Case Study: Weixin

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Weixen, created in 2011, is an all-in-one Chinese social networking app that allows users to send messages, share news, and pictures via their mobile phone (Mahoney & Tang, 2016). This social media platform grew rapidly, gaining more than 300 million active users in China, Southeast Asia, Europe, and America by 2014. A large reason for their success is because of how well they understand their audience and how much they have became a part of their users’ daily lives. Users are able to do almost anything and the platform is seen as a combination of Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, Snapchat, and eBay. By putting everything that you may need on one platform, there’s no need for consumers to go anywhere else.

Knowing our audience is one of the biggest reasons behind a successful social media campaign, which is something Weixin does very well. They realize that their target audience of young, urban smartphone owners want to be able to get things done quickly and efficiently. By putting all these functions in one app, it reduces “search costs,” saving users the time it would take them to go somewhere else for that task or function.

Weixen has also adapted their platform to meet the needs or moods of their audience. For example, Weixen introduced a “Qiang Hongbao” campaign meaning “Red Envelope” for Chinese New Year which allowed users to link their bank account and send or receive red envelopes virtually (Mahoney & Tang, 2016). This is a big tradition in China to give family and friends a monetary gift in a red envelope during holidays. This made their audiences excited and encouraged to spend more time and money using Weixen. This ultimately resulted in nearly 5 million participants and 20 million red envelopes sent virtually (Mahoney & Tang, 2016).

One major way that Weixen was able to make their platform a part of their users’ daily lives was by introducing a cab reservation function called “Didi Taxi”. By working with 350,000 taxi drivers in more than 30 cities in China, it has created a user base of more than 22 million people so far and has a daily average of half a million bookings (Mahoney & Tang, 2016). This has not only gave users another reason to use their platform for everything they need, but it also trains them to get used to paying via Weixen. This has been a key part of how Weixen has integrated themselves into the daily lives of users.

Weixen can absolutely be successful if it is expanded to other countries. As consumers, we want everything to be easily accessible. By implementing a platform that puts all the social media networks we use on one easy-to-use app, you make the consumer’s life easier. The only thing that could hinder the success of this platform expanding into other countries is that many people already have their set ways and favorite platforms they use. It may be too big of a change for most people to stop using the current platforms they use to switch over to this “all-in-one” platform.

References

Mahoney, L. M., Tang, T. (2016). Strategic Social Media: From Marketing to Social Change, 1st Edition. [MBS Direct]. Retrieved from https://mbsdirect.vitalsource.com/#/books/9781118556900/