2022 618 Marketing Insights Report

As the most important marketing node in the year, 618 is the major promotion celebration that brands, platforms and users pay the most attention to. We analyze the 2022 618 trend changes and marketing suggestions from four major directions: rhythm gameplay, core highlights, marketing strategies and delivery recommendations, providing reference for the industry and guidance for brand delivery.

Entering May means the start of the annual e-commerce mid-year festival 618. E-commerce platforms are offering endless activities and benefits, and social media platforms are overwhelmed with various promotions. All major brands undoubtedly hope to unleash the consumption power of users through the 618 promotion and submit a perfect answer at this important node of marketing conversion in the first half of the year and even the whole year.

The "2022 618 Marketing Insight Report" includes the rhythm and gameplay, core highlights, marketing strategies and delivery suggestions of major platforms, helping major merchants to clarify their delivery ideas, find the right marketing strategies, and win a great victory in this year's 618 Mid-Year Festival.

1. The rhythm of activities on major platforms

The 618 in 2022 can be said to be the most exciting one. The battle lines of major platforms have been extended and the rhythm has been compact, and the intensity is unprecedented: JD.com offers a 30 yuan discount for purchases over 200 yuan, with the highest discount of 40,000 yuan; Tmall offers a 50 yuan discount for purchases over 300 yuan; live broadcast rooms, grass-planting groups, topic challenges, and red envelope tasks on platforms such as Douyin, Xiaohongshu, and Weibo have taken turns to fill the atmosphere of the mid-year celebration.

2. Key highlights of 618 in 2022

The keyword for this year’s 618 is “reducing costs and increasing efficiency”. Platforms such as Tmall and JD.com have launched financial subsidies, traffic subsidies, and technological upgrades to provide strong support to merchants, minimizing the impact of the epidemic on small and medium-sized businesses. The industry and capital have become more calm, brands are facing greater growth pressure, e-commerce platforms are actively looking for new growth points, promotion cycles are lengthened, and platform strategies have shifted to boosting the shopping desire of the entire population during the entire 618 period.

It is not difficult to see from the data of the past two years that 618 is the second peak of the brand's business throughout the year and also the mid-year transaction explosion point. The 618 period shows a double-peak explosion feature. Long-term energy storage and effective marketing are crucial. The public decision-making cycle is about one and a half months. Frequent category interactions begin in May and consumer behavior becomes more discrete.

3. Changes in Brand Marketing Trends

1. Global seeding and full-link digital operation

Global promotion and full-link digital operations have become the key to marketing effectiveness. The test period previews, strategies, and scenario building will accumulate water for the 618 pre-sale, capture minds, and build word of mouth. During the explosive growth period, pictures, texts, short videos and live broadcasts all worked together to promote products in various ways and achieve high exposure. In the subsequent stage, multi-dimensional reach will continue to increase repeat purchases.

2. All-time brand broadcasting

Public domain traffic is gradually becoming saturated, and private domain traffic has become a powerful tool for brands and businesses to increase growth. Brands’ own broadcasts have achieved more live broadcasts than experts, directly reaching users through high-quality content, maintaining real user relationships, and converting traffic into consumer power.

3. Increase in the scale of influencer marketing

Compared with the scale of 618 investment in the past two years, brand investment on major social media platforms has increased year by year, reflecting the efficient development of the influencer economy. The relationship between advertisers and influencers has become closer. Top influencers can quickly drive volume, mid-level influencers have a wider reach, and bottom-level influencers are more cost-effective. The scale of advertising on the four major platforms has increased, with Douyin and Xiaohongshu being the most significant, while the proportion of advertising on Weibo and WeChat has decreased.

IV. Mainstream Platform Delivery Features

Celebrities and fan clubs on the Weibo platform have strong influence. Topic linkage helps products go viral and stimulates attention from the brand’s core circles, thus integrating the brand effect of Weibo’s voice and e-commerce value.

The Tik Tok platform has strong entertainment attributes, with diverse forms of beauty, comedy, and drama. Short video placement and live streaming are the two main delivery modes of the platform.

Female users account for a large proportion of Xiaohongshu platform, and product recommendation is the core competitiveness of the platform. Product recommendations and unboxing reviews account for a large proportion, which deepens impressions and promotes shopping conversions.

WeChat platform has a massive user base, mature private domain links, and a wide range of content channels. Public accounts on emotions, news, life, etc. all have long-term stable customers and audience groups.

Faced with increasingly diverse consumer demands, the depth of the marketing matrix is ​​increasing, platform gameplay is constantly upgraded, and the new demand for product and effect integration has become a normalized trend. 618 is like a midterm exam to test the solidity of a brand. Xiao Q wishes all brands to achieve excellent results!