The million-dollar Douyin traffic strategy

In the past three years, I have managed the entire Douyin marketing cases for hundreds of brands, including new consumer brands such as Huaxizi, Ushiyan, and Neiwai, as well as traditional domestic brands such as OSM, Chando, and PROYA, as well as international brand groups such as Unilever, L'Oreal, and Mondelez, and other Fortune 500 companies.

When it comes to the use of Douyin's traffic investment tools, basically all of them have been covered: Dou+, content services, influencer bidding, information flow AD, Alibaba UD, JD Co-Ads, and Juleliang Qianchuan, etc.

With the iteration of the Douyin ecosystem, from the full-link delivery from Douyin to Tmall, to the Douyin closed loop of planting grass to harvesting, from KOL content delivery, to information flow advertising delivery, and then to brand live broadcast room delivery, Douyin's commercialization continues to evolve, but short video content has become the carrier of consumer cognition, which has never changed.

01Consumer Cognition Model

Today, when consumers come into contact with a new brand or a new product, many of them come from short video content and many of them come from KOLs. The first step of high-quality content is to achieve the "grass-planting effect", which arouses consumers' interest. The accumulation of a large amount of content will continuously strengthen category awareness and form a "mental position" for the category in the long term.

The recognition of content is based on category mindset but not brand mindset. This is an opportunity in the new consumption era.

A brand needs time to accumulate, requires a large number of KOLs to promote it, and the accumulation of consumer word-of-mouth. The accumulation of "content construction" is the path to future "brand building", and it is a process of "saving money". When enough money is saved, this kind of accumulation will form "brand potential".

In the process of content dissemination, consumers are inspired, generating other traffic behaviors, which are then converted into purchases, and the brand generates sales revenue. This process may be through shared bikes, information flow ads, and live broadcast rooms. It is a process of "withdrawing money."

The relationship between brand building and GMV is the "balance effect". The more content is planted and the more brand building is done, the greater the potential energy, the more money is "saved", and then the sales revenue increases, and the more money is "withdrawn". If a brand doesn’t want to save money and wants to reap the benefits as soon as it enters the market, the result is self-evident.

In the closed-loop ecosystem of Douyin, the act of depositing money is an effective way to reach consumers, and the act of withdrawing money is still an effective way to reach consumers under the influence of the mentality of planting grass. This is the biggest feature of Douyin's content, "coexistence of deposit and withdrawal", which is also "integration of product and effect".

I proposed the "10 Rule" of social growth for the consumer goods industry. Content is "1" and traffic is "0". Content carries consumer cognition and mind, and traffic amplifies the content effect. The combination of internal flow and external flow creates a hot product effect, amplifies brand potential, and ultimately successfully creates a hot product and makes the brand popular.

02AIMT Brand Effect Delivery Methodology

The AIMT brand-effect delivery methodology is a complete Douyin traffic combination strategy. Whether it is based on the full-link delivery from Douyin to Tmall, or the Douyin closed loop based on live streaming as the core, the AIMT methodology is fully applicable.

The core logic of AIMT methodology lies in "integration of brand and effect", not pure effect investment. It emphasizes the importance of content planting in the Douyin ecosystem. Based on the core idea of ​​"10 Rule" content-driven growth, the Douyin investment closed loop is broken down into four stages. In the first two stages, influencer planting and content amplification correspond to the planting effect of "saving money", and in the last two stages, investment flow amplification and transaction conversion correspond to the harvesting effect of "withdrawing money".

Alliance expert matrix: KOL content seeding stage.

Influence content amplification: In the KOL native video content amplification stage, traffic investment tools include Dou+, content services, and influencer bidding (AD). The Douyin closed loop is Sui Xin Tui, content services, and influencer bidding (Qianchuan).

Magnify: The amplification stage of pure commercial traffic tools, such as AD, UD, and Qianchuan.

Trade Conversion: In the trade conversion stage, the Tmall flagship store or the Douyin brand live broadcast room.

The core logic of AIMT brand-effect delivery methodology is not to explain how to use the delivery tools, but to talk about the relationship between content and traffic, and the combination of content and traffic, so as to achieve effective growth of brands on the Douyin platform from planting grass to harvesting "brand-effect integration".

03Content streaming tool: Dou+

The three major content distribution tools from Douyin to Tmall: Dou+, content services, and influencer bidding. The following content is all based on the premise of grass-planting content and the shopping cart, sharing the traffic strategy with the goal of bringing in goods and conversions.

Dou+'s "Basic Attributes":

First, short video content heating tool.

Second, the smallest advertising unit starts at 100 yuan and can be operated on a mobile phone, so novices and experts are on an equal footing in terms of tools.

Third, the first step in testing short video content is to verify the sales ability of the "content model", which all starts with the first step of Dou+.

Dou+’s “Crowd Targeting”:

Basic targeting: gender, age, and region.

Interest targeting: mainly divided by category labels, from categories to subcategories, with a relatively coarse granularity.

Expert targeting: targeted delivery based on the expert’s fans.

There are several common delivery strategies for population targeting combinations: basic targeting, mainly focusing on gender and age, and a relatively relaxed population. Basics + interest targeting to improve accuracy. Basic + expert orientation, with higher accuracy.

Dou+'s "distribution logic":

Dou+ is a Look-like extension of the fan circle with "people as the core" based on KOL personality labels and fan portraits. The more fans a KOL has, the higher the account weight will be, and the more accurate the Dou+ traffic distribution effect will be.

Why is it difficult to establish KOC promotion on Douyin? It is because KOCs have a small number of fans and low account weight, and the Look-like expansion effect of the human-centered fan circle is not good. In the end, they can only improve the effect by adjusting the targeting and forcibly pushing it to precise users. However, the account weight is low, and the content decays much faster than KOL. Even if the target audience is figured out, traffic bottlenecks will soon be encountered.

Dou+'s "traffic logic":

Dou+ is content traffic. KOL is a content traffic pool, and the distribution logic of Dou+ is also content traffic. It has no advertising labels and has a deep grass-planting effect. Content traffic is the highest quality traffic for the grass-planting effect. When the competition for overall traffic is insufficient, the ROI effect of Dou+ is better than that of AD bidding tools.

Dou+ is also residual traffic. After Topview and OCPM are consumed, the remaining traffic of Dou+ will be the Dou+ traffic pool. When the market competition is saturated, especially during big promotions, brands bid 2-3 times the usual amount in OCPM, but still cannot get enough traffic. At this time, Dou+ can hardly be deployed, and if it can be deployed, the effect is also poor.

Dou+'s "Traffic ROI Model":

The basis for Dou+’s delivery is the “traffic ROI model”, which is based on the ROI relationship between “traffic cost” and “transaction”, rather than the KOL cost relationship. The calculation basis is based on the sales brought by natural traffic exposure after the KOL releases the video.

Traffic ROI model formula = GPM/CPM = Sales per thousand impressions/Cost per thousand impressions

For example, after a KOL releases a short video, he or she gets 250,000 views (i.e., 250 CPMs) through natural traffic, which brings in sales of 20,000 yuan. If the CPM is purchased at 40 yuan, GPM=20,000/250=80, and the traffic ROI model is 1:2.

The actual operation during the delivery will set a ROI bottom line, such as 0.8 or 1.2. Those with traffic ROI models higher than this standard will be delivered through Dou+. Generally, those with higher traffic ROI models will consume a lot of Dou+ traffic.

Dou+'s "delivery model":

Dou+ delivery is divided into two types: intelligent delivery and targeted delivery. Based on the distribution logic of Dou+, intelligent delivery must be given priority.

Smart delivery conditions: The number of fans is higher than 50w+, and the account has weight (determined by the median playback volume), which is conducive to the expansion of the fan circle. The content is time-sensitive within 15 days of the release date.

Conditions for targeted delivery: number of fans is less than 50w+, account weight is low, and fan circle accuracy is poor. Or after 15 days from the release date, the ROI has dropped significantly, the fan circle has been exhausted, and precise targeting of the audience is needed.

Dou+’s “delivery strategy”:

1. Standard betting method:

After the KOL’s natural traffic is consumed in 3 days, based on the Dou+ model, the campaign is launched for 24 hours, and the daily ROI is monitored to optimize the next day’s launch.

2. Real-time betting method:

Standard 24-hour delivery, based on the real-time ROI of Taobao Alliance, increases delivery during peak order or ROI periods, with an additional delivery of 2 or 6 hours, and optimizes delivery based on real-time order and ROI conditions.

3. Explosive single investment method:

The KOL has a relatively high number of fans. Monitor the transaction data within 2 hours of releasing the video and calculate the Dou+ model. Generally, the Dou+ model is high, and Dou+ delivery is carried out. If the explosive order status is maintained, real-time optimization is carried out, and Dou+ is continuously increased. The daily target of the explosive order mode is 10w+.

I have previously shared Dou+ campaign cases with millions of consumption in public accounts and offline courses. You can check out the previous content. Due to limited space, I will not go into details.

04Content streaming tools: content services

The content service is the Douyin platform version of the content heating tool, the official version of Dou+, which places orders in the form of media scheduling and supports the crowd selection mode with a higher level of crowd refinement.

Previously also known as content hot push, the official version of Dou+ places orders in the form of media scheduling and supports the OCPM model's crowd selection strategy, but does not support brand independent selection. The logic of crowd selection can only be provided to the official in the form of an EXCEL table, and Douyin official will complete the crowd selection, media scheduling, and release.

Basic attributes of content services:

First, it is a content heating tool for the hard advertising model of the Douyin platform.

Second, the official large-size version of Dou+ has a minimum investment of 50,000 yuan and has not been tested or verified, so it is an "all-in" mode.

Third, place orders in the form of media scheduling, manual mode.

“Crowd Targeting” of Content Services:

It supports the crowd selection strategy of OCPM mode, and the crowd granularity is higher than Dou+. However, it does not support brands’ self-selection. The only thing they can do is provide the logic for selecting the right people to the official website in the form of a table, and Douyin will complete the selection of the right people and place the order.

"Distribution logic" of content services:

This is a precise delivery mode, and the accuracy depends on the group of people you select.

Content service delivery mode:

Content services and Dou+ are mutually exclusive and cannot be launched at the same time. Generally, Dou+ is launched on a small scale. The Dou+ model is excellent, and content services can be arranged for large-scale release in the future.

Content service delivery strategy:

Top KOL placement strategy:

The brand cooperates with top or super-top KOLs, and the script sample stage is approved in advance to ensure smooth launch. If you can predict the KOL's ability to bring products with a high probability, or look at the "traffic ROI model" data after releasing the video on the first day, if the performance is as expected, you can directly start the delivery of content services.

If it is a super KOL at the level of Luo Wangyu, our experience is that the weekly delivery volume is one million. If it is a KOL smaller than the super head but at the top, our experience is hundreds of thousands per week. If it is lower, the delivery volume will definitely go down. The safe way is to do a Dou+ delivery stress test first.

E-commerce promotion strategy:

When a big sale is approaching or during a big sale, content services can lock in the sale traffic one month in advance to avoid the embarrassing situation of having a budget but not being able to invest during the sale. Select videos with good traffic ROI performance in the last three months, schedule them, and increase the volume of content services during the promotion period. If content services are used well, they can become a killer weapon for some brands to grab sales during e-commerce promotions.

As the 618 promotion is approaching, we have been investing heavily in content services, and the ROI performance is good. The reason is that during the promotion, consumers' purchasing desire increases significantly, and the payment conversion rate is 2-3 times the usual level. Although there is fierce competition during the promotion, as long as we can grab traffic, the overall ROI will often be better than usual.

Of course, the disadvantages of content services are: it is a one-time all-in. If the effect of the delivery is not good, it cannot be optimized midway. If the effect is good, increasing the delivery requires re-arranging the media plan.

In short, content services have relatively high requirements for content, and it is still an all-in model. If you want to invest, you must focus on two indicators in advance: the first is the "traffic ROI model", which is related to ROI. The other is the "like rate", which is related to content indicators. The level of the indicator represents the capacity to carry traffic to a certain extent.

In addition, the content service already has a Qianchuan version, and Doudian’s closed loop supports the order-making model, with very good ROI performance. Brands that have not tested it yet should hurry up and try it out, as it is still in its bonus period.

05Content investment tools: talent bidding

OCPM delivery (information flow AD) is divided into two forms, one is the advertising information flow, which is the most familiar to everyone. The other is influencer bidding, which is the KOL native information flow. After the influencer authorizes the video, OCPM can be directly delivered in the native video.

The basic properties of talent bidding:

The first is the OCPM delivery tool (information flow AD).

Second, it is the information flow bidding model.

Third, the influencer’s authorization is required, and after approval, KOL native video bidding ads can be directly placed.

“Crowd Targeting” of Expert Bidding:

OCPM crowd strategy has the finest crowd granularity and the highest precision in delivery. The three core crowd strategies are: Cloud Map, Leica, and Expert Strategy, and a Douyin general delivery strategy is also added.

Strategy 1: Cloud Map Strategy

The Yuntu strategy is the Douyin audience package expansion delivery strategy, the Douyin version of DMP. Its core approach is: brand audience expansion strategy, expanding similar audiences (Look like) through the brand’s purchased audience packages (seed packages).

Strategy 2: Leica Strategy

Leica is the name of the delivery strategy officially given by TikTok, namely TikTok behavioral interest (keyword) delivery strategy. Generally, we will use the Leica strategy to circle keywords from five dimensions: category words, search words, competitor words, efficacy words, and scenario words.

Strategy 3: Expert Strategy

By selecting high-quality influencer fans and superimposing user interactive behaviors, a strategy is used to improve investment production.

Delivery mode: Douyin account (fan coverage) x user behavior circle selection (already followed, video interaction, product interaction, live interaction, product click, live interaction-product order).

Strategy 4: Smart Strategy (general investment, not recommended)

That is the general investment strategy. Based on the “big funnel” logic of Tik Tok, the algorithm relies on crowd feedback to infer the delivery strategy for the effective crowd. Delivery mode: basic targeting (gender, age, region) + system recommendation.

The "traffic logic" of talent bidding:

When influencers bid on KOL native videos, the material is fixed, which means the brand’s communication scenario is clear. The traffic logic of OCPM bidding is the model of finding the crowd based on the scenario. Based on deterministic scenarios, by selecting different population strategies, delivering ROI results, and comparing conversion efficiencies between populations, we can ultimately determine what the best matching population combination is.

The "six major advantages" of expert bidding:

1. Better user experience without excessive advertising;

2. The cold start time is shorter, almost to zero;

3. ROI is higher than that of pure information flow;

4. The ability to plan and run volume is stronger, and star plans are frequently produced;

5. After the launch, a hit video is born;

6. The video has a high weight and forms a search niche.

The "four major difficulties" of talent bidding:

1. The account weight requirement is high, otherwise the traffic carrying capacity is insufficient;

2. The content model has high requirements. Without ROI, it is meaningless to run a hit.

3. Advertisement review is difficult, as it requires not only content review but also advertising review;

4. It is difficult to operate with large volume, and the volume increases quickly, so the pitcher's ability and feel are very important.

The essence of influencer bidding is: "commercialization of content traffic."

I have shared cases of influencer bidding in public accounts and offline courses before, and they were all 5-7 days, with a delivery volume of several million. Compared with the scale limit of Dou+ and the scheduling operation of content services, influencer bidding has almost no restrictions and has great advantages in increasing the volume of KOL videos.

06Content streaming tools: push as you like

Douyin’s closed-loop content distribution tools include: free push, content service, and influencer bidding (Qianchuan).

Basic attributes of Xpress Tui:

First, Tik Tok’s closed-loop short video content heating tool.

Second, the simplified mobile version of Juliang Qianchuan has a similar operating mode to Dou+.

Third, the traffic pool for Suixintui is Qianchuan traffic pool, which has better traffic quality. Because it is a simplified version of Qianchuan, the traffic scale is smaller than Dou+.

"Crowd Targeting" of Xuxintui:

Basic targeting: gender, age, and region.

Interest targeting: mainly divided by category labels, from categories to subcategories, with a relatively coarse granularity.

Expert targeting: targeted delivery based on the expert’s fans.

The delivery strategy is similar to Dou+.

The “distribution logic” of Suixintui:

Similar to Dou+, the "people-centered" fan circle Look Like expansion, but with higher requirements for content, because it is in the Qianchuan traffic pool, the content must meet the requirements of the broadcast review.

The "traffic logic" of Sui Xin Tui:

Sui Xin Tui is different from Dou+ in that it is a deep conversion model, and its delivery goal is to achieve "transaction" results, that is, a single-order model. The delivery is simpler and more direct, aiming directly at ROI results.

Suixintui's "Traffic ROI Model":

Because it is an order-making model, the system will automatically calculate the appropriate ROI model based on the feedback of the content in the traffic pool. We often do not adjust the bid to avoid disrupting the volume plan.

The “delivery strategy” of Sui Xin Tui:

1. Measure the non-directional first, then the directional. Relatively speaking, KOLs above the mid-waist have higher weights and can run well without directional settings. However, the tail or KOC with lower weights need to start setting directional settings together.

2. Sui Xin Tui is a simplified version of Qianchuan. A single delivery order is similar to a single bidding plan, so it requires multiple orders (multiple plans) and a small amount (test budget) for delivery.

3. The budget of a volume-based plan with good ROI can be increased, which is equivalent to increasing the volume of the plan, and the plan can be replicated and deployed, which is equivalent to launching multiple volume-based plans for the verified population.

07Content investment tool: Qianchuan

Qianchuan’s delivery is mainly divided into two forms, one is short video delivery, the other is live broadcast room delivery (further divided into two types, direct delivery and short video diversion). What I shared is based on KOL native short video delivery. Of course, Blue V content and live broadcast diversion also conform to this logic.

Qianchuan's "Basic Attributes":

Qianchuan Short Video is the closed-loop version of Douyin’s expert bidding (AD). There is no cold start, the volume can be quickly increased, the scale of operation is larger, and the plan life cycle is longer.

Qianchuan's "traffic logic":

Qianchuan is a deep conversion model, and its delivery goal is to achieve "transaction" results, that is, the order-making model. The delivery is simpler and more direct, aiming directly at ROI results.

Qianchuan's "Crowd Orientation":

With expert bidding, the three core demographic strategies (Cloud Atlas, Leica, and Expert) are still applicable, but there are some differences and many new ways to play.

First, the 5A population assets of Douyin's closed-loop cloud map are the basis of Qianchuan's deep conversion model, which is very similar to Alibaba's UD. Under Qianchuan's rapid promotion model, the black box algorithm is consuming the brand's high-net-asset A2-A3 population.

Second, the difficulty of Qianchuan's advertising has been greatly reduced, and the dependence on the pitcher's ability has been reduced. On the contrary, the requirements for brand promotion ability (content ability) have become higher. The weight of effective promotion in acquiring A2-A3 groups is very high. This is the guiding ideology given to brands by the platform's game rules.

Third, when Yuntu is targeting the 5A population, the ROI efficiency is very high, and the value of the stratified asset operation and delivery reach of the population is greatly magnified. As the data bank of the TikTok version, Yuntu will become more and more valuable.

Fourth, if the brand has accumulated assets in the past AD era, that is, the ROI in the AD delivery plan is higher, it is the most valuable brand audience package, and the audience size is 2000w+, which is an effective audience asset that has been verified in the past information flow advertising. We have tested it, from AD to Qianchuan, the verified population package, and again, the conversion efficiency is excellent.

Qianchuan's "live broadcast logic":

Today, there are live broadcast rooms of brands with sales exceeding tens of millions. Please check the data: what percentage of the live broadcast rooms are driven by short videos? For the projects I have managed, this proportion accounts for more than 80%. That is to say, even the live broadcasts we are doing today are essentially short video broadcasts.

The daily sales of many brand live broadcast rooms are stuck at a ceiling of 100,000 and cannot go beyond that, because the traffic pool of the live broadcast room is limited, and the ceiling of the traffic that a direct investment strategy can obtain is 10% of the short video traffic pool.

By solving the strategy of short video traffic diversion, the entire traffic scale can be magnified by more than 10 times, the quality of customer acquisition is better, the live broadcast room is less dependent on the anchor, and the GMV of the live broadcast room is more stable.

Even for live streaming, we return to the original point of content-driven growth and creating good content.

Let’s make a deduction about Douyin’s e-commerce. During the KOL stage, consumers are reached through short videos and e-commerce is carried by the shared bikes. During the AD stage, consumers are exposed to short videos and e-commerce is carried as landing pages. During the Qianchuan stage, consumers are exposed to short videos, and e-commerce is carried out as live broadcast rooms.

The e-commerce products have evolved from the small yellow cart to the landing page and then to the live broadcast room. With each iteration, the conversion efficiency of e-commerce has been greatly improved. In the foreseeable future, the efficiency of Douyin's e-commerce iterations will definitely become higher and higher, but what completes consumer reach and cognition is still the content, which has never changed.

08Super Content System

Today I have shared a lot of logic and strategies about traffic tools, but obviously I am not just talking about traffic. I always believe that traffic is a tool and a means. Without high-quality content carriers, it is difficult for traffic to achieve the desired effect.

On the contrary, if the KOL promotes the product but fails to open up traffic, the potential energy that can be exerted by the mid-level KOL with only 300,000 natural broadcasts is very limited. At this time, the content amplification and traffic strategy will play a huge role, amplifying the best "content model" created by the KOL by 50-100 times and achieving brand-effect integrated communication.

What is the ultimate goal of brands promoting products on Douyin? I believe that it is through content that the "explosive product effect" is created, the "category mind" is positioned, and the "brand potential" is amplified. This requires a complete "super content system".

The first step is to start with "scientific number selection", starting from the KOL data fundamentals, breaking down the core data dimensions, scientifically measuring data indicators, and judging the KOL's grass-planting value.

The second step is to move on to refined "content creation". KOLs' popular videos all have mature content frameworks and routines. In essence, we are pursuing a "content model" that is grass-planting, and ultimately amplifies the content effect through content traffic.

The third step is the "brand effect delivery" of content amplification effect. With the support of content traffic, the traffic of KOL's high-quality content can be amplified 10-100 times, and finally the content and traffic can be penetrated.

Through the operation of hundreds of Douyin cases, I have built a "super content system" for the Douyin ecosystem, namely the three major content methodologies of "CAFE scientific number selection", "SEVA content creation", and "AIMT brand and effect delivery", to help brands achieve effective growth in brand and effect on Douyin.

09 Conclusion

Today is the last article of the "Super Content System", which also consolidates and sorts out the experience of Douyin's three years of advertising, forming today's "content-driven growth" system that can be replicated by consumer brands.

In a recent consumer product consulting project, the brand founder asked me: "How should we evaluate whether KOL promotion is effective?" Of course, in terms of results, I would prefer ROI, but the problem is, how can we control the process variables to expect a good result?

The first sentence of my answer is: "Be good at planting seeds with the content."

This may sound metaphysical, but the "grass-planting mentality" of content is the biggest variable in the competition between brands on Douyin.

The second sentence of my answer is: "Do a good job of detailed execution on the ground."

There is no shortcut to creating good content and implementing it well. It has already reached the granularity of "methodology + SOP". The "super content system" is our methodology, just like traffic investment, which has become a part of the content system.

We are born in the best consumption era, enjoying the "content dividend" for the next decade. Each of us consumers is at the center of the algorithm era. Everyone is honing his or her own consumption "algorithm" through "content" and ultimately making choices that are in line with his or her "mind."

If you ask me: What will determine the driving force for the brand's continued growth in the next ten years?

My answer is: “Content”.

Author: Growth on the road

Source: Growth on the Road