The new media red ocean is approaching. How can corporate new media make a second breakthrough in 2017?

It is standard for companies to have new media accounts, but as the red ocean approaches, the difficulties encountered in new media operations are increasing. For example, the following questions

• The attitude towards new media has become that it is a pity to abandon it, but it is useless to use it.
• There are too many platforms for new media to synchronize, which one is the backbone?
• There are more and more ways to play, which one should you follow, social network or live broadcast ?

In order to solve these problems, companies may need to reposition themselves and think about what their original intention was. 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.

What exactly should corporate new media do?

WeChat : Be a bit lazy, don’t waste time

There are generally three types of corporate positioning for WeChat:

1. spread
2. Earn Money
3. 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.

Not just the amount of readings : the amount 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? On WeChat, although the service accounts are already crowded, there are still opportunities, such as Yoli oral language and Assistant is here, to realize value through productization.

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.

Weibo: Group together to do things

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.

Toutiao and other self-media : 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 . Everyone can find their seat and apply for activation.

The picture comes from Zhihu netizen @风清扬

(2) The first priority is to create good content, and to write good headlines . 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.

New media organizational structure

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.

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 also 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.

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.

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, when asking students who work on WeChat, what is the maximum size of a GIF image that can be uploaded through the WeChat backend? What is the size of a headline with multiple pictures and texts? When asking students in the community, can links be sent to a group of people using a personal account? How many people can be added to a personal account 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.

Expand your mind

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 inviting people to join a group on WeChat, what number of people must be required before they can be directly invited in and a link will be sent instead? Why is WeChat set up like this?
• Simply put, 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.

How can enterprises do a good job in new media placement?

It is a trend that new media investment is catching up with traditional media. A famous saying in the traditional advertising industry is, I know that half of the advertising budget is wasted, but I don’t know which half is wasted?

The same is true for new media. Due to the existence of practices such as inflating the volume of traffic in the industry, sometimes a lot of money is spent inexplicably without knowing the effect. For corporate advertising, there are several opportunities and pitfalls to be aware of when it comes to new media advertising.

WeChat advertising

WeChat advertising is mainly divided into several categories: Moments, official accounts , and communities.

Friends circle:

Currently, the starting price is 200,000 yuan, and the prices vary according to first-, second- and third-tier cities. The author has not tried too much, the rich can do as they please.

Now, the advertising in Moments is becoming more and more mature, and can be accurately targeted at a county in a third-tier city. It is a good entry point for local advertising.

Official Account:

For public account advertising, it is generally based on menu bars, articles, or transactions between public accounts. For the menu bar, it is generally calculated on a weekly or monthly basis, and the most important thing is the specific volume data.

For articles, those that use the number of readings as the delivery indicator are more suitable for public relations communication as the main purpose. For product-based companies, by placing purchase or registration links, you can see the specific volume brought in.

Due to the rampant fake readings nowadays, the authenticity of the reading volume is questionable.

There is undoubtedly a certain risk in simply investing based on the number of readers. The author has two principles for investment: 1. Invest in old content, not new content; 2. Invest vertically, not broadly. Try to invest in old accounts that you are familiar with, and try to invest in vertical fields. I would also like to share a few of the empirical methods I use to make judgments. Of course, not all of them are applicable.

Social Media

The forms of community placement generally include: community naming, advertising link sending, group entry, community buying and selling, and mini-program placement

Generally, community titles are short-term. When sending advertising links, it is best to do so in the name of the group owner, which is more authoritative. You can usually join the group in the name of an expert and give micro-courses to everyone. Community buying and selling means directly transferring the group owner. The mini program is launched because of the dissemination restrictions of the mini program, and the community has obviously become an efficient choice for online dissemination.

One thing to note here is that when launching a community campaign, you must ask the group owner to provide the approximate composition of the group members. It is best to have an estimated level of activity (weekly activity = total number of people speaking in the group per week/total number of people in the group).

Don’t make blind investments. For example, in some mother and baby group transactions, you may spend 50 to join 100 groups, only to find that all the people who join are advertisers like you.

Weibo advertising

It is absolutely impossible to succeed without money, but even if you have money you must make precise investments. Compared with the CPM of Weibo’s Moments, which can easily be 100 or 200 yuan, the Fanstong product is still very cost-effective. Choose a niche area to target, preferably with topics to create a linkage effect.

Other self-media placement

Generally, it goes through the feed flow, or the homepage, or the bottom banner position. The most important thing here is the text and picture design of the first picture. Pay attention to the cost-effectiveness. Also, for the users attracted, it is necessary to track their life cycle to determine whether there is any suspicion of inflating the volume.

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!