A Quick Guide To WeChat Search

April 19, 2022

WeChat Search called Souyisou (搜一搜) is WeChat’s own search engine, which was launched in 2017 and allows users to research any kind of information. Besides messaging and connecting with others, WeChat offers a search feature that can provide some interesting information about brands and persons alike. It emerged as a competitor to other search engines and is steadily expanding its market position and improving the platform’s search functions.

At the moment, its market share it’s still relatively low but with the access to the search trends of its regular 500 million users. Earlier this year, Tencent confirmed at WeChat (Weixin) Class PRO that Seach will be one of the priorities in 2022.

WeChat Search Numbers

How to Search on WeChat?

To start searching for information on WeChat, you can see the search bar automatically on top of the main page (previously users had to drag it down to prompt the bar but now to popularize the usage of search, it’s an always-on feature). Alternatively, users can access the search option from the Discovery tab or long-press on a keyword anywhere in WeChat and click ‘search’.

How Does the WeChat Search Engine Work?

Previously, WeChat users mainly used search to find relevant keywords in private or group conversations on WeChat. However, with time, WeChat started to index information across almost the whole WeChat ecosystem as well as other Tencent products. 

When you search, the screen will display Search Engine Results Pages (SERP) with filtering options on the top.

Current filtering options are WeChat official accounts, Moments, articles, Baike (WeChat Wiki), Novel, Music, Mini Program, GIFs, Videos, Zhihu, Channels, etc.

For brands to gain traction from all of these categories, it’s important to invest in different kinds of search results. Brands should optimize the official account, but they can also increase search results by publishing posts on Zhihu (Chinese Quora), Sogou Baike (Chinese Wikipedia), and other Tencent-backed platforms.

WeChat Search

What Are the Data Sources for the Search Engine?

The search engine isn’t the same as Google’s or Baidu’s. WeChat Search is a feature that is only available in the WeChat app. Since this year, Tencent has also gradually unrolled it for WeChat PC and Mac users for desktop as well. 

When you search on Google or Baidu, for example, you’ll normally see adverts at the top, followed by the most recent news, and finally the most popular pages. When conducting a search on WeChat, however, you will find that the results are displayed in a different order.  The most recent news concerning the word you’re looking for will appear first, followed by your friends’ use of the word. Then at the bottom, you will find other random articles on the subject.

This means that you’ll be able to find practically everything published within WeChat and only within WeChat. That’s also where you can notice the difference between Google and Baidu, which both show anything that’s been published online.

What can we search on WeChat?

Only information that has been uploaded to the WeChat app can be found using the WeChat Search Engine. The search result will offer you a variety of results; however, you can narrow down your search by selecting one of three categories:

Moments 

This will allow you to search through your contacts’ moments. If one of your contacts published a Moments post in Shanghai, mentions Shanghai in the text of the WeChat Moment, or is a WeChat user with an account in Shanghai, you can find it by typing Shanghai into your filtered search.

Official Accounts

You can discover all of the official accounts relevant to what you’re looking for through your search. It’s a great approach to discovering new WeChat Official Accounts.

Articles

​​WeChat will offer you related articles submitted to the app, ordered by relevancy when you search on a topic. You can also keep filtering and arranging your search by other parameters to get exactly what you’re looking for. You can, for example, see the articles that you’ve read in the past or articles from the accounts you follow. 

Mini Programs

Finally, you can quickly find relevant mini-programs – be it bus tickets QR codes, e-commerce and so on. 

Indexed content

WeChat crawlers index the following types of content: 

  • Posts on WeChat Moments,
  • Articles published by OAs,
  • Official Accounts,
  • Mini Programs,
  • Products and services,
  • Internet content via the Sogou 搜狗 search engine,
  • 3rd party platform content from the following social apps: Zhihu (the Chinese version of Quora), Zaker (news), and more.

See the example of the most important types of content featured by WeChat when searching for ‘Starbucks’ on the app. 

WeChat Search

WeChat Search

WeChat Brand Zone

Brands can also capitalize and literally ‘take over the search page with a customized Brand Zone. Brand Zone is a space on top of the search results page with key information and quick access to the brand’s official account, mini-program, sales channels, etc. It allows users to instantly see the most frequently searched information in one place. 

Check out examples of brand pages here:

WeChat Search Brand Zone

It looks like a brand mini page and its 5 modules are relatively customizable. You can edit the brand logo, contact information, and nearest shop, to attract the users. Companies can set up their WeChat Brand Zone in the WeChat backend however there are 3 types of categorization of WeChat Brand Zone score and visibility based on daily search traffic, WeChat Search Promotion Program and other requirements. 

WeChat Search Brand Zone Backend

How Can You Make Your Account Show Up in Searches?

The longer the official account has been active, the more likely the search engine is to favor pages from that account. However, the system considers the account’s level of authority, such as how many followers it has, how regularly it publishes, and if the articles are original or repurposed content from other sources. Therefore, it is important to keep your account active and up-to-date.

Brands must make sure that keywords appear regularly throughout the text and headline while developing content. The viewer engagement rate helps to assess the material’s quality. The SEO algorithm tracks the number of clicks, impressions, and post interactions, gradually moving the content up the SERP.

Your SEO performance

Check account performance in the backend to see how many average daily views and clicks you have in different categories. Look for how many times a direct link to your official account or specific articles were featured on SERP.

WeChat Search Data

Some tips on building SEO-Friendly Content:

  1. Keyword Research: Conduct a thorough search of the WeChat index to see which keywords related to the article or content pillar are among the most often searched on the platform.
  2. Keyword Optimisation: To maximize searchability and exposure, optimize and focus on where and how to employ selected keywords in the content – titles, descriptions, and headers.
  3. Content Dissemination: Increase the visibility of your content by enhancing its organic searchability and authority by generating views, likes, wows, and shares.
  4. Step Further: Invest in additional Tencent-backed platforms like WeChat Channel or Zhihu to improve searchability.
  5. Avoid image-based articles: Although undoubtedly graphic articles are very attractive for the users, WeChat is not indexing jpeg or png-based content. Keep that in mind when preparing your articles. 

In the tech world, WeChat Search is making waves. Hence, it is important to keep your account search engine friendly to increase visibility and engagement.

If you wish to know more about WeChat search, please contact our team. We use our knowledge and expertise to help businesses build meaningful partnerships and develop their network among Chinese customers. For additional information, please contact us by phone – Shanghai or Hong Kong.

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E-commerce Platforms in China

December 7, 2021

 The Chinese economy has grown at an extraordinary rate in the last three decades. New buying patterns have been shaped by social progress, technology advancements, and rising disposable personal incomes. 

With this growing economy, it’s no surprise that Chinese e-commerce platforms are booming. Live-streaming e-commerce, social e-commerce, and cross-border e-commerce are only a few of the new e-commerce modes that have evolved in the market. 

According to a report released by China’s Ministry of Commerce, national e-commerce transactions totalled 34.82 trillion yuan in 2019. There were 10.63 trillion yuan in online retail sales, up 16.5% from the previous year, with physical goods accounting for 8.52 trillion yuan, or 20.7% of total retail sales in the market, and online retail sales of physical goods accounting for 8.52 trillion yuan, or 20.7% of total retail sales in the market.

 

E-commerce during the Pandemic

However, the global pandemic has had a significant impact on e-commerce. Many experts agree that Covid-19 has had a big impact on consumer behaviour in the first quarter of 2020. However, by 2021, it is obvious that e-consumers have adjusted to the new global environment, with China’s numbers increasing by 17%.

E-commerce has been able to grow as a result of social networks, which have made promotion, communication, and online purchase easier. Furthermore, Chinese apps such as WeChat have made it easier for consumers to buy things directly from manufacturers.

 

How can brands leverage e-commerce platforms?

To vary their marketing, brands are increasingly developing a mix of daily short videos and live streams within their own social e-commerce platforms. Unlike traditional out-of-home advertisements, where brands are limited to the number of products advertised, e-commerce platforms may now successfully use social media to quickly showcase a variety of different products in order to attract a larger audience.

Using e-commerce platforms in China can be beneficial to a wide number of enterprises. This has become crucial for businesses as a method for generating organic traffic, accurately identifying a targeted customer audience, standing out from competitors with exclusive discounts, and reducing advertising costs.

In China, there are numerous e-commerce platforms. So, which platform is ideal for you if you want to sell your products online?

 

Some of China’s leading e-commerce players

 

  • TMall TMall, or Taobao Mall is a B2C (business-to-consumer) platform.The majority of its merchants are professionals with a legal entity in China’s company registration system. Because all of the goods on Tmall are official and authentic, the average price is higher than on Taobao.The number of international brands and merchants on Tmall Global expanded by 60% year over year as of December 31, 2020. At the same time Paid GMV on Tmall Global increased by 37%.

    This platform is ideal for luxury brands, apparels, electronics, cosmetics and skincare sectors.

 

  • TaobaoTaobao is China’s largest consumer-to-consumer (C2C) e-commerce platform. The website is owned by Alibaba Group, a Chinese internet and technology corporation based in Hangzhou. According to a 2020 report, the platform’s monthly active mobile users reached 902 million, with a rise of 22 million in a single quarter, and yearly active consumers reached 779 million.

    This platform is ideal for all kinds of online businesses.

 

  • PinduoduoPinduoduo is a new but competitive e-commerce platform in China. It was formed in 2015, yet it only took four years to attain a trillion-yuan gross merchandise volume.  Its main benefit is social e-commerce, where consumers invite their friends to buy things and receive discounts.According to Pinduoduo’s most recent financial report, the number of active purchasers on the platform reached 788.4 million at the end of 2020, up 35% from 585.2 million at the end of 2019.

    This platform is ideal for the agricultural and food sectors.

 

  • JD.comWhen comparing Taobao to eBay, JD.com, the second largest B2C platform is comparable to Amazon. It primarily sells 3C products, including cell phones, laptops, and home appliances. They source products directly from brands and suppliers, who then distribute them to clients via JD.com’s official courier.JD Daojia, JD.com’s grocery services. With a total GMV of RMB 21.3 billion in 2020, it grew 102.9% from the previous year.

    This platform is ideal for apparel, electronics and fresh food sectors.

Social commerce

  • DouyinOne of the most popular social media networks, Douyin, the Chinese version of TikTok, is working on an e-commerce website. Since June 2020, ByteDance, the company that owns Douyin, has established an e-commerce department as the first level business unit.Douyin E-GMV commerce’s topped 500 billion yuan in February 2020, more than tripling that of 2019.

    This platform is ideal for the cosmetics, accessories, clothes and food sectors

On our blog, we’re also covering e-commerce on Kuaishou. You can also learn how niche perfume brands are accelerating on e-commerce platforms.

Conclusion

The Chinese internet market is by far the largest in the world, with over 850 million subscribers. Even though China has not yet achieved high-income economic status, it is well on its way, with income levels in the largest cities now approaching those of the most advanced economies. 

Furthermore, the country’s technological thirst propels the e-commerce business ahead, making it a leader in a number of categories, including mobile commerce and payments.

The current situation today in the Chinese eCommerce market is exciting. Because platforms are competing to be the most appealing to customers and companies. This competition not only implies more tools for merchants and consumers, but it also means less stringent registration criteria for companies looking to register on these platforms. 

Hence, this is an ideal way for international companies to reach the Chinese market. If you require further support with setting up your account please contact our team. We use our knowledge and expertise to help businesses build meaningful partnerships and develop their network among Chinese customers. For additional information, please contact us by phone – Shanghai or Hong Kong

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What is Zhihu? And 4 key benefits of using it.

November 23, 2021

WeChat, Weibo, and Douyin are almost certainly the first platforms that come to mind when it comes to social media marketing in China. While Zhihu may not be as well-known on a global scale, its reputation is unmatched. As one of China’s most reliable, expert-led social media platforms, it is worthwhile to investigate further.

Zhihu, which was founded in 2011, distinguishes itself from its competitors by offering high-quality questions and reliable responses. 

Its name is derived from the classical Chinese phrase 

“Do you know?”. 

The platform’s main feature is that users can ask and answer questions on a variety of topics, from software development to postnatal care

People can rate, bookmark, share, and comment on responses, as well as invite individual users to respond to their queries. Experts and professionals from a variety of industries utilise this platform to offer high-quality thoughts. 

According to the platform’s SEC registration statement, Zhihu is one of China’s “top five comprehensive online content communities.” It has 76 million monthly active users and 43.1 million cumulative content creators who have published 315.3 million questions and answers since it began as an invite-only service (as of 31 December 2020). 

Zhihu Marketing and its Benefits

Any company that wants to reach educated professionals in China with more disposable income should advertise on Zhihu.

However, certain brands will gain more than others from Zhihu marketing. Those in the B2B, IT, or professional services industries, for example, would be in the best position to boost brand awareness by providing true value to platform users. Whereas, fashion and beauty brands, on the other hand, are unlikely to succeed unless they’re expressly targeting the professional market.

 

Key Benefits 

 

  • Raise brand awareness by organising a Q&A session
    Zhihu is popular among the well-educated. According to studies, 80% of registered users have a bachelor’s degree or more, and 20% have had international educational experience. Zhihu’s user base is made up of people who have a lot of money, a lot of spending power, and a lot of knowledge, and who can talk about more high-level, technical, and premium issues.
  • 3rd-Party Mentions Can Help You Build Trust
    Being mentioned on the platform can help your company create credibility and go viral through word-of-mouth within the community because the majority of the users are well-educated. Many people come to Zhihu for in-depth evaluations and research when they need to make a purchasing decision, making it an immensely strong tool for soft-selling and influencing long-term buying decisions.
  • A well-educated user base
    Zhihu receives around 26 million daily visits on a typical day. This indicates that it is commonly used by Chinese internet users. As a result, Zhihu is an excellent platform for showcasing your brand to a big number of educated and well-off people. Given a large number of users and the platform’s “Q&A” character, this is a great platform for increasing brand visibility or marketing a new product.
  • High search engine authority
    Many popular search engines, such as Baidu, Sogou, and 360.com, rank Zhihu extremely high. It has a Baidu domain authority of 8/10 and a 360 search domain authority of 9/10. This demonstrates that major search engines trust Zhihu material, making it simpler for the platform’s content to rank high in search results.

 

Conclusion

Asking and answering questions, particularly ones that connect directly to your brand’s expertise is the simplest method to engage with the community. Users don’t respond well to overt promotion, so content should be meaningful and informative rather than brand-focused. 

Additionally, some of the platform’s newer features, such as Zhihu Live, can be used by firms to demonstrate their competence; for example, a cosmetics brand could live stream basic beauty demonstrations.

The company is preparing to develop a national knowledge-based content platform, thanks to some recent investments. It intends to expand spending on content, knowledge services, and marketing, as well as artificial intelligence technology for better content personalization. Therefore, with a large number of high-level intellectual users, Zhihu provides lucrative marketing opportunities for brands and organizations.

If you require further support with setting up your account please contact our team.   We use our knowledge and expertise to help businesses build meaningful partnerships and develop a digital marketing strategy that better targets and engages Chinese customers. For additional information, please contact us by phone – Shanghai or Hong Kong

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WeChat for Beauty/ Makeup Sector

November 9, 2021

Thanks to rising disposable incomes in urban areas, consumers in China are increasingly interested in health and beauty products such as cosmetics, perfumes, fashion accessories, and vitamin supplements.

The Chinese beauty, cosmetics, and grooming market is second only to the US in terms of size and maturity after several years of rapid expansion. Although some newbies to the industry have begun to climb the rankings, foreign brands continue to outperform domestic players.

Beauty Brands and WeChat

Brands in China are turning to the WeChat app to move beyond generic marketing and into a more personal level of connection, interaction, and targeting. Many people are discovering that using WeChat to take a customer-centric strategy produces greater results than merely posting and sharing blogs and other information.

Offering unique deals and exclusive content to subscribers, samples for testing, live event invites, games and competitions with rewards, and loyalty programmes are all examples of connecting with WeChat.

 

Why WeChat for Digital Marketing?

With so much growth expected in the cosmetics industry, it’s critical for companies to establish brand recognition in China. WeChat accounts for 47% of all mobile time spent and has 1.1 billion daily users, so it goes without saying that this app is critical for organisations looking to expand their digital presence in China. 

WeChat has accumulated a vast amount of user data as a result of its many capabilities and large community. In marketing, this translates to extremely useful data for Paid Media initiatives. In fact, many Chinese businesses begin their digital presence on WeChat before developing their own website or app.

 

How can WeChat Benefit your Beauty & Service Business?

  • Subscribers can get discounts, rewards, games, entertainment, interactive experiences, and other perks.
  • To fine-tune and optimise targeting based on interest, divide the audience into categories.
  • Customers can be geo-targeted and informed about upcoming in-store deals and specials.
  • Provide customised beauty solutions for each customer.
  • Interact and communicate with people one-on-one rather than in groups.
  • Provide a personalised answer to questions and inquiries (as opposed to automated).
  • During occasions that involve gift-giving, promote and offer extraordinary one-of-a-kind gifts (such as Chinese New Year).

 

Conclusion

WeChat Ads are a hot trend in China for breaking through and winning over the audience. WeChat offers a wide range of utilities and targets, making it a wonderful chance for businesses and marketers looking to break into China.

While WeChat has a lot of potential for beauty firms, getting started can be difficult. Get in touch with our team if you need assistance with this. We use our experience and knowledge to help businesses establish a digital marketing plan that better targets and communicates with Chinese consumers. Contact us via phone or email for more information.

 

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WeChat for B2B Sector

October 4, 2021

We’ve always heard that WeChat is a wonderful tool for marketing to customers. But what about B2B marketing on WeChat?

B2B Marketing on WeChat

Since the B2B e-commerce sector began to flourish in 2013, B2B businesses have had to adapt their marketing strategies to stay up with the ever-changing channels and platforms. Because marketing methods vary swiftly in China, western approaches may not produce the best outcomes for B2B companies. As a result, determining the best platform for building relationships and generating leads is crucial.

Tencent’s Super App, WeChat, provides the ideal ecology for B2B businesses. WeChat, which has over 1 billion monthly active users (MAUs) and 80 million public account followers, may help businesses expand if used effectively. Many Chinese people no longer carry business cards to networking events, meetings, or conferences. They merely scan each other’s QR codes on WeChat.

Businesses may conduct one-on-one direct conversations with their customers, as well as one-to-many messaging possibilities inside groups, multimedia communication, and mobile data sharing, all of which make WeChat a useful and successful corporate communication tool.

WeChat also has a multitude of built-in features, such as stock ordering and administration, quizzes, and lessons, to name a few. To get the most out of this platform, make use of as many relevant features as possible. Furthermore, the WeChat app makes any work-related information more engaging, fascinating, and enjoyable. As a result, every company’s marketing efforts should include WeChat B2B platforms.

Types of WeChat accounts

First and foremost, you will require a WeChat official account. Businesses can use a WeChat official account to communicate with customers and boost brand awareness.

The 3 types of WeChat official accounts are subscription, service, and corporate.

Both subscription accounts and service accounts are appropriate for B2B marketing.

Since it allows organisations to maintain direct relationships with clients, a service account is preferable for service-oriented enterprises and after-sales departments. Only service accounts have access to CRM, custom menus, payment integration, and mini websites.

💼 Why should brands use CRM Integrations on WeChat and how about Salesforce?

 

What Are Some of the Beneficial Features of WeChat for B2B Marketing?

 

  • WeChat Web Analytics Tool
    Businesses can utilise WeChat web analytics to see how customers engage with their websites and gather feedback on their performance in order to enhance their products or services.

 

  • WeChat Translation Tool
    Businesses will benefit from WeChat’s in-app translation service, which is available for iOS and Android users. When doing business in China, you must be completely immersed in the culture. Poor translation will result in poor marketing outcomes and harm your brand’s image. It also aids firms in gaining a better knowledge of the demands and needs of their target audience.

 

  • WeChat Template Message Tool
    Official accounts can utilise a template message to deliver crucial service notifications to their customers, such as a message informing them that a purchase has been completed successfully.

 

  • WeChat Communication Tool
    Official documents, contacts, excel sheets, videos, and plans can all be sent over WeChat. The B2B segment allows businesses to communicate swiftly with one another via messages.

 

  • WeChat Group Message Tool
    You can send gender and location-based group messaging to your target audience. This function allows you to reach the proper target audience while avoiding annoying other groups of people who aren’t interested.

Other features available include an automatic reply tool, a personalised menu tool, and many more.

 

Conclusion

WeChat B2B marketing is a wonderful tool for businesses looking to market their goods or services to Chinese customers. To create the best marketing strategy, you must not only use all of the features of WeChat B2B, but you must also understand your opportunities and challenges.

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How brands can leverage WeChat Index to measure their popularity on WeChat ?

May 17, 2017

Apart from brands having their own official WeChat accounts (which provides them with direct feedback from their consumers), the application has recently released a new feature called “WeChat Index” (微信指数) – to access this tool, simply type the previous Chinese keywords in the WeChat search bar.

 

WeChat Index is a trend projector showing the popularity of a brand upon searching the relevant keywords on the tool. The tool enables the brand to identify and understand their performance, once entering the keyword on to the tool the number of times the keyword mentioned in any of the articles within the app for the last 7, 30 or 90 days hits the screen in a trend graph.

 

The service is based out to be on big data analysis and mobile indexing, where it understands user behaviour patterns and other data aspects and characteristics to project the brand’s popularity and performance among the 898 million WeChat users in turn helping the brand to build and evolve with real time feedback from its consumers.

 

With WeChat Index as a listening tool, the app also had various ways of marketing for brand such as content promotion through articles on product reviews and information, advertising via moments and account ads. Linking the brand’s online website portal to their official account along with strategic partnership emphasizing the use of WeChat wallet are other ways of marketing on WeChat.

 

WeChat is much more just another instant messaging app, it has replaced the wallet for users in China. With the recent report by Tencent projecting 93% adoption rate to using WeChat Pay (in cities) majority of them reasoning it as to not carrying cash at the time of purchase. Addressing the change in consumer behaviour, WeChat enables their users to book hotels and restaurants, buy movie tickets and handle all viable transactions through the app. A clear shift or transition towards a cashless society is being welcomed by the country.

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