China’s hit messaging app WeChat, which now claimed 600 MAUs, has rolled out a self-serve advertising system for its ‘Moments’, allowing clients to apply for distributing ads in a content sharing timeline similar to Facebook’s News Feed.
The company started to test this feature in January this year, but the whole process is managed by WeChat staff and no self-service system was in place back then.
Distributing advertisers on this platform has five steps, including e-mail communication, preparing ad contents, approval, execution and result tracking, as shown in the official website. Advertisers have to fill in an application form to specify their brand positioning, budget, promotion time, among others. These details will determine the final advertising content and pricing. WeChat will also track the marketing analytics and offer relevant data after the ads go live.
The ad will be shown to a group of selected “seed users”, who are more active and tend to interact with ads, as a status from the advertiser’s WeChat Public Account. If users opt out or just leave it there, the possibility that this ad appears in your friends’ timeline is only 20%. The percentage will rise to 95% if you click, like or comment on it.
Each ad will be able to circulate for seven days, while every single user will only receive one ad with in 48 hours. An ad with no likes or comments within six hours will be removed.
WeChat has been very cautious in proceeding commercialization plans since its launch for concerns of harming user experience, as explained by the company. But it seems that they is going to step up monetization drive as its userbase continues to hit record highs, and advertising is definitely one of the main channels.
WeChat has launched a similar self-advertising system for Public Accounts last year that places ads, external links, subscribe buttons and a one-click download button for mobile apps at the bottom of articles published by Public Accounts.
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Image credit: WeChat