New Media Operations: This is a topic selection guide that may help you write 10w+ articles!

After two weeks of observation, I have read countless 100,000+ articles, ranging from current affairs and people's livelihood to food and travel. As my myopia worsened by 50 degrees and my hair fell out a little, I also gained a certain understanding of the topic selection method for 10w+ hot articles.

If we simply classify it, generally speaking, article topics can be roughly divided into: hot articles and regular (non-hot) articles.

Conventional topic selection is generally based on the category and tone of the official account itself, and each has its own topic selection strategy. As for hot articles, in most cases, they basically use the same or similar routines.

Therefore, today I will use the more familiar technology and entrepreneurship articles as examples, combined with some of my observations to talk to you:

Among the hot articles that occupy half of the 10w+ hot articles, what common routines do they have in topic selection that we can learn from and what we can adopt for our own use.

In the past, we have experienced together hot events such as the P2P explosion, Google's possible return to China, and fights between programmers and product managers. During this period, technology and entrepreneurship-related public accounts produced nearly 100 hot articles with more than 100,000 views, nearly half of which were related to hot topics. As a newcomer to new media, of course many of my observations may be biased. If you have different opinions or views, feel free to criticize me.

Okay, without further ado, let’s get started.

01. Speed ​​wins the hot news

As we all know, the most important feature of hot-spot related articles is their strong timeliness. Therefore, speed is undoubtedly one of the essential elements of hot articles.

In terms of speed, except for a very small number of articles that have the speed and content advantages of direct voice from official channels (for example, "China's business secrets for the coming year are all in Wu Sheng's 159 PPTs (with all the essence left out)" released by Wu Sheng's creation), which are difficult or even impossible for others to replace or imitate, most of the articles are third-party reports and can be "followed".

▲ The content of the tweet on the day of the "Wu Sheng Creation" event

When a hot event has not yet spread rapidly and users know little or even nothing about the event, an article that can sort out the causes and consequences of the event is undoubtedly more useful to users than a high-sounding commentary article.

Therefore, hot news articles that pursue speed do not need to pursue too unique perspectives or too in-depth views. It is enough to explain things clearly. Piling up too much information would be superfluous.

▌Sudden hot events

In the face of emergencies, a difference of a few hours can result in a 10-fold difference in reading volume. However, since there are too many uncertainties in emergencies, no one can guarantee to be able to access or identify hot spots at the first time, and sometimes it often depends on luck.

For example, a friend in the third class once stayed up late at night to watch Douyin. As a result, he accidentally discovered the comment bug of Douyin and quickly produced a piece of breaking hot information, which successfully became a hot article with more than 10w views.

Therefore, if the efficiency of tracking hot topics is to be improved, the new media team can consider establishing a hot event tracking mechanism.

For example, there should be at least 100 of your target users in your circle of friends, to ensure that when some hot topics that may sweep the screen appear, you can get them in the first time. For example, we need to pay attention to common sources of hot topics such as Weibo hot searches and Zhihu hot lists. Checking out hot topics when we have nothing to do should be a necessary skill for every new media person.

At the same time, you should also have a standardized production method for hot spots.

At present, within the three classes, the usual way of handling it is: first, clarify whether the hot spot is the one we want to pursue, for example, whether it matches my positioning and whether it meets the needs of our target users.

Secondly, we have a relatively standardized content production method. The general process is to first clarify the cause and effect of the event, then analyze the reasons and logic behind the event, and finally summarize the methodology of the event to form dry goods.

Of course, this method is also related to the fact that Sanjieke has been following hot topics such as Internet screen-sweeping activities. If it is other hot topics, you may need to consider your own situation to make judgments and summaries.

▌Non-emergency hotspot events

When faced with non-emergency events, such as press conferences and other hot topics with clear dates, in addition to racing against time, you should also focus on the comprehensiveness of the article content and the presentation methods. In addition to the most basic graphics and texts, you can also use other content presentation methods such as gif, video or live broadcast.

Take the Meizu 16 launch conference as an example.

On the day of the press conference, "Technology Aesthetics" not only published the article "Meizu 16 is indeed shocking, setting multiple records and shocking competitors; first hands-on experience video | Technology Aesthetics" immediately after the conference, but also attached audio, highlights of the press conference and the first mobile phone experience video on the entire network in addition to detailed graphic introductions.

▲ “Technology Aesthetics” tweet content

Although there are countless articles about the press conference, the detailed content and intuitive video presentation make this article the only one with more than 100,000 views about the Meizu 16 press conference.

To sum up, the most important thing for hot news articles with speed as the core element is to explain things clearly and let readers get the important information points of the hot spot in a short time as quickly as possible.

02. Hot comments expressing attitudes

When we are slightly inferior in speed, we can still show another trump card of hot articles: attitude.

Events are dead, but the angle of commentary can be flexible. For hot commentary articles with less timeliness, the angle of topic selection is particularly important.

From my observation, most of the hot commentary articles are based on the content of sorting out the causes and consequences of the incident, and adding the following topic angles:

▌Analogy with similar events in the past

The first topic selection angle is to give examples and discuss past events with similar plots to the hot topics, summarize the commonalities of this type of events, and try to guess the causes of the hot topics.

For example, in the "Tesla privatization" incident, "Is Musk going to attack those who shorted Tesla this time?" ” (bad review) took the “Dell delisting incident” five years ago as an example and made reasonable guesses about the direction and causes of the current Tesla incident.

This type of topic is suitable for the stage when a hot topic has just emerged and there is not much detailed information. When there is not enough information to support a point of view, the discussion generally remains at the level of speculation. At this time, analyzing similar events that have occurred in the past can make the article's arguments more convincing.

Moreover, while narrating similar events in the past, it is equivalent to telling readers a new story and providing a new topic of conversation. After the "Chen Yifa was banned" incident, "What are the current situations of the anchors who were banned when they became popular?" 》(Dr. Gamer) lists the deeds of internet celebrities who have been banned in the past.

▲ The style of the tweets by “Dr. Playing with Machines”

It is human nature to love listening to stories (gossip), so the effect of this kind of articles must not be too bad.

▌Related knowledge on popular science hotspots

Not all hot topics are easy to understand. Sometimes, some topics involving professional and technical fields are difficult for readers to understand. Therefore, on the basis that users understand the causes and consequences of hot events, popular science and explanations of some more professional and unpopular knowledge points in hot topics are also what users want to see.

For example, in the "Tencent Cloud data loss incident", the otaku's hard drive is a treasure, how can it be destroyed casually. . . 》explains the professional knowledge of hard disk storage technology principles in a humorous style. While entertaining users, it also helps them understand a difficult problem. It can be said to be "edutainment".

▲The style of the popular science article with “bad reviews”

When disseminating knowledge related to popular science hotspots, remember to avoid using obscure professional language as much as possible, and try to make things clear and interesting. How to blend professionalism and interest together is the most important issue that needs to be addressed in this type of hot topic articles.

▌Propose solutions/avoidance plans

When a hot event that is strongly related to the interests of readers occurs (such as the "mobile phone text messages leaked and cashed out" event, or the "WeChat transfer to the wrong account cannot be recovered" event), the topic of the article is very suitable to be approached from the perspective of "proposing a feasible solution or risk avoidance plan."

In other words, it is to grasp the pain points of users: no one wants their interests to be harmed, and everyone hopes that their interests can be given certain attention and protection.

For example, the previous incident of "mobile phone text messages leaked and cashed out" caused panic and rumors everywhere. At this time, an article titled "Alipay and bank cards are all hacked, all your money is transferred away instantly" (Haojiyou), after sorting out the causes and consequences of the incident, introduced in detail the criminal methods used by the scammers and the preventive measures we can take. The comments section expressed that they felt relieved, as if they had taken a reassurance pill.

This is the most important thing to pay attention to when choosing a topic of this type: while proposing a solution/avoidance plan, you must also make the reader feel that you are standing in his shoes and considering his concerns, rather than telling him from a condescending position. This is the most important thing.

Only in this way, when readers see the article, they will feel empathy and think that "this matter is related to me", and then be willing to forward and spread it.

▌ Views from professional organizations

When an event occurs, “what do the experts think” is often one of the questions people are most curious about.

Professional organizations or experts with a certain degree of authority can help readers understand hot topics from a more professional perspective, and their opinions are more credible.

After the "P2P explosion incident" occurred, the "Institutional Viewpoint: Maintaining the industry's "overweight" rating and further enhancing the concentration intervention in the online lending industry" released by Boguang Institution is a typical hot article on professional institutional opinions. Although it may seem a bit obscure to outsiders, it is extremely valuable.

But if we are not a professional organization, how can we produce articles with professional viewpoints?

Here I would like to put forward two immature opinions: one is to interview relevant professionals in the industry for their opinions. Sometimes just a few words from industry insiders can reveal the essence of the problem. The second is to try to collect some opinions and data released by professional organizations in the past. Perhaps you can obtain some very valuable content.

▌Tracing the history of relevant people/objects

We mentioned above that it is human nature to love reading stories. Therefore, using storytelling techniques to narrate and review the growth process or history of the people/objects at the center of the hot topic can also be an eye-catching and empathetic topic selection angle.

After the P2P explosion, one of China's earliest routers, JiRoute, also faced the problem of bankruptcy. Bad reviews took advantage of the situation and published an article titled "My first router in life, is it going to go bankrupt? ", starting with "When I was in college, my roommates and I bought our first router in our lives", reviewed the historical development of Jio Router, and finally rose to the emotional level, causing many readers to sigh and sigh, and they recalled Jio Router and their youth.

This topic selection angle is extremely suitable for when a person or thing with a certain degree of fame encounters a major turning point or milestone in its growth stage, such as the death of a celebrity or the listing of a company. A memory story article with a beginning, a middle, and an end can often arouse the user's joy, anger, sorrow, and happiness.

▌ In-depth comments on rising industries/society

Deep thoughts and comments can always arouse readers' heartfelt recognition and further thinking. This type of article generally uses the event itself as an introduction and combines the background to discuss the industry or even the social situation.

After the "P2P explosion incident" occurred, the article "The History of the Destruction of Shortcuts in 2018" released by Jiazi Guangnian can be said to be the most profound article among the related hot commentary articles. Combining economic development, the article talks about lottery, real estate, bonds and P2P, as if unfolding a chronicle of "shortcuts and opportunities" in front of readers.

The number of views of this article quickly exceeded 100,000, and Huxiu.com, which forwarded this article, also quickly gained 100,000+ views.

▲ In-depth articles often lead to in-depth comments

It can be seen that whether in the era of traditional media or the era of new media, thoughtful and in-depth articles will never fade.

03. Interesting brain-opening divergence

When some interesting and bizarre "light" hot topics appear, serious and solemn hot topic comments are no longer applicable: it is obviously a relaxing seasoning of life, but it has been elevated to the level of industry or even society. Presumably, most users are unwilling to buy it.

Just as people often pursue "one in a million interesting souls" , articles with divergent ideas that are more interesting than useful also occupy a place among the ranks of 10w+.

There are probably three most common ways to choose a topic:

▌ Make reasonable jokes and open your mind

This should be the most common topic selection angle for brainstorming articles. The most common operations are:

Seize a certain point in a hot phenomenon and make fun of it; for example, the "skr" in "Hupu vs. Kris Wu" is actually a certain point in the hot event. Many creative articles have seized this point and processed and made fun of it through emoticons, jokes, etc.

▲ skr series emoticon pack

Use your imagination to imagine scenes that are even more ridiculous than hot topics; taking the "fighting between programmers and product managers" incident as an example, "The Programmer Angrily Beats the Product Manager, This Request Cannot Be Done" (A Programmer's Daily Life) uses your imagination to exaggerate the scenes between programmers and product managers, which is full of comedic and subversive conflicts and ups and downs.

▲ "A programmer's daily life" related paragraphs

Jokingly speaking, this is also the attitude that the spectators like to see towards hot events.

▌ Running the train seriously

Sometimes, compared to "direct" ridicule and imagination, the "contrasting cuteness" writing style that seems serious but is actually full of jokes is more likely to win the hearts of readers.

Of course, being serious also applies to serious hot spots. Sometimes, serious hot topics combined with imaginative and humorous articles may produce unexpected results, and the seriousness of the event itself will be resolved in the ridicule.

Although the number of readers did not reach 10w+, the article "The Self-cultivation of Entrepreneurs Watching the Neighbor Lao Wang's IPO" published by "Huaerjie Reference" on Meituan's planned IPO is, in my opinion, a very classic "off-the-beaten-track" style satirical article.

▌ Collect various jokes

Masters often hide their achievements and fame among the people - sometimes an unintentional joke from the onlookers on Weibo can bring in millions of traffic, or even create a hot word that is popular on the Internet. Compared with serious hot topics, the cost of participating in some entertainment-oriented hot topics is lower, so everyone has the opportunity and potential to become a "joker".

▲ Jokes from netizens on Zhihu

Gathering jokes from all over the place can be said to be the lowest-cost way to choose topics when it comes to expanding your imagination. "Party A asked the APP to change color with the phone case, but was beaten up by the programmer" (Jiang Cha Cha) is a collection of hot comments on Weibo, with some complaints strung together to form a witty and interesting article, which quickly exceeded 100,000 views.

04. Conclusion

The above is the main topic selection method for chasing hot articles that I summarized after observing Xinbang for two weeks. There will definitely be omissions, but as a newcomer, in this process, I still have some new thoughts and understandings about chasing hot topics.

Thousands of articles are published on the WeChat public platform every day, and hot topics of all sizes occur every day. Most of the 10w+ that are linked to hot spots are just the epitome of these routines.

These rules, or routines, are not internal secrets. We sort out these routines that everyone may not be aware of in the hope that when everyone faces a hot topic, we can provide some common and error-free ideas and operating methods.

Of course, if you can think of some surprising and winning entry points for topics, maybe you will be the next 10w+!

Source: Sanjieke (WeChat ID: sanjieke01)