Micro-blogging and WeChat operations are dead, and marketing on all social platforms is the way to go!

With the birth of Weibo in 2009, China’s Web 2.0 era began to kick off. Weibo marketing began to take root in 2011 and became extremely popular in the following one or two years, becoming the originator of social marketing in China (of course, there was forum marketing in the forum era, but its popularity was far less than that of Weibo). “At that time, if you went to the client to make a proposal and didn’t talk about Weibo marketing, you would be embarrassed to say goodbye.” This was also a reflection of the popularity of the Weibo marketing concept at the time.

With the birth of Weibo in 2009, China’s Web 2.0 era began to kick off. Weibo marketing began to take root in 2011 and became extremely popular in the following one or two years, becoming the originator of social marketing in China (of course, there was forum marketing in the forum era, but its popularity was far less than that of Weibo). “At that time, if you went to the client to make a proposal and didn’t talk about Weibo marketing, you would be embarrassed to say goodbye.” This was also a reflection of the popularity of the Weibo marketing concept at the time.

It now seems that the turning point may have occurred in 2012, when the WeChat public platform was launched in August of that year. Subsequently, WeChat marketing rose against the trend and gradually overshadowed Weibo marketing.

Around 2013, the so-called "dual micro- operation " (Weibo and WeChat operation ) became the standard for social marketing in China. Most social marketing revolved around Weibo, WeChat and the KOL ecosystem they formed, and this situation continued for many years.

However, with the development of mobile Internet , China's social networks have begun to become diversified and complex. In less than five years, in addition to Weibo and WeChat, social applications such as Momo, Zhihu, Miaopai , and Inke Live have been born one after another. Together, they constitute a new ecosystem of social media in the mobile Internet era.

In the era of mobile Internet, micro-blog and WeChat operations face challenges

In 2017, China's social media ecosystem is still evolving. Consumers may be more dependent on one or two apps (such as WeChat), but more likely they use different apps at different times . Today, a typical day for a social media user might look like this:

In a day, people's time is cut into pieces by different apps. In this social media ecosystem, the situation of social marketing is obviously very different from before. Marketing will appear wherever users are.

In the era of mobile Internet, most of users' attention is focused on smartphones, and even more on the above-mentioned social networks.

In this environment, if social media operations still stick to the "dual micro-operation" strategy, it will obviously have huge disadvantages.

1. Limited coverage

In terms of coverage, although the combined number of Weibo and WeChat users has exceeded 1 billion, they cannot occupy all of the users’ time. In the era of fragmented media, users still spend a large amount of time using other applications.

As shown in the picture above, he may use NetEase Cloud Music on his way to work in the morning, read Toutiao on his way home from work, etc., so he will still miss most of the information on the Weibo and WeChat channels . Brands only focus on the WeChat and Sina Weibo channels, which can no longer cover a larger and more targeted audience.

2. Content format is limited

China's social network environment may be the most complex in the world. This environment is constantly evolving. In 2011, there was Weibo marketing, in 2013, there was WeChat marketing, in 2016 there was live broadcast marketing, in 2017 there was short video marketing...

Faced with the complex and changing social media environment, brands need to take the initiative to seek change, enrich their content and creativity, and keep pace with the times.

3. Limited communication within the circle

Although Weibo and WeChat account cover most of the Internet users today, the degree of dependence of users from different circles on them is not the same, as shown in the parallel universe of Chinese Internet public opinion circulating on the Internet.

If the brand's target audience is a niche group of highly educated literary and artistic people, then using popular social media platforms such as Weibo and WeChat for communication may not be appropriate.

The next stop for social marketing:

Marketing across all social platforms

In today's fragmented world, brands need to make changes in the face of the new situation of social media. On the one hand, they need to break out of the limitations of microblog and WeChat operations, and on the other hand, they need to explore and keep up with new trends in social marketing. "Full social platform marketing" is proposed based on this.

With the rise of emerging social media such as Instagram and Snapchat abroad, most brands are considering multi-platform social marketing strategies. Generally speaking, they have basically formed a marketing based on the six major platforms of Blog, Facebook, Twitter, YouTube , Instagram, and Snapchat. They jointly undertake the task of disseminating the content of long articles, short articles, pictures, short videos, and long videos of the brand.

Compared with the social media environment abroad, the domestic social media environment has evolved faster and is more complex, but generally speaking it has not deviated from the main forms of long articles, short articles, pictures, Q&A, short videos, long videos, and live broadcasts .

China's omni-platform marketing is mainly based on these forms, forming a matrix composed of Weibo, WeChat public platform , Youku, Toutiao, Miaopai, Zhihu , Douban, NetEase Cloud Music, Tieba , live broadcast (Huajiao, Yingke , Yizhibo), etc., plus the vertical platforms in their own fields.

Of course, due to the complexity of China’s social media environment, not all brands need to take into account all social media. Instead, they need to find suitable social media based on the brand’s tone and needs.

If a social networking site is a city, then the identities, characteristics, and hobbies of the citizens in these cities are all different. Different brands need to promote in the appropriate "city" based on their own needs. If we give these platforms some keywords and tags, this is what they would look like in front of us. (Since the two microblogs are already relatively well understood, they will not be analyzed further)

Swipe left and right to view the keywords of Chinese social platforms

From the above picture, we can learn that if your brand tone is more literary, you can consider Douban as a communication platform . For example, the advertisement of Shanghai Drama Art Center on Douban’s local page is just right.

If your brand tone is more technical and the content is very professional, you can consider Zhihu as a communication platform.

For example, a Siemens article about wind turbines received nearly 500 likes and more than 100 comments on Zhihu, while the same content only received more than 4,000 views and more than 20 likes on the WeChat public platform. It is obvious that Zhihu users are more interested in this kind of highly professional content than WeChat users.

The same content of a brand has different effects on the official Zhihu account and WeChat public account

In addition to the nature of their own content, each platform also has different content formats and coverage areas.

Regarding the former, as mentioned earlier, different platforms can display in different forms. Regarding the latter, although the number of Weibo and WeChat users is the largest, they cover the general public and involve a relatively precise circle, and they cannot play a greater role, just like the example of Siemens above.

Compared with the dual micro-operation, the benefits of the full social platform marketing strategy are obvious:

1. With wider coverage , full social platform marketing can cover a wider range of channels in today's information fragmentation, increasing users' contact points with brands at different time periods.
2. The forms are more diverse . The forms of marketing on the entire social platform include not only text, but also pictures, questions and answers, long and short videos, etc., which can make the brand's content forms richer.
3. The coverage circle is more precise , and marketing across all social platforms can make the content attract the attention of more relevant people, thereby influencing these people to become potential consumers.

Pioneer in all social media marketing

Xiaomi & Tesla

In fact, full social platform marketing has been recognized and practiced by many brands, as shown by the fan guidance on Mercedes-Benz's official website.

(Note that the last one is IMessenger, and its interaction method is similar to WeChat public account )

In addition, we find two examples of full social platform marketing to understand its value , one domestic and one foreign.

Xiaomi's full social platform marketing case

Speaking of omni-platform marketing, Xiaomi is a good example. As we all know, Xiaomi did not advertise when it first started. At that time, Xiaomi formed a social marketing matrix based on its own forums and Weibo and WeChat. Its social marketing was so impressive that around 2011, when talking about social marketing, Xiaomi must be mentioned.

However, as China's social media environment changes, Xiaomi did not stick to the two Weibo accounts, but expanded the boundaries of social media. According to incomplete statistics, in addition to Weibo and Weibo, Xiaomi's marketing covers platforms such as Youku, Bilibili , Miaopai, Zhihu, Tieba, NetEase Cloud Music, Toutiao, and even QQ Zone.

Of course, due to the different attributes and circles of each platform, Xiaomi’s focus in full-platform marketing is also different.

Since Xiaomi’s Weibo and WeChat accounts are already known to most people, we will not analyze them in detail here. We will focus on analyzing several other platforms.

01

Forum platform: Tieba/Forum

Purpose: Monitor public opinion and user interaction

In the era of social media, forums have not lost their status. On the contrary, vertical forums can give full play to their value.

Xiaomi's official forum has always been a model for the outside world to learn from. In addition, if you open Xiaomi's Baidu Tieba , you may be shocked by its activity. It has 5 million fans, new posts almost every minute, and interactive activities are organized at any time. For example, the currently pinned "PaPaHero Team" photo-taking activity has received a lot of participation and many excellent works.

Of course, there is also a lot of negative information in it. The natural attributes of Tieba do make it easy for Xiaomi haters to gather together, but it is also the best platform to understand the public opinion about Xiaomi.

Xiaomi's official Tieba page shows

02

Video platforms: Youku, Bilibili, Miaopai

Purpose: Official publicity, enriching content

The biggest purpose of video is to show and spread the characteristics of the brand in a richer form. In recent years, short video marketing has been very popular, and brands have paid more and more attention to video marketing. Although Xiaomi does marketing on many video platforms, there are still differences between different platforms.

Overall, Youku has more press conference videos and product videos. Miaopai is more of a short video that works in conjunction with Weibo , such as the short video below of Xiaomi fans blessing its 7th anniversary.

According to the nature of Bilibili, Xiaomi focuses more on the two-dimensional direction in video content , such as the collaboration video with the two-dimensional image Hatsune Miku.

Xiaomi's official Miaopai account and Bilibili page

03

Narrow audience platforms: Zhihu, NetEase Cloud Music

Purpose: To establish a professional image and attract a narrow audience

Platforms like Zhihu and NetEase Cloud Music are relatively niche platforms, so their marketing strategies are also different from those of Weibo and WeChat.

Xiaomi has accounts such as " Xiaomi TV " on Zhihu, which answer some TV-related questions, but Lei Jun has more influence on this platform. As a corporate leader, he personally answers some users' questions and even doubts about Xiaomi, achieving very good public relations and communication effects.

For example, when faced with the question "Lei Jun said that Xiaomi phones are sold to consumers at cost price, and is considering charging membership fees and service fees. Is this reasonable? Will users buy it?" Lei Jun gave a clear and detailed answer, which is much better than the one-sided analysis of a group of fans.

Lei Jun's Zhihu page and the "Xiaomi TV" institutional account page

On NetEase Cloud Music, you will see that Lei Jun, as a singer, has his own songs and fans on the platform. Although the song is a joke "Are you OK?" it still received a lot of attention and comments. Fans think that the corporate leader is interesting and down-to-earth , which is of great help to fans in improving their favorability towards the brand.

Lei Jun is highly praised on NetEase Cloud Music

04

Platforms in low-tier cities: Toutiao, QQ Zone

Purpose: Official publicity, sales conversion

Social media platforms that are mostly populated by people from lower-tier cities (third-tier and below) are not necessarily suitable for all businesses. But if you want your product to penetrate these places, you should still consider the relevant platforms.

As a brand with a large number of sales coming from lower-tier cities, Xiaomi's marketing has also spread across Toutiao and even QQ Zone. Since Xiaomi naturally attracts a lot of attention, its content on Toutiao always receives a large amount of reading and interaction.

In addition, if you open QQ space and follow Xiaomi's official account, you will find that it is very active. One post can be read millions of times and liked tens of thousands of times.

Xiaomi's Toutiao page and QQ space page

Multi-platform marketing, publishing different content according to the nature and purpose of different platforms, attracting different users, this is Xiaomi's strategy of shifting from Weibo and Weibo marketing to full social platform marketing.

Tesla's full social platform marketing case

It is well known that Tesla does not pay for advertising. "Good products are marketing" is Tesla's marketing strategy.

What I felt most deeply when I was at Tesla was that Tesla rarely used various creative advertising techniques for marketing. In China, most of the time, all we do is just display good products to let users know, see, and test drive them, and then spread them spontaneously through word of mouth.

Of course, not advertising does not mean that Tesla does not want users to know about its products, because without advertising, it needs to fully tap the power of social networks.

Tesla's social media platforms include at least Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, Instagram, and Snapchat, which, together with the official website blog, constitute Tesla's full-platform marketing system . The content published is mostly product-related, supplemented by some car owners' stories. It can be seen that Tesla's communication content adheres to the principle of "truthfulness, not exaggeration." Although product content is the main content disseminated, the potential energy of the content disseminated is very strong because of the implementation of a full-platform strategy.

On October 19, 2016, Tesla released its fully autonomous driving hardware and launched a “campaign without paid advertising.” Tesla first published a blog on its official website, and then released related video content on Twitter, Facebook, Google +, Vimeo, and Instagram. The video content shows a person getting in the car and driving it to the company, and the car is fully automatic, without any human control throughout the whole process, which fully demonstrated Tesla's black technology. Once the content was released, it immediately attracted huge attention. Tesla's marketing strategy across all social platforms has enabled it to cover a variety of forms including short copy , long blogs, pictures, and videos, richly and comprehensively demonstrating the usage scenarios of Tesla's fully automatic driving.

Tesla's social media pages at a glance

Tesla's "campaign without paid ads" has received millions of views and hundreds of thousands of interactions across all platforms, and has triggered widespread spontaneous dissemination by users. Tesla does not advertise, but it has taken marketing across all social platforms to the extreme. When I was doing social media marketing for Tesla in China, I also adopted a full social platform marketing strategy to maximize the magic of Tesla products on social media.

How to do marketing on all social platforms

1. Brand positioning

The first step of the full social platform marketing strategy is the brand’s own positioning. Only by determining the brand’s own positioning and its position among consumers can it choose the appropriate marketing platform accordingly.

2. Choose the right platform

As mentioned above, China’s social media environment is changeable and complex, and not every brand is suitable for operating on all platforms. Different brand positioning means different platforms can be chosen.

High-end brands may not be suitable for marketing on relatively low-end platforms, and highly professional brands may not be suitable for marketing on mass platforms. Specifically, when it comes to the marketing of a certain campaign or content, you can also choose different platforms based on the nature of the content.

In addition, the platform selection also varies depending on the brand's different marketing purposes. Some platforms are more suitable for brand communication, while some platforms are more suitable for sales conversion.

3. Keep pace with the times and have the right content ratio

In today’s evolving social media environment, it is wrong and outdated to view social media marketing with a static mindset. Companies need to actively embrace newer and better marketing methods when they discover them (this does not mean mindless follow-up is encouraged, it depends on the brand positioning). For example, in the face of the rise of live streaming, it is a good choice for car brands to try appropriate live streaming. For example, for some B2B companies, following up and operating Zhihu institutional accounts with appropriate strategies is also a good choice.

At the same time, the amount of content on each platform is not static. For example, when Weibo was in its heyday, the standard for brand operations on Weibo was 4-5 posts per day. But in today's social media environment, it is no longer necessary for the Weibo platform to maintain that number, and instead the experience can be appropriately allocated to platforms such as Zhihu and Miaopai.

4. Choose the right marketing tools

Once a brand has a clear positioning, has produced good creative ideas, and has chosen the right platform to launch them, it usually also needs the cooperation of media. The KOL strategy in the era of Weibo and Weibo is one option, but in the era of mobile Internet, precision marketing has become a trend. Native advertising on various platforms combined with content is a good choice . They can help brands screen and influence more accurate potential users.

This will be covered in more detail in the next article.

Social marketing has only been around in China for less than 10 years, but its dramatic changes may be unprecedented in traditional marketing over the past few decades. The social media environment in 2017 is significantly different from that in 2013. Faced with the ever-changing social media environment, brands should also embrace change with an attitude.