Vice President of Product at Lizhi FM: Sharing of experience in operating UGC products
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A UGC platform is an ecosystem. To develop sustainably, all links and links need to be healthy. 1. About Lizhi FM Lizhi FM is a podcast application that integrates recording, editing, uploading, listening and downloading. Founded in 2013, it not only saves the tedious preparation and operation of creating a podcast, but also lowers the threshold for creating podcasts from professional DJs to ordinary users, giving everyone the opportunity to create their own podcast channel. As our slogan says, "Everyone is a podcaster." Currently, Lizhi FM has 200 million downloads and 80 million users, and its daily active users now exceed 5 million. The user base of podcasters on Lizhi FM has exceeded 1.8 million. 2. Cold start of UGC products The difference between UGC and PGC UGC (User-Generated Content) is user-generated content. It is a content source relative to PGC (Professionally-produced Content). The difference between UGC and PGC lies in whether their content is authoritative and professional. PGC will neither be replaced by UGC nor be indispensable. I believe that the future direction is that among the massive amount of UGC content, the top content will stand out and continue to gain recognition from users. Who are our content producers? How did we find the first batch of anchors to produce content? We conducted research using crawler technology before 2013 and found that there were only more than 2,000 Chinese podcasts on Podcast and Douban, of which about 500 were active and continuously updated. Among this group of people, everyone has a podcast dream, and they all persisted in it based on their hobby and have persisted for many years. In the past, the threshold for making an online radio program was very high. The host needed to set up a recording studio at home and learn how to use audio editing software such as Audition to edit, dub, and mix. Then rent or buy a server to store the programs, and finally find channels to promote your own programs. Therefore, we want to use technical means to lower the threshold for podcasts, so that more people who have podcast dreams can participate and showcase their voices and talents on the Lizhi platform. How to attract content producers to join So how do we get these anchors to come to Lizhi FM? The answer is to find the anchor’s pain points and solve their needs. Paid Podcast Services In the past, podcast hosting services were all charged, and most of them were provided by foreign servers, which required a VPN, making them slow and difficult to operate. At the same time, you will also need to apply for a credit card to pay. To meet this demand, we launched a lifetime free podcast hosting service. The hosts use our podcast management platform through this service, and then upload, share, and view the program data and effects through the platform. After Lizhi FM provided the anchors with a professional service platform, they took the initiative to stay. The podcast circle was very small at the time, but it spread quickly and not only influenced online podcasts, but even hosts of traditional radio stations started to start podcasts. The threshold for recording production is too high Then, we solved the pain points of the recording tool through the APP. In the past, recording programs was very difficult. To record an online radio program, the host needed to set up a recording studio, learn professional audio processing software such as Audition and CoolEdit to edit, dub, and mix, and rent or buy a server to store the program. Finally, he had to find channels to promote his program. However, Lizhi FM can solve these problems with an APP. We have spent a lot of time on technical optimization of our recording tools in terms of mixing and noise reduction, so that the recording effect on mobile devices can be comparable to that of recording and editing with professional microphones. The hosts found that the effect was very good and there were listeners, so they naturally stayed. The first batch of seed users The product’s initial cold start and 1 million seed users came from our WeChat official account . We originally wanted to verify whether the audio product direction was feasible, and it happened that WeChat launched the official account . At that time, there were very few official accounts, so we chose the official account for the experiment. We selected the 500 most active Chinese podcasts at the time, discussed the content, and put the programs on the official account. Users could listen to the programs by entering keywords, or by sending the number 1 to listen randomly. The general public found it very novel that they could listen to the programs on the official accounts. The hosts were also very excited and started to spread the news themselves. At that time, we also managed to become one of the first public accounts to access the bottom menu function, and then through the H5 page listening method, we triggered the first wave of growth. The official account gained 1 million subscribers within 3 months through dissemination. After we launched the app, this group of loyal fans continued to follow and are still active on the platform. In this process, the product direction was verified and the problem of product cold start was solved. 3. How to improve the quality of UGC content After having the first batch of seed users, our key point is how to control the quality of product content in the early stage of product production. We have always believed that quality is more important than quantity in the early stages, because high-quality content can be spread quickly, bring about word-of-mouth effects, and give new users a high-quality first impression. The 500 podcasters we introduced are all elite hosts in the industry. They are able to produce high-quality content themselves. We have professional producers to help them plan and package them according to their respective strengths, allowing them to play a leading role as models. Our idea is to provide a platform for the anchor to showcase his talent and manage his fan base, that is, the community . Our UGC model is to release the top content so that more listeners can learn and participate and then become anchors. In terms of guiding strategy, the first step is to lower the production threshold so that a program can be recorded on a mobile phone. Listeners can submit articles to the host, and the selected articles can be broadcast in the program and used as materials. It is very important to cultivate the creative ability of the anchors. We have also established a podcast academy mechanism, inviting elite anchors to teach classes, which are divided into different courses. The instructors will teach pronunciation practice, Mandarin practice, content planning, use of recording equipment, post-production, etc. 4. How to solve the distribution of UGC content Now that we have the content, we need to try to distribute it. The difficulty lies mainly in how we recommend high-quality content to the right users, which was very difficult under the recommendation mechanism at the time. In the early stage, we adopted a method that combined rankings with intelligent recommendations, and now we have also added manual recommendations and local LBS (LBS: location-based service) methods. Our charts are divided into hot charts, newcomer charts, musician charts, etc. We have also expanded many charts to solve the distribution of our top content. In terms of intelligent recommendation, based on the collection of users' playback, subscription and other operation behaviors, we analyze them through precise algorithms and use the generated data to prioritize and recommend more content that suits users' interests and hobbies. While helping users discover good shows, it also increases the exposure of these podcasts. Precisely because of the personalized recommendations, a large amount of user behavior is collected and machine learning is performed, and the content fed back to users will be different. In terms of manual recommendations, we now have dozens of editors working on this, and they are very sensitive to content and voice. They listen to many programs every day to find high-quality content on the platform and recommend them to the homepage and various channels. The function of local LBS is to solve the long-tail content. UGC is prone to the long-tail effect. We use this function to solve this problem and distribute it effectively, allowing more podcasts that exist underground to be exposed. Manual recommendation We have found dozens of editors who are very sensitive to sound and content to do this, to find high-quality content within the platform and recommend it to the homepage and various channel pages; Multi-category charts Hot list and new list can solve the distribution of top content; Smart Recommendations Based on the analysis of users' playback, subscription and other operational behaviors, data is generated through algorithm analysis, and more content that matches users' interests and hobbies will be recommended in a targeted manner with priority. While helping users discover good programs, it also increases the exposure of podcasts. Because personalized recommendations collect a large amount of user behavior and perform machine learning, the interface content fed back to users will be different due to their listening behavior and preferences, which can be described as "one thousand faces for one thousand people"; Same city Through LBS, listeners can find anchors in the same city, and the program content is in line with local culture, and the language may also be a dialect. This can solve the long-tail content and achieve effective distribution. 5. How to create a community atmosphere and generate stickiness On Lizhi FM, there are many psychological and emotional programs, which are easier to stimulate the emotions of the listeners and resonate with them. We hope that users can not only listen to programs on the Lizhi platform, but also find a group of people who resonate with them, interact with them, and engage in secondary creation, such as wonderful posts and comments. While listening to the program, listeners can express their feelings and opinions through comments and barrages, and some brilliant comments can also be liked by everyone. Comments with many likes will be pushed to the top of the list, and high-quality comments can be filtered out through likes. With these social functions, we need to operate the social atmosphere. In the early stage, we mainly rely on the guidance of the anchors. We design the interactive mode together with the anchors. The anchors will find ways to interact with the audience during the program, such as playing some small games . Each host will also design different interactive sessions. Some hosts will request songs, some will do emotional Q&A sessions, and the listeners will send barrages and comments under the influence of the host's interaction. For example, "Batwoman" will ask on the show, where are you listening to the show now? Everyone will post comments together, such as "I am in Guangzhou, I am in Shanghai, I am in Beijing, this is how I feel." This has formed a new social attribute on the platform, creating stickiness for both the platform and the anchors. After Lizhi FM launched audio live streaming , we believed that a sense of participation was very important for the live streaming model. There should be zero distance between listeners and listeners, as well as listeners and hosts. So based on comments, we tried a more direct interactive method, “connection”. During the live broadcast, listeners can initiate a voice connection at any time, directly connect to the live broadcast room, interact with the host, and share their own stories and experiences. This allows listeners to participate directly. We have a program called "Late Night Healing Room", where the male host connects with listeners every night to share different emotional stories. What impressed me most was one episode where a Chinese girl from Malaysia called in and talked about her love story and experience with her lover. She made herself and the audience cry, and the audience came to comfort her. Under the UGC model, if revenue can be generated for high-quality podcasts, it will become an important motivation for hosts to produce high-quality programs. Recently, the focus of our products has also shifted to the anchor economy. Currently, we use the method of giving away lychees, that is, giving away virtual props, to increase the anchor's income. In the long run, hobbies alone are not enough to maintain motivation. We want the anchors to generate commercial value through high-quality content, which will enable the sustainable development of the entire ecosystem. The Litchi Room we are currently launching does not rely on rewards, but focuses on helping anchors to rank on the charts. The meaning of ranking is to get your favorite anchor on the list, which can not only generate income for the anchor, but also reflect the fans' loyalty to the anchor. When launching the ranking function, we were most worried about the difficulty of cold start. We also organized a ranking event to guide users, but in fact, after we launched it, the response from users and anchors was quite enthusiastic. Under the host's call, the competition for the entire list was very fierce. The problem of cold start difficulty did not occur. Currently, some of our top anchors have also opened fan clubs. Fans join the club by paying a membership fee, and then the host interacts with the fans in the club or by participating in activities and meet-and-greets organized by the host. Doing e-commerce through podcasts is also a direction we are currently trying. Podcasters can sell host-related products, such as photo albums and diaries, or even books. We have achieved good results so far, and these are the models we are exploring. Virtual Gifts Fans give virtual props to anchors, and through the ranking method, anchors can be listed and gain income; Anchor Economy The anchor sets up a club and charges VIP membership services to loyal fans; Podcast e-commerce The anchors can sell their own peripheral products to fans, such as photo albums, dolls, books, etc. The more prominent examples on the Lizhi FM platform include the special photo album launched by the popular female anchor Batwoman for fans, and the young writer Lu Sihao selling books by recording emotional programs. User Privileges Users can purchase specific skins for posting barrages, and platform membership will be launched later. 6. UGC content ecological closed loop A UGC platform is an ecosystem. To achieve sustainable development, all links and processes must be healthy: Producers (anchors) can provide high-quality content, which reaches consumers (listeners) through effective distribution (channels). Producers and many consumers form a community and create stickiness. Consumers bring incentives and income to producers, stimulating producers to produce content continuously. In this way, the entire ecological environment can develop sustainably. To sum up, the above sharing is about how Lizhi FM connects the above links in the chain of "content production-distribution channel-community-business model" and builds its own ecological closed loop. Mobile application product promotion service: APP promotion service Qinggua Media advertising The author of this article @李泽隆 is compiled and published by (APP Top Promotion). Please indicate the author information and source when reprinting! |
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