Forget Facebook, Whatsapp or even Skype, you can have all their functionalities and far more by using Wechat.
If you never heard of Wechat, it is a Chinese smartphone application release in 2011 by the Chinese tech group Tencent.
At first, the platform was a messaging app, allowing people to talk and share information instantaneity. In five years, it has developed more than you could imagine and has overtaken most of its competitors.
Now, Wechat count over 846 millions monthly active users and is an incredible leverage for brand seeking for exposure.
What make Wechat a Super App?
Wechat key of success is Innovation. When all of it competitors are focusing on their social medias activities, Wechat is creating its own ecosystem.
The app is growing at the speed of the light and is offering more and more possibilities to its users,
here is an overview of its social media features:
Gaming is also a major functionality of the Wechat ecosystem
Chinese are addicts of games and its the first source of revenue of Wechat parent company Tencent! The apps release its game section in 2013 and since then, 15% of users are playing on it every day.
Wechat has its own payment solution. This solution has been integrated directly in the app under the “Wallet” section
Wechat Pay was popularized by the “Red Envelope” feature introduced in 2015. Based on a Chinese cultural habit to send money in Hong Bao (red envelopes) during the Chinese New Year, Wechat offered the possibility to its user to send money to their friends.
Wechat Pay has many more features; indeed, you can do nearly everything from exchanging money with friends to paying your electricity bill or even purchasing a flight ticket.
source: Walkthechat
The phenomenon is spreading so fast that its affecting offline shopping. People don’t need cash anymore, as long as wechat payement solution is integrated in a shop, they can scan a QR code and pay directly through the app.
Source: Walkthechat
In order to increase the number of subscription on its payement solution, the app has implemented a very aggressive strategy. It blocked the access to some feature to users that hasn’t putted their bankcards. It is the case for example, to join groups that contain over 100 members.
This move seems to work pretty well! Indeed, Wechat Pay is gaining ground in China, over the 846 millions Wechat users, more than 400 millions already putted their bankcards . Its popularity is even threatening Alipay leadership in the market.
Going further with Mini apps
Users don’t need several apps anymore because Wechat is gathering them all in one single platform thanks to Mini Apps.
Indeed, the idea was to create “an app within an app within WeChat” that will replace the unmissable Apple Store. These apps can be found directly by searching them or scanning the QR code.
Mini apps offer convenience for users to order, buy, and get direct access to the brand they want to follow.
Source: Walkthechat
Mini Apps offer also many possibilities for a brand to share information, increase its visibility, exchange with its consumer and even sale its products.
Wechat is an incredible platform to in crease brand awareness and create a link with Chinese population. Well manage, a campaign can easily reach millions of people in a very short times. The challenge is now for companies to leverage the right tools to reach their target in a platform gathering 24% of global internet users.