How is WeChat integrating AR into the platform to build an innovative user experience ?

April 11, 2018

2018 might be another good year for WeChat. The company has been quietly working towards the development of their very own framework for Augmented Reality (AR). The app has been at the forefront of many innovations and is viewed as a household app in China.

 

The goal behind this AR platform is to make it smartphone friendly and not incorporate it into HoloLens-esque headsets. If WeChat is able to achieve this, it will clearly outrun its competitors by a mile!

 

The WeChat AI Team also revealed some demos that were created with its 3D rendering engine that can create warriors and characters popping out of objects. Fascinating, isn’t it?

 

Simultaneously, the release of Apple’s AR tool kit ARKit seems to provide a promising future for interactive AR experiences from a smartphone.

 

Introducing AI Push

 

WeChat’s new framework, QAR, will be an open platform for third-party developers. This is where the developers can put their skills to test and create state-of-the-art AR experiences for the user. However, Tencent has not released further information regarding the release date and features. So, we might have to wait to know more about this exciting platform.

 

But what we do know is that WeChat’s AI team is vigorously working on their 3D rendering engine to make objects like boots or armour look more realistic in smartphone based AR apps. They’re also developing their own simultaneous localization and mapping (SLAM) technology, which helps calculate the position of virtual objects in connection to their environment. This would completely change the AR game as it eliminates the need for markers like QR Code or special image.

 

Reports of WeChat’s interest in AR made headline in April when the company uploaded a video about mini programs – an app that is embedded on WeChat. Needless to say, we’re excited to see the further development of AR program in WeChat.

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Payment on WeChat, the Chinese new year Hong Bao success story

March 26, 2018

2018 is the ‘Year of the Dog’ according to the Chinese calendar and it was celebrated with grandeur. Families get together to celebrate New Year and tradition involves exchange of red envelopes with ‘lucky money’ along with positive wishes. With the modernization and technology advancements, this tradition is now also practiced via digital medium. It was in 2014, when WeChat, the mobile instant messaging service introduced the ability to send virtual red envelopes of money to your phone contacts via its mobile payment platform.

 

This year, WeChat witnessed a 15% surge in the number of people using the service as compared to last year. Close to 688 million people used the service on February 15th ( Eve of Chinese New Year) with Beijing, Chengdu and Chongqing accounting for the majority of the users. In a country where 95% of the population access internet through their mobile phones, more and more people prefer using WeChat to send red envelopes because of speed and convenience.

 

At the stroke of midnight on Chinese New Year, a shower of red envelopes or ‘WeChat Red Packets’ filled the mobile screens across China. Data shows that the highest number of red packets were exchanged amongst the post-80’s generation who accounted for close to 32%. Following them, were the post-90’s and post-70’s comprising of 27% and 22% generation respectively. These users were referred to as the ‘Red Packet Army’.

 

What’s more? WeChat was also able to track the fastest single user and the most generous user of the red packet. Apart from this, the time spent by users during their purchase was also tracked and the most active segments for WeChat pay were retail stores, dining and public transport.

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How Marketing on WeChat is going to change in 2018?

March 22, 2018

WeChat is one of the most widely used apps in China. With over 900 million users, the app has been making waves in China with their constant innovations and updates!

 

It’s only natural that the most popular app has somehow affected the purchase behavior of users online.

 

Let’s see how WeChat has impacted the Digital consumer trends –

 

Mobile

 

Mobile has become the most popular device for online shopping in China. Around 84% of consumers have made their purchases from a mobile device in 2017 whereas it was 71% in 2015.Since the majority of the sales are made on mobile, brands must be able to advertise and engage with users on the platforms they frequent the most.  

 

Social Media

 

In an era where social media is everything, it plays a huge role in affecting the purchase behavior of users. Brands are starting to understand the true potential of social media and they are focusing their energies towards reaching out to potential customers on digital. 51% of consumers open push notifications sent from a brand’s official WeChat account. 27% consumers indicate that they tend to buy more after receiving those notifications.

 

E-commerce

 

The demand for E-commerce in China has been increasing rapidly and acts as a key catalyst for retail. Infact, the growth in E-commerce has been surpassing the growth in offline retail. Last year, online sales grew by 28% whereas, offline sales only increased by 5%.

 

E-commerce across borders

 

E-commerce is not only seeing an increase within China, but also in international purchases. The percentage of customers that buy from overseas website have risen from 34% in 2015 to 64% in 2017. Young shoppers from 18-35 years are the leading force behind this surge.

 

With this huge untapped potential for rise in E-commerce, it would be interesting to see how brands are leveraging WeChat to achieve their goals.

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A new milestone – WeChat hits 1 billion users

March 9, 2018

The biggest Chinese social media platform, WeChat, has finally reached 1 billion active monthly users. The boost in the numbers was due to the massive success of digital hongbaos (a red packet with money given as a gift during CNY). More than 688 million users sent and received these digital hongbaos.

 

The app has recorded a stunning 15.8% growth in users annually. Around 38 billion messages are exchanged every day on the platform.

 

The app has such a stronghold in China not just due to its messaging software, but also because it constantly introduces new features and functionalities that makes life simpler for its users. It recently launched a pilot study of bringing virtual identity cards in Guangdong. If this study proves to be successful, the app would become indispensable to the Government as well. The introduction of mini programs has also made WeChat more appealing to the users.

 

Since its introduction in 2011, WeChat has come a long way and continues to push its boundaries. This year, Tencent plans to venture into AR and that is definitely going to attract some more users to this platform. Wait and watch this space to know more!

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Why are quiz games so popular on WeChat?

February 19, 2018

It is no doubt that WeChat is pushing the boundaries of social & digital media in China. And now it has added another feather to their cap with Quizz. The rising trend of live quiz on WeChat began when Wang Sicong published a quiz app game named Chongdingdahui. And since then, live quiz apps have witnessed a strong growth and have opened up a new marketing avenue for brands.

 

So, what are these live quiz apps all about?

 

They are live online streaming apps with amazing cash prizes. The 30 minute show has a host who presents the questions to the contestants, who answer the question within 10 seconds. The huge incentives and cash prizes have managed to capture the attention of millions of users. Popular celebrities are also invited to host these shows to attract more players.

 

Based on a research conducted by a renowned research firm, live quiz apps is actively used by around 1.5 to 5 million users. Over above the cash prizes and celebrity hosts, Chinese residents also find live trivia entertaining as they must answer all questions correctly within a given time frame to win the grand prize! The app sends out push notifications to users before the live stream begins. In order to incentivize more users to play the game, the apps have also introduced features like Team Mode and Resurrection Card.

 

Team mode allows the players to form a team to increase their chances of winning the game. The resurrection card is for the users who’ve invited a friend to install the app and can be used when the user answers incorrectly.

 

How have brands marketed themselves on live quiz apps?

 

It is no surprise that brands have leveraged live quiz apps after witnessing its huge popularity. For instance, Huawei sponsored an episode of Millionaire Winner to promote their smartphone. Throughout the show, the host mentioned the name of the brand and held the product to promote it. Certain questions about the brand were also a part of the quiz to raise brand awareness. Alternatively, few other brands also announce hidden tips in product posters to drive traffic to their social media handles. Here’s an example of how Thomas Cook innovatively leveraged WeChat.

 

The popularity of the live quiz apps has given birth to another route of marketing for brands. Players not only pay attention to the game but also to the sponsored content accompanying it. This allows the brand to directly market their products/services to their prospective users.

 

Contact us to effectively market your brand/business on WeChat.

 

About Us:

KRDS is a leading social media & digital agency with offices in Shanghai, Hong Kong, Singapore, Dubai and Paris.

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5 mistakes to avoid on WeChat

February 13, 2018

China has over 720 million internet users who use social media platforms like WeChat and Weibo. Chinese social media is unique and brands have to understand the needs of the local audience to deliver relevant content, increase engagement and drive sales.

 

Brands are yet to fully understand the multiple social media platforms due to its dynamic nature. Due to this reason, it has become extremely easy for brands to make mistakes on social media that can have a negative impact on their business.

 

Here are a few common mistakes that you must definitely avoid –

 

Turning a blind eye to PR crisis

 

With the rise of social media, there was also a simultaneous increase in PR crises. Users openly express their thoughts, feedback, or even rant about any dissatisfactory experience! The problem arises when a brand fails to address negative feedback from users. Plenty of times, brands resort to ignoring and deleting negative comments or responding with the most robotic reply. These actions only intensify the public discontent.

 

Buying fake results

 

This is a common error that is committed across social media platforms all over the world. Brands pay service providers and third parties to help increase their followers or article views through bots. The data that follows is not a true reflection of the brand’s social media presence. While these methods may seem fruitful in the short run, it only hurts the brand image in the long run when exposed by users.

 

Choosing the wrong KoL/Influencers

 

KoLs and Influencers are extremely useful for building the brand credibility, visibility and engagement on social media. However, sufficient research must be done in advance to understand the requirements and choose an influencer who would be the perfect fit for the brand. Careless selection will negatively impact the brand and degrade its image.

 

Lack of overall strategy

 

A single brand advertises on multiple social media platforms. The look and feel of each and every platform is different. There is even varying user behaviour on each of these platforms. Therefore, brands must have a solid social media strategy in place to prevent unfocused marketing efforts.

 

Not adapting to the revising rules & regulations

 

Everything in social media changes in a split second. The Chinese Government constantly reviews and updates the online rules and regulations. Brands must keep an eye out for these changing rules or it might lead to serious repercussions for their business.

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How WeChat boost E-commerce in China?

February 9, 2018

WeChat is one of the most widely used apps in China. With over 900 million users, the app has been making waves in China with their constant innovations and updates!

 

It’s only natural that the most popular app has somehow affected the purchase behavior of users online.

 

Let’s see how WeChat has impacted the Digital consumer trends –

 

Mobile

 

Mobile has become the most popular device for online shopping in China. Around 84% of consumers have made their purchases from a mobile device in 2017 whereas it was 71% in 2015.Since the majority of the sales are made on mobile, brands must be able to advertise and engage with users on the platforms they frequent the most.  

 

Social Media

 

In an era where social media is everything, it plays a huge role in affecting the purchase behavior of users. Brands are starting to understand the true potential of social media and they are focusing their energies towards reaching out to potential customers on digital. 51% of consumers open push notifications sent from a brand’s official WeChat account. 27% consumers indicate that they tend to buy more after receiving those notifications.

 

E-commerce

 

The demand for E-commerce in China has been increasing rapidly and acts as a key catalyst for retail. Infact, the growth in E-commerce has been surpassing the growth in offline retail. Last year, online sales grew by 28% whereas, offline sales only increased by 5%.

 

E-commerce across borders

 

E-commerce is not only seeing an increase within China, but also in international purchases. The percentage of customers that buy from overseas website have risen from 34% in 2015 to 64% in 2017. Young shoppers from 18-35 years are the leading force behind this surge.

 

With this huge untapped potential for rise in E-commerce, it would be interesting to see how brands are leveraging WeChat to achieve their goals.

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WeChat Conference 2018 in a nutshell

February 5, 2018

The Tech mogul in China, Tencent holds a WeChat Developer Conference every year where they announce the latest additions, developments, new features to their platform. Last year, WeChat introduced mini-programs, a sub-application that allows the users to access thousands of apps within the WeChat platform.

 

This year, Tencent has not unveiled any new features, instead, they will be focusing more on mini-programs. They believe that mini-programs are the way forward for both users and businesses.

 

Here is what you can expect in 2018 from the most popular features on WeChat –

 

Mini-programs

 

Currently, there are around 580,000 mini-programs on WeChat. The company wishes to encourage more developers to create mini-programs on the platform. Since its introduction, international brands like KFC, Swaroski, Coach and Tesla were quick to embrace this app to reach its users in China.

 

WeChat has even introduced a mini-program called CityExperience that is essentially like a travel guide. Cities like Sydney, London and Dubai have already become a part of CityExperience and the company is hopeful of adding more locations to this mini-program.

 

App for WeChat official accounts

 

Previously, brands have struggled to open WeChat official accounts, especially if they didn’t have a corporate presence in China. But not anymore! Brands can now open official accounts without a corporate presence in China.

 

But the biggest problem is that the brands can update content on the official account only from a desktop rather than being updateable from the WeChat app. To address this problem, Tencent is working on an independent app that might keep the content updation mobile friendly. This app is said to be on the similar lines of the Facebook Pages Manager.

 

WeChat Tips makes a comeback

 

According to a report in Wall Street Journal, Apple and WeChat have reached an agreement over the Wechat Tips. WeChat Tips is a function that allows the users to compensate the content creators for their quality content. This function was disabled last year when the creators of Apple communicated that it fails to comply with the rules of the App Store.

 

Social gaming is in!

 

WeChat is also rapidly expanding into the mobile gaming territory. The platform has over 300 million active users. It has also partnered up with renowned video game developer Ubisoft – this will allow Ubisoft’s subsidiary company Ketchapp to launch WeChat games in 2018.

 

Tencent hopes to combine their gaming division with their massive social platform user network to increase their social gaming revenue.

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Which marketing learning from WeChat social gaming surge ?

January 25, 2018

Tech giant, Tencent Holdings is once again making headlines for creating the perfect fusion between mobile gaming and social media. This has led to the coinage of the term “Social Gaming” which is all the rage in China right now.

 

The launch of Wechat’s social gaming platform attracted more mobile gaming users in China. The main categories of games include shooting, running and flying with 33.4% users playing for roughly 10-30 mins. Friends play a major role in influencing the users to choose a particular game.

 

Recently, a game called Tiao yi tiao went viral in China and has recorded over 100 million daily active users since it was introduced late last December. The best part is that the users can access the game without installing additional app or software. The aim of the game is to move a hopping block from one platform to another by tapping the screen. Notifications of the top players and the rankings are also visible to the users.

 

The game owes its instant success to the app’s wide reach. WeChat has over 980 million active monthly users.

 

For the brands, social gaming is a large untapped part of WeChat that has huge potential. Businesses must definitely consider how they can incorporate social gaming as a part of their marketing strategy. The biggest plus point is the readily available active users on the platform. This means the brand need not take any extra efforts to get users on the platform and then to play their game.

 

Tencent rose above the market expectations when it showed a 61% increase in revenue in the third quarter last year. This rise was mainly due to their video game business, spearheaded by the game Honour of Kings.

 

China’s video game market was estimated to be worth $32.5 billion USD last year. This only goes to show the rapid growth of social gaming in China. We wonder what the next viral game would be and what brands would be the first to hop on the social gaming shuttle!

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How WeChat is replacing your wallet in China?

January 17, 2018

China has announced a new Digital ID system where the residents can link their National Identity Card to the popular messaging and social media app, WeChat, through facial recognition. The app currently has over 980 million monthly active users in China.

 

The new ID system has been introduced as a pilot programme in the Nansha district of Guangzhou. The program came into existence after the joint efforts of the Ministry of Public Security, Tencent’s WeChat team and various other banks and government departments.

 

This system opens up a whole new monetary portal for the tech giant Tencent as China’s ID cards are used for almost anything and everything. Residents use it for hotel check-ins, train bookings, bank account openings and the list goes on! If this pilot programme proves to be successful, Tencent might finally have what it takes to overtake its close rival Alibaba.

 

The pilot programme is compartmentalised into 2 divisions. The first ID offers a limited access function and the second one provides a more advanced access function.

 

The limited or the light version can be obtained through facial recognition in the WeChat application and can be used for low-security functions like verifying identity for hotel bookings. But the upgraded or the full version must be obtained by visiting an offline terminal and scanning the physical ID card. This edition can be used for high security functions like registering a business.

 

With Tencent starting to become a huge part of the governmental functions, it would be interesting to see what the future holds for WeChat.

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