According to some operators in the property game, WeChat can provide an awesome opportunity for marketing and selling property to investors in China. This might be especially the case with the recent growth of the upper middle classes in China, and considering how owning foreign property can confer status as well as provide lucrative returns.
Reasons for popularity of Australian property
- Australian property is often seen as a safer bet for the money than local investments such as shares or property, which tend to be more volatile in China.
- Owning property in foreign lands such as America or Australia has a certain prestige to it for Chinese buyers.
- Australia is viewed as a prosperous nation offering a high quality of life.
- While property in Australia might sound expensive to us, to Chinese buyers it is relatively cheap compared to major cities like Shanghai.
- Australia is favoured as a destination for education of the children of Chinese nationals, which in some cases leads to whole family migration.
Why WeChat?
While Facebook might serve a purpose in local business marketing and also form part of a digital marketing strategy, it would be hard to imagine many investors buying property directly through the platform. Most of us would hardly consider Facebook or any other social media platform to be the ‘go-to’ spot for buying property!
But social media in China is a different ballgame. WeChat for instance is used for a multitude of everyday functions, from e-commerce to booking taxis to paying bills, and features prominently in the lives of hundreds of millions of people in China. This makes it a very suitable option for marketing and selling overseas property.
Selling and buying property on WeChat
Sydney-based property agent Monika Tu of Black Diamondz Property told the Australia Financial Review that while other social sites have their place, it’s WeChat that delivers the best results – in some cases enabling her agency to close multi-million dollar deals within just a few short days.
Sources also say that many other Australian agents are using WeChat to target Chinese buyers and to complete deals. Features such as instant messaging, live chat, fast payments function, live updates and the ability to send and receive documents mean that WeChat can be successfully utilised to not only market property, but also to close deals very quickly.
For example, a buyer might be able to use WeChat to view the property, sign and return a contract of sale, and pay a deposit and final payment – all from within the WeChat app.
If you would like to know more about the best ways to market property through WeChat, or about another other aspect of Chinese digital marketing, feel free to get in contact with our bilingual China marketing team!
