A brief discussion on Weibo marketing and promotion strategies!

Weibo may not bring direct sales, but it can subtly influence consumers' choices.

As for Weibo marketing , needless to say, every company and every product has opened a Weibo account, and some are good at it and some are not. As an emerging marketing tool, how to let Weibo speak for the product is a topic we want to explore.

Marketing starts with positioning. Some companies start with Weibo’s strong media attributes and position Weibo as a media that is followed by many fans. In fact, when Weibo acts as a media, companies cannot escape the dilemma of talking to themselves. The right to speak on Weibo as a media has never truly belonged to enterprises, but has been controlled by a small number of celebrities, opinion leaders, and traditional media. Ultimately, companies need to position Weibo as a communication tool. Communication is a two-way process, and companies need to take the initiative to listen to the voices of consumers.

Operating a product-related Weibo account is the most difficult, firstly because it is related to the tone of the product itself. A product that everyone is accustomed to but hardly becomes a topic of conversation faces the problem of how to "chat" about it; the second is how to embed the characteristics of the product. The main purpose of a company opening a Weibo account is to make consumers more aware of its products. If the Weibo copy contains things that are not related to the product, the leader will think that there is no need to operate the Weibo anymore; the third is how to combine with hot topics and use them to make the product popular, which is also the dream of many companies.

1. Can Weibo be made unique?

There are about 300,000 companies that have opened Weibo accounts. As the Weibo operating system matures, everyone has established a set of decent Weibo operating strategies, which makes it difficult to escape the chaotic situation of everyone doing the same thing. Fans are experiencing aesthetic fatigue. Can old jokes such as soul jokes, good morning and good night jokes, and digestive jokes still be served up?

This is the positioning issue that must be faced when a product starts operating on Weibo. The purpose of positioning is to occupy mental resources. Product Weibo needs to explore unique positioning opportunities so that fans can have a deep impression of it when they see it for the first time. After the positioning is completed, the entire content system should be built around the positioning, without having to worry about whether the product word should appear in every Weibo post.

The Master Kong Spicy Beef Noodles Weibo account, operated by Ruiyi Hengdong, broke through the original mature strategies such as anthropomorphism in positioning and tried a new cartoon anthropomorphism + family matrix model. This new and unique operating strategy made fans' eyes light up and deeply remember this product.

If you cannot be innovative in positioning, you can still achieve a surprising success in details and product expression.

The Lee Kum Kee Gourmet Kitchen account has no highlights in terms of operation, but its pictures will be deeply remembered. Each picture is carefully designed, and the food is so realistic that it makes people salivate. It’s like the Weibo version of the kitchen, where attention to detail is the key.

The Beast Flower Shop has no V and no matrix, but in terms of product expression, it can find a way to tell the story of its customers, staff and flowers in the most simple and unpretentious way. Compared to The Beast, I sense a kind of impetuousness from many official accounts. Some deliberately promote products, some deliberately pursue creativity, but never pursue one thing to the extreme.

2. Can you chat with your fans?

Chatting is a two-way communication. Interaction is a distinctive feature of social media. If you only hear fans’ comments on Weibo but don’t see any official replies, this Weibo account is most likely operated by someone else. The lonely soliloquy on Weibo, this Weibo is probably operated by half a person in the company. In a sense, any Weibo post that doesn’t generate chatter is a failure.

Just imagine, even if fans read the content of Weibo carefully every day, how deep will the impression they have on the brand be? Once a fan interacts with an official Weibo account, or the official Weibo account does something small and touching, the impression will suddenly become very deep. That is to say, don't deliberately pursue what you want your fans to watch or read. What's important about the content is not how brilliant the creativity is, but that after reading it, fans have a desire to chat with you.

If your product is naturally talkative, then congratulations, this product is very suitable for promotion through social media because you are very topical, such as Durex, everyone is very curious about this topic. If you don't have the mood for chatting, then you need to think carefully about how to chat.

There are two ways to do this: one is to make the content topical, and the other is to make the interaction interesting.

In terms of topics, one of the challenges is how to make the product's functions interesting; the second challenge is how to connect the product with fans' lives; and the third challenge is how to use hot topics to extend creativity.

In terms of making product features interesting, Weibo does not need to mention the product verbally to promote the product, but should use creative pictures to show a certain advantage of the product. As shown in the picture of Volkswagen Beetle:

The copywriting should be lifelike, which is also an important element of product Weibo operations. Good copywriting is not only beautiful to read, but also should be able to evoke resonance in readers. For example, elements such as nostalgia, childhood, movies, and celebrities can all resonate with readers. Starbucks does a good job on this type of Weibo. We can learn from its copywriting and original pictures:

Taking advantage of hot spots is the third challenge. Currently, many Weibo operators know how to take advantage of hot spots, but whether they can do so well is a technical issue. The first thing to do when combining hot spots is to be consistent with the tone or positioning of the product. For example, Durex’s technique of combining hot spots is very profound. The second is to be appropriate to the situation. For example, during the Mid-Autumn Festival, the copy should reflect homesickness and should not be a spoof. The third is to explore the commonalities between the product and the hot spots. Such as Volkswagen Beetle Weibo.

In terms of interactive fun, it is necessary to consider that it is impossible for every Weibo post to be creative, and there are really no good topics to talk about difficult products. In the interaction with fans, you must make your replies interesting so that fans can't help but want to say a few more words to you. The advantage of this is that when fans buy products of the same category, they will suddenly remember your Weibo. For example, when buying laundry detergent, there are too many brands.

What should I choose? At this time, I would think of the funny and cute "Sister Bilang", and I would unconsciously choose Bilang. This is probably the ultimate effect that social marketing wants to achieve. Weibo may not bring direct sales, but it can subtly influence consumers' choices.

3. Can fans be involved?

Social marketing, which relies on communication to make fans remember the brand, is no different from traditional media communication. If the product is not a must-have in the fans' lives, it is difficult to make fans remember your brand name through content communication. The best way is to let fans participate in brand activities. During the participation process, fans will not have too strong aversion to brand communication, but will take the initiative to spread some things about the brand. This requires that Weibo marketing requires getting your fans involved.

There are two ways to participate. One is that the brand throws out an introduction to let fans generate UGC. For example, a case we are all familiar with: Du Fu is very busy. What started as a spoof picture of Du Fu turned into a spoof involving the entire nation. There is also the recent #Travel with Weibo# campaign, which has evolved from a topical event into a national topic; the second form of activity is Weibo’s daily activities. If you want to do a good job in an event, you have to learn two things: either give frequently or keep fans involved. For example, the reason why Durex Weibo has such a strong fan stickiness is because the #mostfans# campaign is carried out every day without interruption, and there are big events from time to time to reward fans; otherwise, it would be attractive. Xiaomi Weibo’s events always give away more than ten mobile phones. How can fans not be crazy about it? The most taboo thing in an activity is to conduct an official reward-based forwarding activity. This type of activity attracts people who are addicted to activities. Therefore, the activity is only targeted at existing fans to increase their loyalty.

The above are some of my personal insights from the process of using and researching Weibo. I believe that operating a product Weibo can do these three things well: unique, chat-able, and participatory. Why worry about not succeeding?

Author: Zhao Wenbiao

Source: User Operation Observation (ID: yunyingguancha)