WeChat Stickers – A Quick Guide

May 18, 2022

WeChat (微信, Weixin) is China’s most popular social media platform – no less than 1.27 billion users use the app on a monthly basis. It has outgrown its initial messaging functionality a long time ago and now is a powerhouse offering a myriad of options for users including interacting with brands on different levels. 

By 2023, the predicted e-commerce gross merchandise value (GVM) on WeChat would be 13 trillion RMB (more than 2 trillion USD). Hence, making it a vital platform for brands to connect with their target audience.

WeChat has various features that help brands increase engagement and interact more effectively with their customers. The WeChat Sticker is one such tool that brands can leverage. 

What Are WeChat Stickers?

Global consumers devote significant time to social media and instant messaging applications. Every internet user has sent an emoji at some point, and over 10 billion emojis are transmitted each day. Emojis and stickers in messaging apps are quickly becoming an important element of our online language, if not our culture. Netizens use this special “language” to communicate with one another while also having fun. Chinese netizens, particularly Chinese millennials, are no exception.

With 50 billion messages sent on WeChat every day, many of them are WeChat stickers. WeChat stickers are simply light-weighted png or GIF files shared directly from the keyboard in the WeChat message window. It’s not surprising to see stickers appearing in both personal and professional conversations and group chats. In fact, many users proudly boast their sticker collections or even create their own. While most of the stickers take the form of cute animals, brand mascots, and animated delicacies, some of them can express a deeper sense of humor or irony. 

Behaviors Around Stickers

Chat interactions on WeChat are frequently sprinkled with animated stickers, in both professional and personal contexts. Stickers are used to express emotions (such as joy or pity), infuse humor into a conversation, and deliver seasonal holiday greetings. 

In reality, because outward expression of sentiments and attitudes is discouraged, as well as a predilection for an obscure sense of humor, Chinese users are even more passionate about the so-called 表情包 (Biao qing bao=facial expression pack, Chinese for stickers pack used on messaging applications). 

How users can get stickers?

WeChat stickers can be found through browsing the app’s sticker section, searching for keywords, or bookmarking stickers and sticker packs provided by friends. Users can store sticker packs (collections of 16 or 24 stickers) or individual stickers on their accounts so they can use them readily in chats.

How Brands Are Utilising Them?

Businesses are repurposing the WeChat sticker frenzy as marketing tools to help their brands expand. Brands looking to digitalize their image and engage with consumers throughout their everyday activities are discovering that stickers can make their messaging stick.

Many social networking networks provide emojis, GIFs, and sticker sets to express emotions via mobile app messaging functions. WeChat stickers are widely used in mobile messaging platforms.

Example: The luxury company Louis Vuitton celebrated its founder’s 200th birthday in August 2021. Louis Vuitton devised a game for their global audience to commemorate the occasion and this game is available for download via WeChat and is available in both English and Chinese.  In “Louis the Game,” players must find 200 collectible candles to mark the anniversary; each one unlocks stories about Louis’ life and family. The game also includes 30 NFTs that players can gather along the journey. Moreover, Louis Vuitton designed a limited-edition series of WeChat stickers that users can share with their friends. The set includes Louis Vuitton-branded game items such as a key and candle.

WeChat Stickers Offer Key Advantages for WeChat Marketing in China

Stickers are an excellent tool for promoting your WeChat marketing in China. 

Stickers are great tools for:

  • Raising brand awareness
  • Interacting with your followers in a playful way
  • Promoting your brand, brand elements, and more importantly brand mascot
  • Connecting better with tech-enthusiastic Gen Z 

 

Who Should Create WeChat Stickers?

The great news is that virtually all brands can create their own sticker collections and leverage them in their communication. Obvious candidates are tourism destinations, the F&B industry or fashion but branded sticker collections for B2B brands are a great idea too. Employees cannot only use more fun ways to say ‘Thank You’ or ‘Meeting room is ready’ but also to use stickers with conversations with their contacts outside of the company. 

WeChat Stickers

Stickers promoting a Chinese tourist destination, French culture, Japanese food

How Brands Can Create Stickers?

Brands have two options to share their stickers with their fans.

(1) Publish a WeChat post with branded stickers for users to download. Users can long-press each sticker and save them one by one. 

This method doesn’t require setting an enterprise account therefore you can be more creative with your stickers and include your brand logo.

(2) Launch stickers without the brand/product name directly on the WeChat Stickers Gallery. Users will be able to download the whole pack or selected ones. 

In this scenario, you might have to remove your brand name or logos to pass the verification so your creations do not fall under the promotional stickers category. Alternatively, you can submit more documentation for Tencent.

WeChat Stickers

Stickers from Starbucks, Tiffany’s and Montagut The latter posted within an article

Registration materials required by Tencent:

  1. Go to the WeChat stickers portal
  2. Account information: company name and e-mail
  3. Registered company information: business license, license registration number, merchant ID (optional)
  4. Authorization Letter
  5. Operator information: name, ID card number and scan, phone number, active WeChat linked to a bank card  

Submitted stickers must respect WeChat’s audit standards and do not fall within the list of restricted topics like medicine or finance. WeChat doesn’t allow stickers with clear promotional and advertising content. We can help you navigate through these requirements. 

The general review period is ten working days.

WeChat Stickers

Conclusion

Emojis and stickers have become an integral component of internet conversations all around the world, and they have altered how teenagers and the younger generation connect with one another. A picture is worth a thousand words and can assist to lighten the mood, making online communication more engaging and fun. How can international brands use this instrument to enter into the lives of Chinese consumers?

The following are some major takeaways for international companies looking to leverage branded stickers in China:

  1. In China, stickers are more popular than emojis.
  2. WeChat dominates the Chinese internet messaging app market. International companies should release their branded emojis and stickers on WeChat rather than the App Store or Google Play Store.
  3. Before designing customised emojis and stickers, international firms should be very explicit about their aim and target audience. When customers can relate to the stickers, they are considerably more inclined to share them.
  4. Learn about the habits of Chinese millennials and the Chinese communication culture. Incorporating buzzwords or famous phrases into branded stickers could be a smart approach but requires understanding and cultural sensitivity. 
  5. Branded stickers should have a good balance of product and brand marketing and intriguing content (e.g., witty messages, cute graphics) to make them more appealing to consumers.

Find more news related to WeChat on our blog

If you wish to know more about WeChat stickers and other engagement tools, 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 at contact@thewechatagency.com.

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China News for the Week

May 11, 2022

Top 5 Chinese Tech Firms Have Lost Nearly Half of Their Combined Market Cap in 2 Years

Why it matters: After two decades of phenomenal expansion, the top five Chinese tech behemoths have lost at least 46% of their total market capitalisation.

  • In April 2020, Apple’s valuation = Alibaba+Tencent+Meituan+JD.com+Pinduoduo the top five Chinese tech firms
  • In April 2022, Apple’s valuation = 49 top Chinese tech firms combined. Apple’s valuation has more than doubled while many Chinese tech firms’ valuation has decreased or stagnated

What are the reasons? 

  • A saturating local market
  • Pandemic outbreaks
  • US-China trade tensions
  • Rigorous government regulations
  • The loss of the “upbeat spirit” of China’s business world.

Link: https://technode.com/2022/05/09/top-5-chinese-tech-firms-have-lost-nearly-half-of-combined-market-cap-in-2-years/

Chinese Internet Users Buy Fake Covers After Social Media Forcefully Reveal Their Locations

Why it matters: Chinese internet users are playing cat and mouse with the country’s social media sites, which have violated users’ privacy by requiring them to give their geolocation.

Many people have been surprised by the new rules. Many popular marketing personas with international pictures and selling qualities, for example, are demonstrated to be based in China.

As a result, several enterprises are now selling services that change IP addresses on e-commerce platforms like Taobao for as little as RMB 6 ($0.9) per day. Many of these businesses claim to be able to change location information (in Chinese) on platforms such as Weibo and Douyin.

Link: https://technode.com/2022/05/07/chinese-internet-users-buy-fake-covers-after-social-media-forcefully-reveal-their-locations/

Why Is Email Marketing Ineffective in China?

An email has never been popular in China in comparison to the West. Experian Market Services statistics from 2015, which examined email marketing success in selected Asia Pacific nations, showed that China’s total opening rate was barely 10.5%, compared to 33.1%  in New Zealand.

Chinese users check their emails 22% less frequently than users worldwide. Smartphones have mostly overtaken desktops as the primary computing device in China. The country was a late adoption of computers, and as internet cafés began to develop in the 1990s and early 2000s, young people began to engage with one another using social messaging apps such as QQ.

Email marketing frequently disappoints marketers because the majority of Chinese do not regularly check their personal emails (if they have one at all) and would expect the brands they care about to meet them in their native digital environment.

WeChat brand accounts are far more engaging than email and can provide information on several elements of the brand.

Link: https://daoinsights.com/opinions/why-does-email-marketing-not-work-in-china/ 

The Future of E-Commerce on Douyin and 5 Tips on How to Prepare

In China, TikTok is known as Douyin. With over 600 million active daily users, it’s a hugely popular short video app. That equates to half of China’s population.

Unlike TikTok, Douyin clearly integrates e-commerce. Douyin users can complete purchases within the app by clicking links within each short video. Douyin thus becomes a viable sales channel, perfectly adapted to impulse purchases.

Link: https://agencychina.com/blog/e-commerce-on-douyin-5-tips-how-to-prepare/ 

WeChat to Reveal Users’ IP Location on a Public Posts

WeChat announced on Friday that it will begin displaying users’ whereabouts when they post on a public account.

WeChat, which is controlled by Tencent, said it would soon begin testing the setting, which only applies to users of its “public platform,” where they can comment on news, essays, and other written content published by official accounts.

The new settings will show the province or municipality of Chinese users who post on public accounts. Posts made by users from other countries on public accounts will show the nation indicated by their IP address.

WeChat, which has over 1.2 billion monthly users, stated in a notification that the action targeted misinformation about “local and international hot-topic topics,” but did not elaborate.

Link: https://mp.weixin.qq.com/s/-utfIpLwq7Iq6GKqldKRhw

A Part of Gen Z Decides to Give Up Filters on Social Media

Posting on WeChat is becoming increasingly tiresome for many individuals. Typically, it takes them 5 minutes to take photos and 1 hour to edit them in Photoshop, plus they have to think of an interesting environment to write in. Finally, it appears to be extra labour.

As a result, as more people become dissatisfied with social media, they want a platform that is easier and less stressful. Then, all of a sudden, a new app becomes extremely popular. It’s called “BeReal,” and it was created in France.

Users cannot upload photos to this platform. Instead, they can only utilise the app’s camera to snap a live photo. Furthermore, the platform lacks a filter and editing tool, so users may only send original photographs. Furthermore, BeReal does not allow users to choose when they want to snap photos and share them. Instead, the system tells every user to perform everything at once. Every time, users have only 2 minutes to shoot photos and upload them before it is too late. BeReal wishes to save the most genuine moment in your life. Furthermore, you cannot choose not to be genuine because both of your phone’s cameras will be activated, allowing people to see both your face and where you are. Finally, there are no “like,” “share,” or “comment” buttons on BeReal; the only way to communicate with your friend is to take a picture of yourself and send emoji.

The concept of BeReal is that they want people to calm down and forget those annoying data, while just focusing on what is happening in real life. Perhaps because of that, BeReal suddenly became popular. In the first quarter of 2022, the number of users increased by 315%. And it has become the Top 4th app in America, France, and England, just behind Instagram, Snapchat and Pinterest.

In France, 80% of the users are Gen Z, mainly because they are tired of pretending and being identified by others. They are not afraid of being “ugly”, they just want to be themselves rather than live in other people’s comments.

Link: https://mp.weixin.qq.com/s/5L0JpmtmXZ-j7Va2sVB-xQ

Glamping Swept China’s Social Media This Labor Day Holiday

Because of the COVID-19 control measures and continued domestic travel limitations, Chinese people spent their Labor Day holiday this year on short getaways and staycations. The most popular topic these days is “glamping” (glamorous camping). According to Ctrip data, online traffic for “camping” reached a historic high on the first day of the holiday, and search volume jumped by 90% over the previous week. There are nearly three million campaign-related UGC (user-generated content) entries on Xiaohongshu, ranging from gear photos to the journey itself.

From January to April of this year, the number of participants on Ctrip was five times that of the entire year of 2021. In addition, the number of camping facilities has increased by 800% since this year.

Camping can be classified into two categories: luxurious camping and survival camping. The first emphasises quality, whereas the second emphasises the difficulty of surviving in the field. The most popular is luxury camping because most people prefer to explore nature rather than build a genuine fire. And those stunning photographs on social media have had a huge influence on individuals who have never gone camping before, making camping a new fashion trend among young Chinese visitors.

This brisk growth portends a bright future for the outdoor equipment and apparel business. According to Daxue Consulting, the sector would be worth $100 billion (666.8 billion RMB) by 2025. Luxury residences were eager to seize this opportunity. Prada debuted its Outdoor Collection last year, a distinctive ready-to-wear line inspired by the great outdoors.

However, this part still has many obstacles, such as style, functioning, colours, activities, and so on. Players in this game should think outside the box and be more creative while maintaining quality.

Link: https://jingdaily.com/glamping-labor-day-china-prada-beast/?utm_source=Jing+Daily+Subscriber+List&utm_campaign=069f57ad7b-EMAIL_CAMPAIGN_2020_03_12_06_39_COPY_01&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_8dec01cd8d-069f57ad7b-40884038

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China’s Gen Z As Luxury Consumers

May 10, 2022

From Balenciaga to Gucci and Louis Vuitton, the Chinese market has become the most crucial driver of growth for European luxury brands. Nothing is more important for success in the Chinese luxury industry than capturing the hearts and minds of Gen Z. These are the Chinese consumer generation born after 1997.

Chinese Gen Z is growing as a diverse customer demographic that global brands want to understand more about. The luxury industry, in particular, given that China accounted for more than a third (32%) of the global market for luxury goods in 2020. It’s expected to surpass the US to become the world’s largest market for those products in the next five years.

Traditionally, luxury companies relied on an older, established, and affluent buyer base, with a minority of younger buyers keen to express wealth and status. While this buying pattern persists today, the luxury market has become significantly more democratic, younger, digital, and global in the last three decades, with luxury products considered not only as a method to indicate wealth but also as a way to represent one’s particular style.

What Makes China’s Gen Z Such a Good Target Group for Luxury Brands?

For luxury brands, Gen Z is a dream generation. They consider themselves to be “personal brands,” and spending up to nine hours a day online creating social media material qualifies them as expert brand builders. Many are familiar with crypto and NFTs, hastening a quick transformation in new luxury categories that earlier generations struggled with.

According to McKinsey, Gen Z, those born between the late 1990s and the early 2010s, represent 15% of China’s population. That equates to more than 210 million individuals. They grew up in China amid an unusual period of rapid social and economic development. Recently, Chinese brands have benefited from the country’s growing sense of confidence – and Generation Z may be the most confident of all Chinese generations.

This confidence translates into a more critical and outspoken approach toward foreign fashion labels. As a result, this generation may have a significant impact on the Chinese fashion and luxury sector.

They are brand sensitive, hungry for uniqueness, and wealthy, ticking all the boxes that luxury brands set out to offer. Winning over these key actors in high-end purchasing is the first step for global luxury brands to flourish in China.

What Works With Gen Z?

The growing influence of millennial and Generation Z consumers in the luxury business can be seen in how brands communicate their message and who they hire to speak it for them. WeChat, which is a one-stop platform that allows users to interact with friends and family, stay up to speed on the latest news, engage with one’s favorite companies, and pay for a variety of goods and services, also plays an important part in these conversations and sales.

For luxury brands, millennial and Gen Z spokespeople, brand ambassadors, and creative directors are becoming the standard. This is especially true in China. Gen Z celebrities such as Wang Yibo (born in 1997), Cai Xukun (born in 1998), Fan Chengcheng (born in 2000), and Ouyang Nana (born in 2000) are fronting advertisements for Chanel, Prada, Givenchy, and others. However, simply being present on social media, hiring young brand ambassadors, and dressing up popular celebrities is insufficient to reach and influence Gen Z customers.

For starters, like with millennials, rigid premium brand loyalty is virtually non-existent among Generation Z customers. This is especially true in China, where according to McKinsey & Company, 52% of consumers born after 1990 will purchase luxury goods other than their “favorite” brands.

Gen Z & Luxury – Do’s & Dont’s

The most common mistake in attempting to attract Gen Z is to appear as though a brand is particularly young or funky even if it does not fit the brand. “Young collections” are a good example of this. Many established fashion businesses attempted this and failed. When a company isn’t relevant to Generation Z as a whole, creating a purportedly youthful collection and hoping young customers will take the hook seldom if ever, works. To be relevant to Gen Z, brands must be present on platforms such as Bilibili, Douyin or Xiaohongshu. This is where they can better engage with the audience and create trending articles to attract the right audience. 

Learn more about What is Bilbili? and the main differences between Douyin and TikTok.

Generation Zers, on the other hand, value authenticity due to their easy access to information. People, in fact, expect brands to be brutally honest and truthful. As a result, many incumbent brands appear out of reach, inauthentic, and remote to younger audiences. A new, honest, inclusive, and spontaneous method of communicating with Generation Z is required. 

The implication for luxury brands is to be brave and unapologetic in their position for something. Clear values are what Generation Zers look for in brands. As a result, brand equity, brand positioning, and brand narrative are more important than ever. This might be putting many incumbent businesses at a considerable strategic disadvantage. 

According to reports, some of the most compelling reasons for Generation-Z customers to purchase personal luxury products in China in 2020 are:

  • Signaling social status – 6%
  • Gift – 20%
  • Identity statement – 24%
  • Uplift of confidence – 45%
  • Pursuit of fashion – 61%
  • A reward for self – 68%

Conclusion

Millennials (ages 26 – 41) are huge, but China’s Gen Z (ages 10 – 25) might be even bigger. As a new generation of consumers emerges, brands’ strategies and marketing must evolve to cater to this new demographic. This indicates that brands must be honest, truthful, and inclusive in order to reach out to the next generation, in addition to being trendy and developing products for the younger age.

Massive developments in the digital age indicate that generational divisions are narrowing, for better or worse. If businesses want to flourish and prosper in today’s ever-changing world and create a business in China, we believe they must discover more relevant ways to reach consumers of all generations. Check out our piece on China’s eldest consumers – Silver Generation. 

If you wish to know more about Gen Z consumers or need assistance in China, 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 at contact@thewechatagency.com.

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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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A Beginner’s Guide to WeChat Channels

April 8, 2022
WeChat Channels Video

Posting on WeChat Channels on Mobile

WeChat has developed a new dedicated space for video content, similar to Instagram Reels. It is targeted towards content creators, brands, businesses and individuals who want to reach out to a new (or existing) audience beyond their circle of WeChat followers.

This new touchpoint can potentially be a great convergence of opportunities, especially since the short video market is on a steep rise.

As of mid-2022, WeChat Channels have approximately 450 million Monthly Active Users, it’s a 50% growth since the last year and we can only see Tencent investing more and adding new functions as they have already announced at Weixin Class PRO – an annual conference for WeChat creators.

1. Introduction to WeChat Channel

What are WeChat Channels?

It’s not a new app. It’s a new feature inside WeChat that allows users, influencers, and brands to create short format videos (or carousel, up to 9 pictures) and distribute them on their feed. Other info that can be added to the post is:

  • Hashtags to improve discoverability
  • A WeChat Official Account article link, if any
  • A location

A video feed on WeChat Channels looks similar to the type of feed on other popular short-video Chinese apps like Douyin (Tik Tok as it’s known internationally – see what’s the difference between TikTok and Douyin) or Kuaishou. Users can scroll through the feed infinitely to discover what their friends & their favorite brands have posted as well as content from the other users, influencers and public accounts.

As with any feed, this feed too is ruled by an algorithm that displays content not only from your WeChat contact or the WeChat Official / WeChat Video Account you follow but also from the rest of WeChat, depending on your behavior on the app. That means WeChat users are able to explore content and follow users that are not in their contact and WeChat Official Accounts that they are not following.

This brings a new trajectory to increase discovery on WeChat, which has been a relatively closed ecosystem before (in terms of privacy settings and discoverability).

🔥We prepared this helpful step-by-step list for WeChat Channels – How to Post for Success? Get familiar with it to unlock your reach.

 

Here are some important algorithmic factors to determine content display:

  • Number of likes = Popularity
  • Geo-location
  • Your WeChat friends/contacts’ engagements and activities
  • Followed accounts

2. Posting on Channels

How to register to WeChat Channels to start posting

You can apply to post by clicking on the camera icon on the top right top of the screen from your WeChat personal account. For official brand account, the admin for both WeChat Official Account and WeChat Channels account must be the same. 

Here is the information to fill in during the registration of your Channels profile:

  • Name
  • Brief description
  • Gender
  • Location

Once completed and created, you are able to start posting.

We recommend that brands go a step further and undergo an additional verification process to enjoy more features like connecting their WeChat Channels video account to their official WeChat account (where articles are posted) and live streaming and e-commerce.

➡️ Check out our: ULTIMATE Live-Streaming Guide for WeChat Channels

 

Live Streaming Channels

Live Streaming on WeChat Channels

Functions that are accessible from the WeChat Channels Dashboard are:

  • List of WeChat Channels Account you follow
  • List of followers
  • Number of views
  • List of interactions (comments / likes / notifications) with your WeChat Channels Account

3. How to access the section ‘WeChat Channel’?

There are 2 main opportunities to drive traffic:

  • From the ‘Discover’ section

This feature is accessible from the ‘Discover’ section in the main menu. The ‘Channels’ item is just below the ‘Moments’ item.

  • By Sharing

There is a ‘Go to Channel’ CTA on the landing page after clicking on the Channels-related post shared card. 

 

WeChat channels provide a great opportunity for KOLs and brands to up their short-video game and leverage the huge WeChat user base at the same time. Because of the boom in the short-video market, many brands have already started leveraging WeChat Channel’s features, and more are pushing their marketing plans to accommodate it.

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Different Types of WeChat Engagements: Demystified!

April 6, 2022

WeChat Article Engagements

Similarly to Western social media platforms, WeChat users can react to posts in different ways too. There is a like button and comment section, which are quite straightforward. But what about other reactions like wow or favorite? Recently, WeChat has been experimenting with article engagement by deleting and adding new buttons, thus WeChat engagements can be a little confusing for users or marketers who didn’t work on this Chinese social media platform before. 

Today, let’s demystify what’s behind each of those interactions. Which ones are more powerful than others, and how you can craft your articles and their elements to drive the desired type of engagement? Let’s break down the engagements and figure out what effects they have so you can properly build your CTAs.

First of all, the engagement buttons are located by the end of the article but users can also prompt them by clicking on three dots in the top right corner of the post.

At the moment, there are 4 engagement buttons that users can click on: share, favorite, like, wow.

Secondly, it’s important to remember that not all engagements are made equal. Liking and favoriting express personal appreciation of the content but do not imply any public endorsement or extra exposure for article circulation.

WeChat Article Footer Engagements

Types of Engagements:

Let’s dig into what each of these engagements and call-to-action entails:

  • Share – Users can share to their Moments (WeChat’s newsfeed), a private message, or a group of people. As a result, more people will see the post organically. 
  • Favorite – Users can ‘save’ an article to their personal ‘Favourite’ folder, which is only visible to them. No one else can see articles favorited by other users. We can compare it to saved tabs on your browser. 
  • Like (thumb up symbol) – Users can anonymously express their appreciation for the post; this will not result in any additional organic reach. Friends of users who clicked like will not be informed of this, nor will the post be recommended to them. 
  • Wow (star symbol) – users can show appreciation for the post publicly, the article will appear in the ‘Top Stories’ tab visible to their contacts as recommended content. It can greatly improve article exposure. 

Due to these differences and the relatively powerful benefits of share and wow interactions compared to like or favorite, we should treat all readers as potential content advocates who can help to spread it organically. 

As a result, we distinguish between non-advocative and advocative behaviors such as ‘wow-ing’ and sharing (to Moments, and/or via private messages and groups), which have a significant impact on the content distribution among readers’ contacts and are critical for organic development. Likes or favorites don’t really generate any additional exposure.

WeChat Engagements Data

Other Engagement Features

  • ‘Read more‘ button – this is the only place within a WeChat article where you can connect to an external page. You can link to your official website but note that people prefer not to leave the WeChat ecosystem.
  • Commenting is also an option on some accounts created prior to 2019. WeChat is not a discussion platform and users are not able to interact with the comments in a variety of ways. Also when a user leaves a comment, it doesn’t send a notification to their contacts.

To increase engagement, end the article by urging the reader to do one of the following: follow the account, comment, share, click on the ‘read more link, like, and Wow (在看).

Brands can now include a customized contact card that directs visitors to follow the account but eye-catching QR codes remain an effective technique to draw attention and encourage following.

Conclusion

Apart from engagement, keep in mind that an article should include these essential components:


Localization: Chinese users have different expectations than those in the West when it comes to digital. To build a genuine connection with your potential customers, it’s vital to localize your imagery.

Easy-to-read graphs and visual data: For example, when investigating financial brands on WeChat, market analysis proves to be the most popular type of content. While this will differ by industry, it is critical to deliver as interesting and relevant content as feasible. On WeChat, the competition is strong, with the majority of users following fewer than twenty Official Accounts.

Embedded photos and videos: WeChat users want extremely engaging material, so going beyond the text is critical.

A call-to-action: QR codes are king when it comes to connecting users to other sites and attracting new followers. Mini Program cards or image-based links to websites are also standard at the end of an article.

If you require further support with setting up your account e.g. creating an engaging and useful menu or assistance in learning more about WeChat, 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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10 Ways for a B2B Brand to Generate Leads on WeChat

March 29, 2022

Lead generation in China, and especially for the B2B sector, might seem a bit challenging at first but doesn’t have to. In the past, many Western brands relied on LinkedIn when reaching out to new prospects in China, but since the platform transformed itself into CareerIn late last year and removed its social interaction component, it became quite obsolete in terms of lead generation. 

If your company has an official WeChat account registered on WeChat (the biggest app in China) then you’re on the right path. WeChat, contrary to Western social apps which are largely used for personal communication, is used for both private and business purposes by Chinese users. This difference can be a big advantage for B2B brands in China (WeChat for B2B sector). Because emails or website are not top of mind for brand communication, Chinese users expect to find detailed information and receive updates from brands on WeChat. Staying within the WeChat ecosystem can actually make it even easier to guide your lead through an exciting and successful brand discovery journey – see our previous post-WeChat Marketing vs Website Marketing.

In the B2B lead generation on WeChat and nurturing funnel, it’s vital to figure out how to grow your visibility as a B2B player, automate the processes while also allowing customer care and sales reps to better identify and close deals. Let us walk you through some of the most relevant tactics depending on the stage of your relationship with your leads on WeChat. 

Lead Generation – How to Grow Your Exposure?

Since WeChat is a semi-closed platform, meaning that non-followers don’t receive updates from your brand, it’s not always easy for brands to immediately grow their fanbase. However, depending on your budget or time, you can try different approaches to grow your exposure on WeChat among users who haven’t connected with your brand yet. 

Ads

Tencent’s WeChat advertising allows businesses to place promotional messages on users’ timelines, WeChat Official Account articles, and even third-party mini-programs. Brands can use WeChat ads to increase the number of followers on their official accounts, boost traffic to their official website or mini-programs. Cost-per-fan for a B2B brand can get quite high with sometimes approx. 70 RMB (USD11) and is not without some industry-specific restrictions but it is still a great way to get exposure and unfollow rate for industry accounts are significantly lower than for B2C brands.

WeChat advertising has 3 major types – How To Promote Your Account On WeChat?

Whitelisting 

A great way to gain your visibility is working with your industry hot accounts. We can compare this cooperation to KOL (Key Opinion Leader) influencer marketing but on a B2B level. A bigger account with sizeable exposure and authority reshares your article directly. There are two other whitelisted sharing options:

1. Displaying a link to the original Official Account: At the end of the article, as the original content creator, you can request (or not) to provide a link to your official account (the link will be automatically added).
2. Permission to edit: The original material created may grant permission to edit the article to the partner account (otherwise it will be forwarded exactly as the original version).

You can also reshare articles from other official accounts. Please note that some restrictions for international accounts might apply.

 

Channels – for brand discovery 

WeChat Channels is a video platform within WeChat that allows users to produce and share short video clips and photographs to their own WeChat Channel. It was released for beta testing in early 2020 and two years later it’s becoming one of the most important WeChat components actively improved and promoted by Tencent. Check out our Beginner’s Guide to WeChat Channels.

Thanks to hashtags it’s much easier to discover new content on WeChat than before. Also, because WeChat is the first choice for professional communication it’s only natural that B2B visual content has a much higher chance to gain traction there than for example on Douyin (TikTok).

Only this month, Tencent introduced a new set of features that B2B brands can enjoy right away on WeChat Channels. Brands can now add service menus to the WeChat Channels main page greatly improving user experience and adding new functionalities to the account. WeChat added also new options for WeCom and Channels integration.

WeChat Channels

WeChat SEO-friendly articles

Yes, WeChat has its own search engine (SouYiSou, 搜一搜) and it’s getting more and more precise to index content across the whole Tencent ecosystem. To have your content featured in search results publish articles with a focus on keywords with regularity. Content authority is important too so don’t forget to encourage the right engagements.  Leveraging the rest of the Tencent ecosystem like WeChat Channels can further improve your results.

WeChat, like other search engines, prioritizes the most relevant content. It is critical for brands to use keywords in article text and headlines when developing content. The viewer engagement rate is another parameter that WeChat search looks at. This covers impressions, clicks, and post-reactions. A higher interaction rate means a better ranking in the WeChat search results.

QR codes

Not to forget, QR codes are the lifeblood of the platform on WeChat. Ideally place them on your physical product, marketing materials, and online.

When a user scans a code, it can land on your official account directly. A code that also leads to a mini-program or a mini-site within the WeChat ecosystem. These may be readily customized to display your most critical information (much like a landing page). Since it does not require users to install any third-party programs, this direct presentation of information has been able to deliver a smooth customer experience for businesses.

Nurturing Your Prospects – Maintain Meaningful Relationships

WeChat users are already actively interested in your brand and landed on your official WeChat account welcome page. This is a great situation and you can leverage it. With account optimation, regular articles, and other tools you can reach out to your fans and keep in touch. It’s your turn to meet, or ideally exceed their expectations. 

Welcome message and menu

When new users start to follow your official account, they are automatically greeted with a welcome message. This micro-moment can help them to understand your brand better and encourage them to take the next steps if your welcome message is optimized to give them the details and information they need – apart from the text you can add links, images, mini-programs, and more in there.
WeChat Channels Menu
The menu is another element brands shouldn’t overlook and you might even decide to allocate more effort to it. Treat menu as always-on content. We talked more about what the menu is and why is it so important and how to optimize it in our previous posts.

Basic segmentation

If your business has many departments and clients are interested in different topics it’s a good idea to segment your followers. This way you can send them articles relevant to their departments. Ask users about their preferred departments in the welcome message and manually label them in the backend. This method works when you have a relatively small fanbase and only if followers reply.

CRM integration

More advanced segmentation and targeting require a proper CRM (Customer Relationship Management).  To maximize the impact of the WeChat unified ID, brands must establish a link between WeChat OA and CRM. If you want to run more complicated campaigns, you may need to connect them to a marketing cloud. Take, for example, Salesforce CRM and Marketing Cloud.

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

WeCom

Tencent’s (WeChat’s parent company) version of WeChat for businesses, previously known as WeChat Work, is gaining traction among businesses.

WeCom is a business communication and office application that offers the same communication experience as WeChat. At the same time, it offers a broad set of open-source applications connected with the WeChat ecosystem.
It can assist businesses in connecting internally, with ecosystem partners, and with customers. It’s also worth noting that WeCom has an API that allows you to access and combine WeChat’s capabilities with other apps. 

WeChat WeCom

Private traffic

The use of private traffic is another element of WeChat B2B lead generation marketing. Setting up, monitoring and activating a WeChat group can take time. It’s a really great way to keep in touch with the followers and clients in real-time and initiate meaningful discussions.
Essentially, this is direct communication with lead segmentation. The scaling effect might convert more deals from a promotion campaign in the private chat group as more leads opt-in.

WeChat – A Great Tool for B2B Brands

As you can see, WeChat is more than just a social media platform. With its multitude of customizable tools, it offers a great approach to engaging with customers and increasing brand awareness. Bridging the gap between online and offline with a segmentation strategy and CRM can truly enhance communication with your prospects. 

Though WeChat lead generation has its challenges, it is a worthwhile process. If you want to get into the Chinese market, don’t miss out on this opportunity.

If you require further support with setting up your account or generation on WeChat, 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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China Learnings This Week

March 28, 2022

Short Video Platforms to Deal with Stricter Rating Measures

Problems with fan circles, such as irrational fan support among young fans, have become a cause of concern for Chinese politicians. Setting up a classification system for short video platforms is one of the options that has recently been offered.

‘First, we should tighten content management and allow the media to fulfil its social role,’ Chinese officials stated. Second, market restraints should be increased to aid the return to the rationality of the star-making frenzy.’

Netizens praised the move, pointing out that short videos have a significant influence on young people today, and that many videos on platforms like Kuaishou focus on attracting attention but neglect quality.

Last year, China saw certain limits come into effect when a notice was published in September 2021 forbidding TV and streaming platforms from running idol training shows – competitive reality shows that pit future stars against one other, with the victors going on to become China’s newest idols.

Link: https://mp.weixin.qq.com/s/8t7aaiOj0j1OhHSIwffFqA 

 

How to Make Your Brand Go Viral: Branded Mini-Movies in China

Mini movies are short cinematic pieces created for a particular product or brand. The duration is generally shorter than 30 minutes. With the advancement of new media technologies, the branded mini-movie was formed, and it has become a popular marketing tool in recent years.

The purpose of a branded mini-movie is to disseminate information in order to demonstrate the brand’s values and messaging for commercial purposes. Touch and Go, a 90-second Cadillac commercial mini-movie starring Daniel Wu and released in 2010, is credited with being China’s first branded mini-movie.

Many brands have turned to mini-movie marketing as a regular activity in recent years, and some have even developed their own mini-movies. Alibaba Pictures, for example, was launched by Alibaba in 2014.

One of the most popular mini-movies was  What is Peppa? (啥是佩奇?) video with several hundred million views across streaming media platforms and the Chinese hashtag for #WhatIsPeppa was viewed nearly 1.5 billion times on Sina Weibo soon after its release.

Link: https://daxueconsulting.com/branded-mini-movies-in-china/ 

 

Video Account Has Added Useful New Features

  1. The service menu can be added to the WeChat Channels

Recently, brands that have received certification have been able to add a “service menu” capability to their home page, allowing for a straight jump to a mini-program.

At present, several WeChat Channels have added new service menus, and different types of accounts can customize the service setup. For example, the Channel 丁香医生 has two service sections and Huawei Customer Service features six service sections for contacting customer service, store inquiries. etc.  It can more effectively reach users and improve their convenience.

  1. Paid live-streaming rooms on WeChat Channels

Previously, Tencent NBA WeChat Channel hosted first paid live broadcast room, which carried NBA regular season content. The brand can create a paid live streaming room where users can choose what they want to view.

  1. The relationship between WeCom and WeChat Channels getting closer

WeCom added an option to send, receive, and watch the WeChat Channels live broadcasts, as well as send and receive live broadcasts from customers and publish them to customers’ friends’ Moments. The current version of WeCom now supports the direct push of the channel’s business card, which helps to gain exposure of the brand and increase the number of WeChat Channels followers.

Link: https://mp.weixin.qq.com/s/VcPwp9lo_67PL1DG5Ck9kg

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WeChat Menu Basics: How to Optimize WeChat Menu?

March 23, 2022

As we have introduced in our previous post, the WeChat menu is where users will look for crucial information such as your company’s contact information, brand story, major products, product line introduction, and more. When people click on your WeChat official account, they can quickly access these menu tabs.

How to Optimize Your WeChat Menu?

  1. Analyze the menus of your competitors.
  2. Have a nice menu design, as well as speed and efficiency.
  3. Revamp your menu every quarter
  4. Give your audience a tailored menu.

Let’s take a closer look at some of these best practices:

Menu Benchmarks

Before designing a WeChat menu, benchmark other accounts in the industry. It is important to take note of the number of tabs, tabs placement, what are calls to actions, tab categories, etc. 

Analyzing menus of competitors, we see that some of them link menu tabs to external websites. In this case loading time (hosting in China) and mobile-friendly design is crucial for a good user experience. 

Don’t overlook the menu as it’s one of the fundamental pillars of your brand communication on WeChat,

Menu Technicalities & Design

  • For speed and efficiency, make sure the information of the menu tabs is either incorporated in WeChat as WeChat articles or directed to a website hosted in China.
  • Since this is the most popular content on the official account, make sure the design is as nice, if not better, than normal articles.
  • For more sophisticated menus, consider using WeChat templates.

Revamps

  • Check the relevancy of menu columns/tabs every quarter to ensure that your menu is up to date and reflects any important changes that have happened.
  • Examine the most and least clickable menu tabs to identify if the least performing. Then, decide to either enhance them or see if they’re needed at all and remove the unnecessary ones.

Customized Menu

  • On WeChat, personalization can help your content stand out from the crowd, boosting engagement, retention, and conversion rates. Menus can be customized depending on the user’s initial touchpoint. For example, if they scan a QR to your official account from a physical product they already own, you can serve them with a menu that is geared more towards existing clients and adapt the journey accordingly with loyalty programs and a post-purchase tab. Similarly, you can prepare a version of the menu for people who are not your customers yet with more focus on menus introducing your products, brand history, and product benefits. All within one official account.

WeChat Menu MontagutWeChat Menu MontagutWeChat Menu Montagut
Menu Optimization Look-outs:

  1. Loading time: Make sure the content is either incorporated in the WeChat ecosystem as an article or that the menu tabs redirect to a Chinese-hosted website.
  2. Sub-menus: You can use up to 15 sub-menu tabs (3 columns x 5 sub-menus), but don’t overburden your consumers. Apply the logic underlying the website menu layout haphazardly.
  3. Language: When Chinese readers encounter just English-language information, they might abandon the website right away.
  4. Performance: Monitor the performance of your menu tabs every quarter and make any necessary adjustments. For a better user experience, consider customized menus.

Conclusion

WeChat menus are gradually becoming the most popular content types on the WeChat platform because they act as information centers for your company in China. So as a result, for firms trying to expand their business in China, the WeChat menu is a must-have.

A well-designed menu that directs users to relevant tabs can boost sales and lead generation. Update tabs on a regular basis, some of them can direct users to active events or campaigns.

Specifically developed and customized menus can help drive sales and leads by better connecting the audience with the business and improving the user experience.

Are you looking for setting up your very own WeChat Menu? Please get in touch with our team. We apply our knowledge and experience to assist businesses in forming meaningful connections and expanding their consumer base in China. For additional information, please contact us by phone – Shanghai or Hong Kong

 

Read more: WeChat Menu Basics: Introduction for Brands

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WeChat Menu Basics: Introduction for Brands

March 16, 2022

What is WeChat Menu?

Aside from articles, one of the most important functions that companies can use on WeChat is the Menu – it’s always-on content that brands can use in a variety of ways.

The WeChat menu is where users will search for key information, such as your company’s contact details, brand story, key products, product line introduction, and more. They can simply access these menu tabs when they click on your WeChat official account.

To begin with, the WeChat menu is similar to the menu on a website, and you can replicate or mirror the menu from your official website by taking into account which information are the most important for your China’s audience. As you will see in this article, a well-crafted menu by directing the users to relevant tabs can increase sales and increase lead generation. Menu tabs can be updated on regular basis and some can lead to ongoing events or campaigns. 

WeChat Menu Backend

Menu – More Important than One Thinks

According to Digital Luxury Group, of all the engagement activities carried out by followers, Menu Clicks ranked the highest of all types of engagements with official accounts at an astounding 73%. This might be a shock for many brands that mainly focus on producing amazing weekly content but often neglect regular updates of their WeChat menu. Users tend to engage with brands on WeChat when they are looking for specific types of information or services, which are generally accessed through the menu tabs therefore menu serves a different purpose than weekly articles. 

WeChat Menu Stats

Why Use The WeChat Menu?

Best first impression: When a user clicks to follow your account, they receive an automatic welcome message. You can edit and craft this message by using WeChat links directing to menu tabs, e-shops, contact forms, etc. Make sure it’s concise and not too long.

Smoother user journey: The menu helps users quickly find all FAQ (frequently asked questions) information. From the menu, they should be able to access e-commerce (if applied), customer service, and brand introduction. This is something that WeChat users are used to and automatically check when following a new account. 

Stay up-to-date: Look at the menu as your information hub for the Chinese market as it’s quite possible that your Chinese customers will check your WeChat menu more often than your website. Carefully focus on the most important tabs like brand introduction, current product catalog, contract details page e.g. one of the biggest mistakes we’ve seen it’s uploading contact details as image, therefore, emails or phone numbers can’t be copy-pasted causing inconvenience for potential customers. 

Gain new followers: Although the menu is only visible to users who visited your WeChat account and won’t necessarily help with the initial account awareness when you manage to hook your visitors with the menu, you can lead them through a rich brand experience journey. That’s why investing more time and effort into creating menu content is crucial. 

WeChat Menu Backend WeChat Menu Backend

WeChat Menu Montagut WeChat Menu Montagut WeChat Menu Montagut

Who Can Enable the Menu?

The menu function is accessible by two types of accounts:

– Verified subscription accounts,

– Service accounts.

The good news is that all overseas companies applying for a service account can enable a menu on their official WeChat account. The menu can be set up and edited using the desktop official account WeChat backend. 

Menu Tabs

From the technical point of view, the menu can consist of a maximum of three columns and each can have a maximum of five sub-menus. Your menu can have a total of 15 tabs. In special cases, if you need more submenu tabs, there is also an option to create a menu tab showing a collection of related articles for more advanced WeChat users. You can contact us to find out more. 

However, we don’t recommend setting up a maximum amount of many tabs as it might be slightly overwhelming for the users and make it hard to find the information that they are looking for. Remember that the core of the WeChat menu is its functionality. Hence, 8 or 9 tabs is ideal.

There are a few options to build your menu:

Sub-menu content

  • Send a Message  
    • Article,
    • Text message,
    • Image,
    • Audio,
    • Video.
  • Jump to Web page:
    • WeChat article – best user experience as the page loads quickly, and beautiful posts can be created.
    • External website – not recommended since if the website is hosted outside of China, it will be extremely slow. If it is in English, it will be discouraging to readers.
  • Jump to Mini Program

Jump to ‘WeChat Article’ is the most user-friendly solution. 

WeChat Menu GB  WeChat Menu PG

How to create a menu?

Step 1: On the top left of your public account page, you’ll notice a “menu” icon appear after you’ve created your service account or had your subscription account certified.

Step 2: Create three first-level menu items and second-level sub-menu items for each of them. 

Each menu column name can consist of up to 4 Chinese characters or 8 letters

Each menu tab name can consist of up to 8 Chinese characters or 16 letters

Step 3: Now it’s time to start creating content for your menu. Click on each item to create content when users click on each tab. As mentioned above you can ideally link it to either one of the messages you just produced, an existing article, WeChat mini program or an external webpage (make sure the webpage displays well on mobile and fast enough for WeChat user standards).

Sometimes it can take up to 24 hours for a new menu to appear on your account. Be patient!

Conclusion

Here are the important things to know about the Menu:

  • WeChat menus are becoming one of the most clicked types of content in the WeChat official account ecosystem. 
  • They are your brand information hubs for the Chinese market. 
  • Brands can set at most 3 menu columns with each menu column set a max of 5 sub-menus. In total, a brand has 15 sub-menu tabs to leverage.
  • WeChat’s official account backend allows tracking follower behavior to understand the click rate of each menu. We will cover WeChat menu optimization and other advanced options in our next post. 

Read more about in the second part of this article: WeChat Menu Basics: How to Optimize WeChat Menu?

Are you looking for setting up your very own WeChat Menu? Please get in touch with our team. We apply our knowledge and experience to assist businesses in forming meaningful connections and expanding their consumer base in China. For additional information, please contact us by phone – Shanghai or Hong Kong

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