MARKETING ANALYSIS OF WECHAT IN HONGKONG
- Introduction
Under the background of the “Internet” era, the popularity of WeChat has been greatly improved and has become a marketing method used by various enterprises. Under the concept of lifelong learning, there is a growing demand for continuous improvement of self-knowledge reserves, but in Hong Kong, the number of WeChat users is still the third, and the number of users is less than that of Facebook and Whatsapp. Based on WeChat, this paper studies how to carry out planning, operation, and promotion of the WeChat platform in Hong Kong, and draws up the basic marketing strategy of learning materials based on WeChat.
In the 21st century is an era of information and knowledge. Internet technology has opened a new wave of the scientific and technological revolution. Network communication has broken the traditional communication boundaries, and the development of intelligent mobile terminals has accelerated social interaction. In the mobile Internet era, network marketing has become a new marketing method, which is different from the traditional marketing method. Network marketing is more active marketing, and traditional media technology is gradually replaced by the new media technology. And more widely used in people’s daily study, life and work, it can bring great benefits to enterprises, including direct economic interests and intangible influence. WeChat is one of the most important networks marketing tools in the new media era. It is also a necessary means for government organizations and enterprises to win the market opportunity in the Internet age.
The use of WeChat in Hong Kong is low compared to other social platforms such as Whatsapp and Facebook. Only less than a third of the populations use WeChat, which is a low percentage about percentage using smartphones. The low usage of WeChat can be attributed to consumers’ behavior. The consumer’s behavior, on the other hand, is influenced by personal preference to certain products such as Whatsapp to WeChat, influence from the social group, and prevailing market trend.
- Analysis of WeChat HK
2.1 SWOT Analysis of WeChat
Strengths
Excellent services-WeChat has a remarkable highlight in terms of details and functions. It is the features of these products that attracted the initial users in the early days. Additionally, WeChat has many features which are not found in Whatsapp and Facebook such as QR code, shake, and people nearby, which make it more effective and convenient to use.
Weaknesses
As a ripple effect, product demand forecasting is poor and often underestimated, thereby leading to missed opportunities in comparison with other social media platforms. WeChat has also failed considerably in its marketing strategies in Hong Kong. Their technique has left a lot to be desired as its positioning, and unique selling is not defined a few years.
Opportunity
WeChat users are mainly concentrated in Android and Apple systems, all of which belong to intelligent systems. The number of smartphone users in China will exceed 930 million, and the penetration rate of smartphones will exceed 35%. In 2011, the number of smartphone users in China grew by 8%. Smartphones are showing a violent growth trend. The penetration rate of smartphones for Chinese urban residents has reached 35%. From the perspective of operating systems, in October 2011, the Android smartphone market in China was over 30%. Compared with September, it increased by 1.1%, which means that Android users are 900 million times, 30% = 270 million users. The number of users of Android phones and Apple phones is close to 400 million users, while WeChat currently has only 100 million users, and there will be huge room for growth in the future, and the market prospect is broad.
Threats
Hong Kong has a history of telephone voice messages for nearly a hundred years, and voice asynchronous communication is not new. Hong Kong people use fewer text messages and are not accustomed to using mobile phones for text communication. Hong Kong users advocate simplicity, claiming that an app only does one thing and doesn’t mind paying for it. These characteristics of Hong Kong users are undoubtedly a challenge to WeChat’s existing model. WeChat needs to localize the products according to cultural differences and user habits. The bigger challenge is how WeChat will break the inherent admiration and confidence of Hong Kong users in local products. The Hong Kong market is the only way for WeChat to internationalize. It is a true internationalization to stand firm in the Hong Kong market. WeChat has set up an office in Hong Kong to collect research and analyze data. The intention is to fully understand the Hong Kong market and prepare for WeChat to successfully enter the Hong Kong market.
2.2 Ansoff Matrix (HK vs. China Market)
Market penetration of WeChat in Hong Kong has placed its growth to 30% with the advent of the increasing use of the mobile wallet. The population of mobile wallet users grew from 2.46 million to approximately 3.2 million users. In the hope to develop a further market for the app, WeChat has unveiled mini-programs targeting the youth generation as they are the most conversant with the use of the app. Some of the mini-programs include gaming; for example, the “jump jump” had over 81% players over the 170 million daily active users (MarketingToChina, 2018). About product development, WeChat has mastered the art of integration to introduce new apps into the market. The company has partnered with other social media to make WeChat a multipurpose app. In the process, the company has succeeded in creating a strip down versions of other available apps which can work on WeChat hence diversifying. Ansoff evaluation of WeChat in China places the app as widely accepted as compared to Hong Kong. However, the reception received from the users in Hong Kong showed they still prefer their rivals to the locally based app.
- Problem statement
3.1 does not pay attention to customer loyalty
Although the new form of WeChat marketing has been introduced in the marketing field, most of the companies carry out activities that promote short-term goals. They are not customer-centric, let alone combine long-term goals with short-term goals. Enterprises have little consideration in establishing consumers’ recognition and loyalty to products, and blind marketing of customers has caused customers to resent. The customer satisfaction survey was not done well, and the back-end of the WeChat public platform was used to sort out and answer the customer feedback information, which was not conducive to customer loyalty. In today’s highly competitive market, how to improve customer satisfaction through WeChat, and thus enhance customer loyalty is an important issue that companies need to think about.
3.2 untrueness of network information
The online world is different from the real world. No one knows who is behind the client who is communicating with you. This makes the information published through the network platform difficult to distinguish. Some people with less discriminating ability may suffer from losses and evolve. As distrust of the WeChat platform, it no longer believes in the WeChat marketing model. In fact, in the network, because of the lack of supervision of relevant institutions and field verification, it is difficult for customers to confirm the information published by the merchants. Indeed, the true identity of the seller is not verified so that the security risks are born, if the customers are deceived. If the interests are damaged, then it is difficult for the customer to maintain through the seller’s false information and compensate for their reasonable interests. Also, to promote their products and attract consumers’ attention, some merchants may make false advertisements or unrealistic information publicity on their products, or even use a false network connection to implant a Trojan virus and other programs to click on the connection. Theft of consumer accounts and fraudulent activities are extremely dangerous to the accounts and interests of consumers.
3.3 Security Issues
As has been established, WeChat is a Chinese based company which therefore runs under Chinese law. Some of these laws allow for the provisions of strong censorship and interception protocols which are not in bed with most of the policies in Hong Kong. One of the features that come with WeChat is the ability to access the text messages and the contact list of a user, including their locations by manipulating the GPS protocol. The feature has made several states including Hong Kong, to express some concerns over the threat to national security that the app poses. The issue had rolled out to be a major fracas for the marketing team especially in 2016 when Amnesty International ranked the parent company last and gave it a zero score on the firm’s potential to implement encryption policy and protect the rights of its users to privacy. Competing companies like Facebook and WhatsApp toppled and outscored WeChat. They emerged as the most preferred social media site by users across the globe. The detailed report that was published by Amnesty International exposed the company of shortcomings. First, the company had failed to implement the end-to-end encryption module. The report also published that the company failed in international human rights policy to recognize online trolls and cyberbullying as threats to human rights. Some of the information and data collected by the company include profiles visited, search terms, and the material content viewed within the application. Other complex data obtained are the metadata instead of communications between users.
4 Result and Recommendations
4.1 Adoption of Conceptualized Marketing Strategy
The form of information relay ought to allow for the delivery of personalized information. This is the strategic approach towards marketing, where companies and firms deliver individualized content to consumers and producers through legal and informed data collection methods by the firm (Tang, M. 2014). The same could also utilize automated technology to deliver the same. In ensuring this strategy, WeChat will lead to improved customer experience and build up brand loyalty, which will be consistent across all channels. The innovation and optimization of product information will enable partnering enterprises like eBay to have a larger market share. Therefore, if enterprises want to continue to occupy the market and open up a larger market in Hong Kong, they need to start with the advertising content pushed on WeChat, constantly optimize and innovate, and make the content rich and colorful, so as to attract consumers to stop watching, thereby making Consumers accept product information.
4.2 Wechat has the function of creating Wechat Public Number
In the process of creating Wechat Public Number, merchants can add their commodity information to the Public Number according to the type of products they sell. In this way, consumers can find their favorite products through the public number and complete the corresponding relationship between commodity demand and supply. At the same time, the Wechat public platform can also achieve the timing promotion of product information to ensure that every Wechat terminal can see the pushed product information. Under the promotion of information and the corresponding relationship, marketing becomes highly targeted, and the level of Wechat marketing is greatly improved.
4.3 Incorporation of the end-to-end encryption system
The end-to-end encryption principle which prevents unwarranted access of information by third parties should be implemented by the company to ensure the security of the user’s data and information. This feature will prevent the illegal use of data for personalized data, which conflicts with the international human rights provision on privacy. Once the company has complied with the needs of the international body, the internationalization strategy it has will take on hard effect and ensure its survival. Currently, the speculation surrounding the user experience of the app, including harvesting of information, has greatly hampered the success of the product in global platforms.
Conclusion
WeChat marketing is on fast uprising trends. Currently, the interaction of users in its platform enables the exchange of information and subsequent development of trade. The app has successfully created a feedback environment over the internet, which has largely been a virtual reality space where marketing and product selling is impossible. For a company that came out later than its existing competitors, WeChat has slowly but surely crept to take control over the marketing space in Hong Kong. The marketing methods adopted by the company has proved its working in Hong. However, hampered by a few technological glitches and controversies, the app is on its rise to establish itself as a perfect embodiment of an online economic achievement
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