30 things you must know about private domain!

Recently I discovered a problem, that is, many people’s understanding of private domains is relatively shallow, and many of them are even wrong.

I have systematically sorted out the following 30 correct understandings of private domains for everyone to learn and communicate.

It is divided into basic part (17 points) and in-depth part (13 points), as follows:

1. Basics

1. The private domain in a broad sense is the WeChat ecosystem, including WeChat personal accounts, public accounts, video accounts, communities, mini-programs, and enterprise WeChat; the private domain in a narrow sense refers specifically to WeChat personal account friends and enterprise WeChat friends.

2. Private domain refers to users that are directly owned by the brand and can be repeated and reached at low cost or even free of charge.

3. Private domain is not about cutting leeks, but long-term and loyal customer relationships. It is a one-to-one intimate relationship between enterprises and users that is constantly simulated through various contact methods in a one-to-many communication relationship. It is a mutual achievement between enterprises and users.

If most companies can understand this and continue to provide the ultimate service, their performance will probably not be bad.

4. The essence of private domain is connection, emotional interaction, trust, word of mouth, and people infecting people.

5. Private domain operation capability is an essential capability for enterprises. Private domain operation is the must-have battlefield for enterprises and the most likely sector for future business growth.

6.Why do companies need to do private domain?

On the one hand, the marketing reach of traditional CRM systems is now very inefficient. For example, the opening rate of text messages is only 0.03%, while the reach rate of social tools represented by WeChat is as high as 40%.

On the other hand, the online customer acquisition costs for companies are getting higher and higher, and companies have been kidnapped by platform traffic.

7. The essence of private domain is a kind of refined operation of users and is an inevitable result of the existing market.

8. The impact of private domains on consumers is much greater than you think. The 2021 China Private Domain Marketing White Paper demonstrates this from five aspects:

• High penetration: The penetration rate of private domain touchpoints in China has reached 96%;
• Strong stickiness: Chinese consumers spend nearly 6 hours on their mobile phones every day on average, of which nearly 1.5 hours are spent on private touchpoints;
• Easy to get used to: 42% of consumers have already developed the habit of using private domain touchpoints;
• Great influence: 74% of consumers said their consumption decisions are influenced by private content, with word of mouth and valuable information having the greatest impact;
• Transaction frequency: 79% of consumers have made purchases in private domains in the past year, of which 45% said they would increase their purchase frequency and 80% said they would share.

9. Consumers have been collecting rich content in private domains and frequently purchasing products. The 2021 China Private Domain Marketing White Paper provides four data:

• 96% of consumers have collected information in private domains;
• 83% of consumers have been inspired by content or had a profound experience in private domains;
• 79% of consumers have made purchases in private domains in the past year;
• 70% of consumers are willing to make repeat purchases in private domains.

10. Public domain operations rely on a company’s ability to acquire users, while private domain operations rely on a company’s ability to maintain users.

11. Private domains can not only sell low-priced products, but also high-priced products. It all depends on how you sell it and whether you know how to sell it.

12. We are currently in the period of private domain dividends, but when a large number of companies invest manpower, material resources and financial resources to develop private domains, the dividends of private domains will gradually disappear, which will be manifested in the increasing cost of acquiring customers in the private domain, and customers will be less and less willing to be added on WeChat.

This bonus period lasts about 1-2 years, so seize the opportunity. But even if private domain becomes a common term like new media, it still has immense value.

13. The industry segmentation trend of private domain operations is becoming more and more obvious, such as education, beauty, cosmetics, mother and baby, banking, supermarkets, real estate, automobiles, etc. The more vertical and professional, the better the understanding of customers.

14. The difference between novices and experts in private domain:

• Beginners seek speed, experts seek slowness and stability;
• Beginners focus on short-term indicators, while experts value long-term relationships, or even lifelong business, such as luxury cars and drugs;
• Newbies are more concerned about attracting new customers, while experts pay more attention to the subsequent refined customer management.

15. Two misunderstandings in corporate private domain operations: one is to expect to direct all users to the private domain; the other is to only focus on fission and diversion, but ignore retention.

16. Don’t blindly copy the private domain model of successful companies. Combine it with your own actual situation. Sustainable development is the hard truth.

17. If you want to systematically study the private domain, it is recommended to first split it into several dimensions, and then conduct modular research, such as IP creation, circle of friends operation, copywriting transaction, community operation, fission and new users, label management, enterprise WeChat, public domain diversion, etc.

2. In-depth

1. Good private domain content must have four elements:

• Motivation, that is, why you want to do this thing;
• Mission values, that is, what kind of mission you carry;
• Service standards, that is, what kind of service standards you want to provide to users;
• Continuous output of the first 3 points.

Only by achieving point 4 can you truly establish the IP and find a group of pursuers.

2. The enterprise private domain asset operation chain can be divided into two modes:

• Through user storage and maintenance, it effectively empowers third-party e-commerce platform flagship stores or offline stores, such as MINISO;
• Build a complete WeChat ecological closed loop and directly empower mini-program e-commerce, such as Perfect Diary.

3. How to determine which model is suitable for the enterprise?

If the company is just starting to develop its private domain and lacks traffic on third-party e-commerce platforms, it can consider the first model.

If the company's private domain is already relatively mature and has sufficient traffic on third-party e-commerce platforms, it is recommended to choose the second model.

4. The full-link operation of enterprise private domain assets can be divided into 8 parts, namely:

• Public domain attracts fans
• Hook add WeChat
• Build trust through posting in the circle
• Activities to create fission
• Do more retention
• Copywriting promotes transactions
• Tags for management
• Customer Segmentation

Each part is a touchpoint with users and requires refined operation.

5. The differentiation of a company’s private domain products and services can, to a certain extent, resolve business conflicts. For example, the differentiation between the Perfect Diary flagship store mini program and the Perfect Diary Home mini program.

The former only has star products and new products, with fewer SKUs than Tmall flagship store, and its operation and marketing activities are not as good as Wanzi Home.

The latter has Wanzishuo + live broadcast sections, more SKUs than the former, and uses the brand image of Abby's choice in the personal care field. At the same time, the latter is also the main battlefield for private domain sales, with very frequent store marketing activities and the largest discounts.

In addition, Perfect Diary has two mini programs, namely Perfect Pet Gift and Girlfriend Card Mall. Their main purpose is to welcome new users and guide new users to place orders on the mini programs through new user gifts.

6. The correct private domain KPI is not the number of friends, fans, interaction rate, or sales, but how many KOCs you have, how many users you have who help you produce valuable content, and how many super users you have who bring you 80% of your performance.

Therefore, you must spend some time to do detailed label management and customer segmentation for existing customers, spend most of your energy, budget, time, services, etc. on super users, find one or more touchpoints that customers care about and that the company can improve, and do this to the extreme, so that word-of-mouth communication can be achieved.

7. The most important thing in the private domain is to serve super users well and continuously build circle barriers.

8. Continuously polishing the ultimate service experience that makes customers want to post on WeChat Moments can bring self-sourced, sustainable and accurate word-of-mouth traffic to the company.

9. For founders, building high-potential personal IP is an important part of a company’s ability to break out of its circle and achieve rapid growth.

Gongzi strongly recommends that all founders and operators step out from behind the scenes to the front of the stage, share their life philosophies and values, share their stories with the brand, especially those painful experiences. Because pain can resonate with customers and is more inspiring.

There may be some discomfort or even pain in the early stages, but these are things that must be done. These are the paths that must be taken in this era and cannot be avoided. Only by constantly breaking through cognitive biases and comfort zones can you start a new growth curve.

10. Private domain operations must pay attention to more retention. On the one hand, it can improve the reach effect, and on the other hand, it can divert traffic to each other. Companies with a large number of fans and the need for brand promotion must deploy public accounts, such as MINISO.

11. If the company has multiple product lines, it is recommended to create professional personalities based on different product lines. In this regard, By-Health’s private domain operation case is worth learning from. like:

• Create a fitness expert persona for products such as protein powder, chlorophyll, and magnesium supplements;
• Create professional nutritionist personas for products such as fish oil and calcium tablets;
• Focusing on DHA for pregnant women, calcium for pregnant women, children's series of products, etc., we create the image of a winner in life as a mom.

12. Whether WeChat for Business is suitable for retail enterprises to operate in the private domain remains to be discussed, and the marketing function of WeChat for Business is relatively weak at present, which is not conducive to conversion.

If the industry in which the company operates has high requirements for credibility, such as education, finance, insurance, etc., it is recommended to focus on the layout of WeChat for Business; for other companies, it is recommended to use WeChat for Business as a traffic backup and auxiliary marketing tool.

13. About user thinking and traffic thinking.

If the company takes the high-end route, it is recommended to focus on user thinking, community → many people serving one person, giving users a sense of privilege and personalized services, such as luxury car drugs;

If the company takes the high cost-effective route, it is recommended to focus on traffic thinking, community → one person serves many people, and provide as many benefits and discounts as possible, such as Perfect Diary.

Author: Private Domain Zhang Gongzi, 6 years of private domain operation expert

Public account: Private Domain Zhang Gongzi