How to go from entry level to mastery in new media operations?

In 2019, the popularity of the new media industry has attracted more and more colleagues to work in new media, and everyone wants to "have a piece of the pie."

Generally speaking, those who work on the front line of new media operations need to master a series of abilities such as art design, writing, editing, scheduling, hot spot tracking, data analysis, user psychological profiling, etc.

With a large number of new media training courses for people with no basic knowledge, many “newbies” have entered this industry. Although with the development of technology, more and more platforms and websites can be used for typing, drawing, and typesetting with one click.

However, if you want to be an excellent new media worker, you still cannot avoid producing content, which is a test of your writing skills.

Some time ago, a former classmate of mine asked me why he had repeatedly encountered setbacks in the new media industry after graduation. My classmate has good writing skills and has always gotten full marks for his essays. However, there is an essential difference between an excellent new media article and a beautifully written essay.

Therefore, this column was born out of this cause and effect. I am only just beginning to understand the new media, and can only use the experience I have gained from running into this industry over the years in the hope that it will be of some help to friends who want to join this industry or those who have just started to get involved.

If you have also encountered the following problems:

• The content is carefully created, but the pageview ratio is mediocre?
• Staying up all night to finish a manuscript, scratching your head and feeling frustrated about having no output?

Don’t worry, it will take about 5 minutes to read this article, and you will get a preliminary understanding of the essence of real new media articles - how to write titles.

First of all, we need to understand that the title is a battleground for new media people. It determines 50 to 80 percent of an article because the title controls two data: the opening rate and the dissemination rate.

In simple terms, it means click-through rate and sharing rate. This is the key indicator to judge whether a title is good or not, and extending from these two points are two important points to distinguish between novices and veterans.

Open rate

The purpose of a title is not to fully summarize the article, but to attract clicks.

This is easy to understand. The title can reveal some content information, but it is mainly to attract clicks and opens. In terms of the open rate, there are three enemies:

• Fragmentation : The time users spend reading articles is fragmented and they lack patience.
• Folding : Subscription accounts are folded and cannot attract users who have no reading habits.
• Homogeneity : The techniques you know are also known by your peers, and they are all the same style.

Transmission rate

Let readers spread the information on their own initiative, rather than just reading.

What kind of articles will lead to forwarding in the circle of friends or social groups? The details are nothing more than the following:

• Express ideas and trigger resonance
• Life skills, providing value
• Build an image, show off
• Social comparison, showing status

It has to be said that public account articles sometimes serve as social platforms, so in order to meet the social needs of users, we can start with the above methods, write "social style" titles, guide forwarding and opening, and thus create popular articles.

There is another type of article that has a very high click-through rate but a low dissemination rate: articles that are borderline related to color or gender. This type of article may be very popular on other platforms, but it is not applicable on certain platforms such as WeChat public platform and Zhihu.

Understanding these two data clearly has laid a good foundation for writing excellent titles. Next, Sanqian will bring you the "four sentences and 55 words title core" summarized after spending a lot of time, money and experience:

• Control the number of words, use more numbers, and use punctuation marks with caution.
• Think from other people’s perspective, find resonance, and use “you” and “me” often.
• Close to life, identify yourself and choose the target audience of the article.
• Stimulate curiosity, delay gratification, and understand human weaknesses.

Think from other people's perspective, find resonance, and often use you, me

Emotional titles usually occupy 50 to 70 percent of popular articles. A title can resonate with the general public. In simple terms, a successful title is one that makes people feel "itchy" even without clicking on the content.

Data shows that titles such as "you" and "me" are more likely to resonate with users and can effectively increase user relevance, thereby increasing the open rate. To increase relevance, you can start with the user’s pain points: what they are afraid of, what they are avoiding, life skills, work workplace, and the use of emotions.

Control the number of words, use more numbers, and use punctuation marks with caution

The character limit for Toutiao accounts is 5 to 30 Chinese characters, for Baijiahao accounts it is 8 to 30 characters, for Weibo it is within 32 characters, and for WeChat public accounts it is within 64 characters. Most titles are kept within the range of 20 to 30 words. And compared with traditional titles, using numbers can greatly increase user appeal.

According to mystical theory, there should never be a period in a title. Never use exclamation marks or question marks continuously. Ninety-nine percent of such article titles will appear particularly cheap.

Stimulate curiosity, delay gratification, and understand human weaknesses

"3-second rule for titles": If a title cannot attract people to click on it within 3 seconds, then it will never become a hit. Within three seconds, the author needs to create a "curiosity gap." Delayed gratification means that after you arouse the other person's curiosity, you don't explain the answer immediately, but instead start a topic that doesn't seem directly related.

If there is suspense in the mind and curiosity needs to be satisfied, the opening rate will be higher.

Understand the weaknesses of human nature and write the right headlines. Both good copywriting and good marketing cannot be separated from the seven deadly sins: pride, envy, wrath, laziness, greed, gluttony and lust.

Close to life, identify yourself, and choose the audience of the article

Before writing a title, think about who the target audience is, entrepreneurial elites? College students? Ordinary citizens who are greedy for small profits? Mom? Successful person? etc.

Choose your audience and write about what they care about and what is closely related to their lives, which will naturally induce them to open up.

Before the title, first analyze:

1. Who is the target audience?
2. What is special about my article?
3. Which point will most attract readers?

For example, a writer who is good at writing emotional articles should be good at arousing resonance; a writer who is good at writing practical articles can be more plain, easy to understand, and nutritious; a writer who is good at writing rigorous business articles can be a little more serious and professional.

Finally, we also need to understand some basic elements of the title: the four golden title rules, writing skills and practical skills of the title (as shown below)

This picture is a paid course from a new media organization. It is full of useful information that overflows the screen. I suggest you like and collect it. If you need the online course video, you can leave a message in the comment section and I will give it to you friends for free.

New media is a war between young people. Go ahead, young man. I wish you can ride the wind and waves and set sail on the road of new media.

Author: Lu Yao

Source: Lu Yao's Operation Management