Among all social media platforms in China, WeChat, once synonymous with private traffic, which is a fancy Chinese word for social CRM, is trying to pick up what Little Red Book and TikTok have been doing for years – the content distribution system based on the sophisticated recommendation algorithm.
WeChat has become a crucial platform for businesses, highlighting its marketing capabilities through Official Accounts. It allows businesses to engage directly with their audience and sell through WeChat, showcasing its significance as a social and business tool globally.
WeChat significantly influences the lifestyle of Chinese users by catering to their preferences for engaging content, seamless transactions, and the overall integration of everyday activities within a single app, making it essential for brands targeting this demographic.
In recent years, with changes to Official Account display (for both WeChat Subscription Account and WeChat Service Account), recommendation logic, and visibility of subscribed accounts, it’s clear that official recommendations are gaining prominence, and preferences of the average WeChat user are playing a larger role.
In this post, we’ll dive deep into the WeChat Official Account traffic recommendation mechanism to help you understand the platform and leverage its traffic potential so to take your WeChat marketing to the next level.
What is WeChat Official Accounts Traffic Recommendation?
Recommendation is a passive way of receiving information. By creating an official WeChat account, you establish a foundational platform for promoting products and sharing content. The platform uses your past behavior and interests to personalize content delivery. This eliminates the need for active searching, as information comes directly to you. A well-planned WeChat marketing strategy is crucial for effectively utilizing the platform to engage the massive user base and promote your brand in China. Understanding the importance of WeChat for marketing can help businesses leverage its extensive user base to enhance brand awareness and attract customers.
In contrast, active information acquisition, like searching with specific keywords, requires effort based on your needs and interests.
Both methods complement each other. For example, frequent searches on a topic signal your interest, leading to more recommendations on similar content.
Eight Types of Sources of Official Accounts Traffic
Most people read WeChat Official Accounts newsletters from the following eight main sources (considered as the Traffic Source) :
Official WeChat Account messages: WeChat users open the WeChat newsletter by clicking open the articles from the messages sent from official accounts to users.
WeChat users chat sessions: WeChat users open the WeChat newsletter from the link shared in direct conversation windows between WeChat users and the businesses’ Official Accounts.
WeChat Moment (WeChat’s social feed): WeChat users open the WeChat newsletter from posts published in their Moments feed, a feature where WeChat users can share photos, videos, and text with their friends. Chinese social media users engage heavily on WeChat Moments, sharing a variety of content types and interacting with others, which significantly contributes to the impact and reach. WeChat ads displayed in Moment share the regular feed spaces.
“Friends are Reading” tab: WeChat users visit the WeChat newsletter from the “Friends are Reading” section, which is a newly added community feature showing content users’ contacts on WeChat have liked, shared, or commented on.
Recommendation: WeChat users visit the WeChat newsletter that is recommended to them based on their previous activity on WeChat.
WeChat Search: Users visit the WeChat newsletter searching relevant keywords in the WeChat app search engine that allows users to search for content on WeChat.
Official Accounts homepages: Users open the WeChat newsletter from the main pages (homepages) of Official Accounts on WeChat.
Service accounts: Service accounts provide high visibility in the platform’s chat section, similar to regular contacts. They allow brands, especially foreign ones, to reach users more effectively compared to WeChat subscription accounts, despite the limitation of publishing only four posts per month. This emphasizes the importance of quality content and the unique features available for brands using service accounts.
…and other: Other ways that content can be discovered on WeChat.
These sources make up pretty much the entire WeChat ecosystem in the context of WeChat marketing. And marketers need to be aware of them so to take advantage of them.
How to Tell if Your Newsletter is Recommended?
Your Official Account's backend analytics tool is your best friend here. If your article gets recommended by the system, the "Recommendation" traffic source will show a significant increase.
In this example, you can see the chart on the right hand side clearly indicates the Recommendation is bringing in 68% of the viewership.
WeChat Official Account Newsletter Bonus Traffic Sources
Once the newsletters hit certain criteria and is chosen by the algorithm to be recommended, they appear at a few places in other users' feed. These users can be anyone who are determined as "relevant" by the WeChat algorithm.
Here are the top placements of a recommended WeChat post:
Bottom of other Official Account articles: When readers finish an article, they can see a section titled “People who liked this also liked…”. Recommended posts can appear here.
Subscription Accounts content feed (Mobile): The recommended newsletters can appear in users' Subscription Account content feed, similar to an ad. On mobile devices, this looks like a Facebook feed.
Subscription Accounts content feed (Desktop): The recommended WeChat articles can appear in the “Frequently Read,” “Recent Updates,” and “More Subscription Messages” sections within the Subscription Account content feed when users access via WeChat desktop app. Although the feed is essentially the same feed as on mobile devices, the layout is different.
“Friends Are Reading” section of the WeChat app: This is a recently added section where users can see the posts that their friends are reading. Content that are marked as “Reading” by the users' contacts will show up in this section to give the users an opportunity to read what their friends are reading. This section is also a main traffic source with high user engagement.
This mechanism is particularly beneficial for smaller and newer WeChat Official Accounts, as the algorithm’s public domain traffic can be a powerful lever for growth.
To summarize, WeChat Official Account posts recommendations are triggered by:
Accounts you follow
Accounts you’ve viewed
Accounts your friends follow
Content your friends have viewed or shared
Highly popular content
How to Boost Your WeChat Official Account Traffic Recommendations?
Everyday, an approximately 300 million WeChat users read content published by Official Accounts. The algorithm update means the platform now has the power to distribute traffic free of charge, in a similar manner of paid advertising. This new approach, made popular by the likes of Bytedance's TikTok and Douyin, breaks the traditional, mostly private subscription/following model.
To increase your WeChat Official Accounts' traffic, focus on three key areas:
Account: Make sure your account have a proper, culturally relevant name, with proper registration and verification status, so that WeChat algorithm have no problem indexing your account in the data pool. Remember to set up proper and relevant topic tags and other "basic setups" as well.
Content: Try use highly engaging titles for your WeChat posts and cover images that align with what is trending within the WeChat marketing ecosystem. Make sure that a big proportion of your account is populated with original content. Use of trending topic tags. Use engaging design to increase users' time spent on your posts.
Account management: Treat the WeChat Official Account the way you treat your website by optimizing search keywords. WeChat has an built-in search engine which is accessed by hundreds millions of users daily. Leverage your Moments and relevant WeChat groups to let more users see your posts. Explore new features like the “Nearby” section under “Discover”. Implement effective WeChat marketing strategies, such as using QR codes to bridge offline and online marketing efforts and utilizing messaging functions to facilitate direct communication and foster community engagement
Brands should also remember to highlight the importance of WeChat Pay and its integration with your digital marketing strategies to enhance user experience and brand credibility.
The Ever Changing WeChat Ecosystem
WeChat’s adjustments signal that traditional distribution methods couldn’t reverse the OA ecosystem’s decline. While WeChat has seen immense success, it’s not immune to product life cycles. The team’s goal is to extend the OA’s lifespan.
The past five years have shown that minor changes won’t cut it. A radical shift is needed, primarily in content distribution, moving from private to public traffic. Data-driven, interest-based recommendation is the way forward. Businesses can leverage WeChat for business by creating content, interacting with followers, and selling products directly through an Official Account, which is accessible globally.
However, WeChat Official Accounts is a mature product with an established ecosystem. The challenge is to disrupt the old while preserving this ecosystem. WeChat mini programs play a crucial role in enhancing brand engagement and facilitating e-commerce activities by integrating various services directly within the WeChat platform. The WeChat Store is significant for e-commerce, allowing consumers to browse and purchase products seamlessly without switching apps, focusing on user experience and localized offerings for the Chinese market.
The platform aims for precise traffic allocation, but algorithms, while catering to human nature, can lead to extreme imbalances.
Brands Without Borders provides full services to help you register and verify your official accounts on WeChat and other popular Chinese social apps.
Ready to skyrocket your brand’s presence on WeChat by properly managing an WeChat Official Account? Dive into this guide and get started today!
For a custom brand and marketing strategy to grow your brand in China, reach out to our experienced marketing team!
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