Jing Travel and Chatly hosted a webinar that explored WeChat touchpoints and successful engagement strategies across prominent museums and destinations on August 13.
The webinar built off a joint report, “WeChat Optimization for DMOs & Cultural Institutions”, which examined the WeChat accounts of 22 cultural institutions and 20 destination marketing organizations.
To help our readers better understand these results, we invited representatives from MoMA, Arts Institute of Chicago, and Destination DC to share their experiences of launching on WeChat.
Discussions focused on how to fine-tune a WeChat account to optimize user experience, designing a 48-hour user journey, and how Tencent’s platform can be connected to other China-facing tools and resources.
Here are some takeaways.
Searchability is Key
Change the account ID to the museum name so it is easier to find. Image: JT/ Chatly Special Report
Sounds obvious, but allowing WeChat users to simply and swiftly find your account is essential. Optimize the account name and connect it to other WeChat features, such as a Mini Program or top articles, to prevent 3rd party accounts and content ranking higher.
“Users are trying to find accounts prior to traveling and the most likely way is through WeChat search. So it is very important to make it easy for consumers to do that.” Lauren Hallanan, Head of Marketing at Chatly
Focus on Customer Service
Art Institute of Chicago offers different ways for visitors to contact their customer service, including through its WeChat in-account live support. Image: JT/ Chatly Special Report
WeChat offers accounts a range of customer service options. Prospective visitors have many questions, some are FAQs, others are more niche. Use a chatbot for the former and live agent support for the latter. A further step is to create a welcome survey for new followers, this helps accounts direct relevant information to users based on where they are connecting from and what their purpose is.
“China is one of our top markets and we have invested heavily. Since launching in 2017, we [use WeChat’s customer service] focus on visitors that are here and in China. We offer a chatbot and have a feature that sends an article to users based on an artist they are interested in.” Julie White, Marketing Manager, Art Institute of Chicago
Build Content Strategy Based Off China Goals
The marketing team at MoMA creates interactive content specifically for Chinese audiences on its WeChat account and Mini Program. Image: JT/ Chatly Special Report
Launching a WeChat account is only the first step. To create content followers want and need, organizations must focus on what roles the WeChat account serves — informational, educational, entertainment, marketing, revenue generation — and balance posts accordingly. Organizations should regularly reflect on the success of posts and fine-tune over time.
“We think deeply about what we post on WeChat. We use a blend of translated English language content and posts we create specifically for Chinese audiences. Over time, we’ve great insights on what works and what doesn’t. You have to be nimble in content planning.” Carly McCloskey, Assistant Director, Tourism Sales and Marketing, MoMA
Click here to download the full report. You can also watch the recording of the webinar here.
