WeChat is constantly updating and adding latest features. With >1.1B monthly energetic users, the Chinese dominant platform has already evolved into something rather more than a standard social media platform. It is sort of an Operating System.
Consumers see the platform as the source of their entertainment and data, and moreover a channel for purchasing goods from official brand accounts.
Apart from personal use, WeChat can be the go-to-tool for workplace communication. More than 80% of professionals use the platform for work-related matters. As a matter of fact, no one uses email in China and WeChat is THE principal channel for CRM and direct marketing.
Hence, as a primary step, we recommend you arrange a WeChat Official Account to represent your brand and get in touch with Chinese netizens.
Types of WeChat Official Account: Service vs Subscription account
Which one is true for you?
Before starting the process of opening a WeChat Official Account, listed below are some basic information you would like to know. WeChat Official Account will be categorized as Service or Subscription account, which have different characteristics. There are 3 key differences between these 2 accounts.
Posting frequency
For Subscription accounts, you possibly can push content once a day, with a maximum of 8 articles per push. But you possibly can only achieve this 4 times a month for Service accounts.
With the next posting frequency, you possibly can keep in touch along with your followers and keep them informed about your brand continuously. Also, you possibly can have more exposure. Due to this aspect, Subscription account is really useful for industry resembling FMCG. They need more each day exposure to consumers compared to firms providing basic services (i.e. telecommunication, water, banking, etc.).
Content
To put it simply, the objective of a Subscription account is to propagate, while that of Service account is to maintain relationships. With this in mind, it is straightforward to resolve what kind of content is suitable for you.
Since Subscription account will not be restricted by posting frequency, you’re free to share more content along with your followers. However, bear in mind that WeChat users on average read over 5 articles daily. So, to avoid tiring out consumers and maintain their interest, the core of this content ought to be educational meaningful and insightful.
Showing the right content encourages your followers to share it with their friends, thus achieving the goal of promoting your brand. On the contrary, Service account is more about maintaining customer relationships and communicating with followers. As a result, sales and service-oriented functions are preferred.
Regardless of which sort of content your brand select to concentrate on, remember to optimize web optimization on WeChat to rank high in search results and increase your visibility organically.
Placement
Subscription accounts are organized inside a folder called “Subscriptions” at the chat level. Your followers would have to click in this folder first to see your content.
Service accounts appear on the same page as the chats along with your friends, making it highly visible and straightforward for followers to discover fresh content.
Process to arrange WeChat Official Account for overseas brand
In the past, brands and corporations positioned outside of China can only create a global Official Account. Meaning that these accounts and content weren’t visible to Chinese users. Good news is ranging from 2018 Q3, WeChat removed this restriction and opened the platform to overseas brands. However, this is barely applicable to Service accounts.
To apply for a Service account, you would wish the following information and USD 50 annual verification fee.
Info from each Applicant/Company and Account Operator
- Full name
- Foreign phone number
Info from Applicant/Company only
- Foreign business license
- Origin of Company registration
- Office address
Info from Account Operator only
- Foreign passport
- Email address
To conclude which sort of account is the best for you:
Subscription account is for you if:
- You want to push articles greater than 4 times a month
- Your goal is to share informative articles to maintain customer interest and stay top of mind with the audience
- You are nice with using the service of a 3rd party company for his or her Chinese license to arrange the account
- Not being the legal owner of the account will not be your concern
Service account is for you if:
- You are service-oriented and maintaining customer relationship is your principal goal (direct messaging)
- You prefer your push notifications and articles to be highly visible (seen in the chat level)
- You want to legally own the Official Account
- You prefer to save the cost of employing a 3rd party company
- You plan to develop E-commerce activities
- You need to have access to in-depth analytics
3 WeChat Features to Leverage for Marketing
WeChat can be very energetic in improving its features and designs to offer a greater user experience. We also summarized for you 3 necessary features from WeChat.
1. WeChat live streaming is now available for Official Accounts
WeChat users can implement live streaming on their Official Account. Brands can leverage influencers’ credibility and their established relationship with the audience to curate interests about the products and facilitate direct conversion from live streaming.
All you would like to do is register a Tencent Live account and connect it along with your WeChat Official Account. In the Tencent app, streamers can generate a poster with live stream information embedded as a mini-program code. Then they share the posters as push notifications to their followers.
Viewers also can subscribe to watch the upcoming live stream and receive notifications when it’s live by clicking the mini-program code in the poster.
If you would like to know more about Mini Programs, listed below are some insights on how Mini Programs affects your marketing strategy.
How to apply for Live streaming in WeChat?
Live streamers will need to apply for verification by following the Official Account @tencentlive_helper, providing the following required information. This process takes about 3 days.
a) Tencent Live ID
b) Official Account ID
c) Official Account category (i.e. fashion and wonder, travel, automobile, lifestyle, travel and 13 more)
d) Average article views from Official Account
e) Number of followers
f) Screenshot of the Official Account page, clearly showing the number of followers and Official Account ID
g) Personal ID used to register for the Official Account
h) Images of each side of your personal ID
2. WeChat launched stories feature Time Capsule
This function is sort of similar to Instagram, allowing a max. 15-second-long video to have a 24-hour lifespan. On top of text & emojis, WeChat also recommends background music based on the video content.
Your friends can find your Time Capsule in your profile photo, and like or leave a comment by clicking the bubble.
3 ways to leverage Time Capsule:
a. Create a private WeChat account to your brand
The latest personal account can act as a platform for sharing details about your brand. You can create a better relationship along with your followers via this personal account.
b. Start discussion groups with followers
Rather than appearing at the top of the feed like Instagram, Time Capsule will be found in Moments and Chat groups. Hence, once you share brand-related content in your group, group members can find your Time Capsule. As a result, it gives more visibility to your content.
c. Share brand-related content on Time Capsule
To share along with your followers engaging details about your brand, Time Capsule’s short video format is an entertaining way to achieve this.
3. Wow feature that reinforces the viral performance of your content
This will be found at the bottom of an article published by Official Accounts. If a reader clicked Wow, this text is not going to only appear on their Top Stories section, their WeChat friends can even see it. Moreover, comments left on the article with Wows can be shown to their friends.
How can brands leverage Wow?
a. Encourage your followers to click Wow
This latest feature is useful to your content’s reach and exposure. By encouraging followers to Wow your content, the reach expands beyond the original fanbase of the Official Account. Your follower’s friends will see them in their very own Top Stories section as well.
b. Encourage your followers to leave comments on articles
Leaving comments boosts discussions, leading to more engagement. If certain articles or videos receive quite a bit of comments, it will possibly help spread the article due to the multiplying effect of the Wow feature.
Keep up with the latest marketing trends and contact us for more information!
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