An SNHU Social Media Marketing Post 😇

First, let’s be clear! Weixin is not the same as WeChat, although they are owned by the Tech company Tencent. Weixin, the first iteration of the instant messaging app, later morphed into the WeChat, super-app for everything. WeChat, with all its numerous functions, moved beyond the borders to include overseas users and instant acclaim. 

2023. Canva generated Gif. Daria Smith Giraud. CreativeCommons.
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Following the Weixin-WeChat Blueprint 

The Weixin-WeChat phenomenon, by the Chinese-based technology company, captured its audience with expert marketing campaigns and sophisticated emotional factors. Their overreaching success in galvanizing over 1.3 billion customers using the WeChat app for everything like sending family Red Envelopes to Didi Taxi cab reservations garnered a net worth of over $100 Billion in revenue. Weixin’s expert understanding of cognitive behavior through the medium of networking app design has sparked billionaire mogul Elon Musk owner of the controversial microblogging platform Twitter to plan his app transformation into a super app from the Weixin-WeChat blueprint.

Weixin launched in 2011, and now WeChat has 1.3 billion monthly active users as the most-used app in China.  

(Mahoney & Tang, 2016)

2023. Canva generated image. Daria Smith Giraud. CreativeCommons.
Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs CC BY-NC-ND

Blueprint for Social Media Marketing Success 

Weixin or WeChat’s blueprint in social media marketing moved beyond the design and intention of a simple messaging app. Tencent’s winning app listened to its users' needs. The tech company thoroughly studied the behaviors of its audience to produce a simple user-friendly interface. Its success at large is what the WeChat app offers its users. 

Presented as an all-in-one platform consumers use WeChat (Weixin) for all their needs. The product provides an array of functionality that hooks the user’s attention, time, and use. This all-in-one approach provides conversion into dollars with easy-to-read news, and social networking features, like sharing photos and images, texting, playing games, and combining popular American apps like Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, Snapchat, and more. 

Innovation of the Weixin-WeChat Apps 

China’s most popular app continues to innovate. Creating successful appealing campaigns involves a deep understanding of your audience and careful consideration of individual cognitive factors. Built into the user experience design WeChat further combines data analytics to include adaptation and iteration that focuses on emotional appeal and triggers, audience segmentation of young urban demographics, language localization, speech messaging, and cognitive personalization. These combinations keep users engaged and invested. 

The app currently offers its users super-chat features, functionality, and application programs: 

• Texting and Instant Messaging 

• Voice and video calls 

• Voice Assistant 

• Language Translation 

• Moments, sharing, and posting 

• Games 

• Weixin Pay (digital payment) & WeChat Pay Digital Wallet

• Official Accounts

• City services 

• Location Sharing 

• Mini programs apps 

• Travel and Books 

• Health and Fitness 

• Shake and find friends 

• QR Codes scanner

• And more innovative tools and functions. 

2023. Canva generated Ad Gif. Daria Smith Giraud. CreativeCommons.
Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs CC BY-NC-ND.

Listening and Personalization for a Winning Campaign 

WeChat continues to grow by listening to its customer base. App personalization is based on user behavior and preferences. Tools are tailor-made offering personal connections like texting and messaging, unique marketing, products and fashion, and news fitting user’s style and likes. This allows for easy sharing and viral content creation that people love. Users find gamification, contests, and challenges fun enough to share with friends and family. 

The All-In-One Everything Super App 

Because Weixin-WeChat is so user-friendly audiences don’t want to leave the app. The special all-in-one web browser allows purchasing and searching simple to use. Talking into their mobile device creates text messages. Opening an online store is a one-minute click. Sending Chinese New Year money to family and friends through the Red Envelope campaign brings new lottery-like adrenaline to an old tradition. Even Uber-like disruption inspired cab reservations to a frenzy. 

2023. Canva generated image. Daria Smith Giraud. CreativeCommons.
Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs CC BY-NC-ND

“Over 22 million Weixin-WeChat app users booked half a million bookings on the Didi Taxi mini program featuring 350,000 taxi drivers in 30 Chinese cities”

(Mahoney & Tang, 2016)

America’s Growing Social Media Landscape 

As American app moguls race for their place in the digital future. Big Tech companies like Facebook and Twitter rebrand themselves hoping to add new features and functionality to existing big names on the social media frontier. While WeChat (Weixin) leads by example of the possibilities and monopoly social media apps potentially hold for American users.

Elon Musk's bold move to rebrand Twitter to X only starts a growing conversation about the complexities and innovation of our growing social media landscape. Will X, formerly known as Twitter, (or another competitor) be the new version of the all-in-one WeChat appealing to our personalization, likes, games, and viral addictions?