What Is WeChat Index and Why Brands Need It

WeChat Index was introduced in 2017. It shows the search volume for any term on WeChat -- whether it be the name of your favorite celebrity, a popular internet slang, your own brand or that of your competitors. Brands often monitor this index score for their own WeChat SEO and competitor benchmarking. Today, we will walk you through the low-key WeChat Index. What it is, how to access the function, and what benefits brands can gain by utilizing it.

The tool is similar to Google Trends or Baidu Index. It is big data that measures the popularity of designated keywords, involving WeChat search volume, WeChat articles and the exposure of shared articles on Moments. Users can find historical index records of the past 7 days, 30 days, all the way up to April 22, 2021.

Keywords include brands, products, movies, songs, books, celebrities and organizations. Buzzed-about words on social media are covered as well. In the meantime, WeChat Index clears meaningless words on a regular basis.

There are two main ways:

One is to search “WeChat Index (微信指数)” through “Search”, and there will be a dedicated mini program showing up. The other way is that users can directly type the keyword, and there is a “WeChat Index” as one of the search results. By clicking on it, users will be guided to the WeChat Index mini program as well.

Through monitoring the WeChat Index, brands can evaluate the degree of their popularity on WeChat and thus get a sense of whether they are top-of-mind for Chinese consumers. Brands can also gauge the ROI of marketing campaigns by measuring their WeChat index records against their campaign dates, and learning on which dates they have high search volume. Extrapolating any correlations in rises of their WeChat index with each WeChat article promotion or KOL collaboration can help brands find the right mix of marketing efforts that are most effective in capturing the attention of WeChat users. Seeing an overall trend of their WeChat search volume helps brands be on the alert for “dips” in the WeChat index curve that signals perhaps it’s time for them to run campaigns to raise users’ awareness.

Similarly, brands can leverage this tool for competitor benchmarking. WeChat Index allows users to view and compare multiple keywords at the same time. From here, brands can have a better idea of how they perform against their industry peers.

Another section in the WeChat Index mini program is “Hot Keyword Groups” showing the most-searched keywords in different categories such as games, cosmetic brands, and cities. This section provides insights on popular trends and even an opportunity for brands to improve their search rankings if done right. For example, the mini program shows that the mobile game League of Legends (LOL) is currently mentioned a lot as a rising trend on WeChat. What brands can do to capitalize on this is to relate themselves with the game, or even have a collaboration with it. Likewise, if brands want to have offline events somewhere in China, they can see the ranking board of popular cities for ideas.

WeChat has 1.2 billion MAU (monthly active users), a user base that is far ahead of any other Chinese social media platform. According to SAMPi, “measuring trends on such an enormous network could potentially bring the most statistically accurate data to marketers”. By keeping a close eye on this powerful tool, brands can learn consumer behaviors and conduct data-driven optimizations on their marketing strategies.

Based on the official explanation from WeChat Index, there are two main ways:

1. Brands can create related content on WeChat, such as WeChat articles, videos or advertisements, to increase their exposure.

2. Brands can improve the quality of content that is related to the keyword.

The main objective is to create as much exposure for keywords as possible. Formats include Wiki, Moments, Official Accounts, Mini Programs, Live Streams, Videos, Articles, News, Channels, Books, Music, Stickers, Products, Q&A and an informative brand zone.

Are there any downsides of WeChat Index? Yes. Users can’t select specific time slots that they want to see nor can they download those data. If users want to have those data locally, they can either manually type them in or send their request to this email address: wechatindex@tencent.com.

But still, WeChat Index is a useful tool that helps brands better understand the effectiveness of their marketing campaigns and gauge how they perform against their competitors on WeChat. Brands can leverage it to learn their target consumers’ interests and behaviors, and make campaign decisions based on it.