Quality Content on WeChat and Weibo
Over the past few months, we have engaged in a number of great discussions on China’s digital marketing trends with leading experts.
Here we talked with KAWO’s co-founder and product lead, Alex Duncan.
How is quality content rewarded on WeChat?
Kawo did a very interesting report in 2019, looking at content effectiveness on WeChat and Weibo. Quality content counts for a lot, on both channels. As proof of this, Kawo found that the top 2% of content delivers more than 25% of results (reach).
So, while a lot of branded accounts are losing fans, more attention needs to go into creating better quality content. Brands should be focused on fewer, better posts to drive growth. Unlike many of the western social channels that reward high frequency posting (and/or other factors), WeChat is a level playing field where quality content can grow organically, un-encumbered by algorithms.
How does Weibo compare with WeChat for branded content?
Weibo is different from WeChat in a number of important ways. First of all, the format for content on Weibo is designed around short snippets, rather than the long-form articles within WeChat. As a result, the typical cost for creating a Weibo post is lower.
Additionally, the design of Weibo’s network, allows content to scale much quicker and wider than on WeChat. It’s a high velocity platform with more fluid connections between both close contacts and more distant contacts.
As a result of these differences, brands should ideally plan each channel differently - more frequent posts to Weibo, and fewer, higher quality posts on WeChat. In both channels though, quality comes first and that should be the deciding factor when questions of frequency come up.
How do you view the recent focus on ‘private traffic’ by brands?
Focusing on smaller circles of users takes something away from the work of building a larger audience for brands. And, as the focus becomes too narrow, is there a point at which funnel management falls apart, and brands don’t have a sufficient number new audiences enter the top-of-funnel?
Brands can only get so much out of each customer, and by spamming a small group repeatedly, what is most likely, is for those consumers to be ‘turned off’ - not to buy more, as many brands are hoping.
Instead, brands need to become more empathetic and do more for audiences - in part with services and support, as well as with interesting storytelling and information.
