In this article, I will focus more on WeChat’s search ads.
Table of Contents
What is WeChat Search?
WeChat Search V.S. Other Social Media Search Bars
WeChat Search V.S. Baidu
How to Use WeChat Search
WeChat Search Ad Styles
WeChat Search Ad Format
Basic Ad Styles
Basic Image & Text
Small Videos
Video & Articles
Picture & Articles
Specialized for Apps
Specialized for Gaming
Specialized for Programs
Super Brand Zones
Brand Shop
Hot Events
Video
What Benefits Does WeChat Search Offer?
Collect Data for Potential Sales Leads
Advertise a Public Account
Advertise an App
Advertise a Game
Advertise a Store
Promote a Brand Event
Bidding Method Settings & Keywords
How Can Nanjing Marketing Group Help You With WeChat Search?
What is WeChat Search?
WeChat Search (微信搜一搜 in Chinese), was released in 2019 as a better way for users to search the app’s ecosystem for information and communicate with one another.
In the app, users can recognize this feature by the red logo.
At its heart, WeChat Search was created to make it easier for users to search for information: articles, videos, links to external websites, or other content on the app.
WeChat Search’s utilization of WeChat’s ecosystem shouldn’t be overlooked; to understand this, let’s briefly compare WeChat to other social media sites/apps.
WeChat Search V.S. Other Social Media Search Bars
It would be wrong to simply compare WeChat Search to indian whatsapp number Facebook’s or X’s search bar. After all, most Europeans and Americans would rather use Google instead of Facebook when doing research.
No, WeChat Search’s difference from Facebook or any othe r English social media site stems from WeChat’s importance to Chinese society. WeChat is not only a social media app but a tool Chinese citizens use to
buy train tickets,
invest in stocks,
rent apartments,
book flights, and
much more.
Even when users search for news, WeChat’s articles exist within the app, not on external websites like Facebook or X.
Western society is a lot more broken up online, with Facebook having lost dominance in the market in recent years as younger generations prefer other platforms like Instagram or TikTok.
Plus, WeChat never created a separate app just for chatting like Facebook Messenger.
WeChat Search V.S. Baidu
WeChat Search can also be understood better by comparing it to other search engines.
Remember, Google is blocked in China. Even if many people in the country use a VPN to access it, this doesn’t necessarily mean its Chinese-language searches are good.
That then leaves us with Baidu, China’s biggest search engine.
WeChat’s 2019 release of WeChat Search is interesting given the greater context; in that same year, there was a widely shared article on how Baidu was not as good as it used to be:
Recently, some have commented that the decline in Baidu’s market position stems from the fact that the Chinese internet is balkanizing (孤岛化的特征). Taobao and WeChat are increasingly not publishing data to search engines. More and more valuable information cannot be surfaced by search engines. And it’s not just Baidu. Google’s Chinese language search is also suffering.
Given this environment, one must ask whether WeChat chose to release WeChat Search seeing an opening in the market.
But there is more related to the nature of WeChat’s and Baidu’s businesses.
Historically, Baidu and WeChat focused on different products: Baidu’s products were search and information while WeChat’s were social interactions. However, these two products aren’t as different as they initially seem. After all, users need information to interact.
Years after their initial launches, WeChat’s and Baidu’s approaches have led them to different places. WeChat’s domination of social media in China has allowed it to attract more monthly active users than any other app in China. Meanwhile, Baidu lacks as many features to allow users to communicate with one another.
As a result of this, WeChat realized that it also had information to draw on like Baidu, and therefore, began to jump more into search.
WeChat is not called a “walled garden” in China for nothing: Why go to a separate website or app to search for information if all the data is already in one place?
While there are still advantages to using Baidu, and Baidu can bring up results related to WeChat with the right keywords, though you’ll still need to do a bit of scrolling, WeChat Search is better at searching the app’s internal ecosystem where consumers and companies share information.
Baidu is also incapable of bringing up results related to articles published by WeChat Official Accounts.
How to Use WeChat Search
The easiest way to find the WeChat search function is by going to the search bar icon at the top of the WeChat main interface.
After tapping this, a user will see the following interface.
When a subject is typed in (Coldplay, in this instance), the following options will appear; as you can see, the red logo is among them.
Clicking the logo will take you to a page containing all of WeChat’s different features, and now we can view channels, articles, Official Accounts, and other features related to Coldplay.
WeChat Search’s functions do not end here.
In the picture underneath, I have typed a hashtag including the Chinese word for McDonald’s. Anyone who is in this chat is now capable of tapping this hashtag to be brought to a page containing all search items related to McDonald’s.
Due to WeChat’s collaboration with QQ Music, users can search for a band to find their music.
Long pressing on a photo shared in a chat tells the user who is in the picture.
Another way to get to the WeChat Search feature is the “Discover” page.
This will take a user to the main “Search” page.
WeChat Search Ad Styles
Now that we have gone over what WeChat Search is and why you may want to use it, let’s examine search ads more closely.
As I showed above with McDonald’s, a search for any company will bring up a new page filled with related articles, accounts, videos, and other content.
This search will also bring up ads.
Before we review the different ad result styles, let’s just review what an ad will look like on WeChat.
WeChat Search Ad Format
When a user searches for a company name in WeChat Search’s search bar, they will be shown different accounts associated with the brand, videos, and advertisements.
Below are the search results for the Chinese car company AITO. Like before with McDonalds, a list of contents related to the company appears on the page.
In the below picture, several advertisements popped up as well.
Let’s focus on one of these ads.
In this ad, we have the title, a description, and the advertiser’s name. It also mentions that it is an ad (广告).
When a user selects this ad, they will be taken to a pop-up page like the below picture.
WeChat also enables its users to interact with its ads for example, a user can put in their details to receive a gift in the advertisement in the image above.
That’s the format of a basic ad found using WeChat Search, now let’s go over the different styles of WeChat Search pages.
Basic Ad Styles
For most companies, there are 7 different types of search page styles. Let’s go over each of these.
Basic Image & Text
With this form, a company’s public account will appear at the top of the list followed by an advertisement and some articles.
If your company’s target audience is readers, this may be the solution for you.
Small Videos
Unlike the previous format, companies here may choose to have four videos show up underneath their company’s public account.
Video & Articles
This style mixes the previous two, with one large video at the top followed by a few articles.
Picture & Articles
This one is similar to the last one; however, there is a large ad instead of a video,
Specialized for Apps
This version is different from the past three. While the public account is still at the top, the results show any apps or programs related to the searched term.
Specialized for Gaming
If you are a game company, you may enjoy this style.
With this, any game embedded in WeChat connected to a searched term will be at the top of the results and is followed by an article.
Specialized for Programs
This style has any programs embedded in WeChat appear at the top of the search results. After this, we see an enlarged picture-style advertisement and a few articles.
Super Brand Zones
Super Brand Zones allows any company wanting to use WeChat Search to better present itself using imagery, and companies using Super Brand Zones can make the top of the page feature a photo or logo (see image above).
Your first thought upon seeing the above image might be how much it resembles Facebook pages. Like that well-known feature, WeChat’s Super Brand Zones allow companies to have WeChat Search bring up a branded page.
The above includes shop addresses, a customer service phone number, and online chat.
Companies wishing to utilize Super Brand Zones have three styles to choose from.
Brand Shop
The first Super Brand Zone style allows a company to place its shop at the top of the landing page.
Here are some aspects to consider:
The words written on the store button are customizable.
You can choose to have up to four buttons based on the type of item advertised
Each product’s background color is customizable.
Hot Events
This style allows a company to customize what a user sees.
Companies can have up to six types of items presented on the page, taking users to areas such as mini-programs, custom links, and mini-games.
Video
Videos allow brands to make their background image a video, and make the first search result show videos of their products. (Three to six videos are supported.)
What Benefits Does WeChat Search Offer?
At face value, WeChat Search benefits for a company may seem simple. Like Google’s search engine, WeChat Search allows users to find information about a company at the tap of a button.
However, there are some other reasons to be interested in this feature.
Collect Data for Potential Sales Leads
When a user spots an ad on WeChat and clicks it, you will receive data on what types of people are potentially interested in you.
Advertise a Public Account
WeChat accounts are the main way companies can communicate with their fans over the app; when a user searches for a term related to or similar to your company’s name, your public account will appear in the results.
Advertise an App
In the above screenshot, a user’s search results come up with a list of programs and apps. If they were to tap on the second one (an app), the following screen would pop up.
As you can see, the user is now on a page where they can download the corresponding app from WeChat. This also includes reviews of the app and details about any recent updates.
Advertise a Game
WeChat allows companies to create games just for its app, and with this function, users can also use WeChat Search to look for games.
Gaming companies may want to use this feature to make a mini-game themselves as a way to advertise a larger PC, platform, or mobile game.
In the above screenshot, a mini-game (小游戏) has popped up beneath some public account search results.
Advertise a Store
You may use WeChat Search to sell products directly to customers. In this way, a user will see an ad for a product, and tap the images to be forwarded to a store.
Promote a Brand Event
Finally, WeChat Search can be used to advertise brand events.
Even if your company doesn’t have an on-the-ground presence in China, you can still use WeChat to hold an online event.
Bidding Method Settings & Keywords
Like any search engine, keywords are important in how your ads work with WeChat Search as the keywords you choose trigger ads whenever a user searches for them.
Advertisers can acquire various keywords tailored to the features of their promoted products. WeChat presently offers two methods for acquiring keywords: automated keyword expansion and manual input.
WeChat Search allows a company to choose between CPC or OCPC bidding.
With CPC Bidding, you’ll be charged based on clicks. You may find this more flexible given you can adjust your bids according to the keywords in your ads. Keyword bids take priority over the overall ad bid.
For CPC ads, you need to bid at least 0.5 yuan. If your bid is lower, your ad won’t show up at all. Right now, the average bid for ads is around 3.5 yuan.
You can use different types of keyword matches:
Exact Match: Only shows matches related to an exact keyword.
Phrase Match: Shows matches for a phrase and similar ones.
Broad Match (recommended): Shows matches for any related keywords. You may also want to add some words that block unwanted searches.
OCPC Bidding, however, means you cannot set individual bids for keywords.
You could consider grouping similar business keywords and related terms within the same ad to enhance your ad conversions. With OCPC, optimization goals can be better calculated because WeChat adjusts any bids based on those goals, allowing for more precise targeting of users.
In short, you have two bidding methods: one gives you more control over each keyword (CPC), while the other simplifies things but limits your options (OCPC).
How Can Nanjing Marketing Group Help You With WeChat Search?
With over 15 years of experience working with companies in China, Nanjing Marketing Group is a veteran agency in the world of China marketing (we were around before WeChat arrived in 2011).
We have a team inside and outside China who can help you understand the ins and outs of WeChat Search and more.
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