This is another post demystifying technical terms and platforms in digital media publishing.
Perhaps the most popular messaging app in China, WeChat has over one billion active users and counting. Developed in 2011, by the Chinese tech giant, Tencent, WeChat is a platform that many companies have taken interest in as of late as they attempt to spread their brands and influence to other parts of the growing Asian consumer market.
What makes the messaging chat app so popular is the ancillary features it offers and the fact it captured market share so early on. Snap CEO Evan Spiegel has long regarded Tencent as a model worth copying and has even stated this publicly in a recent shareholder conference. “Tencent very early on understood the power of communication because it drives frequency,” he said. “And if you can be the service that’s most frequently used on someone’s phone, you’re able to develop a lot of other ancillary businesses around that engagement.”.
Source: China Money Network
The point here is, that it’s an open platform for you to do pretty much anything you like. It’s a space to utilize and build a content branding initiative on. Users like to get something from the ads that they are visiting or viewing on social media apps. Build the advertisement into the user experience. That’s what makes subscription accounts a valuable tool for publishers to reach global markets such as Asia. It allows you to fine-tune your content to fit a particular audience.
3. WeChat Pay
WeChat Pay helps users complete payments quickly using their smartphones. It has Quick Pay, QR Code Payment, In-App Web-based Payment, In-App Payment, to fulfill different payment scenarios. Expats and travelers can now use overseas credit cards, growing its international user base and accessibility. Tencent has indirectly reported in making $940 million, driven by mobile payments alone.
Source: 2017 WeChat Data Report
For publishers, it is another avenue for creating a recurring subscription product for mobile as paywall has been rolled out since last year.
4. WeChat Shake
WeChat Shake helps you connect with random people around the world. When you opt-in the feature and find a person it will notify you to start chatting. Your location settings would need to be activated in order to make the most out of this feature. Many of its discovery platforms feature help connect the online world, offline and only if you need to. For publishers, it can be a great influencer discovery tool.
Image credit: WeChat
5. WeChat Groups/Broadcast
Groups fairly common, but anybody looking to create a large audience with common interests would need to leverage this feature. Anybody wanting to join or create a group bigger than 100 is required to link his or her bank card to their WeChat account.
Alternatively, you can use Broadcast to mass message your contact list (without revealing their identities), should you wish to create newsletters.
Credit: WeChat World
WeChat features
WeChat works similarly to WhatsApp, allowing users to send text/voice messages, pictures and videos to other users that also use WeChat, and enabling group chat. But it has been able to take it to another level, with developing into a whole social, lifestyle, information and shopping app. With the 2017 WeChat user report stating users time spent increased to 66 minutes per day, 57% of users now using it for work purposes, and a 93% adoption rate for offline purchases, it has become apart of the Chinese people’s everyday life. WeChat encompasses five critical components for publishers to make it a new media platform worth considering. These features include Moments, Subscriptions, Pay, Shake, and Groups/Broadcast. 1. WeChat Moments WeChat Moments relies on contact building. People cannot see your contact list, and your Moments can only be visible to people you have verified yourself as a contact. There is no public display of Moments like Facebook can publicly display a newsfeed item and the subsequent comments. Only you can see them. This provides a more secure and private interaction with each individual contact. Feedback has proven that many of WeChat’s users like the increased privacy that Moments offers over other forms of social media. It allows them to be private while still sharing what they want, with who they want. Source: WeChat Blog 2. WeChat Subscriptions The way subscription accounts works are like this: a subscription is built into the WeChat friend list. If they click on the ad content, the user can be exposed to a range of companies and related apps. You might be wondering: How are advertisers utilizing the subscriptions feature on WeChat? Companies, such as Tesla, for example, have built interactive user content which includes multiple tabs that offer different product experiences, such as taking a test drive, with a chat-bot feature for automated responses.
Source: China Money Network
The point here is, that it’s an open platform for you to do pretty much anything you like. It’s a space to utilize and build a content branding initiative on. Users like to get something from the ads that they are visiting or viewing on social media apps. Build the advertisement into the user experience. That’s what makes subscription accounts a valuable tool for publishers to reach global markets such as Asia. It allows you to fine-tune your content to fit a particular audience.
3. WeChat Pay
WeChat Pay helps users complete payments quickly using their smartphones. It has Quick Pay, QR Code Payment, In-App Web-based Payment, In-App Payment, to fulfill different payment scenarios. Expats and travelers can now use overseas credit cards, growing its international user base and accessibility. Tencent has indirectly reported in making $940 million, driven by mobile payments alone.
Source: 2017 WeChat Data Report
For publishers, it is another avenue for creating a recurring subscription product for mobile as paywall has been rolled out since last year.
4. WeChat Shake
WeChat Shake helps you connect with random people around the world. When you opt-in the feature and find a person it will notify you to start chatting. Your location settings would need to be activated in order to make the most out of this feature. Many of its discovery platforms feature help connect the online world, offline and only if you need to. For publishers, it can be a great influencer discovery tool.
Image credit: WeChat
5. WeChat Groups/Broadcast
Groups fairly common, but anybody looking to create a large audience with common interests would need to leverage this feature. Anybody wanting to join or create a group bigger than 100 is required to link his or her bank card to their WeChat account.
Alternatively, you can use Broadcast to mass message your contact list (without revealing their identities), should you wish to create newsletters.
Credit: WeChat World
