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How to Attract Chinese Travelers using WeChat?

Can you imagine, a country of more than 1.3 billion people with no access to Facebook, Instagram, or Twitter, using one online social service to chat and share with friends, read news, play games, track their fitness goals, make voice and video calls, shop online, and even pay for lunch.

This is not a Joke. In China, over 1 billion million users logging into WeChat every single day and using the service’s multiple functions all day long (70 percent of users open the app more than 10 times per day), WeChat marketing offers a powerful way to connect with consumers.

If you still don’t get what is Wechat, Let me give you a brief introduction about this amazing messaging Apps.

Let me introduce to you Wechat

Basically, WeChat is a messaging app, but that is really only a fraction of what the service can do. It offers more traditional social networking functions like video and picture sharing, games, stickers, and the ability to share and connect with friends through WeChat Moments.

The most important thing is the fact that Wechat is also a social commerce platform, incorporating WeChat Stores for online shopping and WeChat Pay and WeChat Wallet for payments to both online and brick and mortar vendors. Wechat even offers professional functions like expense tracking. It can be used to book a taxi, a flight, or a doctor’s appointment.

WeChat is now the most popular app in China. The consolidated monthly active users of Wexin and WeChat exceeded one billion in 2018. WeChat is the most frequently used application on mobile phones with the news was sent 45 billion times a day, which was an 18% increase. In 2018, WeChat Mini-programs has covered more than 200 industries. Mini-programs have served more than 100 billion users in 2018, and their annual transactions have grown by more than 600%.

How to Use WeChat for traveling Business: A Guide for Marketers

Chinese Travelers make the majority of their reservations decisions pre-travel, So what are some best practices?

Wechat Official Account

Welcome Chinese visitors in Mandarin

You have to make your Chinese guests feel like home by welcoming in Mandarin. It’s important to create a strong connection with your audience. Greeting by bilingual ‘ambassadors’ who welcome Chinese travelers and help with directions. Some tourism agencies have started hiring bilingual guides. A good way to start preliminary research is through Chinese forums. However, it may prove slightly difficult as you will need to speak Mandarin.

The most popular travel-based discussion and review forums in China are:

  • TuNiu;
  • Mafengwo
  • Gyer
  • DaoDao (Trip Advisor).
  • Ctrip

The Power of “Moments”

Over the recent years, western brands such as Starbucks have noticed that Chinese consumers are heavily influenced by word-of-mouth recommendations (family and friends) as well as KOL (Key Opinion Leader) content on social media for purchase decisions.

WeChat Moments feature is used by the Chinese travelers to “share their experience” with family and friends back home. Advertising on Moments and having a post shared through a friend network can work wonders for a brand trying to make their content go viral.

HTML5 Development

Html 5 pages are animated slideshows that let you provide accurate information in a fun, visually appealing and engaging way. Viewers have to swipe or slide through different slides, great for event invitations, quizzes and telling your brand story.

We encourage most brands to include Html5 in the Official Account menu, as they can be used for the “About Us” tab or showcase different products and services you offer. Html5 can also be used in campaigns and are a great way to encourage sharing.

To raise awareness they launched an H5 from their Official WeChat account in the form of a game, called “Your User Manual.”

Adapt to changing Chinese tourism trends

Chinese tourism market is no more just one big group market. Independent travel is on the rise and self-drive, Airbnb and caravanning are seeing increasing take-up too. Chinese millennials are a force to be reckoned with and this group of digital natives, in particular, are self-assured and confident about making their own travel arrangements.

Remember that Google is banned in China, so if your website is packed with Google features, such as Google maps, it won’t upload easily in China. Make sure your website and destination information is available to the Chinese and not just in straight translation but in formats, design, and wording which meet Chinese needs. Destination websites should also be hosted in Hong Kong or mainland China so they can be viewed in China.

Experiential travel is on the up for Chinese tourists, with heritage products and experiences finding favor for their novelty as well as their WOW factor for social media.

Location-based marketing

Since WeChat Official Service Accounts can detect user location, they’re a great fit for location-based marketing. Uses WeChat to show customers a list of local restaurants based on their current location or a specific street address. Customers can browse menus, place their order, and even pay for the food, all within the WeChat app. Once the restaurant receives the order, staff confirm through the WeChat app when the customer should expect the delivery. It’s a seamless ordering experience that never requires customers to pick up the phone or get out their cash or credit card.

Wechat Mini Programs

WeChat mini-programs are “sub-applications” within the WeChat ecosystem. They enable to provide advanced features to users such as e-commerce, task management, coupons, etc. Companies have long managed to leverage WeChat has an App ecosystem (without using mini-programs). WeChat made it possible to link from a Subscription Account article to a mini-program, increasing conversion rates.

WeChat Mini-programs also help target users with a specific purchasing power. WeChat Mini Programs are relatively new tools that keep on increasing in popularity. They are like apps that you can use directly on WeChat without needing to install them on your device. Mini Programs are used for customer support, selling products, to deliver news and so on.

Given the scope of Mini Programs and the role they play in increasing revenue in China, it is a good idea to use QR Codes to invite more people to your company’s Mini Program.

Get creative with QR codes

In addition to being a popular social network, WeChat has become a popular means to send and receive money using the payment platform WeChat Pay. This is done easily by using a QR Code. WeChat is currently trying to encourage more users to use QR Codes to process payments.

In today’s WeChat Essential tip we are going to cover a variety of things about QR codes or as they are known in China. WeChat automatically creates a QR code for each Official Account. The app also includes a QR code scanner, which allows brands to get creative with QR codes both within and outside of the app.
QR codes are basically a way to link the offline and online worlds. This means they have an absolute myriad of potential applications once people become used to using them. The Chinese public is now very comfortable and familiar with this technology.

QR codes are everywhere in China with WeChat driving the trend most. Scanning the code took users to the travel agency WeChat Official Account, increasing both followers and sales.

Customer engagement

Customer engagement is about encouraging your customers to interact and share in the experiences you create for them as a business and a brand. When executed well, a strong customer engagement strategy will foster brand growth and loyalty. At the heart of everything, it’s important to understand that every customer wants to feel you understand their needs and that they can relate to your brand.

In a Valentine’s Day campaign, Tiffany & Co. used WeChat posts to ask followers about the meaning of love by sharing their take on the phrase “Love Is…” The campaign encouraged user engagement with the Tiffany brand while positioning Tiffany jewelry as the appropriate gift for the ones you love. While they were already thinking about love, WeChatters could use a tool within the Tiffany & Co. WeChat Official Account to find the ideal engagement ring, then use the store locator to see where they could go to buy it.

Using content to educate customers is now becoming increasingly common to enhance the customer experience and increases satisfaction.

Gentlemen Marketing Agency

We a WeChat Agency, GMA helps overseas companies to utilise WeChat to enter China market!

 

 

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