In 2019, 60% of advertisers' budgets were given to self-media!

Today, Weibo released its latest annual self-media commercial monetization white paper at its conference, which showed that in 2019, self-media marketing accounted for 60% of advertisers, becoming the most recognized marketing method.

Behind this ratio, the industry as a whole has invested at least tens of billions of dollars. This year, advertisers are not only looking for "exposure", but are also pursuing "results" and driving sales. Behind this demand, many problems suddenly emerged, such as:

Grass planting, sales volume, word of mouth, what are the value judgment criteria for self-media? Which platforms are the most popular and have good results? What kind of self-media and accounts are advertisers’ favorites? Which advertisers invest the most money? Also, will something happen in 2020?

These are the questions that this "2020 Self-Media Commercial Value White Paper" will discuss and answer, and every question is related to "money". Well, today we will take a look at the situation behind these "big money" and see if it can give us any inspiration.

We-media transaction price trend

Among the five major platforms, Sina Weibo, WeChat official accounts, Douyin, Kuaishou, and Xiaohongshu , Xiaohongshu and Kuaishou have the latecomer advantage , and the unit price of transaction accounts has increased rapidly, while the overall increase on other platforms has been stable.

Transaction price index of self-media on major platforms in 2019

In 2019, the unit price of fans on Xiaohongshu increased rapidly , while there was little change on other platforms.

For example, the price per thousand followers on Weibo is concentrated between 3 and 7 yuan , and will increase during the promotion season; the price per thousand followers on WeChat public accounts is usually concentrated between 50 and 70 yuan ; the price per thousand followers on Douyin is mainly concentrated around 15 to 20 yuan , and the difference is relatively low. There are a large number of Douyin beauty self-media, and there are many low-priced long-tail accounts.

KOL price per thousand fans on major platforms in 2019

Usually, there will be a general increase in self-media prices about three months before major promotional festivals, such as Labor Day, National Day, Double Eleven and other holidays.

The platform’s account size and commercialization potential

Considering the account size and monetization rate of each platform in 2019, the monetization ratio of the top accounts on each platform is becoming increasingly saturated, especially on the TikTok platform. Nearly 88% of the top accounts are involved in content monetization, while the monetization rate of mid- and lower-level accounts is only 24%. There is huge room for market growth in the future.

From the perspective of accounts that have been monetized, the monetization ratio of mid- and low-level accounts on the four major platforms, namely, Douyin, Kuaishou, Huoshan Video and Miaopai, was relatively high in 2019.

The platform’s account activity and delivery time

When conducting account placement, the posting time basically matches the consumer's catalyst time preferences and daily routines.

The first peak posting time is concentrated in the users’ lunch time, which is 12 o’clock, and the second peak occurs between 18:00 and 21:00 in the evening . Among them, the general posting time of maternal and child industries is about one hour earlier than that of the beauty, daily chemicals, and food and beverage industries, which is basically consistent with the daily living habits of the target users.

In which field are advertisers most active?

1. Beauty and daily chemicals, 3C digital products, food and beverages, and IT Internet self-media marketing is more active

In 2019, the industries with the highest proportion of self-media marketing transaction amounts by advertisers in different industries were: beauty and daily chemicals, 3C digital, food and beverages, IT Internet, and maternal and child care.

Top 10 advertisers in different industries with the highest percentage of self-media marketing transaction amount in 2019

In 2019, the industries with the highest number of advertisers in the field of self-media marketing were: beauty and daily chemicals, food and beverages, 3C digital, local life, IT Internet, maternal and child care, and fashion life.

Top 10 advertisers in different industries in the field of self-media marketing in 2019

Characteristics of advertiser’s self-media placement account

1. The types of self-media placed by advertisers are more diverse and richer on the basis of vertical precision

Taking the beauty and daily chemical industry as an example, the types of short video accounts placed by advertisers include not only vertical and precise beauty accounts, but also accounts for daily life, fashion, jokes, etc.

2. Mid-tier self-media are emerging in the opportunities for brand reinvestment

Among the advertisers’ self-media marketing reinvestment accounts in 2019, mid-level accounts accounted for 70%, with an average reinvestment frequency of 20.8 times , covering more than 420 million fans, and an average cooperation score of 4.9 points (out of 5 points).

High reinvestment accounts have the following characteristics: deep cultivation of a certain vertical field, precise circle fan influence and conversion power, and high user immersion; advertising creativity breaks through conventional hard implantation and combines creative expressions such as plots, tutorials, and evaluations; fast response speed, high satisfaction with service results, high cooperation and high cost performance.

3. Advertisers’ preference for self-media marketing content

Among advertisers’ self-media marketing methods, grass-roots marketing has become the most popular method in 2019.

Growth space for self-media marketing accounts

1. The growth potential of self-media marketing accounts from the perspective of market supply and demand

The market demand for self-media accounts in the fields of fashion, IT and the Internet is relatively large, while there is an oversupply of self-media accounts in the fields of daily life, beauty and cosmetics.

2. The growth potential of self-media marketing accounts based on order prices

The price-performance ratio and premium space of pet-related self-media marketing are relatively high, and the number of fans and content professionalism have become the weights for the price premium of self-media accounts.

Average order price and average fan price of self-media marketing in various fields in 2019

There are five factors that affect the price of self-media accounts:

The number of fans , such as the top, middle or tail of the fan base; the quality and influence of fans , such as fan portraits, data authenticity, interactive activity, number of views, etc.; the category/field of self-media accounts , such as beauty, games, digital, etc. according to content classification; native content , originality/explosiveness rate/vertical segmentation, etc.; the degree of commercialization of the platform , such as the advertising transaction price level of the platform.

3. Look at the growth potential of self-media marketing accounts from the perspective of price increases.

In 2019 , the top four types of self-media accounts with the highest average price increases were: pets, beauty and cosmetics, science, and emotions and psychology . These types of accounts have greater opportunities for monetization.

The top five types of self-media accounts with the largest average price drops in 2019 were: education and training, entertainment and audio-visual, home, sports, and automobiles.

Comprehensive evaluation criteria for the commercial value of short video self-media

Short video commercial value list indicator system: business adaptability, growth index, activity index, interaction index, content dissemination index, and health index.

Short video commercial value ranking index system

Who is the top-value short video self-media?

In 2019, the top 10 short video self-media comprehensive marketing value rankings are shown in the following table. These accounts published an average of 10 works in the past 28 days.

In 2019, the top 10 short video self-media commercial adaptability rankings are as follows. The average number of comments for these accounts is 4,370, and the average number of works published in the past 28 days is 8.

Distribution of audience characteristics of top-value self-media

The top-value self-media audiences are: younger in age; have a higher willingness to consume; and are interested in general entertainment; males account for 59% and females account for 41%.

2019 We-media Business Phenomenon and Analysis

Phenomenon 1

The content of each short video platform will eventually merge after a long period of separation, and will eventually separate after a long period of merger. As content and character positioning become increasingly clear, the differences in content across platforms will grow.

Phenomenon 2

The “immersive” consumption of short video users boosts the commercial development of self-media.

(1) As short video users are cultivated in an “immersive” way, their consumption scenarios and demands will continue to upgrade.

On average, each person uses 2.5 apps at the same time, and 72% of users use at least 2 short video apps at the same time . Women, people under 30 years old, and people in first- and second-tier cities prefer to use multiple short video apps at the same time.

(2) Random shopping methods and strong brand social marketing shorten the user's consumption decision-making path.

There are significant differences in the shopping habits of different groups. Those born in the 1960s are accustomed to purposeful shopping; those born in the 1970s and 1980s are accustomed to purposeful shopping and comparative shopping; those born in the 1990s, 1995s, and 2000s are accustomed to random shopping.

(3) Self-media is a new medium for commercial brands to reach consumers.

In the social field, short video self-media plays the role of connecting brands and fans by virtue of its wide attention and fan trust. Influencers can help brands reach target consumers more directly and efficiently, and satisfy fans' personalized and scenario-based shopping experiences through scenario-based marketing.

(4) The types of content that users browse are rich and diverse, and are expanding to cover all topics.

The topics browsed by users are rich and varied, and are not limited to the fields of entertainment and leisure. Topics such as product introduction/recommendation and information acquisition & self-improvement also have a large audience.

Which self-media and products are more popular among users?

In addition to self-media personality traits such as humor and talent, self-media that interacts more closely with users and is highly professional can also attract user attention.

What kind of characteristics does self-media have that will attract more users’ attention?

Women, people under 30, and people living in first- and second-tier cities are more interested in products recommended by self-media. In short videos, " authenticity" and "details" are the main requirements of users for product introductions, and nearly half of users will place orders directly based on the recommendations of self-media.

What characteristics of products make them more likely to be weeded? Daily necessities that are "more, faster, better, and cheaper" make users "can't stop". Food and beverages, clothing/shoes and boots, beauty and personal care, and household daily necessities are the priority categories for users to "shop". In addition, product quality is the key for consumers to recommend products to their friends.

Phenomenon 3

Occupying users’ “bed time” has become the key to grass-roots marketing.

“Bed time” is the best time to effectively improve the efficiency of short video marketing.

Note: The content attention recommendation index is the ratio of the content accepted by the audience based on attention relationship and the content accepted based on platform recommendation during the period.

Phenomenon 4

With the explosion of e-commerce live streaming, the consideration of the commercial value of self-media has been upgraded.

(1) Live streaming hosts can effectively shorten the marketing chain for commercial brands to reach users.

(2) Live streamers stimulate consumers’ desire to make discoverable purchases, which greatly shortens the transaction path.

New product launch: The anchor’s live broadcast room has become an important channel for the launch of new products, and the path to product promotion is infinitely shortened.

One-stop shopping: During the 21 days from October 22 to November 11 in 2019, Wei Ya posted an average of 60 product links every day.

Buy while watching: During the live broadcast, the selling points of the products are introduced in a concentrated manner, and fans can directly shop in the shopping cart at the bottom of the live broadcast room.

(3) The anchor "goes out of the circle" to broaden the source of traffic and break through the traffic ceiling of celebrities.

E-commerce anchors have multiple means of commercial monetization, and their commercial value is seeking diversified breakthroughs.

E-commerce anchors have multiple commercial monetization methods

Phenomenon 5

The demand for self-media placements continues to decline, while mid- and low-end self-media are rising strongly.

(1) “Small KOLs” are rising exponentially, with vertical categories becoming more refined and scalable at the same time.

The scale of self-media with more than 100,000 fans has exceeded 400,000, and the scale of self-media with more than 10,000 fans has exceeded 8 million.

(2) Mid-tier self-media stand out for their high cost-effectiveness and strong cooperation.

Judging from the order price, the order price of the top accounts is 2.2 times that of the mid- and lower-level KOLs ; judging from the distribution of order ROI, the overall ROI performance of the mid- and lower-level KOLs is outstanding. In the past year, the ROI growth rate has been as high as 87.58%.

In 2019, almost all brands are cooperating with self-media, and there is a trend of cooperating with mid- and low-end self-media in large quantities; it has become a popular delivery strategy for top self-media to achieve brand explosion and for mid- and low-end self-media to achieve fermentation and reach.

Different types of content in self-media have different focuses on brand commercial marketing objectives. For example, the traffic-oriented type focuses on traffic, the grass-planting type focuses on personality, and the sales-leading type focuses on product selection.

Gain in-depth insights into marketing goals and self-media types, and match them with a scientific evaluation system.

The key to self-media is not to find those self-media with the largest number of fans and the highest marketing popularity, but to select the self-media with the highest matching degree according to one's own marketing plan after analyzing the brand tone and product attributes.

Outlook on the commercial potential trend of self-media in 2020

vv1. Imbalance is the main theme of social networks in 2020

Dynamic imbalance is the norm in self-media marketing.

2. The “two-way flow of layers” between top and mid-level self-media will accelerate in 2020

In 2019, the demand for the top proportion of brand investment will be reduced, and the budget and traffic will be more refined for mid- and lower-tier accounts.

Deeply cultivating vertical markets, developing fans with distinct personalities, creating content with deep influence, and actively embracing big data trading platforms will become the shortest path for commercial monetization of mid-tier self-media.

3. In 2020, social marketing enters the "high frequency" era.

Brand communication becomes more frequent, occupying the user’s mind through high-frequency reach of standardized content.

4. In 2020, brands will open up their content production rights, “the more open, the more exciting.”

Brand content has entered the stage of standardized and industrialized production.

5. 2020 data empowerment makes delivery more accurate and efficient.

Big data improves the KOL marketing value evaluation system and provides decision-making judgment criteria.

6. The 2020 short video big data delivery platform has changed from "optional" to "standard".

Social media advertising has entered the era of platform-driven efficient advertising.

Author: See the truth

Source: Jianshishijie