Social media is a universally important channel for college counselors, students and their families to gather information and prepare for college application nowadays. I’d like to take a bit of time today to talk about a specific social media tool that has been leveraged extensively in college application/college admission process today in China. This tool is called WeChat. It is an app like a combination of Facebook + What’sUp + Twitter.
There are several different ways to leverage Wechat for college admission preparation:
Group chat – it is a great way to gather people with common interest. Given nowadays there are a lot of Chinese families are interested in sending their kids to US, no matter by DIY themselves or leverage agencies or counselors’ help. A lot groups have been formed under the group title “Overseas study group” “Overseas study learning group”, sometimes these groups will have subgroups created by region – NJ, MN, etc in US where their kids currently study in high schools or by provinces or cities in China: Canton, Beijing, Shanghai, etc. The group chat becomes a rather effective way for the students’ parent, yes, not students, very Chinese style, to gather information or exchange information about this chosen topic. People will not only do questions and answers, they will share some useful documents. They will also post events information such as US Embassy in Beijing will host an education session and how to register. Or people will organize free seminars provided by parents of students who have successful ;y admitted to good US colleges. Some of groups I am in have more than 400 people actively involved on daily basis.
WeChat platform – it is a public platform. Any individual or company can create their own public account. Through this account, you can push contents to people who subscribe to your service. For example, a school or a private guidance counselor or a school guidance counselor can create articles on daily basis and use this platform to distribute. And all the subscribers will be able to view them and more important, if they like, they can forward this article to their own friends’ circle. It is turning word of mouth into marketing action. There are different levels of public account which basically will allow account owner to provide different level of services. As account owner, you will be able to get data and analysis on key prospect behaviors – how many people read your articles, who clicked “like”, how many forwarded/shared articles, how many new subscribers you get today and how many dropped subscription.
Private Chat – if there is more specific need or question, people can always engage in private conversation. For any transaction to happen, it almost always is the step to take.
Circle of friends – while public account can only send out content, circle of friends not only allow you to share contents but also provide opportunity to have back and forth discussion. For example, if you share an article from your own public account via circle of friends, all your friends will be able to see it and share it further. Unlike Facebook, if I make any comments, only people with direct connection with me can see it. While on Facebook, once I comment on one friend’s post, I will be able to see all her other friends’ comments no matter I want to know or not. In this manner, I think Wechat did a better job in protecting privacy and provide relevancy.
To carry private counselling services in China, Wechat is a tool that private counselors can’t afford to ignore or fail to leverage. Ok, let’s chat.
There are several different ways to leverage Wechat for college admission preparation:
Group chat – it is a great way to gather people with common interest. Given nowadays there are a lot of Chinese families are interested in sending their kids to US, no matter by DIY themselves or leverage agencies or counselors’ help. A lot groups have been formed under the group title “Overseas study group” “Overseas study learning group”, sometimes these groups will have subgroups created by region – NJ, MN, etc in US where their kids currently study in high schools or by provinces or cities in China: Canton, Beijing, Shanghai, etc. The group chat becomes a rather effective way for the students’ parent, yes, not students, very Chinese style, to gather information or exchange information about this chosen topic. People will not only do questions and answers, they will share some useful documents. They will also post events information such as US Embassy in Beijing will host an education session and how to register. Or people will organize free seminars provided by parents of students who have successful ;y admitted to good US colleges. Some of groups I am in have more than 400 people actively involved on daily basis.
WeChat platform – it is a public platform. Any individual or company can create their own public account. Through this account, you can push contents to people who subscribe to your service. For example, a school or a private guidance counselor or a school guidance counselor can create articles on daily basis and use this platform to distribute. And all the subscribers will be able to view them and more important, if they like, they can forward this article to their own friends’ circle. It is turning word of mouth into marketing action. There are different levels of public account which basically will allow account owner to provide different level of services. As account owner, you will be able to get data and analysis on key prospect behaviors – how many people read your articles, who clicked “like”, how many forwarded/shared articles, how many new subscribers you get today and how many dropped subscription.
Private Chat – if there is more specific need or question, people can always engage in private conversation. For any transaction to happen, it almost always is the step to take.
Circle of friends – while public account can only send out content, circle of friends not only allow you to share contents but also provide opportunity to have back and forth discussion. For example, if you share an article from your own public account via circle of friends, all your friends will be able to see it and share it further. Unlike Facebook, if I make any comments, only people with direct connection with me can see it. While on Facebook, once I comment on one friend’s post, I will be able to see all her other friends’ comments no matter I want to know or not. In this manner, I think Wechat did a better job in protecting privacy and provide relevancy.
To carry private counselling services in China, Wechat is a tool that private counselors can’t afford to ignore or fail to leverage. Ok, let’s chat.