Is your business looking to drive direct customer engagement with Chinese audiences? Whether you want to enter the China market or reach out to Chinese consumers, one of the most effective WeChat marketing strategy is to adopt the region’s most popular multi-purpose app: WeChat. You will learn more about how WeChat’s features can help enterprises market businesses in this article.
WeChat enables companies and individuals to create “WeChat Official Accounts” to promote their company and brand. Anybody can follow them and will then receive push notifications from them. When accessing one of these accounts, business usually click a bottom-menu linking to a HTML5 (H5) website which might sell products or services.
WeChat marketing leverage on the powerfulness of gaining followers to company account, luring them actively engaged with it and eventually converting them to customers to purchase items.
Here are few reasons why businesses should consider using WeChat marketing and WeChat Pay.
Reach out to active users
With more than 1 billion monthly active users, businesses cannot ignore the massive reach of this platform. Being enormously popular in China, WeChat has also penetrated the US, UK and other markets and is growing at rapid pace.
Build up lifestyle platform
Calling WeChat China’s WhatsApp or Facebook would be inaccurate. WeChat is more than that and it is a unique lifestyle platform that has several apps rolled into one.
From shopping online and paying bills to playing games and making video calls, WeChat happens to be the go-to app for almost everything. Aside from favorite social media network Sina Weibo, WeChat allows marketers to gain insights from valuable consumer data, understand which life stage consumers are at, and target them with personalized communication.
Distinctive features
WeChat is innovating and presenting exciting new features to connect brands and customers. One such feature is the Shake function, which lets offline businesses interact with mobile users who are nearby.
Users have to physically shake their phone when they see the screen. The app connects them with other people who shook their phone at the same moment. Marketers can also make use of such a feature on WeChat. WeChat offers other interactive features such as the use of QR codes and mini-programs.
Set up business profile on WeChat
Businesses can set up subscription accounts, service accounts and enterprise accounts on WeChat. Subscription accounts permit a business to send only one broadcast message a day.
Service accounts allows delivery of four messages per month and offer a wide range of services such as WeChat Stores, WeChat Pay, instant customer service, and GPS among others.
Business can open the WeChat Official Accounts Platform page and register to set up a profile.
Choose the appropriate account type for business and you will be prompted to enter details about your company such as country, business name, email address, account administrator and others. Under Official Account Info, select an account name and write a short introduction for your business.
Finally, business is required to submit a list of supporting documents such as a business license, signed and stamped official application letter, national ID copies and more for verification.
WeChat is an integral part of customer service strategy
When customers have questions or complaints for businesses, they are no longer likely to call or write an email. Instead, they expect prompt response and prefer social media channels over traditional ones. Businesses are expected to be where their customers are and with WeChat being an all-in-one platform, it can also be an integral part of your customer service strategy.
HTML5 campaigns to increase customer engagement
With custom HTML5 (H5) campaigns, brands can host unique experiences from their Official WeChat Accounts. Depending on your WeChat marketing objectives, you could create a survey or quiz to customer leads, or an interactive experience that unlocks promo codes of special information.
NDN Group has helped KURZ Group, a worldwide leader in hot stamping technologies from Germany, to launch a CNY engagement campaign via H5 pages – the most prevalent WeChat interactive platform for campaigns dedicated to branding, events or specific products
KURZ Group is not new to the Chinese Market nor WeChat; it owns an official page and an e-store on the social media platform to drive online sales. Our partner had their eyes on a seasonal campaign, with clear objectives on increasing exposure and engagement with fans during CNY.
A mobile shaking trigger was incorporated to add flavors to the game, meaning that a mobile shake was needed to open the red packet and receive the gift. To enter the giveaway, users were also required to fill in basic contact information for us, providing access to meaningful user data for sales leads.
Meanwhile, NDN Group has also introduced WeChat Pay for global bungee jump business AJ Hackett’s online ticket reservations to streamline sales transactions for mainland tourists.
WeChat Pay handles multiple payment methods including Quick Pay, QR code, In-App Web-Based or Native In-App payments. WeChat Pay supports cross-border settlements in all major foreign currencies and is available in over 20 countries. It allows foreign businesses to engage with customers in- and outside of China via their all-in-one services, reaching out to mass audiences.
Leverage WeChat Mini Programs
NDN Group takes pride in enhanced features ranging from e-commerce, games and news within the social networking app. NDN has expanded payment gateways for AJ Hackett with all-in-one platform
The WeChat Mini Programs can serve various purposes including e-commerce, utility, mini-games and news. More advanced features are available such as geolocation, task management, coupon redemption and others.
Banner Ad Campaigns
WeChat offers banner ads appear at the bottom of articles published by other WeChat official accounts. You can target users by gender, age, and location, and specify the types of accounts where the banner ads are displayed.
Business can prompt audiences to follow its WeChat account, buy a product, visit landing pages, download an app, or claim a coupon code.
Pricing is based on either CPC (cost per click), which starts at a minimum bidding price of 0.5 RMB for each click, or CPM, where fees vary depending on the geographic audience.
Standard banner ads consist of the brand logo, official account name, and call to action.
Business partner with influencers or KOLs
Businesses need to find the right influencers for their brand — someone who has a similar target audience and is willing to talk about your business. The cost to set up the partnership depends on the popularity of the KOLs.
KOLs are the equivalent of social media influencers. KOL banners require you to work with another official WeChat business account. Both you and the other WeChat official account owner have to come to a deal on the cost per view and the number of times the ad will be shown.
WeChat is a promising marketing tool for business and has great potential to deliver branded content and engage with Chinese consumers. With its growing penetration rate, it works for many international brands and businesses outside of China looking to reach out to consumers in the mainland .
We believe that these are some WeChat marketing approaches to help you get started to support your marketing plan in China and improve your chances of success. If you would like to learn more about WeChat marketing, do contact us at info@ndngroup.com today for a consultation.