The opening rate is less than 5% and the number of fans is showing negative growth. How can corporate official accounts stand out?

A quarter of 2017 has passed, and many corporate new media practitioners will find that it is becoming increasingly difficult to do new media now. The opening rate of WeChat official account headlines is less than 5%, and some official accounts even have negative growth in followers. To sum up these problems, they are mainly manifested in four aspects:

1. The attitude of enterprises towards new media has changed from "from entry to giving up", reducing budgets and demanding monetization.

2. There are too many platforms for new media to synchronize, 20% of the time is spent on writing content and 80% of the time is spent on thinking about the title

3. The world is changing too fast. The only thing that remains unchanged is that you will lose followers for every article you post. You will lose followers even in your dreams.

4. The things I deal with are becoming more and more complicated, with live streaming on the left hand and social networking on the right hand. But I am confused about my own growth path.

So, as a new media editor for an enterprise, how can you solve the above problems and break through the bottleneck? Before you start to find a solution, let’s take a look at the new trends in new media in 2017.

Predictions themselves are actually not reliable because there are too many unknown factors. Just like when Jack Ma and Amazon CTO predicted e-commerce in 2003, they talked for a long time but didn’t mention the mobile side. Because at that time, all mobile phones were not smart phones. Perhaps after the emergence of new AR and VR , the media will undergo new changes, which will also be collectively referred to as new media.

The era of pan-new media means some new opportunities. I will briefly talk about how to play on each platform and the misunderstandings that need to be avoided according to the platform dimension.

1. WeChat : Restart

(1) The overall traffic is stable, but as fans’ opening habits decline significantly, the distribution entrance of WeChat public accounts may undergo further changes. Currently, the search entrance has features such as Moments selections. But the entrance is too deep. If there are any new changes, follow them immediately.

(2) The Matthew effect of WeChat public accounts will not be exacerbated. The problem faced by large accounts is more about the balance between revenue and size.

(3) The rise of small-scale (1-3 people) personal public accounts is still fierce, and they will grab most of the long-tail traffic.

(4) It will become increasingly difficult to advertise for others, and selling products by yourself will become the mainstream.

(5) As the rules for renaming subscription accounts change, the buying and selling of accounts between companies and individuals will rise (of course, this is not encouraged by WeChat officials, and attention should be paid to reasonable fan transfers. For specific methods, please refer to the author’s previous article "How to Take Over a Public Account Halfway").

(6) Mini Program dissemination is an opportunity for companies with offline stores, and it also opens up an era of micro-explosion based on social networks rather than WeChat Moments.

2. Weibo: Transfer

(1) Unlike the “aging” trend of WeChat, the younger trend of Weibo is becoming more and more obvious.

(2) Users in first-tier cities speak out, while users in second-, third-, and fourth-tier cities watch and chase stars.

(3) From the perspective of event communication, in the past few years, events were generally triggered by Weibo and then settled on WeChat. It may be rewritten later, with WeChat triggering the explosion and Weibo triggering a second explosion. The most prominent example is the Luo Yixiao incident.

(4) Judging from the current situation, Weibo operations , including advertising, will gradually shift from pictures and texts to short videos (miaopa) and live broadcasts (yizhibo).

3. Other We-media Platforms : Differentiation

(1) Self-media platforms will have different tones, such as Toutiao, which is more entertainment-oriented, and Yidian Zixun, which is more literary.

(2) Self-media platforms will move from pure content distribution to gradually experimenting with in-depth fan aggregation.

(3) Text and pictures will still be the mainstream content on self-media platforms, but the proportion of short videos will increase. The increased speed is related to the reduction in 4G charges and the user's development of habits.

(4) Live streaming that relies solely on appearance will become less popular, with more emphasis on talent and other aspects, and will tend to be studio-based and assembly-line production. Corporate live streaming will be differentiated.

Having new media accounts has become a corporate standard, but the original intention may need to change. Some companies initially set up new media accounts for the purpose of brand communication, while others do so for public opinion monitoring. Some just follow the trend and take up a spot. With the development of the enterprise and the evolution of product forms, it is time for secondary positioning.

1. What exactly should corporate new media do?

1. WeChat: Be timid and don’t waste time

There are generally three types of corporate positioning for WeChat: 1. Communication 2. Making money 3. Providing services. You can't have your cake and eat it too, so basically one of them will be set as the most important indicator.

(1) Communication: Three Noes

In terms of communication, it can undoubtedly enhance brand awareness and can also handle public opinion. Writing 100,000+ articles and creating viral spread is the dream of every enterprise, but enterprises must do two things:

Don’t just focus on WeChat: All CEOs use WeChat, but that doesn’t mean all users use WeChat. We need to adapt to local conditions. Some groups, such as junior high school students, are mostly on QQ, so it is obviously necessary to pay attention to the dissemination of QQ public accounts /spaces to avoid the illusion of flooding the entire circle of friends.

Don't just consider the number of readings: the number of readings basically depends on 1. the fan base 2. the quality of the article 3. the expansion coefficient of the article. These three are not absolutely positively correlated, and we need to make scientific judgments rather than looking at absolute values.

A million-dollar account can easily reach 100,000+ followers, not necessarily because of the content, but because the base is too large. A health account can easily reach 100,000+ followers, not because of the high quality of its articles, but because of its high diffusion coefficient among the public. Some celebrity KOLs have low article readerships, but still charge very high advertising fees because their articles are of high quality and their fans are precise.

Don’t just focus on hot topics: If you want to increase the amount of dissemination, either create hot topics or follow hot topics. However, we cannot follow the trend blindly. We must follow it in combination with areas related to our own profession and do it with attitude. In addition, you can’t follow every hot topic. For example, in the previous Uniqlo incident , blindly following the trend may actually harm the brand.

(2) Earn money

When it comes to making money, Keso, a living fossil in the media industry, once said that direct business is the best business. Instead of relying on third-party advertising, it is more direct to sell products. Of course, getting fans’ endorsement is key.

Another point to note is to keep a backup plan. Now some big accounts such as Logical Thinking have started to develop apps. Although the cost of migration is high, if you are not careful, your account may be blocked, which will ruin it.

(3) Providing services

As for the third point, providing services is just a means, usually a freemium model. Of course, how to provide better services? Although the service accounts on WeChat are already overcrowded, there are still opportunities.

Mini programs are an opportunity, but their application scenarios are mostly offline and their dissemination level is also limited. You can take up a spot, but don't expect too much at the moment.

2. Weibo: Joining forces to stir up trouble

Basically, companies are already very familiar with the Weibo routine. The two most important points are: first, brand communication, and second, public opinion monitoring.

For brand communication, some of Weibo’s own commercial products should be used in conjunction with it. For example, data analysis and lottery platforms still need to be purchased. Fans Pass and Fans Headlines still have to do what they should do.

One trend brand that needs to be explained here is: group play. This gameplay was originally a common gameplay among joke-makers, used by big players to lead small ones. Therefore, three major joke-telling groups, Tongque, Yaxian and Loushi, were quickly formed.

Of course, brands can also do this, play relay games, and celebrate anniversary celebrations. To engage in more cross-field cooperation, we must be "shameless" in our efforts to move up. For example, last year Haier ’s Weibo post, which angrily criticized Wang Jianlin , became very popular, and the following brands joined forces.

For public opinion monitoring, a monitoring and hierarchical reporting mechanism should be established. Define the corresponding level of public opinion and don't wait until the situation becomes urgent before resolving it.

3. We-media such as Toutiao: occupy the market first and then select

(1) Last year, content segmentation was very popular, and each company had corresponding author plans. However, each company has a different tone and will occupy a high ground in a certain field. For example, Toutiao may be popular entertainment, while Baidu Baike focuses on commercial technology. It is necessary to adapt to local conditions, open all of them first, then see the results and choose one to focus on operating. (The picture below is compiled by Zhihu netizen @风清扬) Everyone can find the corresponding account and apply for activation.

(2) The first priority is to create good content, and then write a good clickbait title . Don't put the cart before the horse.

(3) Try out some of the innovative features of these platforms, such as Toutiao Q&A and status-posting.

(4) Don’t just migrate all your readers to WeChat. These platforms will also build social relationship chains in the future, so just go with the flow.

2. The organizational structure of new media

There are two common ideas for setting up the organizational structure of new media. One is to divide the structure into functions, such as copywriting , video production, business cooperation, etc., and then distribute them on all platforms. The other way is to follow the platform, with a few people specifically assigned to WeChat and people specifically assigned to Weibo. The author recommends the second option more because there are differences between platforms and dedicated people can be better responsible.

The figure below simply summarizes the architecture of enterprise new media. Of course, some functions may be handled by the same person across platforms, while some need to be expanded based on specific needs.

3. How to find more suitable new media people

New media operations have been very popular in the past two years. Coupled with the low entry threshold, new media practitioners are also diverse, from journalists to technicians, and from all directions.

So how do companies recruit suitable new media people? There are many positions within new media, such as copywriting, creative planning and delivery, etc. In addition to the assessment of special skills, these items are also the author's focus.

1. Industry precipitation

From the perspective of operating skills alone, there is actually not much of a threshold. Basically, as long as you are willing to learn, one month is enough. But the industry accumulation is indeed different, especially in some fields, such as education and medical care, where outstanding professionalism is very important.

2. New media sense

Working in an industry requires a certain feeling. First of all, I don’t accept complete newbies. At least before the interview, you can set up a personal account and try operating the backend.

The sense of new media is also reflected in some specific practical details. For example, if you ask a student who works on WeChat, what is the maximum size of a GIF image uploaded by WeChat backend? What is the size of a multi-image headline? If you ask a student in a social network, can you send a link to a group of people through a personal account? How many people can a personal account add at most in one day?

Although new media is not a skilled job, you must pay attention to some small details when doing it. Especially in today's red ocean, refined operations are particularly critical.

3. Expand your thinking

New media is developing too fast. Skills are one aspect, and the other is the ability to learn and think. I usually ask these questions.

If new media were translated into English, which one would you translate it into?

When WeChat invites people to join a group, how many people must be added before they can be directly added? Instead, a link will be sent? Why is WeChat set up this way?

In simple terms, what is the difference between QQ and WeChat communities?

These questions are open-ended and may not have standard answers, but they can basically show his understanding and potential of new media.

Of course, good new media people are still very scarce in the market, and some of the particularly outstanding ones go directly to work in their own media. So sometimes you have to start by looking for interns with potential.

The above discusses the trends in the new media industry and how companies play, but everything ultimately needs to be implemented by people. As a new media professional, how should I keep up with the trend and become an excellent new media practitioner in 2017?

1. Improve targeted professional capabilities

New media operations are roughly divided into content operations , user operations , and event operations . First of all, you need to improve your specific skills to at least surpass 70% of people. In short, just develop quietly before the gank.

(1) Content Operation

Content operations are divided into graphics, text, audio, video (short video, live broadcast), etc. based on the form of expression.

For graphic and text content operations, pure PGC is good, but it is difficult to achieve sustained high productivity. PUGC will become mainstream, which can not only increase fan interaction and improve the breadth of content, but also ensure the professionalism of content.

The most important thing in content creation is topic selection. Don’t worry about the 100,000+. In 2014 or 2015, a hit article could make an account popular. But in 2016, users' subscription habits have declined, and an article with a million readers may not even gain more than a thousand followers. To promote a product through articles, you need multiple popular articles in a short period of time to be effective, so the continuity and readability of the topics you choose will be higher.

In addition to traditional basic skills, content creation must also have its own unique style to create a sense of ritual for fans. The sense of ritual is not only a writing style, such as Mimi Meng ’s poisonous chicken soup and Wang Wusi’s all-round criticism. The same applies to titles, layout, posting time, and frequency. For example, Li Jiaoshou previously posted a picture preview on Monday and a post on Tuesday. Once a fixed ritual is formed, it can effectively increase fans' recognition.

Compared with pictures and texts, audio and video content covers a wider range and has a higher entry threshold. Especially live streaming, which involves many links. Such as the production of scripts before live broadcast, the setting of links, and the promotion of channels . The speaker's on-site time, emotional control, and audience interaction during the live broadcast. The content after the live broadcast is settled and then disseminated for the second time.

Basically, it requires a team to work together. Find your own position among many processes. For example, last year I participated in a live broadcast that was watched by more than 1 million people, and the entire event was completed by 4 people.

(2) User Operation

The user operation of new media is also based on the AARRR model (user acquisition, increasing activity, improving retention rate , generating revenue, and viral spread).

In the early development of WeChat public accounts, there was a large demographic dividend. So what matters more is gaining fans. At that time, the first phrase people in new media would greet each other was "How many followers do you have on your public account?" However, as the number of public accounts exceeded 10 million, the number of WeChat users was basically saturated, and it became difficult to increase the number of fans.

Many students are very worried. What should they do if they lose followers no matter what they post? In fact, losing followers is the norm at this stage. Someone summarized it before: WeChat fans = loyal fans + fans accumulated in the past three months. For public accounts that have already gained a certain base, it is more important to do well in the following steps rather than expanding into new territories.

User operation in a narrow sense is the construction and maintenance of user relationship chains. Generally, it operates directly on the platform, such as the background reply of WeChat public account, private message of Weibo, etc. Since 2014, the concept of community has gradually become popular. Fans can better gather and interact in the community.

To build a good community, you need to first think about the community’s common values ​​and choose the corresponding platform. Currently, the more mainstream platforms are WeChat and QQ. There are also big differences between the two. According to your own needs, don’t just rely on the WeChat platform.

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What are the differences between WeChat groups and QQ groups?

It is foreseeable that more and more companies will recruit community operations officers, who are not only required to have strong stress resistance but also be able to solve problems anytime and anywhere. At the same time, higher requirements are placed on overall organizational capabilities. After all, it is unrealistic for one person to manage hundreds of groups. It is particularly important to find and control the "local bosses" in the group.

Of course, community operations also involve data processing, such as analyzing group activity and fission speed. And the need to find the right time to complete commercial harvesting.

(3) Event Operation

Event operations involve creative planning, process control, resource cooperation, etc. In the early days of new media, more activities were aimed at increasing fans. They were simple and crude, and the effects were very good, such as lucky draws and forwarding on Weibo. WeChat has voting, New Year's sign, etc. But with WeChat cracking down on induced sharing, those good days are gone forever.

Therefore, higher requirements are placed on WeChat activities. If the purpose is to increase followers, the settings need to be more clever and have a deep understanding of human nature. Some successful examples last year include posting wedding photos on Valentine's Day , zodiac complaints, large-font Moments, and screaming style. They all use virality very cleverly to attract traffic . Even if some rules that induce sharing are avoided, the risks remain. After all, you and I can tolerate such a low cost in acquiring fans, but WeChat cannot.

Of course, after the event is completed, an effective review must be conducted, and the retention rate and users’ subsequent purchasing behavior must be continuously tracked.

For example, this is the retention chart of a new media activity of one of our official accounts during the Spring Festival. We can see that the 10-day retention rate basically remained at 83.8%. It can be determined that the fans are relatively well matched, but further observation is still needed.

For activities that focus more on brand exposure, most companies will adopt the H5 format. But with the current proliferation of H5, the opening rate has dropped sharply. According to Gushan CEO, the opening rate of the third page of H5 is now less than 0.05%.

It is not impossible to stand out, but it requires more creative works, such as Tencent’s previous works about Kris Wu joining the army and Joker Xue’s animation. NetEase released many excellent products last year. But it is difficult to strike a balance between the brand and the form of H5. Do you still remember which game Wu Yifan endorsed when he joined the army?

The ability to allocate resources is equally important in event planning , and how to get multiple companies to play together in a short period of time. Some companies have set up new media business positions specifically for this purpose. But for students who have multiple roles, it is better to join multiple groups. As long as the interests of both parties are consistent, cooperation is still possible.

2. Improve tool usage skills

Sharpening the knife does not delay the chopping of wood. For new media people, writing good articles is the first step, and using good tools is also a plus.

For example, common typesetting tools on WeChat, 135, Xiumi, etc. H 5 production tools ih 5 and more. QR code to make forage QR code. Office collaboration tools, Graphite, Worktitle, etc. Social tools include Qunmi, XiaoU Butler, etc.

Of course, the three most powerful tools are actually BAT, and they should be applied flexibly in work scenarios. For example, I have recently been receiving messages about cleaning up zombie fans. So how do I get rid of zombie fans? First, you can search on Baidu and find that there is free software that can do it. You can also buy the stable version directly from Taobao , or even go to WeChat and ask those who send you messages where they bought the software.

There are always enough tools, the most important thing is matching them.

3. Improve data-driven thinking

The importance of data analysis is self-evident, and it will also become a watershed between entry-level and intermediate new media operations. Data analysis capabilities can be improved in two aspects: the ability to use tools and thinking ability.

First of all, we need to know what goal we want to achieve with the help of data analysis. What dimension to use for analysis?

After thinking through these two points, the next step is to collect data in a routine manner. For example, WeChat public accounts, in addition to their own basic data, WeChat's BlueView and Host also provide analysis in other dimensions. If you collect data on a website, such as Douban movie reviews, you can use Python to write crawler code. Then, data cleaning is required. Basic Excel skills must be learned, and at least you must know how to use vlookup. After data cleaning, you can also use visualization tools such as echart and BDP for further analysis.

The preliminary analysis serves as the basis for subsequent iterative research. For example, the picture below is the word cloud of hot words in Mi Meng’s articles in the past month, which can be used to analyze some current emotional hotspots.

What I want to explain here is that we should not only focus on tools. The difficulty of data analysis does not lie in the use of tools, but in what new dimensions you can think of to analyze.

4. Keep your posture low

Lowering your posture involves two levels. One is the corporate new media operated, and the other is yourself.

(1) Lower the company’s profile

It’s not about lowering the standards of the enterprise, but about making it look more like a “human being”. Currently, self-media is booming. In addition to competing with other companies, companies also have to compete with some individuals. The competition is not about the product, but the user’s time.

Make the company more people-friendly and change the inherent impression. Last year, some successful examples included Weilong spicy strips, which came out with copywriting that imitated Apple, and Taobao’s website design was also more interesting.

When it comes to the people-friendly nature of corporate new media, we must mention Haier New Media, which became popular last year.

It angrily criticized the richest man Wang Jianlin, overpowered the official micro-blog giant Durex , and separated from its parent company to start its own business ... Among all corporate new media operation teams, Haier New Media seems to be "out of place".

Last January, I was deeply impressed by an event that was “jointly planned” by Haier’s official Weibo account and the Palace Museum Taobao.

The Palace Museum Taobao is also a very distinctive official account. At that time, a fan suggested, why don't you make refrigerator magnets? It is both full of historical sense and concise, and there are two big words on the refrigerator: cold palace!

Speaking of refrigerators, how can we forget Haier? So, a fan tried @Haier's official Weibo and said, "You guys can work together to produce a mini refrigerator that looks like a palace, with the name "Palace" and "Cold Palace" on it! It will be absolutely great."

An official Weibo account of a company as big as Haier receives countless @ comments every day.

What was incredible to many netizens was that Haier actually responded and really considered it. For fans, this kind of warm and attitude-filled response will make them feel that Haier’s official Weibo is not a cold and heartless company, but a group of emotional people.

Well-known brands like Haier can lower their profile and interact cordially with users. Can our new media editors do the same?

(2) Lower your personal attitude

The waves behind the Yangtze River push the waves in front of them, and they will surge together with the waves behind them. To be honest, there is no absolute authority in the new media field. Some people may have accumulated enough fans during the bonus period and be named as great gods. The industry is evolving too fast. Often when people see the bonus period, most of the bonus period has already passed. In 2014, Toutiao was still a non-mainstream topic, but in 2016, many other topics emerged. Each platform has different advantages and rules. Even for clickbait titles, the word limit for titles on each platform is different.

Learn, learn, and learn again. This is the creed that new media people need to always adhere to.

Mobile application product promotion service: APP promotion service Qinggua Media advertising

The author of this article @火火 is compiled and published by (Qinggua Media). Please indicate the author information and source when reprinting! Site Map