How to fully plan a screen-sweeping event?

In this era of mobile Internet where the focus of attention switches rapidly, breaking through the minds of users and establishing one's own product brand is the unchanging theme for every product person and operator.

On the evening of January 16, my circle of friends was flooded with a big red poster. Yes, it was the “NetEase Course Drama Queen is Here”.

Early in the morning of January 17, major social networks were posting various insights and marketing theories about the NetEase screen-sweeping incident.

At 10:10 am on January 17, the course link was blocked due to distribution inducement, and everyone discussed and thought about it again.

Personally, I think, judging from the results of this screen-sweeping event, the three-level distribution model in this marketing allowed fans to quickly split and form extensive brand communication. This is a very successful marketing case. The author pondered: I also want to plan a world-shaking and soul-stirring screen-sweeping event one day.

“Behind every successful case, there is a methodology.”

This triggered the author's thinking and review of this screen-sweeping incident. This article mainly analyzes and thinks about the following three questions:

1. User perspective: What is the result of this activity?
2. Product thinking: Why is it so popular?
3. Operational planning: How to plan a screen-sweeping event?

User perspective: What is the result of this activity?

1. “NetEase Red” was flooding the Moments and social networks

At 8 o'clock in the evening, the author's circle of friends was flooded with NetEase Red, which successfully caught the author's attention. This time, what was flooding the screen was not a marketing campaign of NetEase's own products, but a marketing campaign of paid courses. In this battlefield of knowledge anxiety and knowledge payment, there was Dedao in front and Himalaya in the back, and Zhihu Live also appeared halfway. NetEase was able to create a sensation overnight in the Internet industry by selling courses and trigger users to spread it spontaneously. If you think about it carefully, you should learn from this wave. No matter it is product or operation, our job is to allocate resources reasonably and maximize the benefits of the product.

2. More than 130,000 people participated in the campaign within 12 hours of launch

The promotional activities of "NetEase Xijing Lectures" utilize the "knowledge + fission" operation model. In order to encourage users to share and spread the knowledge multiple times, a "paid fission + team pk to share the prize pool" gameplay was designed using the enthusiasm of the group.

In the past, paid fission was only an individual behavior. This time, all individuals are teamed up into a group, and the positive feedback from group members is used to show off and motivate users' sense of fission participation.

3. The link was blocked by WeChat due to misleading sharing

January 17, morning

• Around 10:10, the link to the "NetEase Xijing Lecture" course was blocked by WeChat, and scanning the code was invalid;
• Around 10:30, the link was restored to normal, but the distribution mode was cancelled;
• Around 11:15, the poster was blocked again and the code scan was invalid;
• Around 11:30, it was also removed from the Lizhi Micro Course;
• Around 12:00, everything returned to normal, posters could be scanned, and the courses still existed;

130,000 people paid, it was banned twice, and then unbanned. What is the reason behind NetEase Xijing’s 39.9 yuan screen-sweeping promotion? What can we learn from this?

Product thinking: Why is it so popular?

1. Brand potential

NetEase's various brain-opening h5s, the creative NetEase Cloud Music's heart-wrenching comment section, and one successful communication case after another are the general background of this screen-sweeping event.

Many people placed orders without hesitation, all because they believed that products produced by NetEase must be high-quality. Bought it for the quality content. This course consists of NetEase’s four star product lines. From the content of the poster we can see:

• NetEase Kaola Trench: Event planning and execution behind NetEase's large-scale events
• NetEase Cloud Music: How NetEase Cloud Music's strong UGC ecosystem was built
• NetEase Hangzhou Research Product Development Department: Insight into human nature + template for exploring user needs
• NetEase Cloud Classroom: Mastering the underlying logic of user operations is the way to advancement

These contents cover the methodology behind NetEase’s repeated screen-sweeping success. After going viral several times, NetEase products not only achieved a good communication effect, but also invisibly shaped their own brand image. The NetEase brand laid a strong endorsement for this lecture by Xi Jing.

2. Course Positioning

From the perspective of the course audience - Operation

Operation itself is a popular label in knowledge payment, it is updated quickly and there is always new content. Which company is not operating? The population base is here, and the audience group is huge. In addition, NetEase’s internal operating data for the top 1,000 users is obtained, and the initial seed users can spread rapidly and accurately.

The course collection format also played a powerful role in this communication:

• The content is richer and can better cover the needs of operators.
• For pricing services, 4 courses cost 40 yuan, the price is neither high nor low, and there is no pressure on the content.

3. Circle Effect

Some people call this event - "a small carnival for operators"

So appropriate! It is also important to note that behind every operator there is a huge target group, operating community, and industry practitioners. If you are an operator and don’t say that you have more than a dozen groups, you would be embarrassed to say that you are an operator.

The course is aimed at "operators" who like to stick together, have many friends and groups, and naturally have fission properties. Accurate user groups and good grasp of user G-spots.

Watching operators and Internet practitioners in the circle of friends repeatedly screening the "NetEase Red" posters, as an operator and Internet practitioner, would you not be moved? This is the herd mentality brought about by the circle effect.

4. Distribution rebate

The biggest feature of this event is "incentive sharing, triggering fission-like dissemination."

In order to promote everyone's resale sales, we cleverly combined the "distribution" gameplay and set up three-level distribution based on the mature distribution mechanism in the WeChat environment. This reminds me of the secondary development of WeChat public accounts that emerged in 2015 - the three-level distribution mall.

• After A purchases the course, he can generate a QR code poster and forward and share the QR code. B scans A's QR code and purchases the course, and A can get 60% of the commission. B generates a QR code and forwards it, and C scans the code and purchases the course. B gets 60% and A gets 30%. Moreover, the profits earned are credited to the account in real time.
• In addition, a team mode has been set up, with endorsements from semi-familiar KOLs in the friend circle, which are very persuasive. KOL distribution teams compete, and the first-place team is rewarded with 10,000 cash.

In a nutshell: the first-level commission rebate is 60%, the second-level commission rebate is 30%, the profits are huge, the commission rebates are fast, and the incentive sharing will stimulate people to work harder to promote it.

5. Product Pricing

39.9, compared with the original price of 199, it greatly eliminates the concerns about placing an order, as if not buying it would be a loss, and 39.9 is just the price of a cup of Starbucks.

The price is just right. If it is too high, fewer people will buy after seeing the poster and purchasing power will be greatly reduced. If it is too low, the commission earned from sharing it will be too little and the sharing rate will be greatly reduced. As for the course collection mentioned earlier, 4 courses cost 39.9 yuan. There is no pressure on the content, not to mention that you can earn commissions. You can get commissions and attend classes at the same time. It is the best of both worlds and a profitable business.

People who bought the course probably have two kinds of return mentality:

• He will hope to gain knowledge from this course to make up for his efforts;
• He will be more motivated to forward and share. If one person sells from him, half of the cost will be covered, and if two people sell from him, he will make a profit.

6. Channel cooperation

The most direct way to find the target audience group is to cooperate with KOLs who are good at operations. "Starry Sky Academy" is one of the main battlefields for this promotion, and "New Media Butler", "Bird Brother's Notes", etc. are all cooperating in the rational use of resources.

Find the platform with the best fission resources and experience to cooperate strategically. This cooperation is "Explosive Fission". Previously, we successfully promoted the "Explosive Fission Operation In-depth Selection" and jointly launched the fan-increasing fission review course, which lasted 10 days and 36,000+ users participated;

Some provide platforms; some provide group fission tools; some provide web page production; and some provide traffic.

We help each other promote the courses, and I allow you to use my name to increase followers and split the business on the official account, so that everyone can achieve a win-win situation.

7. Poster design

Focus on learning the copywriting of this event! Copywriting! Copywriting!

8. User conversion

When you have completed the paid registration, you will enter the live broadcast room. You will find that the live broadcast has not started yet, but the host has sent a group chat QR code and ask you to scan it to enter.

• Behavior: Guide people to join the group
• Incentive: You can distribute the document "NetEase Internal Operation Document"
• Result: From a live broadcast room user, he was transformed into a group chat user.

The benefits to the platform: Group advertising can reach users directly and violently, and can effectively convert one-time exploratory paying users into long-term paying potential users with long-term reach and chronic conversion.

Generally, if you are added to such a group for free, there is a high probability that you will quit the group chat. If it is a paid group, even if it may not be useful, since I have paid, I will definitely take a good look at what is behind it, and then set up a do not disturb gift package for this group.

9. Anxiety

This reminds me of "buying books". In fact, I and many people have this symptom - "knowledge anxiety".

This disease is that you feel that you must read and study, so you buy lots and lots of books. When you buy them, you think that you will definitely read and study. But in the end, after you buy them, you just put them on the bedside to relieve and comfort yourself.

With the news of "NetEase Drama Master Starting a Course" sweeping the internet, not many people care whether this course is really valuable.

In this age of paying for knowledge, everyone is anxious. They worry about missing out, about being left behind, and want to pay for everything. At the moment of payment, they feel that they have learned something new, and the feeling of uneasiness is temporarily eliminated. But I believe that after this wave, most people will gradually return to rationality and pay for value.

Operational planning: How to plan a screen-sweeping event?

Before designing an activity, make sure you know the purpose and significance of the activity. What is the theme of the event? Who are the target users of the activity? And determine the time of the event and the form and method of promoting and warming up the event.

The following is an attempt to infer the planning of the "NetEase Drama Masters Open Class" event, some of which comes from "internal information" circulating on the Internet.

1. Purpose and significance of the activity

NetEase has successfully established its current reputation and has left a legacy in the history of China's Internet development that "products produced by NetEase must be high-quality."

This unique Internet company adheres to the culture of craftsmanship and makes conscientious products. At the same time, its operational activities are on the screen every month, and it always contributes textbook operational cases. Internet operation practitioners are forcibly divided into two types of operations: other people's operations and NetEase's operations.

• With the help of partners, we can exchange traffic, attract new users and increase daily user activity and purchase volume;
• Through activities, increase product sales and improve conversion rate;
• By sharing the event, we can increase brand exposure (estimated exposure on the entire network is 300,000), attract more new potential users, and shape the brand image.

Methodology: It is also best to convert the purpose of the activity into a goal, that is, to convert the purpose into a specific KPI.

2. Theme of the activity

"NetEase Drama Master is here to teach"

From January 23rd to 26th, NetEase Cloud Classroom x Operation In-depth Selection jointly created the "NetEase Operation Methodology" to improve NetEase's internal underlying operation methodology for students with 0-3 years of Internet operation experience. Teach everyone how to gain insight into the essence of operations and remain unmoved in order to achieve success in the complex and ever-changing Internet environment.

Methodology: The theme of the event is the gimmick of the event. The theme is formulated to achieve your event goals, so the theme of the event must be attractive enough.

3. Target users of the activity

• Operators and various Internet practitioners
• People who admire NetEase products
• People with knowledge anxiety disorder and users of other knowledge payment platforms

Methodology: Who is this activity for and what are their characteristics. Determining the characteristics of the target users of an activity is mainly to guide the selection of channels for subsequent promotion and preheating of the activity, because the user portraits of different channel platforms are different. Only by choosing channels whose target user portraits match the user portraits of a certain platform can better publicity, preheating, and momentum be achieved.

4. Time of the activity

• 1.4-1.10 Confirm the lecturer and live broadcast topic
• 1.8-1.12 Complete the overall course packaging
• 1.15-1.16 Page launch and testing
• 1.17-1.19 Promotion
• 1.22-1.26 Live classes start

5. Activity promotion and preheating

Cold Start:

• Recruit seed users and establish distribution seed user groups
• Online testing, product online design, development and testing
• AB test of copywriting to finally select the poster and copywriting with the best effect

Yifa Strategy:

• January 15-16: NetEase Cloud Classroom channel and partner KOLs forward their respective posters in their friend circles (distribution QR code)
• January 16-23: NetEase Cloud Classroom channel and partners will publicly push course soft articles (distribution link)
• Original price: 199 yuan Online price: 39.9 (restored to 199 yuan at 20:00 on January 23)
• Estimated paid conversion rate: 23.5%

Partners' rights and interests:

60% profit for first-level distribution and 30% profit for second-level distribution

Example:

You promoted the poster｜link (assuming the price is 39 yuan)

B bought it and you got 23.4 yuan

B shares it with C, who buys B and gets 23.4 yuan, and you get 11.7 yuan

C then shares it with D, who buys C and gets 23.4 yuan, and B gets 11.7 yuan

D then shares it with F, who buys D and gets 23.4 yuan, and C gets 11.7 yuan

And so on

Team Distribution Competition

Competition assessment: The total income of the captain and team members in the WeChat group who distribute the "NetEase Operation Methodology" course (including level 1 and level 2 income) is used as the competition data

Competition time: 2018.01.16 20:00 to 2018.01.26 24:00

During the competition, the cumulative group income ranking data for the previous day will be announced at 10:00 every day.

The final competition results will be announced and prize money will be distributed from 00:00 to 00:30 on January 27!

The team with the most distribution will receive a cash reward of 10,000 for first place, 5,000 for second place, and 3,000 for third place.

1. Put the logo + a one-sentence introduction on the landing page (estimated exposure on the entire network: 300,000)
2. Live broadcast room: On the first day of class, the administrator sent a text "One sentence introduction to each platform"
3. Each partner can provide 100 free places to increase fans and spread the word (with the gimmick of "You help "me" forward the poster, "I" ask you to listen")

Methodology: Preheating and promotion before the launch of an event is very necessary. It not only serves to convey information and inform the launch of the event, but also determines whether it can bring about a hot spot in advance. It is critical whether the event information can be accurately and timely delivered to the target audience. Preheating can convey the direct interest points of the event, allowing the hot spots to be discovered in advance and consciously become a topic of communication. Operators can also estimate the effect of the event after it goes online based on the preheating effect.

Summarize

The three-level distribution model in this marketing campaign enabled fans to quickly split and form extensive brand communication, which is a very successful marketing case.

"Every operator knows that participating in the screen-sweeping event itself is a learning experience."

After learning, you will think more about how to combine it with your current product projects. In this mobile Internet era where the focus of attention switches rapidly, breaking through the user's mind and establishing your own product brand is the unchanging theme for every product person and operator.

Author: Operations

Source: Operations