Today, WeChat is the leading Chinese application among other popular applications in China: the number of MAU was about 1300 million users in 2022. Many Western people, when they encounter WeChat for the first time, imagine this platform only as a messaging app, but this is far from being the case. Nowadays, it includes a number of services, for example, the functions of a social network, a web browser, a blog and public page service, a payment system, a short video service, etc.
Opportunities provided in the WeChat ecosystem can be extremely useful for promoting in China. As for Chinese social sites, in general they help businesses to implement instruments of digital marketing and develop marketing strategies. WeChat particularly includes a lot of options such as diverse ad formats and influencer marketing. For instance, it gives an opportunity not only to launch ads for consumers in China, but also to run overseas advertising. Thus, the activity of the WeChat advertising team is crucially important to achieve advertising success in China.
In this article, we will explain main features related to advertising on WeChat such as preparing for launching ads in WeChat, main types of advertising available, and we also answer the most popular questions on this topic.
Content :
What is WeChat Advertising?
- Types of WeChat and advertising accounts
- WeChat advertising strategy and main opportunities it includes
- Main types of display offerings
- WeChat ads in WeChat service accounts
- Banner ads and advertising in mini apps
- Advertising in WeChat Moment ads
FAQ
- WeChat advertising: wow much does it cost?
- Marketing on WeChat: how to attract more followers and potential customers?
- Where is it possible to find KOL to advertise in WeChat?
What is WeChat Advertising?
Types of WeChat and advertising accounts
WeChat official accounts
First of all, you should know that there are different types of accounts in WeChat. In addition to personal user accounts and corresponding personal services, there is a WeChat official account. Official WeChat account include two types that can be registered – a subscription account (订阅号) and a service account (服务号).
A subscription account is an account that is registered for the purpose of communicating with your targeted audience to popularize your brand and products with the WeChat followers. For example, it can be created by representatives of the media, government agencies, businesses, or bloggers.
Another option, which requires significantly more time to register, is a service account. Unlike a subscription account, it allows you to conduct commercial activities, including running ads.
Both accounts allow interaction with the audience, for example, through auto-replies or chatting with customers. However, there is a significant difference in capabilities between them.
Unlike a subscription account, a service account is displayed to the user in a separate chat. It has access to WeChat Pay binding, the ability to create multiple QR codes within one account to track traffic, and the option to create an advertising account.
Advertising accounts
To launch advertising in WeChat, first of all, you need to create an advertising account. There are 2 main options for this – registering an advertising account in Tencent or in WeChat.
The Tencent Ads account allows you to run ads on all Tencent ecosystem services, including QQ, Tencent Video, etc. Creating an account in WeChat allows you to run advertising campaigns only in WeChat.
To register an account in Tencent, it is not necessary to register a WeChat service account, but this is a prerequisite for an advertising account in WeChat. At the same time, in both cases, you need a Chinese legal entity that will act as an advertiser.
Speaking about the cost of getting started, it is worth noting that the minimum entry threshold for Tencent is 5000 yuan, while it is only 1000 yuan for WeChat. At the same time, WeChat Ad has the most expensive CPM among all Chinese social networks, which starts at least from 50 yuan and depends mainly on the targeting depth.
Landing page of WeChat advertising account
WeChat advertising strategy and main opportunities it includes
WeChat advertising platform gives us a lot of different opportunities you can use to promote your brand by WeChat advertisements. For example, it is possible to use different advertising creatives, choose diverse ads goals, setting us targeting options related to you targeting audience, etc.
We can easily divide WeChat advertisement into two main types: ads in official accounts and ads is WeChat Moment service. However, it is possible to classify different types that vary on ad space, ad banner formats, etc.:
- Making publications at the bottom of an WeChat article in service account
- Like previous ads above, it is possible to place WeChat official account ads in the article, but is in the middle part of it
- Organising mutual PR by placing an advertising banner or video in the article of your partner’s account
- Publishing Video ads in the middle of a service account article
- Promoting Wechat mini programs in other mini programs: it will be displayed as a static banner ad in another mini program
- Letting users view ads in a WeChat mini program for rewards in the game or for a WeChat coupon in WeChat stores
- Posting pop-up ads in mini apps (photo format with call to action)
- Deploying photo or video ad in WeChat Pay: displayed for the user who just made a transaction
- Developing WeChat Moments ad format: available in photo and video format
Main types of display offerings
WeChat ads in WeChat service accounts
This approach to advertising in WeChat is a different variation of the publication of advertising materials like WeChat banner ads in official accounts, which can be placed in different parts of an article, as well as organized in the form of mutual PR or video advertising.
The minimum top-up amount is 1000 yuan, and the price itself depends on the city, the start time of the advertising, as well as various targeting indicators.
So, CPM – price per 1000 views for Tier 3 is on average 15-30 yuan, for Tier 2 – 20-35 yuan, and for Tier 1 – 25-40 yuan.
Examples of ads in official accounts
Banner ads and advertising in mini apps
Mini apps in WeChat are both a very popular WeChat marketing tool for sales and an effective advertising channel.
WeChat mini program ads include different options such as WeChat banner advertising like pop-up banner ads. You can set up the option to view ads in mini apps for rewards in the game or bonuses in a WeChat store, promote mini apps in other apps, and implement a pop-up ad format in mini apps (for example, it can be a photo with a call to action).
Like the service account, the minimum top-up amount for the advertising budget is 1000 yuan and depends on the targeting parameters, city and launch time.
For example, depending on the city, you can define the following price ranges for banner advertising in mini apps: Tier 3 – 25-200 yuan, Tier 2 – 30-200 yuan, Tier 1 – 35-200 yuan.
Examples of WeChat moments ads
Advertising in WeChat Moment ads
WeChat moments ad is an ad shown in photo or video form while users are scrolling through the friends feed in WeChat Moment service.
WeChat moments ads are the most expensive: the minimum cost for launching a WeChat moment ad campaign is 50000 yuan. For example, for video, depending on the city, prices on moments ads vary as follows: Tier 3 – 30-200 yuan, Tier 2 – 40-200 yuan, Tier 1 – 50-200 yuan.
Examples of WeChat banner ads in a mini program
FAQ
WeChat advertising: wow much does it cost?
Advertising on WeChat is more expensive than, for instance, advertising on other Chinese social media or Baidu advertising: CPM usually starts from 50 yuan. However, there are a number of parameters that need to be taken into account.
First of all, the cost of ad spend depends on which ad account you choose: Tencent Ads has a minimum entry threshold of 5000 yuan, while WeChat Ads has a minimum entry threshold of 1000 yuan.
In addition, the cost of advertising is significantly affected by the form of its placement, the depth of targeting parameters like location targeting, etc.
For example, the cost of advertising by CPM depending on the level of the city (Tier 3-1) varies for advertising in a service account: from 15 to 40 yuan, in WeChat Moments: for photos – from 50 to 200 yuan, for videos – from 60 yuan to 230 yuan.
At the same time, depending on the type of advertising, the minimum replenishment amount also varies: it is 1000 yuan to advertise on WeChat in the service account and mini apps, and you need to have a 50000 yuan deposit at least for launching Moments ads.
Marketing on WeChat: how to attract more followers and potential customers?
In addition to advertising campaigns, it is possible to use other options for increasing user engagement and the amount of WeChat official account followers:
- Promotion in WeChat groups and communities: search for thematic groups, for example, via QQ, join them and repost materials with external link that are relevant to the topic of the group
- Online interactives: run contests in your chat groups, for example, offer a red envelope with a small amount to those who share the article to themselves in moments
- Offline events: During offline events, try to include as many QR codes as possible with a link to your WeChat, such as product packaging and other materials that your target audience may interact with
- Cross-platforms: Regard other platforms as another way for promotion in WeChat, such as a Weibo or Douyin accounts, where you can gently and unobtrusively invite your audience to follow your account in WeChat
- Key opinion leader advertising: it is possible to consider WeChat as a convenient place to collaborate with KOLs (key opinion leaders), which you can find through MCN agencies, special services, or contact directly on WeChat
Where is it possible to find KOL to advertise in WeChat?
Today, a lot of professional services suggest help to search for KOLs, among them are:
- MCN agencies such as AsiaKOL or HIVE
- Service Park Lu
- Site newrank.cn
All in all, there are a lot of effective ways to attract WeChat users through advertising on WeChat. Nowadays Chinese consumers are less interested in watching ads, therefore effective advertising campaign should be complex and omnichannel. Try to implement different types of WeChat advertising such as WeChat mini program ads and ad banners, WeChat official accounts advertising and WeChat moments advertising, etc. Try to pay attention to alternative ways like interaction with KOLs and content management improving WeChat official account articles.
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