WeChat marketing: harnessing China's premier social app for strategic outreach.

If you have travelled to China, you will already be familiar with the “Great Firewall.” This digital barrier blocks major Western platforms like Google, Facebook, and YouTube. An alternative digital ecosystem has emerged in their place — and in it, WeChat is king. The platform has the most active users of any app on the mainland — around one billion at last count and has become an essential part of daily life for many in China with over 45 billion messages sent on the app everyday.

WeChat offers significant advantages for higher education institutions due to its vast, active community and publicly facing features like official accounts and mini-programs. These features make WeChat a pivotal tool, offering institutions the opportunity to influence a prospective students study plans with nearly eight in ten prospective international students in China using it to research overseas education.

Although university websites are still the primary source of information for students, WeChat's impact in education marketing is notable. There is a strong link between the readership of WeChat articles and the number of Chinese students an institution attracts, with every 100 article reads potentially yielding five new students. Additionally, studies suggest WeChat helps Chinese students adapt socially and navigate new environments, as frequent users of the platform benefit from peer support and shared information.

As a primary communication tool in China, WeChat enables university marketers and recruiters to engage with prospects, students, and alumni both in groups and on a one-to-one basis. As approximately 70% of Chinese prospective students prefer interacting with universities through WeChat. The platform is also for maintaining ties with alumni after they return to China, making it a key component of effective marketing strategies, especially given the high importance Chinese individuals place on referrals and reviews.

As Gen Z in China are digital-first natives, having a Chinese-optimized website and a WeChat Official account is foundational when targeting this demographic. Learn how you can leverage your Asia digital assets to boost international student recruitment.

For B2B companies, WeChat is a crucial platform for generating and nurturing sales leads with a survey finding WeChat was the preferred professional communications tool for nine in 10 Chinese professionals, ahead of email, phone calls and text messages. The same report revealed 57% of new contacts were primarily work related. WeChat is, for most Chinese, an essential tool for work — one that has been adopted by many foreign companies in China.

A survey of American companies in China also revealed 88% used WeChat as a communication tool with employees, and 76.8% used it as to communicate with government. If they couldn’t use WeChat, 88% believed their operations would be negatively affected.

For B2B companies, WeChat is a crucial platform for generating and nurturing sales leads with a survey finding 90% of Chinese professionals prefer it over email, phone calls, and texts. According to the same report, 57% of new WeChat contacts are primarily work-related.

By publishing high-quality, business-relevant content, companies can capture potential customers' interest and build a professional, reliable brand image. This approach allows for deep engagement with potential customers, helping businesses understand their needs and feedback to develop more targeted marketing strategies. Learn how you can leverage your WeChat Official Account and Asia digital assets for B2B in China and India.

WeChat offers several types of accounts tailored to meet the needs of different organizations. The two main account types are:

Subscription Accounts

Subscription Accounts are suited to bloggers, key opinion leaders (KOLs) and media sites who tend to push content frequently. These accounts allow for frequent updates and push notifications to subscribers' feeds and can be found in the subscriptions folder of their inbox. This makes subscription accounts ideal for delivering news articles and promotional content.

Service Accounts

Service Accounts are more focused on communication and interaction, promoting or delivering services. They’re also better suited to relationship management and build brand loyalty. Unlike Subscription Accounts, Service Accounts offer more extensive customization options and support advanced features such as integration with WeChat Pay and WeChat Mini Programs.

In general, we recommend organizations opt for a Service Account rather than a Subscription Account as it is available for international organizations, content is more visible and allows you to use third-party WeChat account marketing tools. For a deeper dive, download our guide on Social media account creation in Asia to learn what requirements are needed to create a WeChat Service Account and other channels such as Little Red Book, WhatsApp, LINE and Douyin.