In recent years, WeChat has been trying to get its foot in the door with advertising. In 2018, Tencent earned 58.1 billion yuan from its online advertising business, up 44% year-on-year, accounting for nearly 20% of its total annual revenue.
among it, revenue from advertising on social networks surged 44% to 11.87 billion yuan, largely from ads in WeChat Moments, mini-programs and QQ highlights.
Advertisers have become better aware of the power of WeChat advertising, and Tencent is opening more ad spaces in response. Meanwhile, WeChat Moments Ads are taking increasingly various forms.
I. What Are WeChat Moments Ads?
They are native advertisements inserted in WeChat Moments, part of the WeChat ecosystem, and highly resemble user-generated posts.
II. Forms
1、Conventional Ads (text with image)
They are native content in WeChat Moments that are seamlessly integrated into the feed. The ads can easily make an impression since all thumbs-ups and comments are visible to friends.
2、Conventional Ads (video)
They are fast to load, highly attractive and interactive. Once clicked, the ads will fill the screens and retain users’ attention for a fairly long time.
3、Basic Card Ads
They take up larger space, with more compact information to catch the eye. They also guide users through shorter conversion paths.
4、Selective Card Ads
They can display the products in more dimensions and suit users’ need for self-expression, thus having a better chance to be shared.
5、Voting Card Ads
Voting attracts users to participate in the advertising process, which helps brands quickly go viral among users.
6、Full-frame Card Ads
They feature larger frames and more immersive experiences to help with the storytelling.
7、Interactive Video Ads
Their interesting and innovative forms of interaction give the ads more to be discussed, so users are readier to share and give thumbs-ups.
III. Process to Publish Ads
1、Setting up Accounts and Creating Ads
In the initial stage of ad creation, W-axis Technology can help business owners pinpoint goals of promotion based on the target audience. The goals of promotion may include: publicizing brand events, stores, products, Apps, mini-games; distributing coupons; obtaining sales leads, etc. After identification of the advertisers’ goals, the system will recommend appropriate settings for the ads to be displayed.
2、Reviewing of Plans
W-axis Technology will give feedbacks and suggestions for improvement within 2 working days. Advertisers need to closely follow the progress. The time needed for reviewing differs from case to case, and may vary from 2 to 10 working days concerning revisions of the plans.
3、Advertising
Before putting the ads online, advertisers can tailor the ads to specific users according to their basic information like location, behavior, hobby, age, gender, education, etc.
4、Optimized Cost Per Mille (oCPM)
Advertisers can select optimization goals based on the promotional targets so as to accurately reach your target audience. The prices are set based on the targets and oCPM on Moments.
IV. Advertising Cases
1、Singapore Travel
It usually takes a longer time for tourism ads to convert viewers into customers. Advertisers can draw users’ attention by posting the same ads for multiple times on WeChat Moments, so as to lay the foundation for future conversion.
The Singapore Tourism Board put on basic card ads with larger frames and more compact information displayed, thus making the celebrity-featured promotional videos more eye-catching.
Once tapped by users, the video ads in Moments will turn into customized native promos to fully showcase the charm of Singapore’s tourism. Finally, with a one-click button for subscription, a closed loop of user conversion is completed and subscribers who may be potential customers are added to the official account. In the end, the ad got a thumbs-up rate of 1.4%, which far exceeds the industry average.
2、LANCOME Malaysia
In China, “Golden Weeks”, week-long holiday seasons across the country, always see peaks in traffic. LANCOME took full advantage of such periods to roll out exclusive discounts in Malaysia. The ads are displayed to both travelers to and permanent residents in Malaysia, and are specially targeted at female users. As a result, the ads are clicked 6 times more often than the industry average.
To promote its popular products, LANCOME Malaysia attracted users to click the ads by including multiple pictures and introducing holiday discounts. After clicking, users can learn about the generous discounts in detail in the pop-up page. With a subscription button on the bottom, the ads are able to add popularity to the official account.
3、McDonald’s
During the Chinese New Year, McDonald’s published Moments Ads that took a new form of an interactive video with holiday wishes from celebrity. The video ad starred YANG Chaoyue, a celebrity known for her good luck, thereby attracting users in the festive mood to tap the ad. It also gave the brand image a boost.
Statistics shows that, excluding sliding data, the ad got the highest total click-through rate among all the Moments Ads put out during the Chinese New Year season. The ads with Ms. Yang’s profile photo and nickname are clicked 9 times more often than the industry average.
4、Remy Martin
Remy Martin’s selective card ad went viral on WeChat; the native promotional page mixed with the brand’s mini-program directly converted viewers to buyers. The ad killed two birds with one stone in the sense that it publicized the brand’s image and introduced the product, “Remy Martin Cognac Xo Limited Edition by Steaven Richard” with a limited 8048 bottles being sold in China.
V. Conclusion
After WeChat lowered the threshold to put ads on Moments, more companies have come to see it as a quality advertising platform. Companies, however, still need to advertise with a clear picture of their target audience in mind. Creative ideas and concise copywriting seldom fail to gain more attention and sharing.
