WeChat for Business Essentials: A Comprehensive Guide
WeChat for business can be an incredibly useful tool for marketing your business as well as for your business communications.
Established in 2011, WeChat itself has over 1.3 billion users and whilst it is predominantly used in China where it has a huge audience, it is also used throughout the world. For example, Malayasia, India, Japan, the United States and Mexico all boast millions of users. However, before starting it is also worth considering if WeChat or WhatsApp is best for your business.
Rather than a general social media platform, WeChat for business enables companies to establish a presence, market products, handle sales, and engage with customers. Whether you’re dealing extensively with Chinese customers or expanding your reach, WeChat offers valuable tools for business success.
Here are the first steps and considerations for setting up WeChat for Business.
How to use WeChat for Business
- Set up a brand page on WeChat. Unlike Facebook or Instagram, brand posts on WeChat do not appear on the main social timeline.
- Create a WeChat store.
- Advertise your WeChat shop.
- Interact with WeChat users.
- Partner with KOLs.
- Stream live on WeChat.
Understanding WeChat Business Accounts
There are four different types of WeChat Business accounts to choose from, each with their own benefits. Here is a quick guide to the different accounts to help you understand which one would suit your requirements best.
WeChat Service Account
The Service Account is designed for businesses that want to market products and services. Here are its key features:
- Full Sales Support: It offers full sales, payment, and customer service support.
- WeChat Pay and WeChat Stores: These features facilitate seamless transactions.
- Content Publishing: Companies can publish posts up to four times per month, with each post containing one to six articles. These posts appear as push notifications in followers’ lists.
- Chat Functions: The account allows interaction with users through chat functions, passive reply messages, and customer service messages.
WeChat Mini Program
The Mini Program is a relatively new concept that allows businesses to create their own apps accessible through the WeChat platform. Key points include:
- App Creation: Businesses can develop their own apps without users needing to download a separate app. For instance, a transportation company could create an Uber-style app.
- Customer Reach: Hosting within WeChat provides advantages in customer reach and technical operation.
- Popular Choice: Over 400 million users per day use Mini Programs through WeChat.
WeChat Work (Enterprise Account)
WeChat Work is designed for enterprise-level office management and communication. A very interesting feature, it provides communication tools similar to WeChat but for internal company use.
WeChat Subscription Account
While not one of the main three, the Subscription Account deserves mention. It’s designed for companies focusing on content marketing. Its most useful feature is that it allows for more frequent post publication than a Service Account. Typical users of this service include media outlets, government agencies, individuals, and bloggers.
Navigating WeChat Compliance for Businesses
The huge functionality and ability to reach market audiences provided by WeChat Business means the platform has emerged as a powerful tool for business success. However, for businesses operating in regulated industries or those with specific compliance requirements, using WeChat effectively while adhering to regulatory guidelines is crucial. These are some top considerations for WeChat compliance monitoring and how businesses can navigate this complex landscape.
Regulatory Compliance
WeChat Business compliance monitoring helps organisations meet regulatory requirements specific to their industry. This often includes:
- Archiving Guidelines: Businesses must follow specific archiving and storage guidelines for capturing relevant communications for transparent oversight.
- Data Protection and Privacy: Regulations related to data protection, financial compliance, healthcare privacy, and intellectual property rights govern various industries. Monitoring WeChat business activities ensures that employees are not sharing sensitive or confidential information, engaging in prohibited activities, or violating compliance regulations.
Content Monitoring
WeChat Business compliance monitoring also involves monitoring the content of messages, attachments, and other media shared on the platform. Key aspects include:
- Sensitive Information: Analysing and filtering content to prevent data breaches, unauthorised information sharing, or the dissemination of inappropriate or offensive content.
- Prohibited Data: Monitoring for customer data, financial details, trade secrets, and other sensitive or prohibited information.
Policy Enforcement
In order to effectively undertake WeChat Business compliance monitoring, organisations need to consider and enforce their internal compliance policies. For example, this could include:
- Employee Conversations: By monitoring employee conversations and interactions, organisations can ensure adherence to company guidelines, code of conduct, and acceptable use policies
- Identifying Violations: Monitoring helps identify policy violations, such as non-work-related conversations during work hours or sharing sensitive information externally.
Data Security and Privacy
When implementing WeChat Business monitoring, organisations should look to prioritise data security and privacy:
- Confidentiality: Use monitoring tools that ensure the confidentiality and integrity of monitored data.
- Applicable Regulations: Compliance monitoring should follow applicable data protection regulations and respect employee privacy rights.
- Safeguards: Implement appropriate safeguards to protect sensitive information.
Tools to Help with Your WeChat Business Compliance
From the above, we can therefore see that for those operating in regulated industries, especially financial services, compliance regulations are key. This is largely because all communications need to meet both requirements for privacy, data retention and security, whilst they must also be appropriately stored so that there is transparency and oversight. Not only does this ensure regulatory requirements are met but it also helps employees to maintain professional communications where private conversations are not siloed and considered ‘off channel.’
This is where tools such as ClientWindow step in. By working seamlessly with your existing communication platforms, such as email and WeChat, it means organisations and their customers can communicate how they want, when they want, whilst maintaining the right standards for meeting regulatory requirements.
Frequently Asked Questions
WeChat has its own tool for online transactions called WeChat Pay. Previously it was only available to credit cards and accounts registered in China. However, as of 2023, this service was opened up to international cards.
According, to World Population Review the top users of WeChat include:
- China
- Malaysia
- India
- Russia
- Japan
- South Korea
- United States
- Mexico
- Thailand
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WeChat for business can be an incredibly useful tool for marketing your business as well as for your business communications.
Established in 2011, WeChat itself has over 1.3 billion users and whilst it is predominantly used in China where it has a huge audience, it is also used throughout the world. For example, Malayasia, India, Japan, the United States and Mexico all boast millions of users. However, before starting it is also worth considering if WeChat or WhatsApp is best for your business.
Rather than a general social media platform, WeChat for business enables companies to establish a presence, market products, handle sales, and engage with customers. Whether you’re dealing extensively with Chinese customers or expanding your reach, WeChat offers valuable tools for business success.
Here are the first steps and considerations for setting up WeChat for Business.
How to use WeChat for Business
- Set up a brand page on WeChat. Unlike Facebook or Instagram, brand posts on WeChat do not appear on the main social timeline.
- Create a WeChat store.
- Advertise your WeChat shop.
- Interact with WeChat users.
- Partner with KOLs.
- Stream live on WeChat.
Understanding WeChat Business Accounts
There are four different types of WeChat Business accounts to choose from, each with their own benefits. Here is a quick guide to the different accounts to help you understand which one would suit your requirements best.
WeChat Service Account
The Service Account is designed for businesses that want to market products and services. Here are its key features:
- Full Sales Support: It offers full sales, payment, and customer service support.
- WeChat Pay and WeChat Stores: These features facilitate seamless transactions.
- Content Publishing: Companies can publish posts up to four times per month, with each post containing one to six articles. These posts appear as push notifications in followers’ lists.
- Chat Functions: The account allows interaction with users through chat functions, passive reply messages, and customer service messages.
WeChat Mini Program
The Mini Program is a relatively new concept that allows businesses to create their own apps accessible through the WeChat platform. Key points include:
- App Creation: Businesses can develop their own apps without users needing to download a separate app. For instance, a transportation company could create an Uber-style app.
- Customer Reach: Hosting within WeChat provides advantages in customer reach and technical operation.
- Popular Choice: Over 400 million users per day use Mini Programs through WeChat.
WeChat Work (Enterprise Account)
WeChat Work is designed for enterprise-level office management and communication. A very interesting feature, it provides communication tools similar to WeChat but for internal company use.
WeChat Subscription Account
While not one of the main three, the Subscription Account deserves mention. It’s designed for companies focusing on content marketing. Its most useful feature is that it allows for more frequent post publication than a Service Account. Typical users of this service include media outlets, government agencies, individuals, and bloggers.
Navigating WeChat Compliance for Businesses
The huge functionality and ability to reach market audiences provided by WeChat Business means the platform has emerged as a powerful tool for business success. However, for businesses operating in regulated industries or those with specific compliance requirements, using WeChat effectively while adhering to regulatory guidelines is crucial. These are some top considerations for WeChat compliance monitoring and how businesses can navigate this complex landscape.
Regulatory Compliance
WeChat Business compliance monitoring helps organisations meet regulatory requirements specific to their industry. This often includes:
- Archiving Guidelines: Businesses must follow specific archiving and storage guidelines for capturing relevant communications for transparent oversight.
- Data Protection and Privacy: Regulations related to data protection, financial compliance, healthcare privacy, and intellectual property rights govern various industries. Monitoring WeChat business activities ensures that employees are not sharing sensitive or confidential information, engaging in prohibited activities, or violating compliance regulations.
Content Monitoring
WeChat Business compliance monitoring also involves monitoring the content of messages, attachments, and other media shared on the platform. Key aspects include:
- Sensitive Information: Analysing and filtering content to prevent data breaches, unauthorised information sharing, or the dissemination of inappropriate or offensive content.
- Prohibited Data: Monitoring for customer data, financial details, trade secrets, and other sensitive or prohibited information.
Policy Enforcement
In order to effectively undertake WeChat Business compliance monitoring, organisations need to consider and enforce their internal compliance policies. For example, this could include:
- Employee Conversations: By monitoring employee conversations and interactions, organisations can ensure adherence to company guidelines, code of conduct, and acceptable use policies
- Identifying Violations: Monitoring helps identify policy violations, such as non-work-related conversations during work hours or sharing sensitive information externally.
Data Security and Privacy
When implementing WeChat Business monitoring, organisations should look to prioritise data security and privacy:
- Confidentiality: Use monitoring tools that ensure the confidentiality and integrity of monitored data.
- Applicable Regulations: Compliance monitoring should follow applicable data protection regulations and respect employee privacy rights.
- Safeguards: Implement appropriate safeguards to protect sensitive information.
Tools to Help with Your WeChat Business Compliance
From the above, we can therefore see that for those operating in regulated industries, especially financial services, compliance regulations are key. This is largely because all communications need to meet both requirements for privacy, data retention and security, whilst they must also be appropriately stored so that there is transparency and oversight. Not only does this ensure regulatory requirements are met but it also helps employees to maintain professional communications where private conversations are not siloed and considered ‘off channel.’
This is where tools such as ClientWindow step in. By working seamlessly with your existing communication platforms, such as email and WeChat, it means organisations and their customers can communicate how they want, when they want, whilst maintaining the right standards for meeting regulatory requirements.
