There is great news for brands looking to reach Chinese demographics effectively with one marketing tool.
WeChat has begun allowing international businesses to create official service accounts with their service. Brands from over 200 countries can apply for an official account using their foreign business license.
What does that mean for your business? If you are already leveraging social media in other markets, using WeChat to help corner the Chinese market is a no-brainer.
In this post, we’ll talk about how we can help you set up an account and all the great benefits that come with doing that.
What is WeChat?
WeChat is the most popular, powerful, and successful social network in China. Think of it as China’s version of Facebook.
It started as a messaging app and has grown into an incredibly versatile platform. It allows users to communicate and connect with friends, play games, make purchases, view videos, and many other functions.
In the past, foreign companies were only allowed to register for an account on WeChat’s international platform. This didn’t give those companies access to mainland China WeChat users.
Now that’s all changed. International businesses can now create official WeChat accounts, opening up a demographic (mainland China residents) that numbers in the billions. From a social network marketing perspective, it can help take your company to the next level.
Now that we’ve established the power and effectiveness of WeChat as a marketing tool, the next step in the process? Setting up your WeChat account.
Why You Should Set Up a WeChat Account
Below are a few advantages of setting up a WeChat account:
- It opens you up to the Chinese market. Typically, a firewall in China prevents their citizens from seeing North American content. This is a major value-added that can expose you to a wealth of new potential customers.
- You’ll have the ability to launch WeChat “Moment” ads. These are akin to Facebook Timeline ads, appearing in users’ WeChat Moments. You can target these ads based on different demographics, depending on who you would like to reach.
- WeChat media can link to your company’s account and content, getting your message in front of potentially billions of people.
- You can create your own content and use WeChat as a platform to host and share that content.
We Can Register Your WeChat Account
You are able to set up your own WeChat account. However, we recommend partnering with Periphery Digital to set up your account for a few important reasons:
- We understand the market. Periphery Digital designs marketing, media, and PR campaigns for Chinese language viewers. We are well-versed in the Chinese market and well-versed in the process involved in setting up an account.
- It saves you time. This type of thing is our specialty. We understand the process and can do it quickly and efficiently. While we understand the process and how to complete it, it’s not necessarily intuitive for someone learning it for the first time. It involves multiple steps and documentation. Dedicating your own time and resources will lead to a time-consuming process in which you end up pulling your staff off other projects to familiarize themselves with a new interface. Establishing familiarity takes time, plus it could lead to costly mistakes.
- Small errors lead to big setbacks. If you choose to go it alone, the tiniest error in the submission could cause a ripple effect that leads to major delays in getting your account set up.
There are multiple reasons why you should avoid setting up your own account. A better idea is to leave the process to a team of trusted subject matter experts who can set up your account with no stress or delay.
How We Set Up Your WeChat Account
The process for setting up your account has multiple steps. We can serve as a liaison between you and Tencent, the company that owns and operates WeChat. Let us guide you through the process, step by step, from beginning to completion.
Before we start, you should have some documentation prepared for us, including:
- Certificate of Incorporation
- Signed Tencent Application Form
- Certification of Brand, Trademark, or Power of Attorney of Brand (If Applicable)
- Business License (If Applicable)
- Operator (Owner) and Admin/Driver’s License ID – Both the front and back side
- Operator (Owner) and Admin Business Card – Both the front and back side
- Operator’s Cell Phone Bill – Must show the name of the phone user (same as on the ID), the phone number,and the payment information for the past 3 months.
- WeChat Registration Information Form
Be sure to have a color photocopy of the original version of each document. Once we receive your documentation, we’ll review it to make sure your submission is complete without any issues.
From there your company will be asked to verify the email address you’ll be using to manage the account. It will be important that the email address has not been registered to any other WeChat accounts. We recommend setting up a dedicated account for this purpose, naming it something like “WeChat@yourcompany.com.”
We’ll then work with WeChat to submit your documentation and verify your account. The verification fee typically takes 30 days. There will be a $99 verification fee paid to Tencent from the bank account your company lists on its account as well to verify the veracity of the bank account you plan to use for WeChat business.
Once your documentation and account have been verified, your account will be set up. Depending on the industry you are in, Tencent may require additional documentation. If that occurs, we will let you know and work with you to submit any additional information as well.
Conclusion
WeChat can be an incredibly valuable tool in your marketing toolbox, tapping into a previously untapped market of North American-based Chinese consumers. Once you get through the process of setting up your account, your business will be able to use WeChat to grow its customer base and revenues.
Let Periphery Digital be your partner in this process by setting up your WeChat account today. Contact us for a quote or free consultation!
