WeChat | Mini-Programs are 3 years old, and Super Popular !

Happy birthday WeChat Mini-Programs ! In January 2020, they are celebrating their 3 year anniversary. Over the years, they have become a very important part of WeChat experience and a great tool for digital marketing in China.

To celebrate this anniversary, let’s have a quick review :

How Chinese are using mini-programs every day ?
How brands are using mini-programs for digital marketing ?

WeChat Mini-Programs are very popular in China

Today, WeChat mini-programs are used by more than 300 millions daily active users. Furthermore, this popularity has increased over time. In 2019, the average number of mini-programs used per user increased by 98% and the average usage increased by 45%.

WeChat mini-programs are widely used to buy products and services on WeChat. As such, they are the backbones of WeChat E-Commerce system. In 2019, over 800 billions CNY of transactions went through them, representing an increase of 160% year over year.

Mini-programs have facilitated the set up of new businesses in China by providing a low cost and efficient solution for E-Commerce and payment. In 2019, almost 80% of small to mid-merchants businesses in China were using WeChat Pay.

Also, from an economic perspective, WeChat has directly and indirectly created 26.1 million jobs opportunities.

Last, WeChat will keep enriching the mini-programs capabilities for business and developers, by adding new features like live stream videos. One of the objective is surely to better compete with Douyin (TikTok) who is getting more and more traction in China.

How to use them for digital marketing ?

First, WeChat mini-programs are a mix between native APP and a mobile website that you can only access on WeChat. As such and to simplify, you can create most web experiences (content marketing systems, customers forms, social games, loyalty cards, eshop…) on a WeChat mini-program.

However, similarly to an APP, you should favor mini-programs for experience that users will visit more than 2 or 3 times.

So,here are the main digital marketing objectives you can reach with a mini-program:

E-Commerce to sale directly on WeChat
Social Games and Interactive Experiences to engage with your audience
Customer Services including store locator, invoicing, loyalty cards or order tracking

So, to create a WeChat mini-program, you need the support of WeChat developers or a WeChat agency like Next Ren.

To conclude, keep in mind that promoting your mini-programs on WeChat is as important as creating it ! WeChat offers advertising solutions for brands. Influencers (KOL) are also an alternative to promote your mini-program.

You can get advice and recommendations on how to promote your WeChat mini-program from a digital marketing agency in China like Next Ren.