What to Prepare for WeChat Ads | Monetizing Public Account Traffic

The Ad Road | WeChat Official Accounts Need to Start Maintaining Data for Ad Monetization

By Li Xuehan

Earlier, the minimum requirement for Official Accounts to accept ads was 1,000 reads. Later, as some service platforms integrated, this dropped to a standard of 2,000 followers. However, even with that threshold, there are still preparatory steps needed when communicating with advertisers—mainly providing data materials. (These are usually saved as screenshots; the method is described at the end of this article.)

If it's a promotional post ad:

Backend homepage screenshot

In general, section "1" is mandatory. It's the primary way to verify account ownership. If you're not the account owner (or an authorized channel agent), you typically won't have access to backend data.

Section "2" lets advertisers assess the account's historical reading performance and posting patterns, helping them determine whether there are any recent ad conflicts and whether the data supports placement.

So if you're interested in accepting ads, you need to prepare this screenshot at minimum for section "1."

Although screenshots themselves can't be faked, it's possible to manipulate data before taking them. I'll share more about that another time.

User Demographics Analysis Screenshot:

The user demographics analysis should align with the advertiser's target audience. Generally, advertisers focus on age structure and follower profiles. These are often inferred from the Official Account's content positioning. For example, accounts with a student-dominated audience may have lower purchasing power.

"1" Gender ratio is usually essential for advertisers. "2" Regional distribution may be required if the advertiser wants to run location-specific campaigns. If an account has a large follower base concentrated in a particular city, it can attract regional advertisers. "3" is typically used to gauge users' spending capacity and device usage—digital and 3C advertisers tend to care most about this section.

If the data looks good overall, you can share the full screenshot with the advertiser.

Hourly Reading Report in Content Analysis:

Advertisers mainly look at the reading volume trend and growth patterns. A higher proportion of reads coming from "Chat" (会话) indicates more organic engagement from followers, making the account appear more authentic. A typical genuine account's reading growth follows this curve: (If an article reaches 100,000+ reads, the growth plateaus above 100k, and third-party monitoring tools struggle to verify exact numbers beyond that threshold.)

(This kind of chart comes from third-party monitoring tools and doesn't need to be shared with advertisers.)

If the reads are artificially inflated, the hourly report won't show such a smooth growth curve. Advertisers can usually spot this through the hourly data.

Generally, when accepting promotional post ads, you need to provide a rate card along with these three data screenshots. After discussions and negotiations around投放 plans, you can finalize the publishing time and position (slot).

If you're also selling other ad placements, you'll need to provide additional corresponding screenshots.

If it's a menu bar ad:

You need to provide click-through screenshots of the menu:

Pricing is usually based on click counts, targeting specific fixed menu positions. (Currently, there aren't many advertisers exploring the commercial value of this format, so detailed analysis is limited. In general, menu bars have fixed purposes and generate very little traffic, so they're rarely used for ad monetization.)

That covers the basics. Many banner ads are also priced based on read volume. If your Official Account's follower growth and average read metrics are improving quickly, it's advisable to package and share a data file monthly with potential partners (or save it in your WeChat favorites for easy forwarding when needed). If growth is slower, updating quarterly is usually sufficient.

PS: How to Take Screenshots

Many people use third-party software tools, but I prefer not to download unfamiliar apps. Instead, I rely on built-in shortcuts on my laptop.

Quick key shortcut: Press Ctrl+M simultaneously to capture a long webpage screenshot. (Works with the default computer browser or QQ Browser; UC Browser has bugs, and other browsers haven't been tested.)

Other convenient screenshot options include the Prtscn key, though it only captures the visible screen area and can't take long-page screenshots.

For simple edits, WeChat's built-in image editor is very handy—just paste the image into a chat window, right-click, and select Edit. (All images in this article were edited using WeChat's built-in tool.)

That's all for this article. Feel free to leave a comment with topics you'd like me to cover—researching ideas on my own is quite tedious.

Most Official Accounts leave contact information for ad inquiries, usually in the footer, menu, or by prompting readers to send keywords like "Business Cooperation" or "Ad Cooperation." Once a client reaches out and expresses interest, you'll need to share relevant data to confirm the collaboration.

If you're interested in discussing Official Account traffic monetization and operations, send me a private message to join the group chat.