3 tips to teach you how to follow the hot spots correctly

There have been many hot events and festivals recently, such as the Didi incident, the closure of Ergeng Canteen, the closure of Baozou Comics, and the transformation of national treasures into drama spirits. I believe that many new media people are rushing to chase hot topics, but many operators do not know how to chase hot topics. Today I will mainly share with you why you chase hot topics and how to chase them as quickly as possible.

The content outline is as follows:

Regarding chasing hot topics, I agree with the view that "use timeliness to drive effectiveness", which should be the fundamental reason why the majority of new media operators are tirelessly following hot events.

1. The benefits and necessity of following hot spots

1. High open rate and high spread rate

Hot spots have their own traffic attributes. When people are not yet tired of them and their emotions are at their highest, the opening rate, discussion rate and dissemination rate will be very high. It includes users’ voluntary forwarding and reposting by other WeChat accounts , and the dissemination effect is unpredictable.

The problem that the entire information dissemination system is facing now is the massive amount of information, and dissemination requires dealing with massive amounts of information. If you want to fight against the massive amount of information, you either have to create hot spots yourself or use massive amounts of information to fight against the massive amount of information. Obviously, the former is costly and the latter is unrealistic.

This requires finding a hot spot close to it, so that this set of information has the opportunity to become the alternative communication content of the hot spot, thereby greatly reducing the communication cost and improving efficiency.

After the Didi incident, Shenzhou Car Rental, as a competitor, quickly catered to the hot topic and produced a series of promotional posters with the topic #Women Travel at Night with Shenzhou#. It can be said that it was very timely to follow the hot topic.

2. Low cost and high attention

The cost of acquiring users through a hot article is very low. Users may develop a favorable impression of you through your article and then follow you, and the loyalty and stickiness of fans will also be greatly improved. Compared to planning an event with great effort but still having to take the risk of low traffic and no participation, the risk and cost of chasing hot spots are relatively low.

If you follow hot topics well and guide attention smoothly, an article with more than 100,000 views can attract thousands of fans.

However, the prerequisite for attracting this high level of attention is that in addition to keeping up with hot topics, we must also use new thinking, new angles, and new viewpoints to spread positive energy and correct values.

The closure of Ergeng Canteen and the incident of insulting martyrs and heroes in Baozou Comics reflect issues that violate mainstream social values ​​and are not the correct way to chase hot topics.

2. How to follow hot topics?

1. The secret weapon for quickly responding to hot spots - accumulation, retrieval and application of materials

1. Make good accumulation of materials . Some news hotspots, social hotspots or holiday hotspots will repeat themselves, for example, celebrity cheating is not uncommon. Therefore, the articles you publish should be archived so that they can be retrieved at any time at critical moments.
2. Quick retrieval. It is recommended to use note-taking tools such as Youdao Cloud Notes and Evernote, paste the articles you have written but not organized into them, classify them with labels, and search for keywords when needed.
3. The material is used appropriately. You can use other related materials to compare, extend, supplement and enrich the content. Revamping your current writing style can greatly reduce your writing time.

In addition to the basic material organization and article writing mentioned above, there is another very important point: the angle from which the article approaches the topic must be chosen correctly. Once you have made the right choice, you can achieve the goal of guiding everyone's discussion and attention. If you make a bad choice, the consequences may be serious, and the result of the Ergeng Canteen is a reminder for everyone.

Regarding the closure of Ergeng Canteen, as an operator, I think what we need to reflect on is not just the wording or the degree of content creation, but also the recognition of the value and social responsibility carried by the content itself, as well as the ethical concepts that we as a self-media need to adhere to in the creative process.

2. What should I do if I am not prepared for the sudden hotspot?

It is recommended to divide the work well and complete the task quickly through collaboration among colleagues. According to the division of labor, it usually takes three people to complete:

1. Drawing: First determine the direction of the article and how many parts it should be roughly divided into, then determine the text for the picture, and have a colleague who is good at drawing make the picture.
2. Writing: The operator is responsible for the planning and integration of articles.
3. Promotion : After the article is published, it will be pushed to different platforms as soon as possible, such as communities , Moments , social platforms, etc., and comments will be posted below after it is published.

3. How to write more safely about hot spots that may reverse/be sensitive?

Today’s social hot spots are constantly changing, but some are so popular that you can’t ignore them. What should you do? Two points to note:

1. To prevent reversal, the tone and wording must be consistent with those of major media and the language must be used with caution.
2. For sensitive hot spots, do not provide users with emotions, but instead provide them with practical value.

For example, the Didi Hitch incident where a flight attendant was murdered. When the news first came out, I suggested that everyone should think about it first and not write it down, because they were just screenshots. Using pictures to support the entire article would affect the quality of the article. It would sacrifice aesthetics for speed and would not be rigorous enough.

It is recommended that you discuss with users in the community at this time, integrate practical opinions and information as writing materials, and then wait and see how the whole thing develops further.

After the major media outlets have released their statements, you can first use a paragraph at the beginning of your article to describe the entire incident, trying to keep your wording restrained and calm.

The back of the article provides readers with professional and practical content, such as how to avoid and what to do when a problem occurs. At the end of the article, just write 2-3 summary sentences to end. Do not make extravagant remarks just to attract attention and traffic, as this is not a wise move.

3. Which hot spots should you not follow?

1. Weak correlation with brand core values

If brand positioning is related to technology, it has nothing to do with entertainment hot spots. At least one of the relevance of the brand's core value or the relevance of the product's core selling point must be grasped. It is meaningless if both are not met.

2. The content has negative attributes

For brands, hot attributes will be naturally injected into them. If you take the wrong approach just to cater to hot topics, you will easily fall.

Remember one thing: don’t post political hot spots, don’t post negative hot spots, and be cautious when posting controversial hot spots.

Summarize

Hot spots are valuable for operations, but please don’t chase them just for the sake of chasing them. If it can’t bring value to your readers (emotional value/practical value, etc.), then don’t pursue it.

Chasing hot spots is not an end, but a means. For hot spots that suit you, if they cannot be new, then be fast; if they cannot be fast, then be new.

But chasing too many hot topics will reduce the quality of creation. Sometimes we have to sacrifice aesthetics for speed, so be cautious.

The author of this article @小师妹 is compiled and published by (Qinggua Media). Please indicate the author information and source when reprinting!

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