Short video content operation methodology

Before I devoted myself to content operations, I also shared some knowledge in the "content field"; but every time many people questioned me - they thought that my methodology was suitable for large companies, not necessarily useful to others, or would become invalid in a different scenario. In response to these comments, I launched two accounts using my own methodology, and made these two accounts successful after half a year of operation.

Afterwards, I formed this process into a complete and practical methodology. After a long period of iteration and optimization, it finally formed the content I want to share this time. This methodology emphasizes practical operation - how to become an Internet celebrity? How to help companies gain exposure or traffic at zero cost in the content era? ...

Next, I will introduce my content operation methodology in detail, hoping to help everyone.

1. The content field is a huge gold mine of traffic

Nowadays is a good era for everyone. Everyone can tap into traffic at zero cost, become an internet celebrity, gain traffic, and make money. There are so many internet celebrities out there now, so does that mean we have no chance? Actually not. Let me tell you some numbers. These are real data from my friends who are engaged in content operations. Let you feel the explosive power of the content industry: What is the current content industry like? Why is it called a "gold mine"?

First, my own case. I did it for about two to three months, and now the account has a total of 1.4 to 1.5 million followers, and a single account has a monthly turnover of 300,000 to 400,000.

Second, a startup company founded by a friend in Shenzhen. We created an IP and, through the operation of this IP, attracted traffic through this channel at zero cost. In two months, the APP had one million users.

Third, two friends born in 1995 who graduated last year are doing beauty products on the official account, using the form of an intermediary. Last year, when I started my business, I made a turnover of 100 million yuan, and this year it is still growing by 2 to 3 times.

Fourth, a friend in Guangzhou who specializes in community operations cooperates with many KOLs. He takes over their fan groups and pretends to be the KOL himself to sell goods, with a monthly turnover of 4 million.

2. Several major trends in the content industry

Why is now the best time to enter the content field? I think there are several trends now:

2.1 There are many platforms, and content producers are being scrambled for

In the era of commercial Internet entrepreneurship, everyone wants to be Jack Ma and Pony Ma. After building platforms, they find that there are too many platforms in the content field, such as Xiaohongshu, Douyin, Kuaishou, etc. As more platforms emerge, you will find that there is a lack of content, and high-quality content producers will become the object of competition. Every day, many platforms will come to you and invite you to join them, help them produce content, and will give you some very generous rewards.

2.2 Traffic is in the hands of IP, not the platform

With more platforms, users' attention will be dispersed accordingly. They cannot remember the platforms, but they will remember the IPs. In the past, there were fewer platform choices, so the traffic was on the platform, and the platform had the final say on how much traffic to provide. Now that the platform IP is formed, the traffic will be in your hands, not on the platform. For example, if Tik Tok doesn’t provide traffic, I can go to Bilibili, and my fans will follow me.

2.3 Vertical content is king

Now all platforms are supporting vertical content, because after every content platform has created content, it will find its own problem - whether it can be monetized. Those who were popular on content platforms in the past are relatively far away from monetization, but it is very easy to monetize vertical content. For example, my account is a fashion account, and it is very easy to embed fashion items.

2.4 Tik Tok brings new opportunities for original IP

After the emergence of new platforms such as Douyin and Kuaishou, Toutiao also brought about a wave of algorithm recommendations, creating many opportunities for incubating original IPs. In the original circle of internet celebrities or KOLs, traffic was in the hands of top institutions and experts. It was basically difficult to start from scratch without relying on any institutional operations.

Several emerging platforms hope that more amateurs will become KOLs. Since these KOLs belong to them, each platform has a tendency to invade traffic in this regard.

2.5 Users gradually form content consumption habits

In the past, e-commerce was just e-commerce, and content was for entertainment and at most brand advertising. Now all content platforms are building a complete shelf system, and even Douyin’s internal operations are turning to traditional e-commerce classification operations and content management. It is precisely because users are gradually getting used to paying for content that concepts such as "planting grass" are becoming more and more mainstream.

3. How to view platform algorithms and rules

I see many people in the industry talking about TikTok because it is a hot topic, but this methodology is rather off-topic. Most of the methodologies talk about "what time to publish", "keywords", "titles to guide users to like", and "techniques to exploit platform loopholes", which is putting the cart before the horse. I think the platform's algorithms and rules are as follows:

3.1 Do not exploit platform loopholes

If you want your content to survive on various platforms, you must first understand why the platforms have rules and algorithms - to recommend good, high-quality content to users, and the algorithms of each platform must be constantly adjusted and optimized.

When this loophole was discovered today and used to gain exposure through trickery, this methodology became invalid. Therefore, to survive on all platforms, one must follow the principle of "win-win with the platform, and comply with the platform's rules rather than confront it."

3.2 Familiar with user habits

There are user usage habits on each platform, which needs to be understood clearly. For example, when is the peak usage time? For example, on Douyin, users like to like and comment, while on Bilibili, it is barrage.

Think about how to recommend high-quality content to the right users, whether to produce high-quality content, and also think about whether your content has a specific and clear user group. This will be in line with the platform's guidance, and the platform will definitely have algorithms or some kind of traffic support to support you.

3.3 Pay attention to real-time hot spots

Each platform will follow up with some guiding activities when hot topics are released, but don’t overdo it, as this is not the main source of content.

3.4 Phased Support Rules

Each platform and each stage will support some categories or content that it wants to promote, and everyone can easily observe it from the user notifications in the platform background. For example, Douyin has recently promoted the live broadcast and shopping cart functions. After you release the video, you try out the live broadcast and shopping cart functions, and you will receive traffic support.

3.5 Only content that can be monetized is valuable

What every content platform desires is content monetization, and all methods that can help the platform monetize can obtain traffic support. If you can conduct some subsequent commercial cooperation through their system and let the platform also share the profits, the platform will also give you certain traffic resources.

3.6 Considering the human factor

If the content on the platform wants to have a chance to enter the square, it must go through human intervention. Many people are studying algorithms and believe that as long as they can deceive the machine and make the platform's data look good, they can enter the traffic pool. In fact, this is not the case.

For example, the content that can be seen on the homepage of Douyin, including the recommendations on the homepage of Weibo, have all been manually intervened, and the square resources of each platform can be manually intervened. So everyone remember, you need to achieve win-win results with the platform and don’t exploit loopholes.

4. Valuable content is the foundation of everything

The value of content is the core of your content creation. Many internet celebrities and big Vs did not start from this point, but they will eventually return to this point. In the past, people thought that content and videos were entertainment products, but now, if you want your content to generate value and be monetizable, you have to think of content as a consumer product.

The essence of consumer goods is value exchange. Users consume your content, like, forward, and purchase it. These are the values ​​they pay. What value do you use in exchange? Looking at the content from this perspective can lead to different ideas.

First of all, what is the value of my content?

Imagine that a user suddenly sees your video one day, goes to your homepage, and wants to follow you. Before following you, he will go through your historical videos. If you have a stable output and teach professional knowledge in a specific niche, such as teaching financial management, PS, and makeup, this is the motivation for users to pay attention to you, and they believe that you can continue to output content in this area. If users find that your video is a hot topic today, a funny video tomorrow, and a stern face the day after tomorrow, it is actually difficult for them to pay attention to you.

If you want to be an internet celebrity, you just need to find a field that you are slightly proficient in, because there are too many people online who know less than you and want to get more knowledge from you. As long as you have special talents, you can do it.

When you create a series of content, you will force yourself to learn about the field and knowledge in that area, and slowly you will become an expert in this field. When I’m dressing up, I also learn from experts while doing it to supplement my own knowledge.

5. Vertical content is the future trend of platform diversion

If you want to create good content, you also need to take the verticality of the content into consideration, but this is not a necessary factor.

What is vertical content? We have seen many internet celebrities who like to dance, or put their beautiful faces in front of the camera to shoot videos, or have specific defined matching attributes, such as men's clothing, women's clothing, and identifying used cars.

Vertical accounts are most easily associated with monetization. When you make the content valuable, users will be willing to follow you and consume your content. For example, if a dancing internet celebrity blogger wears a single item, it is easy for her to sell the product. The actual difference is more exaggerated than people imagine. If your vertical content is easier to monetize and your vertical account is established, the platform will be willing to support your traffic and even invite you to participate in regular events. If you create a label for your vertical category, you will enjoy this type of traffic.

6. Entertainment packaging enhances exposure

If you want to build up your account quickly, you need quick exposure, likes, and reposts, but this is not only brought about by the value of vertical content.

If your opinions are very interesting, people will like your comments, but most platforms are for entertainment. Most users open TikTok for entertainment rather than learning. If you want to get likes, reposts and exposure, you need to make your content more entertaining.

6.1 Three “tools” for entertainment

Let’s talk about how to have fun. We can use the changes in user emotions to create entertainment, mainly with three "tools":

Content that changes or resonates with users

When creating entertainment, you need to consider whether something can cause emotional changes in users.

The simplest thing is to make them laugh (funny content) and make users feel relaxed. Light entertainment has the basic elements to be liked and spread.

The second is to entertain and resonate with emotions. For example, a workplace account with good content will create the image of young people who cannot afford the rent in big cities and feel depressed, but it will also tell you in a positive and energetic way that "you are not the only one who is so miserable", which is also easy to be liked and forwarded.

The third is to guide conflicts. Conflict, if managed well, can also bring you many benefits.

For example, in addition to my fashion account, I also created a small account for event operations in order to promote my upcoming book. I put fragments of that book in there, and interspersed some relatively extreme workplace views. For example, if HR tells young people that they should study more, don’t believe it, because salary is the only reflection of a person’s value, and you should pursue high salary. This relatively extreme view will cause many people to make various comments.

Finally, I got what I wanted. This video received a lot of interaction and gained a high exposure rate. My small account gained tens of thousands of followers in one month.

Entertainment and leisure content

Add recreational and entertaining elements to the content, such as dancing. Of course, this method has a certain threshold. You either need to have special talents, or spend a certain amount of time and experience to create original content.

Curious content

Another way is to rely on curious content. If something is going to go viral, it will be very exaggerated. We often see some earthy content become popular, such as Lu Chao, magical slogans, etc., and the memory points are very deep.

However, it is not feasible to use curious content as the only source of content. The explosion point of curious content is unpredictable. It is hard to say which ones will become popular and which ones will not. Moreover, what becomes popular quickly may also fade away quickly. Therefore, it is recommended that you treat curious content as a daily tool and add some attempts from time to time. Maybe one day it will bring your video to a new level, but this is not your main content.

6.2 How does SKY create a personal account?

How did I do this account at the time? Let me explain the process to you:

The initial plan was to find value first and then deliver entertainment. I found that fashion experts on the Internet were talking about things that I couldn't understand. I also found that there were many people like me around me, all of whom were quite rich. They all had a dream: to dress less ugly as possible, rather than needing some cutting-edge fashion information, such as telling them not to wear white socks with sandals.

I found that this was valuable, and after building up the value, I needed to add entertainment, so I chose the funny approach. I will continue to add some jokes, and you can see that my videos will densely output a lot of knowledge instead of just talking about one point.

Firstly, it’s because I’m not professional, and secondly, it gives me more space to embed some funny content. However, these dry goods are not enough. Users will pay attention to you, but you can't go viral, so I added a joke like "When you reach middle age and want to maintain your health but are afraid of being laughed at, you can find a vodka cup to soak wolfberries." Later, the video of this joke became popular, and everyone paid attention to me.

After that, I added a tool called "Curiosity" to this series of videos. I want to have some fun and see some effects, so I often add one or two particularly magical slogans, and then I find that these points are successfully implanted in the minds of users. Many users will make some of your photos into emoticons, which is also secondary dissemination. The same strategy is used to create SKY’s fashion account.

7. Reduce production costs and insist on production

If you ask many excellent content producers what is the most important thing in creating content, they will all give the same conclusion: insist on continuous production. The key to success in content creation lies here.

The field of content is not about linear production. It is not about this traffic being exchanged for this transaction or that transaction, but about constantly colliding with explosion points and slowly moving upwards. For example, if our video becomes a hot topic, it leads me to an explosion point. This requires the right time and place - high-quality content, hitting a hot spot, and users liking and forwarding it for you. This kind of opportunity is hard to come by, and we can only control it by continuously producing fixed content. In addition, when insisting on producing relevant content, one thing many people fail at is not doing a good job of controlling production costs. Many people want to make videos at first, spend a lot of time and money, and do a great job, but in the end they find that there is no traffic and no monetization. Will they still have the confidence to persist in this high-cost field?

If you are an amateur, working alone, or are currently on a small scale, you must consider the issue of "production cost". If production costs are uncontrollable, it means that you will give up on this matter one day in the future. Once you give up on continuous content production, you will not encounter the explosion point.

8. "Network sense" is the primary productive force in the content industry

The last topic I want to talk about is what I want to advocate on the Internet. Many people say that "net sense" is the primary productive force in content production, but net sense is very mysterious, and the above methodology and formula have nothing to do with net sense. If you are a person with a sense of the Internet, it means that you must be creative and can create new experiences and concepts. If you can clearly judge that you have Internet sense and know who around you has Internet sense, then your Internet sense is relatively good.

A very bad thing is that some of the young people I follow who work in content operations or even platform operations in large companies are very detached from life every day. The ones who really understand operations are those in major universities who may not have had as boring a upbringing as ours. Their experiences are relatively colorful and they spend a lot of time following some very emerging cultures, so they have a good sense of the Internet. However, they cannot enter the core of the Internet because some large companies only recruit people who graduated from prestigious universities.

Now content is a topic and field that every company has to face. If you want to be internet-savvy, you must first open up your definition of knowledge. For example, whether you know how to go clubbing or how to strike up a conversation with the opposite sex are also knowledge that you need to learn comprehensively and spend time to accumulate.

Don’t look down on internet celebrities. They hope to be called “self-media” rather than “internet celebrities”. They may not have a good resume, have not attended a good school, have no good experience, and they may even be clerks in a convenience store, but if they can help you create content, their productivity is far more than you think because they can truly create value.

Author: Dianshihui

Source: Dianshihui

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