As the leading social media network among Chinese consumers, there is no doubt that your brand needs to be advertising on WeChat to be effective in market. But once you’ve made the decision to establish your brand’s presence on WeChat, where do you begin? How can a brand advertise on WeChat?
Setting up an account on WeChat is a great start to participating in Chinese social media. With an accelerating number of users on the platform, being part of this community will benefit your company in numerous ways.
For an individual, becoming a member on WeChat is straightforward, however, for a business it can be a more complicated setup. Signing up for a WeChat corporate account requires a number of steps, including acquiring business licenses, getting product approvals and more. Many companies can find the process time-consuming and confusing (especially if you’re not familiar with registration for various social media services in China).
Subscription or Service?
The first step before registering a WeChat Corporate Account is to decide which account to use. Two types of accounts are available: subscription accounts and service accounts. It is important to make the right decision, as there will be no opportunity to switch accounts after registration.
Subscription accounts allow potential consumers to subscribe to the page and follow your WeChat updates. This type of account is easier to set up and maintain, compared to a service one. If an organization is planning on publishing a lot of content, this type of account is a great fit.
On the other hand, subscription accounts are very limited in their capabilities – only one piece of content can be published on the page per day, and push notifications are not sent to the subscribers, which means you don’t have as much opportunity to connect with your brand’s followers.
Service accounts offer more features for brands, including interactive menus and electronic payment options so that consumers can buy your products through the app. Users can get in touch with brands and typically receive a response within 48 hours. Through service accounts, WeChat users are able to scroll over the menus and purchase products they like.
Unlike subscription accounts, brands are only allowed to publish content four times per month! So, if your brand’s main objective is to publish content, it is better to opt for a subscription account.
Registration: what documents should be prepared if I want to market on WeChat?
To sign up for a WeChat Corporate Account, businesses have to go through a number of legal steps.
In order to start the process, brands have to acquire the necessary Chinese business licenses. This will allow you to have up to 40 accounts following your brand on the WeChat app.
In order to sell products within the WeChat app, product approvals are required, so you can see it’s a bit more logistically challenging than Instagram. The process of getting a business license and product approvals is not overly difficult, but it is time-consuming and can be confusing for non-Chinese organizations.
WPIC has assisted dozens of organizations in setting up these accounts in a fast and efficient manner. Get your brand in front of the right audience as soon as possible. Furthermore, WPIC has experience customizing WeChat corporate pages to help brands stand out in China’s online market.