A complete method for event operation!

Let me talk about my views on event operations . This article is divided into three parts: the value of events, how to plan events, and case analysis. The full text is nearly 7,000 words. It is recommended that you read it slowly and several times.

1. The value of the activity

1. It’s not just about making a good cup of coffee

Liu Lu's coffee shop opened. Although she put a lot of thought into decorating the store, the office workers coming and going at the door still didn't notice the coffee shop.

She was very anxious, and couldn't understand why the legendary "word-of-mouth effect" hadn't appeared yet, because Liu Lu firmly believed that her coffee was much better than the Starbucks across the street, and that people would fall in love with this place as long as they tried it once.

The more she thought about it, the angrier she got. She decided to do something, so she walked up to the only young male customer in the store and asked for his advice.

The male customer raised his head and said slowly: The coffee tastes good and the environment is nice too.

Hearing this comment, Liu Lu excitedly sat down, leaned forward and asked: Why are there so few people?

The man thought for a moment and said: I didn't notice this place, and there's no reason to switch from Starbucks to here, and I didn't know your coffee is good.

Liu Lu suddenly realized that because she had no reason to try it, she didn't know that the coffee was delicious, and the word-of-mouth communication had no source. Opening a café is not just about making good coffee!

The coffee shop is just lying quietly on the roadside, and people don’t notice it. It needs to extend a "hand" to pull customers in. "This hand" refers to activities, such as half-price sales for popular items, card application discounts, and purchase one get one free, etc., and then the delicious coffee is used to make customers fall in love with this place, driving subsequent consumption and word-of-mouth spread.

2. The Internet and coffee shops have something in common

Even if the product's features and experience are excellent, no one may visit it. Without users, there is no value, and without building reputation, the user snowball cannot roll. In this respect, making Internet products is similar to opening a coffee shop.

The reason is the same as opening a coffee shop. You need to make users pay attention to the product, give them a reason to visit, and deepen their understanding of the product positioning. We also need to extend the hand of "activities" to continuously but strategically attract users to visit, participate or purchase. Then, relying on high-quality product quality, we can continuously deepen users' understanding of the product, promote retention and word-of-mouth communication.

Through the example of the coffee shop above, we can illustrate the value of "event operation" and the role it plays in product operation. In simple terms, why do we need to hold activities?

The value of "activity operation" is summarized as follows:

Attract user attention

Driving user contributions

Strengthen user awareness

The final effect of all online activities on the Internet is inseparable from these three points.

2. How to plan an event

Here’s the complete process of planning an event from start to finish. First write about the specific methods, and then apply them to 12 cases.

1. Type of activity:

Subsidies, red envelopes from Didi and Meituan Waimai

Topics: Keep's #我要上头条#, Weibo's #带微博去旅行#

There are prizes, Kung Fu Panda 3 movie review activities, Tieba lucky draw activities

Games, Alipay Jifu, Baidu Maps' #樱花甜筒跑酷#

2. Purpose of the activity:

Attract new users, new order users or new APP launch users

Active, driving visits, logins and UGC

Promotion, increase the number of orders for a certain product or category

Branding, expanding brand awareness and brand recognition

3. Cut into the demand:

User demand scenarios, Didi’s Spring Festival carpooling

Hot topics that users are concerned about: #王峰上头条# on Weibo

Users’ profit-seeking mentality and O2O discount activities

4. Steps to planning an event

The first step is to start from the purpose

The most important thing is why we should do this activity and what is the purpose. You should first clarify the purpose and then think about the follow-up of the activity accordingly. The ideal situation is to convert the "purpose" into a "data". For example, if an app hopes to increase the user base, this is the purpose, and converting it into data is to increase DAU. Therefore, increasing DAU is the purpose of the activity.

The purpose of an activity is the starting point for planning the activity and the source of thinking. If we grasp this point well, we will not deviate from our original intention in the subsequent steps.

Step 2: Determine goals and time

The purpose is a piece of data, and the goal is to make this data concrete. Continuing with the previous example, the activity goal is to increase DAU by 50% or to 100,000. At this step, we need to determine the target expectation. Even if there is no specific number, an approximate magnitude is necessary.

Because the expected magnitude will affect the form of the next planned activity. If the expectation is to increase DAU from 50,000 to 60,000, there are many applicable activities and the difficulty is not that great; but if the expectation is to increase it from 50,000 to 100,000, then you have to rack your brains, as many activities are not feasible because they cannot meet expectations.

In addition, the start and end times of the activity should also have an approximate range. If you are in a hurry to get the results of the event, the event must be launched as soon as possible; if not, then you have room for choice. Because if the activity can take advantage of momentum, it will be more effective, and this "momentum" is the timing.

Step 3: Plan the event format

The goals and time are like a frame, and this step is to plan the form of activities within the frame. In simple terms, it is about what kind of activities to do, which is the core step of event planning.

The essence of event planning is to find the best combination of event goals, user needs and product forms. It's like archery:

The target is the moving bull's eye. No matter what posture you use to shoot the arrow, you must aim at the bull's eye.

User demand is like the direction of the wind. If you follow it, you will shoot powerfully and accurately.

The product is the bow and arrow, and the activity should be implemented on the product, just like shooting the bull's eye with a bow and arrow instead of throwing stones.

There are several key points to note when planning an event:

① Make it as interesting as possible

The purpose of the activity is to let users "play", and the operation purpose is achieved only in the process of playing. So, even if it’s not a game, you can gamify the activity and it will be more fun.

It is true that many products have nothing to do with games, but they can also be transformed into the form or angle of games. Let’s take Maoyan Movie as an example.

The page is too long, so I only cut part of it. There is a list of movies at the bottom of the page. The rules of the activity are to guess the movie based on these expressions and write a review. Prizes will be awarded based on the number of correct guesses.

②Easy to operate

From the time the user sees the activity to the end of the operation, every additional step will result in significant losses. First, the steps of the activity operation should be as few as possible. Second, do not let users jump around in pages of inactive processes, as this will prevent them from finding their way back, especially in apps.

③The rules are easy to understand

When planning an event, keep the rules as simple as possible so that users can understand them without having to study them and can see at a glance "what you will get if you do it."

In addition to simple rule settings, the expression of rules must also be concise. The complete activity rules require a lot of text, including time, operation methods, award methods, prize list, additional conditions, precautions, etc., which are all reading costs for users. In fact, users can participate as long as they understand the most critical rules. The rest are not important, and some terms are even just for exemption.

Therefore, when stating the rules on the activity page, the core rules should be placed in a prominent position at the top of the page, and the specific rules and disclaimers should be placed at the bottom of the page. This part of the content only needs to be there, and it doesn't matter if users cannot see it.

Take Uber as an example to see whether the activity rules are easy to understand.

When I saw the activity rules of Uber, I was overwhelmed by the difficult-to-understand text composed of different characters. It was simply a test to test one's IQ. It seemed that the purpose was not to make users understand, but to confuse more people.

I tried changing it a bit:

If you take Uber 3 times this Saturday and Sunday, you will get 6 free rides next week; if you take Uber 5 or more times, you will get 10 free rides next week!

You can compare it with the text in the picture above. I think the most important thing is that it is easier to understand. A lot of the text in the picture above is meaningless and increases the reading cost, such as the first and last sentences. This paragraph already has a lot of text, so there is no need for such copywriting to set the mood. Besides, the main title of the page can already achieve this effect.

Moreover, because there is a "View Details" entrance, there is no need to write too many detailed rules here, such as the maximum discount of 15 yuan, arrival date, activity deadline, etc. Interested users will click on the detailed rules to read them.

④Highlight user benefits

Users who participate in activities will receive corresponding material or spiritual benefits. On the activity page, the user's benefits should be placed in a prominent position, giving it the highest priority. Because the audience of the page is users, it conforms to the users' selfish psychology.

Therefore, many activity pages put the prizes in the header image, such as material prizes such as iPhones, red envelopes, and gift boxes, and spiritual prizes such as privileges, levels, and titles, and then the activity rules and operation area are located below. There are many such cases, so I won’t go into details here.

⑤Visual progress indicator

Activities generally have a series of operations, and users should be given feedback after each operation, such as a number +1 or a progress bar moving one step forward. The purpose is to inform users that the operation is successful and has been recorded, and it is also a spiritual motivation.

The event page also needs to create an atmosphere of popularity, which is in line with the Chinese people's love of excitement. Therefore, many activity pages will display "12345 people have participated" in the header, and the number will be constantly refreshed.

The picture below is the first product launched by Meituan.com that year. The page will show the countdown of the validity period and how many people have purchased it. Although Meituan is not an activity platform now, it still had activity attributes when it was first established, so this case can also be used as a reference.

The above 5 points are things that need to be paid attention to in the activity itself. Apart from these, no more specific methods can be given. There is no shortcut to success. You can only understand the methods, accumulate more experience, and rely on your talent. After this step, the form, rules and logic behind the activity are determined.

Step 4: Follow up on design, development and launch

The activity is the project for which the operation is fully responsible, and this link mainly reflects the role of the project manager. Whether it is PM implementation, UI design, RD development and launch, or applying for resources, external cooperation, etc., the operations staff must follow up and pay attention to the final results and timing.

Step 5: Promotion resources are ready

The promotion channels are also very important for the effectiveness of the event. These must be prepared before the event goes online, including determining the online schedule, material design and data statistics. This step is parallel to the previous step and is carried out at the same time.

Promotional resources are divided into on-site and off-site resources.

On the site, mainly existing channels such as resource positions, push, system notifications, or targeted push to precise user groups

Outside the site, resource exchange or paid purchase is generally required. Find products that are more suitable for promoting this event and have better conversion rates than within the site.

In addition, the application market and Appstore also belong to off-site channels. The former can apply for first release, prize-winning activities, special topics and other cooperation, and can also pay to purchase recommendation positions; the latter is to brush the rankings.

Step 6: Prepare risk control and alternative plans

List the possible risk points of the activity and provide alternative solutions for each risk point.

There are several types of risk points:

Technical aspects: delay in launch or bugs after launch

In terms of promotion, resources were not in place on time

On the user side, users do not buy into the main selling points of the event

External environment, other hot spots such as smog, Liu Xiao Ling Tong, and Malaysia Airlines

In terms of law, there are illegal acts, such as pornography, consumer rights

Cheating loopholes, users find loopholes in the rules, fake orders, flooding, etc.

Step 7: Pre-launch event warm-up

The peak period of online activities is very short, about one or two days. But in order to achieve this short-lived burst, there must be an early warm-up and a later wrap-up, which should serve the peak of the event well. This is how you control the pace of the activity.

Among them, event preheating is very important, which is related to whether it can reach a hot spot and how high the hot spot will be. The easiest way to preheat is to inform, such as what activities will be launched on which day. A more complex approach is not just to inform, but to add gimmicky elements to attract users' interest and attention, and to invest promotional resources to expand the audience.

The most typical example of preheating is Didi’s brand upgrade. These are the steps I analyzed. I have not communicated with friends at Didi, so they may not be accurate.

① Release a promotional image such as "Goodbye Didi Taxi" (see below) to arouse users' speculation.

② Inform users that something big is going to happen, causing them to speculate. Various interesting "Didi XX" are spread in the circle of friends.

③ Start counting down when the announcement date approaches, as shown in the picture below.

④Implant this information into the Didi red envelope, as shown below.

⑤Officially changed the name and released the official announcement, as shown below.

⑥Launching #拼D大赛# on platforms such as Weibo is actually to consolidate users' awareness of the new brand. This is the communication after going online, as shown in the figure below.

Step 8: Keep an eye on the progress of the event after going online

After the above seven steps, the activity is launched. At this time, the main responsibility of the operation becomes monitoring the results to see whether the activity is on the expected track. If it is within the adjustable range, act as soon as possible.

What needs to be monitored is data and feedback:

data. It is divided into two situations: real-time and unit time (generally daily). We must have psychological expectations for data fluctuations and consider how much up and down is normal.

If it exceeds the fluctuation range, it is considered an abnormal situation and the specific cause needs to be investigated. The possibility is equivalent to the "risk point" above.

feedback. Pay close attention to all platforms where user feedback appears, such as user groups, Tieba, Weibo, Moments, etc.

While paying attention to the progress of the event, you should also collect valuable information and prepare for the event summary. for example:

Optimizable processes or experiences

Recording peaks and valleys in data

Collect user feedback and discussions

Interesting screenshots during the event

Step 9: Announce the results of the activity

Of all the things that have been done before, this step is actually the easiest to be overlooked because the roles of the official and the user are reversed at this step. In the beginning, the official was begging users to participate in the event, but in this step, users are more actively paying attention to the results, and the official profit stage has ended.

So I would like to remind everyone not to start well but end badly. At this moment, users are watching us with wide eyes. Whether they are satisfied or disappointed depends on this step. It is just like when consumers buy a house, and when they go through the house viewing and signing the contract, the real estate salesperson will greet them with a smile. By the time the house is delivered, the consumer’s money has already been paid to the real estate company, and their mentality will become more subtle, hoping that the other party will provide better house delivery services to complete the entire transaction.

Don't be like some real estate profiteers who turn their backs on others. When publishing the results of an activity, you need to pay attention to these issues:

①Inform all activity audience users

If the activity is facing all users when it goes online, then the results should also be shown to all users when it is announced; if it was only shown to some users at the beginning, then the results should also be shown only to these people when it is announced.

In short, the audience users to whom the activity results are announced should be the same as the audience users when the activity is launched.

② Channels for user feedback

On the event results page, provide a channel for users to file complaints and inquire, and face possible subsequent issues with an open attitude. This is just like the after-sales service of e-commerce. Even if there is a possibility of spoiled behavior, operations cannot avoid it, because this is one of the responsibilities of operations.

③Try to be completely transparent and fair

When the results are announced, the ID, score and award of each winning user will be listed. If allowed, you can even list the scores of all participating users. Strictly implement and announce the activity rules without any ambiguity or concealment, as this is related to the credibility in the minds of users.

Step 10: Activity summary

The first thing is to write to yourself, just like checking your test scores in school, to give an account of your work during this period, and to do things from beginning to end.

The second is to summarize the experience of the activity, continue to promote the good aspects and avoid the bad aspects next time, which is also a wealth.

Finally, it is given to superiors and colleagues for the purpose of reporting and sharing. No matter how difficult and arduous the process is, superiors will judge the operations work based on the final results, and they also need to understand the progress of each step of the project; colleagues also need progress in other directions, and those who contribute greatly to the product will naturally have corresponding voice.

Elements that need to be included in the activity summary:

① Background

This summary must ensure that everyone can understand it, even colleagues who are not familiar with the project situation. Therefore, you need to write the background clearly and completely, and never assume that others should know some information.

For example, Zuoyebang is a K12 learning software that allows users to take photos to search for questions or ask questions to top students. The problem we are facing now is that due to the high cost of answering, the solution rate of high school mathematics problems is relatively low. We hope to increase the solution rate of such problems through activities.

②Target

Clearly communicate the activity goals and how much the data will be improved within what time frame.

For example, the one-hour solution rate for high school mathematics problems is 90%, and for junior high school mathematics it is 98%. It is expected that this level will be raised to 95% through activities, which is close to the level of junior high school mathematics. The event will be held from January 1st to January 7th.

③Effect

What we are talking about here is the final effect, only writing the most core data and whether it meets expectations. There is no need to write process data and analyze the process.

For example, after the activity ended, the high school mathematics solution rate increased to 95%, meeting the activity expectations.

④Detailed analysis

List specific measures and data, analyze the progress of each step of the activity, and draw conclusions.

For example, in order to improve the one-hour solution rate of high school mathematics, the strategy is to expand the introduction of answering teachers and tilt the existing incentive levers towards high school mathematics. Then list each specific step separately. This varies greatly for each project, so I won’t go into details here.

⑤Experience summary

Summarize the advantages and disadvantages of the activity and list them separately.

For example, the advantage is that the teacher's method is high-quality and effective; the disadvantage is that the teacher is not well prepared for low-quality answers.

⑥ Follow-up plan

From the perspective of this activity, analyze the inspiration it brings to yourself and use it to look forward to subsequent work. If the activity is effective, can it be reused in the future, or can the modules in the activity be taken out and continue to play a role.

For example, the next step will be to sort out the complete process of introducing teachers and implement it through products.

The above 6 points are the elements of activity summary. Combining the above cases together is like this:

background:

The data shows that the problem-solving rate of high school mathematics is relatively low. We hope to increase the problem-solving rate of such problems through activities.

Target:

The one-hour solution rate for high school mathematics problems is 90%, and for junior high school mathematics it is 98%. It is expected that this level will be raised to 95% through activities, which is close to the level of junior high school mathematics. The event will be held from January 1st to January 7th.

Effect:

After the activity, the high school mathematics solution rate increased to 95%, meeting the activity expectations.

Detailed analysis:

In order to improve the one-hour solution rate of high school mathematics, the strategy is to expand the introduction of answering teachers and tilt the existing incentive levers towards high school mathematics.

Lessons learned:

1. The advantage is that the method of introducing teachers is high-quality and effective

2. The disadvantage is that you are not prepared for low-quality answers

Next steps:

1. The next step will be to sort out the complete process of introducing teachers and implement it through products.

3. Case Analysis

The above article discusses the ideas, and the following article will apply case analysis. Each case is broken down into the following questions:

Activity Type

Purpose

Cut into demand

My opinion

1. Didi’s Spring Festival travel home

①Activity type: product module, which can be regarded as an activity

②Activity purpose: cater to user needs and strengthen user awareness of Didi as a travel product

③ Cut into demand: Going home for the Spring Festival is a strong demand

④My opinion: Didi has always been down-to-earth, and this time they told users that they can do a lot in terms of travel.

2. Alipay Jifu

①Activity Type: Game

②Activity purpose: Establish user relationships and prepare for subsequent socialization

③Enter the demand: profit-seeking, interesting

④My point of view: No matter how people complain, no matter whether Alipay can do a good job in social networking, at least this event allowed you to add a lot of friends, and that is enough.

3. Meituan takeaway red envelope

①Activity type: Subsidy

②Activity purpose: Increase market share and cultivate user habits

③ Cut into demand: profit-seeking

④My opinion: Red envelopes are just a form of subsidies, and there should be other means to achieve subsidies. It’s a pity that everyone has been continuing to play in this way and there is no motivation to innovate.

4. Baidu Maps’ Sakura Cone Parkour

①Activity Type: Game

②Activity purpose: Exploration of Baidu Maps O2O business model

③Enter the demand: profit-seeking, interesting

④My opinion: It is not difficult for Baidu to achieve good data effects. What is more important is the good integration of online and offline, low threshold for user participation, and very down-to-earth.

5. "You send me a selfie and I'll draw it" by same

①Activity type: games, topics

②Activity purpose: Increase interaction and indirectly increase DAU

③Entry demand: interesting

④My opinion: Very interesting and creative, same creates many ways to play.

6. Hammer Smartphone's "Soft Article Contest"

①Activity type: Topic

②Activity purpose: To promote the brand through the Weibo platform

③Entry demand: interesting

④My opinion: It is very stylish and fits the Hammer user group very well

7. #Help Wang Feng get on the headlines# on Weibo

①Activity type: Topic

②Purpose of the activity: Commercial purpose. At that time, Wang Feng’s new song was first released on Weibo Music, and the operation and planning triggered a topic explosion with over 100 million topics.

③Entry demand: interesting

④My opinion: This was done by an operations person, and it was indeed naturally ranked No.1 in hot topics. You have done a great job of leveraging the momentum and achieving great results with little effort.

8.Keep's community topics

①Activity type: Topic

②Activity purpose: connect the transformation from tools to interactions and improve user stickiness

③Entering the demand: the psychological demands being displayed

④My point of view: Fitness experts love beauty and themselves, and community topics provide them with a good space to show themselves and for novice users to look up to. On the other hand, it is also an incentive for novice users.

9. Maoyan Movie’s Kung Fu Panda Film Review Event

①Activity type: Prize-giving, game

②Activity purpose: Increase the number of UGC users

③Enter the demand: profit-seeking, interesting

④My opinion: It is creative to gamify the activity and combine movies and UGC.

10. Weibo’s #TravelWithWeibo#

①Activity type: Topic

②Activity purpose: Increase activity and indirectly increase DAU

③Enter the demand: profit-seeking, interesting

④My opinion: It makes good use of the hot topic of "holiday" and guides users' UGC through topics. Later, it began to be commercialized.

11. Momo Red Packet Battle

①Activity Type: Game

②Activity purpose: To increase activity and promote friendship

③Enter the demand: profit-seeking, interesting

④My opinion: Red envelopes are only applicable to people nearby, so the activity still revolves around the core point of strangers making friends, taking advantage of the trend of the Spring Festival and red envelopes.

12. Tencent Sports' "Benefits on the Spot"

①Activity Type: Game

②Purpose of the activity: Commercial interests

③Enter the demand: profit-seeking, interesting

④My opinion: It would be even better if you can win a prize by shooting a few balls in between watching the game. Commercialization and user needs are well combined and it is really interesting.

Finally, it's done.

Author: Han Xu

Source: Jianshu

Related reading:

5 tips for event management!

3 steps to disassemble event operations!

A complete event operation and promotion!

The 4 core elements of Internet activity operation and promotion!