Kantar’s 2016 report: key points to help with your WeChat content strategy
Some people may say that WeChat is no longer the coolest social media app in China. However, it still monopolises the Chinese market. Figures show that percentage of WeChat users amongst Chinese internet users has actually increased to 87.1 per cent.
WeChat is not only a channel for ordinary users to communicate with each other, but also a platform that allows brands to engage audiences. For businesses, the key questions to be asked include:
What types of content do WeChat users engage with the most?
How can you create content that is attractive to them?
Kantar’s 2016 Report on the Impact of Chinese Social Media provides us a glimpse into the answers to the above questions.
Percentages of Different Types of Content on WeChat.
Through a large-scale survey with more than 13,000 Chinese internet users, Kantar found that emotion and entertainment are the most popular topics amongst internet users in China. On WeChat, 41 per cent of the most read articles are entertainment-related, while 34 per cent are emotion-associated (articles with advice on how to develop/maintain relationships etc.). In contrast, only 8 per cent of the most read articles are news-related. It seems Chinese users tend to read for fun on WeChat and apolitical information attracts them most.
Interestingly, Kantar notes that there are two best time slots for posting: 1) 4-5pm and 2) 10pm. Most public accounts found that their content usually attracts more readers when they post within these two-time slots. (It should be noted that best posting times are down to your own audience and this is a much more general observation.) Apart from this, Kantar also recommends that a post should not go over 1,000 words in length and an ideal title of a post is between 10 and 20 characters.
‘Gold’ Time Slots for Posting on WeChat Retrieved from: http://www.199it.com/archives/435396.html
Based on a large-scale survey, Kantar’s research certainly cannot capture the exact details of what Chinese people like to read on WeChat. However, the above findings provide a set of valuable recommendations that can guide businesses to develop a more effective content strategy, so as to engage targeted audiences in China.
If you need help with engaging with your audiences in China, then please get in touch.