Is it worth doing B Station’s content e-commerce + live streaming sales?

Bilibili , which just released its financial report, is once again at the center of controversy.

Ever since the DingTalk ghost videos and 50-cent special effects videos received a lot of praise from netizens, Bilibili has been on the list of public opinion topics. Many brands have also turned their attention to Bilibili, and some industry insiders have called Bilibili the next traffic outlet.

Whether it is a traffic outlet remains to be determined, but what is certain is that from "breaking the circle" with the New Year's Eve party, to signing Feng Timo, the top traffic game anchor of Douyu, and a series of operations such as the recent entry of celebrities, all reveal B Station's biggest problem at present: attracting new users and expanding the list .

Data source: Puffer Film and Television Archives

According to Bilibili's Q4 2019 financial report data, the monthly active users in Q4 were 130 million, compared with 128 million in Q3, and the number of UP hosts with more than 10,000 fans increased by 75% year-on-year. However, through the collection of public information, Shiqu found that the biggest difference from other platforms is that there are fewer brand accounts in Bilibili and celebrity accounts are less popular.

In fact, for some brands that have settled in Bilibili, there is always a feeling of "wanting to say something but not knowing where to start". There are also many brands that have not settled in Bilibili that maintain the attitude of "wanting to touch the heart but pulling the hand back".

Most companies have not really understood the reasons for joining Bilibili and are just following the trend. Of course, they have not really figured out Bilibili’s marketing strategy.

What value can Bilibili bring? Content e-commerce + live streaming

For brands, compared with social platforms such as TikTok and WeChat, Bilibili's user scale is relatively small and there is still a lot of room for growth. Brands can grow together with the platform and cultivate their own fans. It is a public domain traffic pool that is young and vital.

In addition, the biggest attraction lies in the content e-commerce and live streaming of Bilibili. So whether it is worth doing it now can be seen from the following three dimensions:

1. Different fields are divided, and content marketing touchpoints increase

From the perspective of the Bilibili platform, in addition to the three old areas represented by the two-dimensional world, new areas have been added, such as music, technology, games, fashion, digital, and advertising. These areas can attract original content from UP masters in different fields and styles, and increase the submission rate and user activity. For creators, a diverse and inclusive content exposure platform has been added. For brands, it adds a wealth of content marketing touchpoints and provides more marketing opportunities. Brands can create differentiated content based on their own brand tone and match UP hosts with different styles, such as life, science, entertainment, etc., and implant products and brand advertisements to cover more users.

2. Bilibili focuses on supporting live streaming sales

From the perspective of platform opportunity cost, Bilibili currently urgently needs to have the ability to generate its own revenue, and live streaming with goods is a business direction that it will focus on promoting. In this direction, the platform will provide UP hosts and brands with more creative incentives and traffic opportunities for live streaming with goods.

3. Connect social media + e-commerce, a short-link marketing closed loop

It is worth mentioning that, unlike other social platforms, Bilibili currently has no restrictions on off-site traffic diversion. UP hosts can put their Weibo or WeChat ID or Taobao showcase link at the end of the video to directly divert traffic to other platforms or e-commerce platforms.

Therefore, for brands, Bilibili’s content e-commerce and live streaming sales have opportunities and marketing value to be activated, but the Internet environment is changing too fast. The earlier brands enter the platform, the more real users and traffic they can gain.

What should we pay attention to when marketing at Station B?

At present, very few of Bilibili's marketing activities have gone beyond the circle and have been effective. Combined with the marketing strategies of the brands that have settled in, it can be seen that they mainly adopt the basic marketing tactics of social platforms, while ignoring the Bilibili culture and "unwritten rules" that really affect the marketing results.

Brands need to adopt a set of marketing strategies that fit with Bilibili’s youthful approach, and pay extra attention to the following points:

01Reject the “Two Weibo and One Douyin” Model

Bilibili users are a group of young people who have very high requirements for content and pay special attention to the operating rhythm and attitude of brand accounts. If users find that a brand account has a low content output ratio and routinely forwards content from other platforms, it will cause user disgust. Users will think that the brand lacks sincerity and has not integrated into the B station culture. For example, celebrities who recently joined Bilibili faced the embarrassing situation of being "persuaded to leave" because users found that the number of videos they posted was small and the quality was not enough to arouse people's interest. It would be futile for a brand to simply copy the content from Weibo, WeChat and Douyin and start marketing on Bilibili.

02From the perspective of "pleasing"

In recent years, the reason why the information density of B station's commercial marketing is very low is due to the protection of community culture. B station has a strong sense of atmosphere and territory. After breaking out of its circle, Bilibili attracted most brands and adults to join. For the original inhabitants of Bilibili, this broke the atmosphere and balance. Many users even felt that their "secret base" was invaded, which would stimulate resistance from young groups. Therefore, for the brands that settle in, the natives of Bilibili have a greater say. In other words, brands need to adopt a "pleasing" perspective when marketing on Bilibili and integrate into the group. Maintaining the balance of the Bilibili community atmosphere is the primary responsibility of the brand . For example, the recent content from DingTalk and Tencent that tries to please others is very popular among young people.

03Produce interesting and valuable content

The original content and content with higher playback volume among Bilibili users are in the categories of daily life, science, games and the second dimension. From the content style, it can be seen that users care more about whether the content is interesting or valuable. Brands need to change their perspective, think from the perspective of young people, break out of advertising thinking, use young people’s social language and way of thinking to establish communication, and create content in order to obtain higher recommendations, increase exposure, gain the favor of young people, and enhance the brand’s youthful influence. For example, Huawei explains to users why 5G is fast, and at the same time combines the brand's own product tone to satisfy users' curiosity and increase brand exposure.

04Match the UP host’s style and create content together

Well-known UP hosts are equivalent to KOLs on Bilibili and have a large number of loyal fans. Most brands’ preferred way to start marketing on Bilibili is to co-create content with UP hosts, promote videos, or insert advertisements. By watching many UP host videos, we found that the UP host's marketing style is more personalized and pays more attention to the preferences of fans. This requires extra attention for advertisers with strong brand awareness and exposure genes, as it is difficult for video content to match brand elements and tone . Integrating into the culture and atmosphere of Bilibili is an "agreement" between every UP host and fans.

05 Pay attention to the user stratification of B station

From the perspective of B station community division, B station user stratification is very prominent. Users tend to follow UP hosts with common interests and topics, and are happy to share. For brands, before launching marketing activities, they need to have a very clear target consumer group and understand their interests and preferences , so as to customize content that attracts the target group and win the recognition of the niche group. When niche groups are inspired to continue to re-create and edit content and pass it on to more people, and thus continue to fission, the marketing value of Bilibili can be activated.

Brands need to adapt to the culture of Bilibili to avoid backlash

The current Internet environment is complex and changeable, and brands will have a "stress response" when faced with the proposition of improving product sales in the long term. Look for opportunities in various emerging channels and quickly enter the market once new traffic platforms and marketing tools are available.

However, when brands start marketing on Bilibili and pursue product sales growth, they need to grasp the culture and tone of the platform in advance, have a keen insight into young people's interest tendencies, language trends, and community culture, and enter the market cautiously, especially when facing the Z generation, to avoid backlash and embarrassing exit.

Author: Keddy

Source: Shiqu Interactive