Dive Brief:
- Marketers looking to make inroads into the Chinese market are increasingly going to WeChat.
- The Tencent-owned messaging platform's 600 million monthly users makes for a compelling audience for brands.
- In fact, brands are creating HTML5 microsites that WeChat users can visit via QR codes as well as offering custom content.
Dive Insight:
WeChat, with its ballooning active user count in China and select overseas markets, has advertisers eagerly seeking to ink partnerships. For comparison, Facebook-owned Whatsapp had 900 million monthly active users as of September.
One way brands are taking advantage of WeChat's marketplace is via HMTL5 multimedia microsites that WeChat users can access through QR codes. Fashion brands, such as Chanel and Louis Vuitton, have offered WeChat users content including videos, news, make up tips and product information.
According to a ClickZ article, Uniqlo is active on WeChat, increasing its followers from 400,000 to around one million in just six months and boosting sales by 30% with its ‘Style Your Life’ campaign where users could share them with their friends. Some users also uploaded selfies taken in-store.
Meanwhile, B2C brands are also looking to Instagram and Snapchat to reach the U.S. millennial audience.
