The WeChat Guide for Business in China

Most foreign companies open a WeChat account, post a few things, get no response, and conclude WeChat does not work for them. It works fine. They just used it like Facebook, and WeChat is nothing like Facebook. Here is what a small brand should actually set up, and in what order, so the account earns its keep.

WeChat is for keeping customers, not finding them

This is the mistake under all the other mistakes. WeChat is not a discovery machine. You do not go viral there and you do not reach strangers easily. WeChat is where you keep, serve, and sell again to people who already found you somewhere else. Once you accept that, everything you build on it makes sense.

What to set up, in order

1. An Official Account. A service account is usually better for business than a subscription one. It gives you a verified home, a menu, and the ability to message customers properly.
2. A welcome flow and menu. When someone follows you, they should immediately understand who you are and find your key links. No dead ends.
3. A way to actually talk. Customer service inside WeChat closes more sales than any post. People ask, you answer, they buy.
4. A mini-program if you sell. Your storefront, booking, or catalogue lives here, inside the app, no download needed.
5. Content that serves, not shouts. Useful answers, not press releases. Posts that solve a buyer problem get saved and shared.

How do I get followers in the first place?

From outside WeChat. Your Baidu presence, your Xiaohongshu posts, your Douyin, your packaging QR code, all funnel people to follow you on WeChat, where you keep them. WeChat is the bottom of the funnel, not the top. Treat it as the place you nurture the relationship after the first contact.

Do I need a Chinese business licence for this?

For a verified service account with payments, usually yes, though there are ways for foreign companies to get started, including verified overseas accounts. The setup details change often, so the honest answer is it depends on your structure, and it is worth getting right before you build, not after.

Where we come in

We are a team of 15 in Shanghai who set up WeChat for small brands so it actually retains and sells, instead of sitting empty. We connect it to the channels that bring people in, so the account fills up with real buyers. If your WeChat is a ghost town, tell us and we will fix the funnel.

Oliver Verot moved to China in 2007 and has helped small brands get found and sell here ever since. He co-founded this agency to give smaller companies the China playbook the big agencies keep for enterprise clients.