How can new media operators build content skills from 0 to 1?

In today's information age, content has gradually become a task that all companies and products must pay attention to.

For example: "Find a spokesperson and let a celebrity speak", "Create your own IP to humanize the product" and "Attract precise users through vertical content". No matter which method you use, the essence is to capture the attention of a certain group of people and let your fans become your second-generation spokespersons.

So here comes the question:

• 1. How to create content?
• 2. How to use the platform to publish content?
• 3. How to continuously produce good works?

Simply creating content is for your own pleasure. The key is how to publish the content to the right platform and to the right audience.

If companies want to do a good job in content marketing, they must realize that cost is the most important thing.

In addition to the product project operating costs, it also includes internal management costs and staff time costs.

Small and medium-sized enterprises have a limited number of customers, but it is not realistic for them to carry out offline promotion and advertising.

Therefore, it is necessary to create high-quality content that matches the products through the existing traffic on the platform. In today’s product saturation world, the only way to build your own brand is through unique content.

1. There is always a market for high-quality content

1. Distinctive features and high recognition are the first step of IP

Successful IPs all have their own style, for example, "humorous postgraduate entrance examination tutor Zhang Xuefeng", "bold and funny Papi Jiang", "domineering car seller Tiger Brother counting cars", and even "all-round singer Feng Timo".

These IPs are highly recognizable. Therefore, creating your own style is the foundation of successful content.

2. Seize the gaps and industry intersections

It is human nature to be competitive, and people are more willing to remember the first place.

For example, "the first internet celebrity Feng Jie", the first person to compete with Jack Ma in selling goods "Li Jiaqi, the lipstick king", "Sanda Ge, the number one brother of Kuaishou", etc.

In fact, there is a blue ocean in every field. Therefore, we must seize the gaps and industry intersections and continue to output content.

3. Choose the content type. Pan-entertainment content has a wider space, and vertically segmented content covers precise audience groups.

There are many types of content, including pictures, text, audio, video and short video.

Different types correspond to different content. Entertainment content tends to be more video-based, while academic content tends to be more graphic and text-based.

Determine the content type based on your product.

For example, "Dingxiang Doctor" should publish medical content, with the population segmented into sick people, etc.;

"Adventure Detective Lei" publishes travel entertainment content, with a larger crowd space, including people who love traveling, people who are curious about the outside world, etc.

Therefore, we need to choose the type of content according to our products.

4. Clarify the target audience, start from the root, find out their needs, and find the content tags they care about, pay attention to and prefer

Accurately locate and find the content that users really need, and derive multi-point content.

For example, "Luoji Siwei"'s daily progress guide, the content of chicken soup for the workplace, the user portraits targeting the workplace population, etc., and then based on the tags, a book selling business is derived.

Based on the real needs of users, we output the content that users care about and derive value-added services to serve them.

5. Topic planning

Follow the popular content and release it based on whether the content matches the user, find the most appropriate time point, and build your own IP based on the likes, comments and forwarding data.

Due to different target groups, the release time, title, illustrations and layout are also different.

I divide the time nodes for content release into rush hour from 7:00 to 9:00, lunch break from 12:00 to 14:00, and night time from 21:00 to 24:00 before going to bed.

Choose the appropriate time period based on the content. For example, the fashion self-media "InsDaily" publishes at 11 pm every night, and "Luoji Siwei" publishes at 7 am every morning. The principle is to match user attributes and cultivate user reading habits.

You can analyze data based on recent content. If there are problems such as content mismatch, low interaction, etc., you can change the publishing time and content.

2. How to find a platform suitable for your content?

1. Choose a platform that suits your content and become a leader on the platform

There are many content platforms, including pure text novel platforms, information platforms that combine text and pictures, video platforms that mainly use short videos, and design platforms that mainly use pictures.

Their essence is that they are different carriers for disseminating the corresponding content.

For example, a radio host’s voice is more charming, a writer’s words are more charming, and a singer’s music is more charming.

Different contents have corresponding vertical platforms, such as the audio APP "Himalaya", the music APP "NetEase Cloud Music", the information APP "Toutiao" and the beauty APP "Little Red Book".

Only by finding a platform that matches your content and making efforts in the corresponding field can you achieve twice the result with half the effort.

2. Pan-entertainment content is more likely to be a hit, and vertical content platforms are more focused on the crowd, which can monetize faster.

The more down-to-earth it is, the easier it is to be accepted by others. Let me give you an example.

For example, for food-related self-media, the most common questions asked by fans are, "Is it delicious?", "How much does it cost?", and "Can I make it at home?"

Vertical content is more inclined towards "store efficiency", "labor costs" and "material costs" and so on.

Therefore, we need to highlight the explosive points of the corresponding content based on our own products. For example, if you own a small restaurant, then the more entertainment activities you have, the more attractive it will be.

Two years ago, I worked in a media company, and my task was to recruit suitable anchors.

The company initially started its operations by focusing on what a host should do, live streaming techniques, and singing techniques, but after a month, there was basically no effect.

After taking over, I didn't think about the content. I started from the root and interviewed the existing anchors to find out how they got here, what problems they had in their work, etc.

I found that only a small number of anchors came here after seeing the recruitment advertisements, and most of them were small anchors who wanted to find an institution to receive training and gain some experience.

Therefore, I identified two options from the perspective of content creation and distribution channels:

• For newbies, live streaming can make money, and the hosts’ lives are glamorous.
• Targeting industry experts, with a more professional team and more incubation plans as content points, I found that the final data results were also good.

3. How to distinguish the recommendation mechanisms and gameplay of each platform and create popular content

After positioning your own content and platform, how can you create a hit? This is inseparable from the platform's recommendation and sharing mechanisms.

News can be in the form of text, pictures, videos, etc., with different dissemination channels. However, content is destined to be accompanied by social media. The content sharing mechanisms of Alibaba, Toutiao and Tencent are basically blocked. It is no longer realistic to expect the news to explode at one point and radiate to all platforms.

Therefore, a single platform is very important. Toutiao, Tencent News and Zhihu belong to the large traffic pool, while WeChat public accounts, e-commerce stores and communities belong to the private domain pool.

For example, Douyin is considered to be "fan keyword recommendation", "platform keyword recommendation" and "user fission to create popular videos".

Therefore, operating a Douyin account is to look at the "quality of the content", "interaction with fans" and "whether it has been reported" to continuously recommend it to matching users.

For example, if you post a short video about food with tags like "foodie", "foodie", "Beijing" and "value for money", the platform will automatically recommend it to people with the same tags.

The platform may recommend it to a food-loving girl in Beijing, a catering worker, or a foodie in Changsha. Their likes, comments and reposts will drive secondary dissemination of the video. Through the users' tags, the video will have more tags, and may even have tags such as "Changsha", "Love Beauty", "Makeup", etc.

When the platform is reviewing the content, if it sees that the content is good and the images match the keywords, it will start recommending it to people with food tags and girls who love beauty. Such a video may have hundreds of tags.

Therefore, understanding the platform’s algorithm will bring you one step closer to creating a hit video. For public accounts and private community platforms, the content needs to be more targeted.

For example, it is obviously unrealistic to ask "Luoji Siwei" to publish a news article and "Dingxiang Doctor" to publish a tweet about car maintenance.

Private domain traffic must ensure the sustainable output of vertical content and rapid monetization of content.

For example, if a fitness and weight loss community only posts fitness methods and fitness precautions every day, but does not have fitness courses and recommended sports equipment, the private domain traffic will eventually become increasingly stagnant.

In addition to publishing food recipes, food public accounts should also sell some kitchen equipment and fast food to make users feel that they are really useful. Of course, the prices need to be more affordable than those on the market.

4. Actively participate in platform activities and form a camp with platform experts to make you a part of the circle

You have to know that your fans are just reading the content and not really getting to know you. So, how can you make your IP known to users through platform activities?

If you open TikTok every day and the videos are still from three days ago, would you still want to watch them?

Each platform has its own talent incubation program, and it is very important for individuals or small and medium-sized enterprises to actively participate in platform activities and reduce promotion resources.

Toutiao has a large number of UGC users and a number of PGC experts. Active creators are those who activate the platform, actively participate in the platform's activities, and get more people involved. Only in this way can a win-win situation be achieved between the platform and creators.

If you are in real estate, you can participate in real estate activities; if you are a parenting expert, you can participate in child-raising activities. Doing so will not only maintain the traffic of the platform, but also allow you to meet a new customer.

Content creators also have a future. For example, JD.com’s 1 billion yuan plan to incubate live streaming talents and Toutiao’s Qingyun Plan are all platforms doing their utmost to ensure that there are creators on the platform and that they create better works.

Creating better content is of great help to individual creators because you will encounter various different opportunities during the creative process.

3. Customize for your users and operate in different categories and stages

• Define your users: Who are they? What are your hobbies? What scene?
• Get close to your users: review feedback, user interviews, questionnaires, and walk-in scenarios.
• Understand your users: Understand their usage and purchasing needs from different perspectives, identities and environments.

1. Find content that’s tailored to your users

Develop content strategies based on product features and user characteristics, and conduct continuous testing to ultimately find content that is exclusive to your users.

For example, the creation of food content does not need to be so high-end. The language should be more down-to-earth and match the user's cognition.

Users in different cities focus on different things.

For example, first-tier cities focus more on the convenience of parking and how fast the procedures are when promoting cars; second-, third-, and fourth-tier cities tend to focus more on car discounts, fuel efficiency, and how many problems a car has. The same product may have specific content in different places.

So, how do chain restaurants, chain car washes, and small supermarkets create content?

First, understand who your users are.

If you run a restaurant chain, the people who potentially join you are your users. What are their preferences? Read more new catering information, visit various parts of the country, etc. Users can also consult you in the store, in the comment section of other platforms, etc.

Only by finding the right channels, publishing different content, and constantly testing can we find the point where the company's interests are maximized.

2. Collaborate with other industries to explore user patterns and create an ecological closed loop

There is more than one user tag. Fully understand your users and tap into all their value.

For example, in addition to the works posted by users, the design website also has a website entrance for selling pictures, a website entrance for recruiting designers, coupons for nearby restaurants and movie theaters for purchases of over 99 yuan in offline supermarkets, etc.

The essence of these marketing activities is that high frequency drives low frequency and low frequency attracts traffic. If you are interested, I can tell you about it next time.

3. Use content logic to increase user growth

Content is meant to be seen by users. The key is for users to pay attention, accumulate and convert after they have seen it. Content also has its own logic. So, in principle, we must continuously and steadily output high-quality content.

When we are doing content operations, we need to be infinitely sophisticated.

• The key words of the news headline should be placed at the front as much as possible

For example: Xiaomi went public, Huawei gave fresh graduates an annual salary of 2 million yuan, Wang Xuehan and Ma Yili divorced, the youngest billionaire was born after 1995, etc. On the one hand, these hot spots attract attention, and on the other hand, they highlight the key points.

• Use celebrity effects to make your title more interesting

For example: inviting Buffett to dinner, Jack Ma competing with Li Jiaqi in selling lipsticks, and Lei Jun building a Fortune 500 company in 9 years.

• Good at using location and fame to make news

For example: Nanjing International Champions Cup, after the US trade war, is there still an opportunity to start a business in the United States? 1. What kind of trash are you? How dare you come to Shanghai for tourism?

Every platform has its own hot spots. The fastest way is to seize the platform hot spots and take advantage of the popularity.

• We do not encourage clickbait, but we encourage title innovation.

Especially serious clickbait titles can still attract many people, but the platform will block the account. It is not recommended to do so. Small brands or IPs can just take advantage of the popularity. Innovation has greater risks, such as the article’s divorce incident.

Copywriting that takes advantage of the hot topic effect:

From "Cherish each other while we have each other" to "Be happy on your own", has Ma Yili slapped herself in the face?

Comparing the sister-brother relationships in the entertainment industry, such as Zhang Danfeng and Hong Xin and Zhang Jin and Ada Choi, who do you think is better and who do you think is worse, and why?

And innovative copywriting:

When parents divorce, how can they communicate with their children to avoid psychological problems?

The two of them went through a lot but ended up getting divorced. Did you expect that? Why?

• Push time is distributed according to user attributes

You need to think about who will see the content, who has time to watch it, and what feedback will be given after watching it.

If it is a small supermarket downstairs, it can release some of today's special products before 11 o'clock, so that users don't have to go to a larger supermarket farther away.

For fitness content, post some 10-minute exercise training before bed, and it will be more effective if posted after 10 o'clock; for content selling car insurance, push it more frequently on rainy and snowy days. Meituan pushes content crazily through text message pop-ups on rainy days.

Therefore, we need to push content based on the user's attributes and determine the push time.

Related reading:

1. 21 essential operation tools for new media operations! (Recommended for collection)

2.14 self-media publishing platforms and commonly used new media operation tools!

3. New media planning event promotion and operation tool library!

4. New media planning event promotion and operation tool library!

5. New media planning event promotion and operation tool library!

Author: Operation Publicity Xiao Leilei

Source: Operation Publicity Xiao Leilei