Just like most other social media platforms, WeChat has many opportunities to earn a decent income. I have used it for about 2 years now and in this article, I will cover the top 4 easy ideas that I think can work for beginner foreigners.

Because I am in Kenya, right off the bat I have to say that I know there are hundreds of freelancers that may already be using the ideas I will cover here and so if you are one of them, bravo!

Also, if you are curious about what Kenyan freelancers do to earn online, you can read more on Earning by Working Remotely for US firms from Kenya, Making Money from Fiverr in Kenya, How to get paid on TikTok, and Earning from YouTube.

Key Takeaways

• You can make money on WeChat doing Writing, Teaching, Translation, or Blogging.
• WeChat Pay works only well in China
• M-Pesa to WeChat is possible via Family Bank’s PesaPap
• WeChat to M-pesa is only possible via agents (brokers)

In order to understand how people, make money on WeChat, you need to know how the platform works.

Actually, when I joined it, I was a little confused for a few weeks about what to do or how to navigate the app. So, this part is important.

What is WeChat

Think of WeChat as a super-social-media platform. It is more like WhatsApp but with many more features integrated into it. From my experience, you can do things like text, send voice messages, video call, play games, send and receive payments, share pictures, and even write mini-blogs.

In short, it is like a combination of social media, text messaging, and a payment platform.

App and Web Versions

There are also different versions of WeChat. The Chinese version (the one that operates in China) is called Weixin while the global version is WeChat. However, these are just service names because everything is the same across these two versions – from users, to content, and even performance.

Then, a great feature of WeChat is that it is available as an app for mobile phones while also having a Web Version, a Windows App, and a Macbook App. Again, from my two-year experience, the mobile version has the best versatility and functionality.

Does WeChat Work in Kenya

Yes. WeChat is not only available in Kenya, Africa but also in over 200 countries across the world. The only country where it is banned is India.

The only reason it may not be popular, especially in African countries is because WhatsApp is the dominant messaging platform. In Kenya, WeChat’s popularity comes from academic writing service companies and individuals that need to link up with agents and clients in China.

WeChat Pay in Kenya

I have already mentioned above that WeChat allows users to send and receive money.

Now, the issue is that WeChat Pay is that it is a domestic service meant for China and so it does not work in Kenya. I tried setting it up as a foreigner but it was impossible. I had to revert to getting paid from PayPal Directly to M-Pesa.

With WeChat, first, you need a bank account in China so that you can add a bank card to your WeChat Wallet. International cards like Visa and Mastercard obtained outside of China will not work with the wallet.

I also found out that outside China, you can use WeChat Pay in the US and only if you have a bank account registered in China, Malaysia, South Africa, or Hong Kong.

Second, you cannot send money across countries with WeChat. It is meant for citizens of China.

WeChat Requirements and Rules

Being a social media platform, WeChat has pretty much the same rules as the likes of Facebook and Instagram with a few exceptions.

This means your posts should be respectful of culture, and avoid gore images, incitement, explicit content, and other similar elements.

Then you have to know the nitty-gritty of the features. For instance, you cannot recall content once published on the platform.  

Other rules include the fact that you can only change your account name (business) once per year, external links only feature at the bottom of the article, and you cannot see the identity of your followers.

There are many more rules depending on what you are doing on the platform so just keep an eye out.

Transfer Money from M-Pesa to WeChat or WeChat to M-Pesa

If you are in Kenya, there is a way to send payments to China. In 2018, Family Bank of Kenya and London’s SimbaPay partnered to offer a way for users to send money to China.

You just need to download Family Bank’s PesaPap App and of course, you must have an account with the bank.

However, there is also an M-Pesa sending option where you can use M-Pesa Paybill number 261059 and your recipient’s phone number as the account number to transfer funds.

This service is one-way meaning that it is from M-Pesa to WeChat and not the other way around. SimbaPay’s website actually states that their target group is merchants that buy goods from China while in Kenya.

WeChat Money Agents

The only option that works for most freelancers in Kenya when transferring money from WeChat to M-pesa is using a WeChat Money Agent. These agents act as brokers between parties sending payments.

For example, if you have offered a service to someone in China (a client), they will send the payment to the agent (broker) who will hold the RMB and send you Kshs. Via M-Pesa at a fair conversation rate and after deducting their fees.

These agents are located in Kenya and they work in partnerships with WeChat agents in China. Also, the system is solely based on the trust that the agent will remit the payment that has been made by the client to you. The good thing is that it takes just a few minutes for the whole transaction to be done.

Verify WeChat Account without QR Code

One of the difficult parts of getting on WeChat is the fact that you need someone who is already a member to approve your join request. Usually, you will get a QR code at the last stage of the sign-up process that you need to be scanned by someone who has had a WeChat account for more than 6 months.

While I have not proven this, there is a recommended strategy to bypass the QR code.

Apparently, after solving the verification puzzle during sign-up, you are supposed to turn off your data or Wi-Fi connectivity and then click on Proceed. The app will take you directly to the phone number verification page instead of the QR code page.

However, it seems easier to just find someone who has been on the app for long enough to scan your QR code.

Now, let us dive into the 4 easy ways to earn on WeChat.

Teaching Language – English

The fact that China – and Asia in general – is a non-English speaking region means that there is a high demand for English tutors both online and on the ground.

This creates a perfect opportunity for you to come in as a tutor if you are good enough in English. (Read on other ideas to earn similar to Online Tutoring in Kenya).

The other good thing about WeChat is that you can acquire your clients organically without having to worry about entering China’s market as an official business.

For freelance tutors, this is an easy way to make money on the platform as it will only need a bit of personal branding and little knowledge of Mandarin.

There are also opportunities to teach other languages not available in Asia – such as Swahili – but these are much fewer.

Your target group should be the younger Chinese adults aged between 16 and 35 years.

Writing Services

As I had hinted above, there is a large market for academic writing services on WeChat. Whether ethical or not, this market has been thriving for years and is mainly populated by Kenyans (the service providers) and Chinese students (the clients).

Should you be good at academic writing and interested in offering such as service, you can join WeChat and start looking for customers. I have written a different article with more details on Direct Clients for academic writing on WeChat.

For you to thrive in this area, there is a lot to it but it all comes down to how good you are in research and writing. The specific services around it include ghostwriting, editing, and proofreading.

You also have to think beyond academic writing because there are people who offer other forms of writing on the platform. For example, you can get hired to write product descriptions for Chinese businesses that are trying to list their products and services on English-based e-commerce sites.

Blogging on WeChat

Many people are not actually aware of the great WeChat mini-blogs community. The platform allows you to share your thought pieces as you would on a normal blog and get followers in the process.

The beauty of the mini-vlogs is that you get to create a very loyal fan base around a subject of interest. I have seen influencers that have over 100,000 article reads on the platform.

If you become a popular blogger, you can then sell digital products to your followers or advertise on behalf of other sellers. This is all easy because there is an e-commerce integration on WeChat.

Also, if you offer any service like writing or teaching, you can use blogs as a way to attract people to what you do.

Translation

This service goes hand-in-hand with teaching and writing services. It relies on the fact that a lot of WeChat users from China have difficulty understanding and speaking English.

You can leverage the opportunity and offer translation services between Mandarin and English.

The only difficult part here is that you need to be good in both languages.

A strategy I have seen work for translators is creating videos in Mandarin and posting them on the platform’s video section. Such videos attract great attention and can lead to new clients very quickly.

Additional Tips

A mistake that I have seen people do is trying to get WeChat to work for them in a short time while forgetting to apply the basic rules of social media interactions.

So, when you join WeChat, remember that it is a social platform and the only way to thrive there is to be social just the same way you would be if you were trying to grow a Facebook or Twitter, or TikTok account. (If you’re not sure, you can read more on an example of Growing your Facebook Page in Kenya fast and easy).

You can do things like offer meaningful content, join groups of like-minded people, find accounts that you find helpful and follow them, and learn to use the app’s language (Mandarin).

It may take some time but it works.

Conclusion

My final words are that WeChat is a great place to earn an extra income but it is not for everyone. It offers enough features and large userbases for anyone to join, market their skills, and make a living but then it has the hurdle of being a largely Mandarin-speaking platform. If you can get past this difficulty, then you can absolutely make money via writing services, translation services, blogging, and teaching.