5 fish pond models operated by Xiaomi, Get, and Li Ziqi fans

Fan/customer operations have been mentioned all the time, but I believe that most people's understanding of it may only remain at a single level.

In order to give everyone a deeper understanding of fan operations , today I will share with you the different dimensions of fan operations from small to large, from deep to deep, mainly sharing the fish pond model that has been popular in recent years.

First of all, I would like to emphasize here that in order to better explain the story, the term "fish belt" will be used instead of fans or customers, without any derogatory meaning.

01. Fishpond Theory

If we compare our target customers to swimming fish, what we need to do is to find a fish pond first, then put out the bait, then go fishing, and finally catch fish.

1. Find a fish pond

No matter you are selling goods or taking advertisements, the premise of all commercial monetization is to first find where your fans are and then gather them.

For example, if you sell clothes, you should first think about whether you will open a store in a shopping mall or set up a stall on the street. Shopping malls, markets, and school gates are your target fishing ponds.

If you are doing self-media, do you have to decide whether to do it on WeChat, Toutiao, Douyin, Kuaishou, Zhihu, or Weibo?

If you can’t find the fish pond or find it incorrectly, you will face two situations;

a. No fish

For example, if you sell yoga clothes in rural areas, it is likely that you will not be able to sell them because there are almost no young people.

b. Wrong fish

For example, if you are doing fitness training, but you specifically go to the entrance of primary schools to promote your products, that would also be difficult.

Although there are a lot of people coming and going every day and the flow is fixed, the vast majority of people who pick up their children from school are grandparents. Even full-time housewives are relatively busy, so the order opening rate is definitely very low.

Therefore, when choosing a fish pond, make sure it matches what you want to do.

2. Place the Bait

After finding the fish pond, the next step is to put the bait. If the bait is not chosen well, it will be difficult to fish. Here are some factors that may affect it.

a. Time

For example, if you set up a stall in front of a school, then the best time is definitely in the morning, noon and evening: morning for elementary schools and evening for universities.

If you choose the wrong time, you won’t be able to catch any fish even if you have them.

b. Bait

When fishing, if you put a crab leg on the hook, will the fish bite? Or maybe you put out bad bait and the fish won’t eat it.

If you don't like the taste and don't eat the good content, you won't be able to catch the fish.

So when it comes to sales, traffic is only the first step, and the product is the core.

Your product cannot solve the user's needs or is a false need. Your product quality is not up to standard and is obviously inferior. The content is plagiarized, copied or even extremely rough.

Then users definitely don’t like it. Why are people willing to queue up for Heytea?

Because users like it because of the bait in multiple dimensions such as taste, vision, and sociality.

3. Sashimi

Fishing in the traditional sense is for eating fish.

But building a brand and fan economy is definitely not a one-time transaction. If this is the case, the starting point is to make money.

On the contrary, we should focus on user experience, the long-term contribution value of users, making friends with users and even becoming brand co-creators. At this time, fish feed is more important than bait.

a. Brand Loyalists

It is easier to understand brand loyalty by using retention and repurchase. In essence, it means that the products and services you provide are enough to impress users.

In addition to multiple purchases, users are also willing to try your new products and services.

Just like selling clothes, brands not only want users to buy T-shirts, but also hope to take over users' wardrobes all year round.

b. Brand Communicator

In addition to users' own liking of the product, we also hope that users will become disseminators of our brand and promote our product, thereby attracting other users.

Take Meituan for example, their goal is to take care of the food, clothing, housing and transportation of your family and friends, not just you.

Look at Li Jiaqi, Liziqi and Viya. After accumulating their fans, they still maintain high-quality content output and care for their fans. This is the fish feed.

This is the village chief’s understanding of the fish pond theory. Every link in fish farming is important.

02. Five models of fish ponds

I learned about this part of the content from Teacher Huang Gang’s sharing. I felt that it was in line with this article, so I compiled it together to share with you.

As mentioned at the beginning, there are more ways to manage fans/customers than just using accounts to sell goods. Next, I will share with you five models for upgrading your fan base.

1. River fish farming model

Raising fish in rivers refers to the process of selling products and publishing content on external platforms and then converting them.

This requires our continued reliance on rivers. If the rivers dry up, become polluted, or there is a fishing ban, we will have no fish to catch.

For example, we continue to output our own content on WeChat, Douyin, and Kuaishou, and also sell courses, goods, and live broadcasts on these platforms.

Once they leave the platform or the platform starts to decline, the creators' income will be greatly affected.

For example, if a merchant opens a store on JD.com or Taobao, it will be difficult to generate sales if the store is closed or the platform does not provide traffic.

The advantage of this method is that when the river is high, there will always be fish to eat.

But if there are too many people fishing, or the river dries up, they will have to find another river to start fishing again.

For example, many internet celebrities on Kuaishou and Douyin will have almost no chance once their accounts are blocked by the platform. For example, Simba, Sanda, Erlu and others were previously blocked by the official, and it is difficult for them to switch to other platforms to broadcast and sell goods.

Many Taobao brands and Pinduoduo brands, such as internet celebrities Shi Liuge and Li Ziqi, all follow the river water fish farming model, except that Li Ziqi’s content and the products she sells are more high-end.

2. Cage fish farming model

Cage fish farming refers to building your own cages in rivers and lakes so that you can catch fish at any time.

You can also understand cage fish farming as a primary community operation model, which is to direct fans to personal WeChat groups through public accounts, Douyin, etc.

Then maintain fans through WeChat groups and personal accounts, and monetize through selling courses and training.

For example, the private domain traffic method of Li Jiaqi and Perfect Diary managing fans that was shared earlier belongs to the cage fish farming model.

However, cage fish farming requires a constant supply of fresh water and the entry of new fish for continuous maintenance.

3. Pond fish farming model

A higher level model than cage fish farming is the pond model.

Build your own fish ponds of varying sizes, be responsible for supplying water and feed, and then carry out conversion and fission.

For example, Mr. Gong Wenxiang first directed his fans to dozens of personal WeChat accounts from channels such as Weibo, Douyin, and Toutiao, and then converted his fans into high-level paying members of his own WeChat Club through continuous content output.

Let’s look at Wu Xiaobo and Fan Deng. They used external traffic to eventually recruit and establish branches in cities across the country, and then converted them into paying readers.

The fish pond fish farming model has low yields but high value and fish are not easily lost.

4. Oceanarium Model

Friends who have been to an oceanarium or a shopping mall know that each oceanarium has different animal houses, and each shopping mall provides different services on different floors.

This is the government setting up its own channels and fishing grounds, and then attracting different people to come in and fish.

For example, the Get app and 890 Business School, they call on different big Vs to join, and then organize their fans to pay.

Think about whether Wu Xiaobo and Luo Zhenyu first produced content on official accounts, Youku, and iQiyi, then attracted fans to pay to buy books, tickets and other peripheral products, and then developed their own membership, and finally created their own knowledge payment app.

Moreover, this is also the necessary path for Wu Xiaobo and Luo Zhenyu. Otherwise, the ceiling will be too low if they rely on one person's strength.

From personal IP, single product IP to platform IP, this is the only way to manage fans.

5. Ocean Park Model

The Ocean Park model is considered the highest level of fan management.

There are different oceanariums in the Ocean Park, such as the Arctic Pavilion and the Antarctic Pavilion.

But overall it is a brand, an output of culture that keeps fans attached to the brand.

For example, the Xiaomi model that we are all familiar with. The cultural research of Mi fans had the book "Sense of Participation" as early as 2014. At that time, Xiaomi Mi fans operation was also very popular, and I also visited Xiaomi company to learn.

Xiaomi first shared the MIUI operating system through external forums, then started making mobile phones, and then established Xiaomi city meetings and Xiaomi forums across the country.

They continue to output cost-effective products such as mobile phones, computers, televisions, and speakers, and strengthen their exposure on various mainstream online channels, ultimately directing traffic to their own APP and offline stores.

Xiaomi no longer just sells Xiaomi mobile phones, it also includes Xiaomi products related to food, clothing, housing and transportation. No matter whether it is Redmi, Blackmi, Huami or Zimi, what users ultimately remember and love is the Xiaomi brand.

In the process of building the entire product ecosystem, Xiaomi has never stopped acquiring traffic and managing fans.

The means by which he gains fans may be his own products, or it may be the continued activeness of Lei Jun's personal IP on major platforms. Everyone knows that it is Xiaomi Lei Jun, not Lei Jun Xiaomi.

03. Four things to note when managing your personal fans

Fan management is not limited to large or small businesses. Everyone should manage their own fans, especially in the current era of super individuals, even if there are only 10 or 20 of them.

So how should individuals or newbies in the early stages attract and manage fans?

1. Deepen vertical fields

I have mentioned many times that it is best to choose a field to delve into so that you have enough competitiveness and business label.

For example, the village chief is gradually clarifying his own positioning, which is to talk about business and operations with everyone.

Talking about business means talking about business stories, business opportunities, and business thinking. Talking about operations means sharing practical information such as operations, management, and fission. The essence is to help everyone grow better.

So if you are in the technology business, you should continue to delve deeper into the technology; if you are in the fruit business, you should thoroughly understand fruit sales, supply chain, etc.

2. Output valuable content

In addition to your own expertise, you need to continuously produce content that is valuable to your fans and customers in your field.

Especially in this age of information overload, there is no shortage of content, but there is a shortage of good content, content that makes people think.

Of course, our definition of content cannot be limited to text or video.

Because it can be a service or a product. For example, as a private teaching teacher, its output is to provide professional private teaching services.

It can be either to solve students' growth problems, or it can be fitness, psychological counseling, etc.

Another point is that continuity is important.

3. Strengthen personal IP creation

For individuals, if you want to continuously strengthen your personal IP image, you don’t need to do anything grand.

The key point is to make users remember you enough, or your label is obvious enough.

For example, you tell the news in dialect, Li Ziqi's beautiful pictures, or Shi Liuge, a simple and honest boy who can speak English.

The more prominent you are in the user's psychological cognition, the greater the value and stickiness you will naturally generate.

4. Continuous drainage

Any product and service will face traffic problems.

If you sell snacks locally, your old customers may move away or go to other cities.

Repeat customers are not constant, but they can be developed by cultivating new customers.

Therefore, the core purpose of continuous exposure and continuous muscle flexing is to attract new fans/customers.

This principle is not only reflected in product innovation, but also in channel updates.

The above is the model of fan-run fish pond that I shared with you today. Sharing is not about copying and applying, but about inspiring thinking.

Author: Shili Village

Source: Shili Village (shilipxl)