WeChat Launches WeChat Channels Accounts in Beta

WeChat has launched a new invite-only function for personal and business users called WeChat Channels Accounts.

Businesses are able to register for WeChat Official Accounts, WeChat Advertising Accounts, and now, WeChat Channels Accounts (Beta). 

A quick recap on what these WeChat Business accounts are for:

1. WeChat Official Accounts allow businesses to post articles and newsletters onto an account with a branded profile, similar to a Facebook page. Overseas businesses are limited to publishing 4 WeChat newsletters per calendar month.
   

2. WeChat Advertising Accounts allow businesses to advertise on WeChat Moments, within WeChat Mini Programs and WeChat Games, etc. There are restricted industries that will not be approved for a WeChat Advertising Account - real estate companies overseas and online media/publishing companies fall into this category. 
   

3. NEW! WeChat Channels Accounts allows businesses to share short video clips under a branded profile. The format is similar to TikTok and Instagram Stories, where the clips are minimum 3 seconds and up to 60 seconds but once posted, the clips do not disappear. You can also post up to 9 static images that will play in rotation. In terms of editing, you can insert music, text, and emojis into your video.

Here's a cheat sheet of the key functions of WeChat Channels Accounts:

• Users with access to this Beta function can find it in their explore tab.

If you have access as a Beta user, you will see the Channels icon within your Discover menu tab.

• Posts must be minimum 3 seconds and can be up to 60 seconds long.

Users would swipe through a video feed like what you see above; this looks similar to an Instagram newsfeed.

• Video or static images are accepted formats.

• Posts can be tagged with a location and hashtags.

• WeChat Channels Accounts have branded profiles where all the videos are shown in a format similar to an Instagram profile layout as shown below.

Screenshot of a North American news outlet’s WeChat Channels Account page.

• You are able to insert an external link to your video post to take users to a WeChat article on your business' WeChat Official Account.

3 steps to inserting a link to connect your video with an existing WeChat article on your official WeChat account.

While the function isn't available to all users just yet, it's interesting to see how WeChat is expanding its content format types to compete with its key competitor Douyin (TikTok's China version), which is already at over 400M daily active users after 2 years of accelerated growth compared to WeChat 1B daily active users.

With social media platforms embracing video more and more, how is your brand adapting to this? Are you ready to market your brand, service or product through this medium?