Chances are that the average business has heard mention of WeChat, but while we have come across the occasional savvy company, this generally tends to be out of necessity given the nature of their business. A company who sells to China would be the most obvious example. In all other circles, however, it tends to be a bit of a mysterious anomaly that no-one is entirely sure how to approach if they’re even aware of what it’s capable of to begin with! Luckily this is starting to change and there are a few marketers out there (us included) who are able to provide advice and manage campaigns for businesses looking to take advantage of this great new(ish) channel. So let’s run through a few key points.
What is WeChat?
A common nickname for WeChat is the “app for everything” and with good reason. With WeChat users can do pretty much anything they can do on Facebook with the added bonus of features such as sharing money, making bill and retail payments, hailing a rideshare, blogging, booking a doctor, going shopping, ordering food to be home delivered along with accessing a huge range of “apps within the app” that function within WeChat. In this sense, it’s almost like a virtual computer within your phone or an operating system within an operating system. It’s an essential part of everyday life for over 1 billion monthly active users and growing as they use it for social media purposes alongside a huge amount of practical daily functions. In fact, it was recently touted by the parent company of American Express as one of as one of its few true potential competitors. As you can probably imagine, the ability to advertise within such a space can be hugely beneficial.
So what are the statistics?
As we just mentioned, the app has over 1 billion monthly active users. 905 million of those are active daily. In total, 7% of total smartphone usage in China involves WeChat in one way or another and it is the 3rd most used app in the country overall (so not just apps with similar functionality). Tencent (the company responsible for WeChat) claim to contribute $1.76 Billion annually in lifestyle spending to the economy via sales in the entertainment, shopping and travel industries amongst many others. Add to this the fact that conversion rates are naturally higher due to the common adoption of using the app itself to pay for all of this and you have a lot of very good reasons to jump on board!
Selling platform
There are three main ways to utilise selling on WeChat:
- Paying an influencer/blogger. The app has a large community of bloggers and social influencers and they aren’t shy about monetizing their activities by advertising your products.
- Advertising within “Moments”. This is basically their equivalent of “Stories” on Instagram or Facebook. You’ve likely already seen advertising there if you use Instagram, but if not it’s a feed of moments throughout a users day that they choose to share. When you’re in the app you can view moments from the users that you follow and occasionally an advertisement will appear while users are watching through them.
- Banner Advertising. This is basically what you’d imagine, however on WeChat these banners appear in communications from users.
How we can help
Hydra Digital is one of only a select few agencies in Australia who can offer comprehensive services when it comes to utilising the full power of Selling on WeChat. Its advertising platform can take a bit of time to get your head around (specifically where the internet under Chinese government standards is concerned) and it’s not a platform that’s for every business in Australia so there hasn’t been a lot of focus on it from agencies in recent years. We took a different route after looking into our economic crystal ball and deciding that the rise of China definitely offers very specific but very lucrative new channels for businesses who are able to sell online. This app is only growing in popularity and we believe that it has barely begun to realise its full potential.
We can offer full-service management of all your advertising and product listing needs along with conversion tracking, data analysis and regular reporting and consultation.
Conclusion
This century is often being touted as the “Asian Century” with the rise of China and a shift in global economic focus to the region and Australian businesses are in a unique position to grow along with the times. WeChat is one of the easiest and most obvious ways to enter the market particularly if you sell and ship products online. It’s certainly unique in its place within digital marketing for Australian businesses but with the right guidance and knowledge, we’re certain that it will become absolutely essential to a large number of businesses throughout the nation. So if you fancy your business as forward thinking and want to look into the possibilities then feel free to get in touch with us today! We’re always excited to dive into new channels and kick some goals for you.
