WeChat marketing could be problematic

New legislation and questionable metrics could make life harder for WeChat marketers

Tencent's increasingly popular WeChat messaging platform is now facing a number of challenging issues. Firstly, new legislation restricts public users from posting news content without first obtaining a license, which may turn some users off the service.

Secondly, "liking" services available on Taobao is now escallating dramatically, causing marketers to question the validity of re-post statistics.

China's latest round of internet regulation states that only registered news agenices and websites will be allowed to post original news content on public accounts (like WeChat).  Others will need to secure a permit from the State Internet Information Office to do so.

This may be bad news for the 5.8m content providers on the popular service, as well as for marketers looking to share links to news content relevant to their brands.

Monitoring "page views" and "likes" is perhaps one of the most convenient ways to monitor engagement in online content and assess the reach of one's brand. However, a recent boom in services that allow marketers to purchase "likes" on Taobao.com, a popular e-commerce site, are calling these metrics into question.

While money can't buy you love, at the very least it can buy a few thousand likes. China Internet Watch, a news service, exhibits a case study where a user purchased 1,000 "likes" for as little as 10 yuan ($1.6) and received more than 50 "likes" in less than half an hour. Tencent claims to have safeguards in place to prevent this kind of activity, however, marketers should be aware of other metrics that are perhaps less open to manipulation.