China is a country with 1.3 billion inhabitants. But these people have no access to Facebook, Twitter, or Instagram. So while doing your business, for promotion, advertising, sales you need to get their attention in another way. This clearly means WeChat. Not only Chinese netizens have taken over the app and used it as a tool to accompany them in every aspect of their daily life but brands have also jumped on the bandwagons and got themselves a WeChat official account allowing them to communicate efficiently with their target audiance.
3 Types of Wechat Official accounts
In China, people are connected more than ever because of WeChat. Besides, you can do many other things on this application because WeChat is more than a messaging app. Indeed, people share their moments, play games, track their fitness goals, make voice and video calls, shop online, and even pay for literally almost everything. With 1 billion accounts, We Chat is obviously one of the biggest social media platforms.
If you want to use WeChat for business, you can choose among three different types of accounts. You need to get aware of the differences between these accounts in order to choose a good one for your business.
- Subscription account: It allows you to publish one broadcast message per day to subscribers. It aims at communication purposes.
- Service accounts: This account allows you to share four messages per month, and they appear in the friend session list. It is the best one for promoting your products or services.
- Wechat Work (formerly Enterprise account): It gives you massaging and business tools.
Chinese account vs foreign account
Chinese users can only have access to the mainland’s account because they need to use a Chinese phone number. As a consequence, if you are a foreign company and you register overseas. It will be more complicated to create a WeChat account.
Create a WeChat Official Account as a foreign company
But if you want to work in China, you have to create an official Chinese account in order to reach Chinese targets. Nevertheless, it is necessary to have a legal entity such as China’s residence ID and a China Mobile phone number. Concerning license, only a few countries can apply for it.
As a whole, there are 17 countries or regions including Hong Kong, Macau, Taiwan, Japan, Korea, Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand, Russia, United States, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Germany, France, England, and Italy. With this local regulation, creating an official WeChat account as a foreign company is not always easy.
- Register Foreign Enterprise on Wechat
If you are not from the 17 countries, then you have to create a WFOE which can be expensive and take a long time. WFOE allows a company to get into the Chinese market but with restricted conditions.
- Get assistance from local companies
Another solution is to get a partnership with a third Chinese company. In fact, they can apply for a WeChat official account by using your Chinese business license. This procedure takes only 7 working days. The account will appear with your company’s name logo and description. It costs only 500 USD, and the operation is fast.
However, it is connected with the legal entity that created the account. Such a partnership means that, in a certain way, you can belong to this third Chinese company. The most inconvenient point is that you cannot use WeChat to promote your product. What is more, users might be confused about the authenticity of your business. But if your business is successful you should consider settling an office in China.
How can Wechat serve your business in China?
This application suggests various ways to exchange with users. There are many functionalities that you can use. For example, there is location-based marketing. WeChat can detect the user’s location, so you can easily target people around you.
You also have the possibility to personalize the content. Some newspapers or magazines are doing it such as The New York Times, Wall Street Journal, and Vogue. Companies can publish promotions that appear on your official account.
You can also connect with people. It means that you get them involved in a true customer relationship. This will allow you to know better the clients and make suggestions. By getting them evolved they will at the same time promote your brand.
Wechat Mini-games to create engagement
Another way of using WeChat for promoting your business is to put ads on mini-games in order to push further customer engagement. For example, Coca-Cola Hong Kong set up mini-games within we chat interface. The users had to answer questions and play games.
They could win a discount to use at 7-Eleven stores. When you create your account, you get a QR code automatically. Here you need to be creative and very visible. You should choose a strategic location to put it.
Types of advertising on WeChat
WeChat advertising is a social marketing promotion platform based on the WeChat ecosystem, combining user social interaction, reading, and life scenarios, and using professional data algorithms to create a social marketing promotion platform. There are several types of advertising on WeChat.
- Moments advertising
- Official Accounts advertising
- Mini Programs
Moments ads are also called native ads. They are displayed in the user’s Moments in the form of original content similar to friends. By integrating billions of high-quality user traffic, Moments Ads provides advertisers with a unique Internet social promotion and marketing platform in China.
Official Accounts advertising is like native ads, but the difference is the place where users can see your promotions. For this kind of ad, advertisers publish ads in their official accounts, not in the Moments of WeChat users.
Mini-program marketing has 4 different forms. The advertising is based on a WeChat mini-program and mini-game ecology, using professional data processing algorithms to achieve controllable costs, considerable benefits, and precise reach.
WeChat has more than 1.1 billion monthly active users, which can help you achieve massive brand exposure, convey brand culture, strengthen brand image, and cooperate with precise targeting to allow more users to participate in brand activities.
As a foreign company, you need some time to create an official WeChat account. You have several options that are open to you. WeChat is an unavoidable platform when you want to do business in China.
Chinese people spend a lot of time on it. So the more you are visible, the more you get leads. Because it is not always easy to understand and to know all the details about how it functions.
If you want to know more about how to use WeChat to help your business, contact EAC and our team will help you with its expertise.
Read more about Wechat for businesses:
- WeChat: the new luxury digital trend in China
- How does a foreign company sell on Wechat?
- Why you should use Wechat for your business?
WeChat Official Account Registration in 2027: Updated Process for Foreign Brands
WeChat Official Accounts remain the foundation of any brand’s China private traffic strategy. As of 2027, over 20 million WeChat Official Accounts exist, but only accounts with consistent content, genuine follower engagement, and active mini-program integration drive real business value. Simply registering an account is not enough. The brands that benefit most from WeChat Official Accounts treat them as a CRM channel, not a broadcast channel.
The registration process for foreign brands changed slightly since 2021. WeChat now requires foreign companies to register through a mainland China partner entity or through Tencent’s dedicated overseas enterprise registration portal. Foreign companies registering without a Chinese business license must provide: company registration certificate (apostilled), business scope documentation, a responsible person’s passport, and a Chinese mobile phone number for verification. Processing time is 5-15 business days for standard applications.
Account types matter for your use case. Service Account (服务号) publishes up to 4 times per month and has access to WeChat Pay integration, advanced APIs, and Mini-Program linking. This is the right choice for brands selling through WeChat. Subscription Account (订阅号) publishes daily but appears in a folded subscription folder — lower visibility per message but higher content frequency. Most e-commerce brands should register a Service Account. Media and content brands may prefer a Subscription Account for the daily publishing cadence.
WeChat Mini-Programs are now more important than the Official Account itself. The Mini-Program is where transactions happen. Brands that integrated their WeChat Official Account with a Mini-Program store see 3-5x higher conversion from their follower base than brands that only publish content. Mini-Programs also allow brands to run loyalty programs, offer personalized product recommendations, and push targeted notifications — capabilities the Official Account alone cannot support.
WeChat’s algorithm now favors accounts with high interaction rates, not posting frequency. An account that publishes 2 posts per month with 10% open rates and high share rates will outrank an account that posts weekly with 1% open rates in WeChat’s internal recommendations. Focus on content quality and clear call-to-action design over volume. Each post should have one specific objective: drive traffic to the Mini-Program, collect follower data, or generate shares to new audiences.
Technical Tips for WeChat Official Account Management
- Link your Official Account to a Mini-Program store from day one. Set up the Mini-Program connection during account setup, not after. Every menu item and call-to-action in your Official Account should link to a specific Mini-Program page, not to an external website. External links require users to open a browser, which dramatically reduces conversion versus in-app Mini-Program navigation.
- Set up automated welcome messages with a clear value offer. When a new follower joins, they should immediately receive an automated message offering something useful: a discount code, a free guide, a product sample application, or an invitation to a WeChat group. This first-message conversion determines whether new followers become active community members or passive lurkers.
- Publish at Tuesday-Thursday, 10:00-11:00 or 19:00-20:00. WeChat open rates are highest on mid-week mornings and evenings. Avoid Monday (lowest open rates as users focus on work) and weekends (lower overall app usage for brand content). Consistent posting at peak times trains your audience to expect and open your content.
- Use WeChat’s template message (模板消息) feature for transactional notifications. Template messages are system-level notifications (not marketing messages) that users receive for order confirmations, shipping updates, appointment reminders, and membership status changes. They bypass the standard messaging frequency limits and have near-100% open rates because users expect them. Brands with active Mini-Program stores should configure template messages for every key transaction stage.
What Brands Say About WeChat Official Accounts
“We treated our WeChat Official Account like a newsletter for three years. Open rates were 2%, follower growth stalled, and ROI was near zero. When we rebuilt it as a CRM hub — linking every post to Mini-Program actions, adding a loyalty program, sending monthly member-only offers — open rates jumped to 18% and Mini-Program revenue grew 4x in 6 months.”
Digital director, French fashion brand
“Our WeChat Mini-Program store now generates 25% of our China revenue at zero platform commission. Tmall charges 2-5% commission plus advertising costs. WeChat buyers cost us almost nothing to retain once they follow the account. The ROI difference over 3 years is enormous.”
China GM, European nutrition brand
FAQ: Real Questions Chinese Users Ask About WeChat Official Accounts
关注微信公众号安全吗？个人信息会泄露吗？(Is it safe to follow WeChat Official Accounts? Will personal information be leaked?) Following a WeChat Official Account shares only your WeChat nickname and avatar with the account operator — not your phone number, real name, or payment information. Account operators can see follower counts and basic interaction data (opens, clicks) but cannot access personal identification information unless you explicitly provide it through a form or registration process within a Mini-Program. WeChat’s user data protection policies prohibit brands from sharing follower data with third parties without user consent. For added privacy, you can adjust what information Mini-Programs access in WeChat Settings under Privacy.
企业微信和微信公众号有什么区别？(What is the difference between WeCom and WeChat Official Account?) WeChat Official Account (公众号) is a content broadcasting and customer marketing channel. Brands publish articles, promotions, and product updates that followers receive in their WeChat message feed. WeCom (企业微信) is a business communication tool where brand staff add individual customers as contacts and communicate one-on-one. WeCom contacts appear in the customer’s personal WeChat as a contact (not a subscription), enabling personalized messaging, direct customer service, and private group management. The most effective China brands use both: Official Account for broadcast marketing to all followers, WeCom for high-value one-on-one relationship management with VIP customers and group members.
EAC registers and manages WeChat Official Accounts for international brands, from initial setup and Mini-Program integration to content strategy, follower growth campaigns, and WeCom private traffic management.
Get a free brand audit from our team. We audit your WeChat presence and design a private traffic strategy that reduces your dependence on paid platform traffic.
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