Mastering WeChat Channels: Your Guide to Engaging Chinese Students
By Emily Yuxin Jin, Chinese Social Media Intern
Understanding WeChat Channels: A Rising Platform for Global Outreach
These days, WeChat is far from an unfamiliar term. With over 1.67 billion monthly active users worldwide as of 2023, it’s the one-stop-shop social platform ingrained in the daily lives of Chinese citizens. For those looking to expand their global outreach, WeChat should be top of mind.
Much like how Instagram unveiled Reels in 2020, WeChat introduced Channels around the same period. This nifty feature, designed as a video platform, seamlessly fits into the WeChat ecosystem, allowing users to discover bite-sized videos that match their cravings for engaging visual content.
Pony Ma, the founder of Tencent (WeChat’s parent company), has described WeChat Channels as “the hope of the company”. Since its debut, WeChat Channels has experienced exponential growth. According to QuestMobile, a data analytics firm, WeChat Channels had approximately 813 million monthly active users as of last June, surpassing Douyin’s 680 million and Kuaishou’s 390 million in the same period. Meanwhile, Tencent is actively rolling out various monetization strategies for Channels, including paid subscriptions and live-streaming e-commerce, making it an appealing platform for marketers seeking new horizons.
Now, let’s delve into the user experience (UI) of WeChat Channels to understand its functionality, and what sets it apart from TikTok and Reels.
With a UI design reminiscent of TikTok, WeChat Channels allow users to personalize their feed based on content preferences. The “Following” tab enables users to view content from accounts they follow. In contrast, the “Friends” tab showcases content that has caught the attention of their WeChat contacts — be it close friends, family members, or colleagues. The platform’s “Hot” tab, akin to TikTok’s “For You” page and serving as the default landing, utilizes a sophisticated algorithm. It recommends content based on a blend of factors, including users’ content interaction history, recent searches, trending content within their community, and accounts they follow, which allows people to discover videos and accounts that resonate with their interests.
WeChat’s deep integration into the daily life of Chinese users allows it to thrive in both personal and professional circles, which gives Channels the flexibility to cover various content themes, ranging from entertainment to news coverage to knowledge sharing. Users on Channels proactively refine the algorithm through content engagement, aiming to fine-tune WeChat Channel’s ability to surface more content that aligns with their interests. This user behavior underscores the importance of community listening. To succeed on Channels, marketers must stay tuned to evolving trends and tailor their content to suit the needs and wants of their target audiences.
Boston University’s Strategy on WeChat Channels
Since 2014, Boston University has been utilizing its WeChat Subscription Account, a robust content marketing tool designed primarily for blogs and newsletters, to connect with diverse Chinese audiences. However, the arrival of Gen Z students on our campus has shifted the platform’s audience demographics. Subsequently, parents and alums who view this account as a reliable information source have become the primary subscriber groups on our channel. On the other hand, Gen Z students’ increasing preference for snackable, authentic, and visual content has steered them toward platforms prioritizing short videos.
Responding to these changes in social media trends, we launched our WeChat Channels account in January 2023. The seamless integration of the Subscription Account with Channels has empowered us to establish a content hub, enhancing our engagement with all target audiences. In addition, the adaptability of Channels in accommodating diverse content themes allows us to delve into various video genres. This includes creating casual, peer-to-peer tone videos, and studio-quality video essays that address cultural and philosophical queries. However, there are still video genres waiting for us to explore, such as educational research videos that elucidate BU’s latest medical discoveries. The flexibility and transformative potential of the WeChat Channels platform give us a significant advantage that we could leverage and experiment with in the near future.
When connecting with international audiences on social media, understanding cultural differences and platform nuances becomes pivotal for a successful content strategy. Rather than sharing identical videos from the University’s TikTok and Instagram accounts, we’ve adopted a targeted, student-centered strategy to create localized video content that aligns with the diverse interests of our audience. This approach has led to our success.
Since our account launch in January 2023, we’ve posted 3–4 times weekly, and our Channels account has grown significantly. The most popular video has garnered over 66,000 views, demonstrating that our content strongly resonates with our audience. This success shows the potential for institutions like ours to engage international audiences meaningfully on emerging video platforms. With the right approach, it’s never too late to tap into this vibrant digital trend.
Summarized below are some tactics that proved to be effective on our WeChat Channels account, which can be applied to engage international audiences at large:
Inform to engage
Keeping our audience informed about relevant updates and events at Boston University is a golden ticket to pretty metrics. By showcasing event highlights, we ensure that all BU students, regardless of their physical location, have a virtual front-row experience of the most buzzworthy activities on campus, and around the city.
When the next campus-wide event or eye-catching happening is on the horizon, consider documenting these moments through video. It’s a great way to stay connected with your international audience and an excellent opportunity for SEO-friendly content that engages the entire BU community.
Amplify student voices
The popular “Person on the Street” series on Boston University’s TikTok account features spontaneous campus interviews where BU students share their thoughts on various topics, providing a raw and authentic look at the diversity of opinions within our community. Noticing there’s a similar trendy phrase on Chinese social media called “我的互联网嘴替(My internet mouth substitute)”, which signifies someone on the internet has expressed their opinion, we added Chinese subtitles to these videos and cross-posted them to Channels. Videos that explore various perspectives in a candid and down-to-earth manner have consistently performed well. Ensuring the audience feels represented is key — and sometimes, this involves some light-hearted, non-harmful roasting. This approach often leads to content that resonates and fosters a connection with the audience.
Kindling the yearning
Our series of Boston VLOGs and campus VLOGs are crafted to kindle a sense of yearning and connection. Through these video blogs, we offer an authentic glimpse into the Boston lifestyle. These VLOGs resonate deeply, not only with Boston locals but also with those who have yet to explore our storied city.
In the post-COVID-19 era, travel videos have gained significant traction on Chinese social media. Vibing VLOGS, even if they consist of raw images, edited together with a trendy soundtrack, consistently perform well on WeChat Channels.
Targeted Storytelling
When selecting existing content for posting on our WeChat Channels, the first consideration is whether it can be localized to align with the interests of our Chinese audience. This involves taking into account cultural differences, topic preferences, and even video production styles.
It’s important to note that a simple addition of Chinese subtitles to an existing Instagram video is not sufficient. Instead, strive to repurpose the content entirely or create original videos tailored specifically to Chinese audiences — identify any information gaps, bridge them, and ensure that the content resonates.
One effective strategy we’ve implemented on WeChat Channels is using popular music. It’s worth noting that the choice of trendy songs on Instagram differs from those on WeChat Channels, so stay attuned to which music is trending on WeChat Channels as well!
Regarding video editing, the same editing logic used on Instagram cannot be uniformly applied. WeChat Channels favor elements such as stickers, AI-generated voiceovers, and TV-like effects. Incorporating these features into our content not only aligns with current trends, but also enhances engagement and resonates with our Chinese audience.
As digital landscapes evolve, the importance of globalized and platform-specific content strategies becomes increasingly crucial. For institutions and content creators alike, the challenge is not just to keep pace with the changing tides, but to use them to sail forward. At the end of the day, across borders and cultures, we — as humans — all long for stories that truly touch the bottom of our hearts and forge meaningful connections.
