Essential skills for private domain operators: private domain traffic generation

In the private domain operation capability model, the most important thing is to obtain traffic.

But it is becoming increasingly difficult to attract traffic, and it is even rarer to find a trader who can continuously attract traffic.

Now all major content platforms are in full swing. The daily active users of Douyin have exceeded 700 million, and the daily active users of Xiaohongshu, Bilibili, and Zhihu have also reached tens of millions.

Therefore, let’s talk about how to discover traffic channels on these platforms and develop traffic strategies today.

Of course, you can also scroll directly to the end of the article to get my carefully compiled "Inventory of Practical Details of Traffic Drainage on Major Platforms".

01. How to expand new drainage channels

We can use Qimai data to find the latest App download list and discover the platforms with faster growth in recent times.

You can also follow platform service providers such as Xinbang, Feigua Data, and Qingbo Index to see which platforms they are cooperating with or serving.

For example, the cooperation platforms announced on Xinbang’s official website include: Baijiahao, Toutiaohao, Taobao Daren, Dafenghao, Xiaoyuzhouhao, Kuaichuanhao, Xiaohongshu, NetEase account, Haokan Video, Dayuhao, Zhihu Institutional Account, Himalaya, Enterprise FM, Lizhi Microclass, Qingting FM, Yidianhao, etc.

After finding a potential platform, choose the appropriate platform based on your products and users, and understand the gameplay and traffic strategies of each platform.

02. Gameplay and traffic diversion strategies of each platform

According to iResearch Consulting, the average daily time spent on content platforms in 2021 is (24 hours * 38%) = 9.12 hours, which shows the potential of content platforms for seeding content.

However, different content platforms have different traffic distribution mechanisms. In order to effectively drive traffic, you must first understand: what kind of content can be recommended by the platform?

Tik Tok

1. Recommendation mechanism and gameplay

Lu Bai, former creative manager of Tencent and content marketing director of Zhihu, summarized some practical free ways to play in "Hot-selling Douyin Short Videos".

For example, how to make a hit video? Here is the formula:

“

Interaction rate [(number of likes + number of comments + number of reposts) / number of viewers] × completion rate (number of people who finished watching / number of viewers)

Simply put, the more interactions your videos have and the higher the completion rate, the more likely they are to be recommended by TikTok.

When a video is first released, it usually enters the "seed traffic pool" first, which contains 0 to 1,000 users.

If the effect is good, the video will be released to the next traffic pool, which has 10,000 to 100,000 users.

If your video is a potential hit and all the data are good, then you will enter higher traffic pools step by step.

They are the intermediate traffic pool with 100,000 to 1 million users, the advanced traffic pool with 1 million to 10 million users, the S-level traffic pool with more than 10 million users, and the king traffic pool pushed across all platforms.

Many people don’t know that in the interaction rate, the data with the greatest weight actually belongs to the comments.

If your video provides users with enough comment points or topic points, the chances of the video going viral will be greater.

Therefore, Lu Bai also mentioned in the book "Hot-selling Douyin Short Videos" that a video must have 2 to 5 hot spots in order to gain more traffic and become a hit.

He also summarized the formula for a hit:

Golden 3-second opening (must have a conflict point) + 2-5 explosive points (i.e. points that can be discussed) + platinum ending (interaction/resonance/reversal)

2. Traffic diversion strategy

When you have accumulated a certain amount of traffic pool, you can then direct the traffic to your own private domain.

For example, a Douyin account can start live broadcasts, set up its own fan group, and set entry thresholds.

For example, if you follow the group owner for more than 7 days, 30 days, or 60 days, you must be an active fan (required to like, comment on the group owner, and watch the live broadcast for more than 7 days within 30 days), etc.

We can distribute physical prizes to users in the fan group, and guide users to scan codes to follow the official account, add the company's WeChat customer service number, etc. through offline DM slips.

You can also send out useful information packages and other benefits in the live broadcast room, and guide fans to send private messages to the assistant to receive them. The information package includes information such as the WeChat community activity code, the public account follow-up QR code, and so on.

Another example is converting public domain users to WeChat and enterprise WeChat through comments, private messages, profiles, avatars, background images, etc.

For a complete set of Douyin traffic-generating methods, please go to the end of the article to get the information package.

Zhihu

Because Zhihu's algorithm is designed to provide better exposure for high-quality content, the important factors that influence the recommendation weight are collections and thanks.

1. Recommendation mechanism and gameplay

This is specifically divided into two parts: how to find good questions and write good answers?

How to find good questions?

Method 1: In the topic forum, find topics that are highly relevant to the target customer group and have a large number of followers and follow them. After following the topic, you can see suitable topics to answer on the Zhihu homepage.

Method 2: Select "Popular on the entire site" and look for areas of your expertise in the popular questions and answer them.

Method 3: On the Zhihu homepage, click "Answer" to enter the answer page, select "Recommended for you", add a topic you are good at, view questions related to the topic and answer them.

Method 4: You can search for Zhihu’s popular questions using relevant keywords on major search engines such as Baidu, Sogou and 360 Search.

How to write a good answer?

There is only one way, and that is to answer the question with information that is closely related to the question and valuable to the user, rather than the company's "self-entertainment pot".

Questions on Zhihu can be roughly divided into three types: life-related, skill-related, and comment-related.

Commentary questions: For example, how do you view a certain social phenomenon? Excellent answers are based on a list and analysis of the event process and details, and then the views drawn based on the analysis (deductive or inductive).

Skill-related questions: For example, how to operate a WeChat public account, store sales skills, etc., excellent answers are mainly based on summarizing the key points of the skills, or summarizing the core of the skills.

Life-related questions: Excellent answers are mainly based on personal experiences and “amazing replies”.

2. Traffic diversion strategy

Zhihu's anti-cheating mechanism is very strict. You cannot add QR codes or WeChat accounts to your answers, otherwise you may be banned or have your account blocked.

Interact in the comments section

This is similar to Tik Tok. You can choose some controversial topics, or the answers themselves contain points that are easy to arouse discussion, which can easily trigger user comments and interactions.

However, the safest method is to wait for others to send you private messages, and then direct the traffic in the private messages. Do not be too direct and change your wording.

Purchase Knowledge+

Zhi+ is a traffic diversion method officially provided by Zhihu. It is relatively safe and not easily blocked. You can use the Zhi+ plug-in to direct traffic to the official account or personal WeChat.

Image | Source: Zhihu blogger @Guangzhou Xingya

Little Red Book

1. Recommendation mechanism

First, let’s take a look at the recommendation process after a note is published. The following is a flowchart shared by Teacher Bobo, who is responsible for the official training of Xiaohongshu:

Figure | Source: Xiaoetong "Old Bao Dialogues with Benchmark Customers"

Generally speaking, after a note is published, it will be reviewed by a machine first, and the sensitive words reviewed here are those that are reviewed.

If there is no problem with the machine review, it will enter the traffic pool directly (if the machine review fails, the note will be blocked).

After entering the primary traffic pool, the system will label the notes differently based on their content areas, such as English learning and beauty tutorials, and recommend them to users who are interested in these contents.

After the initial push, the system will score the notes based on the user's viewing behavior. This scoring system is called the "CES score."

CES = number of likes (1 point) + number of favorites (1 point) + number of comments (4 points) + number of followers (8 points)

From this formula, we can see that Xiaohongshu values ​​​​how many fans your content has gained the most, followed by comments, and finally collections (useful) and likes (recognition).

If your note score is higher than a certain standard, it will be pushed to more users and enter a larger traffic pool. If it is below the standard, it will remain in the initial traffic pool.

2. How to play - create popular notes

Teacher Bobo summarized several types of popular content that can be quickly replicated:

Practical guidance

This type of content is an "evergreen" on Xiaohongshu. Users will judge your professionalism based on your content. If your content is informative enough, you can quickly gain followers.

Moreover, compared with other content, useful knowledge is more likely to trigger actions such as collection and likes. According to the CES rating system mentioned above, this will help improve the score of the note, thereby increasing the probability of being recommended.

Experience Sharing

Users will have a higher level of trust in experiences shared by people who are similar to themselves.

For example, if a friend of yours posts his IELTS score report and then shares his study methods and the pitfalls he encountered from the perspective of a veteran, it will be very convincing.

Achievements

This type of content directly displays the final results, such as before-and-after comparisons and direct displays, which can easily attract traffic and increase followers for bloggers or guide users to place orders.

Benefits

It is often used for sharing side jobs and financial management content. Generally, such content will highlight attractive features such as "quick to get started" and "visible benefits". Combined with interaction in the comment area and private domain traffic , the conversion rate will be very high.

3. Traffic diversion strategy

The first thing to remember is that in order to achieve traffic, the content must be high-quality enough. If the content is not attractive, there will be no exposure, no matter how many traffic-generating techniques you use.

Private message reply

WeChat ID and other information cannot be revealed in Xiaohongshu notes and comments. Once detected, it will be restricted or even blocked. You can send WeChat accounts via private messages to attract traffic.

But please note that external site links, or the word or pinyin of "WeChat" should not appear in private messages. You can use emoticons or homophones, or pictures with account numbers.

Figure | Source: Xiaoetong "Old Bao Dialogues with Benchmark Customers"

Comment area guide

A common way of playing is to guide users to receive a free information in the comment area. Users who want the information can send you a private message to receive it, and then direct the traffic to your private domain.

Please note that the number of words in a private message from a stranger is limited each day, so it is best to guide users to follow you first.

Using the daily signature combination

You can set up a daily sign-in on your homepage. The content can be a picture or several pictures that rotate for about 5 seconds. You can embed your WeChat account in it, but there is a chance of violating the rules.

Another little trick is to use the [Moment] function and put a big word at each moment (as shown below) to guide users to send you private messages.

Pin a note

You can also edit a special note to include account information or guide users to send private messages (can be in the form of pictures or videos) and keep it pinned to the top for a long time.

Even if the note is detected by the system and restricted (but the account information should not appear in the copy), it can still be noticed by users as long as the note is pinned to the top of the homepage.

For more information about how to direct traffic from Xiaohongshu to private domains, Teacher Bobo mentioned it in a recent live broadcast "Old Bao Dialogues with Benchmark Customers". Friends who are interested can search and learn on their own.

Figure | Source: Xiaoetong "Old Bao Dialogues with Benchmark Customers"

As a SaaS technology service provider focusing on private domain, Xiaoetong has provided private domain solutions for many well-known IPs and brands.

The Xiaohongshu operation master shared this time, Mr. Bobo, is a knowledge IP active on various public domain platforms.

She shared Xiaohongshu operation skills on various platforms, accumulated enough traffic, and used Xiaoetong for private live broadcasts and course monetization, achieving a transaction volume of more than 1 million.

03. Summary

Opening up new private domain drainage channels in the public domain mainly includes four steps:

1. Use data platform rankings, cooperative enterprises, etc. to find platforms that are still in the bonus period or rising period;

2. Understand the rules and gameplay of each platform, especially the recommendation mechanism of major content platforms, and find opportunities;

3. Within the scope of the rules, accurately reach users and conduct private domain traffic diversion;

4. After attracting traffic, do a good job in user sedimentation and private domain operations.

In the actual operation process, it is important to be familiar with the rules of each platform, otherwise it is easy to touch the platform's "red line" when diverting traffic and cause the account to be blocked.

Xiaoetong, which is proficient in private domain gameplay, has internally summarized a set of "Inventory of Practical Details of Traffic Drainage on Major Platforms", which includes the traffic drainage gameplay and common pitfalls of major public domain platforms (Tik Tok, Xiaohongshu, Zhihu, Xianyu, etc.).