How to monetize “short video +”? Understand 4 major business models in one article!

Commercial monetization is the driving force behind short video creators and an eternal theme.

In the era of traditional long videos (generally referring to videos longer than half an hour, mainly film and television dramas), the business model is relatively simple. The most direct and effective advertising model is to place advertisements before and after film and television dramas, or to insert advertisements in the middle of the content.

This business model that completely separates content and advertising is obviously not feasible for short videos. The business model of short videos should be based on the characteristics of their own products, and maximize profits without changing the content format and ensuring the user's viewing experience. Therefore, "short video +" becomes a more suitable business model.

The emergence of "short video +" has changed the traditional business model of advertising being advertising and content being content into a model where you are in me and I am in you, that is, "content is advertising, advertising is content".

Specifically, the "short video +" business model can be divided into the following four types.

1. Short video + e-commerce monetization

The existence of short video content has established trust between creators and users, making e-commerce monetization a reality and even becoming a shopping method that users accept and love. Because of trust, we choose; because of trust, it is simple. The stronger the trust between creators and target users, the greater the return on e-commerce monetization.

Nowadays, the e-commerce monetization model on various short video platforms is carried out online in the form of electronic transactions. For example, various short video platforms cooperate with Taobao and JD e-commerce platforms to distribute profits after directing traffic to generate purchasing behavior.

At the same time, short video platforms have also opened their own e-commerce stores, such as Kuaishou, Douyin Stores, Kuaishou Yellow Car, Douyin Shopping Cart, Doudian, live streaming sales, etc., to help creators maximize their profits through a variety of functional product modules.

For Kuaishou, because of its inherent community attributes, the trust between users and creators is more solid, and e-commerce monetization has become its biggest advantage. Celebrity Luo Yonghao performed live streaming sales on Douyin for the first time in April 2020, with sales exceeding 180 million yuan, setting a new record for live streaming sales on Douyin at the time.

At the same time, Kuaishou celebrity Simba started live streaming to sell goods. That night, the team announced that the total sales volume exceeded 480 million yuan, which shows the live streaming sales capabilities of the Kuaishou platform.

The short video + e-commerce monetization model allows users to directly sell products in their accounts through live broadcasts, or they can create content around products. For example, after creating content on Douyin, they can connect to related products, achieve direct jumps to complete accurate conversion of traffic, and then complete the sale of products.

It can be said that the emergence of the short video + e-commerce model has truly implemented the creative essence of "content is advertising, advertising is content", allowing the two originally distinct things to be perfectly unified. As long as there is trust between creators and users, the e-commerce monetization model will become the most suitable money-making model for creators.

When we choose to adopt the short video + e-commerce monetization model, it is based on the trust of users, so we must cherish this trust when choosing a suitable e-commerce monetization model.

This trust can be understood as creating content from the user's perspective, treating product selection with a sincere attitude, ensuring quality, ensuring a good user purchasing experience, etc. We should not blindly ignore the details of the purchase in order to make money, which will lead to losing the big picture. Trust is like a tower of sand, which is built very slowly. But if you choose to despise it, it will collapse in an instant and it will be difficult to recover.

2. Short Video + Content Traffic Monetization

The biggest feature of short videos is that they can quickly attract users' attention and keep them there for a long time, which means extending users' viewing time. This feature coincides with the underlying logic of the Internet earning advertising fees from displaying traffic, which is in line with the saying - where there is traffic, there is a business model.

For short videos, content traffic monetization mainly involves the platform charging merchants’ advertisements according to CPM (cost per thousand impressions), CPC (cost per click), CPA (cost per action), etc., and then the platform and creators distribute the profits in different proportions.

At present, creators who create short videos and video content on Bilibili can directly make money by monetizing traffic. As long as they participate in official creation activities, they can truly realize huge profits through the content they create. Moreover, these created contents have a long-tail effect. As long as users like them, the platform will continue to recommend them to the target audience.

Bilibili is good at promoting high-quality content from creators. As long as creators are good at creating content around user needs, more people will watch it. The more people watch, the more views, the more times the ad is shown, and naturally the more revenue.

The creator "Teacher He" on Bilibili created a video of taking photos with 6 million people, telling how to use scientific methods to take photos of himself and the avatars of 6 million fans, and allow everyone to clearly find their own avatar.

Such brain-burning and interesting content made the video play volume exceed 10 million in a very short time. If this video content participates in the creation plan, it will generate revenue of 10,000 to 30,000 yuan for every 10,000 views at a price of 10 to 30 yuan.

This is just the traffic revenue brought by a video. If the update frequency is higher or the content is distributed across the entire network, I believe the revenue will be higher.

In addition to enjoying the benefits of direct monetization of content traffic on Bilibili, on Kuaishou, as long as you participate in the official advertising sharing plan, you can put advertisements into short video content and monetize them through traffic.

In the era of short videos, in addition to Bilibili and Kuaishou, there are many content distribution platforms such as Xigua Video, Haokan Video, iQiyi, Baijiahao, and Penguin that support content traffic monetization, and some platforms have very high advertising revenue. Creators can truly make their first pot of gold by monetizing traffic.

When we choose to monetize content traffic, we must work hard to improve the quality of the video. Only by improving the quality of the video can you gain the favor of users, and only by gaining the favor of users can you increase the video playback volume. Naturally, the more times the advertisement is displayed, the higher the revenue it will bring.

3. Short Video + Knowledge Monetization

The emergence of the Internet has brought convenience and many choices.

In the past, our channels for obtaining information were very limited, but now it is more convenient to search for information through the Internet, and there are more and more choices.

Moreover, the birth of Internet mobile products meets the diverse needs of users, even the most vertical and small needs can be met. This is destined to make our time more and more fragmented. They can meet our information needs anytime and anywhere.

When short videos appear as an information carrier with knowledge attributes that is different from text media, they are more popular with users.

The content of short videos is not only a feast of entertainment, but also an ocean of knowledge. As long as the creator conveys a little inspiration, an insight, a truth, etc., users will feel the value. Because of its valuable existence, short videos + knowledge monetization have become the best money-making model for creators.

In fact, the monetization of short video knowledge also benefits from the fact that the Internet has reduced marginal costs, and short video content knowledge can be acquired by users at will.

Short video + knowledge monetization includes course monetization, community monetization, publishing monetization, etc. By combining the traditional media purchasing form that has been accepted by the public with short videos, it becomes a new business model.

Course monetization means that creators collect the knowledge conveyed in short videos in the form of a series of courses and sell them to the outside world, so that users can gain value. Course monetization is suitable for knowledge creators in various fields. As long as users recognize their value, they can monetize it by creating a series of courses.

On the Kuaishou platform, there is a girl who comes from the deep mountains and teaches how to learn Excel spreadsheets. She can earn six figures a month by creating related courses. Similarly, creators on the Douyin platform who teach photo shooting skills have also sold more than 10,000 orders by creating specific skill courses. Paid knowledge videos on Bilibili have long become one of the platform's profit points and the main source of income for creators.

Please note that when creators choose to monetize through short videos + courses, they should provide real solutions to the difficulties and pain points encountered by users, or help users acquire certain abilities and improve themselves.

Community monetization is to direct the creator's target audience users from the short video platform to private social tools (WeChat, QQ), and help users solve problems and provide value by building groups. This approach can be achieved through models such as community paid consultation, paid courses, and paid specific skills.

Paid consultation means directing users to private social platforms, answering users’ questions and providing specific solutions in exchange for monthly or annual fees, and stipulating the number and duration of consultations each month.

Paid courses are targeted courses designed for paying users on private domain platforms and sold to paying users at lower prices. This takes advantage of the Internet's low marginal cost, allowing more users to enjoy better knowledge services at the lowest prices, and the creators' income will also increase.

Paid specific skills are targeted at a certain skill, method, or trick that users need to learn, and creators specially record videos for sale. This technique has no timeliness and limitations. As long as new users enter the community, sales can continue.

The emergence of short videos allows every creator with his or her own advantages to realize life value and gain wealth through various forms of knowledge. The monetization of short video knowledge can also be achieved through offline paid lectures, one-on-one consultations, etc. As long as valuable knowledge and insights can be truly provided to users, mutual trust will be generated and a business model will be born.

Creators can create knowledge into systematic content and sell books as a business model, which can bring themselves long-term benefits and enhance their brand value.

Publishing books requires high standards from the creators themselves. They need to have professional skills and knowledge, and they also need to systematize and organize the content of their respective creative fields so that the content becomes a media form that allows users to learn knowledge.

The short video field can achieve publishing monetization, which is often in relatively systematic knowledge fields, such as student education, English learning, skills training, etc. The secondary value of knowledge is disseminated through the carrier of book publishing, satisfying users to obtain value in multiple offline scenarios.

4. Short Video + Content Advertising Monetization

On short video platforms, content advertising monetization is to display and expose products and brands while capturing users' attention, in order to promote the brand.

For creators, there are three forms of monetization for short video content: embedded advertising, single-order advertising, and sponsorship activities. These allow creators to create and make money based on their creative field and their own positioning.

Product placement, in simple terms, means displaying a certain product as part of the content, without affecting the integrity of the content or making the advertising feel too obtrusive. For example, some food creators often reveal a certain brand of cooking oil, tableware, etc. during the process of creating a certain dish, but it does not affect the overall content rhythm and integrity, and the user's viewing experience is not affected at all.

Each episode of travel-related content presents the customs and culture of different places, and also displays some travel-related brand products, such as tents, backpacks, sunscreen, food, etc. These are a form of embedded advertising.

Nowadays, some creators of comedy and drama content mention in their content that they play certain games during their breaks, which is also a form of product placement.

When creators use product placement, they must remember that the criteria for measuring suitability must be highly relevant, that is, there must be a relevance between their own creative field and the advertising brand; products serve the content, that is, the integrity of the content cannot be destroyed. Without product placement, short videos can also independently become a complete content.

Order-based advertising is a form of advertising that uses the platform’s advertising system to distribute product advertisements for content creation. As short video platforms become more mature, Kuaishou's quick order and Douyin's star map ads have become bridges of communication between creators and advertisers, allowing advertisers to find suitable creators and creators in various fields to find suitable brands. Creators conduct "propositional" creation based on the characteristics of the products and their own positioning, and finally gain profits.

Order-based advertising must not only understand the individual appeal of the product, but also focus on its own content positioning and find the perfect balance between the two. It must be spreadable, complete, and enjoyable. The creation of commerical advertising is somewhat similar to the roles of Party A and Party B in the advertising industry. Party B needs to fulfill all aspects of Party A's requirements for the creation in order to obtain profits.

Please note that when creators choose to accept orders for advertising, they must understand the integrity of the content and must not let users feel that this video has become a product promotion or display, with all the product's advantages and benefits listed. The product content must be made according to the rhythm and method of content creation, and become a method that users can accept and like.

The term "sponsorship" is not new and is more commonly used in film and television dramas, variety shows and various influential media and information carriers. Nowadays, in the field of short videos, sponsorship activities are more about brands cooperating with short video platforms, and then the platforms invite influential creators in one or more fields to create paid works, with the aim of attracting more creators to join the platform.

Participation in a sponsorship event often involves using the brand's external slogan as creative content. Compared to single-order advertising, there is greater flexibility in creation and relatively lower requirements. As long as the basic requirements of the sponsorship event are met, it will be approved and will not affect the positioning of one's own content.

When creators participate in a sponsorship event, they need to add specific event tags and use content props or scripts specified by the official platform to guide the event. When choosing this type of creative activity, you should try to select products with high visibility and strong brand influence. This will also invisibly endorse the credit of your account and lay a good foundation for the selection of more big brands.

In fact, in addition to these three modes of content advertising monetization, there is also a link advertising model, where the creator will put a link advertisement of a certain brand at the top of the comment area, with the purpose of giving the brand exposure and display.

I believe that with the maturity of Internet technology, especially the arrival and popularization of 5G, the short video advertising model will introduce more new business models. However, for creators, no matter which business model they choose, they must find a business model that can maximize their profits and continue to develop. This is the most important point in monetizing content.

Author: Marketing Strategy

Source: Marketing Strategy (lanhaiyingxiao)