Will the more online promotion channels there are, the better the campaign results will be?

Let me answer the question in the title first: Wrong! Totally wrong! What we really need are channels that can bring us a large amount of effective traffic . Otherwise, having too many channels but they are useless is just throwing money into the water.

Before starting each marketing promotion, you have to think about what channels to use for combined delivery. Should you ask Weibo celebrities to forward the topic? Buy two advertising spots on a public account with more than 100,000 followers? Go to Zhihu and pretend to answer questions but actually have your own agenda?

Next, we will take stock of the three major categories of promotion channels for you, and most importantly - how to choose from so many channels?

Promotion channels are divided into three types: internal channels, external channels and paid channels .

1. Internal channels.

There is another term for internal channels, called official channels, which means using the company's internal resources and its own channels for promotion.

1. Promotion on the official website

Use the product's official website to promote the event, and add your event guidance information in the most conspicuous place on the site, or in the section that users pay most attention to. This will attract users' attention to the event as quickly as possible. You can put a banner image of the recently launched event on the homepage, or directly put the event content section below the carousel image on the homepage.

2. Official media takes the lead in the event

Now the company’s products will be used as official media, the main ones being Weibo and WeChat. The official Weibo account of a company can generally be added with a blue V, and WeChat has service accounts and subscription accounts, etc. So these are the manifestations in these two most commonly used official media.

(1) Official Weibo Operation

a． You can put two event banner pictures on the official blog homepage, and click the link to go to your event special page or event product page.

b. The official Weibo account initiated topics related to the event to heat up the atmosphere and encourage netizens to forward the topics on Weibo.

(2) Official WeChat Account

a． Recommend pictures and texts to build momentum for the event

Push promotional images and texts to warm up the event in advance on subscription accounts or service accounts. Push a detailed and interesting text and picture recommendation of the event in advance. You can use official language, but it is better to introduce the content of the event to users in an interesting, vivid and sincere tone, so that users know why this event is worth participating in. If the pictures and texts are creative enough, they may even lead to spontaneous sharing by users.

b. Open up the shopping process and quickly convert activities

Opening up the shopping process on WeChat will help activities achieve conversions more quickly. If you are a company that sells goods, you can open WeChat payment through a certified subscription account or service account, and sell goods directly on the WeChat public account, connect to a third-party mall, or connect to a self-developed micro mall.

3. EDM email promotion: send emails to your customer base

EDM, the full name is Email Direct Marketing, which means email marketing. Generally speaking, users will leave their email addresses when they register. You should organize their email information and inform you of the existing user groups via email. The disadvantage of sending emails is that there is almost no secondary dissemination. This method may be a bit old-fashioned, but it is not without effect. It is always good to try more.

QQ emails have reminders. When the email message pops up, the email title is the first thing that comes into view. Therefore, the title of the event content email is mainly to catch the user's attention and remind him/her to participate in the event.

2. External channels.

1. We-media platforms: content distribution channels

In fact, a promotional picture and text for an event can be distributed to the company's own self-media distribution channels. In addition to being pushed on WeChat public accounts, Weibo, and email marketing at the same time, it can also be distributed to various self-media platforms registered under the brand name to achieve multi-channel promotion. However, it should be noted that WeChat public accounts, Weibo, and emails are all controllable by oneself, while self-media platforms need to be reviewed and may be regarded as advertisements and fail to pass the review. This channel is more suitable for continuously outputting content and gaining a large number of fans and users.

2. Upload your work to the marketing platform

Uploading (creating) your event page on H5 marketing platforms such as YiQixiu, iH5, and Maka is also a promotion method. If you have the chance, you can go to the case display page and scan the QR code to share.

3. Posting and promotion on vertical forums

Post promotional posts for events in vertical industry forums. If you are organizing an event for an offline store, it is also more effective to hold a press conference at a forum in the region.

Maternal and infant industry: Mama.com, Yaolan.com, Maternal and Infant Bar (Tieba), Parenting.com, Babytree.com, Yaya.com, Kids King, Youtan Baby, AiZhoujiao.com, Lvmama Parent-Child Travel, Maternal and Infant Home, Miaya Baby;

Catering industry: Dianping.com, Meituan.com, China Food Network, Erweihuo Community, China Food Network, Catering Network, Xiachufang.com, Red Restaurant Network, Catering World, Centennial Catering Network, etc.

Apparel industry: Taobao Forum, Mogujie, Meilishuo, Today's Specials, What's Worth Buying, China Fashion Network Forum, Needleline Network, China Fashion Network, Women's Clothing Network, etc.;

You can find relevant industry forums by entering "XX Industry Forum" in the Baidu search box.

4. Focus on promoting vertical channels of well-known communities

Large communities such as Zhihu, Mop, Tianya, Douban, and Tieba are important channels for promoting event information. Moreover, there are many channels in communities such as Mop and Tianya. You can explore the channels in the users' fields and publish activity information on these corresponding channels.

5. Vertical community promotion

If you launch your activities on a large scale, you may be kicked out of the group easily, so find the vertical community in your industry, including WeChat group, QQ group, Douban group, Weibo group, etc., and pay attention to the wording when promoting the activities.

6. Make event posters and post them on social networking sites

You can make beautiful event posters and post them on Instagram, nice and other picture social apps, which may attract some people to pay attention to your event. You can also post event posters to photo websites.

3. Payment channels.

This is more complicated. The first type is information flow advertising , such as Penguin's Guangdiantong, Weibo's Fanstong and Toutiao information flow; the second type is search engines , such as SEO, DSP, SEM, Sogou Promotion, 360 Dianjing, etc.

The third type is outdoor advertising . There are targeted advertising (Focus Media, Bus Online, etc., which have high exposure but are very expensive); subway advertising (branded trains, train liveries, etc., which have high exposure), bus advertising (bus bodies, pull rings, bus stops, etc., which are suitable for regional merchants) and placement in various other modes of transportation and life scenarios.

In addition, there are celebrity channels, that is, celebrities or industry KOLs endorse or place advertisements; and shared channels, such as shared WIFI, photo printers, etc.

So, here comes the most critical question, there are so many channels! How to choose?

The choice of promotion channels should be based on specific considerations such as product characteristics, consumption behavior characteristics of the target user group, and existing resources that can be mobilized, in order to find out where the core users are most active.

If the core users are young people who love fitness, you can invest in fitness-related self-media and communities, fitness experts’ Weibo and WeChat, etc.

If the core users are middle-aged people facing the crisis of baldness, you might as well place advertisements in subway stations around the CBD, etc.

In short, where your core users are, that’s where your promotion should be .

In addition, when publicity and promotion are just starting, it is a more practical approach to test the marketing channels for promotion effects , which will lay a good data foundation for future marketing and promotion.

Related reading:

1. Internet online channel operation implementation plan!

2.15 Most Commonly Used Online Channels for Event Promotion (Recommended Collection)