How to plan a social event? Explanation of the steps to plan an event!

The article combines the author's own experience to conduct a detailed review of an event. Some of the practical methods and operational thinking are hoped to be helpful to everyone.

1. Project Background

1. User needs

(1) The spring recruitment has ended, and the autumn recruitment will start in more than a month. The 2018 product-oriented job-seeking graduates need to systematically build their own product systems during this vacuum period. Compared with the introductory training courses on the market, reading is undoubtedly the most convenient and cheapest method.

(2) Job seekers need to find a community with common interests to exchange product knowledge. However, most communities on the market are focused on sharing interview information and exchanging interview experiences. There is a lack of communities that aim to improve product knowledge and skills.

2. Team Profile

Team of 4

Yang Xin, the project leader, established his own small circle and was mainly responsible for planning the overall ideas, producing the copy for the traffic page and the activity page, publishing the tasks of the small circle during the activity, discussing the topics during the activity, and promoting the progress of the project.

Chai Yuxin, a project member, previously held a week-long reading event with the self-organized job-hunting community in April, the reading of " Product Manager Interview Guide". She was mainly responsible for the design of the activity page before the event and the release of daily tasks within the group during the event. She also designed the task cards throughout the event and was responsible for user research and improvements in the discussion session of the event.

Peng Jingfang, a project member, is mainly responsible for the design of the traffic page in the early stage of the event, and regularly discusses the screening and arrangement of KOLs during the event.

The self-organizing community operator is responsible for attracting traffic to the project, and at the same time provides guidance to the above three people on product knowledge and skills, builds a self-organizing ecosystem, and provides resource assistance to the project team.

2. Overall design ideas

Referring to the organization of community activities such as Li Jiaoshou , four key points were determined in the early stage, as follows:

• Mission of the event: Why we gather together to change
• Book list delivery sense: let participants have a sense of delivery
• Ritual design to better complete tasks and share, expand influence
• Design of feedback system

The details are as follows:

1. Sense of mission of the activity

Implementation method: Promotional copywriting

Why we get together——Let’s make a change together in June and build a product system

2. Book list delivery

This is mainly achieved through two points:

(1) Authority of the book list: We mainly use authoritative platforms or figures to endorse the books.

• Douban score 5 points or above
• Zhihu high vote answer
• Product offer harvester recommendation

These three points serve as our publicity.

(2) The systematic nature of the book list allows users to understand what they can achieve after participating in this event? You can build your product system. The specific implementation method is to read a book together on a weekly theme, and provide self-help recommendations based on different people's reading levels.

The four topics are product manager related, interactive design, operational knowledge, and industry trends. The specific book list is as follows:

3. Ritual Design

(1) Setting participation thresholds

We designed two sets of rules for comparison (you will see later that we adjusted the position and degree of comparison of the two sets of rules during the traffic generation phase, increasing the jump rate from the traffic generation page to the activity page by nearly 4 times).

• Rule 1: (At that time, I thought of putting this rule forward so that the comparison would be stronger) The fee is 20 yuan, as a comparison with Rule 2, and Rule 2 is the main focus.
• Rule 2: Generate a special reading card, then share it with your friends , ask them to help witness it, and then it will take effect if more than 10 friends like and witness it. The threshold is to collect likes and let friends witness it, which also serves as a way of fission. The benefits to friends are not taken into consideration here. If the benefits to friends can be increased, then the rules for collecting likes can require more.

(2) Invitation card design

Design points:

• Personalized, with the participant's own things, such as name, photo, WeChat name, avatar, etc. (Finally, based on the team's implementation method, we chose to use the platform to intercept WeChat user names and user avatars, but in order to facilitate sharing of invitation cards, we made concessions in this regard.)
• Hitting the pain point directly, "During the autumn recruitment, are you ready for the Internet war?"
• The design should be strong, the style and layout should be high-end and simple, so that users are happy to share
• As a traffic page, it successfully directs traffic to the event details page through copywriting and interface design.

(3) Daily check-in system within the small circle

(4) Daily reading schedule is published in the form of task cards

Design points:

• Which day (Is the countdown design better here, or is the positive timing better? This event uses positive timing. Can we count forward to which day in the early stage? How many days will be better to count down after the second week?)
• Today's task content
• Daily Quotes: For example, the second post of "Vegetarian Planet" is fixed as "The Quote of the Day", and the second post of " Sina Micro Reading" is fixed as "Daily Sign". It depends on the specific situation whether it is necessary.

The final product is as follows:

4. Feedback system design - how far am I from my goal?

(1) Participation and feedback: Free e-books for the first week

(2) Daily reading reminder system

• The next day's tasks (text + task card) will be announced in the WeChat group at around 11 o'clock the day before.
• At 7 o'clock on the day of reading, the small circle will publish the tasks for the day (text + task card)
• Self-organized job search community personal account sends reading reminders (text) every day'

(3) Make-up punch-in mechanism

It was not anticipated during the design phase, but during the execution phase, it was discovered that many users checked in after 12 o'clock. At the same time, as feedback for the featured items, a mechanism was introduced whereby one featured item could be exchanged for one make-up check-in.

(4) Weekly feedback

• Get next week's free eBook
• Generate the completed poster (since no suitable implementation method was found and manual work was too labor-intensive, this part was not done)

Poster highlights: This week you have completed 2 books and received honors... Goals to be completed...; You can make a process indication page with a progress bar, similar to logistics or company recruitment management.

• Organize high-quality content into weekly magazines and export them to the outside world

3. Introduction to the drainage period

1. Traffic channels

For target users , we consider their frequently used online channels as the drainage channels for our activities, which are as follows:

1. Self-organized job search community 17th and 18th product direction job search friends
2. The original users of the "Let's go, Product Wang" Xiaomi circle, but there are relatively few of them who are in the job-hunting stage.
3. Various 18-year job-seeking internal referral QQ and WeChat groups, such as BAT 2018 internal referral group
4. The target group’s circle of friends, birds of a feather flock together, the target group’s circle of friends naturally has many people of the same type, so we want to increase the number of participants in this event by sharing invitation cards as a fission method

The main sources of traffic were (1) and (4), but due to the lack of user source statistics tools , no detailed statistics were made for each channel. There were relatively few direct audiences in channel 2, and channel (3) was not promoted as a priority. In the future traffic generation process, more channels need to be selected in advance, and then a promotion plan needs to be made.

2. Drainage time

• The event was officially launched online for registration two days before the official start of the event, so the traffic generation time was 1-2 days before the start of the event. Due to the time schedule of the project team, there was not enough time left for warm-up.
• Regarding the time of posting, since the main traffic channels are the friend circles of self-organized job-seeking communities and related communities, as well as the friend circles of participants, combined with the peak time of friend circle activities, we chose 7-9 pm to focus on promoting the event.

3. Drainage carrier

Initially, we chose to create a page that included event information and registration information, and then used it for promotion and registration. But later I thought that there was too much content shared on WeChat Moments and it was not attractive. I happened to find that the platform MAKA can generate links or QR codes on the page, so I made two pages that can jump to each other. The single traffic-generating activity page mode was improved to a traffic-generating page + activity details page mode. The traffic-generating page is in the form of an invitation card. The implementation logic is to guide users to scan the QR code through the traffic-generating page to enter the activity page, read the activity page to understand the activity details, guide users to jump to the link to generate an invitation card, and share it to the circle of friends to form a closed loop.

Several specific design solutions are as follows:

• For the first version, just create an activity page and achieve traffic diversion at the same time. That is, sharing a link to your Moments.

However, considering that the link needs to be clicked by the user to be opened, there is an additional process from seeing the link to clicking it, which increases user loss. Moreover, after the link is shared, it is mainly text information, and the information that can be conveyed is less than that of pictures.

So we changed it to sharing pictures, but this picture was too long and covered a lot of information. After interviewing several potential users, they still found it difficult to finish reading it. So both sharing a screenshot of the long picture and sharing a link are not particularly good.

• The second version uses a single page to generate a QR code and URL link to achieve mutual jumps, from a single event details page to a "traffic page + event page" design

The original lead generation page was quite long and contained a lot of content. We simplified the content so that it could be read on one screen and was convenient for screenshots. So we had the third version of the lead generation page as shown on the right:

In the fourth version, it was found that when the invitation card with WeChat avatar and nickname was used as a drainage page, the personalized part could not be saved when the user saved the picture, but was left blank. If the user wanted to save all the pictures, the only way to do it was to take a screenshot. However, on the one hand, taking screenshots is more complicated than saving pictures directly, and if the screenshots are not processed, they will lose their beauty, which is not conducive to promoting user sharing. Therefore, the personalized part had to be removed and changed to a general invitation card.

So based on the above problems, the final draft of the drainage page is as follows. You can enter the activity page by scanning the QR code : the left side is the drainage page in the form of an invitation card. Users first see this page in the circle of friends, and then scan the QR code to enter the activity page on the right. Click on the activity page to generate a link with one click, jump to this invitation card page to generate an invitation card and share it to the circle of friends to collect likes.

4. Data-based improvements in the traffic flow process

The data of each link on the first day are as follows:

We created a funnel model based on the data from the first day, and on this basis, we made two improvements, which resulted in a significant improvement in the data.

We have made two improvements to the activity page, which has the highest bounce rate:

• The positions of the two rules were swapped, and the positions of Rule One and Rule Two were improved. On the first day, the paid plan was in Rule One, and on the second day, the sharing rules were placed in Rule One.
• Enhances the contrast between the two rules.

The paid rules were originally a comparison of the sharing rules, but the charge was only 20 yuan, which was not strong enough. After consultation, it was suggested that the two rules need to give users at least an 8:1 psychological expectation gap to achieve the desired effect. Therefore, the charge in the second day's plan became 50 yuan. (During the final execution process, someone paid 50 yuan, and we privately chatted and gave him a 30 yuan rebate, because we just wanted to test whether doing so would increase the bounce rate).

The two pictures above are the comparison before and after the improvement. The data of the second page after the improvement is as follows: UV increased by nearly 3 times compared with the first day

(2) According to estimates, the number of audiences on the first day was about 4,000, and the number of UVs in the end was only about 550. The conversion rate in this step was only 13.75%, which was relatively low in the entire process. The reason may be speculated that the first day's traffic-generating copy was very direct and strong, and the second day's promotional copy also made two improvements.
Since the audience on the first day was almost the same, the UV of the activity page was comparable, which should have played a certain role (this data cannot prove that the copywriting effect on the second day was better than that on the first day).

Two improvements to the text are as follows:

• The endorsement by Tencent hints at the value of the community
• Use data to endorse and emphasize the value of the activity

The comparison of the two days is as follows:

【First Day Copywriting】

I will meet the needs of group members and start a reading plan in June to supervise each other and have in-depth exchanges.

Combined with the comprehensive recommendations of the offer harvesters, for those product/operation graduates in 2018, it is crucial to read these four classic books again at this time to build your own knowledge system for the autumn recruitment interviews!

We will read together one topic each week in the order of product, interaction, operation, and industry. We have selected 4 classic must-read books and also provide 8 self-help books. This is the final accumulation period, let's work hard together in June! + Link to event promotion details page

【Second day copywriting】

Sharing some data from yesterday's event, with a reminder that registration will end in the last 3 hours. After our promotion yesterday, more than 500 people clicked on the event page, and 50 people successfully registered. As an event operation data, the conversion rate of 10% is quite good. Moreover, among those who signed up, about 1/4 received offers from Tencent, which shows that this is a relatively valuable activity for those who are new to the product. Therefore, in the last 3 hours of registration, we would like to remind you again that if you want to systematically build your own product system before the autumn recruitment, you are welcome to get on board quickly in the last short time. Here is the ticket + link to the event promotion details page.

The final number of applicants is as follows:

It can be seen that the proportion of sharing to the total number of people increased from 0.57 on the first day to 0.86 on the second day.

IV. Introduction to the activity period

1. The activity period is mainly divided into two parts

• First, complete the daily reading task and check in in the small circle
• The second is to have regular discussions in the WeChat group on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays to produce valuable documents.

Our activities are implemented through three channels: small secret circles, WeChat groups, and self-organized community personal accounts. According to their respective characteristics, the corresponding functions in the activities are as follows:

Small secret circle, reading check-in, and accumulation of high-quality content.

WeChat groups allow group members to communicate with each other and build personal connections; other hot issues can be discussed in real time to create a good learning atmosphere.

Self-organized job-hunting community personal account, timely feedback and response to questions not related to learning content but related to event organization.

2. Complete the overview

Five people completed the task, namely Lin Xiao, a koi named Li, H'u'lmes, Xingkong, and Zhou Miaoyi. We refunded the full amount as agreed and gave away the Axure video. In one month, we organized a total of 12 discussions, three of which were led spontaneously by group members, namely Mu Qiancang, Xiaodong, and Menchang, and the remaining nine were led by the operation team who collected topics.

3. Design of gamification tasks

In the early stage of the activity, we took into consideration the target group of this reading activity and wanted to release the message through a gamified way, so we set up task cards for daily reading plans. However, after a month, the style was not changed and it lacked novelty. In fact, it can be done in the form of 7-day check-ins a week, summoning a dragon, four weeks a month, and spring, summer, autumn, and winter themes.

4. The main problems encountered during the activity

The cycle is too long, user activity decreases, and as a continuous activity, once users fall behind, they are likely to leave later. There are two points where users are most likely to churn during the activity:

(1) You clock in overtime or forget to clock in on a certain day

In response to this type of situation, after the end of the first day, 68 out of the 110 participants checked in and met the requirements, so we introduced a supplementary check-in mechanism in a timely manner. The rules are as follows: Users can redeem one make-up check-in with one added feature, up to a maximum of three times. On the one hand, it can prevent user loss , and on the other hand, it can encourage users to produce high-quality content and get it featured. (However, the data shows that the number of users who clocked in on the second day was about the same as on the first day, at around 68 people. This shows that the make-up clocking-in mechanism was not very effective at first. Most of the people who did not clock in on the first day did not take the event seriously. It may be that the threshold was not high enough, resulting in a decline in user quality. Another reason is that Tencent’s endorsement on the second day attracted participants, but they were not there for the purpose of studying.)

(2) At the end of each week

Each week is equivalent to a small milestone, but after the week is completed there is no appropriate reward to enhance the user's sense of honor. There is a lack of positive feedback and no sense of completion ceremony, so it will affect the completion of the next week. Regarding this, the next activity should keep up with the pace of each week and launch new things in a timely manner.

5. Activity research and adjustment

Due to the limited energy of the operations team, a user survey was conducted during the implementation process to improve the discussion at 9 pm. By combining the unified data and the energy of the operations team, the following adjustments were made:

• The discussion time was changed from 9:00 pm to 10:00 pm every night (this is in another statistics)
• The discussion frequency increased from once a day to three times a week, and KOLs were introduced to guide the discussion for further decentralization.
• The discussion content has shifted from interview questions to specific product analysis and industry conditions, which is more conducive to expanding product knowledge.

6. Closing remarks and reward settings after the event

(1) Complete the shared reading and receive an AXURE video

(2) Prize setting: A total of 540 yuan in registration fees were received from 27 people (the registration fee on the second day was 50 yuan, and 30 yuan was returned). The payment of three people who completed the task has been refunded. The remaining 480 yuan will be awarded to those who actively participated in this event. The prize money is not much, and it can probably buy 2-5 e-books. The distribution is as follows (some have not been sent yet, and will be sent by tomorrow at the latest):

Total 480

• 15% for the three discussion groups, 24 each
• 35% reward to 5 people who complete the task, 6 each
• 40% reward will be given to the 5 people who have added the most points. The top 2 will get 20%, 48 each, and the 345th will get 20%, 32 each.
• Finally, 10% is left, and 48 will be sent to the group in the form of red envelopes to thank everyone who actively participated in this event.

5. Activity reflection

After the event, the four members of the project team conducted another review and discussed the highlights and improvements of the event.

The improvements are as follows:

1. Improvements during the drainage period

(1) Channels can be further expanded, and such activities can also be used to attract new members to self-organized communities. The main development directions are as follows:

• Various QQ groups and WeChat groups where recent graduates gather, such as Alibaba’s 2018 internal referral group and BAT’s internal referral group.
• The fission rules can provide a stronger contrast to further enhance sharing in the circle of friends and the audience. For example, the fee can be changed to 100 yuan for sharing and collecting 20 likes.

(2) Personalization of traffic carriers

To achieve this, we choose a platform that can generate personalized invitation cards and directly share them on WeChat Moments to generate our traffic page. For example, Qianliao can achieve this.

2. Expansion direction during the activity period

(1) The task card is designed as a game, which makes it more interesting.

For example, you can summon a dragon 7 days out of 7 in a week, and 4 weeks can correspond to the themes of spring, summer, autumn and winter. Completing the check-in every day can be exchanged for fragments, and completing the weekly task means collecting all the cards and the corresponding rewards.

(2) Improvement of timing rules

Previously, the timing was simply forward, which made the participants feel more pressured as time went on, which was not conducive to user completion. It can be improved into a flexible and timely rule, with the first half counting up and the second half counting down. At the same time, you can insert appropriate reminders, such as: "You have completed 20% of the reading task, keep up the hard work; you have completed 50% of the task, and it will take about 14 days to complete the remaining task; the last 20%, come on!" This type of reminder.

(3) Setting the duration of the activity

Combining with the previous activities, 5 days is too short and 30 days is too long. You can refer to the common improvement activities on the market and make it into a 21-day improvement plan.

(4) Improvements to evening discussions

The enthusiasm for discussion and participation in the event is not high, there is a lack of reward and punishment mechanism, the KOL guidance is not motivated enough, and there are many ideas for improvement.

• Release topics in advance to create expectations among users
• Try to organize reliable KOLs to conduct special discussions and output results, but KOLs need to be rewarded accordingly. Next time, try to give some substantial rewards in advance. (This is the last reward. Since the event is purely for charity and no external funds are invested, it is uncertain how much money will be left in the end. So next time, we will consider where the reward comes from and give it to participants who have contributed to the platform.)
• Use statistical tools such as Weiyou Assistant or mini-programs to count user behaviors in WeChat groups, such as activity and other indicators, to determine the direction of rewards and punishments.

Summarize

The article is quite long, but it contains a lot of valuable information. At the end, I will make a brief summary to deepen the impression:

(1) Planning a community activity requires considering the design of rules from four key aspects: the sense of mission of the activity, the sense of delivery generated by the participants, the design of the sense of ritual, and the design of the feedback system. If these aspects are well designed, not only will the conversion rate of new members during the lead-in period be high, but also the activity and retention during the activity will achieve good results.

(2) During the lead generation period, the focus is on collecting data, providing quick feedback, and iterating on the links with low conversion rates during the lead generation process.

(3) The organization of community activities must meet the needs of users to accumulate high-quality content, make friends and expand their network, and interact with operators. This can be done in the form of a three-way linkage among circles, WeChat groups, and personal official accounts. However, there is currently no particularly suitable product that brings these three together, and users can only switch between different platforms, which increases user costs.