A practical guide to building a high-stickiness private domain operation system

If 2019 is called the "first year" of the private domain, and 2020 is the growth period of various infrastructure tools of the "private domain", then 2021 is the year of explosive growth in the competition of core capabilities in the private domain.

"Private domain" has almost become an unavoidable word in the marketing field.

From public accounts, communities, and mini-programs in the WeChat ecosystem to official accounts, live broadcast rooms, and stores on other content platforms, everyone is talking about “private domains.”

How to operate private domains, utilize private domains, revitalize private domains, and what advanced gameplay there is in private domains are the core of industry discussion.

Such a hot "exploration atmosphere" in the industry actually reflects a current situation from the side - when it comes to private domains, people are not completely aligned in their cognition and actions.

Private domain is not a panacea. Ineffective private domain makes everyone exhausted and even hinders growth.

1. Are you doing “invalid private domain”?

We visited many teams in the industry, and 80% of them encountered the following four problems:

• No activity: Community activity is getting lower and lower, and many legacy communities have become advertising and red envelope groups;
• No accumulation: The deletion rate of personal WeChat friends is high, and the accumulation of personal WeChat private domain traffic is slow;
• No conversion: The number of followers of the official account increases, but the subsequent conversion rate is low, and it is impossible to convert accurate users;
• No sedimentation: Apart from this, no other tools are sought to complete the sedimentation and accumulation of private domain content.

Why do the above common problems occur? After summarizing, we found that when people do the so-called " private domain operation ", they basically follow the following path:

"First, we can attract traffic in the public domain and turn it into WeChat friends who can guide you to shop. Or we can import it into social groups, guide users to follow the brand's official account, and register as members on the mini program. This will accumulate traffic in the private domain. The operation of posting advertisements in WeChat Moments every day, sending coupon information in the group, and the brand regularly updating the content of the official account are all private domain operations."

Look at the path above, is this the same for you?

From the above paths, we can see that everyone’s private domain operations are actually simplified to these two links:

1. Drain as much as possible.
2. Publish marketing materials and occasional promotional activities.

Everyone basically ignores many details of the operation, and from decision-making to actual execution, these two links may "deteriorate", resulting in the problem of "invalid private domain".

One of the "deterioration" situations is over-emphasis on drainage.

Currently, the way of thinking that most brands have is to pull as many reachable users as possible into the private domain. The greater the traffic, the higher the possibility of conversion.

Under the goal of "the more the better", it seems that private domain operations are being carried out, but in fact the focus is all on traffic generation, and subsequent operation retention is ignored.

This year, Tencent Smart Retail also proposed the concept of "effective private domain" for the first time.

2. Build a "retention pool" and operate an "effective private domain"

When we talk about traffic acquisition, we are actually talking about the amount of data obtained on a certain user behavior, such as the friend adding rate, group joining rate, etc. The larger the amount of data, the greater the traffic.

The essence of traffic is a string of numbers, which is mainly used to help us understand the growth rate of business scale.

The so-called retention, in simple terms, is the flow that is retained. This flow does not fully present its dynamic characteristics as the original flow, but presents a relatively static state.

The most intuitive manifestation is that the activity of retained users is much lower than that of new traffic. I believe everyone has felt this. In a WeChat group, users are most active in the initial stage of joining the group, while the activity of retained users is much lower.

If you want to increase activity again, you need to create opportunities for users to be active through operational means.

Old traffic cannot be replicated, but it can create new value; new traffic can be created, but it must rely on old traffic . The transformation of this relationship is achieved through retention operations.

The content of retention pool thinking mainly includes three aspects:

1. Systematic operation;
2. Efficiently reuse every "drop" of traffic;
3. Attract more users by creating value.

1. Systematic operation

The key word we need to understand here is systematization.

The so-called systematization means using the tools you already have to interact with traffic to form a complete operating system to help you operate traffic efficiently.

Through systematic and circle-based classification operations of users, targeted operational strategies are adopted for users at different stages of the user cycle.

Here I would like to share a case with you: the Shiyijia live broadcast room has built a triangular private domain model, which is to link the live broadcast room and the WeChat group through the fan circle. The live broadcast room, WeChat group and fan circle are all indispensable.

In each link, we focus on the actual needs of users and operational scenarios, and through the planning of valuable content and topics, we can firmly grasp the stickiness of students. The training camp can ensure that each session is full, and the referral rate is also particularly high.

1) See the teacher and problem solutions in the live broadcast room

In Qianliao Live Room, what the teacher says during the live broadcast can be saved permanently, and students can listen to it again even if they miss the class time.

Make the classroom a problem-solving platform and deliver on course expectations immediately.

2) See students and learning application scenarios in the fan circle

After posting content in Qianliao Fan Circle, you can scan the QR code to join the WeChat group later.

Through the circle, you can directly access the live broadcast room, which allows traffic to flow, activates the zombie group, and prevents the active group from becoming a dead group.

It is a traffic magnet that naturally attracts accurate fans; it is also born for the live broadcast room and becomes a carrier of natural conversion.

3) See connections and growth through group stratification operations

Different groups have different missions.

The class group is the main battlefield for learning. The group group has specially arranged group tutors to comment and answer questions at any time, and take attendance to ensure the completion rate of the course.

2. Efficiently reuse every “drop” of traffic

The number of users is 1, and the number of traffic is N. Users do not equal traffic. A large number of users does not necessarily mean a large amount of traffic.

Vice versa, large traffic does not necessarily mean a large number of users.

As mentioned earlier, the reasons for invalid private domains are, first, too much emphasis on traffic generation; second, the continuous release of marketing materials for conversion leads to user loss.

The problem of retention and conversion of private domain traffic is, on the surface, a problem of push details, but the root cause lies in the lack of user operation capabilities, that is, the ability to maintain continuous interaction with individual users.

The premise for ensuring user retention value is to solve the transition at the service attribute level in the private domain, that is, how to be service-oriented rather than promotion-oriented.

From the perspective of brand building and marketing promotion operations, in essence, one flow refers to an interaction between a brand and a user, that is, an information interaction.

One interaction may lead to a direct transaction, or it may increase the probability of a successful transaction for each subsequent interaction.

The value of traffic lies in gradually influencing users' minds through content and services, rather than sales volume.

What we lack is not users, but interaction with users.

What we lack is not only interaction, but full interaction.

The interaction of private domain traffic, if the value of traffic is the value of interaction with users, that is, the value of information interaction, it is the value of "information flow" in the "three flows".

To put it simply, it means delivering information related to a brand or product to consumers, influencing their minds and increasing the probability of their consumption, which is the value of "planting grass".

3. Bring in more users by creating value

Only by truly creating value for users can you cause spontaneous fission of users, thereby bringing in more accurate and high-quality users, and achieving customer acquisition through word of mouth.

We mentioned earlier that in an environment like an activity group, negative word of mouth can be easily spread, so positive word of mouth will naturally be easily spread in a higher-quality and more active retention pool.

How to create a high-quality and active retention pool?

The answer is to create and provide value that exceeds user expectations. It can be high-quality course content, specific services, or small surprises like rewards.

Simply put, user satisfaction is the value of the product, and if you can bring value to users, users will reward you.

What is valuable content? And how is the value output? Are we really thinking about value from the user's perspective?

For students and customers of private domain traffic, the knowledge, methods and cases related to private domain traffic are the most important valuable content.

How is the value delivered?

For our own friends in the circle of friends, the content of the circle of friends is the core carrier.

For members of a WeChat group, group discussions or articles are the core carriers, and for fans of a video account, videos are the core carriers.

Is the content we create valuable? Whether users gain anything or are inspired after reading the content, even if it is of little help to users, it will be very valuable.

How efficient is content production? If the output of value is arbitrary and without a certain frequency, the value to users will be relatively weak.

The ability to write, speak and do is the core of communicating value.

I keep reflecting on the fact that I have done many things in the past that affected the core value of users. I rashly disturbed users for the sake of fission. Users could not perceive my value, so trust could not be established. Without trust, how could a lasting connection be established?

Therefore, the core now is to create valuable content from the user's perspective, and disseminate it multiple times at a certain frequency to establish trust with users.

After talking about the construction of the retention pool, I will now break down how to build a highly active private domain model and share with you some practical methodologies.

The WeChat ecosystem is actually the most complete traffic system on the Internet today. This system mainly includes five tools, namely WeChat groups, official accounts, mini-programs, personal accounts and Moments.

It is also the carrier of private domains operated by the mainstream, among which communities account for the majority.

In addition, many self-media, personal IPs, and organizations will also build online communities.

So the next focus will be to break down with you how to operate highly active social groups and online communities.

3. Private Domain Active Retention Practice - WeChat Group

There are two types of WeChat groups. One is full of various topics, and there are hundreds of unread messages every time you open it. In the other, you can often see group members replying with the same number in a unified manner, and the reply frequency is very high.

Are you willing to stay in these two WeChat groups? I believe most people’s answer is no.

An active WeChat group should not be like this. Only things with more substance can truly retain users.

For WeChat groups, activation and retention are basically integrated.

If activation is successful, the loss of group members can be avoided to a great extent, and retention will come naturally.

Three common methods to activate WeChat groups

1. Light output: Output useful content at a high frequency with low operating costs

1) Daily News

Its essence is a collection of information, which saves users the time cost of searching for information. For group members, as long as they pay close attention to some information sources in their field, they can complete this task well.

Moreover, the daily report can initiate discussions on industry hot topics and encourage students to participate in the sharing and output of community views.

2) Mind Map

Things like mind maps, operation maps, sop tables, and learning cards all belong to this category.

This is a type of content that users are very willing to collect. It is mainly a compilation of the essence of some articles and courses. Its advantage is that it is clear at a glance, easy to understand, and can trigger dissemination, and also plays a certain role in attracting new users.

3) Information package

This is a very basic and common form of output. Users in different fields require different information content.

For example, K12 users need exercises, test papers, and knowledge point lists, while workplace users need skill documents, industry reports, and other content.

2. Frequent live broadcast: Frequent live broadcast means sharing content in the form of live broadcast, and it is best to have a fixed time period

For example, the WeChat group I operate will broadcast live audio at 7:30 p.m. every Tuesday and Thursday. This helps users develop listening habits and improves user retention rate.

There are two points to note about the content of the live broadcast.

1. It should meet the pain points, that is, the theme and content of each live broadcast should be what users need most. That is, the theme of the live broadcast should be the problem that users are in urgent need of solving, and the content should be the ideas and methods to solve the problem.
2. It is to make a good long-term plan, that is, based on the user's situation, tell the user what problems he will encounter in the future and arrange them systematically for him. In other words, make an outline.

This will guide group members to sign up for long-term series of courses, while giving users a strong sense of value and anticipation.

3. Organize activities: The purpose of organizing activities is to mobilize the enthusiasm of members in the WeChat group.

Therefore, when designing an activity, we must follow the principle of fun. There are many specific forms of activities. When I operate a WeChat group, there are three commonly used forms of activities.

1) Welfare fission

Through the fission of physical and virtual items, such as giving away yoga mats in yoga communities, giving away financial books in financial communities, etc., such activities attract very precise groups of people. The only drawback is that it is necessary to consider the operating costs of screen swiping within the group and sending prizes.

2) Check-in

The purpose is to promote vitality.

However, the check-in here is not a training camp-style check-in, but a simple check-in activity that is not based on specific courses.

The check-in time can be set to two weeks, and users can be reminded to sign in using the mini program every day. If they persist for two weeks, they can redeem the benefits. The bigger, more scarce, and more in line with the pain points the better.

The time and frequency of punching in are best set based on the principle of short-term and high-frequency, so that users will feel fresh. Long-term clock-in users tend to become lazy and the operating costs are high.

If you want to do long-term check-in, it is best to gamify the check-in mechanism. Make the check-in task into a step-by-step reward to extend the active cycle of students

3) Coupons

Coupons can be used to purchase products or for other purposes.

For example, you can set up a campaign to attract targeted students by distributing large coupons. You can set up coupons for a long series of courses. As long as users fill out a questionnaire and make an appointment for a trial course, they can receive the coupons. With this activity, the author has successfully obtained hundreds of high-quality course leads.

4. Practical operation of active retention in private domains - building communities

Building online communities has become a standard for online self-media giants and organizations.

Online communities can mainly fill the private domain operation form between official accounts and WeChat communities, establish a continuous and stable relationship with users, improve service efficiency, and accumulate private domain content. They are the best carrier for active users.

The community is active, which is mainly divided into three stages: guidance, retention and sedimentation.

1. Guidance: How to guide community interaction

How to guide users to quickly become familiar with the rules and gameplay of your online community and be willing to participate in the interaction is one of the keys to retaining them.

1) Add a "tag prefix" to the post information

Operators can add a "tag prefix" when posting to help newcomers quickly understand the content of the circle.

It must at least include: rule notifications and self-introductions, such as [Announcement], [Notification], etc. Daily interaction labels: daily interaction guidance.

For example, key activity tags such as [Good stuff recommended] and [Famous teacher recommendation] in the yoga circle: just follow the specific activity planning settings

2) Cultivate the good habit of users to open the fan circle every day

Content is the most basic part of the community. Maintaining a relatively stable and continuous output of high-quality content gives users reasons to return to the circle every day, which is also the first step in cultivating a sense of participation.

Here you can distribute the daily reports, mind maps, benefits, etc. mentioned in the community section in the circle simultaneously.

2. Active: Diverse and active interactions, continuously engaging users

The more content a user posts in the community, the more sense of belonging he will have, and the operational pressure on the operator will be relatively reduced.

Here are some effective methods for your reference:

1) Column planning

Plan diversified columns based on user attributes to guide users into daily interactions. For example, the workplace circle can set up multiple columns such as #Industry Exchange# and #Questions and Answers#.

2) Topic Planning

Appropriately publish topics that can resonate with users and allow them to discuss/interact/ask questions.

For example: in the workplace, you can talk about job hunting issues in the industry; if you want to become more beautiful, you can talk about new products that have been launched recently, etc.

3) Event Planning

Hold some activities appropriately to guide users to speak and interact, such as: asking everyone to make a report introduction of newcomers, Spring Festival photography competition, skill challenge, early rising check-in, etc.

4) Vest Operation

Design some valuable content in advance, ask friends and colleagues to post it in the circle, and interact with each other. If you maintain more than 10 original and interactive posts every day, it will be easy to arouse other people's interest in interaction.

The operation of vests is a key point in community products. In order to make users feel that there are many players participating in your circle, it is the critical point to retain the first batch of seed users, and it is also the key to whether a real user is willing to create content in your community.

In addition, when users post original content (whether it is a topic or a comment), as long as the content is valuable, it will be praised and commented on.

And generate long images of valuable content and forward them to friends, or post them to WeChat public accounts and other influential platforms, and encourage the user to share them.

This sense of recognized alliance can greatly encourage fans.

3. Sedimentation: How to upgrade the value of the circle

A high-quality ecological fan circle should be the accumulation of many aspects, including effective relationships, in-depth content, etc.

Only in this way can the community generate continuous value.

1) "Effective relationship sedimentation": Continuously provide reasons to rely on the circle

①Based on regional attributes

Establish a community regional leader and support him to organize online and offline activities in the region, develop, maintain and consolidate multiple regional relationship chains

② Starting from interest attributes

Be sensitive to the differences in friends' interests, plan different segmented activities, and discover multiple interest chains within them. For example, a yoga circle can be divided into multiple branch relationship chains such as equipment group, theory group, and customer group.

③ Starting from service attributes

Mingrui detects differences in demand, introduces relevant services, and develops new demand relationship chains internally. For example, a community circle can initially rely on a love wall to attract users to join, and later it can also provide part-time jobs, second-hand services, etc.

2) "Deep content accumulation": Create a content business card and formulate content accumulation rules

The system plans categories and sets content channels, synchronizes relevant rules with internal users, and cultivates users' habits of publishing content by category and searching and retrieving by category.

① Initial preparation and guidance

Upload content according to the plan and do a good job of initial content accumulation so that new users have content to watch and check.

② User joint output

By setting discussion topics and activities as well as collecting selected content in the form of competitions, we can stimulate users with content production capabilities to produce valuable content, and users without content production capabilities to collect and organize valuable content outside the site, thereby achieving the purpose of content production and content sedimentation.

③ Reuse of high-quality content

Continuously integrating high-quality content and disseminating it internally and externally can not only enhance users' sense of honor, but also endorse the circle

V. Conclusion

The epidemic has promoted tremendous changes in the entire marketing and promotion environment. However, the essence of marketing has not changed. It is still "people" itself. What has changed are only the tools and execution methods.

• Through systematic operations, traffic can be reused efficiently to create added value and build a continuous "retention pool";
• Focusing on the community, we insist on light output, frequent live broadcasts, and more activities;
• Enhance the value of the fan circle through "effective relationship accumulation" and "deep content accumulation".

Gain more comprehensive insights into and reach out to users, influence user behaviors and attitudes, and ultimately achieve value resonance with the brand.

Author: Xiaobing who loves to study

Source: Little Cake by Love Research