How can you socialize if you don’t follow hot topics?

There is an interesting phenomenon in the marketing circle: both Party A and Party B like to chase hot topics. Basically, in the eyes of many company bosses, social media has become equivalent to dual-microblog operation and maintenance = chasing hot spots = doing big things without spending money.

“Therefore, whenever they discuss creativity, they always talk about Durex posters, and often go to Huanshi for interaction but are rejected.”

1. Can we do social without leveraging the situation?

Here comes the problem. Have you ever thought about whether we can still do social if we don’t follow hot topics?

able. HOW?

01. Clarify social goals

First of all, let’s emphasize that social is committed to rebuilding the relationship between brands and users .

What if you do social networking every day? Have you ever asked yourself, what am I doing? What's the use? All problem solving should start with questioning.

Social means social media marketing or brand communication. Its essence is to use the principles of social graphs to develop relationships + the principles of interest graphs to output content, forming two channels to help your brand rebuild user relationships in the new media era.

WHY? Because traditional media only show movement but no conversion, and are aloof and unapproachable, they no longer have the ability to build such deep user links, including all TV stations (which have not yet reformed), radio stations (which are reforming), and outdoor advertising (which are also reforming).

In my book "Sense of Participation", which I have praised many times, I mentioned that "the engine is the product, the accelerator is social media, and the relationship chain is the user relationship." In fact, it also indirectly responds to my statement - for social, the focus must be on rebuilding user relationships rather than sensationalism.

This is something a social person must always keep in mind. Important things should be said three times!

02 From leveraging momentum to creating momentum

Secondly, aspire to be a brand that loves to create momentum rather than a brand that loves to leverage momentum.

I think most people working in the social media sector know that they are producing useless content every year. It is not an exaggeration to say that it is completely useless. Those who are curious can connect together any official Weibo posters that leverage the momentum and estimate how much useless work is done every year by those brands that are determined to leverage the momentum. Are these brands so terrible that they will borrow money for any festival, whether it's Nurses Day, Journalists Day, or anything else? !

I can especially understand this attitude of always wanting to make a big profit with a small investment. But at the same time, I always feel that it is a pity - why should such a smart person waste so much enthusiasm on useless work, wasting not only energy, but also people's most precious time, and also eroding the fighting spirit of innovation.

2. How to play social without leveraging the trend?

I have summed up the ultimate reason: brands without ambitions are accustomed to focusing on leveraging trends.

The builder of this ideal brand may be the company owner, CMO, brand manager, or even ourselves. As a positive example, I believe that brands that pursue their ideals should be determined to create momentum rather than leveraging momentum. Because the focus of brand workers should be on how to make themselves more attractive. No matter what kind of cat or dog it is, if they try to stick to the hot spots, the hot spots themselves will get annoyed.

So what else can social do if not take advantage of the situation?

01. Spend some time on the self-propagation ability of the product

"Xiao Ai, can you fart?" The product spreads itself, and consumers should be crazy about your product and cannot help but recommend it. This is a very high-level social.

"Navigation Guo Degang voice package". This is also the self-propagation of the product, and the product is the biggest content . This is also a good social activity.

UBER can deliver cats and butlers to your door. Mineral water in Japan can be printed in the newspaper of the day. This is also a rare social experience.

In order to commemorate "Neon Genesis Evangelion", the official launched a crowdfunding campaign to send the "Lance of Longinus" to the moon on a commercial satellite. This is an amazing global social hotspot.

Any of the examples mentioned above is ten thousand times better than taking advantage of the situation. Because these ideas require deep intellectual thinking, rather than simple cleverness .

It is worth emphasizing that this not only requires marketing people to plan, but also product people who understand human nature and human feelings. Jobs was a product + marketing genius. Unfortunately, some of his followers are pagans and wild boars - stubborn, unsympathetic, and contemptuous of the power of marketing. Being an interesting person will make you much better.

Summary: A brand’s social topic is created with great care, and once created, it will always be yours. And whatever you borrow, no matter what it is, you must always return it.

02 Spend some time on user operations in the core group

To promote the fourth season of A Song of Ice and Fire, the crew hired an advertising company to create a huge social event. In small town squares in New Zealand, people can use the device to pull down the statue of the infamous Joffery, a king whose name is so annoying, bit by bit by simply sending the message #bring down the king# on Twitter.

With this kind of social network, there is no need to force users; they will just take out their phones and forward the posts to break records. This kind of thinking, without any knowledge of new media interaction, and just relying on making a poster to leverage the momentum, will result in the same result as Zhang Fei's - "Me too". The budget is like “Huluwa saving grandfather”, giving them away one by one.

HBO's publicity and promotion team also held a conference to criticize Joffery, inviting screenwriters and leading actors to take turns to complain, and also set up a group with netizens to vent their anger. These are small operations that fully utilize the habits of social media users, but they reveal great knowledge and courage. For example, last season, when the White Walkers attacked, they also made a big fuss and had some White Walkers walking on the streets to attract everyone's attention.

Of course, I prefer WALKING DEAD's 2014 spread. They filled the underground pipes with zombies, grabbing passers-by by the ankles. This one is more hilarious.

In fact, to be fair, creating topics does not require a large budget. What is needed are things that money can't buy: a smart brain, a courageous heart, an undying passion, and an ambition to stand out ; these are actually even more scarce.

Of course, some people will not accept this, saying that these are all foreign, they are HBO, they are A Song of Ice and Fire. I can only offer two international posters of the most native rural romance dramas in China. Looking at Xie Guangkun's eyes, do you think Youku's publicity and promotion team took advantage of the situation? Do you think I am abroad?

Because it was done so well. I have always wanted to write an article specifically for the Youku team to tell their story.

Let’s get back to this operation. In the past, we in China would never dare to think of such a thing when doing content promotion. Because the publicity capabilities of domestic film and television companies were too backward, fortunately, they have suddenly developed in the past two years, and marketing has also been advanced, which has produced talents such as Youku's online drama promotion and marketing team. This kind of publicity and promotion staff brings us close to HBO. As the saying goes, the right thing will always come, maybe late, but not absent.

It's too cinematic, and some people are not convinced. Let me give you another example of the Yima APP. A Beijing-born startup that has not yet gone public. I have collaborated with you before and was very convincing. Maybe my budget is not as big as yours...

At that time, classmates in the marketing department worked together to develop the situational sketch "Da Yi Ma's Diagnosis of the Twelve Zodiac Signs", which was an early drama that mocked the zodiac signs. It not only had a deep integration with the products, but also created its own content IP assets. With an investment of millions and real traffic returns of tens of millions, the increased brand value is immeasurable.

Because I have experienced it personally with the team, I am well aware of the dilemma that the marketing department’s budget is not as much as that of competitor Meiyu. However, the Dayima team is bold, unwilling to be mediocre, and unwilling to become shameless and despicable, so their marketing is becoming more and more self-contained.

I published a book called "400 Times". I also wanted to find time to set up a radio station for girls who are having trouble to cry about their affairs. I made a poster of the aunt and made up a nonsense story. The team cares about the brand's tone, proposition and actions . Such a team is lively and highly combat-effective. Their focus is never on taking advantage of daily momentum. This is a living, aspirational example.

Don’t ask the agency why you can’t create Alipay, because you yourself are simply not interesting at all and you always act pretentiously. Social, be down-to-earth and a little crazy .

3. Social media should be used within one’s capabilities

But, after all you've said, can't we in the social sector take advantage of this?

able. The most powerful way of thinking when Chinese people do things is that there is no fixed position in war, and there is no fixed shape in water. It is never a one-size-fits-all approach. You can borrow, but remember, it will be hard for everyone if you try to reach a higher standard and settle for someone less than you deserve.

Durex is able to leverage the momentum because Durex is powerful and Party A chooses social media as its main channel. Xiaomi is able to create strong momentum because it regards social media as its main battlefield. Having the support of an advertising company is a plus, and it is also a fact that advertising companies are powerful.

But, one man's honey may be another man's poison. If your brand value is low, no matter how you leverage your brand, you will not be able to stand on the same level as brands of a higher level. This is a bloodline issue that cannot be solved by leveraging one's power.

If you want to do social media, do the social media that suits you best. Based on your own business, users, brand, and products, accomplish things that others cannot do, and keep working hard until you achieve quantitative changes . This is the principle of leveraging momentum.

For example, Google. They have always loved to create something new. In order to celebrate "Avengers 4" with netizens, they came up with a creative idea. Search for Thanos or Thanos, and you will see a button on the page. With a click and a snap of the fingers, half of the search engines on the page will be gone, and everyone can experience the feeling of "eliminating half" with their own hands.

This kind of leveraging is high-level, has cultural support, product support, and reasons for users to spread it like wildfire. It is not empty talk or clever tricks that have nothing to do with oneself. That is commendable.

Finally, I would like to borrow Yoshida Hideo's famous words to send to those friends who have lost their fighting spirit due to years of doing trivial things - challenge difficulties with the thirst of a wolf, only by completing difficult tasks can you make progress . Don't waste your talents on useless things.

After all, the knife is still the same knife, whether you kill a pig or a person, it all depends on your own swordsmanship.

Related reading:

1. Brand marketing planning: 6 classic creative templates!

2.How to build a brand communication system?

3. A must! 18 hot spot tracking tools for marketing and promotion operators!

4. How to plan marketing activities for those festivals that are “difficult” to leverage?

5. Brand marketing promotion: the underlying logic behind Durex’s content marketing!

6. Brand marketing promotion: How to learn the product placement of “The Debaters”?

7. Brand marketing promotion rules: How to construct a marketing framework?

8.2019 Internet Marketing Promotion Tips!

Author: Marketing Talk

Source: Marketing Talk (id: yingxiaoqitan)