Most people are aware that WeChat is an effective tool for marketing to consumers as companies can boost brand awareness through WeChat advertising. But how effective is B2B marketing on WeChat?

Turns out, WeChat allows B2B businesses to build the entire buyer journey from awareness to conversion leveraging the tools already available on the app. 

With a comprehensive WeChat strategy, businesses can attract customers at every stage of the buyer’s journey. They can convert the followers to buyers within the platform. So, if you’re a B2B business, WeChat can be a valuable part of your sales process.

Top Features Of WeChat B2B Marketing Account

Once your business has a WeChat Official Account, there are many features that you get access to. The account can also be used as the company’s Chinese website to inform and create awareness. In addition, businesses can use WeChat’s live stream function for hosting webinars to generate qualified leads or leverage WeChat groups to manage private traffic. 

Note – WeChat also has a separate app WeChat work which is designed for enterprise users. It allows the sales team to connect with customers one-on-one. The app can also be integrated with third-party social CRMs and automation tools.

You can use the following tools and features available within the app to promote your business. 

1. Transfer files

WeChat is the popularly used app to send messages, documents, address books, excel sheets, videos and images between individuals and businesses. 

2. Network analysis

WeChat provides you complete information about how your users interact with your official account. It also collects feedback from users that can help businesses improve their products and services.

3. Template message

With your official account, you can set up templated messages to be sent as important service notifications. For example, these notifications could be about a completed purchase or update in the number of membership points.

4. Group message

Your official account also lets you set up targeted group messages according to gender and region. When you send targeted messages, they can be personalized based on the segment and you can avoid disturbing the customers to whom the communication is irrelevant. 

5. Auto reply

WeChat also lets you send an auto-response when a user follows your account or sends a message or keyword. The welcome message to users can be customized to introduce the official account, display certain important keywords or promote the recent activities of the business. This message is important as it helps users understand the business better and establish a communication channel.

6. Trackable QR Code and Tagging

WeChat allows you to set tags to QR code which helps in segmenting users according to different scenarios. For example, if the user can scan the QR code generated with ‘online event’ tag to follow your account, the user profile will be added with ‘online event’ tag. This will help you understand that the follower came from an online event.  

7. Custom menu

With a WeChat official account, you can add up to three menu categories in the menu bar, and up to 5 sub-menus under each category. Each menu item can be linked to a message, a website or an application.

8. Translation Tool

WeChat also has an in-app translation tool that businesses can rely on for their day-to-day needs. This tool is helpful in avoiding poor translation that could result in poor marketing outcomes and harm your brand’s image.

Choose The Right WeChat Account For Your Company

To use WeChat for B2B marketing, you need a WeChat Official account which will work as the primary channel for the business to interact with customers and grow brand awareness. There are three different account types to choose from – subscription account, service account and enterprise account. 

Among these account types, subscription accounts and service accounts are best suited for B2B marketing. 

With a service account, your business gets access to exclusive features such as CRM, custom menus, payment integrations and mini programs. You can also use this account to stay in touch with your customers. If your business is service oriented, then you should choose this account type. Service accounts also provide more visibility to businesses. 

It’s also important to get your account verified from the beginning as it helps in building trust. A verified account ensures customers of safety and authenticity, besides offering access to the platform’s advanced features.

Think WeChat Articles Over Email Newsletters

The key to boost your credibility and build thought leadership among your followers on WeChat is to write great articles. Your followers can receive up to four articles a month and these articles appear in the same window as the messages from their friends.

With a great WeChat article you can grab the attention of your followers and build a connection. Your articles can be made interesting by using different style elements such as short blocks of text, images, short videos and the like. For content type, you may experiment with educational articles or announcements about new updates/releases.  

To ensure that your WeChat articles get more views, you can offer free resources to your followers in return for reposting the articles in their moments. Such reposting activities from your followers can help grow followers and bring leads. You can also partner with other WeChat accounts to cross-promote content. 

Make sure that you create content that is fully localized and valuable for your Chinese audience. Simply translating your existing global content wouldn’t help in engaging users.

Grow A Targeted Following on WeChat

For marketing B2B businesses, the value-per-follower matters more than the total number of followers. Efforts should be made to attract followers that could turn into potential buyers, partners or influencers.

The most common way to grow your following is QR code. You can place it on your website as well as in physical marketing materials to let potential leads connect with you via WeChat.

Consider Starting A WeChat Group

Building a private WeChat group for your business is now a common practice for both B2B and B2C companies to build a community and enhance brand loyalty. To keep the group members engaged, weekly discussions can be initiated by the group administrator based on the latest trends in the industry. The group needs to be managed closely to ensure that the quality of communication is such that members get value out of it. You can also use this group to share exclusive know-how of your business or to conduct live streaming events. 

WeChat Groups also offer the best way to grow private traffic for your business. Private traffic refers to the business audience that you can reach directly instead of relying on a third party platform. Such traffic is the opposite of paid ads and search engines. It provides you a unique opportunity to connect one-on-one with your potential as well as existing customers.

Nurture Leads With Private Traffic

WeChat private traffic is one of the most cost-effective ways to nurture leads and should be a part of your B2B marketing strategy. 

You can add members to your WeChat group the same way you grow your WeChat account followers. Start with your existing followers on WeChat and customers who attend your webinars or offline events. Next, give them incentives such as networking opportunities or valuable resources or unique insights to keep them connected to the group. Daily interaction also helps keep the group active and the community engaged. 

Once your WeChat group grows to a considerable number of members, you would require moderation, spam prevention and removal of inadequate content. You can do this through a dedicated staff member or through WeChat Work which allows multiple staff members to manage your WeChat account. WeCom also offers automation tools to help you send automated messages on the group and reduce the time spent by staff members on maintaining a WeChat group.

Leverage WeChat Mini Programs

WeChat also provides another powerful function – WeChat Mini Programs – which are lightweight apps that can be developed within WeChat. You can use these apps to showcase your products and services in a creative and interactive way. 

WeChat Mini Programs can be used to add your business card, promote events registration, share case studies and even to share the behind the scenes moments of your business. You can also conduct livestreams to mix up the content formats. 

Customers can also participate in promotional activities and chat real-time with your business through WeChat mini-site. 

Share High Quality Content Regularly

The frequency of publishing content on WeChat depends on your WeChat Account type. For a WeChat Service account, there’s a restriction of only posting 4 times per month with 2 articles in each post. The Subscription account lets you push content daily with up to 6 articles per post. 

New accounts should start posting once a week with 1-2 articles per post. They can increase frequency to 2-3 times once you find performance trends to identify the content type that is the most engaging. 

Since the goal of your B2B marketing efforts is not solely to create awareness but also to support sales, you should create downloadable resources such as white papers and case studies to generate leads.

You can place these resources under a customized tab ‘Resources Center’ in your WeChat account navigation menu so that your followers can access it easily. To collect leads, you can drive them to your Chinese website or get them to fill forms available on WeChat marketplace. Make sure to localize your content for the Chinese audience to get the best results.

Get Started With WeChat B2B Marketing For Your Business

If your organisation is interested in taking advantage of the incredible power of WeChat B2B Marketing in China, you can learn more about WeChat (and many of China’s top promotional channels) by creating a free AdChina.io account today. Our WeChina marketing tool and platform gives you complete transparency while running ads.