Looking at "Dying to Survive" from the perspective of social media operations, how did Xu Zheng become rich by selling drugs in QQ groups?

Since its preview, the reputation of "Dying to Survive" has soared, breaking the 1 billion mark in just 4 days of its release.

Yesterday, I also went to the cinema to join in the fun. This movie , which has a score of 9.0 on all major websites, is indeed far better than some of the cult movies.

As an operator , I noticed a plot in the movie: Cheng Yong went through hardships at the beginning, but did not sell a bottle of medicine. However, after opening the channel of Liu Sihui, the medicine was instantly in short supply.

From an operational perspective, this is a real-life community operation case.

one,

The hero of the movie, Cheng Yong (played by Xu Zheng), was a middle-aged man who made a living by selling men's health products. Because of domestic violence, his wife remarried and his son was raised by his wife.

Cheng Yong had long been accustomed to the days of poor business, until Lu Shouyi (played by Wang Chuanjun) came to him and asked Cheng Yong to buy Gleevec for him in India. And tell him that this medicine has the same effect as the genuine medicine, but the price is 20 times lower, the market demand is huge, and this will be a huge business opportunity.

But Cheng Yong still rejected Lu Shouyi's request because he was well aware of the dangers of smuggling.

However, the pressure of reality forced Cheng Yong to embark on the path of drug smuggling. His father suddenly fainted and was diagnosed with a hemangioma, which required urgent surgery, but he didn't have that much money. On the other hand, because he couldn't pay the rent, the landlord locked his shop.

Under heavy pressure, Cheng Yong called Lu Shouyi and agreed to "bring" Gleevec back from India.

However, after actually starting to sell medicine, Cheng Yong discovered that selling medicine was not that simple.

The first place Cheng Yong and Lu Shouyi went to was the hospital. They started at the hospital registration desk and were rejected without exception. He then raided every corner of the hospital, doing one-on-one door-to-door sales, but still ended in failure and was chased out by the hospital security.

They also went to places where leukemia patients "gathered" and knocked on doors to sell medicine. Despite racking their brains and talking their mouths, they were either ignored, scolded directly, or driven away.

After working so hard for most of the day, they didn't sell a single bottle of medicine!

Did they do something wrong? In fact, there is not much. There are even many things worth learning from them.

First, they chose places where the target group was highly concentrated. Whether it is a hospital or a place where leukemia patients "gather", there are highly concentrated target users , and the probability of success will be higher than other places.

Secondly, they grasped the pain points of users’ needs—wanting cheap medicine. When selling the medicine, there was no foreshadowing, and the following key information was directly emphasized:

"Indian Gleevec 5,000 Yuan"

"Specialized in treating leukemia", "Very cheap"

“You used to eat one bottle, but now you can eat 7 bottles.”

Furthermore, when selling medicine, Lv Shouyi always emphasized:

“I am a patient myself, I have eaten it”

"The effects are the same. Why don't you try it?"

“This is what I eat myself.”

Try to gain trust with your own experience.

However, these "effective" promotions of his were rejected very decisively by users!

If I were the user being marketed to, I wouldn’t buy it. Because I can't be sure whether this medicine is real or not. Even if it is real, I can't be sure that if I pay the money, they will give me the medicine as agreed.

two,

After encountering the dilemma of not being able to sell the medicine, Cheng Yong was very angry and felt that Lu Shouyi was a liar.

At this time, Lu Shouyi thought of a crucial person-Liu Sihui (played by Tan Zhuo).

The turning point came with the character of Liu Sihui, because she was the group leader of the Sixth Hospital's patient group, and more importantly, she knew the group leaders of all patient groups in Shanghai.

At this time, Liu Sihui became the key link in their opening up of channels. Cheng Yong and Lu Shouyi also put in a lot of effort to convince this key figure.

In the movie, Cheng Yong was waiting outside the door, and it was Lu Shouyi who went to persuade Liu Sihui, because Lu Shouyi already knew Liu Sihui, and also because Lu Shouyi was also a leukemia patient.

The logic that Lu Shouyi used to persuade Liu Sihui was this: cheap price → exactly the same efficacy → I have taken it → your daughter can try it → promote it in the group. Let the other person know what benefits she can get first, and then tell her what her needs are.

Of course, this "altruistic" approach ultimately ends up being "selfish", it's just that it's "altruistic" first and then "selfish". Jack Ma has always emphasized "take a long-term view, use an altruistic approach, and do things that benefit yourself!" If you let others see the benefits first, see what they can get , then the probability of being rejected will be much smaller.

three,

When they met again, Liu Sihui brought the group leaders of all the patient groups in Shanghai. Cheng Yong was a little flustered as he had never expected so many people to come.

After all, no one appreciated his help in the beginning, but now these people came to him on their own initiative, and he immediately changed from a greasy middle-aged uncle who was looked down upon (his ex-wife and brother-in-law looked down on him) to "Brother Yong" in everyone's mouth.

The medicine is still the same medicine, the price is still the same price, but everyone is willing to buy it!

Moreover, with almost zero cost, Cheng Yong and Lu Shouyi attracted a large number of precise user groups through QQ groups, which shows the important role played by QQ communities .

Since we have become a group with related interests, we need to establish a set of rules that everyone follows.

Cheng Yong said:

"We will sell like this from now on. The principle is to keep a low profile. If anything goes wrong, no one will be able to recover."

We can also understand it as community rules, the purpose of which is to establish long-term goals and values ​​that are commonly recognized by everyone.

Of course, such a group consensus is based on the "threat" that "if something goes wrong, no one will be able to take action", which reflects the inequality in the status of merchants and users, with merchants being obviously more powerful. The user obeys this rule only because he needs something from the merchant.

After opening up channels with the patient group, the drugs began to be in short supply.

Cheng Yong realized that he needed to find someone who could speak English so that he could contact the Indian pharmaceutical factory owner and obtain the qualification to be a pharmaceutical agent. Lu Shouyi recommended Pastor Lao Liu to Cheng Yong.

This time, Cheng Yong became smart. He took the initiative to ask Lao Liu to help sell medicine among Christians. Lao Liu has a wide network of Christian contacts, and like Liu Sihui, he quickly brought more users to his friends.

Since then, Cheng Yong and his small team have ushered in a good day of making a lot of money! (The subsequent plot will not be repeated)

Four,

From repeated failures in the beginning to later supply exceeding demand and huge profits. The most fundamental change is that they opened up the QQ community as a breakthrough point and made good use of the advantages of the community.

What is their social media operation strategy?

The first is differentiated operations for users.

Lü Shouyi, Liu Sihui, Meng Hao, and Pastor Liu played dual roles in the film, both medicine sellers (operators) and medicine buyers (users). As users in the leukemia patient community, they are the core user group, and Cheng Yong charges them 3,000 yuan per bottle of medicine.

As for other group owners, they are "local opinion leaders" in the community and can influence the fan groups they cover. Cheng Yong gave them a 20% discount on the medicine (4,000 yuan).

Ordinary users will need to bear the full price of 5,000 yuan per bottle.

This arrangement is easy to understand. The greater the user's contribution value, the more rewards he can be given to motivate him.

Secondly, community classification combines product and user positioning.

At the beginning, these groups were divided according to regions (based on hospitals), and each group owner was in charge of the patient group in his own hospital. When it comes to officially selling the drugs, they are still organized into hospitals, with one representative coming to pick up the drugs.

From a product perspective, because the drugs they sell are banned drugs, they need to ensure the secrecy of their operations. If every patient comes directly to Cheng Yong to get the drugs, the possibility of being discovered by the police will increase.

From the user's perspective, QQ groups are created based on hospitals to facilitate representatives from various hospitals to come and pick up medicines, and then return to the hospital to distribute them to everyone.

The next step is to use the community to achieve exponential growth.

The fission case of using social networks to increase user growth actually happened when Cheng Yong sold medicine for the second time.

In order to treat more people (and gain more users), Cheng Yong said to Liu Sihui:

“Can we still contact the patient groups in other provinces?”

Liu Sihui used the QQ group (community) under her jurisdiction to carry out large-scale user expansion. When she sent a message to everyone, she said: I hope that all patients will actively forward this message within the patient group, and contact me as soon as possible if anyone needs it.

This viral spread quickly attracted users to spread the word, and the number of users grew explosively. Of course, this growth effect is also based on "price of 500 yuan", "same efficacy", "user trust" and "strong relationship communication".

This operation is the same as the fission we are talking about today in terms of underlying logic, except that nowadays some external benefits are needed to carry out fission, otherwise people are unwilling to carry out secondary dissemination.

For example: In Alipay ’s bonus activity, if you invite a user to receive a red envelope and make a purchase, you can get two bonuses. The more invitations you make, the more rewards you get.

Ele.me has launched a rewarded red envelope for recommendation. If you invite a new user to place an order, you will receive a 5 yuan cash red envelope. The more users you invite, the more rewards you will get.

five,

"Dying to Survive" is indeed a very good movie. Just as there are a thousand Hamlets for a thousand readers, different people will have different interpretations of "Dying to Survive".

When selling drugs for the second time, Cheng Yong's motive was no longer for money. His behavior was noble and great, and should no longer be measured from the perspective of commercial interests.

Analyzing it from the perspective of community operation is just my interpretation as an operator.

At this point, let's review the operational knowledge involved:

1. Market research is required before operating a product . Lu Shouyi convinced Cheng Yong from the perspectives of "low price, same efficacy, and large market", which actually proved the feasibility of this product.

2. Operating a community requires establishing long-term goals and values ​​that are commonly recognized by everyone, and increasing everyone’s dependence on the community.

3. Implement differentiated operations for users and establish an incentive system of "more work, more pay" and "more contributions, more discounts".

4. Classify communities, but specifically by region, interest or other factors, based on products and users.

Author: Operation Research Society , authorized to publish by Qinggua Media .

Source: Operation Research Society (ID: U_quan)