Apple Watch + WeChat: how Apple is trying to seduce China

Thomas Graziani WeChat news

During Apple March event, Tim Cook unveiled a variety of new products and features, from the new Macbook Air to an Open Source toolkit for medical research. But what stood out for viewers out there was the repeated attempt to seduce Chinese customers. An unexpected beginning The first frame of the Apple Keynote yesterday was more than unexpected: Yes, before …

WeChat & online services: the future is in 2nd and 3rd tier cities

Tingyi Chen WeChat news

The Chinese internet service market has boomed during the last 2 years, especially with the rising popularity on O2O business model last year. A recent Tencent market research report shows that internet service model has just as much impact on the 2nd and 3rd tier cities as it does for the 1st tier cities (Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou and Shenzheng). So which industry is the next gold mine …

How to measure your WeChat ROI (Return on Investment)?

Thomas Graziani WeChat guides & tips

There is a huge difference between being present on WeChat and actively leveraging the platform. How can you make sure you are maximising your WeChat ROI? 1. Link your WeChat account with a web-APP WeChat provides you with basic information about reads and shares for your messages (along with geographic, demographic and device data), but this data resides on Tencent …

How can businesses process Alipay payments via WeChat?

Tingyi Chen New WeChat features

With the tension between two Internet giant Alipay and Tencent heated over the Hongbao war on Chinese New Year, the two companies have entered into a “freeze-out” period in which you can no longer access Alipay owned websites like Taobao, Tmall and Xiami (popular music app) though WeChat.   A lot of clients ask us if we can help them to process …

5 tips for successful WeChat advertising

Tingyi Chen WeChat news

On the night before Chinese New year, a WeChat advertising campaign featuring virtual red envelopes through the WeChat Shake function (摇一摇) became the most popular activity, beside watching the Spring festival gala. WeChat gave out 500 million yuan (80 million USD), the Shake function was used 11 billion times by people over 185 countries. In just a few days, around …

WeChat voice recognition on public accounts: how to do it.

Thomas Graziani New WeChat features

The WeChat voice recognition account “Chumen wenwen” (出门问问)- “Go out and ask” is carrying a simple function: you can ask him any kind of questions an he will answer (what is the weather in Beijing, what supermarkets are there around Zhongguancun, etc…). This high-tech function is actually easy to develop. Indeed, few people know that WeChat certified service accounts come with …

Use WeChat web-APPs to acquire iPhone and Android APP users

Thomas Graziani WeChat guides & tips

Your company is going digital. Even better: your company is going mobile. You know that more than half of China’s Internet users are accessing the web via smart-phones, growing at an insane rate, and you want to seize this opportunity. In order to tackle this challenge, you have two ways moving forward: Creating native (Android or iOS) APPs which users …

WeChat posting time: when to send out your articles?

Thomas Graziani New WeChat features

A lot of people got in touch with us over the last few weeks asking the same question: what is the best time to post on WeChat? This question is complex, and there is no one-size-fits-all answer. However, following popular demand, we put together a few insights and case studies in order to help you in choosing the right strategy …

WeChat gives away 500 million RMB during “Chunwan” evening

Thomas Graziani New WeChat features

500 million RMB were given away yesterday during “Chunwan”, the most popular TV program on earth which was viewed by about 800 millions people. Chunwan is the show broadcasted on Chinese New Year by the official Chinese TV Channel CCTV, and watching it is a tradition for most families across China. Which requirements? 3 key requirements were set for users …

WeChat connected objects: not such a good idea?

Thomas Graziani New WeChat features

WeChat has done a tremendous jobs so far at connecting people in China via its online messaging and social features. It is now working hard to add new dimensions to this experience, via online-to-offline interactions, and WeChat connected objects. But what are the risks and drawbacks for hardware manufacturers to integrate with WeChat? What kind of WeChat connected objects exist …