How can I get on the Zhihu hot list? Here are 8 practical tips for you!

I have been independently operating my company's Zhihu account for almost a month, and have achieved some good results during this period, which shows that my hard work over this period has not been in vain.

In fact, on Zhihu, if you want to increase the exposure of your account and bring more traffic to your account or product, being on the Zhihu hot list is a very useful method. What we need to do is to make the account's answers rank higher under the hot questions, which will attract a lot of traffic.

So how do you screen out potential questions that can make it to Zhihu’s hot list, and then create answers to those questions that will receive high exposure?

I have summarized some rules and experiences. Even a newbie like you can get started right away after reading them.

Since this article is a bit long, I will first give the important conclusions.

▶1. First of all, different fields have different popularity. The following is a summary of my personal experience. After all, there is no big data support, so it is only for reference.

▶2. Filter out questions that may be on Zhihu’s hot list? you can

Check the [Question Log] of the target question: check whether it has been on the hot list and when it was last on the hot list. If a question has been on the hot list, it will not be on the hot list again within 30 days, so questions that have never been on the hot list or have been on the hot list for more than a year are more likely to be on the hot list;

Refer to the following three aspects of data:

Number of followers of the target question: Generally, the number of followers is between 100 and 500. The lower the number, the more likely it is.

Number of answers to the target question: If the number of answers is between 20 and 50, the chance of being on the hot list is relatively high. Of course, the fewer the answers, the more likely your answer will be ranked at the top.

Suggestions on the quality of answers to target questions: Is there a big V answering? If not, then you can answer; Does the big V have high praise? If not, you should answer immediately; The number, quality, and number of high praises will affect the algorithm ranking of your answer. The fewer these, the better

▶3. Experience reference for publishing answers:

Answer publishing time: It should be in line with user reading habits. Answers should be published during the time when users are actively browsing Zhihu or one or two hours in advance. It is better to be early than late.

▶4. Try to write your answers/articles within 2 hours to improve efficiency and get exposure as soon as possible.

Ask for likes immediately after answering: This is very important. Ask for likes as quickly and as much as possible. Try to connect with powerful people in the same field and like each other's posts; try to get more than 20 likes within 2 hours. We can achieve this by forming a "Zhihu Like Group"

▶5. The last point is to improve the quality of your answers! ! !

▶6. In addition, I strongly recommend friends to go back and read the corresponding analysis of the above conclusions, which is the practical thinking.

▶7. Finally, take a look at [Zhihu Product Column]

The following is the original analysis, and I suggest you read it patiently.

Let me first insert some key content. Many students of Nuanshi have asked me how to find questions that can be answered?

I will first collect a large number of possible questions to be answered, and then decide the priority of answering questions based on different data weights, which questions are worth answering and which questions need to be put aside. After all, time and energy are limited, and it is impossible to answer all of them. I will budget the value and conversion rate of the questions and give priority to answering the most valuable questions.

The reference data include the number of people following the question, the number of views, the number of answers, the timeliness of the question, who gave the most upvoted answers, etc.

▶1. First, let me explain what the Zhihu Hot List is.

▶2. Different fields have different popularity, the following experience is for reference only

▶3. First and foremost, read the [Question Edit Log]

The first condition : whether it has been on the hot list . Questions that have never been on the hot list always have the opportunity to be on the hot list

This is because all the questions on the hot list were basically in a dormant state, and then recently "high-quality" answers appeared below the question and could be recommended by the algorithm. What we need to do is to provide this “high-quality” answer.

For example:

▶4. Number of people following this question

Based on my own operational experience and observations, the common points of the number of people following the hot list questions are:

① Generally, the number of followers is between 100 and 500. The lower the number, the more likely it is.

② If the number of followers is less than 100, it is not possible to be on the hot list, and the exposure is still very low. Because there are few people, no one sees it, so the number of likes is very low

③ The number of followers is higher than 500, or even thousands or tens of thousands, and it is still on the hot list. Because there is no data support, I will not expand on it here. I will summarize it and share it with you after more tests.

④ Although questions with thousands or tens of thousands of followers also have the chance to be on the hot list, for questions with 100 to 500 followers like the one mentioned above, the conditions for being on the hot list are more controllable, and it is easier for us to stand out from the crowd with this question.

▶5. Number of answers to this question

① If the number of answers is between 20 and 50, the chance of being on the hot list is relatively high. Of course, the fewer the answers, the more likely you are to be at the top.

② It is unreliable to simply discuss the number of answers without discussing the quality of the answers, so the quality of other answers will be analyzed below

③ However, if the number of answers is less than 20 or even in the single digit, it means that this question is likely not of interest to anyone. In this case, the number of followers must be small. You can verify this.

④When the number of answers exceeds 50, there are two situations:

▶6. Next, discuss the quality of the answer

① First, is there an answer from a big V in the same field? If not, then answer it quickly

②If so, has the big V’s answer received a certain number of likes (high likes) and occupied the first priority? If not, please answer the question now

③The high likes here do not have a fixed number of likes, but mainly refer to the number of likes that you cannot surpass in a "short period of time"

④The "short time" here does not have a definite quantity, but it must not be as fast as a few minutes, otherwise it will be judged as cheating. All I can say is that the time difference between your answer and the expected time of being on the hot list is a good opportunity for us to overtake others. Be sure to seize it!

⑤ Then analyze the situation of high likes. Even if there are high likes, don’t be nervous. The weight of ordinary people’s high likes is different from that of big Vs. Ordinary people’s high likes also have the opportunity to surpass

⑥ The number of highly praised answers determines the ranking of your answer when it first appears. The higher the ranking, the better.

⑦ Compare the quality of the highly praised answers with the quality of your answer to find the breakthrough point of your answer

⑧ The number of high likes and whether you can overtake others depends on the quality of your answer and whether there are likes from big Vs in the same field.

▶1. The time period when the answer is published: whether it conforms to the user's reading habits

According to my data analysis , Zhihu users’ reading habits are similar to those of other apps. Their main active time is:

Therefore, if you want your answer to achieve high exposure, you must complete the publication of the answer and the work of asking for likes before these time periods . Your answer will have a better chance of being ranked in a good position. After being recommended to the small number of people who are concerned about this question through Zhihu's grayscale test, they will be more willing to like you!

I once conducted a survey on the Zhihu operation habits of Nuanshi students, and some of the survey results are as follows:

From the pie chart trend analysis, nearly half of Nuanshi’s answers were posted after 20:00 in the evening, and 36% were posted between 16:00 and 20:00 in the afternoon, basically skipping the morning and dividing the answers into two parts: afternoon and evening.

In other words, the opportunity we need to seize is the time after 18:00 when users are active.

▶2. Check the day of the week when the answer was posted

Here it is mainly divided into working days from Monday to Friday and weekends.

It is obvious that users are active longer and more frequently on weekends than on weekdays, but due to our work, we cannot only post answers or articles on weekends, so we need to test different industries and fields to find out which dates are more conducive to our positioning exposure.

From the trend of the pie chart, we can see that nearly 30% of our Nuanshi classmates post on weekends. They should be the young people who study and improve themselves on weekends; 60+% of our Nuanshi classmates mainly post on weekdays. It is estimated that most of them are operating company and institutional accounts, and some even post every day.

▶3. Time required to answer/write the article

Combining the above-mentioned active time range, publishing time statistics, and the time required to write the copy, we can decide what time to start writing the answer and when to publish the answer.

According to my survey statistics, 80% of the students need more than 2 hours to produce copy.

Experienced students are fully capable of producing an answer within an hour (not just a trick), and multiple answers within a day (some big guys need to operate three or four accounts and produce 15 answers a week). Therefore, the time for answering should be continuously shortened while ensuring the quality.

In terms of copywriting, you can write about what you are good at, and the output will be faster . Of course, we must ensure that we input our knowledge on a regular basis.

If an answer takes more than two hours, one possible reason is low efficiency and procrastination; another possible reason is that preparing a high-quality answer requires a long time of editing.

Moreover, if you want to follow the questions on the hot list, the faster you answer and the higher the quality of your answers, the more chances you have to seize the initiative and occupy a favorable position. After all, the timeliness of the hot list is only 24 hours. When a question is first on the hot list, there are not many answers, and the number of likes for the first few answers is not high. If you cannot complete the copy and answer within 2 hours, the popularity will go up, and other answers and likes will also go up. It will be too late for you to answer at that time!

▶4. The number of likes and time required to ask for likes after answering

Why do I need to collect likes after I write and post my answer?

Let’s first take a look at the new answer notification “Grayscale Test” released by Zhihu:

Basically, your answer will be pushed to a small number of users who are interested in the question. After reading it, whether they like it (or disagree, or don't even read it) determines whether your answer will continue to be recommended by the algorithm to the next batch of users.

Of course, this assumes that the quality of your answer is up to par!

So, in addition to using grayscale testing, how else can you increase the chances of your answer being exposed? That is to ask for likes . There are different opinions on how many likes are appropriate to ask for, and the official has not made a clear statement.

But asking for likes is a must, otherwise your answer will be at the bottom for those newbies who have no likes and low account weight. My suggestion is to have at least 20 likes after posting a question or answer.

According to my investigation:

Only about 50% of Nuanshi's classmates were able to get 20 likes within 6 hours, and only 13% were able to get 20 likes within 2 hours. This shows that half of the answers take more than 6 hours or even 1 day to reach 20 likes.

But we must know that only when the answer receives a certain amount of likes, will it have a chance to be recommended by the algorithm, be viewed by more users in the follow-up column on the app homepage, and have the possibility of getting more likes. Based on my experience, if the answer to a question is not exposed within one day, it is basically a failure.

If you are chasing popularity, it will be even worse. If your ranking cannot be improved within 2 hours, you will soon be overwhelmed by the wave of subsequent answers. What's more, we also need to spend time writing the answer copy. After going through a set of processes, the hot list has been replaced with a new one. How can we still keep up with the popularity?

Therefore, you must show up more often in the Zhihu likes group and help others like their posts more often, so that more people will help you like their posts!

▶5. Research on the weight of likers

Directly from the official explanation:

Obviously, a like from a big V or a big shot in the same field is much more valuable than a like from a small account! Even if the number of likes is the same, if you ask for likes from a few big names in the same field, it will be more effective than asking for likes from 20 unknown people on Zhihu, and your answer will naturally be ranked before other answers.

What's more, when the big guy likes your post, your answer will appear on the homepage of the fans who follow the big guy. After the big guy's fans like it, the answer will appear on the dynamic page of the big guy's fans... In this way, fission will be formed, and the answer will be seen by more users like a snowball.

So how can you make high-profile influencers continue to help you?

My method is to set up a Zhihu operation group . First, I connect with high-authority, high-quality Zhihu account operators who are in the same field as you. After the group is established, you can comment on each other, discuss hot lists, discuss traffic , share experiences, and improve Zhihu operation skills together.

I will also regularly invite experts to share their highly praised experiences, and discuss with partners in different fields every day to solve the problems they encounter. Friends in the same field work together to increase their weight, and friends in different fields comment on each other.

This is exactly my original intention for operating this [Zhihu Operation Improvement Group]. It is not just a mutual praise group that will become depressing after use. And I can also exercise my community operation ability in this process.

▶6. The last point, of course, is the quality of your answer!

I won’t elaborate on this point. There are a lot of information in Qinggua Media. You can go and have a look at it to learn how to improve your answer writing, etc.

The above is my summary of the experience I have gained in operating a Zhihu account. I hope it will be helpful to you who are also operating a Zhihu account. If you have any comments or additions, please share your insights in the comments section at the end of the article.