With over 1 billion users play WeChat games, WeChat is one of the most actively used social messaging apps in the world. And this is just the number of registered users on WeChat. These players may game on and off, but a growing segment of the Chinese population is beginning to heavily invest both time and money in WeChat games. As a result, this increases interaction among WeChat users.

In addition, this makes WeChat a platform that lets you access millions of users instantly. Based in Chinese, WeChat is primarily used inside China and among Mandarin-speaking populations. The app, originally in Chinese, can still be used by people from other parts of the world. However, to properly market using WeChat, you’ll need someone with a working knowledge of Mandarin Chinese.

If you want to reach out and target market a global Chinese audience, then WeChat is the way to do it. It’s the single most heavily used social messaging app in China.

Your online marketing strategies, when it comes to WeChat, should be developed keeping a specific goal in mind. Are you trying to branch into the Chinese market? Do you want to promote a certain product?

Your goal will help you chart your success. In China, 800 million people regularly use WeChat and play WeChat games often. Of these, around 310 million people are active gamers.

Out of 310 million active users, nearly half regularly play mini-games.

Mini-games on WeChat are more often enjoyed by women, especially those around in their late 20s and early 30s. But despite this, mini-games are heavily played. Audiences react by competing against each other, trying to climb the leader board, trying to win rewards, and more.

Mini-games don’t have to be downloaded and can be played in-app. The games also tend to be casual, leaving room for advertisements, and paid in-game content.

To effectively increase audience interaction using WeChat games, you need to first understand the audience. If you want to reach out to women, mini-games will be your best. Men play these games as well but are greatly outnumbered by women.

Women also tend to purchase more luxury products. This has already inspired luxury brands like Dior to create WeChat mini-games to market their products.

WeChat is primarily a social messaging app. This means that the games and mini-games on it have social elements as well. These social elements can be tapped to increase audience interaction.

An example of this is the guild system that’s used in most games. This is designed to enable players to play together to advance in the game. Since working together in guilds makes progress easier and enhances customer experience, it’s a great social tool as well.

With large numbers of people turning to WeChat games for entertainment, advertisers and brands have the chance to reach larger audiences than ever before.

In July 2020, advertising exposure through mini games went up by 80%. This increase is sustained from last year. What this shows is that advertising through WeChat greatly increases brand awareness.

There are various ways you can gain from WeChat games. The easiest is to collaborate with WeChat to launch your products in the WeChat store. This would depend on what kind of products you sell, but you can rest assured that you’ll generate high traction.

Another way is to collaborate with a popular game on WeChat to release brand-specific, exclusive in-game rewards. This is a great way to increase awareness about your products while also giving people a virtual sample of what your products can do.

Your products can be placed in the game in the form of unique rewards and special bonuses that enhance customer experience and encourage customer engagement and loyalty.

Being a part of the game is another great way to increase audience interaction. You can include advertisements to your brand on WeChat. Many games, mainly mini-games, ask users to watch an add to gain energy to play the game, win a reward, and the like. Your ad here could bring you millions of views very fast.

Another way is to create a game around your brand and release it on WeChat. You can make it a limited-time release with the aim to increase audience interaction among WeChat users.

Use these marketing ideas to increase your engagement among WeChat users. In 2019 alone, nearly 69% of all revenue through games in China was generated through mobile gaming. WeChat games are a powerful and relatively new way for you to increase audience interaction through digital marketing. But it’s also one of the most effective ways of building customer engagement and loyalty when done right. Use gamification and rewards to open doors to an audience that’s receptive to quality goods and an enhanced customer experience.

The Chinese New Year is the perfect time for seasonal marketing. Chinese consumers spent around $149 billion in 2019, and the number is only on the rise with each passing year.

Online marketing and seasonal advertising ideas will help you take advantage of the season and rake in the same profits that many big businesses already do. Brands like Gucci and Apple regularly use seasonal marketing to reap the harvests of the Chinese New Year.

What is the Chinese New Year?

The Chinese New Year, also known as the Lunar New Year, or the Spring Festival, is roughly a two-week celebration that takes place at the beginning of spring.

The strong tradition of gift-giving and merriment makes the Chinese New Year an unmissable seasonal marketing opportunity for any business.

Create an online marketing strategy that’ll help you increase sales during the next Chinese New Year!

10 Seasonal Marketing Ideas for the Chinese New Year

Your seasonal marketing ideas for the Chinese New Year must be carefully drafted not to affect the cultural sensibilities of the Chinese citizens. To do this, you must integrate the traditional customs of the Lunar New Year with your own seasonal marketing strategy.

Here are ten good marketing ideas for the Lunar New Year:

The Lunar New Year is all about tradition and family. Your content marketing strategy should make use of these feelings of home and warmth to market to the audience. Apple does this very well. Every year, they release a digital advertisement that focuses on a story the people can resonate with.

Pros: 

• Keep customers happy.
• Showcase brand awareness about the Lunar New Year.
• Specifically target people looking to purchase products during the Lunar New Year.

 

Cons: 

• Potential to hurt sensibilities if done wrong.
• Collaterals from digital marketing campaigns can only be used once.

When people travel to their homes during the Chinese New Year, it’s known as ‘Chunyun’. It typically takes place a few days to a few weeks before the Chinese New Year begins. This is a time where you can take advantage of the increased spending in retail shopping, especially among expats.

Pros: 

• More people who celebrate Lunar Year are online, increasing the number of the target audience.
• Potential to increase brand visibility.

 

Cons: 

• People are busy and looking through multiple options.
• Less lead conversions despite heavy traffic.

Integrate the animal the year is themed after in your branding. In 2020, it was the ‘Year of the Rat’. Brands were quick to bring in the famous Mickey and Minnie Mouse to celebrate the year, a great example of seasonal marketing ideas that are relevant and enhance the customer experience.

 

Pros: 

• Potential to create viral content.
• Increases engagement with customers.

 Cons: 

• Unless you have a deep knowledge of the zodiac animal and Chinese traditions, it’s best to stick to simple concept designs.

During the Lunar New Year, families gift younger members with ‘lucky money’ in red envelopes. Red and gold are considered the symbolic colors of this festival. A simple way to include the Chinese New Year colors into your marketing campaign is by introducing a ‘limited season only packaging’ with red packaging for products. You can even add the option of a gold bow or other decoration. This will really enhance the customer experience.

Pros: 

• People will immediately associate the colors with the Chinese New Year.
• Is advertising in itself as it shows consumers that your brand is also celebrating the Lunar Year.
• Improves customer engagement and builds brand loyalty.

Cons: 

• Can be confused with Christmas if you only use red packaging. A gold accent can make all the difference.

The Chinese youth are also known as big spenders. In recent years, healthy lifestyles and sustainable living have become popular. Not only that, the youth enjoy gifting themselves as well. This is different from older generations who retain a more conservative and community-oriented approach to celebrating. Understand your target market so you can sell to them better.

 

Pros: 

• The younger demographic spends more on themselves.
• They also tend to be more loyal to brands they like.

 

 Cons: 

• Missing out on the other demographics.
• Gift buying in bulk for large groups of people absent.

According to the China Internet Report, China has over 904 million internet users. That makes the country and its citizens largely digital. Introduce international shipping, as well as free shipping above a certain checkout amount, to encourage more people to buy from you.

 

Pros: 

• Gain new customers.
• Compete against local Chinese brands.

 

Cons: 

• Low return on investment unless the order value is enough to justify free shipping.

Your social media strategy shouldn’t be restricted to Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. When it comes to China, the platforms WeChat and Weibo are the most important. At the same time, Chinese nationals living in other countries often use Facebook and Twitter. The Lunar New Year is also a major celebration in places like Singapore, Hong Kong, and many others. That’s why your social media strategy should be two-pronged – one for those celebrating inside China and another for those celebrating outside the country.

 

Pros: 

• Communicate with millions of Chinese customers.
• Specifically target Chinese customers.

 

Cons: 

• Good knowledge of Mandarin as well as Cantonese Chinese required. Mainland China speaks Mandarin, and places like Taiwan and Hong Kong use more Cantonese. Your digital marketing campaign should come in two sets – one  Mandarin and one in Cantonese. Remember to hire a qualified expert if you don’t speak these languages.

Luxury brands make serious profits during the Lunar New Year. People don’t just like to spend money – they prefer to spend on quality items. Searches for ‘gift deals’ or ‘CNY deals’ are more common than discounts. Focus your online marketing strategy on showcasing deals and bundle packages. Personalized packages are also popular during this time.

 

Pros: 

• Products will sell faster.
• Good opportunity to clear out old stock.

 

Cons: 

• New and in-season products make less sales.

Introduce games and events to increase engagement and enhance customer experience. These could be in the form of tagging your brand in pictures with your products to get a prize, for shoutouts, giveaways, and more. You can also introduce products and offers specifically for the Chinese New Year. A bakery could introduce bread or cakes shaped like the zodiac animal of the year. These really increase social media engagement and help brands build a loyal customer base.

 

Pros: 

• Opportunity to present quality digital marketing content.
• Enhance customer experience through direct engagement on social media.
• Generate brand awareness through content.

 

Cons: 

• WeChat may be an unfamiliar platform.
• Communicating in a foreign language.

You should roll-out your digital advertising campaign for the Lunar New Year by late-October to early-November. Many people prefer to shop earlier, especially the younger generation.

 

Pros: 

• Sell stocks earlier and gauge what people are interested in.
• Time and opportunity to modify the online marketing calendar if advertising campaign isn’t working.

 

Cons: 

• People may get confused with other year-end celebrations like Christmas and New Year’s.

 

The Lunar New Year is one of the most abundant sales periods and is unavoidable when it comes to seasonal marketing.

Data shows that consumer spending between 2011 and 2019 during the Chinese New Year witnesses a continuous upward trend. Use these seasonal marketing strategies to take advantage of the upcoming Lunar New Year.

Is your business looking to drive direct customer engagement with Chinese audiences? Whether you want to enter the China market or reach out to Chinese consumers, one of the most effective WeChat marketing strategy is to adopt the region’s most popular multi-purpose app: WeChat. You will learn more about how WeChat’s features can help enterprises market businesses in this article.

WeChat enables companies and individuals to create “WeChat Official Accounts” to promote their company and brand. Anybody can follow them and will then receive push notifications from them. When accessing one of these accounts, business usually click a bottom-menu linking to a HTML5 (H5) website which might sell products or services.

WeChat marketing leverage on the powerfulness of gaining followers to company account, luring them actively engaged with it and eventually converting them to customers to purchase items.

Here are few reasons why businesses should consider using WeChat marketing and WeChat Pay.

Reach out to active users

With more than 1 billion monthly active users, businesses cannot ignore the massive reach of this platform. Being enormously popular in China, WeChat has also penetrated the US, UK and other markets and is growing at rapid pace.

Build up lifestyle platform

Calling WeChat China’s WhatsApp or Facebook would be inaccurate. WeChat is more than that and it is a unique lifestyle platform that has several apps rolled into one.

From shopping online and paying bills to playing games and making video calls, WeChat happens to be the go-to app for almost everything. Aside from favorite social media network Sina Weibo, WeChat allows marketers to gain insights from valuable consumer data, understand which life stage consumers are at, and target them with personalized communication.

Distinctive features

WeChat is innovating and presenting exciting new features to connect brands and customers. One such feature is the Shake function, which lets offline businesses interact with mobile users who are nearby.

Users have to physically shake their phone when they see the screen. The app connects them with other people who shook their phone at the same moment. Marketers can also make use of such a feature on WeChat. WeChat offers other interactive features such as the use of QR codes and mini-programs.

Set up business profile on WeChat

Businesses can set up subscription accounts, service accounts and enterprise accounts on WeChat. Subscription accounts permit a business to send only one broadcast message a day.

Service accounts allows delivery of four messages per month and offer a wide range of services such as WeChat Stores, WeChat Pay, instant customer service, and GPS among others.

Business can open the WeChat Official Accounts Platform page and register to set up a profile.

 

Choose the appropriate account type for business and you will be prompted to enter details about your company such as country, business name, email address, account administrator and others. Under Official Account Info, select an account name and write a short introduction for your business.

Finally, business is required to submit a list of supporting documents such as a business license, signed and stamped official application letter, national ID copies and more for verification.

WeChat is an integral part of customer service strategy

When customers have questions or complaints for businesses, they are no longer likely to call or write an email. Instead, they expect prompt response and prefer social media channels over traditional ones. Businesses are expected to be where their customers are and with WeChat being an all-in-one platform, it can also be an integral part of your customer service strategy.

 

HTML5 campaigns to increase customer engagement

With custom HTML5 (H5) campaigns, brands can host unique experiences from their Official WeChat Accounts. Depending on your WeChat marketing objectives, you could create a survey or quiz to customer leads, or an interactive experience that unlocks promo codes of special information.

NDN Group has helped KURZ Group, a worldwide leader in hot stamping technologies from Germany, to launch a CNY engagement campaign via H5 pages – the most prevalent WeChat interactive platform for campaigns dedicated to branding, events or specific products

KURZ Group is not new to the Chinese Market nor WeChat; it owns an official page and an e-store on the social media platform to drive online sales. Our partner had their eyes on a seasonal campaign, with clear objectives on increasing exposure and engagement with fans during CNY.

A mobile shaking trigger was incorporated to add flavors to the game, meaning that a mobile shake was needed to open the red packet and receive the gift. To enter the giveaway, users were also required to fill in basic contact information for us, providing access to meaningful user data for sales leads.

Meanwhile, NDN Group has also introduced WeChat Pay for global bungee jump business AJ Hackett’s online ticket reservations to streamline sales transactions for mainland tourists.

 

WeChat Pay handles multiple payment methods including Quick Pay, QR code, In-App Web-Based or Native In-App payments. WeChat Pay supports cross-border settlements in all major foreign currencies and is available in over 20 countries. It allows foreign businesses to engage with customers in- and outside of China via their all-in-one services, reaching out to mass audiences.

Leverage WeChat Mini Programs

NDN Group takes pride in enhanced features ranging from e-commerce, games and news within the social networking app. NDN has expanded payment gateways for AJ Hackett with all-in-one platform

The WeChat Mini Programs can serve various purposes including e-commerce, utility, mini-games and news. More advanced features are available such as geolocation, task management, coupon redemption and others.

Banner Ad Campaigns

WeChat offers banner ads appear at the bottom of articles published by other WeChat official accounts. You can target users by gender, age, and location, and specify the types of accounts where the banner ads are displayed.

Business can prompt audiences to follow its WeChat account, buy a product, visit landing pages, download an app, or claim a coupon code.

Pricing is based on either CPC (cost per click), which starts at a minimum bidding price of 0.5 RMB for each click, or CPM, where fees vary depending on the geographic audience.

Standard banner ads consist of the brand logo, official account name, and call to action.

 

Business partner with influencers or KOLs

Businesses need to find the right influencers for their brand — someone who has a similar target audience and is willing to talk about your business. The cost to set up the partnership depends on the popularity of the KOLs.

KOLs are the equivalent of social media influencers. KOL banners require you to work with another official WeChat business account. Both you and the other WeChat official account owner have to come to a deal on the cost per view and the number of times the ad will be shown.

WeChat is a promising marketing tool for business and has great potential to deliver branded content and engage with Chinese consumers. With its growing penetration rate, it works for many international brands and businesses outside of China looking to reach out to consumers in the mainland .

We believe that these are some WeChat marketing approaches to help you get started to support your marketing plan in China and improve your chances of success. If you would like to learn more about WeChat marketing, do contact us at info@ndngroup.com today for a consultation.