WeChat has several types of accounts suitable for large companies or small, self-employed businesses. For self-employed or small businesses, Subscription accounts are recommended, since it only requires you to verify your identity using a China personal ID, China phone number and China bank account. 

For larger companies, such as Nike and Dior, these companies typically go for Service accounts, which puts them in their followers' messages page and allows for one WeChat newsletter posting per week (4 times per month). This type of account requires business information verification, so you will need a registered business in China to open this type of account. Subscription accounts are placed within a Subscription folder, so are not as visible as companies using Service type accounts. 

For companies who are operating a WeChat account for business, here are our 5 best practices for companies using WeChat for business:

1. Stay Active - post once per week. It's like that your subscribers are following multiple, if not, hundreds of different branded subscription accounts, and new newsletters are sent to the top of the feed chronologically, meaning that you will fall waaaaay behind if you don't post at least once per week. For subscription accounts, sometimes they post once per day, but if you are not able to generate this much content, then aim for at least once per week. For Service accounts, you are competing for the attention of your subscribers against the friends and group chats they have in the messages page, so make sure to make your headline captivating.

2. Stay Interesting. Ties in with our first point. After you push out a few different newsletters you will start observing what topics and types of content generate the most click throughs and shares for you, so utilize this information wisely and tweak your content strategy to stay interesting and engaging.

3. Respond! WeChat users are able to message the administrator for the WeChat account and these messages appear on your administrative platform. It's amazing how many people don't check their message box regularly. WeChat has a rule that you are not able to reach out and respond to the subscriber after 48 hours, so make sure you check and respond to messages at least once per day or you could be losing out on potential sales!

4. Keep your sales and marketing team up to speed. Make it an integral part of your marketing strategy. Content being created and distributed on WeChat should be perceived to carry equal importance to other western social media platforms. Ensure the content meets your company standards and aligns with your branding before you deliver the content. Content on WeChat is part of the umbrella marketing support your provide to your sales and marketing team to help generate leads and sales, so they should be advised on how to best utilize the content to grow sales and the direction comes from YOU.

5. Measure your success and use it to improve your content strategy. While the WeChat platform does not have a developed advertising and analytics platform that we are used to with western social media and online advertising, you are still able to see some analytics useful for business strategizing. For example, follower growth during a sales or lead generation campaign is a good metric to see effectiveness. Another may be the number of article reads, which provides insight on headlines that drive more traffic and engagement.

These are just a few of the best practices we recommend. For a tailored strategy, contact our WeChat Specialists so we can help identify opportunities for you to grow your business using WeChat.