As short videos continue to soar in popularity, businesses now have new opportunities to enhance their marketing strategies on WeChat. Since the launch of WeChat Channels in 2020, this innovative feature has rapidly become a vital tool for brands to elevate their influence. Today, the seamless integration of WeChat Official Accounts with WeChat Channels enables businesses to maximise their traffic, connect with a broader audience, and significantly boost both sales and customer engagement.
What is WeChat Channels and How Does it Work?
WeChat Channels is a built-in short-video feature within the WeChat ecosystem that allows users and brands to post videos on WeChat to reach wider audiences. Unlike traditional text or image posts, WeChat Channels focuses on visual storytelling through short videos, but it also supports image uploads and links to WeChat Official Account articles.
This feature appears under the “Discover” tab in WeChat and is designed to complement WeChat Moments, the social feed where users share content with friends. Through seamless WeChat integration, businesses can use Channels to increase brand visibility, promote products, and drive traffic back to their Official Accounts or e-commerce platforms.
Why Should Businesses Use WeChat Channels?
1. Massive built-in traffic
With over 1.3 billion active users, WeChat offers businesses an unrivalled opportunity for driving traffic. The built-in WeChat Channels tap directly into users’ social circles, allowing businesses to quickly expand their reach to a wider audience without additional traffic acquisition strategies. WeChat Channels interface is divided into three main sections: Following, Friends, and Hot. In the “Friends” section, users can view all the short videos their friends have liked, increasing the likelihood of viral sharing within their social networks and boosting exposure. Furthermore, users can directly share videos to WeChat Moments, reaching out to more and more users.
2. The potential of short videos on WeChat
The rise of short-form videos has transformed the way people consume content. These brief and visually engaging clips are highly effective in capturing attention and driving consumer actions. Businesses can post videos on WeChat to showcase products, share stories, or demonstrate services in a more dynamic and interactive way than traditional text or image posts.
Short videos on WeChat Channels combine visuals, animations, and audio to create immersive experiences that enhance brand recall. This makes them one of the most powerful tools in a modern content strategy, helping businesses stand out in competitive digital environments.
3. Smarter content recommendation algorithm
WeChat Channels feature a sophisticated “friends recommendation” system, which pushes content based on the likes and interactions of a user’s friends. According to the feature’s algorithm, “friends recommendation” contributes to 55% of the ranking, while “hot recommendation,” which highlights high-quality content, accounts for just 15%.
The “friends recommendation” algorithm works like an intricate web, connecting users to their mutual friends, thereby fostering rapid social sharing and accelerating what is known as Social Fission Marketing. This mechanism helps quickly grow followers and increase brand visibility.
Furthermore, WeChat Official indicates that WeChat Channels can now be linked to another major feature of the platform – WeChat Official Accounts. WeChat Official Accounts focus primarily on text and image-based content, including Subscription Accounts, Service Accounts, WeChat Work (formerly “Enterprise Accounts”), and Mini Programs. This integration allows businesses to seamlessly share product updates, brand events, and more, ensuring their brand maintains continuous interaction with their audience.
How to Integrate WeChat Official Accounts with WeChat Channels
The two-way binding between WeChat Official Accounts and WeChat Channels allows for a closed-loop of traffic between the two features, enabling more brand exposure and interaction.
Integration Steps:
- Log in to your WeChat Official Account.
- In the backend of the WeChat Official Account, find the “Settings” option and select “Account Binding.”
- On the Account Binding page, choose “Bind New Account.”
- Enter your WeChat Channels details and confirm the binding.
Important Notes:
- WeChat Channels must share the same name as WeChat Official Accounts.
- Personal WeChat Channels and WeChat Official Accounts must be managed by the same administrator.
Benefits of Linking WeChat Channels and Official Accounts
1. Better user experience
Users can effortlessly transition from a WeChat Channel to an Official Account, bypassing the need to exit and search again, creating a much smoother browsing experience.
When customers access the WeChat Channels and click on the creator’s profile, a link to WeChat Official Account pops up, allowing them to connect to the Official Account with a single click. By leveraging automated chatbots and keyword replies, users can quickly access product updates and receive prompt answers to their enquiries, significantly elevating customer satisfaction.
2. Increased traffic flow between accounts
Acting as a “gateway” to traffic, WeChat Channels direct users to the WeChat Official Account, driving more attention and subscriptions to the latter.
Typically, users must subscribe to a WeChat Official Account to receive push notifications. However, through WeChat Channels, videos liked by friends can be directly shared with users, who can then follow the WeChat Official Account with a single click. When a user clicks the “like” button, the video is pushed to their social circle, and if their friends engage with it and click “like”, the video will be further recommended. This viral sharing loop creates a continuous flow of traffic to a business’s WeChat Official Account.
3. Improved video and content engagement
Businesses can embed WeChat Channels videos within their WeChat Official Account articles, enabling a two-way traffic flow that boosts brand visibility and engagement.
While reading an article from the Official Account, users can easily view the embedded WeChat Channels videos and leave comments within the WeChat Official Account’s chat about the products or services that interest them. This facilitates personalised one-on-one responses from the customer service team, offering a more tailored and engaging experience for users.
Omnichat empowers businesses with WeChat Integration Solutions
By seamlessly integrating WeChat, Facebook, WhatsApp, Instagram, LINE, and your official website, Omnichat supports the connection of WeChat Service Accounts. Our cutting-edge chat commerce solutions enable you to efficiently manage the surge of customer inquiries from WeChat Channels.
Contact us today to explore how Omnichat’s all-in-one WeChat integration solution can elevate your customer engagement and drive stronger business growth.
Book a Consultation
