Here is another post about a case study, from chapter 5 of the Mahoney, L. Meghan, and Tang Tang’s book, “Strategic Social Media: From Marketing to Social Change.” Have you ever heard of Weixin because I had not? Weixin is a popular social media networking app similar to WhatsApp, where people can send messages, share pictures or news via their mobile phone. Weixin was first introduced in China in 2011 and quickly grow to over 300 million users by 2014.
App Features
- Send Messages
- Share News
- Share Photos
- Record Messages
- Mobile Browsing
- Business Platform
- Send/Receive Monetary Gifts
- Cab Reservation
Didi Taxi
In 2014, Weixin added a feature “Didi Taxi” to allow individuals to reserve to book a taxi and pay via Weixin. That is an excellent function that the Weixin app has and very convenient to use. More than half a million bookings are made every day and 22 million have used the service via Weixin.
Qiang Hongbao
Also in 2014, Weixin introduced a new campaign, “Qiang Hongbao” (i.e., Red Envelope campaign), which allowed users to send and receive red envelopes virtually. Red Envelope is a Chinese cultural tradition that includes a monetary gift to family and friends during the holidays.
Users could even add a sum of money to an envelope and allow Weixin to distribute the funds randomly among a group of recipients. During the Red Envelope campaign in 2014, nearly 5 million people participated and sent out 20 million cash-filled red envelopes virtually.
Efficacy
It looks like the founders of the Weixin app have made significant progress and continue to meet the needs of their audience by creating a user-friendly service in one place. The great thing about having an “all-in-one-platform” app like Weixin on a smartphone device is that most individuals have a smartphone with internet access.
This allows multiple opportunities for those living in China to have a convenient app that can be used pretty much anywhere. Users rarely need to leave the app to open a mobile browser or make online payments. This process is convenient for the user and allows Weixin to keep the audience flow.
According to the case study, the features on the Weixin app are easy to use, such as holding down a button to record a message. A Beijing subway ad stated you could open a Weixin online shop in a few clicks or minutes. This is a great feature for businesses that would like to operate their shop online to gain more customer access.
Conclusion
In conclusion, Weixin is a popular app that allows the user to utilize features and elements through an “all-in-one-platform.” The app enables the users to use it in their everyday life, such as checking the news through Weixin’s browser, which allows for a more user-friendly source. I hope you enjoyed reading about Weixin and its marketing strategy.
This blog is based on a case study “Weixin,” located in chapter 5 of Mahoney and Tang’s book, “Strategic Social Media: From Marketing to Social Change.” This blog is part of an assignment for a class MKT-555 “Social Media Marketing” through Southern New Hampshire University.