In our earlier article, we have introduced six most innovative services that have developed around various concepts of Chinese sharing economy. Some of those companies, like DiDi, have grown enormous within record time, swallowing rivals and winning new markets. Others have  recently achieved infamous “unicorn” status (Tujia, Huochebang) while more startups are still small but full of potential.

5 distinctive features of Chinese sharing economy

#1: Smartphone proliferation

Perhaps the strongest driver behind wide adoption of shared services in new Chinese sharing economy is proliferation of smartphones, particularly in the cities.

Virtually every shared service “lives” on a smartphone is some shape or form. A smartphone enables users connecting with location based services while its camera serves as a scanning device which is essential for many such apps.

Moreover, many apps are either completely integrated with popular apps like WeChat or Alipay or are dependent on them for payment and authentication.

#2: Popularity of QR codes

While QR codes are much less common elsewhere, in China they are unambiguous and can be found practically everywhere. Moreover, virtually everyone knows what they are and what to do with them. In fact, WeChat, is single-handedly responsible for popularizing QR codes in China.

Alternative technologies like NFC have never achieved the same degree of recognition and popularity, mainly due to cost. Since printing QR code or generating it online is either extremely cheap or practically free, as long as security is not a concern, they always win over NFC or other technologies.

Many of the services of Chinese shared economy we discussed earlier rely on QR codes to connect users with a particular product such as in the case of unlocking shared bikes or shared umbrella locks.

#3: Convenient payment systems

Most of the shared services rely on a payment system for both payment and placing deposits. Two of the most common payment systems in China, Alipay and WeChat Pay, facilitate the process in the easiest and most secure way.

Since almost every Chinese city dweller is already a user of at least one or, more often, both of those systems, integrating them into the shared service apps is a natural fit. Essentially, those payment platforms have become the primary enablers of Chinese sharing economy.

Moreover, unlike Western equivalent PayPal (which is practically unheard of in China), both Alipay and WeChat Pay are transaction free services – they don’t charge users a single penny for payments as long as they are below a certain limit and are processed within China.

#4: Real name registration

The common misconception about sharing economy is that it is largely based on trust. If that was true – the concept would be a no starter in China. Luckily, with Chinese sharing economy trust is not an issue, or at least not to the same degree as it could be otherwise.

Why is that the case? The reason is that as long as people use one of the payment systems (Alipay or WeChat Pay) for transactions, they are automatically identified by their real name. In fact, WeChat and Alipay require real name registration that is connected to users’ Chinese ID or a passport for foreigners.

This arrangement minimized chances of service abuse (although it does happen, especially with bike sharing apps) or, at least, makes it easier to identify, track and punish bad behavior.

#5: Backing of internet giants

While being on good terms with the government officials is a pre-requisite for doing business in China in general, having the back of one of the BATs (Baidu-Alibaba-Tencent triumvirate) is a guarantee of success inChinese sharing economy.

Apparently, those internet giants are seeing great potential in many of shared services startups and have been generously financing them. In a rare display of cooperation within BAT, some of the services have been backed by more than one of them. Tencent and Baidu have been particularly enthusiastic in financing many such startups propelling some of them to unicorn status all within a couple of years.

The post 5 Reasons Why Chinese Sharing Economy Future Is Looking Promising first appeared on Sampi.co.

The post 5 Reasons Why Chinese Sharing Economy Future Is Looking Promising appeared first on Sampi.co.

Since WeChat, unlike most other social media platforms, is not a discovery network, getting WeChat followers doesn’t work in the same way either. On the other hand, what really matters is not the quantity but the quality of followers which is the main strength of WeChat as a marketing tool.

In general, WeChat followers tend to be more interested in actually following the updates, consuming posted content and using account’s other features. In other words, the higher engagement level with the followers is what makes WeChat marketing so effective.

Currently, there are only 3 primary ways to subscribe (follow) a WeChat account:

1. Follow the account from the link when it is shared by WeChat friends;
2. Scan its QR with a smartphone;
3. Search for the exact WeChat account name from within the app;

The 3rd method of following the account is not something that is often used as it is somewhat cumbersome to users. Although it is always a good idea to pick a memorable account name, it is unlikely to be contributing to getting WeChat followers.

Essentially, acquiring WeChat followers comes down to the first two methods.

30 ways of getting WeChat followers – part 1:

#1: Creating shareable content

Easier said than done, sharing content is what can potentially get you the most followers. Writing volumes of standard content that doesn’t get shared isn’t worth much. However, just one post that goes viral has the potential of bringing hundreds of followers virtually within hours.

The best approach is to invest in a research and learning about people in the niche that you are targeting. Once you can figure out what they really care about – stay focus just on that.

#2: Getting KOLs (key opinion leaders) to share your content

There are thousands of KOLs on WeChat that would distribute your content (for a fee) to their followers which often reach tens of hundreds of thousands. More followers they have – higher price they charge: top KOLs with millions of followers can be very expensive to engage.

KOLs promotions are mostly effective in fashion, cosmetics, entertainment and similar areas. This is why this channels is not suitable for everyone.

#3: Integrating with WeChat Pay

WeChat Pay is quickly becoming one of the primary payment methods in China, both online and offline. Integrating WeChat Pay with WeChat account not only enables receiving payments but also automatically connects every paying customer to your WeChat account unless they specifically choose to unsubscribe.

#4: Promoting via other WeChat accounts

If your business owns multiple WeChat accounts, you can use them to promote a new one. This way you can get some of the existing followers to subscribe to a new WeChat channel, especially if it offers related but different content.

The same way can be used to cross-promote WeChat accounts through accounts of your partners – they post links to your content and you reciprocate.

#5: Leveraging employees networks

One of the simplest ways to get followers quickly is to encourage your Chinese employees to follow the account and periodically share the content with their friends. This method, at least at the beginning, can get your account a quick boost in the number of followers, some of whom may one day contribute to getting your message to a wider audience.

#6: Develop loyalty program

Loyalty programs are increasingly getting incorporated into WeChat accounts. They often come complete with points accumulation system and a virtual membership card. Running such function with WeChat will help attract new followers as well as retain the existing ones.

#7: Offer customer service on WeChat

If you sell a product or service that requires customer service, why not to use WeChat as one of such channels? Some of the responses to standard inquiries can even be pre-programmed into the system while other may require an actual human interaction.

Getting customers to communicate with you via WeChat offers another opportunity to engage with them and even capture their exact location to gain better insight. Several 3rd party platforms offer powerful platform extensions that enhance its functionality as a customer service channel.

#8: Leveraging other social media platforms

Other social media platforms can also go a long way in getting WeChat followers. While straight up publishing WeChat QR code on Weibo is not allowed (they are competitors), you still can post WeChat account name, so visitors can search for it.

Also, sometimes you can even get away with incorporating WeChat QR code into graphic background design.

Keep in mind however that simply duplicating the content between the platforms wouldn’t give enough incentives to your Weibo followers to go to another network. Therefore you should consider offering something different on both channels.

#9: Offering practical value in terms of discounts and coupons

This is another way to make WeChat content more relevant, practical and shareable. Coupons and discounts could be time limited to create a sense of urgency – an effective marketing trick. They can also be designed to be used online or within the same WeChat account as a part of O2O campaign.

#10: Lucky draws and quizzes

People love winning prizes which makes lucky draws and quizzes an effective strategy of getting WeChat followers. WeChat account’s basic functionality can be enhanced with 3rd party extensions that are designed to handle such promotional campaigns.

Stay tuned for our second part of the list coming next week.

The post 30 Ways of Getting WeChat Followers: Part I first appeared on Sampi.co.

The post 30 Ways of Getting WeChat Followers: Part I appeared first on Sampi.co.

If your company has a WeChat account, you should go through our checklist to make sure that you have all the bases covered.

WeChat marketing checklist: Best places to display your WeChat QR code

Website

Perhaps, most importantly, QR code should be displayed on your website. Typically, it goes in the footer along with other social media and contact info, however, some sites choose to move it up top to a more prominent position. If you are really serious to promote your WeChat QR code on your website and not worried to risk annoying your visitors, place it in a pop up.

Email signatures

This simply means including QR code along with a signature at the bottom of every email that goes out to clients.

Product packaging

Include QR code on product packaging. It works even better for products that require after sale service which can be delivered via WeChat too.

Invoices and receipts

Printing QR code on invoices and receipts that customers keep gives them another chance to scan it.

Displays at trade shows

Trade shows provide ample opportunities to place WeChat QR code on any flat surface such as walls, stands, reception counters etc.

Email marketing newsletters

Run email marketing campaigns targeting specific audiences and centered on WeChat account. For any other email marketing such as periodic newsletters, make sure to include WeChat QR code as well.

Printed materials: brochures, datasheets

Consider placing QR codes on company prospectus, brochures, datasheets etc. Every QR code placement is another opportunity for someone to scan it giving you another way of getting WeChat subscribers.

Posters and billboards

A simple roll up posters with an offer and a large QR code is the simplest and cost effective way to promote your WeChat official account to large crowds. Every type of poster should display your WeChat QR code.

Business cards

Make sure that every employee’s name card has your WeChat account QR code printed on it as prominently as possible (some companies dedicate the entire flip side to it).

Other social media channels

Although some rival social media networks have rules against posting WeChat accounts QR codes, others are not as strict. Users often place their WeChat QR code in the background to make it visible to visitors while not necessarily breaking posting rules.

Company cars

If your company owns cars, vans or buses, consider placing QR code along with your branding such as company name or telephone number.

Video

If you use a promotional video for your products, consider placing QR code in a still frame at the end while giving enough time for a viewer to scan it. Alternatively, QR code could also remain visible during video playback if placed in the frame corner but it should be large enough and in high resolution to be scannable.

The post WeChat Marketing Checklist: Where Should You Place WeChat QR Code first appeared on Sampi.co.

The post WeChat Marketing Checklist: Where Should You Place WeChat QR Code appeared first on Sampi.co.

In an earlier post on WeChat marketing we’ve discussed limitations of WeChat based advertising and its low ROI. Therefore, acquiring subscribers organically remains a much more cost effective way to grow your brand following.

WeChat marketing can be tricky but there are some ways to make it work. In addition to the list from the last week, here are five more tips:

Share content for free gift

An example of effective WeChat marketing is encouraging customers to share a piece of content from your account in their WeChat moment. For example, a restaurant could offer its patrons a free desert or a discount off the bill if they present proof of sharing a photo of a restaurant or a meal with their friends.

WeChat marketing with virtual loyalty card

Offering a virtual loyalty card in WeChat is another way to get more followers and can also become an effective WeChat marketing strategy. Owners of such loyalty cards can have their QR code scanned at the location for discounts or points collection. Here is an example of such virtual card used by Wagas, a popular western restaurant in China:

Free wifi to WeChat followers

WeChat official accounts now have a feature that allows displaying the closest Wi-Fi network directly in users contacts. This feature works great with businesses that have a physical location, such as stores and restaurants. Prompting users to connect to a free Wi-Fi in exchange for a basic info or signing up as a follower is another opportunity for effective WeChat marketing.

Get creative with QR codes

QR codes have just one drawback – they are ugly! Having a tiny logo in the center still doesn’t doesn’t improve their visual appeal. Fortunately, thanks to the new technology developed by Israeli company Visualead, it doesn’t have to be that way anymore.

Visualead provides online QR generator to combine a QR code with any imagery, such as a logo or a picture. Here is an example of such QR which is perfectly scannable, just like its boring black and white equivalent:

Don’t delay communicating with followers

There is a feature of WeChat official accounts that is known as “48 hours rule”. It means that you only have 48 hours to engage with a follower directly after he/she subscribed to your channel or communicated to it via sending a message. It’s important not to miss the opportunity to connect with a new follower within that time frame. Offering a targeted content such as a coupon or a personalized invitation to an event would keep new followers engaged and minimize chances of losing them.

Every new follower is a potential sales lead and it is in your interest to keep that lead hot. After all, unsubscribing from a WeChat channel is always just “a swipe” away.

Stay tuned for our upcoming posts on how to use KOLs to grow your WeChat followers base.

The post WeChat Marketing Part II: Getting Followers Organically first appeared on Sampi.co.

The post WeChat Marketing Part II: Getting Followers Organically appeared first on Sampi.co.

One of the key distinctive characteristics of this platform is its private nature. This feature also makes the discovery difficult.

For example, if one is looking for a particular product on Facebook or Weibo, it is relatively easy to get relevant results quickly. With WeChat, searching for a particular product or event would most likely return nothing unless you know the exact name of the WeChat account, or, at least, the brand name.

This makes scanning QR code the only reliable way to get the followers. This, in turn, comes down to two factors that have to be put in place – the availability and unambiguity of QR codes on one hand and giving a good reason to scan it on the other.

Here are some ways to achieve both:

Publish QR code on your sites and social media

Every online channel that you company owns has should display QR code to your WeChat account as prominently as possible. Some sites go as far as setting it up in the header area or as a floating widget that always stays in view while scrolling. At the very minimum, the QR code should be at the footer that shows up on every page of the site.

Here is the screenshot from Starbucks Chinese website:

Add WeChat QR to company newsletters

Make sure to add QR code to all of your email communications, especially newsletters. It can be combined with announcing special offers that are available only to brand’s WeChat followers. Such placement is another example of making QR code available and giving your reader a reason to scan it.

Also, keep in mind that emails are often viewed on mobile phones where QR code can be saved as a picture and loaded to WeChat application later on.

QR code on packaging

Including QR code on product packaging is another great opportunity for WeChat marketing. For example, scanning a code could connect a user to a customer service provided via WeChat official channel or offer a discount or a coupon for this or other product.

Run WeChat marketing campaigns in print

Traditional newspapers and magazines can be another great venue to place QR code at. They can also be combined with offers and discounts – an efficient way to entice people to scan it and become your brand’s follower. Of course, printed media can be utilized in both large scale, such as posters and billboards, as well as be as small as a business card.

WeChat marketing at events

Events, such as trade shows, conferences and product launches provide ample opportunities to place WeChat QRs and encourage visitors to scan them. A simple roll up posters with an offer and a large QR code is the simplest and cost effective way to promote your WeChat official account to large crowds. Keep in mind, however, that if you are going to offer a free gift to everyone who scans your code, you’ll get a lot of followers quickly but may lose large part of them as soon as they get a free gift. Setting up some type of a lucky draw would be a more cost effective way to go with.

Stay tuned for the second part of the list with 5 more tips which is coming up next week.

The post WeChat Marketing Part I: Getting Followers Organically first appeared on Sampi.co.

The post WeChat Marketing Part I: Getting Followers Organically appeared first on Sampi.co.

Thanks to its business friendly ecosystem, brands have been enthusiastically embracing the platform and creating new ways to interact and engage with existing and potential customers.

WeChat is already redefining ways in which businesses sell products and services, communicate marketing messages, provide support or entice customers to visit their physical outlets. Every day we see new original and creative ways used by brands that take advantage of both WeChat enormous reach and its flexible functionality.

In this post, I’m going to discuss a few marketing innovations which have been employed by brands on WeChat.

Customer service

From its early days, WeChat official accounts had built-in capability to automatically respond to users’ text input. The account can be pre-programmed with the set of responses for common inputs at the first level of interaction. Then, the system can be further expanded by incorporating smarter logic that could deliver much more complex responses.

For example, a travel business can develop a function that would allow clients to pick a vacation spot by typing in something like “What would be the best beach resort in the Philippines?”. The system then would return the query filled with useful info, pictures or even videos followed by a link to proceed to reservation or chat with an actual human.

 Gamification of marketing

Everyone loves games, even those who say they don’t. This behavior is hardwired in our brains whether we realize it or not. WeChat provides new ways games can be woven into marketing by creating a phenomenon that is often called “gamification”. A chance to win a prize by participating in a contest is a sort of strategy widely employed by brands on WeChat.

By playing an actual game, a user can accumulate points or virtual cash that could be used towards a purchase of a products or ticket for an event.

 Interactive product catalogs

Instead of featuring a standard online product catalog, WeChat can enable integration of more complex and interactive ways for product searches.

For example, Tesla incorporated such interactive functionality in their WeChat account. It allows getting information on models all the way to the directions to the nearest dealership.

Power of geolocation

Knowing customer’s location for delivering the most relevant marketing message to a potential customer is one of the most powerful features of mobile marketing. WeChat has capability of detecting your location fairly accurately and trigger messages based on it.

For example, when you find yourself near a restaurant around lunch time, getting a discount coupon featuring one of the dishes similar to the one you ordered there last time could be just enough to steer you right back.

 Learn about your customer

Every time a customer interacts with a brand account, it is an opportunity to learn something about him or her. Apart from the obvious demographics, brands can get insights on individual preferences, most searched product types or price ranges, underlying reasons for choosing one product over another etc.

There is practically no limit to what can be learned but company’s ability to process the tsunamis of data. WeChat is one of the channels that brands can use to developer such insights and, at the end of the day, come up with better offers.

The post Creative Ways for Leveraging WeChat for Brand Marketing first appeared on Sampi.co.

The post Creative Ways for Leveraging WeChat for Brand Marketing appeared first on Sampi.co.

There have been consistent talk in the media about the “death of QR code” with some observers concluding that the technology is going nowhere and is soon to disappear entirely. A couple of weeks ago I’ve also responded to a blog post by Misha about his take on the issue of QRs from the standpoint of its usage in China, here is his original post.

Having participated at one of the trade shows in Shenzhen around the same time, I decided to look around to see how QR codes are being used by show exhibitors, in what context, on which materials and at what type of settings. My overall impression is that the rumors of QR code’s death have been greatly exaggerated…

First of all, QR codes usage on name cards have increased dramatically – about a third of the name cards I got during my interactions with visitors at the show were proudly displaying a QR code. Scanning it would seamlessly integrate a person’s details with my iPhone’s contacts database. Here is an example:

Posters are another main area for displaying QR codes, typically scanning it would take you to a company website or to a page associated with an advertised product. What is interesting is that QR codes take increasingly more real estate on the visuals. Below are a few examples:

Note that in the last example, QR code became the centerpiece and the focus of the entire poster!

Sometimes, QRs are placed in less conspicuous places in a form of a sticker but this would be much less typical choice:

I’ve also seen a few cases when the QRs were integrated with product displays, actual walls or the structures of booths themselves. Check out these examples:

Product datasheets and brochures are another logical locations for placing QR codes at:

Finally, I’ve managed to take a shot of people actually scanning one of the QR codes with their phones:

I admit that I haven’t scanned all of the codes I’ve encountered but those that I did scan took me either to a company website, Weibo page or WeChat. In fact, connecting to WeChat seems to be one of the most popular usages of QR codes in China.

On my way out I just couldn’t resist to take another picture of a large QR code printed on a box placed by the huge Christmas tree at the entrance to Shenzhen’s Coco Park:

Based on what I’ve seen, QR codes are found practically everywhere and its almost universal embrace by marketers in so many industries is quite remarkable. Regardless of whether it’s here to stay or a passing fad until something better comes around, I don’t think there is any excuse left not to integrate QR codes in all of your marketing material.

The post QR Codes in China – Alive And Kicking first appeared on Sampi.co.

The post QR Codes in China – Alive And Kicking appeared first on Sampi.co.