With the advent of application numbers, operators will face five major challenges!

Last night (September 21), the WeChat public account "Gossip" published an article with a short and shocking title - WeChat application number is here. This article, which is only 638 characters long, instantly received over 100,000 views, conveying three points of information:

1. WeChat public platform mini program has issued internal testing invitations today;
2. Mini programs provide developers with a wealth of services and functions in the form of components and APIs;
3. This is a WeChat version of the App Store, and WeChat will become an operating system.

At 00:29 this morning, "WeChat Open Class" released an official announcement - this time we invite you to make a mini program; and answered questions about the naming, functions, opening hours, etc. of the WeChat mini program. And today, it has been only 254 days since Zhang Xiaolong proposed the concept of " application number "; what was supposed to come has finally come, but I didn't expect it to come so soon!

Since WeChat was launched in 2011, every change has had a huge impact on China's Internet industry, as can be seen from its functions such as WeChat Mall, Moments, official accounts , and WeChat red envelopes . The launch of “Application Number” by WeChat this time is bound to have a huge and far-reaching impact on Internet operations . This is both an opportunity and a challenge!

Challenge 1: Users and communities will explode

When talking about communities, we inevitably involve " WeChat groups ", so are WeChat groups really communities? Obviously not! In a broad sense, a community refers to social relations within a certain boundary, and community members have similar values ​​and sense of identity.

WeChat groups, like QQ groups, are just a carrier or platform for the community, and their boundaries are the WeChat ecosystem; outside of this circle, the connection between community members is likely to be disconnected. This is not difficult to understand. Two people are friends in a WeChat group, but they may not know each other when they meet offline; you are in a certain corporate communication group, but you may not be able to consume its products or services on WeChat.

In a word: there is a disconnect between community and product!

WeChat application number should be able to solve this problem well. Enterprises can develop their own products or services into application numbers and place them within the WeChat system, and can directly connect to WeChat communities.

If WeChat group members or public account fans have the intention to pay or purchase, they can complete the conversion directly within the application account, which will greatly improve efficiency. At the same time, the phenomenon of relying on the "read original text" link or long pressing the QR code to jump to one's own APP or website will be greatly reduced.

In view of this, the retention and activity of community members will be greatly improved, and how to operate these communities well will be a new challenge!

Challenge 2: Technology and Operational Productization

Ever since WeChat provided a third-party development interface, the demand for front-end development technologies such as HTML 5 and JavaScript has continued to increase, leaving many WeChat editors confused. For most operators who are not from a technical background, it will be a huge challenge to sort out the ins and outs of application numbers while doing a good job in WeChat operations .

First, you need to understand the framework of the application number and plan the operation direction and process based on this. The second step is to transform daily operational norms and systems into reasonable development requirements, allowing developers to productize them in the form of built-in functions of application numbers. At the same time, the later analysis of application number operation data is also a technical job: whether to use WeChat, build it yourself, or call a third-party SDK, all of these need to be considered comprehensively!

It seems that operations should prepare the basic knowledge of front-end development!

Challenge 3: Rules, the WeChat ecosystem you need to understand

Some people say: We owe WeChat a "thank you" for all these years!

This is not without reason. In the past five years, a large number of big accounts have emerged on WeChat. They have hundreds of thousands, millions or even tens of millions of fans, and the advertising revenue alone makes them rich every day.

However, with the continuous development of WeChat, the requirements for ecosystem construction have become increasingly stringent; marketing advertisements, fraudulent information, induced sharing, and other content have become the main targets of WeChat's crackdown. There are many cases like Plato APP and Dazi, which attracted millions of fans overnight and went viral on WeChat Moments, and then were banned by WeChat the next day.

If it is tragic for a public account to be banned, then it will be devastating for an app account to be banned. It is even more terrible than having your app removed from the App Store! It’s hard to imagine that one day you suddenly find that your own app number cannot be searched and the original WeChat users cannot log in; at this time, you may just pack up and leave or close down.

Faced with the new application numbers, Internet operators must fully understand the WeChat ecosystem rules; if you have not passed the WeChat public account operation level 4 or 6 exams, it is recommended that you take a make-up exam!

Challenge 4: Content, triggering a new round of dividends

As mentioned in the first point, the WeChat community and products are disconnected; to put it in a broader sense, it is difficult to establish a connection between WeChat users and commercial value. The emergence of application numbers can effectively break down the barriers between users, information, and product services, and realize a closed loop of the business model within the WeChat ecosystem.

In the closed-loop WeChat ecosystem, the essence of application numbers is more like micro-business, directly targeting monetization. After removing the middlemen, the application number will face users directly; without traditional SEM , SEO , DSP, and ASO , how to attract traffic to the application number?

Content, valuable content will definitely become a new entry point!

Content will become the most important product besides commodities. It can effectively build a bridge between enterprises and users, allowing users to complete consumption in a scene that makes them feel physically and mentally happy. This will also test the content skills of all Internet operators!

Challenge 5: Product, how to improve user experience?

As WeChat’s slogan says – WeChat is a lifestyle – the essence of WeChat is to provide services, not to disseminate content. Only an application number that provides a smooth user experience and can generate service value for users can gain the favor of WeChat and the recognition of users.

Unlike APP, the operators of WeChat application accounts will have closer contact with users. It is very likely that users will follow your company’s official account or even add you as a friend!

In the same ecological community, the amount of user feedback (praise, complaints, etc.) will increase significantly, the cost of dissemination will be infinitely reduced, and if you are not careful, "bad things will spread throughout the circle of friends."

This also puts higher demands on operators: real-time monitoring and feedback of user behavior data, rapid iteration and upgrading of products, and continuous improvement of user experience. These will be brought to a new level and continue to test us!

While these five issues will challenge operators, they will also be a great opportunity. If solved well, they will start a new journey for application numbers!

Having said that, are you excited?

Well, let’s solve the problem of internal beta application first!