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Weixin Official Account

Before you can understand Weixin Official Account, you need to understand Weixin.

Weixin is a free chat app for smartphones that offers free video and voice calls, videos, photos, games, stickers, and text messages to help you stay connected with the people who matter to you most. (Similar to Facebook)

By Combined MAU of Weixin and Wechat in the second quarter of 2024, according to Tencent：1,371 millions, increased by 3% year-on-year.

Weixin Official Account is a functional section of Tencent on Weixin, used for operators to provide information and services to millions of Weixin users through Official Accounts.Both domestic and international brands frequently use official accounts for brand promotion. Furthermore, by expanding the follow-up function, other features such as online sales can be implemented.

Weixin Official Account serves as a marketing platform to: 

  1. enabling the acquisition of followers, 
  2. targeted content delivery, 
  3. dissemination of marketing and service notifications, 
  4. as well as redirection to websites or e-commerce platforms.

Official Accounts provide services to users primarily through Official Account Chats and Custom Menu within Official Accounts:

1.Official Account Chats
An Official Account exists in the form of a Weixin user’s contact, and chat is the basis for the interaction between the Official Account and its users. Official Accounts come with following messaging services for different scenarios.
(1) Broadcast Message: including text messages, articles, images, videos, and voices.
(2) Passive Reply Message: When a user sends a message to an Official Account, and the Official Account replies to the message by a specific content message.
(3) Customer Service Message: when an Official Account receives a message from a user, it can send messages to the user.
(4) Message Template: Official Accounts can send service notifications to users using a specific content template.

2.Custom Menu
A custom menu enriches Official Account interface and allows users to understand the features of Official Accounts better and faster. After a user taps the Menu button, the Weixin server sends a specific content message to the user. The type of message includes image, audio, video, article and e-commerce platforms.

Weixin Official Account is divided into two types: Service Account and Subscription Account.

Service Account: Gives companies and organizations powerful business services and user management capabilities to quickly reach and better serve users.
Service Account function primarily focuses on service interaction. Group push frequency and quantity are limited to four times per month, but additional functions can be developed and expanded. The payment function can be turned on, which is a prerequisite for online sales. Service accounts are ideal for brands looking to build a closer relationship with their followers.

Subscription Account: Provides media and individuals a new way to post stories and information, innovating author – reader interaction and content management.
Subscription Account function primarily focuses ontends to convey information to users, and it can send a group push once a day to convey the latest information to users, but it cannot provide more interaction and service functions. Subscription Accounts are ideal for brands looking to build up a strong communication and a management system with their followers by a meaningful way of information propagation.

1.Send QR which is a built-in feature in Weixin to the followers. Users can scan the QR to add.
2.Log in Weixin, click “Search” button and choose “Official Accounts”, type in Keywords of your favorite brand and its equivalent Chinese characters, in the search bar to find.
3.Log in Weixin, tap Discover > Moments, after clicking on an article shared by friend, you can find WOA by clicking on brand name at the top of the article.
4.You can share the name card of WOA with friend or group, friend can tap the card to follow.

Service accounts are only available for enterprises or other organizations to register, while subscription accounts can be registered by both enterprises and individuals.

For an international company that wishes to expand and develop its business in China, there are three available options for registering an Official Weixin Account.
1.Register a company in China
2.Use a third-party business license
3.Use your own international business license (Weixin Pay are not supported for overseas accounts)

The number of features of a local official account is greater than the ones of an overseas official account, but both of them have the core Weixin features integrated.

Account verification costs: Chinese local account 300 CNY per year, Foreign overseas account 99 USD per year.
A Foreign overseas account can only register Service Account(some countries). Fees are collected by Tencent.

1.Company Registration Certificate or Business License：Photo or scanned copy of the original, or the copy with the company seal on it after scanning;
2.Color scanned copy of the contact person’s ID card on both sides;
3.Application letter (simplified Chinese Application letter，traditional Chinese Application letter,English Application letter);
4.Phone bills of the contact person. If it can’t be offered, then you can offer the Statement of the office telephone number (with the company seal on it) or Bank Statement;
5.Other supporting materials ( If you choose to name after a trademark, please provide the right Trademark Registration Certificate or Trademark Authorization).
6.Others: WOA name, email address (used to log in to the public platform, retrieve the password, etc).

Open Weixin Official Account platform(mp.weixin.qq.com) → Register Weixin Official Account → Select region → Fill in Weixin Official Account information → Upload information → Collect verification code → Complete registration → Pay 99 USD → Complete registration and wait for review call

Weixin Mini Program

Weixin Mini Program are a new way of connecting users and services. They are easy to access and share on Weixin, no download and installation required, delivering an excellent user experience.

From ordering food to shopping, Weixin Mini Program cover a wide range of services and needs of hundreds of billion of WeChat users every day.

Many internationally renowned brands have a Weixin mini program version of their ecommerce platforms. One of the peculiarity of Weixin Mini Program is the Highly integration with WeChat Pay. This integration makes easier and faster the purchase process as the user does not have to log in between different platforms to complete the payment.

By Weixin Mini Programs in the second quarter of 2024, according to Tencent：Weixin Mini Programs’ total user time spent increased over 20% year-on-year over 1 billion, benefitting from their robust commerce and content ecosystem. GMV facilitated by Mini Programs grew at a double-digit percentage rate year-on-year. Total gross receipts of Mini Games increased over 30% year-on-year.

Open Weixin Official Account platform(mp.weixin.qq.com) → Register Mini Program → Selecting Account Type to Register → Entering Email Address and Password → Activating the Email Address → Entering Entity Information → Verification → Entering admin information → Confirming the entity information that cannot be changed thereafter → Clicking Confirm to complete the registration process

The following table describes the entity types:Individual, Company, Government, Media, Other organizations

Two entity verification methods are available for company accounts.
1.Transfer money from the company’s corporate account to Tencent, to verify the entity’s identity. The transfer information can be viewed after the entity information is submitted.
2.Verify the identity of the entity via Weixin Verification. In this method, the verification fee of 300 CNY is required. Some features of the Mini Program are unavailable until the verification is approved.

Identities of governments, media, and other organization accounts must be verified via Weixin Verification. Some features of the Mini Program are unavailable until the verification is approved.

1. Independent operation. Account verification costs: 300 CNY per year.
2. Paired with WOA. Both pay only one annual fee per year.

The main difference between Mini Programs and WOA is that users subscribe to an official account to receive news and info from that company, meaning there is an ongoing relationship between an official account and its followers. Mini Programs do not foster this same relationship, as users can just scan a QR code on one single occasion in order to use the program.

After linked to an official account, the Mini Program can be used in features such as article, custom menu, and message template.

Linking rules:
1.All Official Accounts can be linked with Mini Programs.
2.An Official Account can be linked with up to 10 Mini Programs owned by the same entity and up to 3 3.Mini Programs owned by different entities.
4.A Mini Program can be linked with up to 500 Official Accounts.
5.An Official Account can be linked with up to 13 new Mini Programs per month, and a Mini Program can be linked to up to 500 new Official Accounts per month.

Linking process:
Log in to the Official Account console, and select Mini Program > Mini Program Management > Add > Link Mini Program.

1. The maximum number of Mini programs registered by the same individual business is 5.
2. The same enterprise, government, media, other organizations registered Mini Program number is limited to 50.

After the user account audit is successful, the status of the account audit will be retained for one year (the starting date is the account audit success date). If the user needs to continue to maintain the status of account certification and maintain the application and use rights of advanced functions of certification, he shall initiate and complete the annual audit certification within one year from the date of successful account audit.

There are two ways to have your own Mini Programs:
1.Develop independently or hire professional development agencies(High price)
2.Use the Mini Programs service provider platform(Short build time, Rich marketing tools)

1.Scanning a QR code is the most common method to access Mini programs.
2.WOA can promote Mini programs to their followers. Users can access Mini programs by visiting the Home Menu Structure’s links from the WOA and links in the Article.
3.Log in Weixin, click “Search” button and choose “Mini Programs”, type in Keywords of your favorite brand and its equivalent Chinese characters, in the search bar to find.
4.You can share the name card of Mini Programs with friend or group, friend can tap the card to access.

Trademarks in China

A trademark is a sign that identifies and distinguishes the source of the goods or services of one party from those of others. In market economy, trademarks play a significant role in guiding market business, boosting national economy and protecting consumers’ rights and interests.

China implements the system of trademark registration. As provided in Article 3 of the Trademark Law, registered trademarks refer to trademarks that have been approved and registered by the Trademark Office, and the trademark registrants shall enjoy the exclusive right to use the trademarks, and be protected by law. The owner of a trademark shall apply to the Trademark Office for registration if he wants the trademark used in business to be fully protected by law.

Any Chinese natural person or legal entity intending to acquire the Exclusive Right to Use a Registered trademark can either come to the Trademark Office to apply for the registration or appoint any of such organizations as designated by the State to act as his or its agent for the registration. Any foreign person or foreign enterprise intending to apply for the registration of a trademark or for any other matters concerning trademarks in China sha1l appoint any of such organizations as designated by the State to act as his or its agent.

As provided in Article 8 of the Trademark Law, in respect of any visual sign capable of distinguishing the goods or service of one natural person, legal entity or any other organization from that of others, including any word, design, letters of an alphabet, numerals, three-dimensional symbols, combinations of colors, and their combination, an application may be filed for registration. Meanwhile, it is also provided in Article 9 that Any trademark in respect of which an application for registration is filed shall be so distinctive as to be distinguishable, and shall not conflict with any prior right acquired by another person.

After the acceptance of the application for trademark registration, the procedures for trademark registration includes the following periods: formality check, substantive examination, being preliminarily approved and published, opposition and being approved for registration. The opposition period includes three months from the date of the publication, any person may, within this period, file an opposition against the trademark that has, after examination, been preliminarily approved. Where any party concerned is dissatisfied with the Trademark Office’s decision of refusal of the registration application, decision of opposition and decision of cancellation, he or it may apply for a review to the Trademark Review and Adjudication Board. Where any party concerned considers a registered trademark to be improperly registered, he or it may apply for cancellation of the trademark to the Trademark Review and Adjudication Board. Where any party concerned is dissatisfied with the decision of the Trademark Review and Adjudication Board, he or it may institute legal administrative proceedings with Beijing No. 1 Intermediate People’s Court.

The period of validity of a registered trademark shall be ten years, counted from the date of approval of the registration. Where the trademark registrant intends to continue to use the registered trademark beyond the expiration of the period of validity, an application for renewal of the registration shall be made within six months before the said expiration. Where no application therefore has been filed within the said period, a grace period of six months may be allowed, yet extra fees shall be charged for the delay of renewal. If no application has been filed at the expiration the grace period, the registered trademark shall be cancelled. The period of validity of each renewal of registration shaIl be ten years.

http://www.shenlantm.com/brand/Trademark_Registration.html