An inventory of community operation tools!

The author of this article has reviewed and sorted out 7 emerging tools, introduced and analyzed emerging products in the market such as community operations and enterprise service tools, and summarized his own operational views to share with everyone.

Raise good fish in your own fish pond and catch as many fish as possible from the sea. In 2020, play with private domain traffic.

01 Industry Background

The concept of community operation and private domain traffic was popular from the beginning of 2019 to the end of the year. There must be a reason behind a concept becoming popular, besides the fact that the word is catchy, easy to spread and has a sense of mystery.

Submit Internet data report:

1. Changes in mobile Internet traffic

Comparison between Q1 and Q2, data source: iResearch Consulting "2019 Q1 China Internet Traffic Quarterly Analysis Report" and "2019 Q2 China Internet Traffic Quarterly Analysis Report"

The growth rate of mobile Internet users slowed down in Q1, increasing by 27 million from January to March. Growth peaked in Q2, with an increase of 10 million from April to June. The incremental scale decreased by 63% month-on-month. By continuously observing data for multiple quarters, we can see that the increase continues to decrease. The user scale of the mobile Internet industry has reached near saturation. The bonus period is over.

2. Changes in mobile Internet users’ attention

Data source: same as above

The Q1 usage time bonus is still there, and the daily usage time growth in Q2 was only 2.9% month-on-month, which has reached its peak. In addition, the growth in usage has also peaked.

It can be roughly assumed that there are no new users entering the market at present, and the usage time and frequency of old users are no longer increasing.

In addition to the mobile data performance, those who are interested can also refer to the national economic development growth data, which I will not go into details here.

02 The present and future of the community

Now

As stated in the report, the traffic dividend period is over, and the time for real action has come, with the industry moving towards a more intense competition.

When chatting with colleagues this year, the general information I got was that the business growth in the past was weak, and the company was racking its brains to expand new business lines. For example, companies that mainly deal in hardware have started to use apps to assist their business, companies that mainly serve B-end customers have started to build their own channels to serve the C-end, and so on. A hundred flowers bloom and a hundred schools of thought contend, all trying to explore possibilities in their respective fields.

Therefore, companies began to focus on existing operations. The concept of private domain traffic has become very popular under such an overall industry background. It has become a brilliant new generation bonus concept, and many companies or teams have reaped rich rewards from it. For example, the young entrepreneurial team Zero One Fission has provided WeChat ecosystem user fission growth solutions to more than 200 companies in the two years since its establishment. Among them are large companies such as Tencent, JD Finance, Didi, CITIC Group, Procter & Gamble, and China Merchants Bank.

The fundamental logic of growth: enter the growing industry as early as possible and take advantage of the growth dividend.

Therefore, community is the direction that all companies, teams and individuals must pay attention to at present. If you are already doing it, you must do it well and expand it; if you haven’t started yet, then build a team immediately and get started.

future

So what about the future? How long will the community’s dividends last?

The future form of the community is unpredictable because the development of technology is as colorful as fireworks and full of possibilities. But I personally believe that the gathering of people in the future will definitely be socialized. Looking around the online world, the technological innovation brought about by the information explosion has not broadened our horizons, but has instead widened the information gap. At present, it has become the norm in the industry to make labeled recommendations to users based on their usage, only showing you what you like to see and firmly controlling people within the boundaries of cognition. Users are already deeply addicted to Tik Tok’s crazy tagged recommendations and Taobao’s one-size-fits-all approach. In September this year, Toutiao intends to launch a new toB plan to provide "Lingju" to enterprises. Its intelligent recommendation algorithm has begun to be opened to some enterprises, and it is positioned as "the world's leading enterprise-level algorithm service provider."

The information gap will not disappear but will widen, and the resulting divisions among people will become increasingly prominent. Moreover, the extreme abundance of material goods has brought about consumption upgrades, and the information explosion has brought about information anxiety. The combined effect of consumption upgrades and information anxiety will cause a sharp increase in the demand for information screening services.

PSP (Personal Service Provider) personal service provider will come into being.

• Personalized children's education
• Personalized dining recommendations
• Personalized beauty
• Personalized clothing
• Personalized family food and daily necessities
• Personalized car use
• Personalized home service
• Personalized health and wellness services
• Personalized personal learning development
• Personalized interest development
• Personalized travel services
• Personalized dating service
• Personalized financial services
• …

In many personal service fields, a large number of experts, big and small Vs, KOLs, entrepreneurial teams, etc. will emerge.

More and more decentralized nodes are emerging. Fans or customers will gather around the central node. Everyone has fans, and everyone serves everyone. The personal branding trend has already started, and the era of explosion is about to come. The 1.0 era of group control is gone. The future of 2.0 is the era of PSP, the era of refined customer operations, and the era of in-depth personal services. It can be predicted that companies that use tools to optimize service processes and delve deeper into service experience will also see an explosion in sales.

The future will definitely be the golden decade for service providers. Tools, SaaS services, consulting services, and training services have begun to demonstrate their ability to attract money. So far in 2019, according to public information, as many as 389 enterprise service companies have successfully raised funds, including 21 IPOs.

03 Social Tools Analysis

Nowadays, social products that are tools for social communities are beginning to emerge. Here are a few emerging tools:

(1) Good Things Circle (WeChat Mini Program)

Company: Tencent

User scale: Number of circles: 8,378 (as of November 2019)

(2) Feichat (APP)

Company: Toutiao

User scale: Total downloads exceed 3 million (industry data)

(3) Wasabi Circle (APP)

Company: Shenzhen Yunjie Information Technology Co., Ltd.

User scale: 3.3 million registered (official public data)

(4) Knowledge Planet (APP)

Company: Shenzhen Dacheng Tianxia Information Technology Co., Ltd.

User scale: Total downloads exceed 20 million (industry data)

(5) Micro-closed ring (APP)

Company: Chengdu Konghu Network Technology Co., Ltd.

User scale: Total downloads exceed 3 million (industry data)

(6) Utopia (APP)

Company: Tianjin Utopia Technology Co., Ltd.

User scale: 700,000 registered users, more than 30,000 communities on the platform (official public data)

(7) Fan Circle/Interest Planet (WeChat Mini Program)

Company: Ningbo Quanceng Network Technology Co., Ltd.

User scale: Serving more than 100,000 public account operators, with 1 million daily active users (official public data)

The following is an interpretation of several products from the aspects of financing situation, slogan, monetization method, social attributes, incentive design, operation support, and open attributes:

1. Good things circle

It started with two mini-programs, “Friends’ Choice” and “Buy Later”, and after the “My Shopping List” iteration stage, it was officially upgraded to “Goods Circle” in March 2019. In October, the entrance was moved from the mini-program search box to the WeChat "Search" page, and the product mechanism also changed from good product recommendations to a like-minded community with "circles" as its core function. Currently there is only WeChat mini program.

Since it is a product incubated internally by Tencent, there is no need for financing. The product currently does not have a clear slogan, and the team promotes it as a "stage for hobbies." The monetization design is that everyone can post with product links to attract purchases. Before the revision, the function of viewing "products purchased by friends" was highlighted. Now, the posts that friends like are highlighted, and the product functions and buttons are weakened.

In terms of operational support, the homepage has an “Editor’s Favorite” section for circle recommendations, but the recommendation criteria are not public. The daily recommended amount fluctuates between 20-40. From the perspective of openness, creating a circle requires an application, and there are cases where the application is not approved.

WeChat’s sharing card contains a “Go to Home Page” reminder, where all circles can be browsed, thus distributing traffic across the entire platform to users. During normal use, there is a search box on the homepage where you can search circles + products + works (posts). The homepage "Search circles by category" provides a total of 20 category indexes, and users can join them as needed.

1. Fly Chat

In the early morning of May 20, 2019, ByteDance's Feichat was officially launched. As soon as it went online, it was reported that it was banned by WeChat. It can be seen that Tencent regards it as a competitor. Product slogan: Find friends and share the fun of life at any time. Mainly focuses on interest-based social interaction. Currently only the APP version is available. There is no monetization design. You can get rewards (in the form of avatar stickers) by inviting friends, and be reminded to import your phone contacts. The product has a group chat function that you can apply to join through fuzzy search, and provides a temporary chat function for strangers.

After registration, there will be Feichat team system messages and group advanced guidance manuals to guide group creators. The first recommendation under the "Discovery Group" category is the manually screened "Selected for You".

Collect users’ interests during use and push relevant groups based on their interests. You can join the group with different identities. It also has instant communication group function and can send red envelopes. The threshold for interaction is very low.

The homepage search box supports fuzzy search of people, groups, teams, homepages and chat records. Currently, groups can be created at will, and there is no limit on the number of people who can join a group. Group creators can enable a review mechanism for joining.

Currently, we have collaborated with two universities to try to make friends with strangers through voice. If you want to use the corresponding function, you need to upload your academic certificate, and the usage rights will be unlocked after official review. Feiliao covers a variety of social functions including stranger dating, interest communities, short message publishing, etc. It is an ambitious hodgepodge.

1. Mustard ring

The APP was launched in October 2017 and the new company was established in March 2018. In December 2018, it received a million-dollar angel round investment. In October 2019, it received strategic investment from Chuangshi Capital, LD Capital, Novaclub, and BiKe Capital, with the amount not disclosed.

slogan: Insights create value (providing content creators with tools for content monetization and fan operations, where users can share their skills and insights, and exchange and discuss their own experiences and thoughts. —From the official website) Currently focusing on interest communities for blockchain content. There are APP and web version.

Monetization method:

1. Company: a. 30 yuan/month for C-end green card members; b. 10% commission
2. Circle owner: a. 90% commission income from paid circle; b. Pay to read posts; c. Share to offset fees; d. Reward

In terms of social interaction, Mustard Circle provides the right to send private messages, and it is up to the circle owner to decide whether to use it or not. It has been observed that the members of the Mustard Circle APP tend to turn off this function. In terms of incentives, Mustard Circle has made original attempts. Combining its own currency circle resources and user needs and preferences, it has designed a circle leader incentive system - the energy system and the JMC system, which has been updated to version 2.0.

The behavior of circle leaders generates energy, and energy generates JMC according to certain rules. JMC has platform liquidity and carries certain special rights and interests. If you need to know the details, the circle owner can refer to the "JMC Node User Agreement" in the APP.

In terms of operational support, there are novice guidance pop-ups, official notifications, customer service assistants, and community-based help and feedback. Official staff interact daily, and the frequency remains high. Circles can be created freely on the platform, and there is no limit on the number of people who can join a circle. Paid circles account for the vast majority of the platform. I wonder if this is related to the fact that the cryptocurrency circle is good at making money.

Currently, non-Green Card members are not eligible for refunds. There is no search function, but the homepage has the "Discover Circle" and "Change Batch" functions, showing a total of 6 circles. A circle leader support plan is in progress and no commission will be charged for the time being, that is, 10% commission will be returned. Provide public account embedding collaboration.

At a time when Knowledge Planet prohibits excessive harvesting in the cryptocurrency circle, Mustard Circle has taken on the urgent user needs of the cryptocurrency circle.

1. Knowledge Planet

In December 2013, Venustech raised tens of millions RMB in its A round, and in July 2014, Tencent raised tens of millions RMB in its B round, preferring to promote itself as being led by Tencent. The product was launched in 2015 and has undergone several developments and changes to reach its current state.

slogan: Connecting a thousand hardcore fans. To borrow Kevin Kelly’s idea of ​​“one thousand true fans”: Anyone engaged in creation or art, such as artists, musicians, photographers, craftsmen, actors, animators, designers, writers, etc., as long as they can gain one thousand true fans, it will be enough to make a living without worries and create freely. It has commonality with the PSP concept. Knowledge is a relatively well-known product among current social tools. There are APP and web version.

Monetization method:

1. Company: 5% commission for the company, 20% commission for individuals (the team currently claims that there is no advertising monetization in the APP)
2. Circle owner: 94% or 80% commission income, paid reading, reward (1% is collected by WeChat)
3. User: Distribution share

In terms of social interaction, Knowledge Planet provides the rights of private messaging, commenting, and posting by non-star owners. Star owners can decide whether to use them or not. For example, Fenng Feng Dahui's "Internet News" planet chose to close the private message function.

In terms of incentives, there is a Planet Academy within the APP that provides operational knowledge support to circle owners. In addition to the APP, there are other ways to collaborate with circle owners to conduct content marketing, such as WeChat public accounts, online courses, and SEO. (To avoid suspicion of diversion, all the following QR codes are covered)

Some users also spontaneously create websites to collect and organize information about the Planet, which serves as a secondary means of spreading word-of-mouth about the Knowledge Planet.

The discovery page provides banner space, "You may be interested in", "Change a batch", "Essence topics" and three major lists (wealth list, paid active list, free active list) to provide display and traffic for excellent planets. Loyal users of knowledge planets can browse on the discovery page and choose the planets they are interested in to join.

Provides search function and supports global fuzzy search of user content and planets. Users can purchase and give gift cards as gifts, or share the profits. Supports collaborative embedding in WeChat public accounts.

1. Micro-close circle

The iOS version shows that it was launched in October 2017. No public financing information. It ranks between 30-50 on the iOS business list, close to Knowledge Planet, so it attracts more attention. slogan: Make interests monetizable easily and make it easier for fans to gather. Exclusive private community. Flexible and diverse monetization methods. There are APP and web version.

Monetization method:

1. Company: a. Paid membership for circle owners (divided into 4 levels) b. 10% commission for non-recommendation and non-hot list, 50% commission for recommendation and hot list c. Bananer position sales d. Self-built mall
2. Circle owner: 90%-50% commission, praise, paid questions, paid eavesdropping, paid reading
3. User: Rewards for sharing and for inviting people to join the circle (set by the circle owner)

Users can send private messages to members in the circle, but the circle owner must open up their rights. Circle owners can send private messages in batches. According to feedback from old users of the platform, this function is a paid function. After the user registers, there will be system message reminders, including circle recommendations, post recommendations, etc. There is help and feedback in the form of a community, and the official interacts every day. Each page has a search box that can fuzzy search circle topic files and circle numbers.

There are 2 bananer positions on the home page. There are various circle recommendation positions, such as "Circle Recommendation", "More", "Post Recommendation", "Hot List", etc., to activate traffic and attract traffic for circle owners. Whether the content that is not added to the circle can be viewed and previewed is set by the circle owner. The big difference from Knowledge Planet is that most of the owners of Knowledge Planet choose to allow preview, while most of the owners of Weimi Circle choose not to allow preview. Moreover, false charges have become a popular culture in the micro-circle.

At present, the biggest feature of Weimi Circle is content orientation. You can tell this from the browser search results.

The hot list within a product generally represents user preferences and product orientation, so the author selected the hot list of Weimi Circles for a small-scale statistical analysis. Among the top 100 circles recommended by the “hot list”, 55% of the circles had “color” in their names and pictures (10% for male protagonists and 45% for female protagonists).

System messages will also recommend unknown circles. Of course, platform specifications are still necessary.

There are ads on the opening screen, ads in the banner position, high commissions on hot lists and recommendations, and high membership fees. During the trial, everything I saw seemed to point to the ultimate goal - monetization.

1. Utopia

It was launched in February 2018 and was initially a circle APP. It was incubated internally by Duodian Technology, a company listed on the New Third Board, in 2018, and its subsidiary Utopia Technology was established in early 2019 to operate independently. In July 2019, the brand was upgraded to Utopia UVW. slogan: Empower community operators and bring the whole world online. There are APP and web version.

Monetization methods: Provide operators with a variety of monetization models, including membership fees, zone fees, e-commerce support, virtual transaction commissions, etc. The platform promises not to charge commissions.

Utopia APP has extremely strong social tool attributes. Provide operators with a highly customizable community operation tool system, including:

Basic functions: joining review, sign-in, selected comments, uploading and editing of content in various forms, group chat and private chat with unlimited number of people, multi-channel invitation, data tracking and other functions.

Advanced functions: highly customized experience & level incentives, partition modules, permissions & income functions. This means that operators can independently set the entry and exit and speaking conditions of different sections in the community, the experience and honor level upgrade conditions for different contributions, identity label settings within the community, etc. in the background according to their own wishes.

I have to say that in terms of functional design, unlike the rough feeling of several other products, it is very delicate and thoughtful.

Currently, the platform emphasizes private domain traffic, and operators have full authority over their own communities. Users can send private messages to members of the circle, and there are private group chats for each circle, which can meet the different needs of content accumulation and instant communication.

In terms of incentives, operators are provided with a wealth of incentive tools, which can be designed and used independently in combination with their operational characteristics. More function settings can be made on the web page.

There is an official utopia where you can interact and answer questions every day. The "Utopia President Recruitment Plan" is currently underway, focusing on one-on-one empowerment and offering a bonus of 10,000 yuan to outstanding operators.

Setting the sidebar will allow you to enter the search interface, with a total of 5 “Recommended Utopias” displayed. Provide fuzzy search of circle names and circle introductions. You can create communities at will, and there is currently no limit on the number of circles you can join. Supports embedding in official accounts to operate fan communities. From the details of the functional iteration, we can see that the Utopia team is a team that has community ideals and wants to go deep into the community. The Utopia APP product design is simple and refreshing, and it is rich in practical tools. Community operators should not miss it.

1. Fan Circle/Interest Planet

A community operation tool that deeply integrates the WeChat ecosystem. In October 2016, in the Pre-A round, Yuanhe Holdings and Ningbo Angel Investment Guidance Fund raised RMB 10 million. slogan: Micro community is the first choice for millions of public accounts. Positioned as a community operation tool. Output six major capabilities: creating WeChat communities, increasing fans and traffic, promoting fan activity, supporting community e-commerce, providing WeChat mini-programs, and customizing brand services.

The difference from the above products is that the fan circle tool is charged, and in the cases on its official website, most of the cases displayed are for corporate users. After the paid service expires, the customer's community will be taken over by Interest Planet, and its functions will be significantly reduced, only meeting the needs of simple daily communication.

Monetization method:

1. Company: Service charges, starting from 1999/year
2. Circle owner: paid entry, reward, advertising space, paid pinning, paid reading

In terms of social networking, the concept of completely private traffic is emphasized. Communities cannot be searched, are not displayed, and traffic is not interoperable. Users can only enter a specific community through the link or QR code published by the circle owner.

This is a common design concept for SaaS, and Youzan Micro Mall also has the same completely closed design. In terms of incentives, a points tool is provided for circle owners, and Youzan’s third-party docking platform is added. The points are universal, which helps corporate users to activate traffic. There is currently an activity that offers additional paid service hours.

Because of its deep involvement in WeChat ecological operations, it is equipped with a wealth of WeChat operating tools, including fan voting, fan recommendations, roll-up banners, red envelope interactions, etc., and comes with a mini program of the same name. The team has a better awareness of content marketing than other products, and continuously outputs operational knowledge and reports to core circle owners.

04 Thoughts on the operation of social tools

Each product has its own advantages and disadvantages in terms of functions, operations and resources. In the past, big companies like Zhihu and Douban occupied the world, and later Tencent and Toutiao entered the market. If a startup company’s products want to survive in the cracks, they must be pleasing, cute and flexible.

1. Operation Chain

For community operation tools, customers are divided into large B-end, small B-end and C-end. The large B-end belongs to the enterprise service category and requires customized development and operational assistance based on the needs of the enterprise, and a certain service fee is charged based on the service provided.

The small B-end mainly targets KOL user groups and requires maintenance actions for fans, such as monetization, content accumulation, and many-to-many communication. In the early days, C-end users are generally introduced by B-end users. They are users with specific content needs. KOLs will meet the main needs of C-end users.

Different companies have different business routes and operational directions. The author gives his own thoughts and insights here.

For the paid tool route, we focus on two aspects: 1. Focus on private domain; 2. Service first

For the free tool route, we focus on two other aspects: ①Building a traffic platform; ②Growing together with users

At present, the value of Internet customers is mainly divided into two parts: the monetary value of direct payment and the traffic value of the time paid by users. Paid tools will abandon the value of traffic to a certain extent, and free tools should focus on retaining and making good use of traffic value.

1. Paid Tools

(1) Focus on private domain

Focusing on private domain, why is it exclusive to paid tools? Because focusing on the private domain will completely rely on the B-side to create value, it is necessary to ensure the company's profits through upfront charges and bind target customers for a certain period of time, and then provide renewal and value-added services later, such as Youzan and Fans Circle, which provide paid services.

For free tools, in addition to focusing on providing good services, it is necessary to direct traffic through the B-end, retain all traffic brought by the B-end on your own platform as much as possible, and build a new traffic platform in the long term. For example, Zhihu, Douban, Tieba, etc.

(2) Service First

The best direction for future business is service. We should not only focus on the products at hand, but also polish differentiated services. The profits of tangible products are getting lower and lower, while the profits of intangible products are approaching infinity.

The profit of beauty products is getting smaller and smaller, but the profit of the beauty service process is getting higher and higher; the profit of cars is getting smaller and smaller, but the profit of after-purchase services is getting higher and higher; the profit of books is getting smaller and smaller, but the profit of book reading and storytelling business is getting higher and higher. Therefore, the services behind the tools must be focused on.

The establishment of an exclusive operation support team, the response speed of the operation team, the follow-up of industry hotspots, the satisfaction of emerging demands, etc. "providing customers with the best quality service" must be shaped as the core competitiveness of the enterprise.

For example, in addition to providing community building tools, Fan Circle considers the needs of customers to obtain traffic, and develops corresponding fission tools to assist users in attracting new users. In order to meet the needs of customers for active users, it develops functions such as getting red envelopes by commenting with probability and getting red envelopes by commenting on floors, etc. By providing customers with value-added services, it continuously improves user favorability and loyalty.

Let me give you a counterexample. While trying out the above products, I found that the web page of one of the products only supports opening in Google Chrome. This definitely cannot be said to be putting service first. Every key point of contact between a product and the user jointly determines user retention. Everyone knows that details determine retention, but can everyone do it?

In addition, for enterprise users, we must focus on building customization capabilities and provide customized development and operational support based on enterprise needs. From the perspective of long-term development, companies with a vision can configure corresponding corporate service teams.

At present, in the enterprise service field of community tools, there are many personal account operation tools for the WeChat ecosystem, and enterprise WeChat tools have just emerged. Only the fan circle of enterprise service providers that build communities has a certain degree of popularity.

Among the products listed above, the ones that may enter the enterprise service market in the future are Knowledge Planet, Utopia APP or Good Things Circle.

1. Free Tools

(1) Build a traffic platform

Looking at the current free large-scale community products such as Zhihu, Tieba, Douban, and Xianyu, the common feature is that they are all traffic platforms, and operators can obtain new traffic on the platforms.

As a free tool provider, you must cherish the traffic value of users, because the traffic value is your company's intangible income and intangible assets, which will be converted into tangible assets later.

For example, Zhihu’s homepage has been constantly adjusted recently, and the hot list is displayed when it is opened. Push notifications that appear suddenly when using recommendations. Small details indicate that it wants to occupy more users' time, recommend more relevant questions and answers to users, and increase the possibility of the answerer being followed.

Why do you want to use Zhihu? Because they need to speak out, attract traffic, make profits, and get endorsements. By extension, all community operators can be classified into these four requirements.

Among the free software introduced above, none of them care much about C-end traffic. There are even cases where users create a website specifically to summarize Knowledge Planets because they cannot find more high-quality planets on the Knowledge Planet APP. Recently, the Knowledge Planet APP revised the "Discover" interface, increasing the number of lists from one to three, which are updated every hour. I wonder if they are considering making relevant attempts to get the platform traffic flowing.

The traffic brought by B-side customers needs to be cherished. This is an asset.

Chinese people like liveliness, and social communities should be even more lively.

(2) Grow together with users

It is common for users to make suggestions for product requirements. We can understand user psychology from the bottom of the fact that "users make demands on products." Think about it: Who will point out your shortcomings and give you advice?

Answer: Parents, partners, teachers, and friends.

The best relationships that users can form with products are these two: parents & friends. A mature product can become friends with users. Startup and growing products can grant users "mother status", allowing users to participate in the growth of the product and the company, and allowing users to regard me as their own children. By creating an atmosphere of ownership, we can achieve a real sense of participation and responsibility, cultivate more super users, and lay a solid foundation for reputation and profitability. Just as Mi fans are valuable to Xiaomi, internal testers are valuable to Keep.

The products of startup companies will have many advantages, but also many deficiencies and shortcomings. The scenario of demand suggestion is the best anchor point to consolidate the relationship between users and products.

How does your team view user suggestions? The attached picture is a demand voting post on the Knowledge Planet. The names of the star friends are highlighted so that everyone can experience them.

After the requirements are determined, is it possible to indicate which user contributed when updating? When we review the year, can we thank these star friends who continue to contribute their time and energy in the media? Is it possible to send physical certificates or trophies to enthusiastic users? Can I be invited to the annual meeting? etc.

By creating a sense of user participation, we can gain a sense of responsibility among users, thereby helping the development of the company. There is a case that must be mentioned, Wei Lao Ba’s review. This is a self-media company that mainly reviews products related to children. In the early days of its business, the company had no funds and samples were crowdfunded by super users. The screenshot is of a crowdfunding campaign for testing air purifier samples that was circulated by many parents in the early days.

It was such a small company that, in early 2016, its users raised 2 million yuan to save it from bankruptcy. At the end of 2018, the company donated 1 million yuan to establish the "Dad Wei and Fans Charity Fund" to thank fans for their support.

Crowdfunding samples enhance the sense of participation, crowdfunding company operating expenses bring a sense of responsibility, and the foundation is named after fans to further deepen the sense of responsibility of users, extending it into a sense of achievement. The success of Wei Laoba's evaluation is tied to the success of fans, allowing fans to spontaneously spread word-of-mouth referrals. The same situation also happens between Japanese idol groups and their fans.

Human nature needs to be understood with the human heart.

Relevant companies can build two business lines: one is to provide customized paid services to make direct profits; the other is to provide standard free services to obtain traffic. Fan Circle is currently involved in both businesses, but the free service part, Interest Planet, has performed poorly, which is not unrelated to the company's internal strategy.

05 Some suggestions

Overall, community tool companies in the start-up stage can adopt a strong operational approach in customer acquisition and retention, and use operational thinking to drive development.

1. Content Marketing

Doing business without advertising is like winking at a girl from the dark. This is a famous quote from marketing expert Brett. Advertising has to be done, how can we save costs and achieve advertising effects? Content marketing is a must for tool products in their strategy to attract B-side users.

When the users of the tool need to solve a problem, they will definitely search for relevant keywords to gain inspiration or experience. At the same time, these users must also have the need to read industry-related information. Some colleagues complain that the SEO/SEM results are average, which is caused by attention bias. A sale is the final result, and the result comes from adequate preparation. Content marketing is all about building brand appeal.

Kotler 5A Marketing

Two directions require investment:

(1) SEO and SEM for search engines.

For paid services, you can try SEM. For most free tools, you need to do a good job of SEO. In addition to keywords and brand words, the content created by customers can also be open to SEO. Currently, the products listed above have room for improvement in SEO.

Generally speaking, Baidu has the largest traffic on PC.

1. Optimize keywords on the homepage of the official website
2. More than 12 news sources, such as NetEase, China.com, Sina, Tencent, etc.
3. Baidu Q&A publishes more than 30 groups
4. More than 100 posts on the forum
5. The library publishes at least 5 relevant cases or e-books
6. Baidu Encyclopedia and Hudong Encyclopedia publish content including companies, products, brands, and people.
7. Video website publishes introduction videos and how-to videos
8. Blogs and classified information websites can be configured as needed.

Combined with keyword mining, continuous optimization and adjustment, products and brands can reach users accurately.

(2) Production, distribution and traffic generation of relevant content.

Use high-quality content to attract operators and form a chain of "awareness-trial-cooperation-referral". Rome was not built in a day, and content marketing takes time to accumulate.

The content we publish on public domain platforms has a long-tail effect and will continue to attract customer attention. Self-media platforms have high weight in regular search engines and WeChat searches, and more and more platform users are being labeled.

For example, Zhihu has a high search weight within WeChat and on Google, and ranks high. Jianshu has a high Baidu weight. The relevant information of Toutiao will be matched to the target users by the algorithm. Depending on the situation, you can insert product introductions, contact information, or customer service personal WeChat accounts into the content to retain customers.

For TOB products, the best option is to accumulate potential customers on personal WeChat accounts. The fan circle content marketing awareness is better than several other products.

The content formats are divided into video and text.

1) Video

Long videos can be used to introduce products and provide user guides, and can be distributed to traditional video sites and Bilibili.

Short videos can be used to share practical information about community operations and publish them on platforms such as Douyin and Kuaishou.

2) Graphics

Combination of PGC&UGC. The redistribution of customer case content will result in multiple publicity for customers, which provides endorsement for them; for companies, customer success stories are the best traffic generator. PGC content direction can be

Mutual promotion of cooperative articles, operation guides, success stories, industry case analysis, solutions, industry perspectives, industry white papers, etc.

UGC can be the customer’s own review, operational thinking, experience summary, etc. The distribution of customer cases can attract traffic for us and provide endorsement and publicity for customers. Continuously distribute content to places where target users gather.

• Public traffic pool

Weibo, Tieba, Baidu Experience, Toutiao, Zhihu, Jianshu, Douban, etc.

• Industry Media

Various operation-related sharing websites: Bird Brother’s Notes, Operation Party, Everyone is a Product Manager, 36Kr, Huxiu.com, Meihua.com, Webmaster’s Home, etc.

Industry media have very precise target users, and in addition to their own websites, they generally update their self-media platform accounts simultaneously, which can help companies obtain more platform traffic.

• WeChat Official Account

The public account operated for content distribution can be a product or brand account, or a separate dry goods account, which is arranged according to the company's operational strength. Try to add customers to your WeChat public account and send reports regularly, which can be operational reports on the independent community or comparative reports on the overall operations, to mobilize customers' sense of honor.

1. Establish consulting and training business line (business school)

Brand building and promotion will bring a lot of potential customers. As the business continues to expand, the company's resources will become increasingly abundant. Those who provide free tools will attract a lot of KOLs, and those who provide paid services will attract a lot of corporate customers.

The Internet+ industry has a broad space. Many companies do not have professional community operation talents, but they all have the need for community operation. Community operation and private domain traffic are very popular at the moment and are valued by executives and founders of many companies. They are the top priority businesses in many companies. In addition to providing tools, you can also bind customers by providing value-added services, training, communication and endorsements.

1) Expert personality

The company's operations team builds up an expert and mentor persona, which makes it easier to close deals than sales and marketing. Build up your personal account’s personality: useful articles, industry information and conferences, company business, case sharing, personal and company matters, and personal professional insights.

The graphics, texts and videos are diverse and flexible. The customer service number’s circle of friends constantly stimulates potential customers to increase brand awareness and is always ready to receive customer inquiries.

2) Information channels

When making tool service products, the team must be at the forefront of the industry and become the information channel for the entire industry. Our understanding of the industry and research results can be distributed to customers and potential customers in a timely manner. For example, Youzan Company holds the Youzan Salon every Thursday and releases the 36 strategies for Youzan's social e-commerce operations.

3) Knowledge output

Building team output capabilities. Business schools can empower their clients while strengthening their brand position. While the course output gains brand exposure, it also attracts target customers. For example, community courses for Knowledge Planet and community courses for group hookup tools. If the company does not have enough ability to support courses for middle and senior executives, it can also adopt a cooperative approach, such as the private board of directors that cooperated with Zero One Fission and Yunlai.

If the company is determined to continue in the service field, then consulting and business schools are a direction that must be done and done well.

1. Support B-end and pay attention to C-end

I summarize the development of social community tools with social attributes into three stages:

Phase 1, the team explores the B-end and introduces a large number of C-ends from the B-end.

Phase 2: A large amount of C-end is retained from Phase 1, and the traffic of C-end attracts more B-ends.

Phase 3, the pan-B-end is attracted by platform popularity, traffic, and successful cases, and the pan-C-end is attracted by popularity and platform content.

Finally, it will grow into the best aggregation platform such as new traffic platforms and knowledge and interest information.

Therefore, based on this model, the team needs to introduce more B-end, successful B-end, and improve C-end activity and retention.

Introduce B-side (meets demand, resource matching)

Successful B-end (absolute attention, operational support, cooperation in publicity, exclusive cooperation, incentive system)

C-end active and retention (interest capture, traffic distribution, incentive system)

The B-side needs can be summarized into 7 aspects: management of fans, monetization, many-to-many social implementation, content accumulation, personal brand endorsement, new traffic entrance, and functional innovation. The needs of enterprise users are mainly concentrated in the first two items.

After all information and resource channels are laid out , tool products need to attract more B-sides and better meet their needs. For example, Utopia APP: Excellent in managing fans & functional innovation, it is attractive if you don’t get commissions. However, monetization methods need to be expanded more, and personal brand endorsement needs to be achieved in the future.

Successful B-end is the B-end retained. B-end customers through mechanisms (exclusive cooperation/functional enjoyment/business school quota/collaborative publicity), and successfully serve B-end customers.

C-end traffic is getting more and more expensive. Therefore, for free tools, the C-end users brought by the B-end must cherish it. This is the ticket fee paid by the B-end customers and is also the company's intangible asset.

In addition to incentivizing the B-end to meet the content needs of the C-end, the above products need to make more attempts and improvements in the C-end friendly aspects, increasing user opening (timely and diverse reminders, pushes), increasing user usage time (lists, recommendations and even rankings), increasing user departure costs (prepaid/establish relationships/generating content), etc.

B&C is mutual achievement, B succeeds C stays; C is active B stays. The two directions should go hand in hand.

Incentive systems for B and C

Among the above products, the Mustard Circle APP has clear incentives for the circle owner (energy and JMC), and the Utopia APP has one-to-one empowerment and support for operators. There is no clear incentive plan for other products yet.

On the other hand, Zhihu operates independently, and encourages authors (B) and ordinary users (C) respectively. There are additional incentives for creators. The list will be announced after the creators participate in the event. At the same time, in order for creators to better adapt to the platform tone, the "Creator Manual" guides the content creation details.

Establishing a deeper link with both sides of B and C is no longer just an ordinary tool or platform, but a battle halberd that engraves users' laughter, scolding, and blood and tears! Complement each other and upgrade together is not only a tool, but also a new traffic acquisition platform, continuously attracting B&C to enter.

Do it to the extreme and do everything possible to let users grow with you.

Finally, a sentence attached: In this changing era, your competitors are by no means peers, but changes in the times. If you always have the heart to become a man and achieve yourself, you will not be in vain for your future.

This article confirms the market feasibility of community operation tools by introducing the community and enterprise service dividends, observes some existing products in the market to give operation suggestions, and at the same time helps users of community operation tools to choose suitable products. The four main parts:

1. Community operation dividends
2. Tools and service bonuses
3. Analysis of emerging market products
4. Personal operational perspective

Author: Chef Annie

Source: Chef Annie