5 general methods to increase user growth!

This article gives examples of 5 common methods to promote user growth , and is recommended to those who want to understand user growth.

Recent articles have been about user operations. This week, let’s talk about user growth, which everyone is concerned about. First, let me talk about my understanding. The so-called user growth is to analyze the user's pain points and use products, channels, content, technology and other methods to attract new users, activate them, retain them, and monetize them.

First, let’s list the sources of user growth based on the products on the market:

• Bringing user growth through content laying and building
• Bringing user growth through private domain traffic
• Bringing user growth through third-party channel promotion
• Increase user growth through marketing activities
• Bringing user growth through brand effect

Next, let’s talk about the logical points of each type of user growth method. The content is limited to the logical key points. Because the operation methods are different in specific projects, this article focuses on explaining the logic.

1. Bringing user growth through content laying and building

The so-called user growth through content laying and building is based on thinking about the habitual operations of a user when facing a problem, generally querying relevant information through vertical community channels such as search and Zhihu.

At this time, if a large amount of information searched by the user is related to your product, then the other party will most likely have a certain sense of trust in your product, and there will be a higher chance of converting the user into a user of your product. Therefore, we analyze the user's behavioral process of solving problems after they encounter them, and operate related search, community and other channels, such as Baidu Brand Zone, Baidu Promotion, Baidu Knows, Zhihu, etc.

Therefore, you should do a good job in laying out and building the content, analyzing the characteristics of the user base, and locating precise content channels. Through posting, promotion, and other forms, your products will appear in the corresponding channels and have a certain weight in the search.

2. Bringing user growth through private domain traffic

First, let’s understand the concept of private domain traffic:

Private domain traffic is a concept relative to public domain traffic. Simply put, it refers to channels that can directly reach users at any time and frequency without paying, such as self-media, user groups, WeChat accounts, etc., which is the circle that KOC (key opinion consumers) can radiate. It is a concept in the field of social e-commerce.

According to the definition, the so-called private domain traffic is similar to self-media, which is to use major content sharing platforms and social media to create official accounts, reach fans through platform capabilities, and convert users into product users.

Private domain traffic has the following three advantages:

1. Traffic is controllable: Private domain traffic can consolidate the platform’s users into its own users, making subsequent user-specific services or traffic exchange possible.
2. High cost-effectiveness: Generally, you have to pay to gain exposure on major traffic platforms.
3. In-depth user operations: After users introduce private domain traffic, users can be operated in a refined manner, giving them more time and opportunities to guide user conversions.

Recommended carriers of private domain traffic: official accounts, WeChat groups, QQ groups, personal official accounts, and independent apps.

3. Bringing user growth through third-party channel promotion

Third-party channel promotion refers to all channel promotions except free channels, such as promotion through public accounts, Weibo celebrities’ postings, purchasing keyword promotions on Baidu, etc. These all belong to third-party channel promotion.

When doing third-party channel promotion, be prepared to do the following things:

1. The purpose of understanding the channel promotion and display rules is to know how to promote and display our product information on this channel. For example, on Baidu Knows, you need to ask some questions, and on the App Store you need to submit an application to list your app.
2. By utilizing display rules, operating channels can increase the display weight of product information in the channel, gain more exposure, or make the user group for product information display more accurate. For example, in Baidu promotion, it involves industry keyword bidding rules, keyword selection, etc. Some forum communities can also add articles and posts that meet certain requirements to improve the display ranking, etc.
3. How to improve the user conversion rate after the promotion information is displayed is mainly related to the copywriting and user guidance process.

4. Bringing user growth through marketing activities

I won’t go into too much detail about the planning and implementation process of a marketing campaign here. Instead, I will talk more about some tips and methods to increase user engagement when planning a marketing campaign:

• The purpose of marketing activities: With the goal as the premise, the core is to stimulate users' enthusiasm for participation.
• Material incentive method: Use material rewards as a stimulus to encourage users to participate in and complete a specific behavior. Note that incentive prizes must be valuable to users, not just insignificant prizes.
• Probability (lottery logic): Human nature is to like gambling and hope that their luck will not be bad. The logic behind the marketing activities of many platforms is actually the lottery logic, such as the common card collection, bargaining, etc.
• Create a sense of scarcity: Users are indifferent to things that are plentiful, and things that give them a sense of scarcity often bring strong stimulation to users.
• Competitive consciousness: the human need for survival, sexual impulse and desire for greatness, add some competitive content to the activities.
• Take advantage of showing off and curiosity: curiosity. Showing off is a weakness of human nature. It is easier to create a dissemination effect by capturing the curiosity of users in planned activities.
• Identification: Empathy, gaining the user's identification through a series of detailed descriptions and content portrayals, and stimulating certain strong emotions in the user.
• Being respected and valued: Human beings are social animals. Being respected is a very pleasant social relationship that can make people spiritually satisfied and enhance self-esteem and self-confidence.
• Comparison and sense of value: Through a series of comparisons, the sense of value of products or services is highlighted to help users make decisions, such as e-commerce memberships, video memberships, Apple computer comparisons, etc.

5. Bringing user growth through brand effect

Brand effect refers to the effect brought by a brand to an enterprise. It is the value of an enterprise in the commercial society. It is the benefit and influence brought to brand users by using the brand on products.

In the current brand-leading business model, it means product positioning, business model, consumer groups and profit returns.

Establishing a corporate brand requires a company to have strong resource integration capabilities and to showcase the company's true nature to the world through the brand. Advertising, daily marketing, and after-sales service all have a direct impact on the establishment of brand effect.

Because the brand effect is based on the comfortable experience it brings to users, there will be a certain fan base that has been established over the long term. This group of users has a favorable impression of the brand and are the brand’s core users. They can be quickly converted through the brand effect.

VI. Conclusion

To sum up, after saying so much, there are many user growth methodologies.

The stages mentioned in this article are not segmented into several stages, namely, the testing period, introduction period, growth period, maturity period and loss period. Instead, the growth methods that may be used in each period are unified and classified.

In specific project products, the means used may be different due to differences in products, company operating conditions, and goals.

But the basic means of growth are nothing more than the ones mentioned above. The deeper unconventional methods will not be mentioned here, because after all, unconventional methods are not universal means.

Author: Vinson Ze

Source: Zexue Notes V