Review of the Sanlian screen-sweeping case: 6 reasons for the success of the "Sanlian Red" screen-sweeping

On the first day of work on the seventh day of the Lunar New Year, I didn’t expect that the first wave of screen-sweeping at the beginning of the year would be about such an old friend who is particularly “non -Internet ” - "Sanlian Life Weekly".

As long as the quality of your circle of friends is not too bad and there are a few people who love reading, you will definitely see such a "Sanlianhong" viral poster. For 68 yuan, you can enjoy all of Sanlian’s high-quality content from the past 10 years, plus this year’s 52 issues of magazines and micro-courses. Anyone who knows what’s good won’t miss it.

As an old reader of Sanlian, I am undoubtedly excited and supportive of their attempt at Internet operation . I believe there are many people who have similar ideas as me.

As expected, the "Triple Red" became really popular this time, so popular that the server was even poisoned - because the event was too popular, the background was crowded and the functions could not be used normally, so the official had to close the purchase channel in advance.

Simple review

The communication path of this operation case:

The release was first released at 12 noon on February 22: Sanlian staff (high-potential media professionals) posted on WeChat Moments, Zhongdu service account posted, and Sanlian Life Weekly Weibo released the release .

Around 7 o'clock in the evening: Feng Dahui , who has inside information, and the well-known public intellectual Lan Xi published recommendations, indicating that major KOLs and operation masters have joined in, pushing the event to a climax.

Around nine o'clock in the evening: The already strained server finally collapsed under the high traffic , new users were unable to access the site, and the bonuses could not be credited in real time, resulting in the event not being spread further. This event was not banned by WeChat , which can be considered a blessing in disguise.

Cause Analysis

There are six main reasons why “Sanlianhong” can sweep the screen:

① Highly resonant crowd positioning

The main target group of "Sanlian Life Weekly" this time is the middle class and intellectuals, so this event is not designed in the name of "selling goods", but from the perspective of enriching themselves and improving knowledge, awakening the target audience's curiosity, desire to read, and desire to buy.

Another very important point is that this event is in line with the brand potential of Sanlian itself. In the "Sanlian Red" circle of friends, memories of reading and youth are displayed one by one. It can be said that sharing Sanlian activities is sharing a value attitude, which is itself a high-value social currency.

②Super value membership benefits

Behind the furor, I see the courage to cut off one's own arm. Sanlian Life Weekly has really gone all out this time, and it can be summarized with a simple price formula: "The price of two cups of coffee = 52 cultural celebrities reading + 10 years of past issues of Sanlian Life Weekly + 52 new issues in 2018 + 52 issues of interpretation by knowledge leaders + weekly selected book lists + lottery benefits".

Some paid knowledge lecturers can easily sell their lectures for 199 or 299 by just making a few PPT chapters and sharing some work experience. Also a leading domestic magazine, the electronic version of the neighboring "21st Century Business Review" costs ten yuan to read .

Sanlian cleverly realized that past issues of magazines were actually “sunk costs.” Although they had a good reputation, you couldn’t expect users to pay for outdated information. But if it is sold as a bundled benefit, I am afraid that wise readers will not refuse such a "freebie". Instead, it will awaken their desire to browse and purchase other services.

This time, Sanlian sacrificed its immediate interests to seek benefits for its readers and fully utilized the reputation of previous issues of the magazine, in fact, it was aiming at the broad prospects of knowledge payment. Such courage to cut off one's own arm shows Sanlian's determination in the transformation of the publishing industry.

③Refined community operations

Another highlight of this event is the use of group-building tools such as Jianqunbao and Qunfission to retain users in the community . On the one hand, this stimulates the enthusiasm of participants for secondary dissemination, and on the other hand, it is also a direct channel for Sanlian to communicate with users. Especially when the event was criticized for technical problems, the community immediately played the role of "customer service + operation and maintenance" and effectively alleviated the pressure of public opinion.

Of course, this way of operating the community is also "a last resort", because the entire circle of friends' communication chain and the main promoted "Zhongdu APP" did not form a closed loop, and ultimately had to use human flesh to harvest users. This is directly reflected in the download volume of "Zhongdu APP". One day after the event, Zhongdu ranked 294th on the App Store, with an estimated new download volume of 20,000 to 30,000. Of course, this is directly related to technical failures, but if the closed loop can be completely opened up, I believe the final drainage effect will increase exponentially.

I think no one can ignore the value of fans in the community. Especially for a community like this that gathers a group of intellectuals with high overlap and high verticality, its value is immeasurable. How to make good use of these communities and upgrade them from "like-minded groups" to "user groups" is probably another important mission for Sanlian in its future operations.

④A sense of urgency due to time limit

Sanlian Life Weekly, the least Internet-like magazine, is actually using limited-time sales and hunger marketing like Internet companies. The annual pass, originally priced at 368 yuan, is only available for 68 yuan during the Spring Festival. Because the purchasing activity was so popular, the official stopped the purchasing channel ahead of schedule and announced that the rights and interests of readers who had purchased the book would be protected to the greatest extent possible.

This is exactly in line with the old saying: Get up early to eat meat, get up late to drink soup, and don't get up hungry. Faced with the urgency of the shopping spree, even the young intellectuals can’t resist.

⑤Highly visually impactful viral poster

To be honest, I was attracted by the poster of the Sanlian event first, because it was so familiar, it was the well-known Sanlian cover - "Sanlian Red". This poster design has a hidden purpose, and this is the power of the "visual hammer".

In addition, the poster copy is concise and powerful, highlighting the main selling points without losing the sentimentality. In order to understand the preferences of the target readers, the operation team created as many as ten posters, conducted A/B testing among seed users , and finally screened out the best option.

⑥Distribution that must be mentioned

The event is so popular that distribution is a topic that cannot be avoided. It plays a key role in the cold start process and adds to the emotional marketing during the peak period of communication.

The membership benefits are 68 yuan, and distributors can get 50% profit. There is always a brave man under a huge reward. With such a great incentive, it is not surprising that users will take the initiative to spread the information for the second time. In fact, the operator has also created a special invitation ranking page, and the jumping of reward numbers further stimulates their adrenaline, making people unable to stop.

Of course, whether distribution involves violation of WeChat’s policies and rules is a huge hidden danger. Considering the previous incident where NetEase’s open operations course was banned, operators who want to adopt this type of distribution method should be more cautious.

The backstage is overcrowded, is Sanlian Zhongdu also "poisoned"?

But, I have to say that all the good memories and experiences about "Sanlian" were ruined by the poor product quality.

That’s right. As of the time I finished writing this article, the Sanlian Zhongdu APP was still busy with network traffic. It took more than 40 minutes to respond to my application to join the group, and the reward money for sharing has not yet arrived.

There is no doubt that in the fierce rush to buy, Sanlian Zhongdu’s servers were also “poisoned” and went on strike, and the programmer brothers had to take the blame again.

You could say that they were not ready for the sudden explosion of popularity, and Sanlian officials immediately apologized for not having a good emergency plan. However, operating an APP and conducting necessary product testing and stress testing before each activity is still a key indicator for determining whether an IT team is mature.

Since Sanlian Zhongdu’s technical team has already implemented the complex profit-sharing ranking system, why not spend a little time and energy to carefully test the product? Even if you use a third-party testing service like Google or Testin, it may cost some money, but the marginal benefits of quality assurance spending are increasing.

This time, Sanlian had more attitude than preparation. The early closure of the purchasing channel also caused them to end their business early when it was just starting, and they missed a huge opportunity to cash out. This is also a problem that traditional enterprises often face when transforming to the Internet - how can the technical support team and testing team avoid falling behind?

One of the conceivable solutions is to hire more SaaS companies for business support, like American companies do. As a long-time reader of Sanlian, this mistake is forgivable, but I also hope that they can use all resources to improve product quality and conduct thorough testing to ensure that similar incidents do not occur again.

Just as Sanlian wrote in its article to readers - "As a traditional media and cultural company, the transformation to the Internet is still a long and arduous road." I sincerely hope that more traditional companies will have fewer bugs and more screen-swiping; fewer accidents and more testing during the transformation process.

The author of this article @威特喵斯坦 is compiled and published by (青瓜传媒). Please indicate the author information and source when reprinting!

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