Comments on the 9 new features of WeChat

Did you know that WeChat has these new features? What are these features used for? If you are interested, read this article to learn more.

In the past, every revision of WeChat was highly anticipated, such as the launch of red envelopes, mini-programs, do not disturb group chats, and folding Moments.

But now every time WeChat is revised, people feel helpless and disappointed. It feels like WeChat is becoming more and more of a hodgepodge, gradually becoming like TikTok, Xiaohongshu, and Baidu.

Today we will briefly review the impact of some recent updates to WeChat’s small features.

1. The mutual selection of advertisements on public accounts is useless

WeChat started laying the groundwork in April and May last year, requiring public account authors to clearly mark advertisements they post and to use WeChat public accounts’ own advertising selection platform in the future, similar to TikTok Star Map.

On the one hand, launching public account mutual selection advertising is beneficial to some authors and users, and it provides a formal channel for small and medium-sized authors to monetize their profits.

But on the other hand, one of the biggest advantages of official accounts is that users can post and accept advertisements themselves. This seemingly disorderly method is actually its biggest advantage.

However, once the official requirements are followed, any third-party link jump or content guidance will be judged as advertising marketing, which will have a serious impact on the transactions of many authors and merchants.

My most personal experience is that small bloggers now simply cannot receive any advertising, especially public account promotion, crowdfunding, selling courses, etc.

2. Official account supports image modification

This function may seem small, but it is a big thing for people who have been writing public accounts for a long time.

Many times, when posting a photo, the wrong picture is accidentally posted, or someone else’s profile picture appears in the photo posted, which results in complaints of copyright infringement.

The previous option was to delete the article, but now we have the opportunity to correct the three pictures.

In addition to pictures, the same applies to text. The official account supports the opportunity to modify 20 texts at a time.

I am still quite curious here. Why don’t the official accounts directly provide a function that allows authors to modify pictures or articles and then republish them?

3. WeChat Moments Pinning is now available

A long time ago, we said that some users passively participated in the internal testing function of pinning Moments.

No matter whether the content is in the form of text, pictures or articles, it can be pinned to the top.

If we only look at it from the perspective of the circle of friends, this function is redundant.

But from the perspective of private domain marketing or account TikTokization, it is useful.

Now that we have upgraded to the latest version of WeChat, everyone can enjoy the function of pinning their WeChat Moments.

There are not too many restrictions on the number of pinned posts in Moments, which is helpful for accounts engaged in private domain marketing and private domain customer service.

4. Open message function for public accounts

Since 2018, the message function of newly registered public accounts has been closed.

Recently, many bloggers have said that their official accounts now have a message function, and they are very excited.

But I personally don’t think it matters much whether this function is open or not.

1. First, the core of the official account is still the content exposure of the main text and private domain traffic.
2. Second, the comments on the public account need to be reviewed
3. Third, the cost of leaving a message on a public account is too high. Now Android users can leave a message without scrolling to the bottom.

But if you look closely, you will find that many articles on public accounts that have tens of thousands or hundreds of thousands of views have very few comments.

Therefore, the opening of this function will have little impact in essence.

5. You can also listen to WeChat articles

Starting last year, I noticed that some of the articles I wrote had a small icon indicating that many people had listened to them.

To be honest, I find it quite interesting that some people are willing to listen to articles.

WeChat supports direct online reading, and also supports saving for later listening.

Official accounts and video accounts also support uploading content in audio format. The drop-down entrance on the WeChat homepage has also added two shortcut functions: music and audio.

But the sound of articles on WeChat is too uncomfortable. Logically speaking, AI is so convenient now that it can completely simulate the voice and tone of a real person.

We can also make a bold prediction here that in the future, pure audio content will also be available through paid subscriptions or traffic sharing.

6. WeChat Little Green Book is here

As early as February last year, WeChat official accounts upgraded their picture and text functions.

Authors can publish a collection of pure pictures and text in the background of the official account, and the function is very similar to Xiaohongshu.

But in fact, those who are interested know that video accounts have supported similar functions for a long time.

In August last year, WeChat began to release content on a small scale and added a picture and text section to the "Look" function entrance for some users.

The entire "Kanyikan" section is not much different from the homepage of Xiaohongshu, and it is also seen as the beginning of WeChat's encirclement of Xiaohongshu.

After all, the number of Xiaohongshu users has increased tenfold in the past year, and this year Xiaohongshu has fully launched e-commerce.

With TikTok and Kuaishou in the past and Xiaohongshu in the future, how can WeChat not be anxious? But do you think this revision is useful?

7. Video Account Paid Area

In recent years, many knowledge bloggers have emerged, whether they are from Douyin or official accounts, and they will eventually be introduced into paid communities for monetization.

The current practice for paid membership is to direct users to WeChat groups or use third-party paid social networking tools, such as Fenchuan and Maiwan, to make conversions and take over.

However, at present, Video Account has started to launch a paid membership subscription system for accounts, which is similar to the paid membership function of Douyin.

From my personal point of view, there is little point in setting up paid areas and paid memberships for video accounts. First, the functions are too simple, and second, it does not address the concerns of bloggers about diverting traffic to private domains.

8. Ask on WeChat for traffic

Recently, many people have been struggling to obtain traffic within WeChat, whether it is because the external traffic is restricted, or because there is no traffic when posting on WeChat.

But if you ask about this channel, you can take a look. It is difficult to monetize directly, but it is still effective in exposing and attracting traffic for the brand.

1. I have personally tested and asked some questions, and the traffic is pretty good. The system will help make recommendations, which is equivalent to free exposure for the brand.
2. At present, many questions are still waiting to be answered, and the quality of answers and guiding behavior are not so strict, so many friends have done a lot of traffic for their official accounts and video accounts by answering them in batches every day.
3. From a long-term perspective, Ask a Question will definitely be displayed on the search page in the future. Doing some Q&A layout in advance is equivalent to intercepting traffic.

9. Launch of WeChat Local

If you pay a little attention, you will find that the original "Shake" has become "Nearby".

In the nearby channels, the services of life in the same city, as well as the shops and scenic spots in the same city, have been changed.

There is no distribution function at present, but it can be foreseen that with the cooperation of video account, it will become like Douyin in the future.

There are bloggers sharing their store visits, as well as those specializing in the distribution of local products, so this section is worth everyone's attention.

The updates to the above functions and services are actually not that big in terms of novelty.

Instead, there is a suspicion of plagiarism and imitation to fill in the gaps. After all, facing the competition mainly led by Douyin, WeChat and Video Account still have concerns even though they have nearly 1 billion daily active users.

And my suggestion is that while everyone is complaining about WeChat, they should still seize the opportunity.

After all, in the next five years, WeChat will still be the largest traffic platform and is still worth investing in.

Especially when WeChat is eager for content e-commerce and self-operated e-commerce, it means there is an opportunity for dividends.

Author: Shili Village

Source: Shili Village