How to correctly understand short video operations?

In most traditional industries, there is actually no concept of " operation ". With the development of the Internet and new media , the functions and roles of "operation" have been increasingly magnified. The operation of short videos is actually a specific branch of the new media operation concept. Therefore, if you want to understand short video operations, you must return to the essence of new media operations.

1. What is short video operation?

Baidu Encyclopedia explains new media operations as follows:

"New media operation is a series of operation methods to publicize, promote and market products through modern mobile Internet means , such as WeChat , Weibo, Tieba and other emerging media platforms. By planning high-quality, highly communicable content and online activities related to the brand , we can push messages to customers widely or accurately, increase participation and visibility, and make full use of the fan economy to achieve corresponding marketing goals."

This concept clarifies the main means, application scenarios and operational purposes of new media operations.

First, the means of operation is through the use of new media platform tools such as WeChat, Weibo, and Tieba;

The second application scenario of operation is high-quality, highly contagious content and online activities related to the brand.

The purpose of the operation is “…a series of operational means to carry out product publicity, promotion, and product marketing…to push messages to customers widely or accurately, increase participation, and increase awareness, thereby making full use of the fan economy to achieve corresponding marketing goals.”

When it comes to short video operations, they can be divided into two types:

One is to treat short video content as an independent product

Short video operations serve short video content teams and short video content products that want to be operated. Its operating method is still "emerging media platform tools", and the application scenarios are related content and activities centered on short video content products. The purpose of the operation is to increase user reach and user engagement for short video content products, and enhance the popularity of the short video content IP itself, thereby acquiring and retaining online users for short video content products, and achieving triple growth in brand value, users, and market share.

The other is the operation of short videos in cooperation with brands.

Its operation object is an additional and overlapping content product, because not only does the content team have to produce it themselves, but the operational needs of brand owners and partners must also be superimposed. The corresponding operational procedures and points that require attention will be more complex and comprehensive.

In the formulation of operational strategies, we must also find a balance between the needs of both parties in order to ultimately achieve more ideal operational results.

After all, operation is a complex and sophisticated job and process based on online user usage scenarios, and involves deep and multiple interactions with content, users, organizations, and products. Operations are a long-term, marketing-minded activity whose ultimate goal is to achieve growth.

The establishment of operational thinking and the exploration of operational skills are closely linked to daily persistent and uninterrupted operational work. Operations are not just about writing articles and arranging layouts, but also include the global vision of operators, which will have an important impact on future operational results.

2. Why do short videos need to be operated?

The above article has sorted out and clarified the work scope and target positioning of short video operations under the new media system. So, when it comes to short video operations themselves, what is their fundamental purpose and significance?

In other words, what is the difference between a short video content product that has long-term, sustained and refined operations and a short video content product that does not pay attention to operations?

1. Operations turn traffic into retained users

As we all know, good short video content can bring traffic, and this traffic is often free, because the platform needs good content, and good content can bring high-quality users. Therefore, the platform will be happy to use content to exchange the traffic of its own platform for the short video content producers. If these traffic are converted into pure advertising value, it may be a sky-high price, especially today when online traffic is so expensive.

Therefore, creating high-quality content that can bring in high-quality traffic is the most valuable thing in commercial and strategic terms for short video content startup teams in the early stages of making short videos.

So what can you do after you have traffic?

It is necessary to adopt long-term and effective operation methods to convert the traffic from the content into real and effective users, and accumulate them as much as possible under the platform’s own self-media account, as well as its own website or APP.

At present, “Two Weibo and One Douyin” are recognized by enterprises as the preferred platforms for retaining users in the new media level. These platforms can provide enterprises and products with an opportunity to communicate directly with users.

At the same time, you can also direct and retain users to your own official website and your own APP products to form your own real traffic and users. None of this would be possible if short video content was only put online and distributed without any subsequent operational work.

Therefore, the real value of short video operation is to help content teams achieve real customer acquisition and user retention , because traffic itself cannot be directly monetized. Only by obtaining real and effective users can we explore a truly long-term and effective business model and achieve stable monetization.

Don't let the precious traffic you exchange for content flow away like water. Use operations to gather the water and use water to create all things.

2. Operations make communication clear and visible

The way of information transmission on the Internet must be mutual. One-way transmission is inefficient and meaningless. Operations can turn feedback from users into new content and information and then deliver the feedback to users. For example: management of the comment area and barrage area, replying to messages left in the WeChat background, etc. For operators, it is important not to let the information from users fall into oblivion.

To a certain extent, the purpose of content is to stimulate users' active information feedback. And the feedback information often includes new content topics, new product iteration ideas, new market demands, new consumer demands, etc. This information is extremely valuable to a brand owner or a business. If converted into service fees paid to a consulting company, it would probably be a sky-high price.

3. Operations make content more personalized

When designing short video content products, operational work needs to be included from the very beginning. Because operations help content and users communicate better, they also help content products continue to ferment after they are launched, creating a long-tail effect.

Good operations must be carried out in a personalized manner, combined with the positioning of the content products, and with a certain personal identity, participating in the management of the user comment area and the refined operation process. Every user message and comment provided through operational feedback, as well as every online activity launched, will make your content products more personalized and individualized, making your content products truly remembered.

4. Operations make content more timely

Because behind the operation is a person, or sometimes even a team. With refined operations, your content products will become more flexible. Therefore, when encountering hot events and some information-oriented content, operations can achieve immediate feedback on market and user needs.

On the Internet, you are faster and more sensitive than others. The faster you feed back information to users, the greater the traffic dividend you may bring.

5. Operations allow you to obtain first-hand data

For content production teams, big data should be used as a very important reference dimension for content production. If you completely hand it over to a team of directors and producers who only focus on so-called "creative research and development" and "explosive content research and development", the final result will most likely be a waste of investment without any effect.

Moreover, the cost of hiring a director is still very high. It is definitely irrational and unscientific to invest too much in content production before a long-term and stable business model is formed.

There is no standard for content, "there are a thousand Hamlets in the eyes of a thousand people." If you blindly trust the personal aesthetic standards of a director or producer, you will just have to rely on luck.

For a short video content team, the best iteration strategy is to hire suitable employees, highlight cost-effectiveness, and then obtain data feedback from channels , users, markets, customers and other aspects through operations. Find patterns and breakthrough points in the fluctuations of data growth and decline, and continuously iterate and test products until the traffic and user sedimentation conversion are stabilized to a suitable level.

These "first-hand data" obtained through operational means are the most valuable data in this market. Their authenticity and effectiveness can help you see many market changes, so as to clearly define your product positioning and gain real market competitiveness.

3. What aspects does short video operation include?

If we look specifically at the content of short video operations, it can be broken down into four major aspects, namely: operation of short video channels, operation of short video content, user operation of short videos, and community operation of short videos.

1. Channel Operation

Short video channel operation mainly refers to the operational cooperation with the current mainstream video platforms and video content distribution channels at home and abroad. Externally, it is a TO B cooperation method, while internally it requires collecting data through channel feedback and feeding back to the iteration of content products and user operations.

When it comes to short video channel operations, there are two completely different operating ideas and methods at home and abroad. In foreign countries, basically all you need to do is to do a good job on a few large video and social content platforms such as YouTube , but in China, the situation is very complicated and there is no single dominant player.

At the same time, each content channel has different user tone and content positioning. If you are working on content in a vertical niche, you need to study in detail the content needs and user preferences of each channel platform in order to operate it well.

For key channels, refined operations are required, and one-on-one visits and maintenance by dedicated personnel are also very important. Internally, each channel will receive information feedback from users, so different operation strategies and content product strategies need to be planned and formulated for different channels. Channel operations follow the channels and user preferences on the channels and are not static.

2. Content Operation

In traditional program production, content operation can basically be understood as content planning and production, with at most a film review phase. Considering the purpose of operations, the planning and production of content need to serve growth. Therefore, the production link of content must be closely aligned with channel operations and user operations, combined with the collection and organization of big data to form a more comprehensive and refined process.

It is particularly important to emphasize that we must abandon the "author's thinking", think about everything from the user's perspective, and never fall into the so-called "professional" way of thinking. If you still insist on using the old way of thinking to produce content, then you will definitely become "self-indulgent" and self-admiring.

Unless you are really talented and focus on personalized and personal labels, and can follow the creator's own preferences, there is a chance of success, but the probability is still relatively small.

Good content operation means that when the basic content planning and production is not lower than the industry average level, it can help short video content products significantly improve user reach, opening rate, dwell time, reputation, user active feedback and interaction.

The core of short video content products is content, but it must be made clear that this content is not the result of the hard thinking of one or two core creators, but is combined with operational strategies and continuously planned and iterated over a period of time. It cannot be achieved overnight, nor can personal preferences replace user preferences. We must be neutral and objective, and truly treat short video content as an Internet product.

3. User Operation

As mentioned earlier, the purpose of producing and disseminating short video content is actually to gain users' attention and capture their focus, so that users are willing to stay on the entire network channel or on their own products. Therefore, user operation can be simply understood as deep interaction with users. The ultimate goal is to increase user activity and user stickiness, so that users can pay attention to and be interested in content products for a long time.

Short video content products are the beginning of user operations. After that, user operations can be carried out through various new media forms such as chat, voice, audio, mini-programs , H5 activities, etc., to establish relationships with users. After user operations have been optimized, users need to feel that they are talking to a real person, and their desire to communicate can be realized at any time.

The most basic user operation is the management of the comment area and the barrage area, answering users' direct message questions, and providing users with more one-on-one and personalized services. From one face for thousands of people, to thousands of faces for thousands of people, and then to one person with a thousand faces, this is not only the direction of future Internet product iterations, but also the effect to be achieved by truly moving offline communication online.

Teams with the conditions will even match user operations with a dedicated CRM system. For business owners and brands, the "make-up lessons" and upgrade of this user management system is to add the traffic contribution of the content system and short video content to their original CRM system, and then carry out operations based on the content that are closer to the user's online usage scenarios.

4. Community Operation

On the Internet, many products and services cannot truly acquire customers through simply one or two soft-text placements, viral videos, and TVC advertising . Many games and Internet APP products are facing the problem of the end of the APP download bonus period and difficulty in acquiring customers online.

They have clearly generated traffic through purchases, native advertising , etc., and then achieved reach and exposure to precise groups of people through segmented channels, but it is still difficult to complete subsequent operations such as effective user registration and APP downloads.

Therefore, it is necessary to stratify and divide the traffic, gather those who really have needs together, and then carry out one-to-one refined operations. This process is the purpose and method of community operation.

For many knowledge-based paid products, community operations often achieve better results, just like organizing an online study group. Everyone comes in for the same communication topic, and they have become like-minded "classmates" through previous traffic operations. Next, through online video, voice and other courses, or through offline "face-to-face meetings", an entity organization such as a "reading club" is formed. The whole process is achieved through different community operation strategies.

IV. Selection criteria for short video operators

Finally, let’s talk about the screening criteria for short video operators, because a good strategy still requires excellent and right talents to implement. Then it becomes crucial to plan the personnel of the short video operation team.

Simply put, if you want to hire a dedicated person to be responsible for short video operations in order to reduce costs, then he must have at least the following four abilities:

1. Business communication and negotiation skills

For the TO B part of channel operations, basic business communication and negotiation cooperation skills are essential. Here, the operator is actually more like a brand business personnel, representing the entire short video content team to communicate and negotiate with the channel parties. This person is crucial in understanding how to play to one's strengths and avoid one's weaknesses, and in maximizing the understanding and gaining the channel's support and assistance for content products.

In addition, when operating users, many of your users may be your customers, so when receiving these requests based on business cooperation, the initial attitude of the operator may affect further cooperation in the future.

2. Content planning and production capabilities

The operators of the short video content team must possess certain qualities of a product manager . For content products, even if he has not personally edited the film, he must have certain aesthetic abilities and the ability to write pictures and texts, and have his own unique thoughts and understanding of the content.

3. Big data collection and analysis capabilities

Operations personnel must have a certain understanding and sensitivity to numbers. Otherwise, after seeing a waveform chart of the platform's playback volume, if he is unable to see some patterns and problems from it, he will definitely not be able to do his operational work. At the same time, basic data collection and organization capabilities can help your team move in the right direction. If the person in charge of operations is a careless person who often mixes up and makes mistakes in data, then the final results will have big problems. Content iteration strategies and other operational strategies based on this deduction may deviate significantly.

4. Strategic thinking and global perspective

An operator must not be just a pure executor, he must have a global perspective and a certain ability to predict the market. Therefore, a truly good operator plays a role within the team that is no less important than that of the head of a business unit.

This global perspective should also be reflected in the various dimensions of thinking when executing a project. Any step and decision does not occur and exist alone. Only in this way can the efficiency of operations be greatly improved and the desired growth goals be ultimately achieved.

It is indeed difficult to find such people, but at least you need to understand the standards. Even if you are selecting and training within the team, you must develop a clear training plan and direction. Good operations personnel will definitely grow into talents such as " growth hackers " in the future, and it is also possible for them to start their own business and become their own boss.

Before that, if you are the head of a short video content startup team, you must first develop your understanding and cognition of operational work, so that you can quickly find your own place before the era of short video oligopoly arrives.

Operationally empowering content and maximizing its highlights is an essential key link for short video products to go from 1 to 10. Only by interpreting feedback and adjusting steps quickly can short video content creators avoid being eliminated by new gameplay in the second half.