After reviewing Google’s “Guess the Painting” app, I found 5 reasons why it became so popular!

Traffic acquisition of mini programs has been the focus of Internet people's attention in the second half of this year, but many people probably did not expect that Google would be among the first few mini programs that became popular.

Yesterday afternoon, the editor’s circle of friends was constantly flooded with some “soulful paintings”. When I clicked on them, the first thing I noticed was the word AI and the fresh UI interface . I thought to myself, this is simply a breath of fresh air in the world of screen-sweeping paintings. After a closer look, I found that it was actually Google 's mini program. After playing it immersively for a while, I still found something unusual.

In order to let everyone better understand this mini program and how it obtains traffic, the editor will take everyone to review the screen-sweeping process of this mini program called "Guess the Painting Song" and try to analyze whether it is possible to replicate this screen-sweeping process?

How to play Guess the Picture Song?

Guess the Picture Xiaoge has nothing to do with music. Xiaoge is the name of the AI. This is how the game is played:

The user enters the page where they start drawing. The system gives them a word, such as "clock", and then they have 20 seconds to draw. During this time, the Guess the Picture app will keep guessing words based on your drawing (giving people the feeling that it is more anxious than you are).

After the guess is correct, the guessing will stop automatically without user confirmation and the system will not continue guessing.

When the AI ​​guesses the object in your picture, you will enter the next round

If the answer is not guessed before the time is up, the game ends.

So the game has some highlights, like it looks fun and it has AI elements. But the question is, are these enough to make it a hit? Why did it become so popular?

With these questions in mind, the editor interviewed Mr. Fan, a master in the growth of three classes . After playing, he gave the following feedback:

“The biggest attraction is the AI ​​robot recognition, which is also a highlight of the game, but I think the game is a bit difficult. I played it a few times and was disappointed. For example, when drawing a camera (who the hell knows how to draw this!), the game is not simple enough. Users just leave because they find it complicated. In addition, the viral setting is not good enough, and the setting/function of social relationship with acquaintances is not effectively utilized.”

Now I am even more confused. According to the general growth rules, this mini program does not seem to be popular enough, but it did it. In order to clarify this issue, we reviewed some of the functional features of the mini-programs that have been popular in the past, and on this basis, we looked at how the guessing the picture song became popular.

What are the characteristics of the “game-type” mini-programs that have been all over the screen in the past?

After more than a year of development, the landscape of top mini-programs has changed. Since the beginning of this year, the fastest growing mini-programs are no longer transaction-related mini-programs, but gaming-related mini-programs. After studying several fast-growing mini-programs, we found that gaming mini-programs that can gain a lot of traffic have the following characteristics:

Use strong social interaction to increase usage time

Many game mini-programs use social links among acquaintances in their settings to increase usage time. After all, with WeChat -based mini-programs, you naturally have WeChat friend relationships, which is a very important resource.

For example, in the Jump Jump mini-game that became popular at the beginning of this year, a ranking list was set up, and this ranking list was based on the ranking list of WeChat friends circle. On the one hand, the scores that users can get by playing the game are watched by their friends. On the other hand, friends can also compete with each other for a place in the rankings. Both of these points can stimulate users to continue playing the game. This is the use of social chains of acquaintances.

Viral settings: using strong social connections to drive fission

Viral marketing is an important factor in enabling mini programs to quickly gain traffic, so whether the game is "viral" enough becomes important. What does "sufficient virality" mean? It means that users are willing to spread the content spontaneously. For example, in a game like "Happy Landlord", if the user wants to continue the game, he must push the mini program to a WeChat group or Moments. Through this kind of sharing, users can get enough benefits, enough to motivate them to spread the message, and this is virality.

There are many other tricks. For example, if a user shares a game app to their friends, they can get equipment, or the game allows them to invite friends to form a team, etc. These are all ways to enhance the virality of the app.

Simple game

The game mini program Jump Jump has an important feature: simplicity. Just press the screen, there is no technical content. By lowering the threshold for playing the game, the target user base will naturally be expanded, and more people will naturally enter. So we find that games rarely involve the level of individual skills.

Since the game mini-programs with good traffic in the past mainly have these characteristics, let’s take a look at how “Guess the Picture Song” is doing?

In terms of strong social fission , it does not seem to provide enough virality. After sharing, users do not get any benefits. In terms of strong social enhancement of usage time, there is no ranking among friends, and no one knows how many words you have solved. Not to mention the difficulty of the game, the editor can't even draw a tornado. It's all tears if I say more. .

So, in the face of the screen-sweeping last night and this morning, we can't help but ask, what is the reason why this mini program can quickly and relatively continuously sweep the screen and gain traffic at a high speed?

What did Guess the Picture Song do right?

Throw out "high-end" concepts to attract users' attention

Google's mini program this time uses the concept of AI. The editor knows nothing about the mysterious power behind the word AI, but he can roughly understand: this is artificial intelligence ; this is the most cutting-edge technology.

Experiencing high technology itself is a big attraction, because "cutting-edge technology" is absent in daily life. In other words, cutting-edge technology is scarce for ordinary users. We often see booths in shopping malls allowing people to experience VR and AR technologies, and many people are eager to try them out. If you can access this kind of technology by just pulling down WeChat, I believe many people would be willing to give it a try.

We continue to break down the concept of cutting-edge technology. For users, cutting-edge technology means: positive + scarce. It is these two factors, and both of them are extreme enough, that can easily stimulate users' willingness to participate.

Of course, behind this is Google's technology and data accumulation. According to Google Blackboard, Guess the Picture Song is powered by a neural network from Google AI. The network is derived from the world's largest dataset of over 50 million hand-drawn sketches. If you only promote such a concept but fail to let users fully experience the cutting-edge technology in terms of user experience , the dissemination of the entire game will inevitably be unsustainable, and may even be criticized, resulting in a negative impact. Google's powerful technology ensures an excellent user experience for the game. Technology is sufficient to support users' gaming actions, which is the underlying logic for the success of this game.

Maximize "fun" to stimulate user use and sharing

The editor also shared this mini program because it is really interesting. There are many interesting points. First, the pictures I draw are very magical and nonsensical, which can basically directly answer questions like "How bad can a person's drawing be" on Zhihu. Second, my drawings can be compared with those of my friends.

Back to the mini program itself, what is interesting about this game?

The soul painting style is very funny. Many of my friends have created a long picture of all the paintings they made during the challenge and shared it on WeChat Moments. Almost every one of me will take a look at it with interest, because the nonsensical feeling of the soul-stirring style itself makes people laugh. In other words, the "content" of this mini program itself already has a certain funny quality. Combined with the feeling of the whole page, it makes it even funnier.

Take advantage of users' interest. Let me give you an example. Why did Weibo introduce so many big Vs in its early days? It was to use the influence of big Vs to enhance the influence of the platform. So what about this guessing picture song? Simply put, it uses the fun of users to increase the fun of the entire mini program.

When the editor was drawing the word "mermaid" in his circle of friends, he drew the "mermaid" in Stephen Chow's movie and posted a message on his circle of friends complaining that AI doesn't know much. Or during the painting process, many players will have a lot of creative ideas, and the mini program content provides ample creative space, which allows this mini program to successfully become interesting with the help of users' interest.

To sum up, in terms of fun, Guess the Picture Song is somewhat different from many mini-programs on the market, mainly reflected in: interesting content and form + leveraging the user's sense of humor. It turns out that if something is interesting enough and new enough, it is very likely to stimulate users to spread it spontaneously and increase usage time.

Using the user's desire to "show off" to achieve viral marketing

An important connotation of socializing is to show your good, humorous and talented side. We rarely see users sharing game mini-programs on their Moments, because users would think, what can I show by sharing this? Our common reading application software is actually able to show one's efforts to the outside world, or users are willing to share their efforts with friends.

When it comes to viral marketing, Guess the Painting Xiaoge did not use the usual method of using benefits to stimulate forwarding, but instead used the method of showing oneself, whether it is showing one's own fun or talent in drawing. In short, this sharing will make users feel that it adds points in impression management.

Build a good reputation and let KOLs spread the word spontaneously

This is not something that can be achieved overnight. In the eyes of many Internet companies or programmers , Google is a sexy, elegant, and even "high-end" company.

If such companies launch products, services or have any operational actions, they are willing to spread them spontaneously. It is the IP itself. In other words, Google is a company with a good reputation that can motivate users to spread the word on their own accord. Sure enough, after Google Labs released the news, many big Vs quickly forwarded it. For example, stormzhang, a famous Internet programmer, immediately published an article introducing such a small program and forwarded it to his friends circle. The article has now been read more than 20,000 times.

As the saying goes, slow growth leads to rapid development. The development of brand reputation requires long-term efforts at all levels. But it provides the most basic and solid support for the explosion of a product. In the past six months, the explosive growth cycle of mini-programs that have been popular on the Internet has rarely exceeded one day. Many of them have basically died out the next day, and no one has discussed what teams or companies are behind them.

But this guessing song is different. Many media articles even use "Google" instead of "Guess the Picture" in the title . The logic behind this is that Google is far more attractive than such a small program.

The copy resonates with users and encourages them to share

Google has an excellent user experience, which is my feeling after using this product. When you draw a picture and AI doesn't guess it, it will automatically generate such a picture.

Its text is: Everyone please judge for yourself, is what I drew XXX? Everyone ignores this one I drew. It was originally more of a tornado, but then it got a little out of control when it was struggling due to time. But when users fail, there is a great possibility that they will not accept the result and say, "I clearly drew XXX, but the AI ​​just couldn't recognize it." At this time, the copywriter should be judged by everyone and touch the user's heart. Once resonance is generated, it will naturally lead to dissemination.

Think about it, if this picture is replaced with other text, for example, "I failed on XXX words" or "What a pity, AI didn't guess XXX correctly", it will not stimulate users' desire to spread the word.

In addition, Guess the Picture Song has done a good job in localization. In other words, from the interface design to the copywriting to the choice of words, every detail is truly user-friendly. There is almost no cultural difference when using this product, and users will not realize that this is a small program developed by a foreign company.

For example, if Xiaoge can’t guess the picture you drew, the guessing word will be displayed as “What did you draw?” Such very localized and lifelike words do not seem deliberate at all. In terms of word choice, there are no items that are uncommon in Chinese life but common in foreign countries.

To sum up, I think that the success of Guess the Painting Xiaoge, although different from the traditional way of obtaining traffic, is more refined in many details. Compared with the crude ways of inducing fission and stimulating sharing, such as spending money and giving out benefits, Guess the Painting Little Song does a good job in copywriting, content presentation, and even UI design and other details. Its outstanding fun also makes up for the difficulty threshold of the game to a certain extent.

So, perhaps the next question we should ask is whether the success of Guess the Picture Song can be replicated?

Guess the picture song: My success can be copied

The success of Guess the Picture game has a lot to do with Google’s own popularity and brand influence. During the cold start , many reposts from big Vs and reports from many mainstream media played a certain role in the dissemination. However, many teams or companies cannot achieve influence in a short period of time.

But this does not mean that this screen-sweeping event cannot be replicated. For a mini program to become popular, the team’s identity is not the decisive factor. Every user spreads it spontaneously and it becomes popular. It is not because the team behind it is one of the world’s top companies, but because of the value of the mini program itself: it is profitable, interesting, useful, etc.

In fact, apart from the dimension of brand influence, other points can be learned from or even replicated.

Throw out high-sounding concepts and let users experience scarce resources. In this regard, it is not only AI that can be used. There are many cutting-edge and scarce things in the field of science and technology or other fields. Integrating these elements into mini programs allows users to experience new things, which I believe can attract the attention of a group of users;

Maximize fun. At this point, you can try to make the mini program feel like a "platform", give users room to use their imagination and creativity, and use their talents and sense of humor to make the mini program more interesting;

There are many ways to take advantage of users' desire to "show themselves". It can allow users to show their strength in the game, show their gaming skills, and even automatically generate short videos to let users show their gaming experience, etc. These are all feasible ways;

By working hard on the copywriting, you can gain insight into the user's psychology in every piece of copy. If the copy can help users express their true feelings, I believe it will greatly increase their desire to share.

The above is the reason why the Guess the Painting Song app has been so popular. I hope it can bring you some inspiration~

Author: Wu Si, authorized to publish by Qinggua Media.

Source: Three Lessons (sanjieke01)