How to be immune to fake traffic?

In recent years, China's Internet has faced a new round of information "explosion", and the competition for user attention in the field of brand marketing has continued to become fierce.

In the past, traffic was mainly gained by placing advertisements on portal websites, buying rankings on e-commerce platforms, and buying keywords on Baidu.

With the rise of “Weibo, WeChat, and Douyin”, social networks have absorbed more than half of mobile user traffic.

This is an unprecedented era of social marketing, and KOL (Internet celebrities, influencers, opinion leaders) have become the most important traffic sources.

Becoming a KOL can bring huge exposure and user traffic, involving a lot of commercial interests. The competition for traffic behind it is also inevitable, and fake KOLs and fake traffic have become rampant.

It is said that a large proportion of the Top 500 KOLs engage in inflating traffic, where data on fans and traffic are directly purchased with money, and millions of people in China are engaged in inflating traffic.

However, I believe in a warning in "Out of Control": Chaos creates order, and stability brings death. All chaotic and disordered places will breed opportunities for change, and you may become a key variable in this industry and this era.

Here, I would like to discuss the solutions to fake KOLs and fake traffic from four aspects:

• 1. What is the underlying logic behind fake traffic?
• 2. What is the basic idea to break the fake traffic ?
• 3. The best medicine: Party B’s customer empathy.
• 4. Are the values ​​of “industry influencers” the key indicator?

How to become immune to fake traffic depends on what you do right and who you truly trust.

1. What is the underlying logic behind fake traffic?

The Wall Street Journal reported a well-known fact: a large percentage of advertisements on the Internet are ineffective and no one sees them. Now it is said that a lot of these advertising traffic is fake and forged (generated using zombie accounts and robot programs). As an advertiser, boss, did you know this when you placed your advertisements?

Advertisers’ bosses certainly know this, but this is an “operational matter” and their way of thinking is result-oriented and effect-oriented.

Not long ago, I met with some China managers of international first-tier fast-moving consumer goods brands and wanted to hear their opinions: Does fake online traffic affect their confidence in investing in digital advertising and KOL advertising?

Their general view is: "If advertising investment and sales growth are consistent in the general direction, we will not care about the specific operational aspects. The marketing and brand departments are responsible for eliminating these interferences (fake traffic), and we allow them to make trials and errors within a tolerable range."

In short, the general direction should not be wrong and the operational details should have a "tolerance range".

Think about it carefully, since the creation of the Internet, have there been some particularly difficult and troublesome problems that have not been solved for many years?

Of course there are, it's just a rumor.

So far, which country have you seen that has completely solved the problem of online rumors? No matter how much supervision, how strict the laws, how much technical tracking, or how much public relations are done, rumors are always rampant and have been regarded as part of the Internet ecosystem.

However, most rumors are quickly debunked.

As Lincoln said, “You can fool all the people some of the time, and some of the people all of the time, but you cannot fool all the people all of the time.”

Did you know? For the past 15 years, the highest-rated TV show in the United States has been "MythBusters," which targets various rumors. (The programs with the highest domestic ratings are generally variety shows)

By the same token, fake traffic is almost impossible to eliminate.

Just like the human body coexists with bacteria and viruses, the presence of active bacteria and latent viruses in your body does not mean that there is something wrong with your health. The most important thing is whether the core biological functions in your body (such as the cardiovascular system, nervous system, respiratory and digestive system, etc.) are well immune.

Specifically speaking about the new media marketing field where IMS is located, I would like to emphasize two basic understandings:

(1) Fake traffic is almost impossible to solve in the short term

Just as it is impossible for the human body to eradicate bacteria and viruses, this is an ecological problem. We all know that KOLs create content, and content attracts traffic - bringing user attention. Social marketing must be combined with KOLs. So, how do we measure the actual value of KOLs? It can't be that you have your standards and I have mine.

Traffic becomes the greatest common divisor.

Although this is not a solid consensus, at least there is a unified context. Of course advertisers’ bosses want to look at the results. How to measure the results?

The marketing director and brand manager will tell the boss a lot of "objective data", and these "objective data" are also the common language between them and the third-party advertising (media) companies and even KOLs.

Especially when negotiating a price, "objective data (traffic)" is the option with the lowest communication cost.

Everyone knows how big the disadvantages are here (the possibility of traffic fraud). This is a "rigid loophole" that everyone avoids and turns a blind eye to, unwilling to make it an obstacle to the next business deal.

(2) Focus on core value areas that cannot be fooled by fake traffic

There are more bacteria and viruses in the human body than cells, but bacteria and viruses cannot harm the core body functions. This is the value of the immune system.

We know that there are some places where fake traffic cannot be deceived. For example, "brushing traffic" will not be accompanied by "brushing sales". The core business value of KOL is to help advertisers determine the brand tone and drive the direction of public opinion. These are things that advertisers can feel intuitively and cannot be faked.

To measure the commercial value of KOLs, professional companies will use many dimensions and various scales. "Traffic" is just an isolated concept. We cannot discuss traffic without considering the actual business results and real effects.

2. What is the basic idea to break the deadlock of fake traffic?

I would like to emphasize one point in particular: traffic thinking is absolutely short-sighted, and time will become the ultimate battlefield in business.

Here, I would like to clearly point out two basic facts:

(1) Data traffic is expensive. It will eventually become too expensive for you to afford.

Many brand companies often have to do some marketing planning. At this time, they have to do some calculations: Can they find any way to make the "input-output ratio" of the advertising very clear?

That is, if you invest money, you can predict whether the return is worthwhile. I can give a clear answer: No.

And when you have this idea, you are likely to waste money. Why?

Note: Any marketing budget is an investment based on an expected return, and all investments are risky.

For example, you may have bought "advertising space" on e-commerce websites or portal websites, and you may have bought "keywords" on Baidu. The effect of importing traffic in the early stage was particularly good, and the price was not expensive. However, everyone knows how to do the math, and gradually, the prices for "ad space" and "keywords" will rise sharply, becoming so expensive that you cannot afford them.

Traffic is becoming more and more expensive, and you can’t bypass some key channels, which is like being hijacked or kidnapped. At this time, those fake KOLs and fake traffic will have the opportunity to take advantage, especially when you are weak, it is like giving you a life-saving straw.

Many brand companies’ marketing departments, due to KPI pressure, have no choice but to face this bad choice and tolerate traffic fraud and cheating.

You have lost your traffic sovereignty, and this is definitely not a long-term solution.

(2) Traffic accumulation depends on products and operations

You can acquire users through tricking, deceiving, kidnapping, and defrauding, or you can even spend money to buy users (some listed companies directly provide cash subsidies to users to watch APP content).

However, when you do the accounting, you still need to figure out: who are your users and where do they come from? How high is the cost of acquiring customers, and can it be sustained in the long run? How high is the user retention rate, what is the conversion rate...

When it comes to commercial conversion, all false and fraudulent traffic figures will be exposed.

I remember a big boss in the consulting industry once said: "The easiest time to judge a person is when you ask him to pay you. At this time, everything in the past will disappear. No matter what the brothers are like or how are you, your teacher, you will finally see the truth."

"What does paying mean? It means that the other party really has a sense of gain and value, and the other party really has a close relationship with you."

Business is the final judge of the value of traffic, and the judgment comes quickly. In order to accumulate traffic and highlight its value, the most important thing is to look at the effectiveness of both the product and the operation.

For example, if you are a game company, there is a set of rules, data, and server systems hidden under the game app; if you are an e-commerce company, there are countless products, stores, and algorithm mechanisms under the e-commerce app. This is directly related to whether users feel comfortable with you and whether they can stay.

The operations of Internet companies often involve cool technology online, but a lot of hard, dirty and difficult work offline. How can you get users to spend money without causing them to be disgusted?

Therefore, the real professionalism of a marketing company lies in not following traffic, but focusing on actual results and long-term value.

In the “Double 11” activities in the past few years, Internet celebrities or KOLs have demonstrated their amazing ability to bring goods. The sales volume of some top KOLs in a day exceeds the annual sales volume of a department store.

The most difficult part for advertisers when placing ads is not making judgments, but the basis for making those judgments - proven and mature principles, namely actual results and long-term value. If this were not the case, why would advertisers invest large amounts of advertising budgets in a marketing channel that did not exist 10 years ago?

3. The best medicine: Party B’s customer empathy

In linguistics, there is a "Sapir-Whorf hypothesis", which states that language structure determines the behavior and thinking habits of group members, and the process of language formation is the process by which a culture weaves its own cognition of the world.

For example, many marketing companies say they are “responsible for the results for their clients,” but the implications behind this are very different.

The so-called effect is directly understood by most practitioners as traffic, and traffic equals effect. Currently, there are two main ways to combat fake traffic:

(1) Frequently modify rules to address blind spots

Over the past year, many platforms have been continuously plugging loopholes in their rules.

Internet platforms iQiyi, Youku, and Toutiao have successively announced the closure of front-end playback volume. WeChat public accounts have set an upper limit of 100,000 for the number of readings and likes. Weibo will also adjust the counting and display method of Weibo reposts and comments, with the maximum upper limit being 1 million.

What's more, in May this year, Xiaohongshu launched the "Brand Partner Platform Upgrade Instructions", which set higher requirements for the number of KOL fans and monthly exposure. Some KOLs who did not meet the requirements were disqualified as brand partners and could no longer accept advertising.

(2) Tailoring strategy combinations for customers based on “customer empathy”

Someone asked me, after so many years of doing social media marketing, how do I convince my clients?

I would particularly emphasize the sense of “homogeneity”.

To grasp the psychology of netizens or consumers, it is mainly about having a sense of empathy.

I will turn myself into a customer. When I am a customer, how would I like the company and products I am interested in to communicate with me? If you have a sense of empathy, you can get closer to your customers.

Never treat customers in a way that you think is smart, but rarely think seriously about how your customers will view you.

There is an old story that still inspires me: NASA was struggling to develop a fountain pen that astronauts could use in weightless conditions, so it recruited proposals from the whole society, but most of the proposals were not feasible at first glance. Until one day, a letter written in pencil by a first-grade student made NASA scientists suddenly realize and feel ashamed. The letter only had one sentence: "Why not use a pencil?"

You think customers prefer a product or service, but in fact, customers just want to solve a problem and just need a solution.

We have been promoting KOL marketing, but we will not passively follow KOLs. Instead, we will use KOLs as a part of the strategic combination, and the real focus is to help customers solve practical problems. Therefore, it is difficult for fake traffic to interfere with us.

4. The values ​​of “industry influencers” are key indicators

We resist fake traffic, but we do not reject big data analysis. On the contrary, we provide data feedback from the "most valuable perspective".

Traffic data is actually the roughest and most superficial data feedback. We value more effective strategies of segmentation and positioning. Here, I will briefly talk about some basic views:

(1) The value of data varies depending on the platform and demand

Large platforms like JD.com and Pinduoduo all adopt the approach of “data first, content later” to systematically position their fan groups.

Their content backgrounds have corresponding user analysis/fan analysis. After understanding the characteristics of the crowd, they can better produce content that interests them. Such as regional consumption styles, different information points of concern to different consumer groups, and different consumption demands of different age groups. This all depends on local conditions and varies from person to person.

Internet celebrity companies such as Smartisan mainly verify "fan loyalty" by holding events regularly and using ticket revenue. On-site ticket sales are not about making money, but about obtaining real feedback and forming a virtuous circle.

If there is no box office, no sponsorship, no copyright fees, and it is not commercially viable, it means that "the relationship between your fans and you is not strong enough."

In terms of "fan marketing", Tencent Social Advertising emphasizes the four-step method of "selecting Internet celebrities, finding users, playing with content, and monitoring", and conducts in-depth integration from the dimensions of "data analysis, refined marketing, customized creativity, and optimized strategy".

The goal is to target fans and potential fan groups and implement precision marketing, especially the creativity must be "ruthless" and customized based on the combination of fans' concerns and the characteristics of Internet celebrities, which will make it easier to impress and touch fans.

Place the data behind KOLs in specific scenarios to determine their true value. This is very tiring, but being professional is not just talk, the more professional you are, the harder it is.

(2) The more detailed, the clearer

The real value of traffic data lies in "qualitativeness and tone", which is very important.

For example, the key to our fan data monitoring is to "cluster and group fans", which is also a necessary step in operating fan communities and implementing precision marketing.

Based on users' social behavior and interaction data, fans can be divided into six categories: "chatters, serious-minded people, acquaintances who like posts, insiders, value discoverers, and partners with consistent interests." "Chatterers, serious-minded people, and acquaintances who like posts" contribute more attention time, which is very important. It can help brands evaluate fan conversion effects and adjust marketing strategies based on real-time advertising data; "insiders, value discoverers, and partners with consistent interests" are willing to deeply participate in brand communication and corporate development, and are the most important group of high-value fans.

For example, the key to our data monitoring of KOLs is to "classify" them and prepare a strategic combination to serve customers.

After years of market testing, "key influencers" at all levels have gradually formed a pyramid structure:

• Top of the pyramid: Authorities and public figures (such as top scholars and first-line film and television stars) still occupy the highest level of influence. They have cross-field and cross-regional public recognition and are always the top KOLs.
• Tower waist: public opinion leaders (such as big V internet celebrities, TOP self-media figures). Their recognition rate, exposure, and traffic absorption capacity are even higher than those of second-tier film and television stars. They have a strong ability to ignite topics and create voice.
• Bottom of the tower: niche opinion leaders (such as TOP self-media figures in specific professional fields and grassroots internet celebrities). They mainly radiate to specific groups of people, have a large number of users, and have had long-term and in-depth interactions.
• Taki: Many nano-KOLs (such as super fans of a brand), even if the number of users is only a few thousand or a few hundred, have extremely high cohesion and loyalty, and have the potential to develop into a community of shared destiny for the brand.

It is impossible for brand management to simply move closer to the KOLs at the top or middle of the tower. Going high and targeting high can gain traffic and voice, but it is easy to lose precision.

To build and deepen any brand reputation, it is necessary to lay and consolidate the foundation. It is especially important to combine KOLs for promotion and build a solid foundation. All of the above professional arrangements are based on a set of values, which is the most core pillar. Good data will only reflect valuable information under the guidance of values.

Author: Li Meng

Source: Li Meng