Brand promotion: a reusable traffic methodology

As you all know, some methods of tapping into traffic are short-term or even fleeting. So, instead of sharing those short-lived methods today, I might as well teach you how to fish and share with you the 10 reusable traffic methodologies that I have summarized. In this article, the author summarizes ten traffic methodologies based on his actual experience. Let’s take a look at them together.

OK, without further ado, let’s get started. Let me first talk about the first traffic methodology I summarized.

1. Every platform with traffic has the opportunity to generate traffic

This sentence seems like nonsense, right? But in real life, people may ignore certain platforms that they think are not very good or beyond their cognition because of some stereotypes.

Don't believe it? Let me give you an example, such as Tieba.

Speaking of Tieba, many of us now talk about Tieba as if it is dead.

But what everyone doesn’t know is that Tieba is still a platform with tens of millions of users. In terms of monthly active users on mobile terminals, it is even larger than Xiaohongshu and Zhihu.

Don't believe it? Look at the statistics from authoritative third-party iResearch data:

I think most people would be shocked when they first saw this data. They might think that Tieba is not dead, but what they didn’t expect is that, judging from the data, its monthly active users are still so good so far. In fact, one of my clients, who specialized in Tieba modules, increased his revenue by one million in just a few months.

One forum isn't enough to prove it? Let me tell you another one: Boss Direct Hiring.

You know, this is definitely not a platform for attracting traffic in our mainstream impression, right? But can you imagine that you can also attract traffic in Boss Direct Hire?

The following case is the true experience of my good friend, an entrepreneur in Wuhan.

This friend opened a party hall in his hometown.

To explain, a party hall is a villa that young people like to hold parties. It is suitable for birthday parties, company team-building and other projects.

So how does he attract customers online?

1. He found Baidu Maps. Use Baidu Maps to find the densely populated office buildings in the area.
2. Find the names of the companies in the office building.
3. Go to Boss Direct Recruitment, make a fake resume, apply for positions in these companies, and use sales pitch to add HR on WeChat.
4. He made excuses on WeChat such as "reconsidering it and deciding to start a business", and sent a red envelope to HR, saying that he had changed his career and started a party hall, and hoped that there would be a chance for cooperation in the future.
5. As long as the HR does not delete him, he can eventually convert these HRs through long-term marketing in the circle of friends and promote the company's team-building orders.

Isn’t it clever? Isn’t it a platform we didn’t expect?

To sum up, the above is the first idea: every platform with traffic has traffic opportunities.

Don't ignore declining platforms like Tieba, don't ignore niche platforms like Boss and even Snowball. Every platform with millions or tens of millions of users is worth doing as long as your vertical users are there.

Having said the first point, let’s talk about the second point.

2. Every entrance to a mainstream traffic platform is worth studying the system’s gameplay

What kind of traffic are we dealing with?

It is to generate traffic for each platform, each APP, and each entrance.

Take WeChat as an example, such as: Video Account, Moments, Nearby Live Broadcasts, WeChat Search, and even WeChat Circles.

These are actually one of the entrances to the WeChat APP. It is natural for you to drive traffic to your Moments, your video account, and your WeChat search. But have you ever thought about it from a different perspective? In fact, this is because it is one of the entrances to WeChat, so there is traffic. Therefore, based on these entrances of the WeChat APP, we study the gameplay of the systems related to these entrances, and ultimately achieve traffic capture.

There are actually two additional points here:

1. Every platform has its main channels and weaker channels. In many cases, these relatively weaker channels are actually traffic depressions.
2. No matter how small the channel, or how inconspicuous the entrance or channel, it still represents terrifying traffic in the face of hundreds of millions of users.

So, what do we need to do?

We need to be sensitive to the new entrances of some mainstream platforms, especially those on the billion-level platforms. Don’t think that this is just a new function added to the APP. You must clearly know that this is a new traffic entrance with a corresponding set of traffic gameplay. You need to study and tap into the traffic here.

For example, on this page, WeChat recently changed "People Nearby" to "Live Broadcasts Nearby", and changed the original simple people nearby to live broadcasts with video accounts as the main body. In fact, this is WeChat's reconstruction of this entrance.

Let’s think about it, when WeChat first revised this function, did you think that this was an entrance to WeChat and there were traffic opportunities here, so did you think about it at the first time? In this "new" entrance, what kind of gameplay should I use to generate traffic to have a chance?

For example: Can I use a large number of mobile phones to simulate geographical locations and broadcast the content I want to show to mainstream cities across the country, occupying the free traffic here?

Let me give you another example. This example was mentioned by Brother Tao, and I am just repeating it here.

Looking at the picture above, have we noticed that there is a "Game" on the discovery page? And do you know that there is a "Game Circle" inside "Game"?

You may not be able to imagine that this is also a precise place to attract game fans, and the rough estimate of the number of users is in the tens of millions (let me read it again: every inconspicuous small entrance to a billion-level platform, based on a large base, is also a traffic source of tens of millions).

OK, the above is the second point: the entrance to each mainstream traffic platform is worth studying the system’s gameplay.

3. Every product detail exposed is a potential opportunity to attract traffic

What does this sentence mean?

Let me give you an extreme example so that you can understand.

Have you noticed the highlight? Look at the reward area and you will see that all the avatars are advertisements.

With a reward of 1 yuan, you can occupy the prime position of Chen Xiang Liu Dian Ban, a public account with over 100,000 followers.

So what does this mean?

Note: Every product content that you can operate and can be exposed is a potential channel for traffic.

Of course, I don’t want you to use this kind of psoriasis-like method to attract traffic. This is using extremely low-quality content to fight against the platform, and the platform will definitely punish you.

Not only the extreme cases above, what do I mean by every product content that can be exposed?

For example, your nickname can be "xxx | Same name on the entire network", your profile can guide everyone to +v, and your cover picture can guide everyone to send you a private message to receive xx things. These are also product details that can be exposed and manipulated by you. Naturally, as long as you want, these details can be used as details to attract traffic.

Let’s take another extreme case, for example, look at the following picture:

Did you see the highlight?

In the mobile Weibo, there will be a section called "Popular Articles" on the search results page, and the cover image of the first popular article will be a large image. So, you see how he does it?

The cover image is directly made into an advertisement image, which visually occupies the page. Of course, I don’t recommend this method because it’s a bit like psoriasis.

I cite this extreme example to illustrate the point I made above: "Every product detail revealed is a potential opportunity for traffic generation." At the same time, I also want to tell you about the integration of the two methodologies mentioned above.

1. The entrance to every mainstream traffic platform is an opportunity worth studying the system. For example, the search on Weibo is a product entrance to the Weibo platform. Then what opportunities are there for Weibo search? The above shows the section of popular articles searched on Weibo, and there is a chance that you can manually access it.
2. "Every product detail revealed is a potential opportunity to attract traffic." Here, the cover image is exposed on the largest page section of Weibo, and I can also control what the cover image of my article looks like, so I made an advertising image as the cover.

So you see, this case is actually a combination of my second and third points above. In fact, there are not only the above two points, but the above three points are actually a set. Let me summarize them for you:

• Every platform with traffic has traffic opportunities.
• It is worth studying the system’s gameplay at the entrance to each traffic platform.
• Every product detail revealed is a potential opportunity to attract traffic.

The above is a complete logic from big to small, from platform to platform entrance, to the specific places where I need to expose myself in order to obtain traffic.

After talking about this main point, let’s talk about the fourth point.

4. Studying the platform rules is the first step in generating traffic on the platform!

Studying the platform rules is the first step in generating traffic on the platform! Studying the platform rules is the first step in generating traffic on the platform! Studying the platform rules is the first step in generating traffic on the platform!

Important things should be said three times!

A while ago, I heard a friend tell me that he was trying to attract traffic on Zhihu, but the new account he just registered was blocked overnight.

After asking, I found out that the WeChat account was directly left in the introduction, but the account was just registered and had no weight or salt value at all.

It is conceivable that in this situation, it is normal for Zhihu to deal with you.

It can be seen that knowing the platform rules is very important. Platform rules are definitely the first step in attracting traffic. Breaking the platform rules will only make you a short-lived success.

What you should do is to dance with shackles within the scope allowed by the platform.

Of course, the platform rules mentioned above are only the first category, which belongs to the platform’s red line and should not be touched. For example, the video account has recently cracked down on paid knowledge content because some channels have gone too far. So, if you still insist on doing it under this premise, it would be totally inappropriate.

In addition to these red line rules, there is another type of platform rules called: content exposure rules.

For example, what are the rules for revealing content on Zhihu, and what kind of answers will appear at the forefront of the questions? For example, what are the sorting rules for public accounts in WeChat search? For example, the Douyin live broadcast room, what kind of live broadcast room is more likely to be recommended by the official?

If you know the rules for content exposure, as a creator or traffic provider on the platform, it will be like you have seen the answers to the test paper in advance. You can deliberately cater to the platform's exposure rules to increase your chances of getting greater content exposure.

For example, the rules for Zhihu content exposure: Wilson algorithm.

I can briefly explain to you the application of Wilson algorithm in Zhihu. To put it simply, the comprehensive ranking of a Zhihu question and answer is determined by the number of likes and dislikes of the answer.

So this is why you sometimes see on Zhihu that an answer with 10 likes is ahead of an answer with 50 likes. Because it is likely that the latter has been stepped on too many times.

If you can ensure that your content receives few dislikes and many likes, then your Zhihu answer will definitely rank at the top. So you see, once you know the rule, you can take targeted operational actions.

Another example is the recommended rules of the Douyin live broadcast room.

The reason why the Douyin live broadcast room can be recommended by the system is that: users stay for a long time, there is a lot of interaction on the public screen, many people follow and join the fan group, and many shopping cart clicks. How can this be done?

We can cater to Tik Tok’s recommendation algorithm by deliberately guiding users to perform the above behaviors.

for example:

• "Reply xxx in the comment section to win xxx prize!" This is to guide comments.
• "For every family member who clicks the loving button, I will write down his name", which is to guide comments + likes.
• A product priced at 0.8 yuan is put on the shelves, but it is set to be available only to users in Tibet. This is to attract users to complain, stay, and click on the shopping bag.
• The host may even mislead you, saying that you can’t take a photo because the number of likes is not enough, and that you can buy it if you click a few more times. This is to guide you to click likes.

If the live broadcast length is OK, the interaction is OK, the likes are OK, the shopping bag clicks are OK, and it is not any illegal content, it will be judged as good content by the algorithm and start to enter the Douyin recommendation pool.

You see, this is the power of knowing the content exposure rules and knowing the answers to the test paper in advance. Because it allows you to target your operations in a targeted and strategic manner to maximize the exposure of your content.

(There are 10 points of methodology. If we expand on each point, we can talk too much. And it is not a good thing to have too many words in the article, so I will speed up the pace of the following points)

After talking about the fourth point "Platform Rules", here is the fifth point.

5. The more traffic, the better. We want filtered and convertible traffic.

I have personal experience of this.

We have written an article before with the purpose of promoting and selling our products.

But the content was a bit vague and did not point out that we were a paid product, but only talked about how good and great our product was. As a result, a lot of traffic did come, but the conversion rate of this traffic was very poor because it was not screened for paid traffic (they were not told that they had to pay for it).

For example, we often follow hot topics and get a lot of fan traffic, but after the traffic comes, we will be very distressed, because these fans can only be used to run some CPS monetization, and the dissipation and waste of their utilization and efficiency are actually very serious.

Therefore, the traffic must be filtered. Only by deliberate screening can we save the cost of our back-end docking and increase conversion rate and more transactions.

6. Traffic or gameplay migration often creates traffic depressions

Let’s take a closer look at this sentence first: Traffic or gameplay migration often creates traffic depressions.

In fact, this sentence can be divided into two parts. One is called: traffic migration, which will produce traffic depressions; the other is called gameplay migration, which will produce traffic depressions. How to understand it?

Let’s talk about the first point first: traffic migration will create traffic depressions.

For example.

As we all know, a hot event will often ferment first on hot media such as Weibo. But the flow is a big pool. Although the pools (platforms) are different, there is actually water flowing between each pool.

So what happens?

Since Weibo is the first place where hot topics occur, when this hot topic just happens on Weibo, due to the transmission and cross-platform nature of traffic, it will definitely be transmitted to Zhihu, WeChat, and Douyin.

At this time, due to the time difference, we can arrange relevant content in Douyin, official accounts, and Zhihu in advance, ambush in advance, and obtain traffic depressions. That is: traffic migration will create traffic depressions.

Regarding the above point, we have previously manually screened and analyzed Weibo, WeChat, Baidu, Bilibili and other platforms, and obtained the earliest release time of the hot topic "Ants Hey" content, and obtained the following thermal data chart, which also proves the conclusion I mentioned above.

We can see that hot topics are often not first ignited on WeChat, which we use most frequently, but on fast-paced platforms such as Weibo (this time it is Weibo, but Douyin also has this potential), and then slowly spread to other platforms. Finally, e-commerce platforms such as Xianyu, Taobao, and Pinduoduo provide services.

Moreover, there is a clear time difference between these three!

Let’s get back to the topic. After saying this, let me say this: gameplay migration will create traffic depressions.

This is also easy to understand. Let me give you another example.

A popular video on Tik Tok and the video routine behind it, such as the recently popular film and television clips or wallpaper accounts, can often be migrated across platforms to video accounts and Tik Tok.

Facts also prove this. For example, the videos of restoring old photos and making music USB flash drives that everyone made on Douyin before were completely copied on the video account. As a result, the audience also bought into it and the data of the related videos were also very good.

That is: the migration of gameplay will create traffic depressions. The earlier you enter, the sooner you can get your first bite of meat.

7. Content is king. The premise of all traffic must be content.

This point is also the easiest to be overlooked by everyone, or to be more precise, it is easy to be overlooked by those of us who are professionally involved in traffic management.

Because we know or have experienced too many fancy operations and are used to short-term trading, it is difficult for us to calm down and think about this and truly agree with this.

But when you calm down and think carefully, you can ask yourself, what is the carrier of traffic?

Is it the content?

If you are generating traffic on Zhihu, you also have to output Zhihu answers; if you are generating traffic on Douyin, you have to output short videos; even if you are generating traffic on WeChat Moments, you also have to output WeChat Moments copywriting.

It can be seen that content is the carrier of all traffic. Putting aside the traffic techniques, it determines, to a large extent, your open rate and the final conversion rate.

This may seem like nonsense, but many companies and many people who play with traffic often pin all their hopes for traffic growth on fancy operations and some techniques, but simply do not focus on the truly important content that ultimately leads to conversions.

Moreover, the text copywriting routines are definitely different for different platforms. For Zhihu, you need to use copywriting suitable for Zhihu, and don’t just copy the ready-made materials from the official account; for Xiaohongshu, you need copywriting suitable for Xiaohongshu, and don’t copy the content from Zhihu.

It is very important to adapt to local conditions. It sounds simple, but it requires investment of manpower and time, and one must be fully and clearly aware of this.

Don’t try to save trouble and don’t neglect it. Otherwise, even if you spend a lot of effort to implement all the previous techniques, the final conversion will be seriously lost because your content is not very good, which will eventually lead to mediocre results.

The above is the seventh point: In the world of traffic, good content is a prerequisite. Now let’s talk about the eighth point.

8. In the world of traffic, peers are the best helpers

What this means is that when you decide to have an account and content, and are determined to achieve good results, the first thing you should do is to analyze the popular content in your field and study those mature peers.

It's not just a superficial analysis, but an in-depth and detailed analysis of why his content became popular.

For example, for Tik Tok short videos, you can analyze your peers': nickname, avatar, signature, cover image, video topic, video length, video text, BGM, text pinned to the top of the comment area, added topics, subtitle strips, cover image, video script, memes, total number of shots, etc.

We even need to add the WeChat of an excellent colleague to see how the other party tries to convert you, how his circle of friends, video account, and even official account are done, and what details are included.

I don't need to explain this point. I guess everyone probably knows this truth, but there are really not many people who really pay attention to this matter and take the time to do it well.

There are actually many cases in this paragraph, let’s take Zhihu as an example. There are some tried and tested copywriting routines on Zhihu. For example, some guided tours, and some summary answers.

These routines are definitely not told to you by others, and others have no obligation to do so. If you want to get them first, it must be that you have really put in a lot of hard work and read, disassembled and analyzed a large amount of popular content to come up with these routines.

9. When traffic strategies are proven, we should achieve benefits through scale

For example, I successfully verified Zhihu: from account positioning, to account maintenance, to question selection, to content publishing, to private domain drainage.

Once the verification is successful, what I need to do next is matrixization.

The same is true for official accounts. If one word can passively attract 10 precise traffics every day, then I will add 10 or 20 words next, and the traffic will be considerable.

Another example is TikTok. If I can achieve an ROI greater than 2 by testing on the TikTok channel through mature content and products, then the next thing I have to do is to increase investment, infinitely expand this game and maximize its scale.

10. All transactions start with exposure, and all exposure starts with reach

As we all know, if any business is to be concluded, it must start with the exposure of your product. You have to at least let me see you often, because only by seeing you often will I know you, and eventually I will understand you and buy you.

Therefore, in order to close a deal, a prerequisite is to have countless contacts, which will allow me to make multiple sales and placements. So I say, all transactions start with exposure, and all exposure starts with reach.

Therefore, when we are dealing with traffic, we must think about how can we reach the traffic that we are currently handling countless times? Because only in this way will I finally have a chance to convert him.

The answer is: 1. Develop private domain traffic; 2. Retain customers through multiple channels.

So everyone is now doing private domain. Why?

The bottom line is: you can reach people countless times for free!

As long as he doesn't delete me, I can eventually convert him!

This is the first point: the value of private domain traffic.

The second point: multi-channel retention, is because, compared to retaining users through only a single channel, multi-channel retention can reach users multiple times.

In fact, I have a friend who achieved a much higher conversion rate than his peers by using this trick.

How did he do it?

When he posts articles on his official account, he always inserts a mini program to synchronize his Xiaohongshu, Kuaishou account, and video account with his fans. Ultimately, one fan can be retained in multiple locations.

Articles on the official account can only be posted once a day. So, do you still check the video account, Xiaohongshu, or Kuaishou within the same day?

As long as you look, I will appear countless times. Ultimately, multiple touches and sales can convert you.

As I said, public domain traffic belongs to others, while private domain traffic belongs to you. The number of friends of private domain traffic can definitely be described as digital assets. No wonder there is a saying in the industry this year: Get rich in 2021, starting with a WeChat account with 5,000 (now 10,000) friends.

OK, the above is my sharing today. Let’s just talk about ten points for now.

Of course, traffic thinking is definitely more than the above ten points. In addition, trust is the catalyst for traffic transactions, SEO thinking and principles, keyword mining needs... etc. can be discussed in detail, but due to time constraints, and this sharing is already nearly 7,000 words, so I will stop here today.

Author: Page Talks Growth

Source: Page Talks Growth