression.
#4 Misconception: WeChat OAs Have a Built in Audience
Thus the value of WeChat and Official Accounts are evident for marketers and brands who are looking to extend their reach to the 1.4B populated China market. As of early 2015, over $1.76B was generated in lifestyle spending through OAs. This is largely because OAs empower brands to think outside the box to create channels that can retain followers in more ways with the myriad of value added services mentioned briefly above.
Before you go rushing to open an OA, it is important to note that successful WeChat campaigns also involve an integrated approach. Just opening an OA and expecting to receive millions of followers without any promotion is unrealistic.
This is where Tencent and WeChat advertising comes in as a targeted and measurable funnel to drive qualified users to your Official Account.
Are you ready to create your own WeChat advertising campaign? Or interested in learning more about Tencent social performance advertising? Email me at Kimberlylee@tencent.com.
