What Other Platforms Can Marketers Rely on if WeChat Loses Its Dominance?

Given the fact that WeChat’s PV is gradually declining, concerns rise regarding people’s willingness to rely on this platform as the only main source of information. As a consequence, experts do not exclude the possibility that WeChat may, in fact, disappear from the public eyes. If this would happen, it comes naturally to question ourselves on the social alternatives marketers could use in order to promote their brands.  

The evolution and popularity of every social network have a limited life cycle and WeChat is no exception. The article is going to shed light on some WeChat related data from authoritative reports released in September:

60.4% of the total registered accounts continue to deliver more posts with a higher frequency, but only 30.2% of them register an increase in their PV 
36.6% of the self-media enhances the amount and frequency of posting, however their PV is dropping.
21.8% of the self-media diminishes the frequency within which they post, with a correlated decline of average PV.
It is also shown that, from May to September, WeChat’s total PV gradually decreased

Although people retain WeChat official accounts’ pages as part of our daily sources of information, in the same way newspapers fuel our knowledge about the surrounding world, they no longer held it as their primary source of acquaintance. Suggestions rise weather WeChat may be abandoned in the coming years.

If WeChat is no longer the most popular social platform in China, what platforms or channels shall enterprises turn to?

From the perspective of enterprises, social network channels can be divided into two categories: paid channels (paid media) and free channels (self-owned media and earned media).

1.Paid channels, namely paid media. Before the rise of online communities, enterprises invested on traditional platforms, namely print media, radio and television to advertise their products. Following the advent of the Internet, paid media also evolved in a whole new series of technological channels.
2.Free channels. It mainly includes self-owned media and earned media.
Self-owned media, in short, is a channel built and managed by brands themselves, such as Durex microblog account, CMBC WeChat account, etc.
Earned media, on the other hand, it refers to a situation in which customers’ satisfaction is the main source for the promotion of your brand. In this way, consumers speak highly of your products, which means that they indirectly serve as promoters of your brand. The features of this kind of promotion on social media directly depend on consumers’ preferences.

Recombination of media and channels

In order to make the most out of social networks, we then should shift our focus on the best way to combine different kind of media channels. Paid media do not show any sign of stepping out of the picture and their timeliness and wide coverage can easily drive a hot topic to a blast point. Self-owned media are established based on original content released by enterprises; therefore, 
they will keep being the main source of publicity for private businesses.  Moreover, “Earned media” require a long time of interaction between brands and customers, so as to learn customers’ demand from interactive data to further stimulate the market.

In order to promote brand image, a self-owned medium plays its role as content provider.

To target affectionate customers and potential ones, and to promote and boost a product’s sales, self-owned media are empowered and managed by an established team of experts constituted by internal company’s employees. In order to successfully do so they should:

1.Pay close attention to customers’ behaviors. Seize opportunities and target the right platforms.
2.Keep into consideration brand feedbacks about vertical communities. Due to the high media exposure of such online gatherings, B2B and B2C enterprises are able to double the promotional results if they can use well the interaction amongst community members.