Advertising skills: Why do others get several times more clicks than you?

In this era where everyone is competing for attention, every second of consumers' time contains commercial value. With the rise of mobile Internet and as various information continues to penetrate into every corner, the advertisements we see every day can be said to be everywhere.

So what kind of advertising is good advertising?

JWT proposed a "Time Philosophy" on advertising in 1864, and they have been adhering to this concept until now.

JWT believes that consumers will not spend time on advertising ideas that "interrupt" their daily lives. Outstanding advertising ideas must be able to create active consumer participation for the brand. Successful advertising must become of interest to people and stop interfering with what people are interested in.

As long as an advertisement can keep people watching for one more minute, it can create more value for the brand. A good advertisement should attract consumers to watch it for one more minute instead of interrupting them.

So what kind of advertising can better attract consumers without interrupting them?

There is a simple answer:

Ads that don’t look like ads (I’m not responsible for that)

Why are "Gu Ye" and "Taobao Forbidden City" so popular? Why are we always more accepting of their advertisements and even like them so much?

Because their ads don’t look like ads, they don’t interrupt consumers and you finish watching them before you know it. Their ads are integrated with their own content, attracting consumers to watch for one or two more minutes, and also creating more time for the brand.

The same logic applies to the information flow advertising that is popular today.

For example, WeChat Moments ads, Toutiao ads, Douyin ads, Tencent News ads, Baidu News ads, etc.

As long as you frequently use some social and information apps, you will find more and more advertisements in the information flow when we are browsing Moments, Tik Tok, Weibo, and news. They try to compete for your eyeballs in the ever-decreasing flow of information, trying to attract your attention for the next second.

At the beginning, these information flow ads are similar to traditional ads. They all highlight the selling points of products in a hawking manner and always interrupt you to read the information you originally wanted to see. You get annoyed and just skip it.

Gradually, you will find that some information flow ads have been improved. They no longer look like ads. Instead, they become more and more like the native content in these apps. They have become what we call ads that don’t look like ads.

Why?

The effect is better!

So the question is, if ads don’t look like ads, then what should information flow ads look like?

• Some people say it's like entertainment news
• Some people say it's like dry goods
• Some people say it's like popular science
• Some people say it's like a Weibo post or a WeChat Moments update.
• Some people say it looks like a viral TikTok video
• …

The responses are sensible and everyone gets something right, but they may not be complete. I will help you summarize it:

Good information flow advertising needs to be combined with different channel scenarios and the advertising copy should be written in a form that consumers are accustomed to, like, and non-interruptive.

Simply put, no matter which platform you advertise on, pay more attention to the platform's native content expression methods, so that your ads become like the platform's "native content."

For example, the advertisements on many platforms such as Toutiao and WeChat Moments now have advertising copy that is similar to the regular content of the platform itself, making it easier for consumers to accept.

Think about it, your consumers may be watching short videos, browsing Moments, browsing Weibo hot topics, or reading news on Toutiao...

At this time, the advertisement is facing a person with a very focused attention. His attention has been occupied by various downward information. If your advertisement comes out, he will immediately put everything aside and read your advertisement carefully.

On the contrary, if your ad appears very abrupt or obtrusive during the entire consumer browsing process, interrupting their reading experience and making them disgusted from the beginning, then the copy you wrote for the ad will basically become meaningless.

This is why, even if you are doing the same information flow advertising, others get several times more clicks than you.

And this requires us to mention the flow experience.

Flow was first proposed by American psychologist Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi, who described the flow experience as follows:

Flow is a state of immersion and selflessness that people experience when they devote themselves fully to a certain behavior. In this state, people ignore the existence of other things. This experience itself brings great joy, making people willing to pay a huge price.

This kind of flow experience is not unfamiliar to everyone, for example:

• I was browsing my social media on the subway and missed my stop.
• I was watching Tik Tok in bed at night, and before I knew it, it was already 4 or 5 o'clock;
• I was so engrossed in playing games that I forgot to eat for the whole day.
• Devoting yourself to a task, you even ignore everyone else's playfulness;
• …..

These are all highly immersive flow experiences, and I think you should have similar experiences.

During the flow experience, everyone hates being interrupted, especially.

Just like our current information flow ads, consumers are already in the flow experience of reading various contents of interest. If advertising information appears, it will seem out of place and disturb the flow they are currently enjoying. Even if the advertisement itself has very attractive benefits, consumers will skip it directly because they are unhappy and will not click to view it.

For example, you are a consumer, concentrating on reading Toutiao news on your way to work on the subway.

“Large cities with a population of 1 million to 3 million will completely remove restrictions on settling in the city.”

"The first railway in 90 years has opened, and Chinese companies have helped this country realize its dream"

"British passport removes EU: Talk about the reasons for Brexit and its impact on the future situation of the world"

You are carefully reading the domestic and international social information that you are interested in, and suddenly this message pops up:

"To exchange your domestic driver's license for an international driver's license, come to XXX"

Will you feel bored?

This ad is out of context with what you saw before and is very abrupt, which may break your wonderful flow experience.

So even if you need to change to an international driver's license, you probably won't click to check it out.

It’s not that the ad is bad, it’s that the scene is wrong.

But if you modify this ad to read:

"Starting from March 2019, Shenzhen residents can apply for an international driver's license for free with a domestic driver's license!"

The effect is different. It reduces disturbance to consumers, maintains the same information-based title as the previous content, and tries to fit the consumer flow experience as closely as possible.

Facts have proven that not only clicks increase, but conversions also increase.

Okay, so how do we maintain consumers’ flow experience and make them more receptive to our advertising in the process?

First of all, the writing of information flow ads should revolve around interests rather than traditional selling points.

Our traditional advertising is centered around core selling points, highlighting the benefits pointed out in the advertisement, strengthening brand strength, enhancing customer testimonials, etc. This approach may not work in information flow advertising.

It’s not that traditional advertising methods are wrong, but that they are not suitable for current information flow advertising. This is because when consumers are browsing their Moments, Weibo, Baidu on their mobile phones, and Toutiao, they are in a browsing state. They are reading content that they want to read, and these reading states are based on interests.

Unlike searching on Baidu and Taobao Tmall, consumers have clear purposes. They either have some shopping needs or are looking for a certain product. They are very receptive to purchases and advertisements.

Consumers who are browsing information are no longer interested in traditional advertisements that display selling points and will skip them at a glance. When you treat information flow ads as traditional scene ads and write them according to the ideas of traditional ads, you are immediately wrong.

In the flow state, consumers are more inclined to satisfy their interests rather than other utilitarian purposes. Therefore, information flow advertising must first stand from the perspective of consumers, starting from their needs and interests, and attract them by satisfying their needs.

Taking traveling abroad as an example, a general advertisement can be written like this:

"XXX high-end travel private custom yacht, 50% off for a limited time!"

However, you might want to write an information flow ad like this:

"The most cost-effective country for overseas travel, the cost is even lower than in China, celebrities love to go there"

In addition, as mentioned earlier, information flow ads should be like the "native content" of any platform.

On Toutiao, it looks like a piece of news; on WeChat Moments, it looks like a post from a friend; on TikTok, it looks like a hit video...

There is no absolutely good advertisement, only advertisements that work better on different platforms.

An advertisement that performs very well in Moments will not work well on Toutiao. Similarly, an advertisement that performs poorly on Tencent News may perform very well on Baidu News . Good information flow advertisements must be based on the attributes of the platform itself.

In fact, if all consumers on a platform like to watch ads, then the information flow ads here must look like ads.

For example, if you open the Xiaohongshu app, you will find that it is full of recommendations for various products, which are what we often call advertisements, but they often receive a high number of reads and likes here.

However, if we put the same title in other information flows, it will immediately be met with disgust and resistance, and consumers will not click on these ads.

Why?

Because on the Xiaohongshu platform, consumers' flow experience is to carefully read the recommended hot products, the author's usage experience, reviews, etc. in each note. They come here with the mentality of choosing products by reading advertisements. Information flow ads should be like the platform’s “native content”, so the ads here should naturally look like ads.

In short, in this era where everyone is competing for attention, consumers' attention is extremely limited. Good advertising should attract consumers to watch for one more minute rather than interrupt them.

Good information flow advertising should be combined with different channels and the advertising copy should be written in a form that consumers are accustomed to, like, and non-interruptive. Starting from consumers’ needs and interests, make advertisements like the platform’s “native content”. This is the only way to promote ad clicks and increase conversions while fitting the consumer's flow experience.

However, gaining consumers' attention and winning more clicks is only the first step. The corresponding content, products and services after clicking the ad are the key. Fortunately, the advertising formats of information flow platforms have been well polished and are very interactive, but don't lose in the last kilometer.

I hope the above will be inspiring and helpful to you.

If you find the article helpful, please share it with your friends or colleagues, maybe it can help them.

Related reading:

1. Momo information flow advertising skills, play with pan-entertainment social information flow advertising!

2. WeChat Moments advertising, all the strategies are here!

3. Momo information flow advertising skills, play with pan-entertainment social information flow advertising!

4. Costs are reduced by 50%, here are tips for placing OCPC information flow ads!

5. Toutiao advertising strategy revealed: Why is my advertising effect always so poor?

6. The current status of China’s information flow advertising market in 2019!

Author: Mumu Old Thief

Source: Mumu Laozei (public account)