This year, 87% of buyers state that digital content has a large impact on their purchasing decisions this year (Content Marketing Institute). It’s clear that content marketing is on the rise. Which brands are doing it well? Who has rocked the boat and set the bar?

WeChat content strategy is the current hot topic on marketers’ minds. What makes engaging content that will help grow readership? Is it more visuals? Better stories? Brands often ask us about how they can leverage the platform to a digital community of potential customers. We scoured WeChat and weigh in on how some retailers have developed their content marketing strategy in the past year.

Tiffany & Co

Back in July of 2014, Tiffany’s first post features the iconic Tiffany Keys. The title of the article has the brand name in it and alludes to how Tiffany Keys will open up life’s dreams and infinite possibilities. This post received 7,678 page views and 53 likes (0.07% like to view ratio). On December 29, 2014, Tiffany posted an article titled “To Me in 2015”. This post received 24,889 visits and 172 likes (0.07% like to view ratio). More recently on July 1, 2015, Tiffany posted another post titled “Her, Is That You?”. The “Her” in this article is described as a woman with courage who thrives in metropolitan cities such as New York City. This article shares how the design concept behind the Tiffany T collection is very much inspired by the urban energy of New York. This article also incorporated GIF elements on top of static imagery. The result? 25,294 page views and 183 likes (0.07% like to view ratio).

Cartier

In the same industry as Tiffany, Cartier’s posts are more directly product-based. The post on April 17, 2014, is an invitation to a jewelry show which received 9,252 page views and 70 likes (0.8% like to view ratio). The article posted on July 16, 2015, shares the stories behind some of the brand’s iconic jewelry pieces. The more recent post received 13,448 pageviews and 85 likes (0.6% like to view ratio).

Coach

When Coach started producing WeChat content, the majority was very product focused. For example, this post from July 2014 received 7,216 page and 19 likes (0.3% like to view ratio). Later in 2014, Coach incorporated celebrity endorsement into their content. During the holidays, Coach drew upon the power of celebrity by engaging with Angela Baby, a Chinese celebrity, to increase brand awareness. The post with Angela Baby as a brand ambassador received 83,776 pageviews and 171 likes (0.2% like to view ratio). More recently, rather than focusing on just the product, Coach has turned to tying product to lifestyle. The post on July 16, 2015, about summer style and lifestyle received 57,161 views and 143 likes (0.3% like to view ratio).

Longchamp

The French luxury goods company features WeChat content that showcases the superior quality of the brand’s handbags and wallets. From April 2014 to now, Longchamp’s like-to-view ratio remains consistently at around 0.4%. As consumers gravitate toward images over text, WeChat’s visual platform functions as a connective tissue between consumers, products, and brands. Product imagery — and product stories told in the context of lifestyle — garners the greatest engagement, according to an analysis of the top posts by engagement rate.

Understanding the Metrics

There are two metrics to measure results on WeChat – pageviews and likes.

Pageviews are dependent on timing of the pushes — are the subscribers ready to consume content when the content is pushed to them? What is the relevancy of the content based on the title and associated image? It is evident that a large follower base and a content marketing plan will boost content exposure. The brand with humble beginnings on WeChat that has been receiving a significant number of pageviews (over 57,000 even after celebrity endorsement) is Coach.

Likes indicate how engaging the content is to WeChat subscribers. Although Coach’s WeChat account receives considerable pageviews, its like-to-view ratio is not as strong as Tiffany’s or Cartier’s. This indicates that Tiffany and Cartier may have a higher number of brand advocates, or their WeChat accounts have a more targeted subscriber base.

The Trend

We are only examining a small number of posts from each brand, but it is evident that brands that tie products to lifestyle gain higher pageviews over time. For example, Tiffany is tying the busy metropolitan woman’s lifestyle to the T collection, and Coach is matching women who seek the spotlight to their lively new collection. This approach makes sense as it is important to produce content based on customer’s needs. Savvy marketers are focusing resources
 on experimenting with high-quality content versus acquiring followers.

So, what does the future hold for brands on WeChat? What will be the next influential content marketer be? We can’t wait to find out, especially as more and more companies embrace the positive impact that content marketing makes on awareness and the bottom line.

For specifics on how you can advertise on WeChat, download our WeChat Advertising Guide and check out or blog post on “Why Brand Should Care about WeChat advertising“.