China Internet Stats, Trends, Insights
WeChat, known as Weixin of its Chinese app name and owned by Tencent, is the top mobile app by total MAUs and engagement in China, with over 1.2 billion monthly active users. Check out CIW Dossier for detailed WeChat statistics.
Read the latest WeChat statistics here.
WeChat Ecosystem
Key components: Official Accounts, WeChat Pay, Mini Programs
WeChat Official Accounts
Companies can use WeChat Official Accounts to attract followers on WeChat and reach target audiences.
WeChat Official Account refers to both Subscription Account, Service Account or any other accounts that WeChat offer under the WeChat Official Account Admin Platform Service. This Service is a cooperative promotion business for individual or enterprise users launched by WeChat.
The User, after registering for a WeChat account, may conduct brand promotion activities through the WeChat Official Account Admin Platform. A WeChat user shall, after subscribing to a WeChat Official Account, become a subscriber of that WeChat Official Account.
The WeChat Official Account may release information to and interact with its subscribers through the WeChat Official Account Admin Platform.
WeChat Pay
One of the top two payment apps in China, in addition to Alibaba’s affiliated Alipay, provides instant payment solutions in China.
Bank cards from mainland China can be linked to WeChat Pay by verifying the registered mobile number. Only credit cards may be linked to users outside mainland China.
WeChat Mini-Program
WeChat Mini-Program are light programs that do not require download or installation; users can access the apps anytime and anywhere. Users can scan a QR code to launch and use the application although search capability is added but limited. Users can simply leave the application after use without the need to uninstall. More here →
WeChat Features
It’s China’s super app covering instant messaging, social networking (in WeChat Moments), e-commerce, mobile payment (WeChat Pay), content network (Official Accounts), gaming, digital banking, etc.
WeChat interface features a prominent section “Top Stories“, where users can access trending articles and videos from the Tencent content network.
How to Set Up and Register WeChat
WeChat can be downloaded free here. After downloading and installing WeChat, open the app and select “Sign Up”, enter your mobile number as instructed. 4. An SMS verification code will be sent to your phone (for free!); enter the code into WeChat to verify your mobile number to register successfully.
Creating a WeChat account requires a mobile phone number. WeChat no longer accepts registration via email address, QQ number, or Facebook account.
An SMS verification code will be sent to your phone; enter the code into WeChat to verify your mobile number to register successfully. Registering a WeChat account requires a mobile phone number.
After registration, you can set a WeChat ID as your unique identifier, bind an email address to WeChat for your account security, and set a password to avoid logging in via SMS verification every time.
You can then add friends from your phone’s address book, manually entering phone numbers or WeChat IDs, searching for people nearby and Message in a Bottle, or use Friend Radar.
Main Features
Drift Bottle was totally live up to its name. It could push information to people randomly. This is removed.
Location Signature just like the street signs and people could hardly ignore them. You can just put the advertising information in your signature and users will see it when they use the funny function called “Shake”.
QR code is quite efficient to start a relationship with consumers. Users could just scan the QR code via their phone and they will be a member.
Open Platform enables the synchronization between WeChat and websites. Contents on WeChat could be shared from the website or contents on the website could be shared from WeChat.
Voice Message is quite similar to Podcast and is being developed into a customer service hotline. Users may be quite thrilled if they receive an interesting voice message.
The Official Account Platform is similar to an authentic account on Weibo or brand webpage or minisite.
Set a “Reminder” to alert yourself later of a chat message
Have you been receiving important messages that you haven’t been able to reply to because you’re too busy? WeChat now provides an option to remind yourself of an important message that you would like to review at a later time. With “Reminders,” you will be able to set an exact date and time to receive the notification.
How: Long-press on a message bubble, select ‘Reminders’ and choose a date and time to be reminded of this message, and tap “Set Reminder”. You will be sent a notification of the message and can view the reminder within “Service Messages.”
Enhanced Notes in Favorites
WeChat also made two major enhancements to notes in Favorites. First, you can now create bulleted and numbered lists as well as add checkboxes when you’re creating a shopping or to-do list. Second, WeChat added a “Sticky on Top” option to allow you to place a banner at the top of your chat list screen so you have easy and convenient access to important notes.
With the new ability to format Notes with bulleted and numbered lists, you will be able to organize your Notes in more readable format as seen below.
Enhanced Chat History Search for Payment Transactions (China)
WeChat team introduced an additional option in the Chat History to filter searches to just WeChat Pay transactions. With this new ”Transaction” option under “Search History,” you will be able to view all payment transactions performed within a single chat.
Generate your own Reward Code (China)
WeChat Pay users can now generate their own Reward Code and present it to other WeChat users to receive a monetary tip from them.
Weibo has become the most important marketing platform for video contents
WeChat Marketing
Content marketing is quite common with targeted quality articles distributed on WeChat utilizing both owned and third-party (advertorial) WeChat Official Accounts. Companies also develop HTML5 based landing pages for certain campaigns to drive up the engagement.
Advertising opportunities include display ads on WeChat Official Accounts and WeChat Moments. Companies can also utilize “WeChat Index” to monitor the brand trends on WeChat.
Marketing and advertising opportunities on WeChat Moments
Insights on WeChat Official Accounts
Case Studies on WeChat Marketing
China social media users compared: Weibo vs WeChat vs Momo
Marketing and advertising opportunities on WeChat Moments
Insights on WeChat Official Accounts
Case Studies on WeChat Marketing
China social media users compared: Weibo vs WeChat vs Momo
WeChat Mini Programs
WeChat is not the only platform supporting the instant-launch light applications, which is widely known as mini-programs.
Leading Chinese internet companies are building their own ecosystem with Tencent’s WeChat, Alibaba’s Alipay, and Baidu’s smart program in the leading positions.
CIW Subscribers can check this page for the latest data.
Another league of mini-programs worth mentioning is QuickApp, an application ecosystem launched by the nine major mobile phone vendors in China including Huawei, Xiaomi, OPPO, vivo, ZTE, Gionee, Lenovo, Meizu, Nubia.
WeChat vs. Alipay vs. Baidu
WeChat Mini-Programs hit 470 million monthly users last year. Alipay’s mini-program saw MAU of 500 million as of April 2019. And, Baidu Smart Mini Program monthly active users reached 270 million in June 2019, up 49% QoQ.
For some companies, mini-program platforms have become the primary traffic driver, such as LY.com WeChat mini-program, Taobao Movies’s Alipay mini-program, and Baidu Wenku’s smart program.
Top WeChat Mini-Programs by MAU Groups
Counting all WeChat mini-programs with over 1 million MAU, games, utility, and living are the top 3 categories in Jun 2019.
Counting all WeChat mini-programs with over 5 million MAU, living, games, and shopping are the top three.
WeChat History
Tencent launched WeChat in January 2011 as a free instant messaging mobile app, led and developed by Zhang Xiaolong in Guangzhou. It also has a web version.
WeChat Supported OS: iOS (iPhone/iPad), Android, Windows Phone, Nokia S40 Symbian, BlackBerry OS 5.0, BlackBerry OS 6.0 and above, Blackberry 10, Windows, MacOS, Web Browsers
WeChat app now offers users mobile contacts, free video and voice calls, games, stickers and text messages, group chats, social networking (under WeChat Moments), and mobile payment (WeChat Pay).
Users could also discover new friends through location-based services (LBS) or WeChat Shake (discontinued in 2019).
WeChat also has a VoIP feature called WeChat Out to help users call mobiles and landlines around the globe at low rates. It is only available for users outside Mainland China.
WeChat founder Allen Zhang (Zhang Xiaolong)
Read the full WeChat story here, told by its founder Zhang Xiaolong.
