By: Emily Mitchell
January 18, 2024
Figure 1(WeChat Official Account: The Ultimate Guide [Dec 2022], n.d.)
There are so many different apps that everyone uses on a daily basis. Some of these apps are Instagram, Twitter, Facebook, and Snapchat that are part of the most successful social media apps. Sometimes I wish it was all just one app instead of having 4 different apps that are similar but used for different content. In order to have success, a brand or company has to know what the users are going to want, which can be hard because interests and trends are constantly changing.
In 2011, one app took off in China called Weixin (WeChat for internal users) which is a social media app that is an “all in one platform” app. (L Meghan Mahoney & Tang Tang, 2017)
Weixin is an app that is a combination of WhatsApp, Instagram, Twitter, Twitter, Snapchat and even eBay! This app didn’t take long to grab the attention of social media users because only 3 years later and Weixin had more than 300 million active users from China, Southeast Asia and America. (L Meghan Mahoney & Tang Tang, 2017)
Weixin allows its users to record messages, which saves the trouble of typing Chinese characters. This app also is a place to do your shopping, play games and read the newest news.
In 2014, Weixin introduced a new campaign which was the “Qiang Hongbao” (Red Envelope) campaign which allowed users to connect their bank accounts and send and receive money through the app. “The campaign definitely made audiences excited, and ultimately encouraged them to spend more time and money using the social networking tool. As a result, nearly 5 million people participated in the Red Envelope campaign and sent out 20 million cash-filled red envelopes virtually “(Horwitz, 2014).
Weixin became so successful because they knew what their audience would like and make their lives a little easier. The app is easily integrated into the audience’s everyday routine which makes it more appealing to the users. By constantly keeping up with what the audience may be looking for and creating new and improved ideas to the app, there is no reason to even go out of the app, which is very convenient and time saving.
References
CoinDesk: Bitcoin, Ethereum, Crypto News and Price Data. (n.d.). http://Www.coindesk.com. Retrieved January 19, 2024, from https://www.coindesk.com/tag/wechat/
Horwitz, J. (2014) Chinese WeChat users sent out 20 million cash-filled red envelopes to friends and family within two days. Available at https://www.techinasia. com/wechats-money-gifting-scheme-lures-5-million- chinese-users-alibabas-jack-ma-calls-pearl-harbor- attack-company/ (accessed June 8, 2016).
WeChat Official Account: The Ultimate Guide [Dec 2022]. (n.d.). Respond.io. https://respond.io/blog/wechat-official-account
L Meghan Mahoney, & Tang Tang. (2017). Strategic social media : from marketing to social change. Wiley Blackwell.
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