Practical experience | Talk about the two doors of offline event promotion

Today we are discussing the data problems encountered during the communication and promotion period of offline salons. Let's first look at the focus points (part) of each stage of offline salons:

Four stages of event operation

Whether it is online or offline event operation, it must go through these four stages: planning period, promotion period, activity period, and review period. There are different data problems in these four stages:

for example:

1. During the planning period, you need to consider clearly what the purpose of the event is? What is the goal? What is the theme? Who is the target audience? Which guest is more suitable? When to do it? And what is the historical activity data on this topic? (These 8 points will encounter many pitfalls in the actual operation process. If readers are interested, we will find an opportunity to extend the discussion);
2. During the promotion period, you can use all the available channels to promote it. The "ghost" knows which channel is the most effective.
3. During the event period, besides the attendance rate, what other data are worth our attention? ;
4. During the review period, since there is no data support at each stage, the discussion is mainly based on emotional topics centered on "I feel, it seems" and so on.

Let's mainly look at the promotion period. The biggest problem encountered in the operation of activities during the promotion period is that channel conversion is unpredictable. Many channels (friend circles, official accounts, EDM, etc.) are promoted at once, and many means (long pictures, H5, creative copywriting, etc.) are used. Although we can see a relatively "impressive" number of registrations in the end, we don't know what we did "right" and which channel occupies the C position of the promotion.

If the promotion period is relatively ample, linear phased communication can be used, selecting only a single channel each time and evaluating channel conversion based on the number of registrations. However, the reality is often harsh. Linear communication lacks explosive power and can easily disappear in the explosive circle of friends and the vast ocean of mobile Internet. Therefore, the short, flat and fast method of generalizing from a single point is also the mainstream at present. To put it bluntly, in the short term, the more channels the better, just push forward.

The solution to this problem is not difficult. We need to break down the promotion channels into smaller pieces, reorganize them based on the relationship between users/customers and brands, establish "two doors", and use TalkingData Ad Tracking for data monitoring. This will give us insights into conversions across different channels and facilitate subsequent operational optimization.

Now let’s take a look at “The Two Doors of Event Promotion ”. Let’s open the door and talk: Before opening the door, we first need to understand the conversion rate mentioned later, which refers to the conversion of communication materials (hyperlinks or long activity pictures with QR codes) to the event landing page (registration page).

Opening the “two doors” for event promotion

This "model diagram" is built based on the offline salon promotion channel data held by TalkingData, combining two major gates and average conversion rate. However, it should be specially pointed out that although the conversion rates in it are real, the channel focus points of each brand are different, so the conversion ratio is not a reference. It is more of a way to share the promotion channel data "into parts".

Back to the topic, we define the two gates as the potential customer gate and the customer gate. Before opening the potential customer gate, the relationship with the user is in the unknown/heard-of stage, which is also a shallow cognition or weak interaction stage; after opening the potential customer gate, it enters the awareness stage, which is also a stage where repeated interactions with the user have formed a certain stickiness; followed by the customer gate. The users who open this door have become your customers or product users, so their relationship with you is in the familiarity stage.

According to our activity data statistics, among these three stages, the awareness stage, that is, the group of users between the potential customer gate and the customer gate, has a higher conversion rate, accounting for 44%; followed by the familiarity stage, accounting for 40%; and then the unknown/heard-of stage, accounting for 16%.

(1) Let’s first look at the weak interaction relationship in the shallow cognitive stage

We define the four channels of WeChat public accounts, Weibo platforms, Toutiao accounts, and venue or event platforms as the weak interaction stage:

• First, WeChat official accounts are mainly used to reach customers through activity tweets. Of course, there must be customers of your company in the official accounts (that is, the familiar layer), but it is mainly based on cognition and the interaction method is weak, so we still classify it as this stage. It is also worth noting that if the WeChat official account you are considering is not a brand public account, but only a service account for customers, then it should be in the familiarity stage.
• Secondly, the Weibo platform is basically filled with entertainment circles or major events. Online lottery and communication activities have higher relative value points. As for the drainage of offline activities for TO B business, I still hold a certain conservative view (which is also related to the operational capabilities of the platform account).
• Third, as third-party platforms such as Toutiao are not our main promotion channels, the conversion of these channels can be largely ignored.
• Fourthly, venues or event platforms. The venue resources for offline activities are generally easily overlooked. Some venues have accumulated a certain user group because they often hold similar salons, so it is recommended to use this channel. But one thing is particularly important: don't be fooled by its data. On the one hand, this group may not be the target audience, and the quality of users varies. On the other hand, the registration attendance rate of this channel is relatively low.

The promotion of the event platform (registration landing page) is also a channel that needs attention. If the traffic and overall product experience of this type of website are good, you can try to upgrade related rights and interests to ensure maximum exposure. At the same time, in addition to these channels, we can utilize some external market resources or co-organize activities to expand the channel width in the weak relationship stage.

Judging from the overall data, in our channels, the main source of conversions is WeChat public account tweets, followed by promotion with the help of venues and other resources. Third parties such as Toutiao are relatively weak points. With the help of this data, we can subsequently operate on this channel, or make certain optimizations and changes in the form of communication to achieve the goal of improving conversions. Of course, each company’s promotional channels have different focuses, so we still have to tailor them to each individual.

(2) Let’s look at the multiple interactions in the awareness stage.

We define these three channels as multiple interaction stages: community outreach, WeChat tag targeted push (combined with community operations), business personnel’s circle of friends outreach, and targeted invitations:

With the rise of "community marketing", some companies are combining their own business with community operations. As for how to promote community operations to a healthy development, it is also a topic we have been pursuing and exploring (I recommend Xu Zhibin's book "Small Group Effect").

However, the establishment of social channels has a certain stickiness retention and dissemination boosting effect on the promotion of offline and online activities, and can integrate users' regions and interest topics to a certain extent. At the same time, holding events is also an opportunity to build a community, but the phenomenon that event-based communities "die quickly" also requires operations students to continue exploring.

Targeted push of WeChat tags. This channel depends on the daily accumulation of tags added by the community organizer (administrator account) during the establishment of the community. For example, "Beijing", "Marketing Promotion", "Market", etc. can be understood as the value extension of the WeChat community. The relevant dimensions are self-drafted according to business needs. It has to be admitted that this is a very hard process, but persistence will have miraculous effects in the future targeted promotion process.

(For example, we are planning to hold an offline salon in Beijing to promote the TalkingData statistical analysis platform. By then, we can use this channel to find users with the tags "Beijing" and "Operation" for targeted content push, but we must pay attention to the frequency of reach and the quality of the copy.)

Reaching out to business personnel’s circle of friends is, it has to be said, a rather “annoying” channel, but it is also a relatively good conversion channel. The "annoying" thing is that different people have different views on whether WeChat Moments is office-oriented. Some people think that Moments is a circle of life, but most people still integrate work into their lives. There is no right or wrong.

The reason why the conversion is good is that the industry groups corresponding to the business personnel are more targeted or characteristic. For example, a colleague mainly engages in game-related business, and the people he reaches out to are relatively more game-oriented. For operations, how to promote auxiliary promotion by business personnel and reach consensus is also an important lesson. In other words, it all depends on "awareness".

Judging from the overall data, the promotion in the circle of friends of business personnel is our main channel resource at this stage and an important link in the overall communication. In addition, I would like to say a few more words here. You must not miss the guests' own traffic, so it is recommended to design a separate promotional long picture for them. If it is reposted by big names with higher "status", the conversion rate will be "good". Of course, this is also a double-edged sword, which we will mention later. As for social media and WeChat targeting, we are still in the exploratory stage, but the cultivation of this channel cannot be ignored.

(3) Finally, open the customer door and look at the strong interaction stage

Customer outreach varies from company to company, and each company has different customer outreach channels, but the dimensions of targeted EDM email push, customer service/technical support department event outreach, and official website message centers or promotional spaces cannot be ignored. On the other hand, activity suggestions for old users could be related product Q&A sessions or new function interpretation activities, rather than blindly pushing all activities. Differentiated selection must be carried out.

From weak interaction to multiple interactions to strong interaction, if you have a clear understanding of the conversion rates of each channel in the two doors and three stages, then through data analysis of multiple activities, you can evaluate a reference-worthy average of event registrations based on the conversion data, and combine the number of registrants with the number of attendees to derive attendance rate data.

However, the relevant data can only be used as a reference, because there are many variables that will affect the attendance rate. We will briefly share the relevant variable factors later. Next, let’s talk about “Which data can help evaluate the quality of the event during the event period?”

Activity period: What data can evaluate the quality of the activity?

We generally collect statistics on three data: the attendance rate at the start of the game, the departure rate at halftime, and the retention rate at the end of the game. Simply put, it means how many people came, how many people ran away during the halfway point, and how many people are left at the end of the event.

Opening attendance rate: The attendance rate (number of attendees/number of registered persons) 15-30 minutes after the opening or after the first speaker finishes speaking, leaving a buffer period for attendance statistics. This data can be used to objectively feedback the actual conversion effect during the dissemination period and summarize a peak value. For example, the average attendance rate of the TalkingData Developer Business Salon is around 53%, with a peak of 72% and a trough of 44%.

This data can be used to infer a safe value for the approximate number of registrants for evaluation, and then combined with channel conversion data to strengthen targeted promotion. For example: If the expected scale of our event is 100 people, then using the conservative value of 44% attendance rate at the trough, at least 227 people must sign up to achieve the expected goal.

Mid-session departure rate: Count the departure rate of the second-to-last speech (number of people arriving at the opening - number of people at this stage / number of people arriving at the opening). This data can be used to evaluate the quality of activities at each stage. Of course, there are many influencing variables, such as the quality of the information shared by the guests, weather conditions, temporary events, etc.

Final retention rate: Before the end of the last speech, the retention rate (current number of people/number of people at the beginning of the speech) is calculated. This data and the mid-session departure rate can also be combined into one time point for statistics. According to our experience, activities with a final retention rate of over 76% are relatively good in terms of the overall interactive atmosphere and the perceptual perception of the level of listening attentively.

Small talk: variables and uncertainties in offline activities

There are many things we can talk about on this topic. Below we will briefly talk about the two possibilities of "overflow" and "cold atmosphere":

Overflow refers to the phenomenon that when the number of registrations is below the normal average, the number of offline attendees exceeds the number of registrations by 30%-50% or even more. Operations staff will naturally be happy to see this phenomenon, but few people will wonder why the overflow occurs? Are there drawbacks to overflow?

First of all, if we look at it objectively, overflow is undoubtedly a good thing. After all, it looks good on the scene, but it is also a double-edged sword. There are several possible reasons for the overflow:

• First, the guests are of high status and have their own aura (predictable and operational intervention is possible)
• Second, large-scale summits borrow volume, but the liquidity is relatively large, such as ChinaJOY (predictable and operational intervention)
• Third, unknown channels, traffic explosion (unpredictable, operational intervention is possible)
• Fourth, other...

The reason why it is called a double-edged sword is that overflow will cause the venue to be full and affect the guests' on-site experience. For example, we held an event in Shanghai in the summer. Due to the small venue and limited power of the air conditioner, the overflow of people caused everyone to fan themselves, which not only poorly experienced the guests but also affected the final retention rate.

In addition, the most critical thing is that overflow may make the operators feel inflated and overconfident in holding subsequent activities, which may very likely lead to embarrassing and cold situations. So the question is, what other factors may lead to a cold reception? (The audience was cold, and the number of people attending offline was 10%-30% or even more less than the number of registered people)

• First, weather factors (roughly predictable, operations cannot intervene)
• Second, the location factor (predictable, operations can intervene)
• Third, similar activities collide (roughly predictable, operations can intervene)
• Fourth, the promotion is not in place (it can be estimated, and operations can intervene)
• Fifth, other...

There are many factors that affect a dull atmosphere, and most of them are only realized after the fact. If the quality of the information shared by the guests is good, the interactive sessions are interspersed reasonably, and the departure rate can be relatively reduced, achieving the expected activity goals, then it can also be a salon event that meets the standards.

In addition, if your brand is relatively strong in the industry and is one of the leaders in the industry, then the brand will bring its own traffic, and you can set more thresholds to screen more valuable target customers. If it is a start-up brand or has done few offline salons before, it is recommended to cultivate channels in advance to increase the breadth of reach. In short, the brand is strong by doing subtraction and setting thresholds. Add to brand weaknesses and cultivate channels.

Event operation, don’t forget your original intention

Although we have talked about so many channel data statistics issues, we must stop and look back regularly to see what the activity goals and purposes were during the planning period. Don’t pursue data for the sake of data, or ignore quality for the sake of numbers. Regarding event salons, we are also moving forward by trial and error. In a nutshell, “Don’t forget your original intention and move forward steadily.”

Activity channel conversion monitoring is our alternative use of TalkingData Ad Tracking advertising effect monitoring. To be precise, it is just a small function of the product. If your company happens to be using this product, then event operators may wish to make use of it to have a clear understanding of the conversion effect of the event promotion channel.

Source: Kechao