Public account operation routines: Why can some be copied while others are unique?

Because some public accounts do not aim for commercial returns, they do not have to worry about quantitative investment. Of course, you can't do it blindly. The basic rules of operation must still be followed, including differentiated positioning of content, neat layout, stable update frequency, etc.

There are several considerations for content differentiation: first, what can be written; second, how to ensure the continuity of topic selection; and third, whether there are any differences. It finally started with a case review, but as you can see, now there is also a lot of experience sharing. If you consider it from the perspective of increasing followers, you need to adjust the subject matter of the article based on the number of readings.

Add to that some promotional cooperation matters regarding content distribution, and this is the simple process for an original content account.

Different types of accounts and purposes have completely different processes. I want to talk about the differentiated operational "routines" of these accounts, why some are replicable and some are unique.

1. History of application changes

Companies maintain users of their products through the operation of official accounts, covering and activating users in multiple dimensions, feeding back product growth through fan growth, and becoming a brand communication platform, initially mainly serving as official WeChat accounts .

The website and official Weibo account display the QR code of the public account, and use various activities to guide user attention. Many large-scale products can easily gain tens of thousands of fans at the beginning. The format of the activity is also very simple. You can get rewards by participating in Q&A, leaving messages, keyword reply games , etc. on the official account.

Subsequently, the ability of public accounts to increase followers became prominent, and many companies began to register public account matrices that meet different needs, using it as one of the promotion channels to convert users in disguise. Toutiao is also very popular, and the mass production and distribution of content has become popular. For example, when we were making an art website, we had established a matrix of different contents such as art investment , art auction, art appraisal, and collection world.

The concept of "decentralization" was proposed in 2014. Especially in the field of e-commerce , sellers have opened up the WeChat battlefield, which has accelerated the development of micro-business. Compared with brand and user maintenance, WeChat business’s pursuit of interests is more direct, and we have witnessed all kinds of imaginative marketing methods used by WeChat business. Their sales orientation determines that they pay great attention to the ROI of single marketing rather than blindly pursuing high growth in fans.

The enrichment of commercial demands and the increase in demand for in-depth services for fans have promoted the increase of various interfaces of public accounts.

The prosperity of WeChat business has also led to the emergence of a large number of third-party service companies that provide micro-website construction, WeChat stores, marketing plug-ins, editing tools , etc.

Later, because of the rich interfaces and the expansion of fan base, the official account can be operated as an independent product. It can not only grow independently based on content, but also impress users with convenient functions (just follow and use).

2. Operations first

For startups , official accounts can not only help acquire early users at low cost, but also serve as a channel for continuously spreading brand value with low barriers. Around 2014, when content competition was not so fierce, you could gain considerable users by relying on some good content. However, after 2015, more new entrants could only rely on MVPs (minimum viable products) with unique functions to attract users.

Content is released frequently, but activities are not held every day. When setting up a public account, the first thing to do is to find continuous content mining points. The content is incoherent, lacks soul, and is pieced together every day, making it nothing more than a puppet of the brand.

1. Based on and continuously utilizing the core value output of the product

2. Large-scale activities are frequent, while small-scale activities are frequent

For example, Jianshu, a content-based app, and Dongqiudi, an information-based app, have a lot of unique content that can be connected and can be output after selecting topics and editing.

If there are a lot of topics in your field, such as fitness, you can also explore them. If it is not included in this list, then it will be more difficult to piece together and integrate the content. We can also see that many official WeChat accounts have very different content styles and planning levels due to changes in operations.

Therefore, in terms of content, in addition to sorting out the operational direction according to the characteristics of the product, the key is to have suitable operations, or a stable team, to do a good job in topic exploration and recognizable content output.

The interactivity of official accounts is very weak, with only one-way functions such as comments and messages. This will inevitably increase the difficulty of operation, so at present, in order to create good activities, it is more necessary to develop through H5 or link to products. A common method for small-scale activities is to give out prizes through article comments and likes.

Of course, in some professional fields, the content itself is not highly disseminable, so the role of the official account is much smaller and there is no need to worry about it.

3. Minimum Viable Product (MVP)

It was mainly born under the wave of mobile entrepreneurship. The development and download costs of APP are high, so people began to use WeChat to experiment with product models and reduce user acquisition costs. Although it is also a type of enterprise WeChat , there are core differences in concept.

There is no limit to the types of MVPs. Some functions are embedded in the public account menu through H5, such as many O2O services; some are implemented through automatic + manual dialogue and functional module (payment) access, such as the personal assistant service "Get, Shenzhu"; and some are tool-based, such as the bus inquiry "The bus is coming".

After simply setting up the function, you can promote it accurately through ground promotion and other methods, and the conversion efficiency is relatively high.

It is worth mentioning that the choice of account type does not necessarily require a service account when it comes to function development. Instead, factors such as the importance of content in long-term operations and whether the WeChat interface involved in MVP is necessary should be considered. Otherwise, it is easy to re-open the subscription account due to content impact at a later stage, resulting in an abnormal account matrix and user diversion.

Many products have opened service accounts. Their operational characteristics require content or activities to activate users, but the menus are just embedded with H5 links, or even templates provided by WeChat. It’s really not worth it.

4. Content Entrepreneurship

In the field of content entrepreneurship, WeChat is just one of many battlefields. Some have independent products, such as Huxiu, where everyone is a product manager ; most latecomers rely on content distribution on platforms across the entire network, such as Pencil Road.

The ecology of public accounts allows content to expand unlimitedly relying on its own strength, while content without "power" can only remain lonely, but the measurement of power is often lost in "low, professional, and niche."

Platforms like Jianshu, Toutiao, and Himalaya that return to centralized traffic distribution are a way to make up for long-tail content or serve as a supplement to distribution channels. You can also create your own internet celebrity , such as "Peng Xiaoliu" from Jianshu.

But in fact, it is found that more content entrepreneurs on public accounts have "backgrounds", either they have accumulated a lot of experience, or they come with the wind, and they can lead the way on their own. It is also possible to rely on manpower input and high-standard process production content like Pencil Road, but it is just the growth of the traditional production model on a low-cost platform.

In addition, there are important roles such as local accounts and marketing accounts, which can be regarded as models of following operating rules. They are generally matrix operations, highly reproducible production processes, title party models (numbers, suspense, ethics), number of items, and time standards.

Their activities are highly reusable, such as beauty pageants, voting, red envelopes, etc. The cost of activities is drastically reduced through merchant sponsorship and technical means. It is common to gain tens of thousands of fans with a few hundred yuan. Of course, the quality of fans is questionable.

5. Operation Tips

For enterprises, the concepts of operating public accounts and products are similar. If your product is in line with user needs, the content, services, activities, and tone involved in the operation of the public account will also be clearer.

A very key point is that the official account is not independent, it is part of the product and can be understood as a community and service center attached to the product. Then the KPI setting will not be distorted, leading to problems such as spoof content that deviates from the product theme and unprofessional communication.

Let's talk about the matrix. Taking Xueba Jun as an example, if the users of the product are independent roles with different interests, a user-oriented matrix can be established. Serve different roles from different entry points, produce content and plan activities in a targeted manner.

Taking crowdfunding as an example, users are divided by class (middle class and high net worth individuals pursuing consumption upgrades), but they can also be subdivided according to life interests, entertainment types such as eating, drinking and having fun, etc., to establish a content matrix to acquire customers.

6. Account Blocking and Mini Programs

The two most watched actions of public accounts in recent times are the mini-program previews and the frequent blocking of large accounts.

On October 27, the account of Liangpin Shop with tens of millions of followers was blocked. The way to increase followers was very typical and effective. By associating QR codes to attract fans, preferential rewards were obtained. On July 21 this year, the social e-commerce platform "Pinduoduo" received a B round of investment from companies including Tencent, and the core concept is similar.

Two points have been distilled: First, the original violent, direct and effective methods of increasing followers, including likes, voting, and attracting followers with rewards, are the targets of key surveillance and expulsion.

The second point is that in addition to increasing followers through content, when increasing followers through technology, we should also consider the social and service value contained in the process of increasing followers, rather than just the naked value. Just like in product design, it’s not enough to just put a sharing button where it should be. Rather, it is about how to design the value of the sharing chain based on the value of the product, so that the entire sharing process and participating roles are driven by the value of the product.

In the current development system, it mainly involves transmission and jump between APP sharing and a set of H5 designed specifically for the purpose. Then, the emergence of WeChat mini-programs may make this chain smoother and greatly improve the conversion rate .

7. All Changes Return to the Origin

For different application fields and business demands, whether it is content entrepreneurship, self-media , or service products, in the same ecosystem, there are already many sets of reference operational concepts and cases.

Returning to the operational perspective, select an operator and team that agrees with the product concept, sort out the framework, and implement it step by step. If the product can be operated well, the official account will also be almost the same, which means the operational thinking will be on a new track. Different people have different fates in terms of being able to produce innovative content and cases.

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