WeChat, launched in 2011 by Tencent, is one of the largest social networks in China with nearly one billion monthly active users. And fortunately, now it is open for brands to advertise. In the beginning, Tencent was reluctant to open the platforms for advertisers, but now businesses have a great opportunity to break the ice.

So, how to use WeChat for business? Today in this post, we will learn how to use WeChat for business and advertise on WeChat.

Here is the step by step guide on how to use WeChat for business:

1. Account Registration

First of all, you have to create an official account on the WeChat. WeChat allows you to register as an individual or business. When you register as an individual, you have access to limited features. So when you are planning for WeChat marketing, you have to register as a business. When you register as a business, you have four types of account to choose from: subscription accounts, service accounts, enterprise accounts, and mini-programs. Each type of account offers different features.

Subscription accounts

It allows you to send one message per day to a user and post one to six articles per day. This type of account is ideal for businesses who want to increase their brand awareness and establish a brand reputation. But it does not give you access to features like WeChat pay, WeChat E-commerce, and Geo-localization.

Service accounts

It gives you access to WeChat store and WeChat pay and offers features like GEO localization and access to API. These accounts appear as friends in the chat section of the WeChat whereas subscription accounts are grouped together in a dedicated folder appearing alongside your friends in the “chat” section of WeChat.

Enterprise accounts

These types of account are intended to use for internal management of companies. They required both followers and account to approve each other to connect. Content cannot be shared with unauthorized users.

Mini-programs

These types of accounts cannot send push notifications and mean to use for offline application when users are only meant to use the APP once.

2. Content Management

After successfully setting up your account, you can start sharing content on your official WeChat account to your targeted audience. Content is the foundation of any advertising campaign. You have to consistently share the valuable, informative, engaging, and high-quality content with users to build brand awareness, establish brand recognition and create a loyal user database.

3. WeChat advertising

Now it is time to reach out to your customers more actively. WeChat advertisement helps to drive traffic to your company’s website, app or product. Three main types of WeChat advertising are WeChat Moments advertising, WeChat Banner Advertising, and WeChat Key Opinion leader advertising.

Wechat Moments advertising

WeChat moment ads appear on the WeChat Moments. WeChat Moments ads are available in two formats: display ads and video ads. WeChat moment advertising allows you to target users according to their location, interest, age, gender, device and phone network. Foreign companies who are willing to invest $1500 to $8000 are allowed to advertise on WeChat Moments.

WeChat Banner advertising

WeChat banner ads are similar to the banner ads that you see on the website. WeChat banner ads include a logo, account name, and headline. These ads are displayed at the bottom of an article written by another WeChat official account.

WeChat Key Opinion Leader (KOL) advertising

You can also pay a popular WeChat blogger to promote your product either through a posting a full article talking about your brand on their WeChat account or a banner at the end of their post. It is one of the best ways to get immediate results. These bloggers have a huge following and earned the trust of followers. They can drive more than a couple of hundreds of unit sales within posting of one article on their WeChat account.

So this was a quick guide for marketers on WeChat marketing and how to use WeChat for business.