This post is the second post of “WeChat Is Maturing”. In the previous post, we explained how WeChat is maturing and getting harder to acquire users. In this post, we will give a specific example of a foreign company using other Chinese social network for growth hacking.
Fashion e-commerce company Fashory made 250,000 RMB (36,000 USD) sales in just one week. With a combination of social networks, this Singaporean startup created buzz on other platforms then drove traffic to WeChat where they converted their audience into customers.
Emmy TEO, CEO, used eight social networks to growth hack her company. Below, she shares some of her secrets.
Baidu Tieba (百度贴吧）
Baidu Tieba is a social network with about 19 million discussion groups ranging from food to TV programs. On the Descendants of the Sun (a Korean drama) forum, there are 426,000 followers and 2,567,000 topics. Even though the drama series finished in April, it is still trending topic, with the new threads posted every 8 minutes.
“The best case is when someone posts a scene from the drama and questions directly, ‘Do you know which brand this is?’ then we type the brand name and attach our WeChat account link that allows them to purchase the item instantly. It’s the pull strategy!” Emmy says.
Zhihu is a Chinese Q&A website where questions are created, answered, edited and organized by the community of its users. Just like how it works for Baidu Tieba, Fashory answers users’ questions and send them a direct link to their WeChat account for the direct purchase.
Douban（豆瓣）
Douban is a Chinese social network service allowing users to create content related to film, books, music, and recent events. Fashory uses three groups on Douban: Yoga, Fashion, and their Fashory official account.
In the yoga community group on Douban, there are more than 10,000 yoga lovers. Then Emmy pushes their yoga wear to the group.
Chitu（赤兔）
A growing business, of course, requires a growing team. Fashory turned to Chitu, a network for professionals, to not only look for people, but also get insight into potential customers.
After creating Fashory’s official company page, the team posted job openings, saying that they are hiring people who are fashion enthusiasts. This helps to not only get interested in their brand but also understand their customers.
Keep is a health and fitness app that secured 30 million users in China 15 months in only 15 months.
Unlike other social media, Emmy identifies herself with her real name and her picture on Keep. Then she posts yoga clothes. People look at Emmy’s profile, see what she does, and then checks the product.
Image Credit: Fashory