How to operate “private domain traffic” in circle of friends!

The topic of private domain traffic has become increasingly popular recently, especially with the recent crackdown on illegal plug-ins by WeChat, which has once again launched a battle for private domain traffic. Many friends around me have asked me what I think:

So I want to use this article to briefly discuss with you:

1. Regarding private domain traffic, should companies get involved?
2. How should companies that have already entered the market make use of private domain traffic?

What is private domain traffic?

The current industry's general definition of private domain traffic is: traffic that is independently owned by a brand or individual, can be freely controlled, is free, and can be used multiple times. The private domain is usually presented in the form of personal WeChat account, WeChat group, circle of friends or APP developed independently by the brand.

The core of private domain is that it belongs to me and is not controlled by anyone.

The opposite of private domain traffic is " public domain traffic", which means that this traffic is not your own, but is purchased from other platforms.

Specifically, for example, WeChat, QQ, Tmall, Taobao, Baidu, Douyin, Kuaishou, Weibo, JD.com, Toutiao, Pinduoduo, etc.

Why is private domain traffic so popular?

Sister Mulan’s understanding is that during the Internet dividend period, people use a large net to catch fish, and they can catch whatever they want with just one cast and one scoop. There are too many fish to catch, and it is impossible to catch all the fish in the wild pond (public domain), so who cares about private domain traffic?

The fact that private domain traffic is so popular nowadays obviously reflects a problem, that is, there are too many people and too little porridge. The cake is no longer getting bigger, but more and more people want to have a piece of it. In addition, the low conversion rate of customers is driven by high costs. The Internet has entered the agricultural era from the nomadic era. Faced with the new reality, companies have to re-examine the value of their customers. In the past, they only sought conversions and purchases. We are also considering whether we can get customers to continue to repurchase, and even get old customers to bring in new customers.

Therefore, the rise of private domain traffic represents the beginning of a shift in corporate thinking from harvesting traffic to pursuing the business philosophy of "customer lifetime value."

The White and Black of Private Domain Traffic

Since we understand that private domain traffic is the "customer lifetime value" concept pursued by enterprises. Now the second question is, what value does private domain traffic have for enterprises?

What is the value of private domain traffic to enterprises?

Sister Mulan summarized her 3 points:

①Build brand and improve sales conversion

In the past, when users purchased products, companies did not actively "connect" with them and the relationship remained at the buyer-seller level.

When you circle consumers, users can experience the company's services up close, communicate with other users, and enhance their brand awareness through other people's word of mouth. This will have a cumulative impact and is 100 times more effective than the company's own education of customers.

②Private domain traffic is the best way to connect with and understand users

Many times, when a new product is launched, brands will spend a lot of energy on research, and it may not be accurate. Now, through private domain traffic, you can understand them well through communication, understand their needs, and continue to bring them surprises and high-quality products and services.

③ Word-of-mouth communication, using old users to attract new users at low cost

The core of private domain traffic conversion is trust, which is the beginning of a trust relationship based on people.

Every consumer is a communicator in their circle. In private domain traffic, it is easier to guide consumers to share products through incentives and bring in new users through social networking among acquaintances.

So, for enterprises, private domain traffic can greatly promote user connections, increase fan loyalty and sales. Should we build a private domain traffic tomorrow?

Sister Mulan believes that before companies decide whether to enter the market, they should make a good judgment first and not follow the trend blindly.

First of all, what types of services and products are more suitable for private domain traffic? Or is your business suitable for private domain traffic?

Here Sister Mulan also summarizes some common similarities of products suitable for building private domain traffic pools.

Features of products suitable for private domain traffic

① Strong repurchase

Only if there is a strong repurchase attribute does it need to be privately owned, otherwise the cost will be very high. For example, when we go to buy a refrigerator, we rarely add the salesperson’s WeChat, and then we buy refrigerators every day. This is impossible.

②Has maintenance properties

Many times, transactions are not completed overnight. Some consumers need a long time to decide whether to purchase a certain product. In this case, there are many possibilities for interaction between companies and users.

For example, many knowledge-based paid products generally need to be operated in a group for a long time to allow users to establish an understanding of the product’s effects before they will consider paying.

③ Suitable for sharing

A core requirement for building a private traffic pool is to create "topics of conversation" for users, that is, users are willing to share and recommend you, so as to achieve "old bringing new" growth. For example, companies whose products are experience- and scenario-oriented, such as in the beauty industry, may consider taking the lead.

In addition, the private domain is definitely not a simple harvest of friends circle, but the operation of long-term relationships. This is a job that requires great online emotional intelligence and a lot of time and energy.

Because it is difficult to establish private domain traffic immediately, if you want to go from 0 to 1, you need at least a certain period of cultivation before you can see some results.

In the harsh reality that there will be no results in a short period of time, can business leaders give the team enough growth period and strong support to test the waters and explore?

Another point is that content operation capability is also very important. If you only send out advertisements without in-depth communication and maintenance, you will only be abandoned by consumers.

Secondly, it is difficult for a marketing department or new media department alone to activate a mature private traffic pool. It must have cross-departmental cooperation in a wider range to work together to maintain it.

You know, when we envy brand companies like Haidilao and Starbucks, they have been able to develop better and better for decades and their experience and service are also great. Their success is not only due to their products and services, but also their ability to manage customers. Behind them is the result of continuous and refined operations by multiple parties.

Therefore, private domain traffic is a double-edged sword. Companies need to know how to balance it and weigh the pros and cons based on their actual situation before deciding whether to enter the market. Don’t blindly follow the trend and copy others, otherwise, your operation will become more and more like chicken ribs: tasteless to eat and a pity to throw away!

How do companies make use of private domain traffic?

If an enterprise has decided to enter the market, what are the strategies for private domain traffic?

First, find your target users.

We all know the 80/20 rule, which states that 80% of a company’s sales are contributed by 20% of its important users. Therefore, don’t think about catching all users at once. The private traffic pool itself represents refined operations. It should attract those who are willing to actively approach the brand and recognize your products and brand values, rather than being driven by profit to take advantage of them.

Then, now that people have joined the circle, how can we retain them and convert them?

When operating private domain traffic, the most common mistake many companies make is to use the old thinking. For example, many people ask their customer service teams to set up a large number of personal WeChat accounts to operate private traffic, and then bombard the group with all kinds of advertising information. Put yourself in their shoes and think about it, is there any user who needs an extra WeChat customer service representative and screen-filling advertising person in his or her circle of friends?

So, what is high-quality private domain traffic operation like?

At present, there are three relatively advanced ways to play with private domain traffic:

Source: Tencent-BCG joint report

Sister Mulan did a disassembly:

(1) Focus on the long-term value of operations

Shopping assistant is a good entry point. Take Sister Mulan’s experience as an example: I added the WeChat of Qiandama, the store manager downstairs in the community, when I was buying groceries. I found that I could place orders in the group at any time, and the order would be delivered to my home for free if the order was over 38 yuan. The store manager would post the discounted dishes in the group every day, and send out red envelopes at a fixed time every day. The luckiest users would be given some fresh ingredients, and so on.

There is a very important link here, which provides users with long-term value rather than short-term benefits.

What long-term value does it bring to users that attracts them to stay, accept your ads, interact with you, and not delete you? If it is just for short-term benefits, such as adding WeChat to get a 5-yuan coupon, many users will delete you after receiving it, because they cannot see the value of your existence in the future.

(2) Cultivate KOLs and opinion leaders to initiate high-quality topics

For example, the “Brand Community - Sister Mulan” created by Sister Mulan is of this type, a professional community about brand marketing.

This group includes brand managers and marketing practitioners from various industries. They all have a common label - they are interested in brands and marketing. They are suitable for communicating and learning with each other and finding a sense of belonging with like-minded people.

Some brands, such as those in the knowledge payment industry, can use the power of mentors to gather a group of people with common learning and growth goals, organize offline activities, form interest communities, and speak for the brand.

(3) Make friends with users and give them space, fun, and guidance

The core of private domain traffic is user relationships.

Therefore, a company should be like a person, have ideas and personality, make users trust you, be willing to read the content you post, know that you truly care about them, and feel that you are a person who understands them, rather than a cold-blooded machine.

Users are not gods, users are babies, we need to give them space, fun, and guidance.

Perfect Diary penetrates into users' lives step by step by creating the image of a personal butler around you, making users feel like their friends. Every product recommended by this young lady will hit your heart.

Undoubtedly, operating private domain traffic well is not just about attracting users. This requires companies to stand in the user's perspective and have goals, methods, and strategies, so as not to end up in a thankless task and make private domain traffic a mess.

at last

In order to explore the views of some peers in the industry on private domain traffic, Sister Mulan also conducted a small survey in the "Brand Community - Sister Mulan", and found some interesting views, which I would like to share with you:

@Yi Ya Tong Starlink-Xiong Xianlin

The reason behind the popularity of private domain traffic is actually the awakening of "individual sovereignty consciousness". The so-called "individual sovereignty consciousness" refers to the group consciousness of advocating self-centered, liberalized, labeled, and differentiated lifestyles, including those born after 1995, 2000, small town youth, pan-KOL, WeChat merchants, etc.

The rapid development of the Internet, social networking, short videos and other platforms and channels has provided opportunities for display and presentation. Over time, people have discovered the business opportunities in this, that is, "traffic monetization", so advertising placement, selling goods, selling feelings, etc. have appeared. For a time, decentralized "traffic pools" of all sizes have appeared, and people have called for the importance of private domain traffic;

However, with development, we will find that the so-called private domain traffic is only a short-term opportunity. Just like the MCN organizations behind KOLs, they are also gradually becoming platform-based and relatively centralized.

Therefore, there is no absolute selfish traffic, but traffic differentiation is a fact, and perhaps a new centralized traffic platform will be formed in the future.

@CCE Group CEO-Zhao Congchong

The private domain traffic that everyone talks about is based on the application layer. Let me talk about the data layer. No matter what platform, online or offline, data still needs to be collected in the end. A very popular word earlier was DMP, which has now turned into CDP. It is to collect and use user data from all platforms online and offline. I think this is the core of selfish traffic. Because even if the platform changes, these people are all in private data centers. You can also touch them.

@infinite.hk Brand Director-Jinling

How to play! They are all routines~The most innovative business model is to remove the false and return everything to its original nature! You are the greatest! Why should we establish a narrow private circle? You must know that the future trend is that everything will be transparent! Open~

@Xiaoqiang Technology Chairman-Li Guanglin

Private domain traffic realizes the commercial closed loop of traffic diversion, conversion, repurchase and referral. I have summarized three points:

• Private domain traffic is: repeated use, personal WeChat, WeChat groups, public accounts, Douyin, Kuaishou
• Private domain traffic solution: save advertising costs, prevent old customers from losing, and build brand
• The effect of creating private domain traffic: Become a KOL in the field of "Internet celebrities" and achieve performance growth

Due to limited space, some other friends' opinions are not quoted. Only when there is a collision can there be sparks. Welcome everyone to discuss together.

Author: Sister Mulan

Source: Mulanjie (ID: mulanjie-)