How to start your new project from the four dimensions of new media operation?

The author of this article talks about: In new media operations, it is necessary to clarify the project background, purpose, expectations and operation steps. The operational steps are divided into attracting new customers, retention, activation and conversion.

I started looking for a new job opportunity at the beginning of the year and got an operations management position in a fintech company. The company has many business lines, one of which involves online credit card applications, so I spent some time learning about online credit card applications and wrote a rough operations strategy. Friends who are interested can take a look.

XXX's new media operation strategy for online credit card application:

1. Background

Currently, XXX has just been launched into the market and consumers have low awareness of the brand, resulting in a small number of users applying for credit cards online through XXX. Therefore, this plan will be based on my existing understanding of the company's products and from the perspective of new media, and strive to propose several practical operational methods to break through the current predicament of difficulty in attracting new customers to apply for the company's credit card online.

2. Purpose

Direct purpose: To increase the number of online credit card application users through new media channels and achieve healthy growth in user scale and revenue;

Indirect purpose: Increase brand exposure and brand credibility through new media channels.

3. Expectations

From April to September 2019, the number of users applying for credit cards online through new media channels increased by 15%-25% every month.

4. Operation steps

I will start from the four major stages of operation and analyze how to maximize the role of new media channels in each stage of operation to achieve operational goals.

1. Attract new customers

The first thing to solve when attracting new users is: how to find target users? How to expand the user traffic pool?

We can first study the scenarios and processes of online credit card applications, find the key behavior points and decision points of target users, and make corresponding traffic layout based on different user behaviors.

If the user actively searches through search engines, it means that he has a strong desire to apply for a card. We need to deploy on mobile search engines, such as: Baidu, 360, and Sogou's bidding ads (new media mainly consider mobile deployment).

If the user reads an article through a new media channel and sees an advertisement, then we need to add an online credit card application portal to the content output by the new media channel, or run Tencent Guangdiantong advertising. If a user sees credit card discount information in a short video such as TikTok, he will not apply immediately, but may search for the official WeChat account of the credit card to learn more about the situation. At this time, we should also consider the combination optimization of channels.

In general, I will start with the following ways to attract new customers through new media channels:

(1) Online advertising

Advertising is one of the common means of attracting new customers, and the most taboo thing is to just do it once and for all. When placing advertisements, operations staff should pay attention to the following points:

1) Channel expansion and negotiation: Find the channels where users are located, whether in large or small quantities, measure the best delivery and billing method, and get the lowest delivery price. For example, Tencent Guangdiantong’s advertising, cooperation with self-media big Vs to exchange traffic, soft-text marketing, and cooperation with self-media traffic agencies (you can go to Xinbang to find traffic providers or kol platforms) to carry out matrix advertising marketing.

2) Optimize advertising materials (including the combination of copy, graphics and text, the interactive experience of the page, etc.), test the delivery time period, conduct ab testing, eliminate channels with poor results, and find the channels with the most target users and the best quality.

3) When looking for self-media big Vs to cooperate with, you should look for big accounts with the same audience group to cooperate with, and require that the product tone and the kol personality match as closely as possible. Do not look for kols with black spots or kols that are difficult to cooperate with; try to make social improvements in copywriting, and insert advertisements from the perspective and tone of the kol to generate empathy and resonance with the target users; before cooperation, evaluate the quality of the kol's fans from multiple aspects, and during the promotion process, have the courage to terminate cooperation with kols with poor promotion effects.

(2) Fine operation of public accounts

The refined operation of a public account is nothing more than cutting into the aspects of content, products, users, activities, etc., exploring the deep needs of users, continuously improving user experience and user quality, and ultimately achieving new user acquisition and traffic conversion.

Hot article marketing: Is the continuous output of hot articles a criterion for measuring the quality of a public account’s operations?

If you can't create a hotspot, follow up on it in a timely manner. Internet hotspots will focus traffic on one point for a period of time. A good popular article will drive the reading volume of all articles pushed on that day, and even historical articles. If the quality of the official account is good and the content is stable and high-quality, it can also effectively attract new users and conversions by relying on hot articles.

Fan fission activities: Looking back on my work experience in recent years, I found that fan fission activities are the method of attracting new customers with the lowest customer acquisition cost and the highest repeat usage rate.

We divide online credit card application users into two categories: the first category is new users, who have the need to apply for a card but have not yet done so; the second category is old users, who have already applied for a card but whose relatives and friends have not. In the new user acquisition stage, we only discuss the situation of the first category of new users, and the second category of old users will be discussed in the activation stage later.

So how do new users carry out fission activities? All marketing must start from human nature and mind. What are the needs of online credit card applicants?

Where is the benefit? Credit limits, points, physical prizes, free annual fees, and cash back on credit card payments can all be used as gimmicks to attract new customers and engage in fission activities.

To give a few simple examples: users can invite friends to help and receive up to 8,888 points for free, right after opening the card; or collect 8 puzzle pieces and receive corresponding physical prizes right after opening the card, etc. These are all great fan event gimmicks.

1) Page optimization: When a user clicks a link through a public account tweet or the menu bar, they enter the card application page. At this point, the aesthetics and interactive friendliness of the product page will be the key to whether the user jumps out of the page.

At present, our card application page provides users with too many types of credit cards, and the information is not focused enough, which makes it difficult for new users to choose.

Page optimization can start with card recommendations. When the page is opened, let the user spend 30 seconds to select user identity (student, white-collar worker, etc.), gender, application limit range (10,000-20,000, 20,000-50,000+), application purpose, etc., and let the user select 3-5 tags of interest (such as animation, food, travel, shopping, games, hotels, travel, etc.), and then recommend suitable bank credit cards to the user.

Of course, users can also choose to skip this step. Improving user experience in every detail of the page can not only improve user card application efficiency, but also increase user satisfaction with the product.

2) User guidance and feedback mechanism: New media operation is not a cold machine, it should be down-to-earth and humane. We should have professional customer service staff or user operation personnel to solve users' doubts in the process of using the product and open up each link.

We Media Operation:

The operation of self-media such as Toutiao, Penguin, and Baijiahao is time-consuming and labor-intensive, but as part of the new media channels, it cannot be ignored.

In the early stages of brand promotion, you only need to do some daily operational work such as content synchronization. At the same time, in the menu bar of the self-media account, private message replies and other user participation details, add credit card online application links or official accounts, customer service WeChat accounts and other drainage entrances. If the platform reward mechanism or brand operation strategy is adjusted, the channel resources can be integrated at any time.

Short video marketing:

The saying “Tik Tok in the south and Kuaishou in the north” that is currently circulating is enough to prove how popular short videos are. We can make full use of the traffic of short video platforms to drive traffic to our own products.

For financial payment products, videos featuring handsome men and beautiful women, or funny and ugly people may not be suitable. We can create our own IP and create a virtual character, such as a professional financial industry practitioner or whistleblower, to continuously output professional and unpopular financial industry knowledge to users of short video platforms, which can not only promote products, but also guide fans to add WeChat accounts, follow official accounts or download apps.

Event Marketing:

There are two types of event marketing: one is to plan events by yourself, attract media coverage, and gain the attention of target users; the second is to ride on hot topics and keep up with popular events.

Since it is quite difficult to plan event marketing by ourselves, we currently adopt the second event marketing method. At this time, operations can do the following:

Always pay attention to major events in the areas that your target users are interested in. You can also choose hot events that are of concern to the whole nation. Once a hot topic emerges, we should follow up immediately and use public account tweets and self-media channel content to voice our opinions simultaneously (such as Toutiao, Weibo, Penguin, etc.). Hot events must be strictly controlled, and all follow-up hot events must not violate national policies and regulations and must not affect the company's positive reputation.

Brand marketing (word of mouth influence):

The company's brand marketing should start as early as possible. Now we can make full use of new media + media channels to carry out the company's brand marketing. On the one hand, it will enhance the company's credibility, and on the other hand, it can generate lasting word-of-mouth traffic for the company.

At this time, operations can do the following:

New media needs to output high-quality and valuable brand stories and convey a positive brand image; starting from the users, collect and publicize user stories, narrow the distance between the brand and users, and create a warm brand image. Rely on media channels for public relations and gain users' trust through third-party independent observations, comments and articles on industry websites.

1. Retention

Now that users are attracted, how can we retain them?

Between the time when a user unfollows (or closes the page) and the time when the user makes the decision to apply for a card, what actions can new media operators take to keep the target users? In the retention stage, users are the key, and all operational actions will revolve around users.

User relationship maintenance:

To maintain user relationships, a customer service consultation system must be established. Even if there is only one customer service representative, consultation entrances must be provided in all places where users may need them, such as: menu bar, new follow-up guide, message reply guide, end-of-article guide for public account tweets, page floating tags, etc.

Increase the accumulation of users' social relationships, not only between users, but also between users and us. This requires the establishment of a community and the registration of a small customer service account. By adding friends, communicating, etc., certain social relationships will gradually be accumulated, making users reluctant to leave.

Improved user experience:

In the new customer acquisition stage, I have talked about the importance of new customer acquisition page optimization. In the retention stage, we should pay more attention to page interaction and user experience. It is necessary to guide new users well, pay attention to user feedback, collect user needs, and then solve problems in a targeted manner to increase user participation and user attention.

User recall:

At the new media operation level, user recall is mainly carried out through public account push. Public account push is also divided into two types: one is tweet push, and the other is customer service message template push. Note that customer service message template push has more times. But it cannot be abused. Once a user complains, the authorities may restrict the template push permission.

We can also establish a user recall system and carry out a series of tasks such as recall cycle screening, user classification, ab testing, copywriting optimization, data monitoring, etc., which will not be discussed in detail here.

1. Promote vitality

For old users who have settled in the official account, how to activate and convert them into card users? What about those old users who have already applied for cards? How do we activate them and invite their relatives and friends to use our products? The third stage of operation - promotion becomes very important.

In the activation stage, we also have a series of operational means:

High-frequency action drives low-frequency products:

Applying for a credit card online is a low-frequency behavior. If we want users to remember us and use our products and services, we must use high-frequency guiding actions to make users active.

For example: insert activity entrances such as signing in to receive points, receiving coupons, and receiving gifts for recommending card applications in the official account, and make full use of the convenience of the official account + mini program, so that users can complete credit card online application invitations, receive points, redeem points, receive coupons, etc. in the WeChat system ecosystem without having to launch the app to complete them.

Among them, gifts for recommending card applications can be used as a regular activity to activate old fans.

In order to differentiate ourselves from the existing promotions on the market that offer gifts for recommending card applications, our promotion needs to be improved as follows:

Lowering the threshold for activities: The card application recommendation activities of major banks require credit card activation for the invitation to be considered successful. For users, the process is too long and the threshold is too high. If users are required to conduct large-scale spontaneous publicity, the threshold for activities needs to be lowered. For example: As long as the new user successfully submits the information on the online application page, the invitation is considered successful. The entire process of the event should be open and transparent: The entire process of the event should be open and transparent. For example, the number of friends invited, the progress of friends' card application, the number of successful invitations, the number of remaining prizes and other data should be made public in real time on the event page. Event prizes cannot remain static: in addition to suitcases and thermos cups, we can also select prizes based on social hot spots and e-commerce hot items. We can even invite users to participate in the selection of event prizes, actively interact with users, and make the brand more popular.

Growth incentive system:

In order to improve user retention and activation rates, it is necessary to provide users with a predictable user growth path, which is the user growth incentive system. Common methods include: points, levels, identity authentication, feature authentication, medals/titles, experience points/growth points, etc.

The user incentive system can be divided into three aspects: material incentives, spiritual incentives (level privileges), and functional incentives. In combination with our products, the direction of our user growth incentive system can be based on points, virtual currency, virtual props, rankings, levels, and series of tasks. We can choose any one of these forms and formulate corresponding rules.

notify:

Notifications are also a common means of promoting activity, such as system updates, holiday greetings, etc. Birthday greetings and birthday privilege notifications will have greater appeal.

1. Conversion

After going through the three stages of attracting new customers, retaining existing customers, and promoting activation, we have finally reached the conversion stage.

For operations, achieving healthy growth in user scale and revenue is the foundation of work and the key to reflecting the value of work. During the conversion stage, operations have many ways to achieve user conversion and traffic monetization.

Limited time and limited quantity activities:

When a user enters the application page but does not complete the online credit card application, we should promote the user's first conversion from a marketing perspective after solving problems such as page interaction and content.

For example: proposing exclusive credit cards with limited time and quantity, "xx fan credit card, limited to 5,000 nationwide", "xxx anime co-branded credit card, valid only for applications in March"... Such activities should be combined with various new media channels to create momentum - such as public account tweets, mutual promotion of cooperative public accounts, synchronization of self-media articles, group messaging of customer service personal accounts, Weibo promotion, etc.

Payment cashback offer:

Many foreign credit cards support cash back for card swiping, while many domestic bank credit cards only support cash back for card swiping abroad. If bank credit cards support cash back for card swiping domestically, I believe it will greatly promote online credit card applications.

Material rewards such as discounts, red envelopes, and lucky draws:

Credit card users who apply for cards through the Duobei financial platform can participate in weekly discounts/red envelopes/lottery activities on the official account. Tangible material rewards are the most touching and can be used to encourage users to make decisions to apply for cards.

Other means of monetization:

With more followers and high activity, the public account can charge for advertising through various operation positions such as tweets, menu bars, pages, etc.; provide users with more value-added products, such as installment, MPOS, loans, insurance, etc.; connect to the mall and do e-commerce conversion...

5. Resource Support

1. human Resources

According to the most streamlined person-job matching method, the new media department needs a content operation person, a user operation person (who also assumes the customer service role), and a product manager.

Department needs support:

The design department and technical department are needed to provide design and development support, and the brand department is needed to provide corporate promotional content.

Financial support:

During the initial stage of accumulating seed users, advertising and new user acquisition activities also require prize funds.

VI. Operating Budget

In the first three months, the monthly operating expenses are expected to be 20,000 to 40,000.

Attachment:

Due to time constraints, we did not develop a more accurate user portrait, but only made a general strategy for new media operations. Furthermore, due to space constraints, some content and details have not been fully supplemented, such as: phased operational goals, leverage landmark actions for expected project growth, content positioning and breakthrough directions, etc. I will supplement them separately when I am more familiar with the industry and business.

Source: Unmoved