Event operation and promotion: How to plan the core gameplay?

As usual, let me give you a definition:

Operating activities refers to the operation of activities by activity companies for different activities and activities of different natures, including activity planning, activity implementation, and grafting related industries to create an industrial chain.

——Baidu Encyclopedia

It sounds very fancy at first, but to put it simply, it means that according to different stage goals, we plan and implement a short-term activity to quickly improve a certain indicator of the product. We call it activity operation.

Based on my personal experience in event planning for several years (more than 5 years), event operations are generally divided into five stages, namely: setting goals, conceiving plans, launching events, monitoring events, and reviewing events.

Event Planning Process

The above picture only says what event operators need to do, but there is a chain to everything. Event operators alone cannot implement the event alone. They also need the help of designers, interactions, development, and testing to truly implement the event. The picture below shows a complete event process.

Activity launch process

Set activity goals and clarify activity directions

Before launching an event, first understand the background of the event clearly, such as whether the event will be held during a big sale or on a certain holiday. Understanding the background of the event is to better conceive the event plan and provide certain sources of creativity for the plan.

After understanding the background of the event, it is necessary to clarify the purpose of the event . Currently, the activity goals of Internet products are basically centered around the following points: attracting new users, promoting activation, retention, conversion, drainage, stickiness , etc. Only after clarifying the activity goals can we plan the next step of goal quantification.

Goal quantification refers to quantifying the target numbers of an activity. For example, this five-day activity brought 5,000 new users to the platform. After goal quantification, the goal needs to be broken down. According to the above activity, the goal is to bring in 5,000 new users. The number of new users = number of channel users * new user conversion rate. The promotion channel can bring in 2,000 new users in 5 days, so the number of new users that need to be brought in by this activity is 3,000 increments.

Assuming that the number of users brought by the channel remains unchanged, then the activity can improve the conversion rate of new users . By increasing the conversion rate by 1 times, the task can be completed. Obviously, it is a bit difficult to position the improvement of the activity entirely to improve the conversion rate of new users , so it needs to be broken down further.

Let's continue to break down the goal in depth : Number of channel users = channel promotion volume * channel conversion rate. From the formula, we can see that there are two points we can try to improve through this event. Obviously, increasing the promotion volume is a very efficient way. However, this method does not reflect the value of the activity, so we will start with the conversion rate and improve the channel conversion rate. This can be improved through the interest points, advertising images and event formats of the event. Assuming that the channel conversion rate can be increased by 50%, the conversion rate target for new users will be lowered, which is equivalent to sharing the pressure.

Based on the above example, assuming that daily new users = channel promotion volume (1 million) * channel conversion rate (2%) * new user conversion rate (10%), assuming that the goal of this activity is to increase the channel conversion rate to 3.5% and the new user conversion rate to 14.5%, the task of attracting 5,000 new users can be completed.

Therefore, we can lock in the quantitative goals of the event, and through the interest points and content of the event, increase the promotion channel conversion rate to 75% and the new user conversion rate to 14.5%.

Now that the target background is clearly understood, the activity goals have been quantified and broken down, it is time to move on to the next step: activity creative conception.

Activity plan conception, creating 4W+1H

WHY——Why plan this event?

Understanding the background of the event in setting the above-mentioned event goals illustrates the importance of WHY. Through the background time, goals, etc. of the event, we can clarify why we are planning this event. The time nodes and event goals can be used to conceive the title and content of the event.

For example, during the Chinese Valentine's Day, users have the need to give gifts, buy flowers, etc.; during the Spring Festival, users have the need to buy New Year's goods.

WHO - Who is the target user?

That is, the activities we plan are to attract new users, promote activation, retain existing users, and convert existing users . There are thousands of different users, and we need to divide the target users into different dimensions to analyze the needs and psychology of different users, such as analyzing the users':

• Intrinsic attributes: age, gender, hobbies, income, education, etc.
• External attributes: region, marital status, activity venue, etc.

WHERE——What are the user scenarios?

Users play different roles in different scenarios and have different needs:

• Humans are social animals and in society, they have the need to transfer information and socialize;
• In a family, there will be material needs, life needs, and emotional needs;
• At work, there will be development needs, work needs, material needs, and rights needs;
• ...and so on and so forth

By analyzing the different scenarios in which users are located, we can extract the user's needs, and based on the user's needs, we can conceive the direction of the activity plan.

For example: In the World Cup guessing event (guessing the ball based on points), the user’s identity scenario is that of a football fan, and their needs are to bet, guess, and cheer.

WHAT——What are the user’s psychological needs?

The core needs of users reflect changes in their psychological state and are also the backbone of creative gameplay. They are the methods that event operators should use to firmly grasp the hearts of users. Users' psychological needs are divided into deep psychological needs and basic psychological needs.

Deep psychological needs include: curiosity, vanity, competitiveness, sense of achievement, herd mentality, etc.

Basic psychological needs include: interest psychology (discounts, prizes, etc.).

For example, the more popular activities on the market now:

Group buying: basic psychological needs, psychology of discounts;

Collecting cards: deep psychological needs, sense of accomplishment, basic psychological needs, and the temptation of money.

HOW——How to plan core gameplay

Different user psychology extends to derive a variety of core gameplays. Through the above 4 Ws, we can basically analyze the user portrait, needs, psychology, etc., and plan our gameplay.

Curious users can be attracted through technology, new gameplay, and new content; vain users can be attracted through PK, rankings, and arenas; users with a sense of achievement can be attracted through achievement systems, clearance games, and so on.

After the activity plan is completed, draw an interactive prototype according to the needs. In addition, do not forget to collect data points during the activity, otherwise it will be a waste of time after the activity ends and you will not be able to analyze anything.

Activity launch: Everything is ready except for the east wind

All matters related to the event have been prepared, and it is time to review it again.

Confirmation of promotional resources: The completion of any activity requires the coordination and cooperation of multiple departments. For example, you need to confirm the budget with your boss, coordinate with the technical department for development and testing, and coordinate and confirm the resources needed for the activity with the product, marketing, customer service and even administrative departments.

Placement of promotional resources: After the promotional resources are sent to people, they need to be publicized and placed, that is, we need to find channels that can reach the objects of our activities, and sometimes we also need to find corresponding media to coordinate the exhibition location of the event. Usually, in order to ensure the effectiveness of the event, some preheating will be carried out first, so that subsequent optimization and adjustment of the event can be carried out based on the results of the preheating.

Activity execution: data monitoring, continuous optimization and adjustment

Finally, the daughter-in-law becomes the mother-in-law, and the activity is finally launched. We need to monitor the data of the activity through tracking points to see whether it has achieved our expected goals. When the data monitored in various links of the activity are abnormal or unsatisfactory, timely optimization is required.

For example, if the channel promotion conversion rate is not ideal, it is necessary to timely optimize the advertising materials, advertising content, and target audience, etc.; when the new customer acquisition conversion rate is sluggish, see if it is necessary to optimize the guiding copy, reward prompts, etc.

Activity operation data indicators generally include PV, UV, click-through rate, conversion rate, sales, ROI indicators, average visit time per person, average browsing depth per person, etc. Different activities have different promotion methods and push channels, and the corresponding data indicators of concern are also different, which need to be determined according to the goals of the activity.

In short, the online period of the activity does not mean that the mission is accomplished. We still need to continue to monitor the data indicators of each link and continue to optimize.

Activity review: experience accumulation and model precipitation

As an event operator, there are countless activities, but not all of them are perfect. Some of them are not satisfactory. When doing similar activities next time, there is no significant improvement. After repeated repetitions, the operator loses interest and enthusiasm in operations and ends up blaming the product and himself. He is very distressed and unable to break the deadlock. At this time, the best tool to solve the problem is - review.

A general review will be divided into the following parts:

(1) Comprehensive data review

According to the numerical quantitative goals set when the activity was launched, take stock of the final completion status, and require certain references and comparisons when reviewing. For example, to attract new customers, it is necessary to pull out the target number of new customers attracted by the activity, the actual number completed, and the daily new customer acquisition data 5-10 days before the activity for data comparison.

(2) Review of each link

According to the goals of each link broken down according to the quantitative goals of the activity, the promotion link review, activity content review, etc. will be increased according to the number of participating links.

Let’s continue with the example based on the above new user acquisition case:

• Promotion review: After the quantitative indicators are broken down, we can check whether the promotion scale is in place and whether the promotion copy is attractive. After an event, we will have a lot of copy: main copy, picture copy, and we need to judge which copy is effective. The promotion conversion rate can directly reflect the effect of the promotion copy and picture.
• Review of activity content: Analyze the effectiveness of each link of the entire activity through data, which links have good conversion effects and which links have unsatisfactory data effects. For example, the UV of the activity page is 10,000, but the number of participants is 100, which means that the activity content does not match the users, the users are not interested in the activity, or there are problems with the guidance of the activity page, the users do not understand how to participate, or the prizes are not attractive to users, etc.

(3) In-depth review and analysis

Conduct an in-depth analysis of the activity results. Based on the differences between the results and the goals, if the analysis cannot explain the situation, boldly put forward some hypotheses, such as the prizes are not attractive, there are problems with the breakdown of digital quantified goals, the promotion time is not good, etc.

This can be done by:

1. Deeply mine user behavior data analysis;
2. Retest on a small scale (if conditions permit, or conduct A&B tests during the event);
3. Use user surveys and other methods to understand users’ experiences and confusions during the conversion process and identify the ultimate problems.

(4) Experience summary and accumulation

Record the conclusions of the previous analysis and use them as a reference when planning subsequent user activities. Continue to use the good points and avoid the deficiencies as much as possible. Do not be superficial in summarizing experience. Try to discover the essence of the problem as much as possible to prevent it from happening again.

After summarizing the experience, you should also list the actions that can be changed and specify the time and objects of implementation. This is the most important output of the review.

Author: Vinson Ze

Source: Vinson Ze