The most comprehensive guide to information flow advertising, everything you want to know is here!

Advertising in the new media era is truly pervasive

More than 10 years ago, we complained about "TV dramas inserted into commercials", but at the same time we still blurted out "give xxx as a gift"; and now, we see an advertisement push when we swipe the screen in various apps, which still makes "Hello everyone, I'm Si Zha Zha Hui" popular all over the Internet.

Just as the words that accompanied the WeChat Moments ads when they first came out were: "Advertising can also be a part of life."

Information flow makes advertising truly integrated into our lives

In the new media era, information flow advertising has developed rapidly, and major platforms have launched information flow advertising formats. Although there are various forms of new media promotion , information flow advertising is still the form that is closest to advertising attributes.

Information flow advertising is an innovation in marketing model. It combines the model of traditional advertising with the technology of new media advertising. Through high-quality media, it actively provides easy-to-accept marketing information to potential users, which is more in line with people's habits of obtaining information. Due to the native characteristics of information flow advertising, it is mixed with the content of the delivery platform, has more exposure opportunities, and is more easily accepted by the audience.

You have no way of knowing whether Jay Chou’s “You are my Yolemei!” has made this milk tea circle the earth a few more times than Xiangpiaopiao, but you can know how much sales or customer acquisition a certain information flow advertisement has brought you.

Therefore, "How effective is this advertisement?" is the question advertisers ask most frequently and are most concerned about. How to make an information flow advertisement effective has also become something that needs to be considered before placing an information flow advertisement.

"Achieving the best results" seems simple, but it is extremely complicated and difficult to operate. This is also the most headache-inducing problem for advertisers who follow the trend and place information flow ads on major platforms. In fact, the solution is very simple. Just take a painkiller when placing information flow ads, and your headache will not hurt so much.

And this "painkillers" can be summed up as what we are going to talk about today : "find the right person and have the conversation."

Where there are people, there are rivers and lakes

But the place with the right people is called a market

Before placing an ad, everyone was actually confused:

➀Who am I?

➁Where am I?

➂What should I do?

This is what we need to think about in the "finding the right person" phase:

➀Who is my target audience?

➁Where is my target audience?

➂How to find my target users ?

Only when these problems are solved can we truly achieve “wherever the sword points, that is where my heart points”. This is what is called " ad targeting " .

A mature product or brand , after years of operation and accumulation, can clearly know where its market is and what kind of target group it is.

But for a new product or brand, figuring out its target audience is not only the first problem to be solved when placing information flow ads, but also the first problem to be solved during the entire promotion process . Regarding target audience analysis, you can try to answer the following questions:

● What pain points of users does my product (service) solve?

● What kind of users will have pain points in this area?

● What are the characteristics of such users? (The more specific the better)

● When are they likely to be interested in our products (services)?

● When do they need our products (services) most?

● What do they value most when choosing similar products (services)?

● What kind of character can make it easier for them to pay attention and accept?

To answer the above questions, we need to adopt some methods to analyze and survey our target population.

1. Questionnaire: There are many ways to conduct research, and the most common one is to use a questionnaire. Currently, some of the better ones on the market include Wenjuxing , Lechaocha, Diaochapai, and Wenju.com. They have a relatively large population base with different types of groups, and they also provide relatively detailed data analysis after the questionnaires are collected.

2. Third-party search index: In addition, we can also directly use third-party tools , such as Baidu Index, Weibo Index and other website tools, to conduct crowd insights through keyword searches. For example, if you enter "travel", relevant population data will appear.

3. Interview: In addition to surveys on a large population through questionnaires and third-party data, you can also conduct more direct surveys on a small group of people through interviews. Through the combination of quantitative research and qualitative research, we can have a comprehensive understanding of the target users.

After analyzing the target population, we will have a rough portrait of the population, but it still needs to be continuously optimized, granularized, and refined in practice. Of course, in practice you may also find that the people who are interested in your products (services) may not be the group of people you "imagined" before, but another group of people you did not expect.

Furthermore, the market changes very quickly, and the characteristics of the target population will also change with the development of various technologies. According to some practical operational experience, your target user group may undergo significant changes within three months.

Especially when a high-profile emerging product comes out, for example, your target audience on Weibo may have all moved to TikTok in the near future. Therefore, to control the target population, you need to always stay alert and attentive and keep up with them.

For advertisers who have just started running information flow ads , don't be too eager for success, as it is impossible to achieve the best results in one step. Setting aside some trial and error costs, and continuously verifying and improving the previously obtained population portrait through comparison of delivery effects is what is meant by “it’s never too late to mend.”

Your target audience is hidden in different corners of different platforms. Because of the differences in content and types on different platforms, it naturally helps us divide certain groups of people. All we have to do is select the most suitable platform for delivery.

Many Internet products can now place information flow ads. Currently, there are a lot of them, and the ones with higher popularity can be roughly divided into the following categories:

● News and information: Jinri Toutiao , Yidian Consulting, Zhihuitui ( Tencent information client , Tiantian Kuaibao ), Sina Fuyi (Sina news client), Sohu Huisuan ( Sohu news client ), NetEase News client, etc.;

● Social media : Weibo Fantong /Fans Toutiao, Guangdiantong (QQ, Qzone, WeChat ), Momo , Tieba , etc.;

● Question and answer platform: Zhihu, etc.

● Video portals: iQiyi , Tencent Video , LeTV , Youku, etc.

● Browsers : UC Browser, Baidu Browser , Sogou Browser, etc.

● Short videos : Tik Tok, Kuaishou , Xigua Video, Huoshan Video , etc.

There are also some tool and audio categories that I won’t list one by one. You can take a look at the crowd data of major platforms in February.

Different types of platforms have different attributes of main users.

Among them, news and information information flow ads were the first to be launched, and social media ads came later and became popular among many advertisers because of their large user base. Short video products have been very popular recently, with a user growth rate much higher than other types of products. Advertisers are rushing to try to run information flow ads on these platforms.

☝What needs to be explained here is that you don’t have to try any platform that is popular and has many users. Instead, you have to make the judgment based on criteria such as whether the target group of your product or service is the main user of this platform, and whether this platform can clearly divide the group you need. But for hot and emerging products like short videos, without considering these standards, if you are willing to set aside part of your budget to give it a try, it is certainly an option.

How to determine whether the user groups of these platforms are in line with your target groups?

It is not enough to just know the product through our daily understanding. What we need to do is to conduct in-depth research on their user groups.

● First, you need to find survey and research reports on specific groups of people . For example, travel products correspond to online travel people, education products correspond to education people, and women’s daily necessities correspond to beauty people… Through the reports, you can study their behavior patterns and find out information such as the platforms they like to gather on and their usual browsing habits. We can find these research reports on professional data websites such as iResearch, 199IT Internet Data Center, CNNIC, Umeng +, Sinodata, DCCI, and talkingdata.

● Then we conduct research on the user groups of the platforms that we are interested in, to summarize the core customer groups of different platforms and their behavioral patterns on the platforms. The platform itself will have corresponding reports on these contents, and third parties will also conduct research on people on different platforms. Baidu Data Research Center, Alibaba Research Institute, NetEase User Experience Design Center, Penguin Intelligence, etc. will conduct user research on their own products, while the above-mentioned iResearch, 199IT, talking data, etc. will also conduct user research on major platforms.

● Finally, find the appropriate delivery platform through the cross-comparison above. At the end of the article, we will provide you with an introduction to the information flow products of the platforms with the largest current delivery volumes, as well as official resources such as population research. You are welcome to collect them.

As mentioned above, we not only need to know whether the platform we are targeting has our target population, but also confirm whether there is a way to segment this population. The latter is the process of finding target users.

Many platforms will divide users according to their information and browsing habits, and then reflect this division in the background of advertising for advertisers to choose. The granularity of precise users on different platforms is different. Of course, the more precise it is, the more helpful it is for us to find target users.

For example, Weibo is currently the most accurate user segmentation platform . Weibo Fans can segment people based on their attributes, such as life status, age, gender, region, interest tags, delivery platform, network type, login frequency, mobile phone brand, etc. In addition, due to the attributes of Weibo, it is possible to carry out precise delivery to the fans of a certain large account, the users participating in a certain topic, and the users interacting with a certain Weibo post. In addition, Weibo Fans can divide users into individuals based on their registered mobile phone number or Weibo UID, and provide data packages with different labels to meet the needs of different types of advertisers, so as to accurately deliver advertisements to individuals.

The targeting methods provided by various platforms are similar. Taking Tencent social advertising as an example, it is also relatively accurate. The system provides eight major categories, including demographic attributes, user interests, user behaviors , spending power, device targeting, traffic source attributes, weather targeting and custom populations, with a total of more than 27 targeting methods and more than 1,000 user tags.

According to the segmentation rules given by the platform, this is another critical moment to test whether you fully understand your target users!

The more you understand your target users, the clearer their audience characteristics, attributes, age groups, interests, etc. will be, and the easier it will be to choose corresponding targeting methods and tags.

After selecting the targeting, the system will give an estimate of the maximum number of users covered. Each setting of a targeting value will result in changes. Too many targeting settings will lead to reduced exposure. It is necessary to accurately judge user characteristics to decide which targeting conditions are necessary and which are unnecessary.

The following example sets too many targeting options, which will result in too few audiences.

An advertisement can adopt two common targeting combinations and targeting strategies. The targeting combinations are mainly divided into two combinations in terms of breadth and narrowness: extensive targeting, such as region + gender + age; precise targeting, such as region + gender + age + status/interest. Combine extensive and precise targeting to conduct AB testing.

When we were unclear about the market competition situation and the effectiveness of advertising, we first entered the market through extensive targeting to ensure that the ads received sufficient exposure and observed the advertising traffic and conversion effects. When there is sufficient advertising traffic and stable conversions, we can add some targeting conditions to narrow the targeting scope appropriately, accurately cover the target audience, and conduct sales or collect customer feedback.

We will not elaborate on the advertising experience for now. Interested readers can continue to pay attention to our platform. We will gradually summarize more " dry goods " and experience for your reference and learning. Readers who want to be lazy can of course also talk to our "consultants"☞ (click here to find a consultant)

At the same time, the resources provided at the end of the article will also include the targeting rules of each popular platform and some operational guidance, so that everyone can have a comprehensive understanding of different platforms.

The straight male who can't speak is destined to be alone

The advertisement that speaks dialogue has five-star praise

The first thing that needs to be emphasized is that good advertising is not about “saying good words” but about “having conversations”!

For an information flow advertisement, good creativity is important, but only when it is truly effective and receives good response from the audience can we achieve the purpose of placing information flow advertisements.

There was once a legend circulating in the industry that many years ago, China Mobile's Global Communication business filmed a TV commercial and paid a large sum of money to invite Deng Yaping, a powerful figure at the time, to film a history of Deng Yaping's growth. The star effect and excellent filming did cause a sensation and made Deng Yaping a must-have argument in students' essays after Sima Qian.

But no one paid attention to the word "Global Link" that appeared at the end of the advertisement, and no one knew what Global Link was used for.

Then, they shot another advertisement: a fishing boat was drifting on the sea, and the people on the fishing boat used a China Unicom mobile phone to call for help.

There are no stars and the plot is simple, but the Global Communication service has become a hit and a must-have for those who frequently fly abroad.

Although the idea of ​​information flow advertising is different from that of traditional advertising, it has the same principle. Before creating an information flow advertisement, it is necessary to clarify the purpose of the advertisement, analyze the characteristics of the audience, and determine the content, form and style.

There are many purposes for advertising, such as exposure, promotion, conversion, etc.

● If it is an exposure , the content needs to quickly catch the attention of netizens and be very attractive. Sometimes it can use hot spots to spread to more people's attention.

● If it is a promotion , the content needs to simply and clearly show the promotion rules and promotion strength to attract the audience's impulse purchase.

● If it is a conversion , the content needs to show the product information, especially the most attractive features.

There are five main stages in the consumer purchasing process: arousing needs, collecting information, evaluating options, deciding to buy, and post-purchase behavior.

According to the purchasing process, consumers can be divided into three categories: potential population, industry target population, and brand loyal population.

Customers at different stages of the purchasing process have different concerns about products and thus have different requirements for product advertising creativity. When creating content, you should stand in the user's perspective and consider what kind of content can successfully attract you.

In addition, consumers can also be classified according to their demographic attributes: age, gender, and region . Creativity needs to be based on the characteristics of consumers, understand their consumption psychology and needs, and make adjustments in content.

The above two steps allow us to confirm the direction of the content. In addition, the content must conform to the characteristics of the delivery platform.

Because information flow ads are conveyed to the audience together with the information pushed by the platform, advertising content that is close to the platform style can effectively reduce the advertising attributes.

● On Zhihu , we can use copywriting with distinct Zhihu characteristics such as "What kind of experience is xxx";

● On TikTok , short videos with a distinct TikTok style of real-life camera movements are released;

● On Weibo , post a blog post + pictures/videos...

At the same time, it is necessary to create multiple contents and conduct A/B testing . Only real users and real data feedback can continuously correct the way forward.

Regarding the form of delivery, the resources at the end of the article also include recommendations for different platforms, copywriting techniques, and other content to help everyone create popular advertising content.

Next, I would like to recommend two popular cases that we have worked on. I hope you can learn something from them.

" Three Squirrels ": Daily sales of over 100 million

The first is Three Squirrels’ advertising during the Double Eleven period. It used Weibo and Shiqu Intelligent Analysis’s backend to identify relevant fans, matched Weibo accounts with the mobile phone numbers of users who had purchased Three Squirrels products, and divided them into frequent buyers and potential buyers . Accurately deliver advertisements to designated accounts and related keywords.

Using the overall idea of ​​"not just selling dried fruits, but also a culture", content planning is carried out through multiple dimensions such as topics, pictures, activities, images, leverage, and characteristics.

During the delivery process, we conducted interactive analysis of different population attributes, different content, and different delivery plans from two dimensions: content and population, and optimized through data, which ultimately helped Three Squirrels achieve its daily sales target of 100 million.

“CChannel”: It took only one year for the number of fans to increase from 0 to 720,000+

Another case is the advertising of @完美女人CChannel. Cchannel is a Japanese women's channel that brings together popular short videos on beauty, food, life, etc. After the platform landed in China, the team has been operating it ever since. They helped it establish a Weibo platform, and the number of fans has increased from 0 to 720,000+ . It is in a continuous growth mode and has received widespread attention from netizens due to its attractive content.

In addition, while operating the Weibo platform, we also follow user trends and footsteps, and have simultaneously released content on more than ten platforms including Miaopai , Toutiao, Penguin, Little Red Lips, Yidian Zixun , Matcha, NetEase Aesthetics, Pear Video, and Meipai . We were once ranked 12th on the Miaopai video self-media original list. We are now also starting to strengthen the operations of short video platforms such as Douyin and Kuaishou. Allow them to gain fans in a relatively short period of time and increase their influence!

Conclusion

During the advertising process, the reduction of CPM, CPE, CPC, CPA and other values ​​requires rounds of continuous optimization to form a closed-loop process and ultimately achieve the best results.