2023 WeChat Open Course releases important content! Here are the 5 key points

In this article, the author summarizes the five key contents of the 2023 WeChat Open Course and the author's personal views. It is suitable for readers who are concerned about the development of WeChat.

In addition to the annual open classes in previous years, an additional class will be added in 2023.

Last night, the 2023 WeChat Open Class PRO·WeChat Appointment was held in Guangzhou. Compared with the WeChat Open Class held online at the beginning of the year, this open class was more like a "supplement". It was short in duration but full of practical information.

At the meeting, the responsible persons from Video Account, WeChat Pay, Mini Programs, Enterprise WeChat and SouYiso respectively gave speeches and mentioned many of the latest feature updates and highlight data.

Through data changes and the latest trends, we can better predict the future and find potential development opportunities.

The following content summarizes the key points of the open class and expresses some personal opinions. I hope it will be helpful to you.

1. Video Account will soon launch a "paid subscription function"

As the "hope of the whole village", Video Account was still the first to be mentioned in this open class. Video Account, which has been online for three years, continued to grow rapidly in various data indicators in 2022. In particular, the usage time of Video Account has exceeded that of Moments , which is naturally inseparable from the continuous creators and the strong support from the official.

Data shows that live streaming sales increased by 800% in 2022, and the number of authors with cumulative income in 2022 increased by 2.64 times compared to 2021. This open class also brought a lot of favorable policies for creators. Video accounts launched a new creator profit sharing plan this year, and provided paid subscription functions for high-quality creators, which will further help creators increase their income. Among them:

• Creator Sharing Plan: Creators who declare their content as original will be able to enjoy a series of original rights, including advertising revenue sharing in the comment area, protection of original content platforms, and priority recommendations for platform distribution.
• Paid subscription function: Support creators to set up paid content areas, and users can become members by paying a monthly fee. Covering all authors of video accounts and public accounts, helping every creator to quickly establish their own commercial paid subscription system.
• The homepage display method of the video account will also be comprehensively upgraded: under the new display method, in addition to mounting inherent video, live broadcast, showcase and other modules, the homepage of the video account is trying to support mounting long audio and even text and other content forms, giving more creators opportunities.

Therefore, whether it is a brand merchant or an individual creator, they should start to pay attention to video accounts.

2. The mini program coupon function drives 12 billion in consumption, and "Payment by Swipe Your Palm" may be launched in the future

Previously, WeChat Pay launched the post-payment mini-program coupon function. After customers consume offline, the merchant's mini-program will push a coupon to reach users again online. So far, 25,000 merchants have access to this function, and it has driven a total of 12 billion in consumption in the past three years. Take Starbucks as an example. After users consume in offline stores, the payment page will pop up a Starbucks mini-program coupon and automatically transfer it to the user's account. This has two benefits:

1. There is one more channel for brand mini programs and even private domain traffic.
2. The issuance of coupons has also increased user repurchase rate and stickiness to a certain extent.

In addition, Zhang Ying, vice president of Tencent and head of WeChat Pay, also mentioned a new feature. WeChat Pay has begun to try to launch the "WeChat Palm Swipe" service.

Users can bind membership cards, campus cards, transportation cards, ticket electronic codes, etc. to their palms, and then use their palms to verify membership, make purchases, and pass through gates. Currently, we are gradually inviting merchants to jointly create palm-swiping application scenarios.

3. Mini Program usage time has doubled, becoming the main carrier for businesses to place advertisements

In the past year, the average number of days of use of mini programs per month has increased by 24%, and the usage time has doubled year-on -year, which, like the video account, has exceeded the usage time of Moments. The overall transaction volume has reached trillions of yuan, an increase of more than 40% year-on-year , and the annual transaction amount per user has increased by 34% year-on-year. The active ecology is also driving the continuous improvement of commercial value. According to Zeng Ming, head of the WeChat Open Platform, mini programs are becoming the main carrier for business operations and advertising.

Data shows that the number of mini program openings from WeChat ads increased by 53% in the past year, and the number of non-game mini program traffic increased by 23%. Long-term stable growth and commercial returns have also stimulated the enthusiasm of more developers. In the past year, the number of mini program developers increased by 23% year-on-year, and the number of accounts using cloud development exceeded 3 million. At the same time, mini programs also announced a number of service upgrades for developers:

• Improve performance experience: The mini program engine will also be upgraded to further reduce the time spent on startup and page switching.
• Improve the trust mechanism: better protect the rights and interests of users through transaction guarantee system and user transaction evaluation capabilities.
• Optimize messaging capabilities: Message capabilities will also be gradually upgraded from subscription-based delivery to precise reach. In the future, users will not need to subscribe to get a more precise messaging experience.
• Improve development efficiency: Mini program development will usher in version 3.0, which will further improve development efficiency by providing a one-stop development platform, covering the development needs of APP, H5 and other scenarios, and providing multi-terminal frameworks, security gateways, data services, identity management and other services.

4. WeChat for Business connects 12 million real companies and organizations, and private domain transactions have reached hundreds of billions

Nowadays, more and more companies choose to serve users through WeChat for Business. In the past year, WeChat for Business has connected more than 12 million real companies and organizations, and the number of WeChat users served by companies through WeChat for Business has reached 500 million every day. The scale of private transactions of companies through WeChat for Business has reached hundreds of billions of yuan.

In 2022, WeChat for Business has improved its external payment collection capabilities to help companies better operate their businesses. Companies can manage all orders and funds in a unified manner, and have a clear understanding of the performance of shopping guides. Through performance attribution, an incentive system is established to enhance the enthusiasm of shopping guides. Taking the pharmaceutical retail company Neptune Star as an example, Neptune Star's 20,000 store employees connect with 8 million customers across the country. With the "external payment collection" capability, customers can place orders online without having to go to the store. Now, Neptune Star's monthly store sales are as high as 30 million yuan.

At the same time, in the face of the business "trend" that companies prefer to introduce products and services on video accounts, the ability of corporate WeChat to connect to video accounts will continue to increase in 2022. Now, companies can access WeChat customer service in scenarios such as video account homepages, live broadcast rooms, and video account stores, and connect with customers through timely services, so as not to miss potential business opportunities. Compared with last year, the number of active companies using WeChat customer service to connect to video accounts has increased 17 times.

5. Souyisou has 800 million monthly active users and will upgrade the “Ask a Question” search function

Souyisou has become an important tool to assist content creation and operation:

• In 2022, the contribution of new fans of public accounts driven by SouYisou reached 27%, and the distribution of articles increased by 43% compared with last year.
• Mini Programs contributed 20% of the new daily active users, and the distribution volume of Mini Programs increased by 26% compared to last year.
• The number of new fans of the video account increased by 120% compared to last year, and the video distribution volume increased by 895% compared to last year.

So far, the MAU of WeChat Search has exceeded 800 million, a year-on-year increase of 54% . The "Ask a Question" function will also be launched in the future.

According to the introduction, "Ask a Question" allows users to browse questions from WeChat users and answer them. High-quality answers will be displayed when users search for related questions. Users can like, forward and follow the answers they approve of. High-quality content creators will also be invited to participate in answering questions through targeted invitations.

It is reported that WeChat will open the Q&A function in batches, and the first phase will invite some video account certified authors in the education, tourism, food and science industries to participate in the experience. This seems a bit similar to the "Zhihu" model. For creators in the WeChat ecosystem, it is both an opportunity and a challenge.

On the one hand, it will attract more competition from creators, and on the other hand, it will bring more exposure to high-quality content. The specific implementation time of the above new features and changes has not yet been determined. Whether it is a surprise or a disappointment, we will wait and see.

Author: Yan Tao

Source: WeChat public account "Yan Tao Sanshou (ID: yantao-219)"