How can we create explosive content? You must read this article!

Why is it that when we see content from self-media big Vs such as Xin Shi Xiang , Toutiao , and Mimi Meng , we always can’t help but have the urge to forward it?

Why can the popular YSL Starry Lipstick and the one-yuan charity painting that went viral on Tencent Charity touch your heart and make you participate in discussions and forward them?

Why do articles on Toutiao and Ergeng have such high dissemination rates on major platforms?

How can we create explosive content? Today I will reveal the secret to you through three parts.

First, recognize the hot products and analyze the common features or attributes of those hot products;

Second, look for explosive points, create a formula for explosive content, and find those explosive points that are easier to achieve cold start and can spread the content on a large scale;

Third, the three practical steps for planning explosive topics and the implementation and execution of topic planning.

1. Know the hot items

Popular content has four characteristics: satisfying the "common denominator of human nature", amount of information, eye-catching headlines and emotional manipulators.

1) First, the “common denominator of human nature”

What is the "common denominator of human nature"?

The texts above the axis are all descriptions of a certain characteristic of human nature, and they are divided into two dimensions: privacy and sociability . The private aspects of human nature near the left side are relatively strong, such as greed, profit-seeking, laziness, and sex, which are actually human nature.

Everyone has these attributes to a greater or lesser extent, but because they are too private, most people are reluctant to discuss such topics openly, and people rarely actively spread them, so they are not social.

The human nature on the right is just the opposite. They are the more social ones and are topics that people are willing to communicate and spread.

For example, when it comes to entertainment, everyone likes to talk about gossip, entertainment, funny jokes, etc.; when it comes to emotions and showing off, the Yves Saint Laurent Starry Lipstick is a typical example; and when it comes to appetite, everyone considers themselves a foodie and likes to discuss eating and drinking.

Therefore, planning topics for hits requires insight into user psychology or human nature.

In October 2016, Yves Saint Laurent launched a star-studded lipstick. This lipstick is actually not much different in essence, but unlike other first-line brand lipsticks, this lipstick has gone viral on major social media .

There are no less than 10 related topics on Weibo with a reading volume of over 10 million, and the Baidu Index has also increased by 1,300%.

Moreover, it became one of the most successful cases in the marketing field in 2016. At that time, the soft articles customized for this lipstick were overwhelming, and many of them exceeded 100,000+.

The content dissemination of Xingchen lipstick can go viral in the circle of friends . In fact, there is an important point, that is, it cleverly combines lipstick with the relationship between men and women, as well as the psychology of girls to show off.

Buying lipstick for your girlfriend or not is equivalent to whether you love your girlfriend or not. This is equating lipstick with the relationship between men and women.

Some time ago, Tencent Charity launched an H5 where you can buy paintings for one yuan , and this H5 successfully went viral on WeChat Moments .

This case cleverly utilizes several "common denominators of human nature", including human compassion, sympathy for these autistic children, and the herd mentality. That is, when you see your relatives, friends, colleagues, and leaders around you forwarding this H5, it is actually difficult for you to resist the urge to forward it.

In addition, the threshold for interactive operation of this H5 is designed to be very low, and the experience is very smooth and simple. You only need to spend one dollar to buy a painting and your psychological needs can be satisfied.

This has enhanced the depth and breadth of its overall dissemination. This is what we call content that satisfies the "common denominator of human nature" and is content that can activate aspects of human nature with strong social attributes.

2) Second, the amount of information provided

On the one hand, these explosive contents should provide users with some new information, viewpoints or perspectives, but on the other hand, they cannot be too new or too unfamiliar, and must be connected to the user's existing knowledge accumulation.

That is, if the content you provide to users is too new, there will be a phenomenon of detachment and disconnection. It will be difficult for users to easily get your point. They won’t even understand it, let alone actively spread it.

In fact, the user's forwarding rate is closely related to the saturation of the information you provide to them.

If your content provides users with too much information, is too saturated, and too dense, then the cost for them to digest and understand it will be very high, which will make it difficult for them to get excited about your content.

But on the contrary, if your information is too watery and too diluted, then what you provide is information that users already know, some old clichés, nothing new, then there is certainly no way to stimulate users, and they have no motivation or reason to spread this information.

Therefore, when the information users obtain forms a map with the knowledge stored in their brains, they find happiness in this information.

This sense of happiness and excitement is a very important driving force for them to forward and spread content. This is also a trick we need to remember when planning topics.

3) The third one is a catchy title

In the era of paper media, such as newspapers and magazines, the only difference between the title and the text is the upper and lower position or font size, because on a newspaper or magazine, all the content is spread out, and you can see the text right after you see the title.

But the situation is completely different in the new media era. The content presentation in the new media era is a bit like a drawer, and your main content is hidden in the next menu under the title.

Therefore, the positioning of the title is very important at this time. It directly determines the life and death of your content, that is, it determines whether users can see your text.

So, how can you write a title that users can’t help but click on and forward?

In fact, different types of content require different types of titles.

It can be divided into two categories. One category is the practical article, which is actually an article that mainly conveys information. Users will acquire knowledge or skills through this content.

The other type is opinion articles, which don’t actually contain much information. Users can use them to express their own positions, or simply vent some emotions. These two types of content have their own different title patterns.

There are several key points in writing the title of a practical article, and you must pay attention to the credibility and objectivity of the logic.

For example, "500 million fans", "21 self-media bosses", "22 conclusions", "What to know in 10 minutes", "4 soul-searching questions to help you solve 80% of your problems" are some knowledge points distilled for users.

This will reduce their psychological burden in understanding the content. At the same time, these data will make your title appear more logical and objective, and easily attract people to click, forward or collect it.

For opinion articles, the format for writing titles of this type of articles is completely different from that of articles with practical content. Their keywords need to be emotions, stories, and black and white.

The five titles in the picture above are all from big WeChat accounts. From these titles we can see that these words all have obvious emotional preferences, and some even challenge common sense.

For example, "Be a woman who is difficult to get along with", their views are very clear, that is, they refuse to be very moderate and objective, and they must choose the black and white point of view, which is more likely to arouse everyone's emotions and resonance.

We will find that the more extreme the emotions are, the easier it is to find supporters. So, since it is an opinion article, you should avoid being bland when choosing a title.

4) Fourth, be an emotional trader

If we look closely at the content and events that have successfully gone viral, we will find that they all follow the logic of people’s emotional flow and are all inflammatory. This inflammatory nature is reflected in various aspects, such as the angle of the content and even some rhetorical techniques of the copywriting .

There was an article that became popular before. The title of the article was "Sorry, your parents can't give you a school district house worth 8 million yuan."

The article started with the topic of buying a house, which inherently carries with it anxiety, and used the pressure from parents to buy school district housing to successfully incite the emotions of a large number of users, creating a case that went viral.

The clever point of this article is that it is not just about the emotion of buying a house, but there are actually three factors hidden behind it. The first is buying a house, and the second is ethical education, including what kind of educational method you should choose to cultivate your next generation, which is also a very big point of anxiety.

The third is an implicit point, which is the middle class’s desire to travel. The world is so big and everyone wants to see it, but the reality is that they are struggling to pay off their mortgages or raise their children.

This article focuses on three anxieties of the middle class: buying a house, children's education, and the insatiable desire for travel. The collision of three emotions is the key to this article's screen-sweeping effect.

What kind of emotions are most likely to lead to the creation of a hit article?

Emotions are divided into four factors: positive, negative, high and low emotions. Among the four quadrants, ecstasy, happiness, enthusiasm, and excitement in the upper right corner are positive, high-energy emotions.

The calmness, joy, and tranquility in the lower right corner are also positive emotions, but their energy is actually relatively low, so they are positive low-energy emotions.

The regret, jealousy, inferiority, guilt, etc. in the lower left corner are negative emotions with relatively low energy.

Although the anxiety, anger, sadness, frustration, etc. in the upper left quadrant are high-energy negative emotions, they are often the most inflammatory and diffusive.

In recent years, the cases that have gone viral, such as Xin Shi Xiang’s " Escape from Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou ", Mimi Meng’s "To Bitch, Why Should I Help You", NetEase Cloud Music ’s subway, or many H5s that have gone viral, actually convey some kind of negative high-energy emotions, including the article we just mentioned "I Can't Give You a School District House for 8 Million".

They all convey negative, high-energy emotional content such as anxiety, anger, or sadness. This type of content is highly diffusible and is often more likely to become a hit.

Therefore, when we are planning topics and looking for angles, we can selectively take this emotional factor into consideration based on marketing demands and the characteristics of our own products and brands.

2 What is the formula for finding the explosive point and creating popular content?

In copywriting or new media operations , how can we efficiently find ideas and inspiration for topic selection?

Efficient topic planning can be carried out through four steps.

The first step is to pay attention. You need to maintain a continuous attention and high sensitivity to social psychology, popular culture, including some circle culture, even subculture and recent hot spots.

The second step is discovery. After we pay attention to so many things or so much content, we need to filter out the truly novel, conflicting, interesting or topical parts as alternative angles for our topic selection.

The third step is sorting, which is a very important step. The first two steps can actually be said to be the accumulation of materials, but whether they can be clearly sorted out determines whether we can really find a sharp entry angle.

Therefore, we need to conduct communication on these cultures, psychology and hot topics, and understand how they explode, ferment and spread.

We can't just watch the excitement, we need to see the tricks behind the excitement, that is, we need to understand its dissemination logic and imitate it.

The final step is refining. This comes down to the technical level. After we have clarified the angle, how do we present it clearly? This requires us to have solid writing skills and copywriting techniques to refine viewpoints, highlight key points, and carry out packaging.

So, what are the factors that influence social psychological popular culture?

1) First, micro-complaints

Micro-complaints are a common marketing topic that has become very popular in recent years. In the past social perspective, we felt that complaining was a very bad and negative thing.

But now with the rise of social media, it has reduced the psychological cost of complaining. You can send a message to your friends to complain about any small thing.

I complained in my circle of friends about my flight being late, gaining 5 kilograms, and even saying that the cafeteria gave me two less slices of meat at lunch. This emotion is one that everyone is very happy to discuss and share now.

2) Second, micro-anxiety

Micro-anxiety is also a technique often used by some smart marketers , in addition to larger anxieties such as buying a house and children's education.

The new generation still has many small or even micro anxieties, such as gaining weight, getting acne, having dark circles under the eyes, being forced to get married by parents, or quitting their jobs. These topics are very contagious.

Because they are harmless and can be used to make fun of oneself, people can easily share, discuss and spread them.

At the end of last year, Toutiao planned a short video documentary in which several self-media people talked about micro-anxiety, and users were also very interested in these topics.

For example, some self-media people quit their jobs directly from state-owned enterprises to do content development, and some self-media people were forced to get married by their parents but still insisted on starting their own business , etc. When users watch these contents, they will find it easier to feel involved and resonate with them, thus triggering spread.

3) Third, subculture

Subculture is also a part of social psychology, but it is still relatively niche.

People with this subculture attribute are often very active and love sharing in the communication chain. They are actually some of the fermenting seed users of sharing, so they are particularly worthy of attention.

For example, a lot of two-dimensional content and a lot of popular culture are derived from some subcultures. Videos like ghost animals that are extremely demonic and brainwashing are more likely to spread like viruses .

There is also the sad culture that has been very popular until now. In fact, it is because many young people have discovered that the truth of the world may be decadent. They don’t like the kind of positive energy chicken soup. They prefer to treat life in a lazy, self-deprecating or self-deprecating attitude. They feel that this will be more real and easier to resonate with them.

After gaining insight into the popular psychology of society, how should we provoke or detonate these mentalities?

In fact, it is difficult for us to achieve large-scale dissemination by relying on only one planner or one organization. At this time, we need to activate the power of UGC , that is, the power of users and the power of the masses.

Let the content provide users with an outlet for their emotions, or become an expression of their attitudes. This will actually make it easier to mobilize their power and add some external influence to our communication.

Xin Shi Xiang has recently been very fond of initiating discussions on this kind of topic, collecting a large amount of material from fans and compiling it into an article. The number of readers of this kind of article is often very considerable.

Mimi Meng is also using the same method. You will see that she often and regularly asks fans for stories with limited themes, and then uses them as material for her own content.

Because they know that this kind of UGC content from users is more likely to resonate with most people because it is real.

For example, Xin Shi Xiang once shared "1,600 names and the stories behind them", "We collected 2,000 farewells", "What 4,000 people hid from their loved ones"...

These are actually some very small stories, and they really happened. After reading them, it is easy to find the part that belongs to you.

First of all, the quantity is large enough. It collects hundreds or thousands of them, so many people can actually find the part that resonates with them. This will easily make them want to forward it.

3 Three practical steps to plan explosive topics

1) The first step is to discuss topic planning from the perspective of the content itself

First of all, as an excellent planner, you should have three qualities:

The first is that you must have clear logic, which means that every time you select a topic or make a plan, you must know what your purpose, goal, and feasibility are.

This is a critical factor in determining whether your entire plan can achieve the expected results.

The second is to have a global perspective, which means that you should have a global map of content dissemination in your mind. You need to know how to control the rhythm of dissemination, how to cold start, how to ferment, develop and end, how to choose channels , control channels, and how to achieve the best dissemination effect.

The third is writing skills. Once you have an idea and a plan, the specific execution, from the selection of topics to the number of words in each title, the layout of each paragraph, and how to end it, all are very important.

These words will affect your communication effect, the opening rate of your title, the completion rate and bounce rate of your article, etc., which actually have a very direct impact on your communication effect.

Planning also requires some specific practical skills, including the skills of topic selection and the skills of sorting out the logic of the article.

The perspective of topic selection can actually be summarized in one word called "three highs", which means that your topic must meet three characteristics to have the potential to become a hit.

The first is high, with high relevance to daily life.

"People care far less about refugees in Africa than they do about a dying squirrel on their doorstep." -- Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg

In other words, people tend to pay more attention to things around them and that are highly relevant to their lives, and they are more concerned about them. They are also very willing to discuss or share things around them.

So if we consciously follow this rule when planning topics, the probability of our content becoming a hit will be greater.

The second highest is the high relevance to the target population.

This involves the analysis of the target population we mentioned earlier. Different groups of people must have some fixed topics that can touch their nerves, and they are very sensitive to certain fixed topics.

In fact, the article mentioned earlier, "I Can't Afford 8 Million for School District Housing," actually captures the topic that the middle class is very concerned about: buying a house, children's education, travel, etc. The middle class was instantly excited when they saw this article.

There are three aspects to dividing the population. The first is the middle class. What topics are they interested in? Housing prices, promotions, marathons, fitness, etc., discussions and some renovations on these topics are actually very easy to attract the attention and spread of this group of people.

Another example is the student group. They are relatively vague and are very interested in entertainment-oriented topics such as emotions, flirting, and zodiac signs. Employment, job hunting , canteens, grilled wings, etc. are also some of their focuses.

The third group is the mother-to-child group, that is, the mother group. They are a more pragmatic group of people. They usually pay attention to topics such as overseas shopping, purchasing agents, complementary foods, and early childhood education. If you write content in this regard and have these keywords, it will be easier to remind these specific target groups to pay attention.

3) The third highest level is the correlation with recent hot topics. This can also be called taking advantage of the situation and riding on the popularity.

There are three rules for taking advantage of the situation. The first one is that you have to react quickly, which is the foundation. At the same time, you also need to explore the topic and provide users with some new information to stimulate them to forward and spread it.

Another thing is to highlight the characteristics of your brand. You should not take advantage of the popularity just for the sake of it. Don't attract useless and ineffective traffic .

If your content is not related to the brand, or has nothing to do with your brand or product, no matter how high your readership is, it will have no practical value for your promotion or marketing. These are the three points we need to pay attention to when leveraging the momentum.

So how do we sort out the logic of topic selection? You can use the pyramid principle , which is a classic and easy-to-learn method. It is also a writing tool that McKinsey has been using.

There are three key points when using a pyramid chart:

The first is that you should put the information you most want to convey as the conclusion at the beginning as much as possible, so that it is clear at a glance and its importance is highlighted.

The second is that you must find at least three reasons to support your conclusion. Too few will not be convincing. One thing that needs to be mentioned here is that it is best not to have too many reasons, and try to keep it within seven. If there are too many reasons, the user's brain will not be able to remember them, and the efficiency of information transmission will be compromised. So the minimum is three and the maximum is seven, that's the range.

The third is to learn to summarize and classify, so that your information can be packaged in the user's mind like a box.

This is already the structural outline of a product soft article. The top is the title, the three reasons are the three subheadings, and the secondary reasons are the main points of the content description.

So if we can use the pyramid chart skillfully, it will be easier to write soft articles with very clear structures, and it can also greatly improve the logic and persuasiveness of your content.

2) The second step is to identify the explosive points and achieve a cold start.

The first step is to discuss topic planning from the perspective of the content itself, and the second step is actually to reversely deduce our content planning from the perspective of communication. After all, our goal is to create explosive topics, so we cannot discuss content in isolation from the perspective of communication.

When it comes to communication, we cannot ignore the characteristics of current large-traffic platforms.

Different media platforms have different content distribution mechanisms, which we must understand. This is also an essential skill for us to create content and operate in the new media era.

How should we utilize the platform's mechanism to successfully achieve the cold start of our content?

Currently, various media have three information distribution mechanisms. The first is the manual editing system used by traditional media and portal websites.

Because media space was limited in the past, editors would use their professional vision and sensitivity to content to select content. They would choose content that the general public would be more interested in and give it a better display position.

The second is social distribution, such as WeChat, Weibo, etc. On social platforms, content that meets the "common denominator of human nature" mentioned in the first part and has strong social attributes can be easily spread.

The third one is the machine distribution and algorithm distribution mechanism that has become more popular in recent years. It is represented by Toutiao. UC and Penguin accounts all use this mechanism for distribution. Different content is recommended to different groups of people, and the information each person sees is different.

WeChat's reading mechanism is a subscription mechanism, and its distribution is social distribution. The dissemination of content is very dependent on our social chain. Therefore, the most important thing about creating content in the WeChat ecosystem is to get users to forward it actively.

For example, the public account "Ergeng" has two completely different title styles when operating on different platforms, which increases the dissemination rate of its content.

3) The third step is to control the entire communication rhythm.

This is a very important step in creating explosive content.

Two or three years ago, when we were working on a communication plan, it took a very long time, divided into a build-up period, a warm-up period, a detonation period, a continuation period, etc. A slightly larger project would take two or three months of communication.

However, new media emphasizes short, flat and fast, short cycle and high volume. After a very short cold start, it quickly enters the detonation period, and then enters the continuous period which is actually also very short. In other words, the time interval between one hot spot and another is very short.

For today's users, there is simply too much new information and it is simply overwhelming. If you follow traditional steps, your content will soon be forgotten and you will waste channel resources. You will not be able to concentrate the power of your channel to detonate a piece of content.

4 Conclusion

Finally, this sharing will mainly explain how to plan explosive topics more easily from three perspectives.

The first is how to analyze popular content. They have some common attributes and rules, including four key points:

1. Your content must conform to the "common denominator of human nature". Look for content that can influence the largest number of people and increase the base number of people affected by your article.

2. Your content should have a moderate information density. Do not give users content that is too old, nor too new. Your content must be somewhere in between these two, so that users have the urge to forward or spread it.

3. You need to give your content a good title. The title plays a very important role in the new media era. It is an influencing factor that determines the click-through rate of your article.

4. Your content should be an information manipulator. You need to find content that satisfies users' emotional catharsis needs. This kind of content, with negative and high-energy emotions, is actually the most likely to cause widespread dissemination.

The second is to look for explosive points, that is, we need to find the explosive contents, where they come from, whether they come from social psychology or popular culture, etc. This requires us to pay attention to and analyze the hot events in daily life, as well as the popular social psychology culture.

The third is to implement our ideas and plans well in the actual steps, which requires us to practice repeatedly, so that we will not just stay at a knowledge level.

Hope it helps!

Source: Mantou Business School