4 tips for operating corporate Toutiao accounts!

Traditional Toutiao account operations mostly involve synchronously updating content on WeChat and Weibo, and only use Toutiao accounts as content distribution platforms or to earn reading revenue. However, corporate Toutiao account operations focus on traffic conversion, and the core of operations lies in traffic monetization and brand exposure.

In the past year that I have been operating Toutiao, although the reading data is only tens of millions, I have obtained more than one hundred pieces of customer information through the conversion component that comes with Toutiao, and achieved product transactions by directing them to personal accounts.

Although Toutiao has begun to show signs of fatigue in the second half of 2019 and its early dividends have disappeared, based on strategic layout, Toutiao should still be operated as a key platform for daily work.

In the eyes of most corporate account operators, Toutiao is merely a content distribution platform.

Most of the daily operations are to move original articles from platforms such as WeChat and Weibo to Toutiao for publication day after day, and not pay too much attention to the number of article readings. This operation method not only results in fluctuating reading volume, but also fails to bring other benefits to the company except brand exposure. It takes half an hour every day to copy and paste, which is really useless.

In fact, relying on Toutiao accounts can not only expose brands, but also bring actual lead conversions to companies, turning traffic into leads and promoting product transactions is what everyone wants. If you want to operate Toutiao well, it is not enough to just post articles. You need to consider everything from the Toutiao mechanism to content positioning.

This article will start with the operation mechanism of Toutiao and share with you the system operation rules of Toutiao.

1. What is the Toutiao recommendation mechanism?

After an article is published on Toutiao, it will enter the content review stage, and will enter the cold start state after the review is completed.

The system will distribute articles to users who are interested in the field of the article, and then consider whether to increase or decrease recommendations based on the "reading feedback" of the cold start.

As mentioned earlier, the number of recommendations after a cold start is affected by the "reading feedback" data of the cold start, the most important of which is the reader's completion rate and opening rate.

If you just use clickbait titles all the time, the completion rate will definitely not be very high. At most, it will get a few thousand reads before being stopped from being recommended.

Therefore, for operators, keeping the title and content genuine and consistent will result in high-quality recommendations.

The recommendation path after an article is published is as follows:

1. After the operator publishes the article, the system will analyze the basic situation of the article to determine the topic area of ​​the article, whether there is any illegal information, whether it is old news, etc.

The evaluation results of these dimensions will affect the cold start of the article. If the article contains illegal information, it is very likely to be rejected by the system before the cold start.

If it passes manual or machine review, the system will display the article to users who are interested in the field based on the article's field.

2. In this smaller traffic pool, the system will collect reading feedback data for this article. If the overall collection, reading, sharing and other data are relatively impressive, Toutiao will continue with the first step, increase your recommendation volume, and collect relevant reading feedback to determine whether to increase the recommendation volume again.

However, if the feedback on the article is not particularly good in the first recommendation, with few likes and reads, then the article may stop being recommended. This is also the reason why many articles only have three to five hundred or four to five thousand reads.

3. If the reading feedback from the previous few times is very good, then it should be easy for an article to reach 100,000+.

For articles that reach 100,000+ views, the system will manually review the articles. If the reviewer feels that the article is of high quality and complies with the platform regulations, the number of article recommendations will continue to increase.

At this point, the number of views of the article will directly rise towards the million-view hit, but if it does not meet the standards, such as leaving soft advertisements, it will most likely stop at the 100,000+ level.

Reasons affecting recommendations

The above is a brief sharing of Toutiao’s recommendation mechanism. Once the Toutiao recommendation mechanism is clarified, operators can then generate high-quality content that the platform likes in batches based on the recommendation mechanism.

For example: If you find that the reading volume is low, it may be that the completion rate is not high, or the number of shares is not high. In this case, we can stretch these data by optimizing the title and article content, and finally increase the reading volume of the entire article.

For example: if the completion rate is not high, then the possible reason is that the overall layout is not simple and clear enough, and the words and pictures are not attractive enough.

We only need to review our own articles or ask friends to read them a few times and listen to their suggestions and feedback, so that we can find out the shortcomings and optimize these details. Similarly, this optimization idea is also applicable to any self-media platform, which is also one of the qualities that operators must possess.

Note: The above pictures are all from "Toutiao Open Class". The recommendation mechanism is summarized based on the rules disclosed in Toutiao Open Class and my own experience.

2. How to write the headlines?

1. Toutiao likes content that constitutes a stable account

Therefore, if you want to be a decoration account, don’t write about life and emotions; if you want to be an emotional account, don’t publish any science and technology articles.

If the scope of your article is too wide, the platform will be confused when pushing it, not knowing whether to recommend you to homeowners who are decoration enthusiasts or to users who like life and emotions. Therefore, such articles will definitely not be highly recommended. Even if there is an article with outstanding reading, there will be no sustained high recommendation support.

Focusing on a fixed field helps improve account weight

Get stable recommendation

2. Keeping the content in a large area is the first point of content composition, but it also creates problems

For example, in a large category like decoration, there are many large accounts, and the content of large accounts is generally of higher quality, so they occupy most of the traffic.

The system will not allow a user to see two similar articles, so the reading volume of small and medium-sized accounts is getting lower and lower, and the number of recommendations they receive is also getting smaller and smaller.

What should we do in this situation?

The answer is to refine the field and create differentiated content. Let’s take the decoration field as an example:

• Refinement field

An account that only creates works in the field of interior design

Since it is so difficult to create a large-scale one, it is better to focus on the small dimensions of a large field.

For example, under the large dimension of decoration, there are decoration design, decoration quotation, and decoration practical information. If we further subdivide the decoration design, it can be further divided into new Chinese style design and modern style design. By fixing the content under these dimensions and digging deep into the content, we don't have to worry about being crushed by large traffic. Instead, we will live a very comfortable life.

• Differentiated content

An account that outputs content in the form of comic strips

To create differentiation, we can start from two aspects:

On the one hand, by focusing on the content itself, starting from the writing logic, expression sentences and content depth, even an old topic can be used to create new knowledge.

On the other hand, innovative expression.

We can use the popular comic format and long graphic text format to display the content. Even if the articles are old topics or old ideas, they will be given new life and be easier for readers to consume.

Considering that most operations lack the ability to produce high-quality content or have a low input-output ratio, using innovative expressions is a good approach.

Hot word recommendation function

3. If you don’t have a satisfactory content topic at the moment, you can create content based on the system topic recommendations and hot word recommendations of Toutiao. Articles with this topic naturally have a higher recommendation volume, but it should be noted that the topic must be consistent with the positioning of your account.

In general, the following points should be noted when creating content for Toutiao:

• The topic selection should be consistent with the account positioning.
• If you want to stand out from the numerous accounts, you must have differentiated content output. There are two main ways to output differentiated content: one is to further deepen the content, and the other is to innovate the expression form to create differentiated content.
• When you can’t find a suitable topic, you can create content based on the topic recommendations in the backend of Toutiao, which will make it easier to obtain traffic support.

3. Converting Lead Information into Customers

There are four ways for Toutiao accounts to obtain clue information: "Learn more link", "Self-operated advertising display", "Private chat", "Product account" (considering that most accounts cannot open product accounts, this point will not be elaborated)

The focus of enterprise account operation is to build a conversion structure for Toutiao accounts and monetize traffic to the greatest extent.

Instead of copying and pasting every day, it is better to think about how to monetize the traffic, and the following four methods can be easily achieved.

The construction of Toutiao account conversion group:

First of all, it needs to be made clear that there will be reading only if there are recommendations, there will be advertising displays/clicks only if there are readings, and there will be leads only if there are displays/clicks.

Therefore, writing good articles and producing more high-quality content are the keys to operating Toutiao accounts.

1. Learn more links

Learn more about link examples

After opening a Toutiao account, you can use the learn more link function, which is displayed at the end of each article.

When users use Toutiao to read, after reading an article, they have the habit of scrolling to the bottom of the article to view recommendations for similar articles. Therefore, the learn more function is a necessary step for users to obtain information.

As long as our article is readable, there is a high probability that users will click the Learn More button after reading the article.

We just need to provide relevant guidance, and then naturally there will be users willing to click in and leave clues.

As for links to learn more, we can put links to the official website, our own landing pages, or even an article on WeChat. This method can be used to obtain user leads or to attract traffic.

2. Self-operated advertising display

Display of self-operated advertising positions

Self-operated advertisements are displayed above the similar article recommendations, and like the "Learn More" button, they are the only way for users to obtain more information.

Compared with the Learn More button, the display effect of self-operated advertising space is more like information flow advertising, and the user experience will be better.

However, due to its relatively low position and limited by the completion rate, its click rate is not as high as the Learn More button.

How to set up self-operated advertising space:

• Click on the backend of the first number and find the income analysis
• Click on Self-operated ads and set
• Create corresponding visual images and copywriting, submit for review and launch

It should be noted that: if this entrance is not available, it means that the account has not activated the self-operated advertising function, and it needs to be activated on the My Rights page.

3. Private chat

Private chat is a major source of leads. We can guide users to send private messages by leaving suspense in the article, and then use the prepared words to flow back to their personal WeChat account, and finally facilitate conversion and transaction.

For private chats, the greatest fun lies in the design of marketing language and the reservation of suspense in the text. Considering the differences in the main business of different companies, each operator needs to write it according to the specific situation.

4. Toutiao accounts attract public accounts

Many people create Toutiao accounts just to direct the traffic of Toutiao accounts to WeChat public accounts. Here are two good methods for you:

• 1. Give away information to attract traffic
• 2. Guide users to pay attention at the end of the article

Today, I will talk about the specific methods of giving away information to attract traffic:

There will be a desire to act only when there is benefit. Therefore, if you want fans to jump over the software and follow you, you must provide information that users are interested in to attract them. Giving away information to attract traffic is a common method.

In actual operation, we need to pay attention to two aspects: one is the guidance of speech, the second is the collection and organization of information, and the third is the optimization of traffic landing end. Here is a detailed guide on how to divert traffic:

1. Eye-catching title

For example: Everyone is a Product Manager’s "Free materials at the end of the article | This guide to switching careers to operations summarizes the blood and tears of 5,000+ operations people."

2. End of the article

Some data pictures are released, and private chat is guided at the end of the article: If you need a detailed list, please privately chat with the editor and the editor will share it with you.

End of article guide example

3. Private chat skills

Due to the limitations of the Toutiao backend, the editor cannot send you a sharing link. Please go to the XXX public account and reply with the keyword XXX to obtain relevant information.

4. Optimization of traffic landing end

When it comes to traffic generation, in my opinion, the most important thing is the design of the landing end.

If the user comes, takes something and leaves again, then such traffic diversion is in vain. This situation does not only occur in traffic diversion.

The same logic applies to increasing followers of public accounts. Small favors can only attract users, but to make users stay and eventually become accurate users, content support that can actually help users is needed.

When traffic comes, we need to design a series of retention mechanisms:

• After the user comes in, the information is transmitted quickly. (ps: Don’t use tricks, just share the real thing)
• Push of high-quality articles. (ps: recent hot articles, push of high-quality content)
• Design of sharing mechanism, share with friends to get more useful information/tools
• Continuous provision of high-quality content and regular conversion

Qizhuang.com's traffic acceptance mechanism is relatively complete and worth learning from

This is just a rough retention path design, mainly to provide an idea for all operation friends.

We can apply it to multiple platforms such as Weibo/Xiaohongshu/Tik Tok, and publish similar articles on the corresponding platforms to effectively obtain traffic.

As for traffic generation, what is solved is the user's need to obtain information/the need to get something cheap and do something efficiently. The core is to provide users with data/information that far exceeds their expectations. Only when the information/data is good enough will users feel at ease to follow you.

The above is just the most basic template, and the specific effect needs to be optimized according to the specific circumstances of your own product.

Of course, many friends will be curious about where the information comes from?

You can find a lot of results by searching on Taobao and Xianyu for specific industries. If all else fails, you can take the time to sort them out yourself.

5. Three Dimensions of Toutiao Q&A

Toutiao Q&A has always been lukewarm, but with the participation of big Vs, the overall ecosystem has become very complete, and some users have also developed the habit of regularly checking Toutiao Q&A.

Similarly, I started operating Toutiao Q&A last year, and the results are pretty good. During the operation, we can apply Zhihu's operating methods, but it should be noted that Toutiao is very strict about traffic generation.

If you use the same traffic-generating method as Zhihu, you will be restricted by Toutiao. The article you spent half a day writing will not only fail to bring in traffic, but your answer may also be deleted by the system. Apart from the restriction on traffic generation, it is almost the same as Zhihu.

The core of Toutiao Q&A operation lies in how to select valuable topics for answering. I think it can be done from the following three dimensions:

1. Select hot topics and answer them:

High-hot topics represent high traffic, so even if our answers don’t become popular articles, the final reading performance will not be too bad. Choosing a big issue in a specific industry to answer will never be a bad idea.

For example: In the field of decoration, the major issues we can screen are: How to make a budget for decoration? What are the pitfalls of decoration? If you want to make a name for yourself on Toutiao Q&A, then you must answer these big questions.

2. Answers to regional questions

Most companies' business is only targeted at a specific region, so try to answer questions containing regional words.

For example: Keywords: "Which decoration company in Foshan is good?", "Which is a good fitness center in Beijing?", etc.

Most of the users who search for these keywords are local users with specific needs. Therefore, our answer is equivalent to a brand promotion. As long as the answer is not deleted by the system, we can continue to bring exposure to the brand.

This is just like brand advertising, showing yourself on the user's activity path, and maybe you can get a conversion one day.

3. Personalized question screening and answering

Some topics often focus on a specific problem. The overall attention to such problems is not too high, and they are more like users asking for help. Filtering the answers can help demonstrate the professionalism of the account.

4. Side display of Toutiao Q&A ads

We can promote ourselves through more neutral words, for example: This answer comes from the XXX official account, follow us to get more decoration tips!

We can add such fields at the beginning and end of the article. Experiments have shown that they will not be deleted and they also have a certain effect. Of course, if you want to direct traffic to your own Toutiao account, you can also change the wording.

In addition to reserving contextual advertisements, the materials we use when answering questions can also carry the logo of our own products. Toutiao Q&A is relatively tolerant in reviewing materials.

5. Building personal IP

Every Toutiao account is a personal IP, so when answering questions, you might as well be more humorous. Corporate accounts themselves can easily create a gap with users. If you keep pretending to be high-end, you will only alienate users. Even if your answer is excellent, it may not have much effect.

The above is just the experience I have accumulated in operating Toutiao for a year. Each company’s own situation is different, and the focus of operations is also very different.

Simply copying and pasting articles is of little significance. How to monetize traffic is the starting point of our operations. I hope this can be of some help to all operators.

Related reading:

1. Toutiao account operation: Deconstructing the user life cycle of Toutiao today!

2. Toutiao account operation and promotion, do you know all these?

3. New Media Operation丨How to operate self-media platforms such as Toutiao and Baijiahao?

4. A collection of operating methods for self-media platforms such as Baijiahao and Toutiaohao!

5.How to operate Toutiao account? After reading this, you will be a master!

6. How to operate Toutiao account? There are 3 routines!

7. Toutiao account operation: Here is a reusable methodology for increasing followers!

8. How to do a good job in user operation of Toutiao?

9. How can a Toutiao account quickly gain millions of followers? Share 10 marketing tricks!

Author: Bobo

Source: Operation Publicity Xiao Leilei