5 core skills that a novice needs to advance to an operations expert

In recent years, operations positions have been very popular. Why do we say that? Just look at the salary level and demand of the recruiting company and you will know. A friend once asked me that she wanted to switch from sales to operations. She felt that operations was very simple. It just required editing a few pictures and texts and posting articles. It was an easy job and the salary was twice as much as she earned.

When I heard this evaluation, I rejected it in my heart. It said that operation was easy, but the baby felt miserable but didn't say it. What she was referring to was basic editing. Editing and operation of new media operations are two different things. The concept of operation is not limited to new media , but also includes product, channel , user, content, community , and other operation directions.

Operations is a profession that is easy to get started in but difficult to advance. That is why you see many great product managers , but rarely see operations experts who are so famous that they will make you astound. Because products and operations are closely related, at a certain level, operations are no longer just focused on operations itself, but people who can manage the overall situation. Therefore, every time you move up to a higher level of operations, you have to go through many more trials and put in a lot of hard work.

The basic skills of operation are skills that novice operators cannot ignore. The more solid your basic skills are, the faster the subsequent breakthrough will be. A tall building is built from the ground up, and only when the foundation is solid can you become a skyscraper!

Ability 1: Good copywriting

I studied media and prided myself on my ability to handle words. However, it was not until I met our director from Alibaba that I realized how naive I was. He speaks fluent Internet language and can easily study people born after 1995 and 2000. He can write headlines suitable for all age groups. Even our brand director (who has been in advertising for ten years and has worked on many BMW cases) praises him and thinks he has a very good sense of the Internet.

Since then, I have made up my mind to regain my sensitivity to words and improve my writing skills. Because copywriting is one of the basic skills of operations, as mentioned in previous articles, the products you see should have a complete set of settings from the opening screen to every frame, or the automatic reply of the official account. So, the first ability is copywriting ability.

Cultivation method:

• A book to cultivate your appreciation for good copywriting. Take a look before going to bed. It comes from Xiao Ma Song's "Copywriting That Makes Copywriters Despair"
• A book to practice with, I recommend Sugarman's "Copywriting Training Manual";

Don't be lazy, it's better to buy 2 books together.

Ability 2: Good activities planning

Without activities, fans will leave sooner or later. The three axes of operation are attracting new customers, retaining existing customers, and promoting activation. Event planning and operation capabilities are important abilities that operators must master. Activity is a necessary means for you to retain users and increase stickiness.

The rules for running an event should follow the rules of warm-up - launch - review and reporting , so that your fans can feel the exposure and warmth of the event at every stage. This is what operators need to pay attention to when running an event.

Fans have limited attention. How to grasp this limited attention, what to rely on to attract fans, and what to rely on to continue to attract fans are preparations that need to be made in the early stages. Once fans are attracted, how to guide them? After the guidance, what follow-up services are provided? Whether the quality and ability of the service staff can keep up? Every step here may result in the loss of your users.

Therefore, it is not easy to plan an event well, and it is even more difficult to execute an event well. The control of the details and rhythm of each event is very demanding. Therefore, work hard to become an operator who can do a good job in planning and execution.

Cultivation method:

Do you remember in your primary school Chinese textbook that someone asked the oil seller why he could be so accurate with just one spoonful? He just said four words: "Practice makes perfect." The same principle applies to doing activities. You must make mistakes, review them, and make mistakes again. You must learn how to plan and execute them, and then practice them yourself. After doing this many times, you will gradually develop your abilities.

Ability 3: A good set of data

Data is the lifeblood of operations. The era of refined operations has begun, and data is your carrier. New media operations are not as popular as in the past two years because WeChat ’s conversion rate and efficiency are low, and everyone can see it. Departments that have not undergone transformation are all waste, and companies do not keep idle people. Therefore, your data is very important. Recording every step of the user's behavior and data conversion will be your bargaining chip in the future.

Cultivation method:

• Beginner's Edition: Use Excel to make tables and reports, analyze existing data, find problems and patterns, master the use of Excel and data analysis methods, such as regression analysis, similarity analysis, etc. You should be familiar with them without explanation, but you should not be confused when asked;
• Intermediate: Learn programming, starting with Python, understand the logic and methods of big data solutions, and see if you can tinker with one or two models to guide product and operation planning based on your existing data. Continuously improve the efficiency and conversion of operations.

Ability 4: Good planning

No planning, no operation. Just like operations and marketing , plans are made in advance, not just written up on the spot and put online the next day. Therefore, your pattern, your vision, your coordination ability - synthetic planning ability becomes particularly important. Therefore, your 2017 annual plan should be released in the first half of this month. Your performance goals, the content and theme of activities at each time point, as well as the direction and framework should all be well planned. Good planning is half the success.

Cultivation method:

Operations are life, and it is recommended that you start with your own planning. If you are a particularly disorganized person, don’t know your own development direction and who can make plans, how can you talk about annual work planning?

Ability 5: Gather a circle of good resources

If you think you can get started after doing the above operations, you are too naive. A good operation requires channel resources . Therefore, channel power is your last hurdle.

Once the channels are expanded, many things become much easier. But nowadays business communication and negotiation are not that simple. Many connections start from WeChat or QQ, so you may encounter such situations: the customer was chatting well, but started to make excuses after you sent a link; the customer started to hesitate when you just talked about money; you sent a proposal, but they urged you several times, but you still can’t figure out how to cooperate reasonably and elegantly, etc. You may need more methods and experience for these.

Cultivation method:

Communication skills are actually not easy to cultivate. After all, many people think they have no problem with communication. Many times, the first WeChat business negotiation involves the issue of how to break the ice and reasonably express one's demands. Therefore, you can read more books on business negotiations, study consumer psychology and behavior, improve your business negotiation skills through continuous trial and error, and grasp the resources in your own operating segment, so that you can go further and better on the road of operation.

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

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