How to cold-start community activities in 7 cities within 7 days

Based on the experience of previous event operations , I will review a case I did last year and talk about how to cold-start community activities in 7 cities within 7 days and the experience of community operations .

We are a digital life sharing platform that gathers digital enthusiasts. We hold offline salons from time to time to experience the latest digital products. In order to activate the offline community, we launched the "XX Campus Tour" to Shenzhen University in September, and planned to create a series of "XX City Tour" activities in October.

Activity Overview:

As BlackBerry sold its hardware business, as a digital media platform "keeping up with the latest trends", and given that BlackBerry has a small but loyal fan base, it decided to hold a nationwide offline fan event to "say goodbye" to BlackBerry together, as the first wave of "XX City Tour" activities.

Purpose

Through this event, offline community organizations were established across the country.

Basic framework of the activity

• Activity theme: XX City Tour | "Farewell" to the BlackBerry era, a gathering of BlackBerry friends
• Target audience: Platform fans/BlackBerry fans
• Event time: October 16, 2016
• Activity format: The headquarters will hold a lecture (online live broadcast ), and other cities will mainly hold discussions
• How to participate: Register through the official website registration link
• Expected results: Held in 5 cities across the country, with 150 participants

Key issues of this event

Before the event started, we encountered a series of difficulties: cold-starting community activities in other cities was a huge challenge for us, and the preparation and promotion period were short, so we had some concerns about the number of sign-ups; the platform fans were very active online, but we did not have enough confidence to call on them to organize their own activities offline; although BlackBerry fans are a clear stream among fans of various digital brands (with high brand loyalty and sentimental qualities), their number is still small. Without any precedent to refer to or learn from, we had to rush forward, make a list of key issues, and break through them one by one:

Problem 1: Short preparation time for activities (project launch on Monday, activities on Sunday)

Solution: Start the promotion as quickly as possible, finalize the copy and design on Monday, and start the promotion on Tuesday; cover as many platform fans as possible, and utilize the promotional resources of all platforms (carousel on the official website homepage, client push, WeChat public account headlines, Weibo, WeChat groups ); call on BlackBerry fans outside the platform, and contact BlackBerry-related new media and WeChat groups.

Question 2: Who will be responsible for activities in each city?

Solution: Recruit through the first wave of promotional articles and contact fans who are familiar and have organizational skills, and determine the person in charge after comprehensive evaluation. If a city fails to successfully identify a person in charge, the second option will be adopted: recruit a person in charge of a certain job, such as a sign-in staff, photographer, etc. Each job has a person in charge, and the event can still be completed smoothly.

Question 3: How to recruit fans?

Solution: Fans fill in the registration link to register. If 10 people sign up in a city, the event can be held in this city. The fans in the confirmed city will be notified via SMS and email through the registration background as soon as possible, informing them to add the customer service WeChat account and note the city name. After adding, add them to the city group where they are located and start being active in the group. Fans who were unable to make the event were notified and apologized via text message on Friday night.

Question 4: How do fans organize their own activities?

Solution: The event format of the Shenzhen headquarters is a lecture, and we are responsible for inviting guests; in order to reduce the difficulty of holding the event, other cities mainly focus on exchanges and discussions. Most city leaders have no experience in hosting events, so we provide guidance in two aspects: first, we encourage and support the leaders; second, we provide online training, which includes how to sign in, the process after the event starts, how to shoot videos, etc.

Question 5: How to determine the event venues in each city?

Solution: Mainly encourage fans in the group to search for venues, because they are more familiar with the local conditions and can also increase the activity within the group during the process of searching for venues. There were some problems in finding a venue. For example, I couldn’t confirm a venue in Beijing, and all the venues seemed too far away. Finally, I found three venues online, posted them in the group, let everyone vote, and make the final decision. Because the city is so large, it is impossible to take care of everyone and we can only obey the majority. In addition, the form of activities also needs to be customized according to different city cultures. At that time, a fan suggested going to eat hot pot (which was later not adopted). I sent the screenshot of the chat to the city group that had not yet determined the form of the activity. Through this form of communication, each city will not feel lonely and can also use their imagination to come up with interesting activities.

Question 6: How to solve the expenses and materials for activities in various places?

Solution: The Shenzhen venue will be held in the company, and the venue fees in other cities will be shared by all parties. We have discussed the AA system for a long time, and I insist that fans need to share a certain amount of expenses when organizing self-organized activities. The event materials (flags, small ornaments, arm patches) and gifts (platform peripheral products and merchant sponsored gifts) were prepared by the headquarters. The event materials were sent out on Thursday. The designers and material suppliers made great contributions to the successful completion of this event, designing and producing them in the shortest time.

Project execution timeline:

The preparation time was short and we worked overtime for a week in a row. All the work was completed in the shortest time possible. The principle of execution was: speed is the only way to success.

• Monday: Complete program planning, write recruitment documents, and place orders for design requirements
• Tuesday: Finalize the design, publish recruitment information, and prepare company-related gifts
• Wednesday: Screen the host city and person in charge, place material orders, and invite guests to share in Shenzhen
• Thursday: Host cities confirmed, and formed groups to encourage everyone to find venues
• Friday: The person in charge is determined, the venue is determined, an article is published to determine the city, participants are recruited, materials and gifts are sent out
• Saturday: Materials received, Shenzhen venue arranged and live broadcast prepared, online training for city leaders
• Sunday: Live broadcast of the event at the headquarters (other cities can choose to watch the live broadcast)
• Monday: Make a video and write a summary

Community Management Timeline:

The main purpose of this event is to build an offline community organization, so we will focus on emphasizing some work content related to community organizations.

• Wednesday: Start to gradually establish city groups that can host events, select responsible persons, encourage local responsible persons to determine venues, and recruit fans in the group to be responsible for on-site sign-in and photography;
• Friday: Organize the information of the host city and the person in charge into an article and publish it on the platform for secondary exposure and fan recruitment;
• Saturday: Customized online activities based on the characteristics of each city (arranging sign-in, activity flow, and video shooting, etc.);
• Sunday: Remind the schedule of the activity (sign in, share and discuss, shoot videos, take group photos);
• Monday: Collect photos and reflections from activities in various places.

Community operation experience:

I use two identities to summarize my experience in community operation of this offline event .

Surprise Officer:

1. In the boxes of event materials and gifts sent to each city, there is a special box for the city leaders, with a thank you postcard attached. They all sent it to their friends circle after receiving it. Nothing can go wrong before the event starts, especially for the most important organizers;

2. On the morning of the event, I informed everyone in the group to remember to check their phones at 4 p.m., because red envelopes would be distributed, and those who grabbed the most could win a grand prize, which caused a small climax in the group;

3. Without any prior notice, we edited all the interview videos shot in each city into our event review video and marked the cities, thus establishing a certain sense of ritual.

Encouraging teacher:

1. It is the first time for both the local leaders and the fans to participate in this kind of activities, so we must arrange everything in detail, without giving them too many tasks, and let everyone relax. The activity is to have fun, without any pressure;

2. Develop a set of ready-made event processes and frameworks so that they can easily hold a successful event and gain something from it. The next time they host a similar event, they will have some experience and will know how to think proactively and innovate.

3. After the event, thanks and encouragement were expressed in private messages on WeChat, in the event summary, and on Weibo.

Summary and review:

1. Event Overview: Following the launch of the "XX Campus Tour", the platform launched the "Tail City Tour" event with the theme of "Say Goodbye" to the BlackBerry era and a big gathering of BlackBerry friends, and established offline communities in various cities.

2. Event results: Four days after the event was launched, a total of 600 people from 55 cities signed up, and the event was successfully held in 7 cities, namely: Shenzhen, Beijing, Shanghai, Hangzhou, Wuxi, Suzhou, and Chengdu , with 220 participants. The number of #XX城市行# Weibo topics reached 10 million.

3. Channel effect: Mainly through the official website, accounting for 80% of the registrations, and the rest of the registrations are through BlackBerry fan related platforms.

4. Overall evaluation: This event exceeded expectations. a. In the case of a cold start, 7 cities held events simultaneously and identified the person in charge of each city. b. Through the registration data, we learned about the distribution of fans who are more active in offline activities, mainly in Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou, Shenzhen, Jiangsu and Zhejiang. c. The Digital Tail offline community was opened.

5. Problems: a. The event in Shenzhen is relatively large, so a professional host should be invited; b. Interview videos were recorded in various parts of the country, but there was no video with a unified slogan, which was inconvenient for later editing and publicity; c. There were only 4 days for registration, which did not cover more fans, and the number of registrations was not ideal (this had been anticipated in the early stage); d. Due to time constraints, the flags of each city were unified and not customized according to the names of each place.

6. How to optimize: a. Extend the preparation time to at least two weeks, leaving one week for registration; b. Make the program planning more comprehensive and detailed, and consider subsequent publicity.

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

The author of this article @佐一睨 compiled and published by (Qinggua Media). Please indicate the author information and source when reprinting!