On the Analysis of the WeChat Marketing Strategies of Tourist

EASTERN ACADEMIC FORUM
On the Analysis of the WeChat Marketing Strategies of Tourist
Attractions and its Limitations Under the Context of Wise Data
HAN Meili
School of Tourism Management, Beijing International Studies University, Beijing, China, 100024
[email protected]
Abstract: Nowadays, the employment of WeChat Marketing in tourist attractions is one of suggested
ways. As the concept of “wisdom travel” is becoming growingly popular around the world, to integrate
efficiently tourism resources and tourist information will bring varieties to the promotion methods of
tourist attractions and allow the independent travelers to have a better traveling experience. This paper
focuses on the advantages of WeChat marketing such as its zero cost and the corresponding marketing
strategies including increasing the popularity of a scenic area by the use of WeChat. The paper also
analyses the limitations of WeChat marketing on the basis that it‟s lack of supervision on advertisement
and not able to verify the authenticity and legitimacy of its messages, and further points out that the
tourist attractions need to classify its client base by WeChat. The WeChat marketing method can bring
close the tourists and scenic areas, leading to a better win-win situation.
Keywords: Tourist attractions, WeChat marketing, Marketing strategies
1 Introduction
The number of WeChat users is increasing in a geometrical way with the generalization of smart phones
and the gradual perfection of WeChat functions. The official data from WeChat of Tencent shows that
there were 50 million WeChat users in 2012, among which 20 million users are active ones. The number
of the users has exceeded 300 million this year, and over 50% of them are people aged 20-30. And most
of them live in the first-tier cities comprising mainly the young, the trendy, the white-collar workers and
high-end business people. All these show that WeChat has become a means to spread information and
communicate with users. Despite the various creative marketing methods for tourist attractions under the
context of wise data, WeChat as a marketing method deserves our attention.
2 The Advantages of WeChat Marketing
WeChat, to a large extent, caters to modern people who follow the trendy, novel things are eager to
communicate with others. It‟s quite feasible to adopt a WeChat marketing which shows its stronger
points aiming at younger people, especially the student group. These advantages are as follows:
2.1 Zero cost for buyers and sellers
For the target market of WeChat marketing, especially the student group whose economic conditions are
not so good, the biggest advantage of WeChat is that sending and receiving all kinds of messages are
free of charge apart from its less use of data traffic. That‟s what makes WeChat marketing feasible. If the
WeChat charges fees like what the MMS (multimedia message service) does, it will be impossible to
conduct WeChat marketing. Therefore, the primary advantage of WeChat marketing is zero cost.
2.2 Huge client base
WeChat has a powerful user resource. Its largest advantage is the feature of catering to the young client
base. It makes possible the viral transmission of information with the aid of young people who enjoy
expressing themselves and sharing. If we give full play to the functions of WeChat marketing such as
across-platform, across-group and nearby users location and so on, it will help get rid of the barriers of
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spacious transmission for WeChat marketing, and also make micro-and small-scope marketing activities
more favorable. What‟s more, WeChat, as an emerging communication medium, has more diversified
modes of communication to be able to send pictures, videos and support group chat and so on. Its
content is full of variety and WeChat makes experience-based marketing a daily part of consumer.
2.3 Precise marketing
The positioning function of WeChat may help the tourist attractions to locate the target group and make
specific marketing based on diverse user demands. For instance, some tourist attractions like Zhoushan
Scenic Area of Zhejiang Province, Guanyin (Buddha) Mountain Scenic Area of Guangdong Province
and Chongqing Leheledu Theme Park have opened their WeChat accounts. Since then, they have been
able to get all kinds of information of WeChat users. Through the selection and classification of users
and zoning, they have delivered targeted messages. And the users may also take the initiative to choose
to follow a scenic area or a scenic spot, making the delivered messages more efficient.
3 Strategies of WeChat Marketing
For scenic spots, it is very profitable to make use of WeChat to spread marketing information among
target customers, because WeChat is characterized by its profound communication, effective advertising,
topic interactions, advertising breadth and low costs based on its convenience and popularity, especially
the great number of young customers.
3.1 Increase the number of followers
The improvement of WeChat can strengthen the marketing power of scenic spots. And in order to take
this advantage of WeChat, the first problem for scenic spots companies is to make WeChat more
attractive to persuade them to adopt this method of marketing and to increase the number of followers in
their target customers.
3.1.1 Following
The value of WeChat depends on „„following‟‟, because there are the more followers, the more
influential WeChat is. Here is a saying: ten thousand WeChat followers equal one million Weibo
followers. The reason is that WeChat followers are real, private people which make them valuable while
many of Weibo followers are fake. Therefore, the first step of WeChat marketing is to increase the
number of WeChat friends and followers to a certain degree. How to make WeChat more appealing? For
scenic spots, they could combine „„following‟‟ with promotional offers and sales, such as souvenirs and
lottery draws of free tickets for their followers, etc. At first, these offers can increase the follower
number by drawing their attention and attracting them with bargains. Then, based on the positioning of
scenic spots, WeChat brands could release the special activities of themes, hot spots and interactions to
cater to young customers. Major scenic spots could also have their bands verified by WeChat and get a
mark „„V‟‟ so as to get recommended by WeChat system. Since 2012, Happy Valley Shenzhen has
released its WeChat brand which could be followed by scanning its Quick Response Code (QR Code).
By following the official WeChat brand of Happy Valley Shenzhen, tourists could get more promotional
information and WeChat VIPs could enjoy a 50% discount, which effectively promote this tourist
attraction.
3.1.2 QR Code
QR Code can not only make it convenient for customers to follow WeChat brands, but also get loyal
customers and have effective interactions. When QR Code is firstly used, scenic spots appeal to
customers by means of offering presents, sales and so on. They encourage tourists to scan its QR Code
through its official website, pamphlets and advertising boards. In that way, followers are able to get
access to the latest information on sales, which may motivate them to purchase goods and visit scenic
spots. At the gate of Overseas Chinese Town of Shenzhen City (Shenzhen OCT), there stands a board
with its QR Code for tourists to scan and follow its WeChat brand. If the followers click the „nearby
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attraction‟ button, the facilities of this scenic spot ahead will be displayed on their cellphone screens,
and the distance and the picture of the attractions will become available to tourists like a considerate
guide.
3.2 Maintain the number of followers
To some extent, the number of followers could be increased by following and scanning QR Code, which
makes up the foundation of WeChat marketing. What‟s more, the service accounts and moments could
also maintain the number of followers and ensure the sustainability of WeChat marketing by publishing
and broadcasting new-fashioned ads on the tourism products and services of the scenic spots to appeal to
young customers and to create featured image and unique philosophy of scenic spots gradually.
3.2.1 Service accounts
The establishment of service accounts is one of the principal methods of WeChat marketing. It could
push notifications for scenic spots exclusively and make it possible for friends to communicate on all
levels by sharing texts, images, voice messages and videos. They provide one-on-one communication as
well as group chat. Customers could also manage to search for promotional sales instantly and get
information they want by sending messages to service accounts. On February 27 th, 2014, Karst scenic
spot opened its official service account, which enabled customers get access to the latest information
with a few clicks indoors. Netizens can search „„Knsjingqu‟‟ to follow Karst scenic spot easily. For the
convenience of tourists, the scenic spot sends voice messages, images, texts, videos to provide them
with the latest information on services of tickets, guidelines, introductions, phone numbers, weather
forecast, etc.
3.2.2 Moments
Operators of scenic spots establish a certain circle for friends on WeChat or active fans. In Moments,
they can collect advice and suggestions proposed by visitors and give feedback quickly to interact with
fans. Besides, they can post up-to-date information. For instance, visitors would be suggested to go for
other facilities when one facility is not available for too many people waiting in line, with which visitors
would be evacuated to some extent, and this practical information would attract more people to join the
WeChat circle. Due to the development of WeChat, people intend to post texts with pictures and
video-style delivering method. In Moments, through “Posting Pictures, Gaining Discount”, followers
would be encouraged to post their photos in scenic spots and this authentic experience would facilitate
the publicity of scenic spots.
3.3 WeChat application
In addition to the mentioned two regular WeChat marketing methods, for large scenic spots, they can
fully tap the tendency of doing something new in youth so as to develop a WeChat App. With the help
of map, queue guiding and voice-enabled introduction, WeChat marketing would be more practical to
offer convenience for visitors. Humanity and personalization would be reflected and visitor would be
more pleasant while visiting scenic spots.
3.3.1 Map of scenic spots
Map of scenic spots provides basic layout, facilities, routes planning and other services. Visitors can
input their present locations to search for places nearby so as to obtain a quick response to locations of
facilities that they want to know, including restaurants and toilet rooms. Visitors can also input both
their current locations and destinations so that WeChat system would help you find the best routes. If
funds and technologies permit, a map which can position locations can bring the maximum benefit to
visitors, protect them from getting lost in large scenic spots or missing the destinations. Visitors would
experience in scenic spots in a more efficiently, conveniently and considerately way.
3.3.2 Queue guiding
The most prominent issue existing in some theme parks or scenic spots during the peak time in holidays
and festivals is that it takes such a long time to wait in line while the number in line is uneven. That‟s
partly because of the attraction of different recreational facilities, but it also shows the uneven number in
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line. Therefore, it‟s necessary to develop a WeChat application to guide the queue. Before queuing up,
visitors can scan the QR Code of the facility, and the system would send back the queuing length
according to the positions of visitors to help them decide wisely. By doing this, it could balance the
queuing number in each facility to a great extent to save time in queuing and improve satisfaction of
visitors.
3.3.3 Voice introduction
WeChat supports not only texts, pictures and emoticons, but also voice messaging. Scenic spot
authorities can communicate and exchange with visitors by posting words, pictures and voice messages
to mass. Voice messaging is available on WeChat therefore scenic spots can collect advice and
suggestions with this function and guide them through to participate in the activities held by scenic spots.
It can also guide visitors to join the discussion related to the operation and management and collect the
suggestions raised by visitors for the development of scenic spots. When scenic spots fully develop and
exploit the walkie-talkie function voice prompt and voice chat function on WeChat, then WeChat
marketing mode with various forms of chatting systems not only would be helpful to bring scenic spots
and visitors closer but also would lay solid foundation for the marketing of scenic spots in a wider way.
4 Limitations of WeChat Marketing
As a new marketing tool, WeChat marketing has irreplaceable advantages and a broad prospect.
However, it also has some limitations and drawbacks, which needs us to focus on and solve them as
soon as possible. By doing that, the users can have a much easier access to WeChat‟s varied functions,
which makes a better marketing.
4.1 Pushing notifications too frequently annoys the users
Due to the authenticity and high privacy of WeChat, the enterprises in scenic spots can only push
notifications when they are approved by the users. That means if the users don‟t follow the enterprises,
they will not receive any advertising messages. Meanwhile, the visitors can suspend the interaction with
the enterprises by unfollowing their service accounts any time they like. Because if the visitors follow
too many scenic spots, they will find the accumulated advertising messages are annoying after a long
time, which are sent by scenic spots at any time. So it needs to bear in mind that number and time of
messages to be pushed to followers from the scenic spots‟ service accounts should be carefully picked,
because negative effects result from an abusive use of messages, which can interrupt the sound
communication network. Besides, it is a consumption of data traffic of users to receive messages, so it‟s
necessary for the scenic spots to make sure the frequency and length of the messages when they are
using WeChat marketing.
4.2 Great difficulty in supervising the authenticity of advertising messages
The privacy of WeChat makes it a new channel for spreading the fake news. There are many drawbacks
in part damaging the legal rights of users, such as the annoying advertising messages and uncertain
authenticity of the information. It‟s an important topic for WeChat marketing to maintain the relations
between the brands of scenic spots and tourists. Some illegal enterprises deliver or spread untrue
messages through WeChat, and some of them even violate the ethics and social morals. What‟s more,
some enterprises intentionally raised their status through unfair competition by WeChat to invite the
gullible users to be their loyal follower by planting a bug in their QR Code to steal the users‟
information. Hence it‟s necessary to enhance the supervision on WeChat advertising, improve the laws
and regulations concerned and develop an app aiming at eliminating spam and providing a safe network
for the users.
4.3 WeChat marketing may enhance the users’ data traffic burden
WeChat marketing can close the distance between the advertisers and the users. It‟s necessary to show
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consumer care by sympathizing with the users‟ demands and feelings all along. On the basis of not
affecting the sharpness of the texts and images, the pixel of the images sent to the users should be
reduced as much as possible to relieve the traffic burdens of the users from the standpoint of the latter.
This practice alone can greatly improve the user‟s experience. In addition, WeChat marketing should
increase its transparency to provide a better service by telling the users as soon as possible that the
scenic spots did some preparations to let them enjoy themselves. Moreover, it‟s much better to show the
users the images that the workers are working in a full swing, which not only closes the distances in
between and makes the users feel grateful for your sweet consideration, but also naturally brings an
improvement of the brand reputation and better feedbacks.
5 Conclusion
WeChat, as a newly-emerging medium with rapid popularization and widespread use, has great
influence which can not be underestimated. And WeChat‟s marketing value and development space in
the future deserve a better expectation. The tourist attraction has different marketing toward different
customer groups, which can shorten the distances between the tourist attraction and the tourists to
achieve a better win-win situation. Undoubtedly, as a form of advertising communication, WeChat has
certain negative effects. Therefore, it‟s necessary to advocate a safe WeChat with an improved security
protective barrier, fewer shortcomings and drawbacks. On that basis, the popularity and reputation of the
tourist attraction can be improved by making a full use of WeChat‟s advantages. In addition, the
ancillary resources can get effectively integrated with the scenic spot as the core by WeChat‟s position
search function to further the development of accommodation, dining, shopping and so on, all of which
can constantly enhance the brand value of the tourist attraction.
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