The report “2024 WeChat Moments User Research Report” was released by Growth Black Box. The following is a partial excerpt from the report. Please obtain the original text for the full content. As the national social application with the largest number of users in China, WeChat’s position is already difficult to shake. A recent academic study showed that 42.2% of respondents spent an average of 2.5 hours or more on WeChat every day, and the stickiness of use far exceeded other social media.
1. New discovery 1: The average daily penetration rate is close to 75%, and we still cannot do without WeChat Moments
Five years have passed since that open class, and the discussion on “Friends Circle is getting quieter” has repeatedly become a hot topic. People feel that during the once lively festivals such as Qixi Festival and May Day, it seems that few people are active in WeChat Moments. According to a survey by China Youth Daily, 63.9% of the respondents set their WeChat Moments to be visible for three days[4] – there are probably no friends in WeChat Moments, just as there is no wife in Wife Cake. But the final data results show: we cannot escape WeChat Moments, just as we cannot escape social interaction. This unique form has not only penetrated into consumers’ living habits, but has also become one of China’s most scarce marketing resources.
In terms of overall usage habits: 75% of WeChat users use the Moments feature. As WeChat has formed a huge social network, Moments has become the most frequently used WeChat feature by users every day, in addition to chatting and payment.
Moments are more popular among the middle-class consumer group aged 25-44. The penetration rate is higher in first-tier cities with high spending power and in lower-tier cities with vast areas.
Nearly 43% of consumers spent more time browsing Moments compared to last year, and only 17.7% of users spent less time on Moments, with a net increase of 25.1%. However, while nearly 30% of consumers posted more frequently on Moments, 27.5% posted less frequently, with a net increase of only 2.2%.
From another perspective, we can see more clearly that: If consumers post less frequently on WeChat Moments, their browsing frequency will not necessarily decrease. On the contrary, nearly 70% of people keep the same or increase their browsing frequency. Even if the frequency of posting to WeChat Moments remains the same, the time spent browsing will increase, not decrease.
As Zhang Xiaolong predicted, social needs have not changed. 11 Whether it is the increase in posting or browsing, social needs are the underlying driving force: users believe that the content and interaction in Moments can bring positive emotions, and Moments can increase opportunities for social interaction. At the same time, everyone also believes that there are more interesting contents in Moments.
2. New discovery 2: More than half of users want interactive Moments ads to be more approachable and credible
It is precisely because the Moments play the role of a “square” that a balance between brand marketing and consumer experience has been found: n First, if the role of Moments is limited to social interaction in private scenes, the advertising experience will definitely be very bad: it is tantamount to having to look at an advertisement pasted on a friend’s face before chatting with him. But when users are strolling in the square, they can occasionally look up at the billboards, and the degree of disturbance is greatly reduced. The brand’s content can also be seen by more consumers. n Second, this square is essentially composed of acquaintances, so the brand advertisements that appear here will not only increase trust endorsement, but also make consumers have subjective emotional values such as a sense of identity.
It is not difficult to understand that, from the perspective of users’ subjective feelings, the trust and intimacy of this “square” is significantly higher than that of conventional social media channels. The difference in value is not that obvious, because there is no public domain recommendation algorithm mechanism in Moments, and people cannot experience the sense of accomplishment of their own Moments getting 100,000+ hits.
81% of consumers trust WeChat Moments ads, significantly higher than other platforms; and 36% of them “very much trust” them. 54% of consumers think WeChat Moments ads are not disturbing enough, 21% higher than all other platforms. Among them, 24% think they are “not disturbing at all”.
Thanks to the high acceptance of WeChat Moments ads, more than half of consumers will further interact after seeing ads in WeChat Moments: “want to interact with the brand”, “want to share with friends and family”, “want to learn more about or buy products”, etc. At the same time, consumers’ subjective emotions are stimulated, and they believe that “the trust in the brand has been improved”, “the sense of self-identity (taste, social status, etc.) has been deepened”, “the brand’s favorability has been improved”, and “the brand values have been more clearly understood”.
3. New discovery 3: More than 70% of users’ interests are stimulated by interactions with friends, and ads in Moments can leave a deeper impression
Zhang Xiaolong has always insisted on giving priority to user experience and being cautious and restrained in product development. This positive impression has spread widely among WeChat users. However, when the topic returns to business, can WeChat Moments really create unique value for both brands and consumers? Although consumers generally believe that the marketing form of Moments is a good experience and trustworthy, in their minds, is the status of Moments equal to that of other media forms?
In order to verify whether Moments is really popular, we designed a scenario hypothesis to observe consumers’ attitudes. First, we found the most boring time of the day for ordinary people, which is also the time when their attention is empty: when they are in a closed environment such as an elevator or subway, and there are no urgent things to deal with. Psychological research shows that when people are bored, they tend to obtain and pay attention to fresher and more interesting information as stimulation[5].
So in this extreme scenario, what is the first thing that comes to people’s mind when it comes to information acquisition channels? You must think that at this time, people will look at the advertising screens in the scene – this form of advertising is tailored for people’s attention gaps. However, survey data shows that the appeal of Moments may exceed that of elevator ads. In this scenario, only 49% of consumers will watch ads in the space, while nearly 70% choose to browse Moments, which is even higher than alternative activities such as browsing other social media, playing games, and listening to music.
4. New discovery 4: Nearly half of high-income people prefer to browse Moments, which is very suitable for marketing high-order products
Since the social element is the most impressive part of WeChat Moments ads for consumers, what is it that makes consumers willing to let others see their likes and comments? We found that this is actually a behavior that highlights one’s social identity and shows one’s taste. Compared with the common KOL product promotion and product recommendation, the product promotion type ads that are commonly seen in WeChat Moments give consumers a more “high-end feeling”. To put it bluntly, letting others see that you are the audience of high-end products is itself a manifestation of seeking social recognition, which will be further amplified in the environment of friends and acquaintances.
This leads to the next conclusion: high-income people seem to be more interested in hanging out in the square, and high-end products are more likely to attract people’s interest in the square. This means that deep users in the circle of friends are all “high-quality people” in the eyes of brands.
We found that: The penetration rate of WeChat Moments is the highest among people with a monthly income of more than 30,000 yuan, with 85% of consumers saying they use WeChat Moments every day. And this group of people also has the highest increase in the time they spend browsing Moments.
People with a monthly income of more than 4,000 yuan have a significantly higher rate of clicking on WeChat Moments ads. People with a high income of more than 30,000 yuan have the highest rate of being interested in and clicking on ads, as well as having offline usage experience.
For consumers who are interested in luxury goods and cars, the time they spend on WeChat Moments has increased in the past year. At the same time, for business managers who are interested in TOB services such as franchising, exhibitions, consulting, and software, the time they spend on WeChat Moments has also increased to a certain extent.
5. New Discovery 5: More than 80% of users take action after watching ads. WeChat Moments ads have a strong ability to attract users.
From the perspective of brand marketing, the “high-end feeling” of WeChat Moments is a notable feature, and it has also attracted a large number of high-quality people, but will it bring about the problem of too high a threshold? First of all, is WeChat Moments only suitable for ultra-high-end products and top brands, and not friendly to mid-tier brands?
We found that because social networking has the attributes of circles, the “square” seen by each person is different. Even two types of people with completely different portraits can find fun in it. Therefore, Moments ads are compatible with brand scale: Currently, 40% of the ads consumers see in Moments are from emerging brands, and 23% are from completely unknown brands. Compared with the changes in the past year, 29% of consumers believe that they have seen more Moments ads from emerging brands, even higher than the 28% of international brands. On the other hand, the rise of domestic brands has also been exerted in Moments. More than 48% of consumers believe that they have seen more ads from well-known domestic brands.
(This article is for reference only and does not represent any investment advice from us. If you need to use relevant information, please refer to the original report.)