How to operate an event (Part 1)

In product operation, activity operation is also one of the basic tasks. So, how can we plan for different types of activities to attract user participation and enhance brand image?

If you can’t organize activities, what kind of operator are you? To be a successful product operator, you must learn the superb skills of event planning. The author leads product operators into the world of event planning and comprehensively interprets the copywriting creativity and implementation skills of event planning in product operations.

1. What activities are the activities centered around?

Event operation includes event implementation, event planning and connecting with related industries to create an industrial chain.

Event operation is one of the basic tasks of a product operator. Event operations are carried out around content and users, and are an extension of content operations and user operations. Their purpose is to increase brand dissemination, purchase conversion rates, platform activity, downloads, etc. As shown in the figure, event operations are mainly divided into three types.

1) Communication-oriented activity operation

The purpose is to popularize the brand and provide entertainment.

• Brand promotion and popularization usually appear in the form of posters, gifts, white papers, etc., which are shocking at some point.
• The entertainment aspect is mainly to enhance the feelings between people, and it can take many forms, such as singing, answering questions, playing games, etc.

2) Marketing-led activity operations

The focus is on profitable sales, supplemented by brand promotion.

For example, the auto shows held in various cities every year and the first CBA league. These activities are designed to increase product awareness, using the events as a trigger to attract advertising and target user ticket resources. This kind of activity itself is a "magnet" that can attract users' enthusiasm and attention.

3) Hybrid event operation

It has the characteristics of both types. For example, Baidu Developer Conference and China Employment and Wealth Forum. These activities are usually based on the premise that users place an order. Only after users place an order can they be eligible to participate in the activities, which in itself is a form of brand promotion.

Event operation is composed of a series of tasks. Its effective execution is not as simple as imagined and requires mastering skills.

We say that a product manager who cannot organize activities is not a good product activity operator. So how can one become a qualified product activity operator? Let’s take Qunar’s event copywriting as an example and analyze in detail how to become a qualified event operator. See the picture below for the promotional advertisement of Qunar’s May Day Shopping and Fun Card event.

Have fun all year round in 2021, and pursue your dreams

Buy Hi Play Card on May Day and save up to 2,500 yuan throughout the year

Limited time offer with 10% off! Only 9.9 yuan

The above is the copy of Qunar’s 2021 May Day Shopping and Card Event. It looks very simple, but it makes full use of the "May Day" opportunity. Its event goals and event time are very clear, which has attracted users' enthusiasm and attention to a large extent. From the above activity copy, it can be seen that to become a qualified product activity operator, one needs to master the following points.

1. Clarify your purpose

Clarity of purpose is a hidden line. In fact, the most taboo thing for event operations is to do events just for the sake of doing them. Before designing an activity, product activity operators must have a clear purpose, such as to increase user activity, for dissemination, or for revenue. In short, all activity designs must revolve around a certain purpose.

As mentioned above, the purpose of Qunar’s May Day Shopping and Card Event is very clear: to spread brand culture and make profits through promotions.

If the purpose of planning an event is just to earn income, we have to "intentionally" give users the message that the product is cheap, so that it may seem cheap but is not actually that cheap.

For example, the copywriting of Qunar's May Day Shopping and Fun Card event reflects this point. Users can save up to 2,500 yuan after purchasing the products. It seems to help users save money, but in fact it is using vouchers to encourage users to buy travel products.

If the purpose is just to increase user activity, then when setting rules, you need to pay attention to ensuring that users have active behavior. If the purpose is just to spread brand culture, many communication nodes must be set up in the event copy.

It is important to have a clear purpose. When planning an event, you can leverage hot events and time points, but the most important thing is to allow users to achieve the purpose of the event based on the set rules. When engaging in product activity operations, please keep the word "purpose" in mind, otherwise you will not be able to operate the product activity well.

2. Activity timing is very important

When planning an event, the timing of the event is very important. Many time nodes and popular events are very conducive to promoting activities, and sometimes they can even be the reason for holding activities.

Traditional offline activities are often held during holidays, store anniversaries, and season changes. The popularity of mobile Internet has given online activities many new choices and ways of playing. In addition to store anniversaries, seasonal changes, and holidays, hot events have also become the choice of many event operators.

When planning an event, there should be a range of start and end times for the event. If you want to get the effect of the activity as quickly as possible, you must launch the activity online as soon as possible. If the activity can take advantage of the momentum, it will be more effective, and this "momentum" is the timing.

When determining the timing, you should also avoid time points when the momentum is too strong. For example, Alibaba’s “Double Eleven” and “Double Twelve”, JD.com’s “618”, etc.

3. How to attract users’ attention

Activities that attract users' attention must follow two principles: creativity and simplicity. Interesting activities themselves are a good reason to attract user participation, because they can capture users' interests and meet their personalized needs, thereby stimulating user participation.

Often it is difficult for product event operators to design a completely new event, so most event planners make “micro-innovations” based on successful events. "Micro-innovation" refers to learning from the models of previous successful activities and seeking partial changes. The changes here can be the theme, the participation rules, or the participation platform, but the main activity model is basically the same.

Some product event operators can easily fall into self-thinking when planning events. This is mainly because they are too familiar with the product, making all actions become natural. Therefore, product activity planners also need to communicate with users frequently, consider issues from the user's perspective, and maintain a participating attitude.

2. Activity reason: Capture the points that users are most interested in

Product activity operations are planned and organized in line with the overall operational rhythm of the product. As a product event operator, the first thing to think about is the reason for planning the event.

A legitimate reason can not only make it easier to gain external understanding, let users know what you are doing, and better mobilize users' enthusiasm, but also gain internal understanding and facilitate the coordination of various resources to support the event.

So, what are the valid reasons to plan an event? A medical beauty platform held an event during the May Day holiday in 2021. The copy well explained what kind of reason is needed for event planning. The promotional advertisement for the event is shown below.

The Spring Festival has just ended

Are you troubled by the problem of gaining three pounds every holiday season? Are you worried about skin problems caused by climate discomfort?

The activity copywriting goals of the medical beauty platform are very clear, allowing users to understand at a glance, and can attract users' attention and participation in activities, thus achieving the purpose of "plastic surgery". From this we can see that there are several legitimate reasons for planning events.

1. Time

Time is a parameter used by humans to describe the process of material movement and event occurrence. Many people have a strong sense of time, so using time as a reason to organize an activity makes it easier for users to accept it.

There are many common reasons for time. For example, seasonal changes (seasonal clearance sales, seasonal promotions, etc.), this day in history (10th anniversary, 50 off for purchases over 100), various holidays ("May 1st" - glorious labor day, "October 1st" - seven-day National Day, Spring Festival - family reunions, Dragon Boat Festival, Mid-Autumn Festival, Valentine's Day, Christmas, etc.).

The activity copy of the above-mentioned medical beauty platform used the time reason - the statutory holiday "May Day". People can take a holiday without having to go to work, and have enough time to rest and recover and avoid socializing. Medical beauty platforms take advantage of this and plan plastic surgery and body beauty activities, which not only provide convenience to users but also offer attractive discounts, thus satisfying users' medical beauty needs.

2. The product itself

Unlike time, the product itself can also be active and is not affected by the season. To organize activities based on the product itself requires planners to have sufficient understanding of the product, be able to grasp the points that users are most interested in, and provide guidance and organization.

In order to make it convenient for users to undergo medical beauty surgery, the medical beauty platform has planned activities such as appointment gifts, discount gifts, new product gifts, companion gifts, and savings gifts. After experiencing medical beauty, users can also recommend it to their friends to get discounts or cash back. This is planning using the product itself.

This is similar to a special topic. Many online games often use this method, such as battlefield activities and server launch discount activities; there are also many e-commerce commonly used "Queen's Day", "Mother and Baby Day", "Book Shopping Festival", etc.

3. Various major events

Many people pay close attention to various major events, such as "College Entrance Examination", "Double Eleven", "World Cup", "Olympic Games", etc. We can use such major events as reasons to plan activities and let users naturally participate in the activities.

Taking the medical beauty platform as an example, some operators have planned many preferential activities for students such as double eyelid surgery, acne removal, and whitening during the winter and summer vacations or after the college entrance examination, so that students can have enough time to recover during the holidays. These activities have won the hearts of many parents and students and won the attention of a large number of users.

Of course, there are many reasons to do event planning. The above three points are the most common ones. Product operators can choose according to specific circumstances.

3. Activity elements: simple and transparent, ensuring user benefits

The core of an activity is to meet the needs of users. Every event is a process of user participation, cognition and sharing. For an event to be successful, event planning must be attractive enough. In the Internet age, users' attention is scattered. If a product has no presence and no feelings, it is likely to be forgotten by users. Organizing activities is a way to show your presence.

Of course, it’s not that you can make users remember your product just by holding an event. The event must be unique. An event without unique features is just a waste of money.

Let’s take the weekend activities of “Happy Match 3” as an example to see what unique activities are like.

• The weekend is a great day to relax at home, and it is also a day for the little villagers to play Candy Crush Saga, so the village chief has specially taken out 100,000 redemption codes to give to everyone for free.
• You can get it by answering 3 questions correctly. It is limited to 100,000 and is on a first-come, first-served basis. Pay attention!
• Send the answers to the above questions directly to the WeChat backend, just send the numbers! Example: 123. Only the first 100,000 villagers who answer the correct answer can obtain the redemption code. If you are late, you will not be able to redeem it successfully.

The "Happy Match 3" weekend WeChat quiz event attracts users to participate in the form of a game, allowing users to receive rewards while having fun. After the launch of the event, it attracted many "little villagers" to participate. In less than half a day, 100,000 redemption codes were claimed. This activity shows the elements of a distinctive event.

1. Keep the activity rules simple

The purpose of the activity is to let users play and achieve the purpose of product operation in the process of playing.

Under the principle of lightweight, the setting of activity rules should not be too complicated. The more complicated the rules are, the more impatient users will be. Try not to make users think too much. Product activity planners need to hold the idea of ​​making users eager to participate in the activity, which is the prerequisite for the activity to become a "hot item".

Why are the weekend activities of “Happy Match 3” so popular? One of the important reasons is that the threshold for user participation is very low, and the gameplay is both simple and fun.

After the "little villager" enters the activity page and participates in answering questions, he or she can get the redemption code by sending the answer directly to the WeChat background. After obtaining the redemption code, the "little villagers" can redeem props, gold coins, etc. in the game. The gameplay is very straightforward and easy for "little villagers" to accept.

If there are too many steps from the time the user sees the activity to the end of the operation, each step will be compromised. Therefore, first of all, the activity operation steps should be as few as possible, and secondly, avoid letting users jump around in inactive process pages, which will make users unable to find their way back, especially for APP products.

In addition to the simplicity of rule setting, the expression of the rules must also be concise. The complete activity rules require a lot of words to explain, including operation methods, time, prize list, additional conditions, award method, precautions, etc. These are too cumbersome for users. In fact, users only need to understand the most critical rules to participate, and nothing else matters.

Therefore, when stating the rules on the activity page, the core rules should be placed in the most prominent position at the top of the page, and the specific rules and disclaimers should be placed at the bottom of the page.

2. Activities should be “transparent”

Whether the user has received the reward, how the user obtained the reward set by the activity, and under what conditions the user ultimately received the reward, the entire process must be open and transparent so that users can check and verify it. Doing so will not only enable better communication between product event planners and users, but will also greatly reduce subsequent complaints.

The text of the weekend event of "Happy Match 3" is very transparent. Users can clearly know the event time, event rules, precautions, how to obtain rewards and how to redeem rewards, etc. The entire process is open.

In many social networks, the impulse to profit is very common, which has given rise to the "award-brushing party". Many users who come for the benefits will become entangled in this. In this situation, transparency of activities is very important.

3. Exchange should be subtle and timely

After users make profits from the activity, product activity operators must promptly cash out to users, just like user interaction incentives in social networks. The fulfillment should be detailed and timely. The prizes don’t have to be expensive and can be simple items (small stuffed animals, cartoon cups, etc.).

The "little villagers" in "Happy Match 3" can get redemption codes after participating in the event. The "little villagers" can use the redemption codes to redeem corresponding gifts in the APP, such as game gold bricks, clearance props, etc. These gifts are of great help to users in passing the game. Therefore, the "little villagers" are very willing to participate in the activities.

When setting up an activity page, the user's benefits should be placed in the most obvious position, because the audience is the users, and doing so is very consistent with the users' selfish psychology. We can see that many activity pages put the prizes in the header image, such as material red envelopes and gift boxes, spiritual levels, titles, privileges, etc., to facilitate user redemption. This is also an element that must be possessed by a distinctive event.

IV. Activity principles: scientific execution and taking advantage of the situation

Effective event planning can not only increase brand awareness, loyalty, recognition, reputation, and customer satisfaction, but also enhance brand image and promote product sales to varying degrees.

Generally speaking, event planning has its own rules. In the practice of event planning, it is necessary to grasp its objective rules and carry out it according to certain principles. So, what principles should be followed when designing event planning? Let’s expand on each one below.

1. Feasibility principle

The principle of feasibility is also known as the principle of enforceability. It means that the event planning plan can be implemented and achieve good results, which is a comprehensive requirement for event planning. Because only actionable activity planning is feasible and meaningful, and will be adopted by users. Otherwise, it is just a mirage.

For example, e-commerce platforms like to launch various discount flash sales during holidays, using holidays as an excuse to plan activities so that more users have ample time to buy during holidays. At the same time, the activity also fits the atmosphere of the holidays, so that the activity plan can be effectively implemented and achieve good publicity and promotion effects.

A feasibility analysis needs to be conducted before an activity plan is proposed. The principles of analysis are based on scientific and practical market research. It is incorrect to act solely on feeling. There are three aspects to start with when conducting a feasibility analysis:

1. The first is the interests analysis. You can analyze the effects, risks, and benefits that activity planning solutions bring to users, and fully understand the impact of activities on users.
2. The second is economic analysis. Analyze the costs and benefits during event planning and implementation, and grasp the input and output of the entire event.
3. The third is scientific analysis. Analyze whether the activity planning scheme is unified as a whole and whether each link is feasible.

2. The principle of leveraging momentum

The so-called leveraging means using the advantages of others for your own benefit. An excellent event planner must know how to “take advantage of the situation and use it to his advantage”. Taking advantage of the situation can be divided into taking advantage of advantages, taking advantage of the situation, taking advantage of the general trend, etc. Its biggest feature is to rely on others and do things by standing on the shoulders of giants.

During Beijing's bid for the Olympic Games in 2008, Nongfu Spring took advantage of the situation and planned activities - "Sell water to donate to the Olympics, take advantage of the situation and become famous", "No matter how small the support is, it is a kind of support. From now on, just buy a bottle of Nongfu Spring and you can donate one cent to the Olympic bid."

Nongfu Spring advocates the concept of "collecting grains of sand to form a tower", making it difficult for users to distinguish whether it is a public service advertisement or a commercial advertisement. Nongfu Spring represents the interests of its user groups and supports Beijing's bid for the Olympic Games, using corporate behavior to drive social behavior and using individual strength to drive overall strength. This novel approach has attracted widespread social attention.

After the launch of the campaign of "Buy Nongfu Spring and donate money for the Olympic bid", the sales volume of "Nongfu Spring Olympic Pack" in the country reached more than 500 million bottles in half a year, doubling that of the previous year. "One cent" can make a big difference. Nongfu Spring contributed more than 500,000 yuan to Beijing's bid for the Olympic Games on behalf of its users. Borrowing users' money can make them willing to pay, which is really amazing.

3. Win-win principle

Win-win situation refers to the cooperation between people, organizations and enterprises, which can benefit both parties. The win-win principle of event planning means that the event benefits not only one party but multiple parties.

First of all, the objects of event planning (enterprises, event operators) benefit. Enterprises or event operators provide practical and implementable activity plans for product operations by planning events. A good event planning program can add icing on the cake to product operations.

Secondly, the event planner itself should benefit. In a sense, planning is a form of innovation. Innovation must produce results, and event planners must feel a sense of achievement. From a psychological perspective, successful event planning is a psychological need that creates cognitive needs for planners. When an event plan is presented or completed, people will have a feeling that it has "come into the world". This group's recognition needs are the basic needs of event planners.

Author: Kenfai

Source: Kenfai