Toutiao Nanny-level Marketing Promotion Strategy

Recently, when I was providing marketing consulting to some brands, I found that many new brands complained that it was too difficult to go from 0 to 1 at this point in time. On the one hand, everyone feels that the bonus period of most marketing platforms has passed and the cost of traffic is getting higher and higher; on the other hand, the competition among brands on various marketing platforms is very fierce, and even if you spend money, it is difficult to attract users' attention and affect sales conversion.

I fully understand the embarrassment faced by new brands, but think about it from another perspective, is there really no solution? In my opinion, the key problem behind such complaints is the inherent thinking. Brands always feel that new marketing platforms with bonuses are opportunities, but this does not mean that there are no opportunities on old marketing platforms. For example, Toutiao has been around for 8 years, and I believe many brands know it. However, as far as I can remember, not many brands have discussed how to market on Toutiao, and its marketing value is far underestimated. As far as I know, a KOL on the Toutiao platform with a creative historical perspective can help Toutiao achieve sales of 8 million across the entire platform with just one tweet. Moreover, if you understand the marketing methods, it is not difficult to create a hit product.

When doing brand marketing, sometimes you have to "go against the grain". When other brands are fighting hard on new bonus platforms, we can look back at the old marketing platforms, which may produce unexpected results. Therefore, I will add some budget for marketing on Toutiao in my recent planning for clients and do some tests. This is a good opportunity to share with you my latest understanding of the Toutiao platform and some marketing experience.

1. The latest understanding of Toutiao platform

Let me first talk to you about the content changes of Toutiao, because the platform content affects the platform population. Only by understanding the platform population can we develop effective marketing methods.

After 8 years of evolution, the content of Toutiao platform has undergone tremendous changes. In terms of the content itself, Toutiao has become a national authoritative information platform, with more and more KOLs sharing valuable information on the platform; in terms of content format, the platform's carrier format is becoming more and more diverse, with not only pictures and texts, but also live broadcasts, short videos, medium and long videos, audio, etc.; it comprehensively presents the characteristics of popularization of professional content.

1.1 National information platform attracts more high-quality people

On April 12, 2021, Toutiao obtained the online live broadcast rights for CCTV's "News Broadcast" program. Nearly 800,000 people watch "News Broadcast" on Toutiao every night.

In addition, authoritative domestic media such as Xinhua News Agency, China Daily, Guangming Daily, People's Daily, and Global Times have also settled in Toutiao. As a leading information platform, Toutiao has become the main battlefield for the dissemination of authoritative information. The entry of authoritative media will in turn help the platform attract more high-quality users.

1.2 More and more KOLs are entering the market, making brand marketing possible

A very important part of brand marketing relies on platform KOLs. If a brand wants to make a difference on a certain content platform, it must have a large number of KOLs to help endorse the brand. The Toutiao platform itself has such characteristics. The official data given last year was that there were 1.8 million content creators in 100 different fields; this year, another shocking number was given that there are nearly 160,000 Toutiao creators with professional identity certification. The content produced by these experts receives 300 million readings and views every day, which is very suitable for delivering vertically oriented brand information.

1.3 Understand changes in user behavior and change marketing strategies accordingly

First of all, we need to understand that users of Toutiao not only read articles on Toutiao, but also watch live broadcasts, short videos, medium and long videos, listen to audio, etc. Therefore, in response to diverse user actions, we need to produce diverse content to meet user needs.

Secondly, users on Toutiao are no longer simply interested in information; knowledge acquisition, movie watching and entertainment are also very typical user scenarios. Therefore, when making marketing strategies, we can also design content for these scenarios to meet user needs.

Third, the trend of users actively searching on Toutiao is becoming more and more obvious, with the number of searching users increasing by 50% and the search volume increasing by 100%. In view of this feature, brands need to publish a large amount of high-quality content on Toutiao to intercept user demand.

1.4 The complete content marketing chain makes efficient marketing possible

Another important issue that brands will consider during the marketing process is whether the marketing platform they choose is complete. Toutiao platform provides two complete content marketing links for brand marketing:

1) The first complete content marketing chain is based on high-quality content, building a content dissemination path from "brand content customization-content fermentation-hotspot formation-cross-platform cognition". It can not only transform users' cognition into recognition of the brand, but also help the brand to get platform-level endorsement, form content resonance on multiple platforms, and greatly enhance the value of brand customized content;

2) The second complete content marketing chain is the chain from brand content to e-commerce conversion. Toutiao platform provides conversion components recommended by the platform, such as product cards and mini-programs. Brands can not only use high-quality content to attract users, but also use conversion components to help users easily complete e-commerce conversions.

To sum up, after 8 years of development and changes, Toutiao platform has undergone many changes from its audience, content to marketing capabilities. Brands need to understand these changes before doing marketing in order to formulate appropriate marketing strategies.

2. Summary of Toutiao’s Marketing Experience

After talking for a long time about our new understanding of the platform, let’s talk about how to do marketing on the Toutiao platform. I think this part will definitely be of interest to many brands, so I will say a few more words about it.

2.1 How to establish a complete marketing system on Toutiao?

When doing marketing on any platform, you must establish a complete marketing system. Brands doing marketing on Toutiao platform is no exception. Specifically, it includes the following four aspects:

1) Observation of word-of-mouth assets

• Communication Index: Evaluate the brand's current influence and competitive environment
• Interaction Index: Evaluate the interaction between the brand and users
• Public Opinion Index: Assess the current public opinion of the brand. Brand public opinion is a key consideration in KOL cooperation.

2) Content dissemination strategy

• Understand the target group: behavior, interests, etc.
• What the brand needs to convey
• Combination with hot spots

3) Content monitoring and early warning

• Content dissemination
• User review analysis
• Monitor and analyze through tools such as Big Data Cloud Map

4) Review of communication effects

• Content attractiveness: interactive performance
• Word-of-mouth optimization: public opinion favorability, core value delivery
• Brand enhancement: Brand popularity enhancement, third-party evaluation

2.2 How to create popular content on the Toutiao platform?

First of all, we must make clear a principle: if soft articles are too hard, they will definitely not have any readership on the Toutiao platform. Only content that conforms to the platform attributes can have the potential to become a hit.

Secondly, we need to understand Toutiao’s content recommendation mechanism. The system will recommend the article to users who may be interested. If the user reads well, the system will be stimulated to expand the scope of recommendations to more similar users, and the number of recommendations will grow like a "snowball". However, if the user's reading effect is not good during the recommendation process, the system will stop recommending.

Third, if you want to get popular content, you must get multiple recommendations from the system, and the system's multiple recommendations are affected by the following factors:

1) The title and content must meet the needs of users. They must take into account the click-through rate of the article, but they must not deceive users with title parties and affect the completion rate. This balance must be very well grasped;

2) There are multiple review processes. Toutiao’s content review process includes both machine review and manual review. To publish highly professional content, such as in the fields of finance, health, etc., the author must have platform-related qualifications and certification, and it is even better to be a yellow V or above;

3) If it is an advertising article, do not include contact information directly in the article; reject pure hard advertising, which will be very offensive to users, and even blunt insertion is best avoided;

4) Focus on the types of low-quality titles that the platform cracks down on.

To sum up, if you want to get more system recommendations, you must focus on users, and the selection and writing of articles should revolve around readers. You can write about topics that Toutiao users are concerned about and "take advantage of" the hot topics on the site; you can also write "hard-core" content to bring learning value to readers.

2.3 How to select Toutiao influencers?

The screening method for Toutiao influencers is similar to that for Douyin influencers. Generally, we start from the following dimensions:

1) The industry in which the brand operates. Generally, we will first filter the brands in the huge star map according to the industry they are in. For example, if Huawei wants to place ads on Toutiao, we can focus on experts in related fields such as technology, digital, and finance, and convey selling points from different angles to influence users.

2) Star map index. The Star Chart Index represents the current comprehensive ability of this talent, the higher the index, the better;

3) The expert’s work data, including personal works and task works data. The higher the quality dissemination rate, expert interaction rate and estimated reading volume, the better.

4) Read trends and follower growth data. Accounts with relatively stable reading trends and good follower growth data can be included in the selection range;

5) Fan portrait. Including: region, gender of influencers, age, mobile phone price, and fan region to filter audience matching;

6) Look at the content of the advertisements produced by the influencer through his/her past works to understand his/her writing style, creativity and meticulousness;

7) Finally, take a look at the popularity of this expert. If he has a yellow V certification, it means that he is a high-quality author in this field; if the expert has a gold V certification, it means that he is a person with a certain degree of popularity in this field; if the expert has also been on the official list, it means that the quality of the expert is higher.

By screening through the above steps, it can be basically guaranteed that the selected talents will not be too bad.

2.4 How to form an efficient communication chain based on [expert matrix + diversified content combination]?

Toutiao's content formats are quite diverse. After we screened multiple influencers for cooperation, we can also use different content combinations based on the different areas of expertise of each influencer. Generally, there are four common content combinations:

1) Headline topics + articles + micro headlines: This is a more mainstream way of playing. Articles are combined with headline topics and micro headlines to trigger social fission;

2) Articles + Headline Q&A: In-depth interaction between creators and brands, through the combination of in-depth content and question answers, to achieve the goal of deep brand penetration;

3) Weitou.com + live streaming: When a brand is relatively large, these two methods can be combined to interact with fans in real time;

4) Toutiao account + customized special topic + Toutiao topic: This method requires the cooperation of experts to output professional content, intercept users' search needs, and help brands accumulate content.

2.5 How to promote brand through event marketing on Toutiao?

Let’s first look at the case of the launch of Huawei Mate40. On the day of the global launch, Huawei Mate 40 successfully topped the hot lists of Toutiao and Douyin, and attracted a lot of attention from users. Several conditions must be met to play well on the headlines hot list:

1) Brand events must have enough popularity;

2) Brands must mobilize sufficient resources to support the hot list, including: Toutiao’s opening screen, search, and a large amount of KOL content;

3) Make good content combinations based on communication nodes. Let’s look at the time nodes of the Huawei Mate40 case:

• Huawei Developer Conference: Live Broadcast + Hot List
• Global Conference: Live Broadcast + Topics + Special Topics + KOL Content
• Domestic press conference: live broadcast + topics + special topics

2.6 What should we pay attention to when implementing content delivery?

First of all, when connecting content with influencers, you should pay attention to the following points:

1) Respect the original content of the talent and give full play to the style of the talent;

2) Have a clear brief, including: launch time, project introduction, content direction, reference materials, precautions, etc. The higher the quality of the brief, the better the completion of the talent;

3) Collect the timeline of expert feedback and monitor progress according to the time nodes;

The second is the implementation of results. If it is just pure content marketing, you need to prepare some guiding comments and cooperate with the content of the expert; if there is e-commerce cooperation, you need to test the complete e-commerce link, pay attention to the traffic funnel, and minimize user bounces.

2.7 What tools does Toutiao platform have to amplify content models?

For better content, it can be amplified through some traffic tools on the Toutiao platform to help brands do better communication. Let's look at a few of the more important tools.

1) Headline cheering package

The Toutiao Refueling Package can be understood as the DOU+ of Toutiao today. This tool can be used to increase the recommendation volume of content. Brands can choose to invest in content with good communication data, but should not invest in content with poor basic data.

2) Fans must reach

The second tool to increase sales is Fans Must Reach. The function of Fans Must Reach is to enhance the fan reach rate. To put it bluntly, it means spending money to make the content reach as many fans as possible. After an article using the "Fans Must Reach" function passes review, in addition to being recommended normally by the system, it will also receive weighted recommendations from the creator's fans. It is said that it can currently reach 65%+ of active fans.

The fan must reach function supports the use of articles and micro headlines. After activation, you can just check the box when publishing articles or micro headlines.

3) Toutiao Haowai

The third tool is Toutiao Haowai, which allows brand owners to purchase Toutiao’s information flow advertising space for recommended content, and can specify the attributes of the target audience (gender, age, mobile terminal, region, occupation, industry and brand preference, etc.) and quantity range. The platform will give you as much traffic as you spend money on. It can deliver pictures, texts, micro headlines and videos.

Final Thoughts

In an era where competition for traffic is so fierce, choosing the right marketing platform is a compulsory course for every operator. As an important platform for hundreds of millions of people to obtain information every day, Toutiao has many points that deserve the attention of brands:

1) Over 100 million DAUs can cover enough marketing audiences for brands;

2) A large number of authoritative media and professional KOLs have settled in, making the platform content more in-depth. For brands, there are sufficient KOLs to help them endorse;

3) The population is becoming more knowledgeable, which enables platform users to have more sufficient consumption capacity;

4) A more complete marketing chain makes efficient brand marketing possible;

5) The richness of genres and the efficiency of distribution have been recognized by the industry. While ensuring the richness and diversity of the platform, it brings the value of "real authority, universality and efficiency" to business, and continues to help brands build a "deep and trustworthy" brand image.

Based on the above points, the editor suggests that brands can pay attention to the marketing strategies and cases on the Toutiao platform, and explore the possibility of realizing the entire business chain through the Toutiao platform.

Author: Marketing Lao Zhao

Source: Marketing Lao Zhao