Analysis of Huaxizi and Winona’s private domain marketing!

Private domain marketing is not a new term, but people will get annoyed if you mention it too much. But after last year's epidemic and the birth of several giants, this year's private domain marketing has changed from a trial method to a regular marketing standard, and it has reached a stage where it cannot be ignored.

Last time, we analyzed the case of Perfect Diary providing online services to fans through private domains, and building its brand offline through Xinchao Media’s elevator smart screens. This time, we will continue to use the private domain gameplay of Huaxizi and Winona as an introduction to further analyze the advantages of online private domains.

Let me say a few more words. In fact, the combination of online service and offline brand building has been discussed a lot before. However, almost all the new consumer brands you are familiar with now have advertisements in offline elevators or outdoors.

The private domain must cooperate with offline public domain media to realize its true value, which is another topic. This article mainly talks about the private domain construction of WeChat ecosystem. Let us first clarify the definition of private domain traffic.

The Klaus Index Research Institute once defined the private domain as follows in its report:

Direct traffic from the public domain (Internet) and other domains (platforms, media channels, partners, etc.) to one’s own private domain (official website, customer list) as well as traffic (visitors) generated by the private domain itself. It can also be used to conduct more than two times of linking, reaching, selling and other marketing activities customer data - I think it can be simply understood as personal connections here.

The earliest way of playing the Internet was based on traffic thinking, which usually involved using a funnel model to screen target customers and directly enter the sales conversion process. But in the private domain, the brand first faces users directly, then operates around people themselves to retain users, and finally creates content and products with them by tapping into user value.

Simply put, private domain is the way to play in the existing market, and the characteristic of private domain operation is the shift from "flow" to "retention". When we talk about private domain, we have to mention two brands that have thrived through WeChat marketing.

Let’s first talk about Hua Xizi’s private domain gameplay on WeChat.

The first step is to attract traffic from private domain entrances, connect online e-commerce, and form a brand traffic pool;

Like Perfect Diary, Hua Xizi also has its own personality IP—Hua Xiaoxi. Hua Xiaoxi has both a corporate WeChat account and a personal WeChat account. Its main function is to provide customer service and invite users to provide a Taobao ID to register as an experience officer.

Compared with Perfect Diary’s personality IP, Huaxizi pays more attention to practical product services and fan relationship maintenance.

In addition, Hua Xizi has focused on building its own video account, where it will post makeup tips, brand advertisements, product introductions and other content, and attach a link to the official account to divert traffic.

Like most beauty brands, Huaxizi’s official account is not just a content display platform. Instead, it takes on the functions of registering membership cards and daily activities of WeChat members, binding membership cards with Taobao, opening up public domain traffic for product promotion, after-sales service, and recruiting experience officers.

All this traffic is accumulated layer by layer after the video account content is released. People who follow the video account may be Hua Xizi’s potential customers, and people who follow the official account may be Hua Xizi’s brand fans. When they go to the mini program or store, they become customers and Hua Xiaoxi will provide them with one-on-one in-depth services.

Step 2: User co-creation to enhance the connection between brand and users.

In fact, Hua Xizi’s first step was to transform the traffic into fans’ private gameplay, and in the second step it began to truly expand the fans’ additional value.

Every customer who has purchased products from the Hua Xizi brand can add Hua Xiaoxi’s personal account and obtain a registration spot as an experience officer. When the development of a new product reaches 60-70%, Hua Xiaoxi will recruit experience officers in the circle of friends and use the mini program "Hua Xizi Experience Officer" to screen them. Only products that have been tested by the experience officers will be officially put on the shelves.

Have you noticed that Huaxizi’s sales and service approach can indeed create a better reputation for its products? However, all it does is word-of-mouth marketing and fan accumulation, not real brand communication. The only video account used as a public domain platform is just an interest recommendation. Users who do not pay attention to the beauty industry will hardly know about this brand.

However, how should Hua Xizi spread the brand concept of "Oriental Aesthetics" that it has long strengthened? Similar to Perfect Diary, Huaxizi chose to place an advertisement in the elevator media of Xinchao Media.

Another case comes from Winona.

Step one: transformation from public domain to private domain.

Unlike Winona and Huaxizi, Winona does not attract traffic through content, but instead uses a large amount of traffic purchasing to expand the public domain traffic pool.

To expand its public domain, Winona usually uses WeChat Moments ads to precisely target people aged 18-30 with sensitive skin, and attracts users to place orders on mini programs with promotional activities such as flash sales, or attracts users to follow the official account through celebrity WeChat Moments. In addition, when purchasing products on Tmall, mini programs or other online channels, a parcel card will be given with the order to guide users to follow the official account.

Of course, the latter method is not as effective as before. After all, most takeout shops have already learned this trick, and the new trick is most effective only when used for the first time.

The public domain traffic purchased by Winona will eventually be directed to the WeChat official account, and the menu bar of Winona's official account will guide users to add the corporate WeChat account of professional skin care consultants. There are also multi-touchpoint jump mini-programs in the official account content, which is the second layer of private domain traffic screening.

At the same time, after the traffic is directed into the corporate WeChat, "Xiaowei", or skin care consultants, will distribute gift coupons for liquid foundation, etc., requiring users to scan the code to enter the group area. This is the third level of private domain sedimentation.

Winona's community operation is also a highlight. They will carry out tiered operations based on the channels through which users join the group. For example, users who join the group by scanning the QR code on the package card will be more inclined to promotional activities, while users without purchase records will be more inclined to content that will be of great benefit to them. Ultimately, they will be guided to complete the final step of the order in the mini program mall.

It is worth mentioning that Winona’s mini program is not just a mall but more like an APP, which includes functions such as Wei Home, note sharing, and live broadcast. It seems that there are some shadows of the Cao community in the content, and users are further retained through content operation. (PS. It is no longer available on the mini program, probably due to WeChat's restriction policy, but most of the functions are still available on the official website.)

The second step is to improve conversion rate and stickiness through fancy interactions.

The mini program mentioned above will take on the important task of fission propagation and in-depth fan operation in the future. For example, there is a membership manual that will be updated according to the season, covering skin care knowledge, brand information, product introductions, user letters, member rights and other related H5 content, in order to create a sense of membership exclusivity and strengthen the emotional connection between the brand and users.

AI Skin Detection will provide users with free AI skin checks, and give skin care advice and product recommendations after the test to boost conversion rates. There is also a low-cost way to attract new customers, similar to Pinduoduo, which allows you to invite friends to earn gold coins.

In fact, from an industry perspective, Winona and Huaxizi are different, and their private domain operation methods are also different.

Winona is a care industry that focuses more on establishing close emotional connections with users and cultivating user loyalty through two-way interactions, while Huaxizi emphasizes product co-creation and making friends with users, and strengthening its brand image through private domain pools. What they have in common is that they have not limited their marketing to online only, and have chosen to cooperate with Xinchao Media offline to build public domain brands.

Of course, we have talked a lot about how new consumer brands can do offline marketing. You can refer to our previous article. In the last section we will solve the last problem.

Why are new consumer brands keen on private domain marketing on the WeChat platform?

Compared to QQ, which is more inclined towards social entertainment in terms of operation and product positioning, WeChat has been developing in the direction of mature commercialization since its inception. Moreover, based on the establishment of a business ecosystem, WeChat's product iterations are extremely restrained.

Under the premise of giving priority to user experience, WeChat has gone through the following four stages of development to date.

Phase 1: 2011 (Connecting People)

During this stage, the main communication functions launched were WeChat IM communication and voice intercom. At the same time, social functions such as Nearby People, Shake, and Drift Bottle (now offline) were launched intensively. WeChat during this period was in a zero commercialization stage.

Phase 2: 2012 (Connecting people and information)

During this stage, the main feature was the Moments, which further strengthened its social attributes. At the same time, the WeChat public platform (later changed to: public accounts) was released, starting the process of building the WeChat content ecosystem. During this period, WeChat was still in the zero commercialization stage, but it had begun to explore commercial scenarios, such as launching the "Scan" function and opening up connections for offline scenarios.

Phase 3: 2013-2014 (connecting people, information, and objects)

In 2013, WeChat first started 2C commercialization exploration. WeChat first found three scenarios that could be monetized: games (online), emoticons (online), and local life (O2O).

Games are Tencent’s key business, so it is natural to integrate gaming products into WeChat. Next, looking at emoticons, WeChat also followed LINE’s example and launched a paid emoticon package, but it ended in failure. Finally, looking at local life, WeChat launched the "Nearby Merchants + WeChat Pay" combination, but the O2O commercial penetration was not successful. However, WeChat Pay was favored by users because of its convenience.

In particular, a more complete transaction ecosystem (2B commercialization) was built through Wechat Credit, SouYisou, mini programs, official accounts, enterprise WeChat, and WeChat Pay. The upgrade of WeChat to an operating system opened up greater commercial space for WeChat commercialization.

After three stages of development, WeChat has become more mature. For example, the "payment sector" seems to be at the final link of marketing. Brands like Pinduoduo that rely on social fission have tried to obtain user traffic through red envelope rebates.

The red envelope rebate mentioned here is not the social fission gameplay of "cutting a knife", but the use of small transfers to gain user attention through WeChat Pay's "Service Transfer Service Notification".

For example, emoticons have become an important direction of brand IP operations. The Community Marketing Research Institute also has its own emoticon IP—Research Rabbit. As the minimum threshold for IP launch, emoticons can be used as a testing tool before the company's IP is officially launched.

What everyone feels most deeply should be the community. Based on the social function of WeChat, private domain marketing evolved from the community has driven new consumer giants such as Perfect Diary and Huaxizi.

Based on WeChat's huge user base and its ability to penetrate various scenarios, WeChat has become an infrastructure in the business ecosystem, similar to water, electricity and coal. This is also the main reason why new consumers are keen on WeChat and even regard WeChat as the main battlefield for private domain marketing.

However, the marketing of these new consumer brands is not limited to the WeChat ecosystem. The development of offline elevator scenarios has revealed the trend of offline transformation of brand marketing, and the continuous establishment of offline stores has become the best example.

Of course, this does not mean that WeChat has become unimportant for future corporate marketing, but in the overall marketing strategy, WeChat alone is definitely not enough. After all, as the Internet traffic dividend has peaked, the cost of building a brand online is too high; building a private domain through service and word of mouth may alleviate temporary needs but it is not a long-term solution.

Author: Community Marketing Research Institute

Source: Community Marketing Research Institute