How brands can leverage WeChat Index to measure their popularity on WeChat ?

May 17, 2017

Apart from brands having their own official WeChat accounts (which provides them with direct feedback from their consumers), the application has recently released a new feature called “WeChat Index” (微信指数) – to access this tool, simply type the previous Chinese keywords in the WeChat search bar.

 

WeChat Index is a trend projector showing the popularity of a brand upon searching the relevant keywords on the tool. The tool enables the brand to identify and understand their performance, once entering the keyword on to the tool the number of times the keyword mentioned in any of the articles within the app for the last 7, 30 or 90 days hits the screen in a trend graph.

 

The service is based out to be on big data analysis and mobile indexing, where it understands user behaviour patterns and other data aspects and characteristics to project the brand’s popularity and performance among the 898 million WeChat users in turn helping the brand to build and evolve with real time feedback from its consumers.

 

With WeChat Index as a listening tool, the app also had various ways of marketing for brand such as content promotion through articles on product reviews and information, advertising via moments and account ads. Linking the brand’s online website portal to their official account along with strategic partnership emphasizing the use of WeChat wallet are other ways of marketing on WeChat.

 

WeChat is much more just another instant messaging app, it has replaced the wallet for users in China. With the recent report by Tencent projecting 93% adoption rate to using WeChat Pay (in cities) majority of them reasoning it as to not carrying cash at the time of purchase. Addressing the change in consumer behaviour, WeChat enables their users to book hotels and restaurants, buy movie tickets and handle all viable transactions through the app. A clear shift or transition towards a cashless society is being welcomed by the country.

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KRDS promotes French tourism on WeChat with Atout France

May 12, 2017

KRDS is glad to welcome Atout France as a new client ! We appreciate their trust in our vision and approach to increase France visibility on WeChat.

Atout France (France.fr) is the unique official French government agency in charge of promoting the first touristic destination in the world for 25 years: France. The agency helps 1,200 tourism professionnals in their international development and over 2,800 promotion campaigns are organized every year.

KRDS’ scope of work includes strategic consulting, on-going content creation , content moderation, campaigns and activations with media buying and KOL collaboration.

KRDS experience with travel and tourism clients on WeChat was much appreciated by Atout France.

Stay tuned and follow Atout France on WeChat !

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Russia blocks WeChat

May 9, 2017

China’s most popular social media app WeChat developed by Tencent Holdings gets listed among the prohibited websites in Russia. An official statement by Russian internet watchdog body Roskomnadzor confirmed the news as WeChat failed to fulfil Russia’s internet regulations. According to Roskomnadzor’s spokesperson, WeChat was blocked over not providing contact details for Russia’s register of “organizers of information distribution on the internet.”

 

Tencent having launched its app in 2011 haven’t been able to popularize in Russia, however this move may affect Chinese tourists and Russians doing business with China.

 

WeChat is not the first social media app prohibited in Russia, earlier this week Roskomnadzor listed Blackberry Messenger and Line to be banned as well. All this started after a law passed in 2014 required all foreign social media, search engine and messaging services to store the gathered personal information of Russian users within the country’s boundaries.

 

Tencent responded to the block stating “We’re experiencing a block and we’re deeply sorry,” on the company’s microblog,“Russian regulations say online service providers have to register with the government but WeChat doesn’t have the same understanding (of the rules),” the official also added that the company is communicating with Russian authorities on the issue.

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WeChat Pay chasing Alipay with 1.2 Trillion of USD in 2016

May 5, 2017

China has taken the lead at an astonishing rate in adapting online platforms as a common mode of payment compared to the rest of the world. In a period of five years (2010-2015) the percentage of digital payments, mostly mobile in the country has increased from 3.5% to 17% for all retail transactions.

 

The total amount processed through such payment portals in the year 2016 has been 3 trillion USD, with WeChat Pay chasing Alipay with 1.2 trillion USD. This demand for mobile payments became visible after the establishment of these two services, which combined owns 63% of the market share in digital payments today. With 800 million new WeChat Pay users to Alipay’s 450 million, WeChat Pay takes the lead while Alipay leads in payment volumes.

 

According to the data published in the Tencent Penguin Intelligence Survey, WeChat pay is the primary payment method for offline purchases with 93% adoption rate across tier 1 and tier 2 cities which includes Beijing and Shanghai. Cash comes in second place (39 percent), while debit and credit cards are third.

 

With respect to the competition, both WeChat Pay and Alipay are directed towards a common goal of minimizing cash transactions in China and are doing their best in expanding overseas by collaborating with local partners and becoming easy and attractive to implement.

 

As a testament to the central stage mobile payments has taken in Chinese consumers lives, Ogilvy & Maher and Ipsos concluded in a survey of China’s mobile payment market that “[Chinese] mobile payment has permeated all aspects of life and changed basic, everyday habits.”

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WeChat Expert Wanted: we are recruiting a Business Development Manager in Shanghai

May 3, 2017

Job description

Your main responsibilities:

The Business Development Manager main goal will be to work with KRDS local and international teams, to ensure the sales and proper delivery of social media and mobile campaigns including studio work, community management, applications and game-based campaigns to advertisers and agencies in Shanghai.

KRDS is especially looking for someone with ideally a previous experience in China, a strong leadership and sales mindset and experience, someone autonomous, ready to move fast and to grab a great opportunity in a booming company.

Based in our downtown office in Shanghai, you will be:

  • Managing and coordinating KRDS teams (Sales, Production, Admin …)
  • Leading all business development activities including proposals and pitches with the goal of winning new business
  • Contacting companies and advertising agencies that might be interested in social media marketing
  • When meeting potential customers, finding out what their goals are, explaining why and how to meet them
  • Ideating campaigns that might suit the client’s strategy
  • After a meeting, writing a compelling and well-illustrated powerpoint proposal
  • Answering potential customers’ questions
  • Negotiating the terms of an agreement & closing sales.
  • Briefing KRDS Project Managers about what needs to be developed, keeping track of the developments to make sure what is done is what was planned and sold
  • Managing the customer relationship from first contact to payment and upselling
  • Going to networking events within the industry
  • Keeping an up-to-date knowledge in local social media marketing
  • Reporting to the Country Manager and KRDS HQ

Your profile:

  • At least 2 years in a Business Development role with a proven track record
  • Eloquence (both when speaking and writing) and persuasion (strong commercial skills)
  • Outstanding sales & pitching skills
  • Deep interest for and knowledge of Sina Weibo and WeChat
  • Strong knowledge of the Chinese market, especially in terms of consumers’ habits and social media usage would be a real plus
  • Autonomy
  • Ability to develop and present digital strategies
  • Ability to work under pressure and manage crisis
  • Ability to speak and write in English – Chinese is a plus

APPLY HERE

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898 millions users, 10 millions official accounts, discover the latest trends on WeChat !

April 28, 2017

Tencent Penguin Intelligence Survey released its annual WeChat users report earlier this week. Apart from noticing significant increase in the average number of WeChat contacts and the usage of WeChat for work, it has shown incredible shift in the transition to a cashless society through WeChat Pay as well.

With the average time spent being 66 mins, the increase in average number of contacts are believed to be work related. The survey also pointed out the major reasons to join group chats are for corporate and professional networking. This clearly shows us how WeChat has become the prominent communication tool for daily work.

WeChat Pay being the major contender apart from Alipay in minimizing cash transactions in the country, they have largely succeeded as well. The data projects that WeChat pay is the primary payment method for offline purchases with 93% adoption rate across tier 1 and tier 2 cities which includes Beijing and Shanghai.

With WeChat Pay believed to be more popular with small businesses for transactions. The amount spent monthly through these portals have also seen dip in light use (below 500) and a raise in mid or high usage (1000-5000) compared to the previous year. With all that being said one of the major reason pointed out by the respondents through this survey was that they use WeChat Pay as they were not carrying cash and the situations they used this mode of payment were at supermarkets, convenience stores, online shopping, food (restaurants) and at the malls.

The survey also helped in understanding the users better in terms of the need to increase familiarity with the use of ‘Mini Programs’. It was also found that 57% of the users are willing to pay for content and information on a monthly basis, which seems to be China’s new trend.

The growth of official accounts on WeChat has been quite significant in 2016. According to the survey nearly ⅓ of WeChat official accounts are doing some form of e-commerce leading to increase in the number of followers for these official accounts.

With 898 million users, 10 million official accounts and 200,000 WeChat developers, were the established key statistics of the report published.

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Cannes Lions opens a WeChat account

April 24, 2017

Cannes Lions, the International Festival of Creativity has launched its official WeChat account recently, reaching out to the Chinese attendees of the festival as they can now be more involved in participation with the account communicating in their local language. This launch comes out just in time as China’s creative community renews China Day, dedicated to Chinese creativity and innovation following its success in 2013.

Having identified WeChat to be the appropriate and an engaging forum to reach China’s creative communications industry, an exclusive Chinese customer service team has been set up to assist people in buying the passes through the WeChat account.

“China is a vibrant and dynamic creative economy and a highly valued market for Cannes Lions. This felt like the right time to provide this new WeChat service dedicated to the country. We’re delighted to work with Tencent Social Ads to ensure we can engage and support our Chinese attendees like never before,” said Terry Savage, Chairman of Cannes Lions, who will also be available for interaction on their official WeChat account.

The Chinese award entries and the attendee numbers at the Cannes Lions have seen a rapid growth in recent years. With China being an crucial part of the creative communication at the festival, China Day 2017 look to seize the spotlight for the attention of the global industry for ideas and inspiration.

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Bill Gates joins WeChat

October 5, 2015

On February 11th, another celebrity joins WeChat, Microsoft founder and tech genius, Bill Gates.

You can now follows id official account, ID:Gatesnotes.

This is no surprise with the popularity and the previous launch of his Weibo account in 2010.

weibo-bill-gates

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BNP Paribas engages with its staff on WeChat

October 5, 2015

To animate BNP Baribas annual dinner event, KRDS creates 2 uniques dynamic experiences on WeChat.

A quiz with 2 sessions allowed BNP employees to compete live on a WeChat connected mini-site. The results were display live on a giant screen.

A WeChat voting system was also created to elect the best staff performance of the evening.

You can read more on the event on Digital Marketing Asia or Marketing Interactive.

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