IP marketing, “content + social” is essential!

Introduction: The cultural barriers of the niche IP circle are not an iron wall. By seeking common ground while reserving differences and letting the public see their unique charm, they can successfully integrate into the mainstream.

Nowadays, niche circles are increasingly becoming the focus of brand attention, because seizing these easily overlooked circles, tapping into a new vertical market that has not yet been developed, and disseminating it to the public can also be a great success. It has to be said that this is indeed a new approach to brand market positioning and marketing. Unpopular elements such as hip-hop, rock, and bands immediately gained a sense of presence after the broadcast of variety shows such as "The Rap of China" and "Summer of the Band", and formed a new trend that was popular for a while.

The so-called circle culture refers to the conversations in a certain circle that are of a specific style and use jokes that outsiders cannot understand. The more niche it is, the more it emphasizes the idea of ​​"being in a circle". The characteristic of a circle is that there are certain circle barriers (such as the chain of contempt between circles). It is difficult for people outside the circle to understand or be interested in it without contact, while people inside the circle are extremely active and loyal.

It is not difficult to understand or enter a circle, but it is not easy to break the barriers of the circle. However, even within niche cultural circles, they have many things in common, and these commonalities may become breakthroughs.

What are the common characteristics of the cultures in niche circles?

Take the two-dimensional world as an example. In the past, in the eyes of many people, this circle was once called a "non-mainstream", subculture niche circle. However, with the new generation of young people's tolerance and acceptance of the two-dimensional world, this circle has become less niche, and the "Generation Z" formed by them has become a phenomenon that cannot be ignored. Similarly, with the trend of younger and more segmented markets, niche circles are increasingly becoming the favorite of many brands, especially for IP marketing . There are already many successful cases of breaking through circles and expanding influence.

Just in the two-dimensional cultural circle, there are many subdivided small circles, such as animation, light novels, games, etc., and each IP in it has its own circle, not to mention other fields. It can be seen that the number, genres, and overlap of niche circles can indeed become the development points of new markets. Although they are all-encompassing and bizarre, all circles have some common characteristics.

First, online social platforms are the main gathering places. Whether it is the forums, BBS and other platforms in the early years, or the more abundant social content tools such as QQ, Douban, Weibo, Zhihu, and Douyin today, they have all become places for various circles to be active and communicate.

The activities of circle culture on the Internet platform mainly take the forms of posting, subscription, topics, chat groups, etc., which are both close-knit and relatively free. For example, Tieba, Zhihu, and forums mainly use posting to discuss and exchange ideas, while Weibo and Tik Tok tend to use topics to attract like-minded people together. Instant messaging tools such as QQ and WeChat are more likely to use group chats to conduct social discussions on common interests. With the further development of the Internet, social platforms have become more free, convenient and rich, making the culture of niche circles more rich and diverse, and making niche circles easier to be known by people outside the circle.

Secondly, the culture in niche circles is unique and exclusive. The cultural barriers in the circle make it difficult for others to enter, and it is also not easy to be understood by others.

Circle barriers are the dividing lines between circles. The clarity of this boundary is determined by public acceptance, and this boundary is mainly reflected in the uniqueness of the circle culture. For example, in the niche circle of virtual singers, it is already very good for outsiders to know Hatsune Miku and Luo Tianyi, but if you discuss some common terms in the circle such as "training" and "sound source" with them, they are often confused. What's more, the singing style and voice of virtual singers are not appreciated by most people who just hear them. It can be seen that in specific circles there are some unique cultures that are not understood by outsiders. Their communication methods, content, overall atmosphere, value orientation, etc. are different from mainstream culture. This is the reason why people from outside the circle cannot integrate when they first arrive, that is, the xenophobia of the circle.

Third, fans within the circle will often produce a large amount of content around the theme of the circle, with a high degree of originality.

For an IP, its content is the most attractive point. In the circle culture with IP as the theme, the main content of its discussion and social interaction is also mainly about the IP itself or its derivative content. Therefore, in many IP circles, a large amount of content output has become the most prominent feature, and it is also the main way for IP to spread. Online social networking, content, and communication platforms can all become excellent communication channels, and what facilitates discussion, social interaction, and content distribution is the production of highly original UGC content. For example, the popularity of the novel "The Grandmaster of Demonic Cultivation" was initially targeted at a relatively niche and marginalized circle, but with the content production and distribution of many fan creators, the popularity of this IP was promoted through the spread of fan works, attracting the attention of people outside the circle, and thus successfully breaking out of the circle and gaining a large number of readers.

Finally, the fact that niche circles with certain barriers to integration can be formed and exist for a long time means that the activity, stickiness, and loyalty within the circle are very high.

Indeed, niche circle culture advocates circle IP and its content, and also shows admiration, support and trust in its derivative content and products. In the field of animation, after an IP becomes popular and gains a large number of fans, it will often use this IP to make a wave of "big moves", such as launching live-action series, related games, offline activities, launching peripheral products and other derivative products. It is precisely because of the high intensity stickiness and loyalty of fans. Many fans pay attention to emotional and spiritual experience, and often consume for their favorite characters or IPs. This reflects the consumption potential of the niche market, and is also an important reason why IP and brands have "set their sights" on the niche market.

In general, the main characteristics of niche circles include online platform media, distinct cultural characteristics, original content output, and high stickiness. But in the final analysis, these niche cultural circles are both derivative products of IP and important ways and breakthroughs for the dissemination of IP.

Because, between many circles, while there are barriers, there is also a high possibility of overlap. For example, in the field of animation, the circle of an animation IP will overlap with the circle of another IP. Similarly, in the circles that are innovative and unique, there must be universal elements that are widely accepted by people. It is these overlaps and universal elements in niche circle culture that have become the entry point for IP marketing to "break the wall".

Taking the female-oriented two-dimensional game circle as an example, let’s look at the basic model of IP marketing within the circle.

We take the IP promotion in the two-dimensional female game circle as an example to analyze the promotion characteristics and patterns of IP in niche circles.

Among some female-oriented games in recent years, "Travel Frog" can be said to have relatively successfully achieved the marketing effect of breaking through the barriers of circle groups. This small game from a small studio in Japan became popular in China, which can be said to be "blooming inside the wall and fragrant outside the wall". In the Chinese Internet environment where the promotion efforts of brands are almost zero, it is almost entirely formed by the spontaneous spread of players within the circle.

Many people know about "Travel Frog" mainly through the Internet, besides seeing people around them playing it. This casual placement and development game is very simple to operate, with cute and simple graphics and frog images. Players can gain some "surprise" content through "feeding" and "traveling", and it is loved by many female players. This game meets some psychological needs, and at the marketing level it highlights two key advantages: content and social. One is the sharing of the frog's status and content brought back after "travel", and the other is the secondary creation of the frog's image, funny videos, emoticons, memes and other related content. It is these contents that made "Travel Frog" a hot topic. With the viral spread of players and the promotion of KOLs, this game became a phenomenal mobile game that was popular that year.

It can be seen that content and social interaction can indeed trigger public attention. Previous games such as "Onmyoji" and "Love and Producer" have also gained super high popularity. After various publicity such as videos, posters, and information flow advertisements from the brand side in the early stage, these two games have also gained a lot of topics and popularity in social interaction and content. The derivative content such as fan works and secondary creations alone are very impressive. All these have allowed the IP to be successfully spread inside and outside the circle. Since then, "Onmyoji" has launched IP products such as games, animations, and peripherals, and "Love and Producer" will also launch an animation of the same name.

Judging from the promotion of the above-mentioned game IPs, there are some common patterns and characteristics that are worth studying, which may serve as some reference for niche IPs to conduct circle marketing.

1. Based on certain gameplay, highlight the character image, game background and other content

Any attractive game has a common feature, that is, "fun", but with the diversification of the current consumer market, many games can attract players with other highlights besides gameplay, such as content. Consumption upgrades have made players pay more attention to the emotional experience and content of games. Many RPG games excel in their excellent plots and characters. In addition to being easy to gain favor with their gameplay and operations, games such as "Travel Frog" and "Onmyoji" have also become topics of discussion among many players due to their character images, game backgrounds and other content. Therefore, in addition to gameplay, content is also a major point for game IP.

2. In the early stage, it is necessary to generate heat within the circle through the output of PGC, mainly through PV, posters and other promotional methods

"Travel Frog" may be an accident, but more female game IPs must invest a certain amount of publicity in the early stages and target players within this circle, highlight some elements that the circle likes, gain a certain amount of expectations and fan base, trigger internal heat, and become the basis for viral spread and "breaking the wall." In order to arouse internal interest, it is also necessary to highlight some content that fits the aesthetics and orientation of the circle. Currently, the early promotion of the game will mainly be through in-site advertising, promotional PV, posters, etc.

3. Initiate topics and activities to encourage discussion and UGC content creation

After the game gains a certain number of fans and players in the early stages, it will initiate certain topics or activities to encourage sharing, discussion, and UGC content creation. In terms of social networking, many games now have the function of sharing rewards, and announcements of discussion activities can be posted within the game, and certain rewards can be set to attract traffic, introduce players to social platforms and create topics. It is also becoming common for games to encourage UGC creation. Many of the current popular games have launched fan work competitions. For example, "Onmyoji" has initiated several such activities, and many players have "generated power with love" and created many high-quality works.

4. The experience and publicity of anchors, big Vs and other KOLs attract the attention of fans outside the circle

The publicity of some game anchors and platform celebrities can be quickly known to a group of people outside the circle in a short period of time. Relying on some KOLs outside the circle who have many fans is an active attempt to break the circle, and it is also a way to break it from the outside. However, using the celebrity effect to attract attention can be very efficient, but the quality of its dissemination and how many people can truly become interested in the game are difficult to guarantee. For example, female games are difficult to attract most male game players in terms of gameplay, but for the KOL's female fans, it can indeed arouse the willingness to try.

5. Create social and discussion heat and attract attention from outside the circle

The dissemination within the circle and the expansion of the circle may attract more attention from outside the circle. Fan works alone can quickly gain recognition from the majority of people inside and outside the circle on the content platform due to cross-circle factors such as quality and aesthetics, thereby driving the widespread dissemination of the content of the game IP. At the same time, in social situations, in order to integrate into a group or make friends, and participate in discussions on topics, people need to use games to understand the content of the topic, thereby generating motivation to play games.

In general, from the "content + social" marketing model of female-oriented games or other IPs, we can see that in terms of breaking through circles, expanding the circle from the inside to the outside with the help of content and social networking is a good way to break through circle barriers.

IP marketing in niche cultural circles needs to break down barriers from within with the help of "content + social"

In IP marketing, it is very important to highlight the content. Judging from the content marketing methods within the above niche circles, if IP wants to move from niche circles to the masses, it is not about blindly catering to the circle culture, but about obtaining marketing characteristics that are consistent with the IP content based on the circle culture, and leaving a deep cultural and social imprint. To achieve the effect of promoting UGC content creation and social communication, the IP itself, marketing positioning, promotion methods and subsequent development should all be taken into consideration.

First, personalize or IP the brand or product, give it content potential, and make it topical.

IP products must have novel and interesting content that can attract public attention and heated discussion, and brands also need to pursue IPization and personalization, so that they have vivid personality characteristics and cultural connotations. Giving the brand character, stories, spirit and other content is what many brands are doing nowadays. This fully shows the importance of brand IP. To highlight the value and charm of IP, content is indispensable. If you have content, you can discover the topics in the content, let fans express themselves and communicate, and thereby spread the IP.

Secondly, target people in the same circle and grasp the commonalities between circles, which can both highlight the differences and meet these common needs.

Initially, the marketing of niche IPs should be targeted at similar circles, because breaking the barriers of circles from within is to spread from within the circle to the outside, so it is necessary to first make a name for itself in the circle where the IP is located and have a group of basic fans to be effective. Since many niche cultural circles have many things in common, in order to improve communication efficiency, we can add more of the same needs in similar circles while retaining the IP characteristics. Taking animation IP as an example, one work can be linked with another work, or symbols from classic IP can be added to the content as "easter eggs". This not only reflects creativity, but also attracts the attention of two or more IP circles at the same time. This is also a mutual breakthrough and overlap between similar circles.

Then, the brand will periodically produce PGC content for brand communication, continuously increase cultural connotations, and enrich and strengthen IP characteristics.

After gaining a group of fans in the early stage, if the content of the IP is highly topical and discussed, then there will soon be exchanges and creation of some UGC content within the circle. At this time, the IP should continue to increase its efforts in the depth and breadth of the content, constantly enrich its cultural connotations, and can produce PGC content in stages, or introduce new stories, characters, relationships, etc., to continuously strengthen the characteristics and topic potential of the IP, maintain the freshness of the IP, and make fans more interested and fond of its content, and more willing to discuss and produce content.

In addition, mobilize some KOLs and content creators to promote it, and thereby promote the creation of UGC content.

With the activeness of a group of initial fans, the output of social and UGC content has reached a certain scale, and can even arouse curiosity outside the circle. At the same time, the IP brand can tend to develop potential users outside the circle, invite some well-known KOLs to promote and endorse related content, mobilize some well-known content creators to create IP-related content, and spread and "promote" the IP in their own circles. This is a way for IP to penetrate from inside the circle to outside the circle. The brand itself can also carry out related activities, using certain benefits to attract people inside and outside the circle to create UGC content, further expand the quality and quantity of content production, and enhance its popularity.

Finally, pay close attention to the mainstream discussion hotspots, interactions, suggestions, etc. formed within the circle, adjust the communication strategy and direction at any time, and keep the content continuously updated.

Whether it is PGC or UGC content, brands should ensure continuous and regular output and updates to maintain fans' discussion and freshness. At the same time, after becoming popular, the IP needs to closely track fans' views and communication directions on the IP, understand what is most advantageous and what is relatively unpopular in the IP's content; understand the preferences, dissatisfaction and suggestions for content among segmented groups; learn what points of interest, expectations and shortcomings people outside the circle have for the IP, and so on. Adjust the specific strategies and directions of IP development and dissemination based on these feedbacks and interactions.

Even for niche circles, their barriers and thresholds are not as difficult as people imagine. Although they are niche, since they are popular among some people, they must have unique charm and some universal value. It can become relatively easy to discover this uniqueness and universality, grasp the content and topics therein, and gain more contact and acceptance from mainstream circles.

In short, if niche IP wants to achieve breakthrough marketing, it must break through the barriers of that circle, and breaking through from the inside out is a more reliable way. For IP, content and social media are powerful tools for its dissemination and promotion. High-quality and rich content and topical communication and interaction, a two-pronged approach, can trigger viral spread and have better results.

Author: Li Shan

Source: PR Home